Tom Day suffers a moment of embarrassment spread over multiple dimensions as he tries to go back.  He's only taking the initial versers the spell glommed on to as he's become aware thats all the Lady Morrigan's spellring will carry in safety. Feeling a bit uncomfortable, he tries again, and this time it almost works. With a rueful smile, he notices the pattern. The ones that almost worked were in complete sync with each other.  And so, he pulls back on....mark.

And everyone gets taken apart, starting with the clothes and skin first, and then moving on to muscle, and eyeballs, and finally bone. You're put together back in the same way in a circle surrounding Tom Day.

Many of you recognize each other from Radix, Nevada.  There seems to be a new capabability, and strength, and new weapons.  Others you don't recognize, but all have that unmistakable look of versers, and the signature of versers, the 'feeling' in the gut, the vector.

The air is pure and clean, untainted by the burning of hydrocarbons.  Oaks, maples, cedars, hickory, and a couple unfamilar trees tower around the clearing with the tallest perhaps a hundred-fifty feet.

The clearing is approximately five acres in the midst of this old growth forrest.  It is a meadow with knee-high grasses, but unlike the trees, the grasses do not seem to be bursting with health.  They are not visibly sagging either.

A grass-covered mound, fifty feet high, centers the clearing. A miasma felt rather than seen seems attached to the mound. There are a couple animal paths over the mound, and following them with your eyes leads out to the treeline where a wolf sits in a tree.

It stares at you with yellowed and red-lined eyes. It seems in pain, and distinctly wrong on some fundamental level.

Forty feet from the mound are two statues, overgrown with vines. One is of a female in a dress with a tear dropping across her cheek.  The other is of a man holding the scales of justice.  Both are holding their right hands out, palm forward.

Oak: Kyle happily gives you one of his pin feathers which has a nice streak design through it.  You do not learn more about your katana, but you do remember Mr. Miyagi of Karate Kid and "wax on, wax off" and your deckhand experiences.

Jhiaxus: Tessa and Siljonic are left behind as are the others at the Menlo Park College for the Arts.

Tom looks around, "Thank you very much for coming.  Before I give a massive info dump...are there any quick questions?"
This message was last edited by the player at 03:21, Tue 02 Dec 2008.

I get my bearings look around and then say,"Thank you Tom, it is my pleasure and God's grace I am here to help you as much as I can."
I turn to the others and say," Hello I am Amanda I have met some of you before, it will be a honor to work with everyone."
When I see Oak my eyes will go wide open and I  will run to him, her trained body moving extremely well, I will jump into Oak's arms when I get to him, and plant a kiss on his cheek.

:: Ring, CU2, are you online?  Please acknowledge.  Initiate our standard monitoring, recording, and analysis. ::

I smile as I twirl Amanda in a hug, and give a nod of recognition to the familiar faces among them.

"Greetings once again dear daughter, and to you friend Tom.  It is good to see you both well.  Thanks be to God."

"And to the rest of you, well met.  I'm John Oakmaster.  'Peace be unto you.'  I believe I saw several of you from afar during the battles in Radix, though we lacked the time for introductions then.  And didn't I briefly glimpse you in the Kingdom of Vespucianna, in that shared Dreamworld?"

The last sentence is said with a friendly nod toward Jhiaxus.

"After some introductions, I'll be ready for a data dump, Tom, both from you and from these other folks.  If we can inventory what resources and capabilities we have together, and what is known of what we are up against, we'll probably be more effective..."

And as I wait for the others to speak, I silently pray.

:: Dearest LORD, please give us wisdom and insight and discernment, and bless our interactions and efforts, I pray... ::

I take a quiet deep breath of the fresh clean air and glance with pleasure at the green trees as I look around at my companions and at our surroundings through my Sight.  My gaze lingers upon the mound, and the statues, and the wolf.  And I reach out with my telepathic senses as well to see if I get any impressions, particularly from the wolf.
This message was last edited by the GM at 07:20, Tue 02 Dec 2008.

Wonderful...surrounded by the type of people that annoy me the most...

Hadrian...good to see you again...did things go well after I took care of that abyssal creature the last time we met?

Looking around at the other versers present..

Well, it seems I recognize a couple others here... however...coming here to be all cheery wasn't the objective.  Day, what do you have planned, and what exactly are we up against?  Please provide all relevant data on what you are having such an issue with.

*puts his double bladed battle axe head on the ground and leans on it as he takes in the scene, seeing a couple of familar faces from last time, doing a gear check, making sure his firearms are loaded and free, checking to see if his monoblades recrystallize here, checking his PDA for power and holographic functions.*

Well I see the male to female verser ratio is absolutly horrid, with that aside if this is what I think this is, the best weapon is a keen mind.

*nods to Oak*

As for our capabilities, I'm sure once we get a deeper understanding of why we are here, we can start show and tell. Although looking at most of us I am not looking forward to the swimsuit part of the program, let me tell you.

*grins*

Lucas pulls back his hood to get a good look at the other versers present.
 "Wow, I've never seen this many versers in my entire existence. Hi, eh, all."
He looks around the clearing and pulls forth a small book and leafs through the pages. The cover reads 'Binas: Beta Sciences Almanac 2005'.
 "Hmmmm, yes, I'd say this is a temperate zone. Can I take a moment to test my equi... Since when do wolves climb trees?"

I test whether or not if my laser-rifle, cell-phone, watch, magnet and pocket-knife-flashlight still work.
This message was last edited by the player at 13:33, Tue 02 Dec 2008.

I stand before everyone, smiling at seeing some familiar faces, frowning at seeing others.

Still, I raise my hand in greeting when suddenly my legs buckle, and I fall to the ground.  The dog next to me, a husky, also falls to the ground in pain.  I grope at my legs with one arm while holding Kox's (the husky) head with my other.

I try to get a smile through and say, "Well, Tom, it looks like teleporting us here wasn't as effective as I had hoped."

I look to the wolf and struggle through the the pain to say, "I can talk to the wolf over there in a second, but for now does anyone know how to set broken bones?  My pup and I ran into a nasty bout with a terminator and need some healing.  I'd rather set the bones in my legs first before healing, to make sure they heal up correctly.  So, can I get any help, then?"  I'll smile through the pain to those around me.

PM  :)

EDIT: No real need for this to be private any more, I suppose...  :)

[ Private to Playtester: Did my medical training aboard the Mary Piper include how to set broken bones?  :) ]



This message was last edited by the GM at 22:09, Tue 02 Dec 2008.

Oak,

No response on CU2 or the Ring.

Your prayer is answsered. Clarity fills thoughts, and fortune seems to hover in the air.

Looking with the Sight, you see Amanda's aura glows more brightly and she has a planet orbitting her head. Amused and curious, you look on the rest. Avahur has a bloody sword like the one you saw before floating over his head, and on his back is a raging fire in the shape of a sword. Looking at the injured giant-sized Husky, you see a Wolf standing in its same space and it looks back at you with enough force that you feel like you've been clouted in the head.

Looking further, the statues also radiate force, and the mound makes you feel extremely nauseas as does the wolf in the tree.  Theres something horribly wrong with the wolf.

Avahur,

Ajax responds in your mind.

*Don't kill them, unless you're curious as to what Ares does to people who tick him off. From what I hear, the Greek gods have a really vicious sense of humor. So unless you want to spend the next hundred years as a spider, or having your liver eaten out daily... However, if you want to kill someone, the female has a power source in her heart, a shard, I'd love to absorb that.*

Jhiaxus,

You pull your blades free, and they do recrystallize. Your PDA is an inert lump. It doesn't even flash '12:00' or anything.

Lucas,

It does indeed look temperate. Wolves don't climb trees as far as you know.

It hears you, and leaps out of the tree,a nd vanishses into the forrest.

Your laser rifle has eight shots. How are you testing it? It doesn't have any meters or screens. Its a very simple, rugged survival camp oriented device with a few strange hooks on it, and a belt so you can sling it on your back. Your cell phone is non-functional, totally. Your flashlight considers working, and then does. Your pocket knife part of the ensemble seems to work a tiny bit more awkwardly than you're used to, but nothing you can't get used to.

Krillis,

Sweat is breaking out on his face. Its clear despite the brave front he's putting on that he's in considerable pain.  He looks like he just got in a serious fight.

His husky is about four hundred pounds, and its laying down whimpering.

Oak.
Yes it did. It also included how to cut legs off with a bone saw.

PT

*looks around at Krillis, and the Husky whining and walks over*

Well, you look like you can use a little pick me up.

*put a hand on both of them, and try a healing spell like I saw from the cleric from the gamemastah's trap, figure this is as good as world as any to try to build up my magic*

Rise and be healed, by the power of Greyskull I have the power!

*see if it works after someone sets his bones*

Jhiaxus
This message was last edited by the GM at 15:54, Tue 02 Dec 2008.

Tom has been studying basic humanoid biology for quite some time, so while that might not apply to medicine, he can make sure that they are set in the proper fashion.  He will also invoke his last stored 'medium' healing prayer if Jhiaxus's doesn't work.

He won't as easily be able to help Kox because he doesn't know much about basic canine bone structure.

After Krillis and Kox are healed, Tom says, "Alright.  As I've mentioned before, my name is Tom Day.  This is my seventh or eighth world depending on how you count transitions.  The world back before this one that I arrived in was a futuristic world far in Earth's future.  Humanity has reached a point of stagnation and are being judged for their rightful place in galactic civilization by a review board of aliens.

The way they do this is basically to put people in a school situation and watch what they do.  Long story short, I arrived as they arrived and worked to help them.  Humanity barely managed to pass the first phase of the test, but they were doing alright until the next phase, which involved interacting with a coalition of alien species that encountered other alien species.  One of these were Catapillar Ants.  They're a bunch of nasty little %%@#$@#ers that can create a bunch of chemicals at random.

Through treason, they managed to get some humans on their side and nearly managed to destroy or enslave all of the human faction there, but they were discovered and stopped.  I believe ultimately, humanity and its allies will win there, but its going to be a nasty fight.

I prayed about the situation, and felt inspired to use an alien artifact called 'the Unknown Door' which brought me here.  Wasn't sure about why at first, so I milled about a town for a while, getting the local lay of the land until I learned that the local Duke is willing to gather a crusade full of humans to go back through the door to fight the evil alien scum.

I found that there is a guy called Warreth, an archmage, who can do the job, but he's getting weak, so he can only send so many.  He suggested an artifact called the City in a Gem, which will let me bring a lot of people back through the Unknown door instead of a few.

I then began to see where I could find info on where one of these artifacts was, and was sent by these people called the Crystal Sidhe, to this spot.  I'd been warned in a prophesy by a good necromancer named Morrigan that I'd be at a spot like this and to use the ring that brought you all here.  I had no idea what it would do.

Upon being sent to the area by the Crystal Sidhe, I found a local village being ravaged by wolves in their fields.  I pretended to be a sage to get the lay of the land, and then headed out here.  On the way here I ran into a bunch of psychotic wolves, who proved very vulnerable to bullets, a psychotic tree person, who I assume was either a lunatic druidess or a corrupted dryad, who proved rather vulnerable to grenades, several animated trees and a giant thorn monster who were rendered temporarily harmless by the exploded dryad.

The nature of the world is polytheistic and very high magic.  Technology that seems to work includes the printing press, air rifles, and chemically propelled explosives.  Advanced biological structures don't seem to work, but basic 20th century norm does.  I haven't even tried psionics, but my mind shield works.

Magical feats that I know work include resurrection, teleportation, interdimensional travel and probably reality alteration if this fits the genre tropes at all.  Both arcane and divine magic seem to work fairly reliably.  I do not know what is inside of this mound, but it is clear from the architecture that these figures have been placed here as a ward and a warning, so before we deal with anything inside of the mound, we should investigate the figures, potentially to ask permission to kill whatever it is.

Anything that requires this many Versers to kill it is probably titanic in scope, so I'm expecting either a lair or a gigantic dungeon complex.  If it is a dungeon complex, its Tomb of Horrors level in lethality given that it involves multiple versers, which means working together as a cohesive unit is paramount to our success.

I hope that helps information wise.  I will, of course, answer any questions I can."

Hadrian smiled radiantly, so much so that his dimples threatened to pop out of his face. This was more or less what he had hoped for when he accepted Cristophe's offer - other verser, and a chance to thoroughly interrogate them for information pertaining to versing.

He nodded toward Avahur, who was the only one there he actually knew.

"Sorry, I never did catch your name before swordsman.

Things went as well as could be expected. After you took care of Gluttony I shattered Greed's soul into a thousand pieces, ripped Lust out of her human host and prevented their attempted summoning of Satan himself. Then I died and went to horror movie-land, so all in all I came out of it rather poorer."

He trodded over to Krillis, gave him a polite nod then bent down beside the dog. He had set bones before, but not on dogs. At first he did nothing more serious than stroke the wounded canine to calm it. He remembered reading a book about animal anatomy, and conjured up several illustrations of dog bone and muscle structure in his mind. When the dog was sufficiently still he gave a quick examination of it's legs and tried to compare the images in his head as best he could to the superficial impression he got of the husky's broken bones. He stroked the dog gently to console him, waited until the others were done healing, or attempting to heal, Krillis, then set the bone right before they did the same to the dog, to minimize the amount of pain it had to endure.

With that hopefully over with Hadrian got back up, put his hands in his pockets and listened to Day and looked around at the immediate area and his fellow versers.

"Well," he said once Day had finished explaining their purpose in being there, "it sounds to me like a very straightforward dungeon crawl.

First impression is that this looks like some kind of burial mound, with the statues erected, as Day suggested, most likely to seal the evil in and keep people out. It's obviously working, because the evil we are here to defeat seems either content with, or restricted to using its influence and will to corrupt the nearby area. If this thing is anything from conventional mythology the statues might provide clues as to what it is, in which case I will probably be able to tell you more."
This message was last edited by the player at 18:36, Tue 02 Dec 2008.

*Very visibly shutters as he hears the words.*

****.

Looking over to Hadrian..

My name is Avahur.

The girl eh?  I don't really care about what the gods might say...  Vicious sense of humor?  Ares doesn't bother me, neither does Thanatos, I've dealt with both of them before, and they both know that I'm a very capable warrior.

What type of source are you referring to?

*laughs*

ToH, damn you guys are hosed, luckily you have a Hackmaster Wurld Champion with you. Autographs 10 dollars, Photos 50 dollars.

*winks to the girl*

How you doin?

Jhiaxus

"Well the good news is that since this is the real world, the nonsensical and insane auto deaths that gave Gygax giggles are likely to be missing.  On the other hand, since this is probably actually designed to kill people, there won't really be an underlying sense of fairness...which is why cheating as much and as often as possible by working outside of the box will be our best way through this thing.

I'm considering how best to investigate the statues.  Probably divine magic.
"
This message was last edited by the player at 21:13, Tue 02 Dec 2008.

When I see Hadrian approaching, I'm at first cautious to allow him to touch Kox; however, I'll let him and wisper to Kox in dogtalk.  --It's okay, he's just trying to help.  Try not to move too much and let them help us.  We really showed that robot, though, buddy...--

Then, I'll gesture nod for Hadrian to go ahead and help Kox out.  I'll allow anyone who approaches to set my legs and do whatever healing they can on me.  I'll allow the green healing energy inside of me to resonate outside of skin-level once my legs are set.  I'll focus most of the healing energy on my legs.

I'll be touching Kox at the time and attempt to resonate the healing energy through his body as well, once Hadrian does what he can for the dog.

I struggle to talk, or I'll talk normally if the pain stops.  "I think it's probably time to go over our abilities with one another.  I think I can trust at least most of you with the information.

Magically, I'm proficient with fire and water.  With the fire, I can also use it close-range for explosions or even just raise the heat of the area.  I'm able to generate both fire and water.  I can protect myself from fire or lightning, talk to animals, block magic and speedcast."  I pull out a knife with some runes on it, "I can Call Fury Down with this," I pull out a stick and say, "and I can Reveal Bane Spirit with this.  Also, I can Break an Enchantment of Sleep.  It's probably irrelevant, but I can create a sorceror's broom with magic as well."

I put my hand to my face for a moment, thinking.  "Physically, I'm really good with my legs when they're not broken.  I can run on walls well and use that for attacking as well.  I can walk softly at a half-step pace and I was in a world where I had to deal with micro-gravity for a little while.

I've also recently been practicing psionics.  I can create a mental block and read emotions and surface thoughts.  What might be important is that recently I've actually been practicing mental domination.  I'm able to command people psionically to do things.

While I also know how hydrogen and nuclear fuel systems work, I doubt that'll come in handy; however...this might."

I'll pull my backpack over to me.  "I'm willing to share this with the entire group to improve the proficiency of the group..."

Inventory
-Food: 1 pack of Granola Bars, 1 Box of Cornflakes, 1 Candybar
-Melee-Weapons: 1 Vibrowire Knife, 1 Switchblade, 1 Club
-Guns: 2 Plasma Pistols (one in chest holster), LaseTek Pistol, .18 Pistol
-Bags: School Backpack, Hiking Pack
-Medical: 1 Medical Kit
-Books: Gray Magic Book, Geometric Algebra Book, Bohmian Mathematics Book, Physics Book, Esper Booklet
-Tools: Diamong Glass-Cutter, Flashlight, Lift-EZ (grapling think attached to hip), StickForever (some adhesive), Cube of "Happy Dust" (probably a sweetener), Normal School Supplies (notebooks, pencils)
-Jewelry (in case anyone can imbue them with magic): Necklace of Amber Stones, Necklace of Turquoise Stones, Long Strand of Pearls, Turquoise Ring, Silver Ring

"Also, there's this."  I take out the white crystal I picked up off of Devlin.  "I know it's got some special property, supposedly telekinesis, but I haven't unlocked it yet."

"Is anyone willing to offer their mind for a moment to see if I can actually read emotions in this world?"

Oak, you set his legs with your twenty minutes of training, and Day, it seems to be okay.  Jhiaxus, your voice echoes around the clearing, and his legs mend. Krillis, your power flows into your legs and your body, and your bruises start to dissappear and then the aches.  You then direct the power into Kox who in a minute is standing up.

He shrinks back to his normal husky fairly mature puppy size.

Avahur,

*Just so long as its clear I advised against it so when Ares uses your guts to string a bow, I'm not responsible. That said, I'd like to kill them all. The girl, I'm not sure what her power is, only that its some sort of attachment to one of the Greater Powers second or third hand, but when you're talking about beings who can unmake dimensions with a single word, third hand is plenty close enough.*

Ajax pauses.

*I think you're assuming the gods are reasonable people. Clotho got turned into a spider for being a better weaver than Athena, and Athena, by the tales is more reasonable and sensible than most of her kin."

OOC: 1@3 Leg Setting for Oak, and 1@1 for Day, and 1@1 Heal Major Damage for Jhiaxus, and +@1 Psi Healing (new use) for Krillis.  The prayer of blessing was definitely useful.

"After getting my body snatched from me on a world, I've been working on some ways to keep others out.. care to try it on me, so I can give it a shot to keep you out?  Assuming it works?  And if it doesn't work, meh.  Still, if you want to try to read surface thoughts go ahead, although I'm sure you might be able to figure them out without trying."

I move over towards Krillis while everyone is taking care of their own business and assisting and such.

After setting Krillis' broken legs, I give him a gentle reassuring pat.  Once healed, I help him up to his feet.

"I follow the LORD.  He has used me in various ways in many worlds, sometimes manifesting more subtly, and others more overtly powerful.  In Gygax's worldview, I would be a cleric, rather than a mage.  Through His power, I have healed myself and others, seen the true nature of my surroundings, banished demons, and befriended dragons."

"My own gifts are more of mind than body, though I do have some training in the ways of the samurai, and in kung fu.  With my mind, I have looked into past and future, seen and sensed from afar, controlled emotions, mentally dominated and possessed foes at great distances, teleported near and far, and TKed orbiting space stations.  I also have momentary glimpses of superintelligent insight, a remnant of a time when I was temporarily upgraded into a superintelligence by technological means."

"I also have some useful technology, but it does not seem to function in this world."

"This world seems to be one where the LORD's manifestations are more overtly powerful.  I prayed a silent prayer of blessing for us shortly after introducing myself, and can tangibly feel the effect.  I perceive the statues radiating force, and also a nauseating sense of wrongness from both the mound and from that wolf in the tree when we arrived."

With Avahur volunteering himself in response to Krillis' request, I look at the latter's white telekinesis crystal with my Sight.  If it doesn't register as malevolent, I experimentally attempt to gently TK it into my hand.

I then experimentally stretch out my Sight and my clairvoyant and telepathic senses into the surrounding forest to see if there are any further signs of wolves or other presences...