In the city of Gitbin, magic is widely accepted and encouraged. But that doesn't mean it's widely practiced. The four spiraling towers that reach higher than the other buildings in Gitbin are competing schools and have their own ideas of how to compete. All of them agree to not just take anyone in. Rich people are able to pay their way in, though, and so it's a given that nobles are magic users one way or another.

The schools:

Black School - This school focuses on making magic more destructive and rumors speak of them even condoning necromancy to some degree, though they deny it and nobody has shown any evidence of it. The results can not be argued, though, as their students wind up a deadly force when they go adventuring.

Blue School - This school focuses on the mechanics of magic, its history and stuff. Of course, the mud flinging of other schools accuse the Blue School of teaching its students about forbidden magics, such as those used in Bael Turath. While they deny such specifically, they have been quoted as saying, "Even if it were true, it is our duty to spread knowledge in the name of Ioun." This school has been the most liberal in student acceptance.

Red School - This school tries to balance everything and teach everything, offering extra curricular in every topic, be it destruction, utility or aid. However, it also has the distinguishing boast that this school can teach its students how to learn magics from one's opponent. The bad rumors about this school involve saying that they supposedly collect blackmail on the other schools. But so little proof supports this as the other schools seem to continue bashing the Red School as though they had no blackmail.

White School - This school focuses on aid. How do you enhance the growth of your garden? Heal someone's scratch with magic? Or make armor more durable? This school boasts having more rituals at its disposal than the others, but its student body is the fewest. Interestingly, the worst rumors about this school is that the student body would be the most likely to run during a city invasion. Of course, other rumors such as them withholding aid from people unless paid as a "protection racket" of sorts.


School is out for the day and Quelenna is exiting the red school. She is wearing the red robes of a 1st level graduate. With a smile, hugging her spellbook, wand at her side, she turns her head to look in the direction of each school as they are all in view of each other due to being at each corner of the city and being the tallest. With confidence, Quelenna begins walking towards the center of town.

A magic hover-car wooshes up to her and halts just in front of her. The girl driving the car is her step mother, who is an artificer. "Hey there, Lenna-babe." the way-too-young-to-be-Quel's-mom eladrin lady says, "Your dad says to come home. Says it's important."

Quelenna hugs her book a little tighter and lightly shrugs a shoulder in a minor cringe as her expression turns to one of light annoyance. "I'll walk."

"He said it's urgent. Please don't argue this time around? He needs you there ASAP. Look... it isn't me askin', it's him askin'. I'm just the messenger..."

Quelenna sighs heavily and gets into the hover-car. The step-mom smiles and scoots her goggles down to cover her eyes while handing Quelenna a pair. Quelenna puts 'em on reluctantly and the car zooms off, causing Qualenna to let out a stifled scream.

(OOC: Please gimme some idea where your characters are, their daily routine, and what they are currently up to so I can get our characters together. Also, feel free to presume your character knows the following characters: Honey, Mara-Kai, Meriele, Quelenna.)

Gale is a graduate of the Blue School, and is at the library as usual.  Nothing much going on with her.  Occasionally flipping a page is all.

Jake is among the youngest graduates of the White School, and is enjoying a walk with his familiar, Robbie T. Trashcan.

"Arf Arf!" Mr. Trashcan arfs.

"You said it," Jake agrees, "Let's see if we can find anything fun going on."

  Hoal is of the Blue School persuasion.  While one could claim this should be of little surprise, only his studious nature and previous history with Ioun establishments would hint at this.  Swordmage arts are clearly on the Black School's destructive arts end of things.  While the Red School's balanced, study your opponent's mindset would be equally at home with such.

  In fact, the only safe assumption would have been to say 'White School, nowhere near what Hoal would touch' out of the lot of them.  But now we're into transparent Post padding territory so, on to actual character related content!

  Like a certain human Mage, Hoal is also in the library along with his Sister Mara-Kai.  Returning a tome regarding Eladrin Longsword technique.  No, he didn't check the thread title.  It's just that a good chunk of Longsword extras are Eladrin related, Eladrin's all know how to use them, and Hoal himself favors a longsword.

  Incidentally, Hoal is returning the book partly out of shame because after four days studying Pact Blades he realized how completely useless that was.  Not because they only work with an Eladrin's Warlock powers, but because a Swordmage can use any blade as an implement, so in your face Eladrin Warlocks.  Nevermind Rods have many more practical for warlock enchantments.

  Where were we? Besides in the library.  "There is always some part of me that feels study becomes redundant after a certain point.  We have been raised in a studious environment, and have just departed classes. Am I here out of habit, rather than true pursuit of knowledge?"  He turns to his sister and adds, "Or would I be over thinking things once more?"

  Mara-Kai's insight was always good source of advice on these matters.  Unless she had been misleading him all these years of course.

OOC Style: Due to the Genasi race listing of 'They are all bald, their "hair" is magical special effects related to their element', I keep imagining Mara-Kai as having a stream for hair for her, well stream of hair.

Mara-kai looks over at Hoal. Irony, since girls are shorter than guys, generally speaking, the older sister is shorter than Hoal now that the two are done all the growing they will be doing in this lifetime.

Unless one of them gets the "Eternal Defender" epic destiny. Which is highly unlikely.

After all this ado over a few inches difference, Mara-kai answers her brother with a reassuring tone, "Pursuit of knowledge is one of the key elements of life. Without it, we are do not improve. Even the beasts of the forest learn and grow." she then goes to a more upbeat tone in her voice and says, "But you are right... we need a break from the books. I'm positive even Ioun takes breaks. So... burgers?"

Upon passing Gale, idle curiosity grips her and she glances at the book Gale is reading to see what it is. As she passes near Gale, the human can feel light humidity and even the "sprinkled water-drops" sensation one gets wading through a fog. But only briefly and not annoyingly.

OOC: Mara's hair IS meant to be a mini waterfall. So you imagine correctly.

A friend of Jake's from around comes over to him. Some 14-year-old half-elf. In surfer-dude accent, he says, "Hey Jake. If you're looking for excitement, you should totally check out center square. There's some doomsday dwarf there giving a speech about protecting the planet and stuff, ha-hah...." that was a surfer-dude laugh. Not a "how silly" laugh.

Meanwhile, at all the schools, anyone passing a DC 10 straight intelligence check will notice the fey regulars, such as elves, eladrin and gomes are... amazingly absent. Like only one or two sticking around.

Gale briefly panics from the idea of water damage to the book she's reading and snaps it shut.  She looks around for the source of such moisture and spots one of her Blue School classmates she's seldom seen or associated with.  Water genasi.  Gale lets out a sigh of relief.

"'No worries, Gale,'" she quotes to herself, "'A fire genasi's elemental manifestation is harmless to books unless a book decides to attack them.'  So says the Librarian.  'The same holds true of the elemental manifestations of the other genasi.'"

She clears her throat and offers a handshake and awkward smile.

"I'm sorry.  My name's Gale.  Blue School graduate.  I panicked for the sake of this book.  I felt water."

---

"Thanks, dude!" Jake answers his buddy with a smile and nod, "Wunna go with?"

"Yes."

"I was asking... both of you.  Yeah."

Regardless of answer, he heads for center square.

"Where's all the fey type people today?  Some kinda holiday I hadn't heard about going on?  Or maybe at the doom dwarf rally?"

  Hoal nods in agreement with Mara-Kai, "One can hardly learn or relax when in need of nourishment."  Following after his Sister.  When her presence causes such a startled reaction from Gale, he says "I apologize if we startled you.  I am Hoal, this is my sister Mara-Kai, also of the Blue School."

  Hoal finds himself idly wondering if the presence of his sister or another Water Manifestation would be a comforting, or mocking presence in a desert.  "Considering your reasoning for such a reaction though, I can hardly fault concern for the safety of written lore."
This message was last edited by the player at 10:47, Tue 22 Mar 2011.

At the center square is a dwarf who has a crazed look to his eyes. "Prepare yourselves! The time is near! This world will never be the same! I implore you! The mountains have been silent! The rocks have been barren!"

"Rocks are ALWAYS barren, ya loony."

"If you were a dwarf, you'd understand what I mean. But to put it in terms you understand, where coal SHOULD be, it no longer is. When rocks SHOULD be solid, they crumble to dust."

"Yeah yeah..."

Very unsupportive crowd of people. VERY few of which are Fae. One of which is Quelenna. She steps out of the hover-car dizzy and her step mom seems a little entranced by the loony dwarf. "OK... I know dwarves are an odd bunch, but this is entirely too much." she says with a snicker.

Quelenna says, "Yeah, well... I'm here. So I'mma go see my dad." She goes towards her house, which happens to be at center square. The house EXPLODES, sending Quelenna flying a bit and causing the crowd to scream and panic.

Mara-Kai nods in agreement with her brother. "Yes. Apologies. I did not mean to startle..."

The sound of the explosion can be heard from the schools. Including where Gale and them are. "Oh my.." Mara says before rushing to a window to look. "The center square! There is a house there on fire!"

Jake was listening intently to the Dwarf's talking of rocks crumbling when KABOOM!  He winces, covering his ears.  Robbie starts running around in circles with his arms in the air.

"AAAAH!" he screams, "PANIC!"

"Calm down, Robbie!" Jake says, "People might be hurt and need us!  Let's go!"

He rushes in the direction of the blast.

---

"Nice to meet y.."KABOOM!

Gale jumps to her feet!

"Please excuse me," she says as politely as possible while rushing for the door, "People may be in need."

  Hoal considers, then quickly dismisses methods of reaching outside faster.  While it would definitely take less time than traveling through doors, halls, and stairways,  popping out of existence and back into it past the walls would still leave him a few stories up.

  "Excuses are hardly need in this situation Gale."  He comments as he runs after Gale.  "One can only hope as few people were harmed as possible in the blast."

Hooray for entering the scene late, but he wouldn't have it any other way.  It was just who he is after all.  Show up to put on an impressive display of heroics to get all the oohs and aahs from the rest of the party to be before even introductions could happen.

Making his way towards the scene of the explosion, he stands there in his plate armor, wielding his rather signature hammer, he simply waits for everyone else to arrive before really doing anything else.

Quelenna gets up and looks at the house. She is stunned for a moment, but hurries towards the house soon after. Her step-mom rushing after her. "Quel!" she yells, but the step-mom is not heard.

Ryujin would see a young boy and now two young women rushing into the burning building.

Once inside, whoever went in the building would see the support beams fallen and various things around the house on fire. There is so much smoke, though, that it's more dark than light. There is an eladrin man trapped under a support beam that seems to be catching fire. The man is unconscious.

Regardless of whether Jake beats her there, Quelenna yells, "Father!" and rushes to grab the beam, but is having a tough time lifting it. Her step-mom comes into the room soon after, covering her mouth and coughing. "Quel? Quel! There you are!" she hurries over to Quelenna and gasps, only to cough some more. "Aramil!" more coughing.
This message was last edited by the player at 16:21, Sun 27 Mar 2011.

Mara-Kai rushes after Gale, "Maybe we can form a bucket brigade." she suggests. The two will take a while to get to the center square. Soon, the group exit the school. There is a carriage there, waiting.

Figure this round, they get to a taxi. Next round, they get to the square.

"Robbie help!" Robbie says, "Robbie help!"

The metal familiar tries to help lift the beam but can't seem to budge it.

"Stay low, you two," Jake tells the women, "Smoke rises and can make you pass out.  I know how to move that beam.  With rope!  First thing's first, though.  Pour this healing potion into his mouth."

He offers a healing potion to Quelenna.  If she takes it, he then opens his backpack to take out some rope.

---

"Good idea, Mara-Kai," Gale answers.

She hops into the taxi carriage.  "Center square as fast as possible, please," she asks the driver.
This message was last edited by the player at 02:46, Mon 28 Mar 2011.

  While neither Mara-Kai or himself are of a more fire oriented manifestation, they both had  Fire resist 5 through differing means.  There was a likelihood they would need it soon.  As the three of them board the Taxi Cart, he turns to Gale and says "Yourself and any other trained Wizards in the area would be most effective there, as your Mage Hand cantrips could bring water closer to the source of the flames safely."

  Mage Hand! Punch out fire with Cantrip! Yeaaaaaah!

Seeing the house burning, it was almost instinctual for him to rush inside and check for any survivors and try to get them out.  Trying to lift beams proved to be a more difficult task than he had imagined initially, but with his hammer to use as a wedge, he hoped that he could make some headway and hopefully get everyone out to safety before he himseld needed rescuing.

Hang on!  I'll get you out of here!  He yelled, trying to find the voices and when Quel came in, he immediately ran to help her.  Two pairs of hands were definately better than one pair anyday.

Quelenna takes the potion and pours it into her dad's mouth, not really thinking about trust or not. Upon seeing the massive paladin enter, she can't help but think this poor guy is probably going to roast alive in all that armo- ...until she notices the firey eyes and such. OK. The paladin will be fine. "Alright. All at once." the mom says. Quelenna grabs the beam with her mom and Ryujin, then synchronize yank it off Aramil when Jake pulls on the rope. The beam is moved and the group manages to get Aramil out!

Meanwhile, Gale and co arrive at center square in the carriage and Mara-Kai immediately starts forming a bucket brigade. Most are willing to help with THAT, at least.

Gale of course helps out with the bucket brigade as best she can.  Cantrips help a little with getting the water to the blaze without risking singed hair, so score one for Hoal.

Jake is still catching his breath from what little smoke he inhaled.  "Good to see you're alive, mister," he says, "I'm an artificer.  Don't hesitate to say something if you need more healing."

  While it likely would not fully deal with the dangers, at least Mara-Kai and Hoal were both mildly fire resistant (via feat, and armor respectively).  "Thank you Gale, though I believe I will save thanking to further people until after this is over."

  Where is a guy in a fireman helmet handing out fancy extinguisher backpacks when you need them?  Maybe he stopped after people just came by to get a backpack and then never even tried to put out the burning building?

  The Voidsoul approaches the survivor with rescuers group and asks "Were there any others known the be in the house at the time of the blast?"

Yaaay CoX reference from Hoal. Even as Hoal asks if anyone was known to be in the house, a bunch of people come out. Namely the people mentioned in previous posts. "Oh father..." Quelenna swoons. Aramil gets to taking deep breaths of the fresh, smoke-free air. He coughs and says, "Good thing I'm a smoker.. I'm used to inhaling all this smoke." he gives a smile as he continues coughing.

Quelenna can't help but smile. "Father, you silly goose..." she says before turning to the others. "Thank you for your help rescuing my father." then looks at her home. People are already putting the flames out.

Mara-Kai continues moving water to the house, though she is sure to be a lot closer to the source of the water than to the house. Water feel good. Fire feel bad. More so for someone like her. She watches her bro and then sees the people coming out. The person Hoal asked answers, "That's... all of them. I'm positive there was nobody else."

"You're welcome," Gale answers as she continues to help keep the fire under control.

Meanwhile, Jake makes with the healing of people who need it.

"What happened?  What caused the fire?"

  Considering it was Quelenna's house that had exploded, and the entire (known) family was currently outside of the burning remains, the assumption that all are safely not in a burning building is a sound one.

  "A blast of that scale is not likely a naturally occurring one."  The thing about magitech kitchen appliances, is that oddly you have less dangers of a giant movie gas stove explosion.  Unless you're method of cooking was older edition magic wands and the thing broke using every single fireball charge at once or somesuch.

  On that note, Arcana Check time!  With a Religion check just to be on the safe side.  Would 'act of god' actually be covered in DnD setting insurance policies considering them being confirmed and active?  Of course, considering the large percentage of population sporting the Arcane source tag, Hoal is expecting either no such clues (because that would be stupid if any culprit), or such clues to exist only because non-magical means wouldn't get the same results... If they were magical causes at all.

Hoal senses no arcane play in the area that suggests "sudden house combustion".

Jake meant to add to his post "And don't say "an Explosion"...", so we'll skip that confusion for Pete's sake. Pete says, "Thanks!"

Quelenna looks at her father expectantly when Jake asks his question. Aramil says, "I don't know. I wasn't experimenting with explosives or anything. Just writing in my journal."

Mara-Kai says, "This day just gets weirder and weirder. First the lack of Fey in School, now this..."

"This warrants investigation," Gale says, "I don't sense magic at work, so I suggest we leave the poking about for clues to the professionals lest we trample the clues under foot from inexperience in such matters."

"Lack of fey?" Jake asks, "Don't you qualify as fey, miss?  Was there a big fey party you weren't invited to?  Think it has anything to do with doomsday dwarf?"

  "If every doomsayer was responsible for tragedy, then the world would not be standing.  However, I suspect we are lacking even the slightest lead otherwise, true link to events or not."  If this were an edition where it was a casual spell (...is it i 4th ed?), Hoal would ask if Aramil had happened to be writing explosive runes in his journal as a violent anti diary snooping measure.

  Dear Diary, I went to the mall today with the girls and it was fabulous, also, you're a dick for reading thi*BOOM*

Mara-Kai answers Jake, "I don't count as fey. I am elemental." my dear Watson. "What doomsday dwarf?"

Quelenna says, "There was a dwarf here going on about imminent doom. Possibly related..." she looks at her dad and step mom. Aramil goes to hold his wife and daughter close. Aramil speaks quietly, "We should find a more private place to talk about this..." as he begins leading his two ladies off, letting the emergency crew finish with his home.

Gale and Jake are part of said emergency crew at this point.  Gale makes no indication of nosing into another's business, but Jake double-checks.

"Does 'we' include me?" he asks quietly, "And why'd you get all quiet all of a sudden?"

Gale shrugs at Hoal.  "Following leads sounds like a job for law enforcement.  I'm a scholar with scholarly curiosity.  While I'd be interested in what's behind all this mystery, I don't want to get in the way of the authorities.  If we're to look into this, we should probably check with them first."

  Hoal suspects less than selfless reasons for why Aramil would desire to discuss such matters in public.  Unless this was one of those weird 'doesn't want to alarm anyone' things he could never quite grasp the point of.  "I would suggest you come along regardless Jake.  This may be something he only speaks of once for all we know, better to hear it from the source."

  At Gale's suggestion, he says "If it were Aramil that held answers, then the authorities would have none for us.  However, he has narrowly avoided death.  If there was a chance of further danger to himself, then explaining what he knows in the presence of the authorities would likely be safer for him."
This message was last edited by the player at 05:14, Tue 21 June 2011.

That's because Hoal hasn't been in a riot before. And even if he dodged it, he'd have a dead sister on his hands. Hopefully, though, the story will make the others matter almost as much (right now, they are all just acquaintances)

Aramil nods to Jake and upon Hoal suggesting Aramil might be safer with the authorities, Aramil thinks on it. "There is one I trust. Let's go to her." to Jake he says, "You will find out soon enough why I was being quiet."

Quelenna and Mara-Kai follow along to the authorities.

When the group arrives, Aramil goes to Officer Bordeceli. We know her as Bridget. Aramil says, "I need to speak with you privately about a problem that is going on in this city." So Bridget takes the group to a room.

Aramil explains, "The fey have been called to the Feywild. All of us. And the rulers of the Feywild have come to a very dire decision. They plan to attack the Prime Material plane... this is... this world. Unfortunately, if I said this out loud, people may have immediately considered me, my wife, my daughter, and anyone they decide to mistake as fey to be enemies. A riot would occur and we would be dead."
This message was last edited by the player at 04:02, Thu 23 June 2011.

"Attack the Prime Material?" Jake asks in obvious confusion, "What in the world for?  And what makes them think they'll succeed?"

"I doubt this man was given details on their specific tactics for victory," Gale says, "And I could rattle off plenty of reasons for them attack, but it would be helpful if you let us know what reasons they told you that diplomacy wouldn't work.  And thank you for letting us know.  Think this might be connected to the explosion at your house?"

  "If I were to guess, possibly when it comes to the various realms the Prime Material is both full of potential hazards to any, as well as the one that poses the least risk in assaulting compared to ones such as the elemental chaos or astral sea.  If a scapegoat plane was needed, they would find much less willing to follow orders to attack places such as those."

  Anyone want to attack a numbered hell?
  Boooooo!
  Okay, how about a peasant village?
  Yaaaaay!

  "As your house has already been destroyed, with you inside of it, I somehow thing we are beyond the point where keeping your family from being a target is an option.  Although I can understand the desire to prevent further risks to them.  Though I am curious, what were your rulers stance on Half-Elven and the like?  Or those with no Fey decent who have pacts with Fey entities?"

  Who let this Tiefling in here!?  He works for one of our gods sir.
This message was last edited by the player at 05:21, Wed 22 June 2011.

Aramil says, "I was likely targeted by my own kind because I didn't feel the reasons given to attack this world were justified enough. But I will tell you those reasons: The head prophet of the Feywild foresaw the whole of the Feywild decimated by the people of the Prime Material. He even saw you folks destroying your own world in the process... and all this for power. The Fey council believes if they don't strike your world first, the Feywild is doomed to die. They wish to invade, conquer, and maybe with luck, preserve your world."

Bridget says, "You realize, of course, most authorities of this world will not simply take your word for it."

Aramil says, "Yes... and worse still, a few of your authorities will hope it to be true so they can profit from the upcoming war. But I have nothing beyond my eye-witness account as proof. Even if I had managed to keep a recording of the events, my house was blown to pieces and set on fire."

Quelenna looks at Hoal and then to Aramil and says, "Well I didn't know about this... and I'm fey. So Hoal asks a valid question: Who knows about this and who will be involved?"

Aramil says, "I honestly am not sure. The reason you weren't involved is because I made sure you weren't."

Quelenna rubs her arm. Her step-mom looks saddened.

Aramil says, "The prophecy was pretty detailed. Including the extinction of many races that live on this world."

Jake blink-blinks in shock, not knowing what to say.

Gale nods sagely as if she saw this revelation coming from a mile away.

"And that would explain why they would assume diplomacy is a no-go.  So much irony.  In trying to undo the prophesy, they'll likely be the very reason it comes true.  Even if they succeed in preventing the predicted future, they'll have made their most trusted prophet a liar.  While your own kind attacking you is a likely possibility, there's no evidence it really was them, is there?  Best not to jump to conclusions right now.  But I'm glad you came to the conclusion that their response to this prediction was a bad one.  Any idea how long before this prophesy will come to pass?

"Officer.  In the event that the authorities are in need of a scholar who happens to be a beginning level illusionist, I am at your disposal."

"And an inventor who happens to be a beginning artificer," Jake adds.

  "A widely sweeping threat, if there ever was one.  However such vagueness in the means of destruction or reason of cause make it hard to take seriously if not for the fact your leaders are already taking hostile action.  For a prophecy so detailed, we have been given next to none of them.  Through no fault of your own if such was kept from you.  If you do know the means by which this realm would destroy itself however, it may be best to seek this out.  Wars will ever be part of life.  Realm shattering events by their very nature, are one time occurrences."  While sound logic,  Hoal may be taking the wrong plot hook.

Aramil says, "I think the prophecy included a form of magic called "Defiling Magic" that was able to suck life out of the immediate area. It was more powerful than other magic, so those who used it began over-using it and destroying all life around them. As to who discovered defiling magic or where, they did not say. I'm unsure what other details you wish you knew, but it's almost unheard of for a prophecy to provide the details on how something comes about. Just that it does. I could sit here and tell you what races will become extinct, but I'm unsure how useful that would be."

Bridget says, "At the least, it would give the authorities a good idea who to give warning to."

Aramil says, "Very well... Kobolds, ogres, Trolls, orcs, gnomes, wemics, lizard men, pixies, goblins... those were the ones listed. And according to prophecy, it was part of some "cleansing" crusade. Good luck warning them."

Bridget says, "We'll find a way. Meanwhile, I suggest you bunch prepare yourselves. Any of you who just offered to help, your first mission is going to be warning those races listed."

Quelenna nods and says, "Most of those races are known for being mostly populated by ruthless or evil people. But extinction? That's overboard. Heck, I've heard of good orcs before. But I *know* lots of gnomes and pixies are good. We'll start with them."

Gale rubs her chin.

"Now the attack on one of their own is making more sense, assuming that is indeed what happened.  If word of this defiling magic got out, it would accelerate efforts to discover it.  Not surprising that they would assume prime material types to be more likely to make use of life-sucking magic.  Especially as a weapon to defend themselves against a feywild invasion.  So in a way, this is a clue into the possibility that they are aware that their actions could spark the very thing that they are trying to prevent.  I'm sure phrases such as 'Necessary risk' were used in their debates.  No doubt there are individuals who are using this prophesy as an excuse to advance their own agendas.

"Starting with gnomes and pixies sounds like a good approach.  Meanwhile I would recommend inviting some of the magic professors to send animal messengers to the other less inviting races to give them warning."

Gale takes out a map and points out the nearest gnome/pixie community.  If it looks like everyone's ready to go, she heads out and leads the way.
This message was last edited by the player at 15:18, Mon 18 July 2011.

  "I suspect such a task may be beyond us, though such a fact does not mean the little we can reach deserve no warning." One of the easiest ways to negate 'All is meaningless in the grand scheme' thought processes Hoal starts to go through, is to remember that he wouldn't exactly do much of anything if he took philosophical views quite so literally.

  But yes.  Warn entire species of impending threats and Doom.  In person.  Maybe there was an opening to kick Grumsh in the ground instead, that sounded much more easily accomplished.

  "I am uncertain about the true threat of this prophesised defiling magic.  While such methods would clearly be a risk to the world if overused, if they were truly that much stronger to merit that overuse then how could it's wielders have not succeeded long before the world is reduced to ruin?"  Hoal will follow along with his Sister regardless.

OOC Style:  Ah, good ol plot magics.  Defiling Magic! Oh so Uber!  Enslave the world!  Wow! It must have some great powers and bonuses, what can our players do with it?...  Reroll an Arcane Attack roll for Day powers only, must take second result, and automatic irresistible HP Surge damage to allies within a huge radius... Uh...  That sucks.  A lot.  Who would even use this?

  I also just realized,  Dragonborn take more damage to defiling than other Races then, due to their buffed Surge value.
This message was last edited by the player at 23:55, Mon 18 July 2011.

Aramil answers Hoal, "I do not know. My guess? You kill the farmer, his farm dies. Kill a community, the city falls to ruin. Kill a dozen entire races into extinction... the world begins to die."

Bridget gives the group a map to the nearest gnomish community. "Go speak with the leaders there." she then stamps the map with something. "Show them this seal to prove what you mean is officially acknowledged by this city."

Warning a whole race is easier than you might think. Word can spread amazingly fast. Just ask any middle/high school student.

When the team is ready to head out, they are provided a horse-drawn wagon and the driver offers basic lessons on how to drive while en route. Aramil takes his wife and goes with the group, claiming he'll be moving into the gnomish community until things calm down.

"There's also the trouble that once 'success' is accomplished, the 'successful' turn on each other," Gale points out, "All the while those less successful try their darndest to climb that ladder to the top."

Gale accepts the map and bows to Bridget.

"Thanks.  I'll get on that right away."

She studies the map and gladly accepts any lessons offered.

  A refresher course on how to avoid crashing like an idiot and causing injuries to yourself and others is hardly unwelcome.  As travel gets underway, Hoal looks to Quelenna and asks "Shall you be remaining with your family, or continuing on past our first destination?  Neither is a questionable course of action."   Okay, so it's more like both courses of action are questionable when you get down to it.  But the former sounds nicer.

Quelenna glances at Hoal and says, "I plan to travel. It will be dangerous and danger is what I studied in school. So I will be more useful to the mission being with the messengers."

The bunch arrive in the gnome village. There to greet them is the gnome from the 4th-edition flash videos. "Hi there!"

"Hello there, sir," Gale greets with a smile and a slight bow, "My name is Gale.  Me and my associates are representatives from Gitbin City.  We have very urgent news for your leaders.  Would you be so kind as to lead us to them?"

  Clearly a Gnome who appreciated small fuzzy minions.  Hoal makes a note to keep them away from temperamental Tieflings.  "Your efforts will be appreciated Quelenna."  Perhaps some of those future efforts would involve looking into housing for sale for her family.

  What?  It sure beat needing someone to blow up those attempting to kill them.  Because that would imply people try to kill them.

The gnome nods. "Right this way!" he marches off, leading the group to what seems like a throne room of sorts. The guards stop him at every point, but he patiently explains what's going on every time.

Eventually, when the group is in the throne room, a scarey looking gnome who stands a shockingly tall 4' 6", has broad shoulders and seems rather muscular, turns to look at the group. His crown hovers above his head and his clothes have glowing runes that seems to move about. His eyes glow and he has a dour expression. The guide gnome kneels and waits. Another gnome with a powerful and horribly deep voice says, "You may speak!"

The guide gnome then says, "Greetings, m'lord! Guests here to see you!"

Gale of course is very impressed and shows proper respect.  She unrolls the map Bridget gave her and holds up the seal for all to see.

"We are messengers from Gitbin with urgent news, your highness," she explains, "It has come to our attention that the rulers of the Feywild plan to attack the Prime Material plane.  Full scale invasion and conquest.  Already, those who would warn us are being attacked to silence them.  We were sent here first to warn you about the attack."

  Hoal may have been the one to pick up on his Mother's side of the family, but he does make a quick check to ensure Mara-Kai hasn't decided to follow in her footsteps into oblivions.  There's Quiet, and then there is Unmentioned since before their journey began.

  He bows in official if not heartfelt respect, and states "While it would seem unwise for them to partake in any hostile acts towards you, what we have learned so far shows them desperate beyond reason based solely on prediction.  There was no practical purpose to be had for destroying the homes of their own kind if they sought to preserve themselves."

  Seriously.  'Guys!  our Eladrin homes are in danger!  Quick!  Blow up an Eladrin's home!.... Wait.'

Mara-Kai exists, but just hasn't had much to say. "War rarely makes much sense." she comments to Hoal's latest statement.

Quelenna says, "No practical purpose? If your kind faced extinction and your world falling apart, and one genasi, or one human, or one anything on your world was threatening to speed up or ensure the process, that person would be marked for death to save everyone else. Regardless of race."

Mara-Kai says, "You're not defending their actions, are you?"

Quelenna says, "Not at all. Just pointing out that our enemy isn't stupid or incapable of thinking straight. It's dangerous to start thinking your enemy is beneath your reasoning capacity."

Mara-Kai says, "Maybe. But Hoal and I will be expecting the enemy to attack innocents and now know they aren't above killing their own. This will be useful for dirt on them against their own cause."

Quelenna sighs, "You'll have to prove it was them, unfortunately."

Mara-Kai puts an arm around Hoal. "Well whatever happens, as long as we stick together we should be alright."

The spokesperson for the gnome king says, "The king declares his heartfelt gratitude towards you all. He desires for you to tell him who you will be visiting next."
This message was last edited by the player at 13:55, Sat 17 Sept 2011.

"The king is most welcome," Gale answers.

She consults the map.

"Looks like the next nearest community will be the fairies.  They would be the next logical destination."

---

This info of course supplied by the DM.

  "I must admit, the logistics of waging war on an entire plane of existence is not a subject I have deeply researched."   So, would that be a History skill check? or what?  "Though even if they were below one person's reasoning capability, would this not be just as dangerous them being beyond it if you could not understand their reasoning either way?"

  Hoal's default stoicism makes certain exceptions for his Sister, as he returns the gesture.  "Proof of their actions... Will we need as much or as little as what they consider proof to start their attacks, I wonder?"

Quelenna answers Hoal, "Over-estimating an enemy is better than underestimating. Or to put it another way, it is better to have and not need than to need and not have."

Fast-forwarding a little, when the group is ready to head out again, Quelenna says her goodbyes to her dad and even her step-mom. Then heads out with the group towards the fairy country.

The group had been given a gift from the gnome king; a special vial full of some kind of sacred water. They are to hold it up once they arrive, as a sign of coming in peace and not being there to harm anyone. The vial was given to Gale. Mara-Kai seems deep in thought as she gazes at the setting sun. She softly sings, "A swollen sun... melting in the horizon..." she looks at Hoal. "Hoal, do you think everything's going to be OK? Or do you think everything is going to change for the worse? Years from now, will we look back and miss these days?"

Gale shrugs in reply to Mara-Kai.  The question wasn't directed at the wizard, but it's a way to answer anyway without interrupting.

  Quelenna is currently in agreement with Hoal then, so that's nice.  Even if the subject is of the 'people trying to kill us' sort still.  Then Scene transition is go!

  "Any good day is one worthy of being missed, so then is most of our lives together, as will days to come."  Well, that's actually nice.  "For the moment, it is impossible to say if our journeys serve our intended purpose, or if they are a wasted effort as the world changes despite anyone's attempts to prevent it."

  Considering this has been stated to be a prequel thread before, it will be all for nothing when it comes to the world and most everyone dies anyway.  But at least the party will gets some levels out of it...

  Wait, this thread was changed to dice free... Uh...  We'll get back to you.  Man Hoal, every thread you are in eats the dice.  Is that fitting or Ironic for a Voidsoul?

The group arrives at the correct destination. It's easy enough to figure out they don't see any fairies because they need to hold the vial up as told. When Gale holds up the vial, the sacred water glows a little and the fairies begin to come out.

A fairy floats over to Gale, a rainbow trail flowing behind her. She's seemingly twice as big as the other fairies (standard fairy being about the size of your thumb). She speaks in a clear voice, "Welcome. I am Queen Snowform What is the purpose of your visit?"

Once it's explained, Queen Snowform says, "Why would you believe such a thing? What evidence is there?"

---

Just because it's inspired by Dark Sun doesn't mean Dark Sun is destined to happen. Besides, it was only inspired by. This is more a what-if where the Feywild strikes first instead of being annihilated by the Sorcerer Kings' abuse of Defiling Magic.

Also, if this "visit, say same thing all over again" bit seems redundant, don't worry. Each race will have differing reactions and this visit won't be so simple as the last one.
This message was last edited by the player at 22:49, Tue 20 Sept 2011.

"If it please your highness," Gale answers with a bow, "We humbly submit that the reason we are convinced of this news is because it comes from a trustworthy man, this young lady's father, who has little to gain and risks much in telling us.  Proof of just how much risk can be found in the fact that his home was destroyed in an explosion.  A fact that your agents can easily verify.

"The illustrious leader of the gnomes thanked us for the warning and will be making preparations of his own.  The man's who's house was destroyed is now living with the gnomes for fear of racial reprisal from simple people full of fear.  If this message is false, he would have more to fear from the gnome king."

  "We have no intentions of striking out against those we claim mean the world harm.  Not without more easily confirmed reasoning.  However, there is no denying that some force has taken hostile action already.  Whether Fey or otherwise, extra caution for the safety of your people in these times can be of no harm.  If no further incidents occur, claims of 'We told you so' would be an acceptable price."

Quelenna nods and says, "My father's life was in danger because he knew of the prophecy that was told in the Feywild... I am surprised you didn't know already. Of all the people who would have been invited, I would think you would have been."

The queen says, "And what if I told you I already knew the prophecy and that some were trying to stop the Feywild from restoring order? Are you bunch hoping to get in the way of the Feywild?"

---

Occured to me, the queen of the fairies. DUH. She already knew and is likely a supporter of the idea of striking first. XD

Gale was expecting both the Gnome king and the Fairy Queen to be in the know.  Perhaps he was.  It was rather surprising how readily he accepted the news as true.  But this fact is a useful bargaining chip.

"I'm flattered you would suggest our humble efforts may have a significant impact for the better on future events," Gale answers with a bow, "Of course it is our hope that things turn out for the best for everyone, both those of the Feywild and those who live in the Prime Material.  I wouldn't be at all surprised if you had been told of the prophesy, or if you hadn't - given what happened to Quelenna's family.

"As Hoal pointed out, our primary concern is simply for the safety of all people.  Fey or otherwise.  If you already knew of the prophesy, now you know that the Gnome King and Gitbin also know.  If our sharing this news with you in some small way makes you even slightly more prepared, our simple peaceful mission will be accomplished."

  "What hope would we have to stand against the Feywild, even if we did intend such foolishness as to stand against a whole realm?  Such questions imply weakness in their part that is not present."  Well, sure, it's actually good odds they will have to attempt to do just that to survive.  But it does sound rather arrogant to claim such intentions outright.

  "If you had any message of your own you would wish us to pass along in our travels to those less informed than you, we may be able to spread the word."

The fairy queen is impressed with the group. "Very well. I shall tell you what I know that you might not: While the Feywild will suffer, it is your plane that will suffer first. The ones who will wipe the Feywild from existence will cause much pain and suffering to your world and make most of your own world not even liveable. And all before the Feywild even gets harmed. So it is not just the Feywild that is in danger, but you as well. If the Feywild held their hand back, everyone would be doomed. You, us, everyone. Just that the Feywild would be the ones to go extinct. However, if we act, we may be able to prevent this massive cataclysm from happening in the first place. What you DO know is that this is started with some crusade to eliminate the "monster races" from your world. I want you and anyone you talk to, to be prepared for when some righteous types or respected persons begin talking about "cleansing" the world of evil. Be on guard. And go, knowing the pixies will back you if you are for the cause of rescuing both our worlds."

Quelenna asks, "How is it anyone ever gets so far into destroying a world before people realize it's too late?"

Queen Snowform says, "This is nothing new. In the past, and even now, people have sat idly and watched their own neighbors die one by one, never rising up to do anything about it. The difference this time is that they will all be united in one cause, and have the backing of most people while they are at it."

Mara-Kai says, "But mass genocide? And why pixies?"

Queen Snowform answers, "It is all too easy to get a people to hate another people. Even inside one's own race. All that is needed is for one person to create propaganda that causes many people to agree with their view."

Gale courtseys respectfully.

"Thank you, your highness," she says, "We shall do as you suggest.  Long life and prosperity to you."

She chooses not to say anything further for now.

   The world will burn, but the Genasi will be the ones to pick up the Gamebreaker Racial Ability.  Heloooo immunity to high/Low ambient temperatures and Sun Sickness.  At least, if the world burns.

  "In a softer world, you would merely need remind people you can give them short flying rides to counteract such propaganda.  Alas that it is not such."  Power creep, Giving Pixies a better version of telekinetic leap.  Oh course!  It's the Zero supplement support Githyanki that will be coming after the Pixies!  It all makes sense now.

Quelenna looks at the check list, checking pixies off the list:

Gnomes √
Goblins
Kobolds
Lizard men
Ogres
Orcs
Pixies √
Trolls
Wemics

Quelenna says, "Oh boy... Well.. it looks like our best bet is Wemics next. They are the last on this list that wouldn't kill us on sight."

(OOC: In case you didn't know what a Wemic is, they are liontaur people. Here's a pic: http://www.dsl-mud.org/algoron/Races/images/Wemic2.jpg )

Gale smiles at Hoal's idea but waits until after the group is no longer in the presence of royalty before saying, "A softer world?  What a lovely concept!  I'll remember that and perhaps quote it to describe what I work toward."

She glances at the list and shrugs.

"So long as we don't bypass someone else on the list to do so," Gale replies to the suggestion, "If asked, 'Why did you go to the Wemics before us?!' I want to be able to honestly answer, 'Because they were closest.'  And I suppose it bears mentioning that if we're confronted by any sentient that shows even the remotest sign of being border patrol we should surrender - only fighting back if our surrender is rejected."

  "This reasoning at least is a simple truth.  The better to avoid Koblods claiming we visited the Lizard Men first because we consider Kobolds half lizard men."  Oh look, Hoal can make jokes... Bad ones, but still.

  "I suppose our intentions to be as peaceful as possible unless given no choice is one more easily made for us.  We are all just as deadly without our weapons even if they demand to confiscate them."  Pile of Arcane classes, duh.  While Hoal and Mara-Kai can yoink their swords, though only Hoal can from a mile away at this point.
This message was last edited by the player at 03:05, Wed 26 Oct 2011.

Quelenna rolls her eyes. "Well that's just great... since the next closest bunch are the Trolls, just 7 miles north of here."

While they trek, Mara-Kai asks, "So... how do we keep the trolls from eating us?"

"Good point, Hoal," Gale answers with a smirk, "That hadn't occurred to me."

She nods to Quelenna and strokes her chin in thought.

"We're hardly the ideal team for entering Troll territory, but time is of the essence.  I'll use my illusions to make myself look like something very unappetizing.  A bog hag for example.  That way, of all of us, I think I stand a chance of remaining uneaten.  I'll take the lead while the rest of you hang back as far as possible while keeping an eye on me.  Against Trolls, our entire team has no chance against even just one of them, so you'll be keeping an eye out for if I get ambushed by a wolf or something."
This message was last edited by the player at 03:38, Wed 02 Nov 2011.

  "Let us hope the Trolls are more easily deceived than defeated then."  If level difference is the reason to fear them in combat, then Bluffs would not have any more luck after all.

  "I do not suppose you have any suggestions for how the rest of us will avoid aggression while you are too far away to aid us?"

  You all stick together in the Toll infested lands.  I'll stay far away from you disguised as something Trolls wouldn't attack.  A good plan, for personal survival at least.  Less so to help the rest of them beyond possible scouting ahead and hoping to pass information along from a distance.

Quelenna says, "I will cover our butts with misdirection. I learned cantrips just the same as she or any wizard did. Besides... what are the chances of a troll sneaking up on us? They're huge and can't hide behind trees."

Mara-Kai says quietly to Hoal, "I feel somehow naked at the idea of having one of the wizards go forward while you and I stay behind, bro."

Gale gives Hoal a nod.  "Thank you, Quelenna," she says with a slight bow.

Then a warm, motherly smile crosses her face as she softly answers the two Genasi.  "I'm sorry, hon, I didn't mean to frighten you.  Maybe it would be best if you three just wait right here and I go alone.  It was my first plan, to keep you from risk, but I didn't think you would allow it so I tried to think up a compromise.  Of course I will defer to the wishes of the group whatever is decided.

"A practical point could be made that the risk is too great for this group and it would be unfair to all the other communities on our list that they don't get a chance to hear our message because we got ourselves eaten by Trolls early in our quest.  We could take the better part of valor and leave the Trolls to more qualified specialists after we return home.

"For that matter, we could return home right now, fully successful in what we've accomplished so far.  We could update the city on our progress, find out if anyone else on the list has already been informed by another group so we're not wasting time, taking unneeded risks re-doing what's already been done, then find out if there are any experts on the cultures of those still on our list.  Then, armed with what we learn, we'll be better equipped to effectively complete what we set out to accomplish."

  "Some of your assumptions were accurate.  Just because it would involve little risk for ourselves does not mean allowing you to travel completely alone in dangerous territory is an acceptable plan."  Just look at how well that worked out for Meriele.

  "A return trip would take time we may not have, though tempting to skip to a more 'friendly' area it would bring our claimed intentions under question.  Already our presence and claims are barely tolerated, beginning to pick an choose from our task would only give those we do visit more excuses."   Or at least, what passes for excuses when you are a ruler who doesn't have to listen to anyone.  'Oh, you skipped those Trolls who might tear you limb from limb because you didn't want to die?  Clearly you are selfish and in it for yourselves'.

  "Of course, you may turn back if you desire Gale.  We are not forcing you into this."

Mara-Kai says, "That brings up an important question: How much time do we have?"

Quelenna says, "If we get killed, we won't have any time left. I agree with Gale: Let's go home, report back, and ask how we're going to get word to the others. Do you honestly want to press forward, Hoal? I mean, you know, trolls!"

Gale chuckles and answers Hoal, "When you expressed concern about my being 'too far away to aid you,' I suggested the option of returning to town for your sake, hon, not my own.  Well yours, your sisters' and Quelenna's sakes.  I'm confident enough in my illusions to feel I'd be fine continuing on alone, but since I was right that you'd rather me not, I'll echo what I mentioned earlier - that I'll go along with what the group decides."

  "If you are confident in the effectiveness of your disguise, and that no troll would dare attack you the answer is simple Gale.  You travel with is and we claim to have hired you as a guide.  If they would not attack you alone, why would they attack you with more beside you.  The dire circumstances of our message would be a reason to brush aside any 'why would you judgmental sorts even consider that' variety of questions."

  Hoal is surprised Gale didn't suggest it in the first place, really.  There are plenty of things out there that would attack regardless of what you look like.

  "Our task is not one of enjoyment, it is thankless and may in the end amount to nothing.  But it is the task given to us, and not one meant to be left half done.  As for our time, I know not.  But turning back will only leave us with less."

Mara-Kai begins walking in the direction of the trolls. "We go then. If the trolls try to harm us, we will ask them to heed our words. If they listen and still attack, we run and know we've done our job. Surely, we are capable enough to at least be able to flee if it comes to that."

Quelenna says, "Speaking of Illusions, maybe Gale and I can use ghost sound to ask the trolls for their audience before we get closer to them."

"Thankless indeed," Gale agrees, "We risk being labeled 'traitors' who 'conspire with monsters and fey creatures' for doing the very thing that may save the lives of the folks accusing us.  Ironic.  Of course there's also a chance that when this is all over we'll be praised as heroes.  Best to just do one's best and hope for the best."

She smiles at Quelenna.  "Just be sure to hide your sweet smell and tender appearance.  Last thing you want is to be appealing to a Troll."

Gale gets to work disguising herself as she follows Mara-Kai's lead.

  Troll appreciate good hygiene.  Troll want you to try and find functional plumbing in forest outside of Standard Elf Tree Town.  Troll try to buy mouthwash on sale but troll coupon expired.

  "An actual attempt made if failed, would no doubt be more well recived than not trying at all in these circumstances."

Fast-forwarding a bit. The group gets to a Troll encampment. It's still a few more miles to the actual troll settlement, but this encampment could be their ticket in and certainly is more easily escapable than the actual settlement.

Quelenna prepares to use her ghost sound and looks over at Gale.

Gale exhales and gives Quelenna a nod.

"Let me do most of the talking," she whispers, "I've studied diplomacy extensively."

By now she looks more like a witch than a wizard, so that statement might look silly.

  Skywriting your demands on your broom is diplomacy, right?  "I trust you will get us all through these events acceptably."  Wow, for a guy with an INT primary you are kind of terrible at picking out your words of encouragement.

Quelenna honestly wonders just how much the school-taught diplomacy helps with freakin' TROLLS. She just nods and lets Gale handle it as asked.

"I have come with an important message for the mighty Trolls," Gale croaks through her ghost sound.

She decides against going any further, figuring less is more.
This message was last edited by the player at 19:18, Sun 25 Dec 2011.

  Hoal has a terrible CHA score, so their black on blackhole colors and hair are likely only intimidating to young paranoid artificers.  Still, probably a better visual comparison of consistency for the trolls to see beside an apparent Hag than the attractive elf and water Genasi.

  Though it was doubtful they would mistake him for a Drow.  All the art standards for Drow men are too bishonen to allow for one that looks like they might potentially beat a Goliath at arm wrestling.

The trolls all look in the direction of the sound. One of them speaks up. "Save the flattery. Speak!"

None of the trolls seem to notice the non-ugly group (or they just don't care).

"I come with news of the Feywild," Gale says, "Their prophets tell them that the 'civilized' people of this world will unite against the monster races.  After that they will ruin our world and the Feywild with a powerful weapon.  So they've decided to attack our whole world to try and prevent this."

  Yet another alternate view on the so called prophesy.  A stereotypically arrogant Feywild native would consider only their own civilization worthy of the title 'Civilized'.  In that view, all of the civilized peoples have already united against the more monstrous by comparison ones. Self fulfilling prophecies are often quite popular with prophecy writers, after all.

  Hoal found himself curious when the Feywild forces would work up the nerve to attack something more capable of fighting back than a single house.  Perhaps they may even attack RIGHT NOW!...  Oh, apparently not.

  Maybe in a few minutes.
This message was last edited by the player at 10:54, Wed 11 Jan 2012.

The troll frowns deeper. "What?! You are either very foolish and trying to make us think we are in danger so we'll run... or you bring ominous news of world-wide importance. Very well. Come with us, and we will examine this story of yours."

The troll gets up and begins walking in the direction of the troll civilization.

"I will follow," Gale answers, "Know that I do not travel alone.  My allies have heard the news with their own ears too."

Gale follows at a respectable distance, allowing plenty of room for the defenders to take the lead if they choose to do so.  If the troll out-paces her, she'll try and keep up.  If not, she'll be ready with a spell.

---

OOC: Monster Manual Trolls are large and likely have speed > 6.  I don't remember if Tim said 'My trolls are medium' or what.

  "The first man who tried to warn us had their home blown up while still inside, before they could warn us.  Even if the threats are not as dire as have been claimed, someone feels it worth the effort to prevent warnings."

The trolls lead the group to the troll civilization. When the chieftain hears the news, he has Gale tell him in more detail. Once that much is told, his frown deepens. "Those arrogant ...!!" a huge string of swearing ensues from the chieftain as he slams his staff in the ground, looking enraged. "Your warnings do not fall on deaf ears, human. And your favor to the trolls does not go unrewarded either. Stay a while and feast. I will reward your courage and valor."

If the Trolls show respect with a bow, Gale bows.

"Thank you, mighty chieftain."

She'll partake in whatever part of the feast that looks and smells like it won't make her gag.

  Someone showing both belief and gratitude for their actions?  That's a first, though it is the degree that takes Hoal by surprise.  "I can not help but feel the bravery of our actions has been overstated, even if I do not doubt these warnings hold some importance.  A chance for proper rest before we continue our task is greatly appreciated of course."

Quelenna is cringey during the feast, but it seems trolls don't eat mud or feces like Gale may have thought. They actually have the classic boar with an apple in its mouth and various fruits and meats. The chieftain says, "I always found it amusing how a single boar could feed a whole group of your kind while it's enough for only one troll for one.. maaybe two sittings. Your request for rest is granted. But there is something I want to give you. I'll warn you, it will make fey hate you and hunt you, but if there are fey creatures you need to warn, you can hide it under your shirt or something."

He pulls out a medallion, sized for a medium creature and offers it to Gale. "This is the medallion of eternal nature. It has great importance to the fey. Enough that it could be used as a bargaining chip to stop their war. But they'd *never* listen to a troll. You? Maybe. So it's better in your hands, considering the circumstances."

Gale raises an eyebrow.

"Thank you again, mighty chieftain," she says with another bow, "I shall do as you say."

She accepts the medallion then hides it under her robe.  She stuffs herself with the savory feast and retires for the night when directed to do so, doing her best to hide how anxious she is to be leaving, trying to make herself appear cautious and alert instead.
This message had punctuation tweaked by the player at 04:35, Sat 21 Jan 2012.

  A priceless artifact the Fey would potentially go to great lengths to possess...  That Gale just took without any discussion...  Let's think about this logically (for a given value of logic) before voicing any concerns however.

  Quelenna was an Elf.  While no reason so far had been given to distrust them, and she had revenge as a backup trust angle, an important Fey artifact could be a source of temptation to put her family back in the feywild's good graces.

  Mara-Kai was his trusted sister.  Though while trusted, possession of such an artifact would make her a larger target for any attacks, and there was an emotional bias to avoid that if he could easily arrange it.

  Himself?  It doesn't count much if you vouch for yourself.

  Gale?... Uh...  Well okay then.  All of her deviousness has so far only been implied in OOC land and other threads.

  Filler post is filler.  "I hope not to disappoint your expectations, though such hopes are admittedly not fully selfless considering out goals"

Quelenna doesn't comment on Gale getting the medallion. When it is time to retire, she parks herself near Gale and enters a trance; her kind doesn't sleep. In the morning, the group is treated to breakfast and then invited to move on.

When they do head out, Quelenna takes a look at her list. "Thankfully, next are the Wemics." she says with a sigh of relief. She waits a bit so she is sure she isn't in the hearing range of the trolls before asking, "Gale, would you hand over the medallion please?"

---

Filler may be filler, but it's always fun to see what characters think of each other. :)
This message was last edited by the player at 16:11, Thu 26 Jan 2012.

Mara-Kai had stayed with Hoal, for purposes of whatever room sharing, but also stayed up a little later with him to chat quietly about the medallion. The next morning, she followed the group quietly and smiled at the mention of the wemics.

When Quelenna brings up the medallion, Mara-Kai bites her lower lip and gives a slight "uh-oh" expression, but doesn't speak up.

---

Figured Hoal and I can RP the "stay up late" scene (maybe even today on guild while Chris at work).

Gale raises an eyebrow at Quelenna's request then rubs her chin.  "I shouldn't be surprised at your request given what the Troll Chieftain said.  But that you would ask so politely speaks volumes of the respect you have for me.  Thank you.

"While I trust that it would be just as safe in your possession as my own, I cannot hand it over to anyone out of respect for the Chieftain's gesture.  Besides, giving it to you would put you in greater danger than you are already in and I like you too much to do that to you."

She conjures a small scroll and offers it to Quelenna, lip-syncing, "Read" as she does so.

"Please accept this small token of my respect for you."

Written in the scroll is the following message:

"I don't trust the Trolls.  Even they aren't stupid enough to just give away something so valuable to total strangers.  More likely what he gave me is a scrying focus for spying on us and those we visit.  As soon as we are half way to the Wemics, I will appreciate yours and the other's help verifying this."

  Somehow, Hoal's player had missed the fact the Troll's had offered the medallion to Gale specifically.

  Though at the very least it appeared Gale had considered the same downside to holding onto the thing he had.

  Short post is short, but he's refraining from reading over Quelenna's shoulder.

Quelenna looks attentive. When Gale gives the excuse of respecting the chief's gesture, Quelenna looks annoyed. But then reads the scroll and calms a bit before nodding. "Let's pick up the pace." she casts ghost sound next to Gale's ear with a small whisper that says, "Give something similar to Hoal and Mara-Kai please, so they will be on the same page."

Mara doesn't hear this whisper, of course, and simply looks impressed at the exchange Gale and Quelenna made. She looks at Hoal as if to check if he thinks it's the right time to drop the idea she had on Gale.

"Thank you for understanding," Gale answers Quelenna with a nodded bow.  She then relays the message to Hoal and Mara using ghost sound as Quelenna suggested.

<<I gave Quelenna a secret message telling her that I think the Trolls were lying about the nature of this so-called 'artifact' they gave us.  I suspect they're using it to spy on us.  She and I would appreciate your help investigating it once we're half way to the Wemics.>>

  Hoal looks over to Quelenna, and nods.  "An agreeable notion."  Whether in regards to the Elf's suggestion or Gales, it applies to either one.

  If four different arcane practitioners could not properly evaluate an artifact, it would be of little failure on their own parts.

Mara-Kai hrms and sighs. "...well I feel stupid for not thinking of that." she mutters quietly. And here her bro was thinking she was so smart too. Then again, what Troll is going to make an amulet that happens to match the exact description, art, name, etc of an actual artifact? More likely, they would have haphazardly glued some claws on an animal skin and claimed it was an elven artifact named the... umm... nugnug?

Quelenna then strikes up a conversation with the others. "So... anyway... been meaning to express that I feel a little out of place. All three of you are from the blue school, but I'm from the red school. All three of you are not Fey, but I am. I want to know how you feel about the red school, the fey as a whole, and more importantly... me."

Gale hrms as if suppressing a slight chuckle.  "What tiny bit of school rivalry I may have once felt has long since vanished in the light of the gravity of our quest.  Let's not forget that you're also the only one who's home was destroyed as far as we know.  If that doesn't cause us to feel compassion for you, I don't know what will.

"As for my feelings toward the Fey as a whole, I hold them in the same regard as I do the whole of Humanity.  They're a people with homes, fears, love, and sadness just like any other.  If the tables were turned and it were Humanity who was the people who was frightened into preparing for a preemptive strike at a perceived future threat from the Feywild, I would likely feel a little embarrassed and alienated from my Fey friends, even though I wasn't personally responsible.  So I can understand where you're coming from.

"I would be torn about apologizing on behalf of those who were responsible because while it's the polite thing to do, I wouldn't want to look like I was excusing or defending them.  But from the position I am in, I want to say I'm sorry for your feeling out of place.  If there's anything i can do for you, please let me know."

 Hoal nods, "As seems to be a growing occurrence, Gale has voiced an opinion I share much more eloquently than I would have myself.  As for our now inconsequential schooling loyalties, academic rivalry should never put lives at risk in the first place."  Maybe the graduation figures would look better if less students were secretly plotting to destroy eachother/take over the world in the average Magical School.

  "While I may not always succeed in the intention, I do try to keep in mind to judge on an individual basis more than purely due to someone's origins."

Quelenna gets a light blush and says, "It's... just good to hear, is all. You know. That you trust me. I trust you also and, as Gale pointed out, feel a sense of responsibility about what the Fey are doing. And not that this is something to boast of, but I'm not a responsible person. So the fact it bothers even me is disturbing."

Gale gives a smile and light bow to Hoal.  "Thanks for the compliment."

She then reaches over to give Quelenna a friendly nudge with a wry smile and wink, saying, "If anything, it's Hoal who should worry about being the odd man out, seeing as he's the only guy in the group."

  "I am sure there are many who would be jealous of such a situation, just as there are those who would loathe it.  For now, it is merely the situation I find myself in, and no more." Wow, way to have an emotional commitment to any given situation Hoal.

  "I am confident that if the situation shall cause any real problems, that you will inform me of them ahead of time."

Mara-Kai says, "I don't count as "surrounded by attractive girls" in the respect most guys would be envious of since, you know, Hoal's my brother. So really, it's more like Hoal is traveling with two eye-catching girls, one sibling, and no guys. But for what it's worth, as his sister, I help him not feel the odd one out both due to being a fellow genasi, and due to being family." she goes to arm-around Hoal. "At least... I hope I'm of some comfort in what would otherwise feel awkward."

Mara then looks at Gale. "Heh... two wizards. Two sword-mages. We all certainly have the arcane in common. I wonder if we should've taken someone less arcane with us..."

Quelenna shrugs. "A mundane? For what? All of us here worked for our magic, so we all know what it was like to be without it, making us just as useful as a non-arcane sort. And that magic we all worked for took study that makes us a step above those who don't study."

Gale for one really appreciates Hoal's emotionally non-commital stance.  She views an 'adventuring party' as a professional arrangement that should be treated with respect.  Not an opportunity to say, 'Woohoo!  Surrounded by hawt babes!  Rawr!'

"It's good to hear you don't feel out of place, Hoal."

She smiles and bows politely to Mara and says, "Thank you for the compliment, Mara-Kai."

To Quel she answers with a chuckle, "Not every non-arcane person is a useless, lazy, so-and-so.  Rangers practice hard to hone their marksmanship and tracking skills, Paladins exercise and pray day and night to hone their heart and body.  The list goes on.  While this group may be very well prepared for certain intellectual challenges, we could sure use the skills of a well trained 'mundane' or two in most other challenges.  A stealthy scout and a cleric would be nice for example."

  Hoal is thusly armrounded, and returns the favor.  "You need not worry if your presence is a beneficial one or not."   He looks to Gale, "Again, sentiments I share.  We train ourselves in our arts to a point that wildlife or crude thugs with sharp sticks are merely a challenge and not a source of our inevitable death."

  He considers his blade for a moment. "Admittedly, many swordmages have a more biased reason to appreciate the mundane arts of combat."   STR based Melee basic class feature for Arcane class. Whoo!

Once the group is at the halfway point (fast forwarding a bit), Quelenna says, "We're about halfway there... shall we discuss things as planned?"

Gale smiles and nods to Hoal. "Glad to hear we're on the same page."

At the halfway point she stops and nods to Quel.  She takes a seat on a conjured stool and produces the amulet.

"If this were any normal magic item, I'd be able to identify it by now simply by carrying it for as long as I have.  It could be that there isn't any enchantment on it at all and the Trolls were just pulling a joke on us.  Or the joke was on them when they became convinced that this thing is something valuable.  So let's start with something basic: determining if it even has an enchantment at all.  Take your time.  No hurry."

She begins to do the now well practiced magical things one does to detect an enchantment.

  Hoal has his own ideas for how to test if the item given to them is truly artifact quality.  However, none of them know Disenchant item (No on hand Artificers, and it's a level 4 ritual out of their price range) so they can not test via 'If it dissolves into Residium, it was vendor trash'.  Not to mention, suggesting you see if a reputedly Elven relic disintegrates or not could be flagrantly disrespectful to Quelenna.

  Instead, Aid Other goes here.

The item is enchanted, no doubt about it. But its enchantment seems incomplete. As if the amulet was one piece to a larger artifact. Or maybe it's a key. Whatever the case, all the group can confirm is that it is, in fact, enchanted.

"Well I guess that trumps my theories," Gale admits, "It really is an artifact of some sort.  Doesn't seem to be a scrying focus that I can tell, but that doesn't mean that what the Trolls told us is true.  Even so, there is that chance.  If it turns out that this thing is valuable for some reason, then it follows that it's also potentially dangerous to carry it.

"So I suggest we take turns carrying it, making it slightly less likely that one of us will be singled out by someone who would take it by force.  I've already carried it half a day, so I'll be happy for someone else to carry it for the rest of the day, then maybe a third can hold onto it tonight.

"But let's not spend too much time deciding.  We do have an urgent mission to return to."

  "Perhaps they were correct in the artifact's purpose, but were either unaware or neglected to mention it was merely part of what was required to perform its task." That was the most optimistic scenario, even if it meant the likyhood of having to collect X amount of artifacts where they will probably get stolen once they have all of them by lazy villains.

  "As for who next to carry it, perhaps Quelenna?  I would be clearly biased in my other options after all."

Quelenna points out, "Considering you all just told me how much you trust me, I'll be happy to carry it, knowing there is no problem. And just as happily, I'll be handing it over to Hoal or Mara next."

Mara seems to be ponderous, but doesn't say anything. Though she nods.

"Thank you, Quelenna," Gale says with a nod-bow, "It's good we're all willing to share this burden equally.

"You might be right, Hoal.  I'm just finding it hard to believe that the Trolls didn't have some sinister reason for giving it to us...  But I must admit that my skepticism is colored by what I've read, not but what I've seen of Trolls...  My personal experience flies in the face of what Trolls are 'supposed' to be like.  I pride myself in being a skeptic, but perhaps my skepticism has been misdirected and I should be questioning what I've been taught about the so-called 'uncivilized' races instead."

  "My outlook in regards to the trolls is likely optimistic at best, but one at least more easily based on what we have come to see.  As for what you 'know' of trolls, they may very well be just as true as the worst of our own kinds.  Trolls kicking over a caravan are more memorable an event than the rest quietly having dinner at home.  For how many historical citations of cities razed to the ground are there historical raisings of them, and other assorted comparisons."

Mara says, "Don't think overly much on it or you'll just wind up second-guessing your second-guess to your second-guess. We'll just assume the worst and hope for the best. But I can tell you from my studies, if the trolls gave us a fake, then they are educated trolls who know this relic well, because this matches EXACTLY the descriptions and drawings I've seen of it."

Gale was thinking overly much on it when Mara mentions that she shouldn't.  She then proceeds to think overly much on Mara's points.

"good points, everyone," she answers, "I agree.  And it's good to know that the amulet we have matches the description of the relic.  What else can you tell us about it?  Is it a part of a larger whole like a key to a lock?  What does the enchantment do?  Why is it revered by the Feywild?"

---

Disclaimer: My fail memory is telling me that none of these details have been brought up IC in this thread.  Disregard if they have.

  "Of course we are now faced with another sort of question altogether.  The task set to is still remains largely unfinished.  What are everyone's intentions regarding it now?  To finish what we started, or to abandon warning people of the dangers they may face researching a piece of an artifact?"

  OOC Style:  The group examination was blurb was "-its enchantment seems incomplete. As if the amulet was one piece to a larger artifact".  I Assume the reverence would be the Complete Nature Restoration capacity mentioned deeper back in the thread.  Details more specific than that, still not stated I think.  So 'What else does it do' IS still a good question.  The following questions you had were as you assumed already fielded.

Mara asks, "Why would we abandon warning anyone?" then looks at Gale. "I was not aware it was part of a larger artifact. What I did know of it is that it has the power to restore an entire forest, should a forest be destroyed. Why that enchantment has not been made obvious is unclear. It could be this artifact can't do that unless joined with other pieces. Or it could simply be that the artifact was enchanted with disguising magics so people wouldn't know what they had in their hands."

Hi! I'm a magic item that can make all the oceans on planet Earth suddenly leap into space! Isn't that neat? Wait... why are you staring at me like I'm the one ring?

OOC: Something that has occurred to me is that while I appreciate the 4e rules that simplify "you know what this magic item does" to being automatic (earlier editions, you had to have the skill to decipher and then on top of that, the skill to even USE the thing "Use Magic Item" skill), I doubt world-changing artifacts would be left alone with easy-to-read much less easy-to-use stuff. It breaks my brain to think anyone would have "eats the moon" powers naked for anyone to pick up and use as they please. At least on purpose.

"I have every intention to finish what we started," Gale answers, "It's hard for me to imagine anything becoming more urgent.  That's a very impressive claim for the power of just one artifact, even if it's only a piece of a larger one that can only be used once.  Disguising magics might make some sense.  But if that's the case they didn't prevent you or the Trolls from identifying it.  Makes me wonder all the more how they got their hands on it."

  "Significant findings can have a way of distracting.  While such an artifact is deserving of immediate attention, best to not need it's aid in the first place."  Hoal finds it... Well, comforting wouldn't be the right word for it, that Gale is now treating their task with a greater responsibility compared to before.  Prior to visiting the Trolls, she had been suggesting they turn back home.

  "A valid concern, one always involved when it comes to any artifact.  There is rarely any way for the average person, or practitioner of the arcane to know if they are what we think them to be, or something worse until after the fact."

Quelenna takes the medallion and points out, "Mara here, like the rest of us, went to a school with lots of resources on topics like ancient artifacts. The trolls probably only knew it was an important thing because they likely killed some elves who fought to their last breath for it. Just a guess. But yes... I've read that many an artifact takes a special rite just to use. I doubt this one is much different in that regard. So when we're done warning people, we should look for how to use this thing. Just in case we need to."

"Sounds like a good plan to me," Gale says, "Let's get to it, then."

She continues on down the road and comments, "Given the nature of this artifact we possess and the great good it could do, I'm thinking that maybe the person it was taken from may have willingly told the Trolls what it was rather than try and keep it secret.  I wonder if they realized that if they didn't spill the beans, the relic would have likely been lost forever.  Should we agree that in the event we are coerced by captors, that we not keep it's identity secret?"

  "Your suggestion should be taken within reason, at the very least Gale.  If we encounter those who the fry prophecy claim will bring ruin to the world, then knowledge of such an artifact may encourage them to either destroy it from a desire to bring ruin to the world, or to act more recklessly thinking they will be able to undo the consequences of their actions."

"Lucky for us, the Whemics are next." Mara comments. "But yeah... I think we're all smart enough to know not to share this artifact with people who would abuse such knowledge."

The group is a few miles from the location of the Whemics, when they see smoke like from a fireplace not too far off. There's a hill in the way of seeing said fireplace, though.

"Thanks for pointing that out, Hoal," Gale says with a nod-bow, "Certainly bears mention."

When she sees the smoke she doesn't consider it very noteworthy, so she continues on unless one of her allies stop.
This message was last updated by the player at 02:58, Mon 19 Mar 2012.

  The traditional dramatically coming across a home razed to the ground would involve significantly more smoke than what was visible so far.  Of course, this did not mean it would not be something worthy of attention.  If it would involve a slight side trip, Hoal would suggest taking a moment to investigate.  Otherwise their path would make them find out in a few minutes regardless.

Quelenna wonders where Gale's sense of curiosity went. Yeah, important quest. But campfire smoke, "I wonder if there's a potential ally with that campfire." She begins to climb the hill to take a peak.
This message was last edited by the player at 18:56, Mon 19 Mar 2012.

"Careful," Gale whispers after Quelenna, "Could also be a potential enemy."

She follows along, but without Quelenna's apparent enthusiasm, so she may wind up lagging behind a bit.

  "Better a known enemy than an unknown within easy travel distance of ourselves and our goals."  Well, unless this was one of those cutscene triggers where walking past a certain point triggers the destruction of a town.
This message was lightly edited by the player at 04:30, Fri 23 Mar 2012.

Sure enough, there is a lone ...kobold maybe? Looks like an anthro gator with blond hair. The kobold has much more armor than kobolds normally wear (and better quality) but still has some "tribal" design to it. The kobold seems completely unaware of the group, but is happy and merrily singing a tune in a not-so-raspy voice.

"We'll raise up our glasses
against evil forces, singin'...
Wisky for my friends
Beer for my horses!"

The odd creature is completely alone and has a campfire of sorts, cooking what looks like fish.

"Good point," Gale agrees.

Upon seeing the strange blond she blink-blinks in surprise.

"Allow me to speak with it alone.  Less likely to startle it that way."

If allowed by her allies, she'll step forward humming along to the tune.

  Well, at least the maybe Kobold wasn't singing about whips and ways?

  "Of course Gale, I am sure you have no need of being told to be careful." Gale could make a certain ranger look downright optimistic in certain circumstances.
This message was last edited by the player at 18:32, Sat 24 Mar 2012.

Quelenna and Mara agree to it, figuring a lone kobold can't be much threat to Gale anyway.

May immediately notices the humming and stops singing. She hops to her feet, puffs up her chest and puts her fists on her hips with a mock-serious expression that looks like a restrained smile. Similarly, she uses a "hero" tone of voice. "Greetings, fair maiden with yon beautiful humming! I am May! By what title am I permitted to address thee and how canst I assist such a flower of humanity?"

Gale blushes, unsure what to make of this strange creature.  On the bright side, she wasn't violent or paranoid at the human wizard's approach.

"Gale please," she answers with her usual nod-bow, "Thanks for the flattery.  I'm not sure how to answer your second question.  I don't know what you're capable of.  I'm not even sure what race you are a flower of."

 Trying to fake a Heroic Voice had a +20 Difficulty Modifier, so good odds the scale clad scaly one was legit with a voice that carried like that.  (Also, Gator style head meant a heroically sized chin right?)

  "Well, this would be one of the reasons worldly experience can be just as important as study I presume."
This message was last updated by the player at 03:52, Tue 03 Apr 2012.

Mara-Kai looks a touch weirded out. Quelenna raises an eyebrow.

May says, "I am a kobold, Gale." she pounds her fist against her chest. "And I am a draconic warrior! I use weapons of all kinds! Even know how to use my shield quite well as a weapon!"

Her common is quite clear. Not broken like most kobolds (or Orcs). And she dropped the hero voice and such to reveal a cute girl voice.

Gale gives a helpless smile at the confident boasts of the cute little dragon girl.  "Very impressive.  That would explain why you would venture alone in this dangerous place.  I, however, am not alone.  My friends are not far.  We were traveling toward the Wemics to deliver an important message to them.  Perhaps you might want to join us if it's not too far out of your way?"

  Hoal look to Quelenna and Mara-Kai, "I may have to actually learn to be optimistic at this rate."

May says, "It would be my honor!" she picks up her helmet and flops it on her head, using the old salute of lifting her visor with a bright smile. "Point the way and I'll take point!"

Quelenna says, "Optimistic? Heh... I'm only optimistic that I'll survive."

Mara side-hugs Hoal. "You know, bro, it's not a terrible place to be in; that place where you look at the silver lining of the dark clouds." she gives him a loving smile.

May looks excited to hear the voices of the others. "Hello, people! Let me see the faces of my new friends!" she hops up and down, exaggeratedly waving a hand.
This message was last edited by the player at 04:06, Sat 07 Apr 2012.

Gale sweatdrops, blinking in speechless surprise at May's... enthusiasm.  She half wonders if she was touched by the far realm.  Should her friends show themselves, Gale introduces them each by name, race, and class.  Just in case the Kobold wouldn't recognize a Genasi sword mage or an Eladrin wizard on sight.

  Well, Hoal IS a Magazine Supplement Genasi after all.  "Thank you Gale.  It is good to meet you May, though at the very least you should finish your meal before it grows cold."  Sure, prestidigitation was on hand.  But that's like microwaving leftovers.

May hmms? Then ohs and rushes to her fish, grabs it, and puts out the fire. "Well I can eat on the way! Anyone want any?" Whether people take her offered sharing or not, she follows which way to go, then takes point. "So what's this important message you're delivering to the Wemics?"

Mara-Kai looks at May and answers her, "The people of the Feywild received a rather horrible vision and are reacting to it in haste..."

Quelenna says, "Yeah. They're planning to come here to the Prime Material and attack."

May says, "Oh... and the Wemics are the people of the Prime Material. So what's the name of the people of the Feywild?"

"Sure thing," Gale answers Hoal.

To May's 1st question she answers "No thanks."

She considers May's second question and wonders if she's familiar with the words being used.  Or even the concepts the words represent.  "The Wemics are one of the many races of the Prime Material Plane.  The Prime Material Plane is the name given to this entire world and her underdark combined.  So it includes you, me, our races, and more.  The Feywild is a whole other world like the Shadowfell, _{land of the dead,} and the Astral Sea, _{land of the devils and angels,} are separate worlds from our own.  What can get confusing is when whole societies originally from the Feywild end up living in the Prime Material for a generation or more.  The Fairy kingdom we passed on the way here for example.  Our job is to warn as many people as we can, but I got the impression from the Fairy Queen that she didn't expect any trouble for her people from the Feywild Fey even though she is likely considered a Prime Material race by them at this point."

  "Of course as we have discovered, Fey origins do not seem to ensure your safety if they think you will not act on their behalf."   Someone might tell people we want to kill them all?  Blow them up!

  "Perhaps the Fairy Queen hopes that merely not acting against them will grant them safety."   Because that would be less lame than her planning on supplying angry fairy hordes to invaders.

  "Still, despite what we have been told and seen...  I am surprised we have not been attacked ourselves by now.  What purpose is there to attempting to kill a man for planning to warn others, when those warning whole kingdoms see no such hostility."  Hoal can not help but feel something somewhere is rigged, but he can not figure out what.

Mara-Kai huhs at Hoal. "Good point... I wonder why. In fact, we've been doing OK, considering the rumored hostile nature of not just Trolls, but fairies as wel-OW!" Her sentence interrupted by an arrow right in her sword-arm.

May says, "Take cover!" and goes to put herself between Mara and the direction the arrow came from.

Quelenna is looking for a place to hide, such as behind a tree.

Gale nodded to the conversation and had something to add, but arrows have a way of derailing thought trains.  She reaches to grab Quelenna by the wrist to guide her to cover.  "This way!"

Earlier she had selected a place to flee to in case of Kobold ambush, and was watching for danger...  but adorableness has a way of disarming one's paranoia.  Once behind cover, Gale does her best to help her other allies with cover fire.

"Why are you attacking us?"
This message was last edited by the player at 02:39, Fri 13 Apr 2012.

  Logic can be helpful at times.  For one thing it helps avoid guilt because logically Murphy's Law physics are just crazy talk.

  Hoal gestures to the Hill apparently so large it blocks view of Kobold campsights.  "If nothing else presents itself, put the hill between us and them."   Meanwhile he goes to Mara-Kai's side, "Thank you May, though I am sorry you have to face this sort of thing mere moments after meeting us."

May catches an arrow with her shield. "Thanks! But don't worry about me yet; I'm not the one who has an arrow in my arm."

Mara is trying to remove the arrow, eyes tearing up as she breathes heavily. "Trying to think of something I've experienced worse than this... Wishing I didn't think that hard, 'cause now I miss mom and dad..." Mara backs off towards the hill with the others. May keeps point, stepping backwards as the others do.

Quelenna is grabbed. And yeah, the hill came to mind.

To Gale's pleas, there is no answer but arrows.

The Kobold hasn't joined the ambush.  That's a good sign.

"Thank you, May!" Gale shouts as she crests the hill, "Let's regroup up here to force them to face us short range.  I'll cover you."

She takes cover and lays prone before returning fire with magic missiles!

  Hoal could not help but feel that something was off, and not just the unpleasantness of being attacked.  "It occurs to me, that we still do not actually know who is attacking us, just as we have no way to prove who destroyed Quelenna's home.  I can not decide which direction my doubts should lead."

  Still, it doesn't matter who is shooting arrows at your sister when it comes to 'this is a bad thing'.

Mara looks dizzy. She collapses unconscious. A snarl is heard when Gale uses Magic Missile. Out of the trees jumps a bugbear with a great bow. He yells something in goblin. "Gar druha Dicruss!"

With those words, some unnatural guttural snarling sounds can be heard as some two-headed dog-like thing with beady eyes comes from behind a tree and collects energy in its mouths. One mouth fires Magic Missile at Gale, the other fires Magic Missile at May.

"Hey! Not fair!" May says before joining the group on the other side of the hill. Soon as the two-headed dog comes up, May charges it!

Quelenna frowns. "Be careful! That bugbear has a magic amulet of some kind! No telling what odd powers are at stake here!"

Just one Magic Missiles is enough to injure Gale to approach half unconscious.  She grits her teeth and chokes back a scream as she begins to head for Mara.

"Let me help Mara," she says, "The rest of you focus on that dog!"

Once next to Mara, she administers first aid.

"Let me know when the Hobgoblin gets in range.  I have a spell saved up just for him and his pet."
This message was last edited by the player at 02:32, Fri 20 Apr 2012.

  "Facing the unknown is likely preferable than letting the unknown continue to shoot at us."

  That barely even fake philosophy comment made, Hoal joined May's charge in dealing with the Dog until the Bugbear got close enough to Aegis Mark and rush.
This message was last edited by the player at 03:55, Fri 20 Apr 2012.

The freaky dog snaps at May with one mouth and snaps at Hoal with the other. The bugbear continues over the hill only to be charged by Hoal. The dog tries to snap at Hoal, but May covers for him, smacking the dog hard!

Quelenna hurries up to a good spot and casts burning hands. "BURN!"

While the dog and the bugbear growl in pain, the hobgoblin yells in goblin again and the dog shoots fire from both its mouths for 2 close-blast 5's. In other words, just like it did magic missile twice, it's now doing burning hands twice.

May and Quelenna catch the brunt of it.
This message was last edited by the player at 04:38, Fri 20 Apr 2012.

"Looks like that amulet enables him to turn our spells against us," Gale points out, "Help me get it off him with mage hand, Quel!"

She conjures her own mage hand and commands it to try and remove the amulet, ready to blast the dog and the hobgoblin with her strongest illusion whether she succeeds or not.

"If you hear some horrid whispers in the next few seconds, try and ignore them," she warns her friends.

  Have we mentioned that Gale seems to share a lot of the same opinions as Hoal?  Because she totally did again.  "I was just about to request that you use any psychic assaults should you happen to know any for just that very reason Gale.  If they are going to turn your spells against us, then at the very least we can make them suffer for daring to use them against me."  Hoal redirected his Aeigis to the Dog for good measure, to encourage such an event.

  Oh it was good to be a voidsoul.  Psychic/Vs Will attacks you say? Doesn't even matter if it hits or misses you say?  Enjoy your head exploding from psionic backlash.

  In the meantime, Hoal used his well trained strength and skill to simply stab at the Bugbear with no arcane backing. 18/18 Strength/Int baby!.

And sure enough, when Gale uses her illusion power, not only does the bugbear look quite confused, but the dog proceeds to use it on May and Hoal, only to squeal from the sudden mental onslaught Hoal provides as retaliation.

Even as this is going on, the distractions are just enough that Gale and Quelenna manage to retrieve the necklace. The bugbear comes to, notices the necklace floating away, and curses, before trying to run for it.

The dog notices its master running and gets in a protective posture while backing away in its master's direction.

This does not stop May from charging said dog anyway, nearly finishing it off.

Quelenna casts Nightmare eruption on the dog, finishing it and starts hurrying after the bugbear. "We can't let him get away! We need to know why he's here!"

Gale uses hypnotism on the fleeing Hobgoblin in an attempt to force him to backtrack.

"Stay here and look after Mara, please, Hoal," Gale requests as she moves to chase after the enemy, "And great job on that dog... thing...  I'm coming, Quel!"

  Hoal manages to redirect his Aegis to the fleeing Hobgoblin before they get too far away (of course, considering that teleport only kicks in if the aegis target HITS someone...).

  Of course, pursuing such results would be counterintuitive to staying by Mara-Kai's side.  "I can not deny some bias towards this course of action.  Be careful."  That said, Hoal indeed goes to check up on his sister.

The casters are able to down the bugbear before he can get away. And thankfully, are able to knock him out instead of kill him. May ran over to the bugbear anyway to make sure, snarls at him, then checks him over. "....yeah. He's out."

She sheaths her weapons, grabs the bugbear, and in an amazing feat of strength for a kobold, starts dragging the unconscious bugbear back towards the hill where the dead dog still is.

Meanwhile, Mara peeks an eye open. She looks up at Hoal, looks over to see the bodies, then says, "...how embarrassing. I was out the entire fi-?ow my arm..."

Quelenna sits on the ground indian style and starts examining the necklace. "Oh my... how very very useful. It WAS this necklace transferring our powers to his dog. Unfortunately for us, it's made specifically for that and, well, the dog is dead now. Not that we could tame the dog to be on our side. But the fact such an enchantment exists..."

I'm just glad you're alive, Mara," Gale answers with a doting smile, "I was very worried for you.  Please take it easy and allow yourself some time to recover."

She looks over to Quel.  "You too, hon.  You should take it easy after being blasted with such a powerful fireball.  But that is a very interesting discovery.  Let's be sure to ask how he came into possession of such an amazing magic item."

  "Were I a betting sort, I might be inclined to suggest Mysterious Hooded Strangers as the provider.  I will be pleasantly surprised if we gain any real answers." That said, he goes to put a hand to Mara-Kai's not shot arm's shoulder.  "You were, though I am glad the poison was not itself a fatal one.  Though it's usage does have a reputation for leading to death swiftly from it's wielders, if it is the kind I suspect."

Mara gives Hoal a smile. "I'll try to be more useful next time." not said in a sarcastic or "I suck" way or anything. Just her way of saying "next time, I'll not be catching arrows with my arm" or something.

Quel nods to Gale and sits to relax.

May pulls out some fish from earlier and starts slapping the unconscious bugbear with it. "Wake up!" she demands, continuing the slapping until the guy wakes up.

The bugbear wakes groggily and growls.

May says, "Tell us who gave you that necklace."

The bugbear asks "Why should I?"

"It speaks common," Gale observes with an aloof air, "I guess we're off to a good start, then."

She lazily pulls herself up, dismissing the dirt and loose grass from her clothes with a wave of her hand as she slowly approaches, a cold look on her face.  She's prepared to Magic Missile any spit the nasty Bugbear should try and shoot at her or May, almost certain that he'll try.

"Surely a tough Bugbear such as yourself recognizes the nature of May's question.  This is an interrogation.  You tell us what we want to know, and you live.  If you don't, we'll make you wish we'd simply killed you."
This message was last edited by the player at 22:49, Mon 07 May 2012.

  Hoal nods to his sister, "I am certain you shall be."

  He turns his attention to their captive.  "I suppose a more morbid appeal to your pride would be asking if you really want to be known as 'The Bugbear slain by a Kobold'?  As none of us were seriously inured in your failed attempt despite whatever aid has been given to you, we may be inclined to let you live if you co-operate."

Mara-Kai nods to Hoal.

The bugbear's gruff demeanor rather suddenly changes as a sickly smile crosses his face and he chuckles. "I was sent by Archfey Lialthas, may his name permeate the forests forever. This was a good test to see what you all can do. I wasn't counting on you having another ally with you. Be sure, though, that whether you kill me or not, it won't make a difference as far as you're concerned. Even if I never come after you due to some honor debt for sparing my life, others will. And my battle with you has already been observed and recorded."

"Interesting," Gale says, "That our humble group should catch the attention of an Archfey, but it makes sense.  You must feel honored to have been chosen for this mission by someone so prestigious.  Were you told what our quest is?  Or were you kept in the dark?"

She kneels down and begins to gingerly clean and bandage his wounds, but keeps her cold expression.

  Hoal can't help but feel the bugbears words are not entirely their own at the moment.  Though having a generic untrained Insight value makes that a touch hard to prove.  "All this test has revealed is that our actions are not insignificant.  A futile effort would merely be ignored, especially by someone if their name was truly worth eternity."

Quelenna huhs and says, "So what do we do now? Do we force-march this guy with us to the Wemmics?"

Mara says, "Don't see as we have much other choice."

The bugbear answers Gale. "I was told you are looking to "warn" the races of the Prime Material Plane about the "upcoming invasion" from the Feywild."

Gale hmms and nods.  "If you would help him to his feet please?  May as well continue this conversation on our way."

She takes a few moments to ghost sound to her allies a whisper, "I may lie to him to get more info."

She then returns to talking with the bugbear.  "You make it sound like 'warning' of the 'upcoming invasion' is a code phrase for something else.  Were we mislead about the nature of our mission?  I'm beginning to wonder if there is more going on than we were told."

  "If you would be willing to tell us, did you meet Archfey Lialthas in person?  If not, who gave you your orders?  I have to admit the longer this goes on, the more I find myself wondering if the Fey are attacking, or if someone is attempting to set them up for a fall.  If not the Fey hoping to foster that opinion.  So many threats, so little actual sight or proof of their cause.  Even if by our captives own admission we were just attacked on orders of the Fey"

OOC Style: I am trying to figure out how I missed that I was up on this thread since a week ago.  Only thing I can think of being the busy week combined with brain defaulting to "still not up anywhere on Mittens D".  Which is now once again true.

The bugbear says, "I did not meet the archfey in person. Only the best of the best may meet archfey. I was given the orders from an eladrin named Mindartis."

Just then, the group can hear a strong voice that almost seems to echo saying, "HALT! You are on Wemic territory! I am Jonah, guardian of this part of the territory! Identify yourselves!"

The voice is coming from a Wemic who has a main-like head of hair and beard. He has armor on and looks majestic. Clearly he puts an intimidating face on the Wemics, but not necessarily an unwelcoming one has he hasn't pointed his weapon at them yet or acted in a threatening manner.

"An honor to meet you, Guardian Jonah," Gale answers with her typical nod-bow and friendly smile, "I am Gale and these are my friends Quelenna, Hoal, Mara-Kai, and May.  The Bugbear is someone who attacked us on the way here to prevent us from fulfilling our mission of warning your people of the upcoming invasion from the Feywild."

She nods to Hoal.  "But as Hoal just pointed out, evidence is beginning to point at the possibility that we were misinformed about what's really going on.  If you'll let us, we can tell you what we've observed directly and you can draw your own conclusions."

  Hoal nods in greeting, sheathing his longsword.  "Threats, warnings, claims of responsibility in number.  But as of yet no direct sightings or proof.  Our travels were spurred by an Eladrin's home being destroyed with him still inside shortly before he would warn us of an impending invasion by his people as a preemptive response to prophecies defilers of the land.  Now, we face claims that the Archfey order assaults upon us personally by our attackers.  Regardless of who or what is responsible for these events, the fact remains there is a hostile force attempting to kill people."

  When you get right down to it, that really is sort of a problem regardless of the reasons or responsible party.

OOC Style: All this Majestic Wemic action is reminding me how the Quest For Glory games have my favorite Paladins.

Jonah says, "Well met! Come with me to Gara, the Wemic village I am from!" he turns and leads the way. As he does, though, he asks Gale quietly, "Forgive my asking, but... how is a kobold with you? At best, they mind their own business, but are *always* with a group of other kobolds..."

May cheerfully marches along and starts humming a tune.

The bugbear says nothing as he wasn't addressed.

Mara considers what Hoal said. "Is it just me, or does it feel like any opposition we come across is going to assume we're stupid?"

Quelenna says, "But that would be a good thing... so not likely."

---

OOC: Quest for Glory remains as some of my fondest childhood memories. The Antwerp made me laugh every time I saw him. The death messages, the witty comebacks when you tried typing something cute. That was a game well-made.

Gale strokes her chin and answers Jonah quietly.  "We saw smoke on the side of the road and investigated.  It was from May's campfire.  I approached her alone.  She was cheerful and offered to help me travel.  Then the Bugbear attacked.  May helped defeat him and his two-headed dog.  We've spent the rest of the time interrogating him, so that's all I know about her." 

Her allies she answers with a shrug.  "I have a feeling that the implied solidarity of our foe is greatly exaggerated.  It's very unlikely that every single race in the Feywild is convinced that murderous attacks are the wisest course of action, much less every single faction of every single race, much much less every single individual of the entire Feywild.  I believe that diplomacy can still diffuse this situation if we keep our heads."

  "From what little I have seen of her, I do not think May had much need for safety in numbers normally.  As for any opinions of out competence, I feel they will not underestimate us enough to give us any edge.  Merely enough for them to feel justified in looking down on us."

OOC: So, you want to master lockpicking easily huh?  Well, first you have to get it high enough that you don't kill yourself.  Then, use lockpick on nose a billion times.

May puffs up from what Hoal says about her. "Thanks, Hoal! Nice of you to say!"

Jonah says, "Fair enough. Then I'll leave it to May to explain to us all why she isn't with other kobolds and why she's helping you instead."

May says, "I grew up under the watch of a gold dragon who had taken over my tribe before I was hatched."

Jonah ohs, "That makes it all make sense."

Mara combs her fingers through her waterfall hair and looks over at Hoal, "Whatever the case, as long as we stick together, we'll be as safe as we can be."

Quelenna says, "I ain't got much of anywhere to go."

"Aww?" Gale coos with a helpless 'that poor hurt puppy!' look on her face as she reaches to give Quel a comforting hug.  "You poor dear!  Well I hope you know how much I appreciate your company.  And your magic.  Without your skill, we could all be dead right now.  And that goes for the rest of you, too.  Thank you, May.  Thank you, Hoal and Mara.  Mara's point has proven quite true already.  Which reminds me."

She looks over at the bugbear.  "I've been assuming your intent was to kill us before we killed you.  Is that true?"

  "Let us hope that housing replacements are among the things those who gave us this task are willing to cover."  When it's all said and done, that would probably be cheaper than the average mid level loot.

  "You have endured admirably up till now though Quelenna."  Plus she already started out with crazy powers and didn't have her relatives torched.  Already the Eladrin is doing much better than the average Skywalker.

The bugbear answers Gale frankly, "Yes."

Quelenna blushes from all the attention and says, "I wasn't feeling sorry for myself; Just making a point... but thank you."

May grins at Gale and Quelenna. "Thanks, Gale. You two sure are cuddly tallfolk, aren't ya?"

Jonah is getting a helpless smile, watching the bunch. He then says, "Here we are." as he walks up to a natural stone wall with ivy on it. But the ivy was too thick to see there wasn't stone behind it, so when Jonah pulls the ivy aside like a curtain, the group can see a community just past what is now an opening in the wall. Clearly, this wall surrounds the community and has no ceiling so the sun and sky are still quite seeable.

May says, "WOW! This is cool!"

Jonah says, "All of you, please stay close to me. Especially you, May. I know you are good, but my people don't know and will assume to attack any kobold on sight."

May says, "No problem, Mister Jonah! I'll stick to you like glue until you otherwise say so. Can I ride on your back?"

Jonah nods and lets May climb on.

Mara says, "It is beautiful."

Gale nods to Quel with a warm smile.

"You're welcome, May.  Can you blame me for cuddling?  She's so cute!  And you're real cute too, ya know."

"Thank you for the escort, Jonah," she answers cheerfully.  She too marvels at the Centaur's lovely home town.  "Breathtaking!  What a nice place you've got here!"

Gale turns to the Bugbear.  "I'm curious if your opinion of us has changed at all since then."

  Hoal somehow doubts any change of opinion on the Bugbear's part would be a favorable one.  "I would not expect a lone Kobold, or most single beings to cause panic in the streets here.  But it is better to be more cautious, thank you for the warnings Jonah."

  Watch out! It's a lone Dire Gnome! Call the Wemic national guard!

The bugbear answers Gale, "Why would my opinion of you change so fast?"

May says, "At least he's honest."

The bugbear hurumpfs, as if May insulted him.

Jonah takes the group up to what looks like the Whemic chief. This guy is equally as impressive as Jonah on his own, but in place of armor is royal armor, a royal red cape, a scepter, and a crown. "Ah. Guests."

Jonah introduces the group and explains why they are here. The king (Introduced as Judah) nods. "Thank you for the message. Who all have you warned?"

"I guess Hoal's never seen a mob gang up on someone over something trivial," Gale comments with a shrug, "'Your sports team cheated,' is usually all it takes."

Gale answer the Bugbear, "Because we did something you didn't expect: namely, spare your life."

She bows to the king and answers, "You are most welcome, your highness.  We've been traveling from nearest to furthest.  So far we've warned the Gnomes, the Fairies, the Trolls, and yourself."

  "I have heard of the concept, but I have yet to witness it firsthand.  Have you had the 'good' fortune to see such things in the past Gale?"   Of course, such questions are then sidelined by Oh look royalty.

  Formalities and respects paid and all that.  "That something has started attacking, and makes claims of it's Feywild origins at the very least is a certainty so far.  Considering the claims, an elaborate hoax would be preferable to these being true."
This message was lightly edited by the player at 01:26, Sat 07 July 2012.

Judah applauds, looking quite pleased (rather than mock-impression like a villain applauding a hero). "What brave souls! Warning the trolls! In that case, I will send some volunteers to accompany you on your journey if you wish, my friends!"

May says, "You Whemics are cool. Why would we turn down an offer to have cool people along?"

Mara-Kai says, "Well... for one, to keep our group small so we're less conspicuous."

Quelenna is silent, pondering.

Gale was at least able to squeeze in a nod to answer Hoal's question.  That would be among the many reasons she left home to go to wizard school.

"I think the idea of inconspicuousness through small numbers was decided against when my offer to make the journey alone was turned down.  And it's a good thing it was, too.  There's little chance I would have survived the bugbear and his two headed dog's attack alone.  Thank you for your generous offer, your highness.  In my estimation, it will be of great help."

  "Unless there happens to be a significant amount of volunteers, I do not think it would attract any more attention beyond those who have seen us already." Eladrin, Human, Genasi, Genasi... Kobold... Wemic, what?

  "As for your previous offer, a small group and being all alone are two very different things."  A complete violation of the Buddy system for one.

"We'll take the bugbear off your hands as well." Jonah adds. "Jericho. Go find some volunteers to join our friends in their quests."

Soon, Jericho arrives with 2 others.... or is that 3? A male Whemic, a female Whemic... and a levitating glowing brain.

Quelenna says, "...interesting familiar."

The whemics chuckle. A reverse-reverb "sounding" telepathic voice says, "I do not find that funny."

May says, "Introductions?"

Jericho says, "Right. This is Moses, Rebecca, and Erolant." As he introduces, he indicates with his hand who is who. (Male Whemic: Moses. Female Whemic: Rebecca. Floating Brain: Erolant.)

Erolant telepaths, "I am what is called a "bodiless". The bodiless are those who have ascended beyond their physical restraints and become pure energy in the form of psionics."

Jonah says, "...get used to hearing that."

Mara says, "Thank you all for volunteering to come with us."

May says, "Two whemics and a floating brain? Sweet!"

(OOC: Double-checked just to be sure and confirmed what I thought was the case; Empty Mind feat just damages people who use an attack on you that targets your will OR does psychic damage to you. So yeah.. telepaths can totally telepath to a voidsoul consequence-free.)

Gale nods at Hoal's assessment. "Different enough that I'm alive today rather than dead."

She smiles and nods a bow to the volunteers, doing her best to hide that she's surprised/grossed out/fascinated by the floating brain.  But that's very hard to do without also looking like you're ignoring... it.  She forces herself to look at each one with a smile.

"Pleased to meet you.  I am Gale.  I'll add my thanks to Mara-Kai's for your volunteering to help us."

May's cheerful exclamation makes Gale blush.
This message was last edited by the player at 00:49, Mon 16 July 2012.

  A lack of substance yet intrinsically linked to psychic phenomenon.  While short of the whole innate Telepathy deal, the Voidsoul was not fully unfamiliar with such concepts.  "Perhaps if Erolant ever felt nostalgic for physical restraints, they could manifest as the shardminds do."

  He nods in greeting to them all.  "All willing allies are more than welcome. I am Hoal."  He turns to Gale and comments, "Not the worst way to be proven wrong, I think.  Though had I been wrong, you still would have survived."

OOC: Yeah.  Plus even if it did, Hoal wouldn't be enough of a jerk to have it go off just because someone was trying to hold a conversation.  Assault Swordmage can be kinda eh feeling for it's Job class 'label' (Method of defense? teleport over for a revenge stab if you marked target has already HIT somebody, doh).  But I love me some Voidsoul.

If I was playing a Genasi in Dark sun, I'd still take a Voidsoul over "Immune to the Sun, primary danger of the setting" Sunsouls.
This message was last edited by the player at 01:36, Thu 19 July 2012.

The group is eventually given a kindly farewell before they head off to the next destination.

Moses says, "According to the list of races you said were to be warned, the next destination is the nearby Kobolds."

May says, "Then onward we go!"

Quelenna asks, "So... you are joining us, but... how much of this prophecy and such do you believe?"

Moses says, "I do not believe it to be true. However, I believe it to be possible. And that alone is enough for me. Besides... being prepared for a storm is not a bad thing even if the storm never comes. As the saying goes: It is better to have and not need, than to need and not have."
This message was last edited by the player at 12:32, Thu 19 July 2012.

Gale smiles and nods in agreement with Hoal.  "Indeed."

She figures that he has sufficiently addressed the floating brain lacking an apparent gender by referring to it as "they."  Given that there was no objection Gale makes a mental note to follow Hoal's example in the future.

"A good saying to live by," she answers Moses, "What I find ironic is that true or no, those who are supposedly working to prevent the prophesy's fulfillment are filling into the same pattern that all the storybooks and legends on the topic claim inevitably wind up causing prophesy to come true.  In employing a preemptive strike policy, they have given the governments of the Prime Material Plane all the excuse they'll need to justify to their public as necessary the development and use of whatever it is that will supposedly destroy the Feywild."

  "At this point, my belief is simply that something is orchestrating attacks while making claims to the fate of the world.  True or not, hostile intent of some form is clear."

  Granted, the current situation was a bit more jumbled to try and explain.  'Oh hello, non-feywild related creatures may attack you and/or blow up your house and blame it on the feywild.'
This message was last updated by the player at 04:39, Sat 28 July 2012.

May says, "Well as we have proven, they will fail to harm us! Stick together, team, and we will prevail!"

Quelenna says, "Don't get cocky. We only really have that single victory under our belt."

May pshaws, "And many more in the future! Positive thinking, sparkly-eyes!"

Mara-Kai goes to lean on Kyle Hoal. "Positive thinking is all well and good, May, but Quelenna is just saying we need to not underestimate our future enemies."

May says, "No problemo! But let's not underestimate each other either, k?"

"Indeed," Gale agrees generically, "And now with our new allies, we will be better prepared to handle what challenges lie ahead.  Speaking of which, I suppose now is as good a time as any for us to become familiar with each other's abilities.  I'll get us started.  I'm an illusion focused wizard of Gitbin's Red School.  I also happen to be trained in diplomacy.  My spells are..."  She gives an overview of her spells and what they do.  "Hoal here is a swordmage.  I'll let him familiarize you with what he can do in his own words."

  "Not as impressive as what you may have heard in regards to Swordmages.  Teleporting behind an enemy to retaliate against them is of little comfort to allies when the triggers require them to be struck first." Of course, Shielding Aegis is straight damage reduction.  But not like Hoal is optimized for that particular Aegis.

  "Still, engaging multiple opponents in melee combat does make the ability to strike all near me a good prospect." Both able to stab well in the traditional sense, and in the 'magic sword of explosions' sense.

  OOC Style: Main odds Hoal will always be Swordmage style, but I AM curious what other non-hybrid/Psychic (psychic classes, fittingly, hurt my brain) options there are for INT+STR/CON that isn't a Warlord, a class which I'm very 'Meh' regarding...  Okay so a Genasi CAN be a Shielding Swordmage just fine, since that is Con.  But then your Melee basic is Blaaaah without a Feat.

though INT+STR/Con options seem limited to Swordmage, Warlord (meh), Artificer (can't spare the feats from Voidsoul goodies), and... supposedly summoner wizard. But the only spells with Con mods are a handful of encounter spells (and your staff of defense enc power)
This message was last edited by the player at 04:53, Sat 28 July 2012.

In response to what Hoal says, Erolant telepaths, "We bodiless have ascended beyond melee combat."

May gives Erolant a look with furrowed brows, "You've ascended beyond having fun? Sounds like a descent to me."

Erolant telepaths, "We bodiless have ascended beyond such simple things being considered "fun". What I would consider fun would probably confuse you."

Moses says, "Enough of that, Erolant. Don't tell them what you don't do. Tell them what you do."

Erolant telepaths, "Very well. As a bodiless, I have shed my physical form as it was like a fifth wheel. I am capable of taking over minds, whether by possessing people or simply willing it from a distance. I can create illusions, of course, but I can also cause my psionic power to manifest into a solid object, be it a tool or weapon. But those are just simply what you physical sorts might call "powers". I would be more inclined to believe my usefulness lies more in my pure intellectual capabilities. Problem solving, learning, planning... those sorts of things come much easier to me than they would, say, to the rest of you." (OOC: No really... you can't build this guy by 4th edition rules. "Bodiless" are actually from 3.5.)

Quelenna says, "Interesting abilities, Erolant. Rather presumptious to say you're smarter than the rest of us. But the proof will be in the future course of events. As for what I do? I guess I'll come out and say it: I'm a Blood Mage. I know some of the secrets of using pain and blood to cause strong magics to manifest. While I am just as much an intellectual as the next wizard, my magic may cause people to think me a brute due to it being focused on maximizing offense." (OOC: Her list of spells are Cantrips, Winged Horde, Nightmare Eruption, Burning Hands, Flaming Sphere, Arcane Whirlwind, Mystical Debris, Float, Arcane Bolt, Scorching Burst, and Fey Step from being an Eladrin. At least, according to her Character Builder entry on my laptop, which has her at level 3.)

May says, "I like weapons of all kinds and seem to have a knack for picking up and learning how to use anything I get my hands on as a weapon. I believe in versatility, so I just do a little bit of everything rather than focus on one thing. For example; some fighters like focusing on one kind of weapon. Others like focusing on defense. Still others like to focus on footwork and repositioning; often those types use nets and stuff. But I wanna learn how to use every weapon there is and use them for the purpose they were designed for. For the time being, if one were to peg me as having one focus, it's to make the enemy pay attention to me instead of my allies so my allies will be safe. But I think that's more a matter of engagement rather than technique." (OOC: You all know what's under her hood. Arena fighter. Mechanically speaking, though, she has some things that take advantage of her using a shield. But in the end, May really is an "everything" fighter)

Mara-Kai says, "I and my brother Hoal studied together. Everything I can do, he can do better. But as a water soul, I can become somewhat fluid in my movements for brief moments and I can breathe under water. I'm sure as Hoal and I progress, though, there is a chance our abilities will vary, even if slightly." (OOC: Her Character Builder entry is level 1. But fyi, she has Aegis of Assault, Greenflame Blade, Sword Burst, Flame Cyclone, and Burning Blade. The literal exact suggested powers for Assault Swordmage.)

Moses says, "I am a warrior like May. But I am one of those specialists she mentioned who focuses on the spear. As such, sadly, a shield would be cumbersome for me when wielding my favored weapon." he looks at Rebecca.

Rebecca says, "I am no combatant. But I know medicine and can run fast. So I will be able to tend to your wounds or illnesses, but will also be able to scout ahead for you and return with swiftness."

May says, "Wow! What a team!"
This message was last edited by the player at 12:32, Wed 01 Aug 2012.

"A brute?" Gale asks in surprise, "I found your magic to be quite elegant, Quelenna.  Especially beautiful that you valiantly helped defend your friends."

She smiles at Mara and Hoal.  "I love how modest you two are."

She turns an endearing gaze to May.  "And how cheerful you are."

She then addresses everyone.  "Thanks again for volunteering, everyone.  All contributions gladly accepted.  So might I suggest a marching order?  May first with her shield.  Moses second so his spear can strike from above her.  Mara and Hoal as rear guard, then the rest of us un-armored types in the middle watching for flanking attacks.  I'd like Rebecca to stay with us till the situation calls for a scout if that's ok."

  "It remains to be seen if I am in any way your superior, Mara-Kai.  Events in our last battle were not due to any greater skill on my part."  Well okay, maybe one could argue the differences between a Voidsoul and a Watersoul in a combat capacity. But that is hardly a difference in Swordmage aptitude.

  He looks over to Gale, and comments "No objections I can think of." It's a good thing a three foot tall or so kobold can shield a tall Wemic.  Game Mechanics! SCIENCE!

OOC Style: Ah, Arena fighter.  When you can throw a Sling stone by hand for +2 prof, 1d8 Damage.  Sure, it's for like, HALF the range a sling can do.  But still, throw small rocks for 1d8 damage with no to-hit penalty.

Mara smiles at Gale, then leans over to Hoal to whisper in his ear with a mock serious voice, "We bodiless have ascended beyond modesty."

Erolant telepaths, "I heard that."

Mara covers her mouth and giggles.

May jumps Gale to hug her, "And I just love how accepting ALL of you are! I mean... I'm a kobold and you all just let me hang with the gang, you know?"

Nobody objects to the marching order. While Moses seems willing enough to chat, Rebecca is quiet. Erolant is more than willing to "chat" if people let him, but most get tired of hearing him comment on how he has ascended beyond one thing or another.

However, May holds a hand up to indicate halting. "We're close... be on the lookout." she throws a stone and a bear trap springs shut. May starts singing, "Boom boom, ain't it great to be a koooobooold... Boom boom, ain't it great to be a koooobooold..."
This message was last edited by the player at 12:38, Thu 09 Aug 2012.

Gale has an amused smile from Mara's exchange and giggle.  She Ohs in surprise at May's glomp then helplessly smiles endearingly at the adorable Kobold, reaching to pet her hair.  "Likewise, my friend," she coos softly.

Gale of course is very curious about her new company and asks lots of questions about their history and culture.  When May finds the trap, she nods and says, "That it is.  Thanks, May."

  Hoal considers the bear trap.  "I do not suppose you will be taking it with you May?  Or would a beartrap be far too unwieldy to use in a hectic battle?"  Set it, throw it, hope it doesn't go off until it hit's somebody's face.

May picks up the triggered bear trap. "Don't know, Hoal. Only way to find out will be to try it later."

About 4 kobolds peek out from behind trees with slings in hand. May speaks some draconic at them. <TRANSLATED>"Greetings! I am May. These are my friends. We come here with urgent news for you and all kobold kind. If you will take me to the all-watcher, I will deliver the message to him or her."</TRANSLATED>

The kobolds look suspicious and reply, <TRANSLATED>"Tell US what it is and we will deliver the message."</TRANSLATED>

May says, <TRANSLATED>"The people of the Feywild are planning an attack on all people of our world. This includes you. We don't know when this attack will happen. Only that it will and soon. "</TRANSLATED>

The kobolds look skeptical. Then say, <TRANSLATED>"We will tell the all-watcher. Stay where you are. If he wishes to see you, we will tell you. If not, we will tell you to be on your way."</TRANSLATED>

Once the kobolds leave, May turns to the others and says, "They're going to tell their leader about our quest and then return to let us know whether the leader wants to talk more or simply wants us to leave. Until then, we're to wait right here."
This message was last edited by the player at 04:45, Sun 12 Aug 2012.

Gale gives a confused look at Hoal's question to May but makes no comment.  Easy enough to catch the gist of the Draconic conversation...

May: Cheerful greeting.  "I'm May the Unconquered, and these are my minions!"

Other Kobolds suspicious question: "What's your business here?"

May's frank answer: "To warn you about a Fey invasion."

Other Kobold's unbelieving answer: "Yeah right.  Pull the other leg.  We'll go ask the boss what to do with you."

Then May confirms Gale's guess translation.  "Sounds straight-forward enough if our luck holds out," she says, "If not, we'll be ambushed by a dragon and its Kobold hoard.  I can't think of any way to prepare for that.  I guess after a certain point all you can do is hope for the best."

  Hoal will pick up Draconic eventually, depending on if he survives and how far along his Scholar theme actually gets.  "They would probably be giving us too much credit if they think they need a Dragon on top of their entire active populace to deal with us in that case, Gale."

May nods. "Hoal's right. Remember; To kobolds, dragons are gods. To even bother a dragon with news of a few adventurers would be silly and kind of an insult. I'll be surprised if they so much as have the all-watcher visit with us."

Mara nods, "Fair enough." she waves her hand through her hair to splash a little water at Hoal teasingly.

But soon enough, a lone kobold comes back. <TRANSLATED>"The all-watcher says he thanks you for the warning and will keep an eye on it. If you need rest to finish your quest, you are welcome to rest. Otherwise, move on."<TRANSLATED>

May nods. She says something in draconic that doesn't really have a direct translation in common. Something to the effect of having respect mixed with good bye mixed with "may dragons live forever" or something to that effect.

(OOC: Fun thing about foreign languages is when you get into "this... doesn't even HAVE a translation in our language" stuff. XD I run into these things sometimes when chatting about Japanese with my friend Kory. "Onigoshimasu" (The "u" is silent), for instance, roughly means "let's have a good game and learn from each other" with a tone of respect. XD Of course, just as fun is when you partially translate things... like one time, I noticed the word "Slut" while visiting Sweden. It's a Swedish word meaning "empty". Magnus pointed out a window that had a Swedish phrase with that word in it. He said "If you translate the whole thing, it says "We are sold out". But if you leave the word "slut" alone, it translates "We sell sluts". XD!! Language... so much fun, it's a wonder I never learned a second language.)

"Just one spark can set a whole city ablaze," Gale retorts, "We may be but a spark of a group, but given the nature of our mission, if someone wants to kill us, I expect them to consider us worth over-killing.  Like dousing a spark that lands on a haystack with a whole basin of water, well worth the results."

She gives a curious look to May, expecting another translation.

  Hoal is thusly sprinkled.  One can only imagine the cooties scares with younger Genasi.

  "Of course, Hay would eventually dry out for future use while we would be dead.  Though I may be taking metaphors too literally again."  He looks to May and makes the educated guess this time around (Same Int score as Gale and all that) "They have listened to our warnings and have dismissed us as politely as possible?"

May responds to Gale with a kind of pleading/helpless look on her face. "If Dragons thought the way humans do, you'd be right. But then if they thought like humans, there would be no such thing as a dragon slayer. However, Dragons don't think like humans. They fear nothing. Not the spark, not the entire burning village. To them, admitting the entire human race put together is anything more than a neussance would hurt their pride. They simply don't see non-dragons as a threat until they are in combat with someone who is actually harming them. If you ask me, while such fearlessness befits their majestic form, it is the one thing I'll admit is their shortcoming."

Erolant telepaths, "We bodiless have ascended beyond being blinded to threats by silly things like pride."

May matter-of-factly says, "I'll hold you to that, Erolant."

May then nods to Hoal, "Your guess is close enough. Though they offered us rest if we need it before moving on."

Gale chuckles at Hoal's comment then listens to Mays and chuckles some more at the exchange with Erolant.  "I would get Erolant a 'Most Humble' badge if the bodiless hadn't ascended beyond wearing things.  Thanks for the translation.  Good to see our luck continues to hold.  I'm beginning to wonder if we've been blessed by a god or two."

  "If the rest of you, aside from Elorant of course, are in need of rest then now is as good a time as any.  Otherwise we may as well continue onwards."  After all, everyone was still full up on Healing surges and expendable powers.  Five Minute Adventuring Days are just silly in that case.

May, Quel and Mara all seem to be fine with continuing and send their thanks along to the kobolds.

Moses says, "The goblins are the next closest bunch." he points a direction and once again, May leads the way.

Quelenna says, "We've warned trolls and got a surprisingly hospitable reception. I wonder if the goblins will be as nice. Nice to dream..."

Mara-Kai says, "We didn't take this task to be treated well. But it would admittedly be nice if the rest of our visits go smoothly."

May says, "Search your pockets. If you got gold, that should turn a hostile goblin into at LEAST a goblin willing to listen."

Elorant doesn't comment on people stabbing at his ego.
This message was last edited by the player at 17:15, Sat 01 Sept 2012.

"Won't it be ironic if our worst welcome ends up from the so-called 'civilized' races?" Gale chuckles, "If so, I think May's suggestion may work on them just as well.  But as mentioned, hope for the best."

She follows along with the others.  "Any guess how long before we reach Goblin territory?"

  We're playing DnD, not Champions.  So Ego Damage isn't A Thing except metaphorically.

  "Longer than ten minutes."  Then they would get a scene transition or end up in another fight. Or a scene transition to the next fight.

OOC: Childhood trivia!  Inspector Gadgets was a Unit Of Time.  "Mom, how long until we get to vacation place?"  "Three more inspector gadgets."

Before the group gets to goblin territory, though, they come across a clearing. The clearing has some obvious ruins there, and looks to be made of sandstone, despite being in the middle of the forest.

A gentle breeze picks up, as if guiding the group to keep moving into the ruins. There is also a very obvious entrance. Without even trying, all the arcane users sense magic coming from inside. In other words, whatever is in there must be powerful.

---

Meanwhile, Tim gets a nostalgia blast from the reference to Champs having an Ego damage / power type.

"Fascinating," Gale says, "Are you sensing what I'm sensing?  There's powerful magic in there.  I wonder why it was built with sandstone.  Perhaps this is one of those subtle rifts to another place I've read about.  Have any of you heard about this place?  The Kobolds didn't mention it.  I wonder if they even knew about it."

  "As worrying as it may be to leave such an obvious focus of arcane energy at our backs, I can not be the only one to assume something this obvious is likely a trap."

  Terdisas does have as good a grasp of history possible for his level range at least, but then so would anybody from his recent academic local that actually trained up in it.

Mara-Kai says, "Unless someone did some research on this area..."

Quelenna looks in awe and says, "I did. This is Arcus; The First Temple of Magic. Or someone trying to make a very convincing fake. No mistaking the runes..."

Erolant says, "Impressive. If this is, in fact, Arcus, then inside is knowledge lost to the sands of time... and our only chance to gain that knowledge is now. Arcus is said to constantly phase in and out of existence. Fortunately, I happen to know that it only fades OUT of existence when the sun sets. At least, when it appears during the day. So we have some time..."

Quelenna looks at the others pleadingly. "Ancient, lost knowledge! The chance to recover at least SOME of it! And all of half the day left to do so! We *have* to explore it!" she's been pretty well calm up till now. Now she's acting like a child begging their mom for a toy.

May says, "But you yourself mentioned the possibility of it being a very convincing fake."

Quelenna says, "Who would go to that much effort just to trap us?"

May says, "Maybe not you specifically. But it could be someone wants to trap smart folk or magic users like yourselves."

Erolant says, "Seems the kobold has some spark between her ears after all. Hoal is right. This is too good to be up for grabs."

Moses says, "If this was indeed a trap desined to capture magic users, then maybe I should check it out. If I get caught, you bunch could likely break what has me since you will be on the outside of the trap?"

Mara-Kai strokes her chin in thought. "Actually... NOTHING can capture Hoal." She glances at him. "At least... I'm pretty sure. Since you can cease to exist...?"

---

Meant to thank you for your random childhood factoid. Inspector Gadget as a measurement of time sounds very likely and almost surprising Transformers was not used as such in my own childhood. All my "before Tim could figure what half an hour was" memories include "How long till we get there?" being answered with "A long time", "A bit", or "not much longer."

"Not only that, but May has a sparkle in her smile," Gale adds to what Erolant said, giving May an admiring smile.  "I think Hoal is right and it's very likely a trap.  So I'm impressed with your courage, Moses and Quelenna.  But I must admit it's a very tempting one.  Suppose there is knowledge in there that would disprove the prophesy?  Countless lives could be saved if the reason for the war were removed."

She takes out her rope and ties one end to the nearest tree.  "Worth the risk.  I'll go with whomever is willing.  Those who remain will hopefully be able to pull us out with our ropes if something goes wrong."

She makes a loop on the other end and slips it around her ankle.  She then heads for the entrance.

  How did that go?  Who is the bigger fool, the fool or the one who follows the fool?

  "I would say the ones who blew up your house, sent enemies with wards against your spells, and desire to prevent our progress would be ones who would go to such effort.  As for my own potential safety, even my heritage has it's limits."  Going nowhere fast, does not travel very far.  Imagine that.

  "There is also the matter that even if this were the genuine article, we would be neglecting our task to explore it.  Though I suspect I have little say in this matter."

OOC Style: I love Voidsoul.  I also love the voidsoul specific Paragon Path even though I've never had the chance to use it.  Level 11, Touch attack to make a Creature CEASE TO EXIST... Until Start Of My Next Turn, and dealing no damage. Okay so it's more cool than useful.

Level 12 "Nope, you took Zero Damage." Encounter power is sweet though.  Finger of death hit me? That's nice.  Better luck next time finger of death.

Mara-Kai says, "Well here's a thought: Some stay here to guard the place against our enemies while the rest go to finish warning people? I mean, I agree that we shouldn't dally from our task, but this much power and potential knowledge sitting around for the taking is asking for getting into the wrong hands."

Quelenna folds her arms and looks aside. Then says, "Thanks for sharing the excitement, Gale. But... as much as I hate to admit it, the others have a point."

Erolant says, "But so does Mara-Kai. Since your task is not technically my own, and I was only along as an extra hand, I volunteer to remain behind and watch over this place. But I guaruntee you, it will be gone when you return."

Quelenna looks rather upset. "Why now of all times?"

May says, "Because it's a trap. The timing does suggest such anyway."

Quelenna says, "But if it isn't... darn it all."

May says, "Look at it this way: We wouldn't have had that forgotten knowledge anyway. This place only appeared because our enemies know you bunch are intellectuals and it's the perfect lure for smart people. Too bad for them, you ARE smart people who don't get fooled. Right?"

Erolant says, "...I'm starting to think the Kobold has intelligence equal to any one of you. That said, I agree with Quelenna that it seems a bit silly and over the top for people who have only ambushed you with skillful mages to just up and build an entire place like this, even if illusiory. Which I can tell you would take serious magics. Not to mention whatever is making the magic user senses tingle."

May says, "Me? Smart as the others? No way! Just echoing what Hoal was saying."

Moses says, "Standing guard of a place that disappears at sunset doesn't seem to be worth our while."

Mara-Kai says, "....the tree line seems wobbly."

May huhs and looks.

Erolant says, "Oh. We may be trapped already then."

Upon any inspection, the group will find there is a magical barrier surrounding the area.

---

NORMAL GM: "There's a pretty waterfall, etc, etc. So moving alo-"
NORMAL players: "WAIT! A waterfall?! I'm TOTALLY going to it to look for a secret entrance!"
NORMAL GM: "Uh... nope? No secret entrance."
NORMAL players: "There HAS to be some loot! The GM mentioned it at all!"
NORMAL GM: "....was only mentioning for flavor."
NORMAL GM proceeds to spend 30-90 minutes trying to get the group back onto the main plot that was derailed by players.

Me: "New interesting place!"
NORMAL group: "Let's check it out!"
Me: "Whaddaya know! There's stuff there!"

Me: "New interesting place!"
Chris: "Let's check it out!"
Will: "It's a trap. Let's go." Proceeds to make sense.
Me: "....um... OK. Now what do I do?" *remembers GM makes the world go round* "Oh right. Giant magical barrier. Now you can't proceed anyway. Just like in a videogame RPG!"

Believe me, I'm glad you're playing Hoal as a sensible person, even though he is, for all intents and purposes, entirely invincible for 6 seconds every 5 minutes. But my mentality of "GM IS GOD!!" has been so far removed from my brain I can sometimes stagnate without player help. XD Mostly due to wanting to stay well away from "I rule, players drool."

Which reminds me: We ever tell you about the latest "Liz near tears because her character is too sensible to stay with group" scenario? If not, here's the scenario:

Draco Terramida / Broken Sword:

Liz's character is a Chaotic Neutral rogue who is such a pathological cleptomaniac, she doesn't even know she's stealing things half the time. Her hands just do it without her knowing. She hates the gods (for "letting" her mother die) and all but worships money.

Our group is at some lone castle with a powerful guy starting up his own civilization. There is an army on the way, but they aren't surrounding us. Wanting to do the right thing and help defend the new civilization, the group decides to stick around... except Liz's character. Her character was ready to just leave the party and thus, Liz leave the game. Game had to be paused and Byron pulled her aside to discuss options. Meanwhile, JD ranted to us about how if the character wasn't so selfish, this wouldn't be an issue. Byron, meanwhile, had a point I agreed with that was apparently too difficult for Liz to do (And I can understand that too): Sometimes, you just have to tell your character "Nope. Even though it makes sense to flee for your life, you're staying around."

While the character belongs to the player, ultimately, the player controls the character. Liz and David tend to let go of their characters' reigns.

In the end, JD's character PAYED Liz's character to stay with the group. Due to the character's near-worship of money, that was enough to get her to stay. Also, thankfully, Byron claimed there were 4 options that would get Liz's character to stay, but apparently all 4 were spoilers.

ANYWAY! Point is: I don't want to step on toes and by all means, play your character the way you wanna play 'em. But just know if I put magical barriers on either side of the plot rail, it's only to keep it from getting derailed, not to try controlling your characters. XD

Technically, Hoal could use his racial encounter to exit the barrier. But not only would that prove Hoal can totally pwn any "cage", somehow I don't see Hoal leaving unless he was convinced doing so would help his sis and allies.
This message was last edited by the player at 05:53, Sun 23 Sept 2012.

Gale smiled and nodded to Quel in response to the thank you.  When the barrier appeared, Gale tossed a pebble at it to check that it was solid and not just an illusion.  "Looks like Hoal was right.  May as well test to see how tough this barrier is."

Assuming attacks to the barrier are shrugged off, Gale shrugs.  "Oh well.  May as well search for means of dispelling the barrier.  it's possible the makers of this place included a fail-safe in case they accidentally trapped themselves inside.  So standard marching order, then?"

  It appears someone has discovered the greatest weakness of this group.  Discussing things while failing Perc checks.  "Even if one of us were able to pass through, they would likely be outnumbered."

  He turns towards the ruins, "It appears we shall be taking a look inside after all, if only for lack of anything better to do.  Standard marching order would assume our recent acquaintances would all stay outside, but your intent if sound."  Although with the way halls can get cramped with a normal sized party...

  OOC: Ah yes, the classic "There ARE ways you could have done it, lots of them.  It's not MY fault I didn't make them clear you couldn't think of any of them, and no I'm not telling you what they are."  Not limited to Byron

Moving along a bit, the group is able to walk comfortably two-by-two through the halls that lead inside / underground. It actually doesn't take much for the group to "smell" where to go as the magic gets stronger the deeper they go. There are ancient runes written along the walls. But eventually, the group is led by the magic to a main room. There is an alter with a glowing sphere on it. There seem to be mirrors in the corners of the room shooting beams of light at the sphere. Other than that, the very strong magic seems to be emanating from the sphere.

Gale looks confused by Hoal's statements, but makes no reply.  Instead she focuses on taking detailed notes about everything she observes along the way, especially the interesting sphere at the center of the room.  First she conjures up her mage hand and sends it slowly over toward the orb while explaining her intentions to her friends.  "Sending the mage hand to check for any invisible obstructions.  Then, I'll conjure up a led ball and gently roll it toward the mage hand to see if it triggers any floor traps."

Unless anyone objects, she proceeds with the plan.

  Translation of Hoal's last comment.  'Up till now standard marching Order was just the PCs, with no place or mention of the new NPCs'.  Hoal had no objections to Gale's usage of common sense combined with cantrips.

  "I will admit, while there could still be traps within, this would be likely the most elaborate trap for quite some distance if that was the whole purpose of this keep."

  Hoal takes the downtime to Take-Ten scholar skills examine the wall runes.  However it was several levels until 'Know every language ever' kicked in, so he did not place his odds above his companions in translating.

OOC Style: Sure, Tim may have used a giant barrier out of nowhere to trap us.  But that doesn't mean he would pull an 'Official Module' and make a successful skill check to read wall runes result in psychic damag*takes 1d8 Adversarial GM Damage* SON OF A *****

No traps seem to activate. Gale's many precautions show the orb to be completely unprotected.

Mara-Kai says, "Don't forget the orb itself could be dangerous to touch."

Touching a stick to it doesn't seem to bother the stick.

May seems to be checking things around the altar. "No traps. From the looks of it, we could grab the orb and that won't set anything off."

"You would know." Erolant comments.

May responds, "Yup! Kobolds know their traps!"

Quelenna says, "This place hasn't been touched in who knows how long, but looks brand new..."

May is reaching to grab the orb. Unless someone beats her to it.

Gale is wincing, not sure whether to expect something terrible or something wonderful to happen.  "You're a braver woman than me, May, but honestly this is the closest thing to a way out we've found so far.  And with sunset fast approaching, we don't have much choice tub to take it.  Just...  there aren't any exposed spots of your gauntlets where your skin will touch it, is there?  Maybe we should use a sack or something."

  "Tiny Kobold gauntlets would, perhaps, mean tiny holes in them if any.  Although something to carry it in would be preferable to keeping it in hand the whole time."  Fortunately, obsessiveness with spare mundane items during chargen is no stranger to Hoal, or other alts of his player.  So he produces a spare sack.

  Not all of Hoal's assumptions are without bias in their logic.  One expectation would be for a magic artifact in a magical keep to need Mage Hand to manipulate.  But that would exclude the dozen or so other forms of arcane practitioners who did not learn cantrips.

May picked up the orb without incident. She holds it out in front of her and stares at it curiously, though, for about 3 seconds. Just long enough for the others to notice May was almost entranced. But she then puts it in the sack Hoal provided.

"That was interesting." May comments, "I got a feeling the orb is... a person. But it was a feeling. Nothing more. Not communication or anything. Maybe you magical people can give it a whirl or something, and figure it out."

Erolant says, "Sometimes, there are items infused with psionic power. Those items can cause people to believe it has the qualities of a person. Of course, there are also items, I've heard, that trap souls. Let's hope this is not one of those."

Quelenna says, "Well it seems to be the main source of magic around here. So maybe we should try using it to break the barrier. It's the only thing we've found down here so far."

Mara-Kai says, "It could be the very thing causing the field. Either way, it seems to be the only thing magical I can detect."

Gale exhales in relief when May puts the orb in the bag.  "Glad you're alright, May."

She nods to the others, "An item of that sort would be consistant with a legendary vanishing city.  I'm with Mara-Kai.  My guess is that this orb is the main power source of this place.  So let's hurry back out.  It could be that by removing it from it's place the city will vanish ahead of schedule."

  "If this is the only noteworthy thing we can sense the presence of out of all of us, then departing may well be the best course of action."  Funny, discovery of knowledge was the reason people had been so excited.  Instead they will be coming and going without a single sighting of reading material they could use.

  The wall runes didn't count, examining those never got a response/were outside of Hoal's linguistic capacity for several more levels.  Common/Elven/Deep Speech/Primordial (which had the same written language as Abyssal) only went so far.
This message was last edited by the player at 04:40, Thu 25 Oct 2012.

Actually, the runes did count and was, in fact, the lost knowledge. But nobody currently can read them. However, that doesn't stop Quelanna from taking notes.

Once the group makes it back outside, it is revealed that by carrying the sphere, they are able to make it past the barrier. The sun is setting as the group crosses where the barrier was. It's a spectacular sight as the ancient place slowly begins turning into a translucent gemstone-like substance, sparkling in the sun, before slowly vanishing.

Erolant says, "While the bodiless have ascended past sleep, unfortunately you lesser beings have not. Might I suggest we find some place to camp? I can watch over you as you sleep."

Gale took notes too and plans to compare notes with the others when time allows.  She stares wide-eyed in wonder at the beautiful sight of the vanishing magical building until it disappears from sight.  "Wow.  Once in a lifetime experience."

She rolls her eyes at the "lesser beings" comment but chooses not to respond to it.  "Well how thoughtful of you, Erolant."

  Hoal decides to keep his thoughts on how easy that ended up to himself for now.  There is a whole new day ahead of them with a fresh cynic's quota.  "I believe this would mark the first unexpected circumstance where none were harmed.  I think I prefer this trend."

It's an uneventful night. The next morning, Gale would find May has apparently curled up close to her.

When the group has eaten breakfast and moved on, a goblin comes out into their path. "Halt!" The goblin exclaims, pulling out a stick with an animal skull at the end and shaking it, causing a rattling sound. "You are on goblin territory! Explain yourselves!"

This guy:
http://aun61.deviantart.com/ar...n-Engineer-134804231

May says, "We're here to warn you about some doom coming to all of us."

The goblin says, "....aaaaand why would you warn a bunch of goblins? I see a human, two Genasi, an Eladrin, two Whemics, a Kobold (maybe?), and a floating brain. Kobolds have no love for goblins, I don't know from floating brains aside from maybe the underdark being full of creepy dangers, and the rest of you are from races who consider themselves better than goblinoids."

Erolant says, "I am what is called a bodiless. I can understand why you might confuse me with something from the underdark, but I assure you I am not."

The goblin says, "Bodiless... so noted. Now what about the topic of why you bunch even WANT to warn me and my kind?"

Gale can't help herself and girly-squeaks.  "So... cute!" she squeals, fists to her mouth.

She clears her throat and tries to calm herself.  "You don't look anything like the pictures of goblins I've seen in the books I've read on your kind.  But to answer your question, though, it's a matter of self preservation.  Because it us every race of this entire world that are threatened.  I would rather goblin kind survive than die if their survival means improving chances of my own survival."

  Hoal see's Gale's habit of sharing his opinions frequently remains.  "If you prefer a more cynical view, then we would more prefer you at our side than behind us in this matter.  Even those who state no desire to get involved are those who we will not have to worry about.  Plus it means you will not later be able to claim we did not warn you out spite if these threats do involve you."
This message was last edited by the player at 17:49, Tue 20 Nov 2012.

The goblin scans the group. "Mm-hmm.." he looks from one member to the next, as if giving them a thorough head-to-toe examination. "Uhh-huh..." He shrugs. "OK. Fine. Warning noted. Now come with me. I'll walk you to the boss and see what he thinks."

He glances about occasionally as he leads the group to the goblin encampment. The goblins are skittish at the sight of such a large group, but seem to trust this goblin enough to let you all by. Notably, the cute goblin is the ONLY cute one. The others are as ugly as you would expect goblins to be. Although it varies a little... some were made ugly like a less-than-average human, others were made ugly as sin.

Eventually, the group is taken to the boss. He hears their sales pitch and says, "Awfully KIND of you all..." he seems to be extremely suspicious. "Tell you what; take Aun here with you. He can aid you and represent the goblins to the other races, to show you really ARE out to help them, not just the," he holds up quotes while widening his eyes and speaking in a mocking tone, "GOOD races."

Gale smirks at Hoal's points but keeps her thoughts to herself.  To the goblin boss she gives a nod-bow and adds, "Just so you know, we have been informed that the future likely holds a great deal of propaganda against anyone who isn't a member of a..." (air-quotes) "'good' race.  Your sending Aun along with us may very well go a long way toward countering such slander."

  Hoal thinks at this rate, they will have an army to rival whatever force is forming to threaten them.  Not that this is a bad thing, beyond probably a shortage of coinage at any toll booths they pass.

  "My sister is the good one, most are not caught up on near useless trivia to pick up the taboos surrounding certain manifestations."  It was a hard call, deciding on religion training or starting with Abyssal.  Both were race and background relevant.
This message was last edited by the player at 06:45, Fri 07 Dec 2012.

Mara smiles at Hoal, leans over to give him a kiss on the cheek, and says nothing more.

Aun rolls his eyes. "FINE! Fine... I can take a HINT, boss!" he hurumfs and goes to get his things. The boss looks at Gale. "Let me pass along an old Draconic warning: When a whole race dies, the world itself cries, and the gods will shew their fury."

Soon after, Aun is seen with a wheelbarrel moving on its own behind him up to the group. The wheelbarrel has all kinds of magical stuff in it. "Let's get going. Boss man probably can't wait for me to get going."

May says, "Alright! Progress!"

The goblins do seem to be indicating it's time for the group to move on.

"So noted," Gale answer the boss in a serious tone.

She bids farewell and leaves with the group.  "Would you be willing to enlighten me on these taboos, Hoal?" Gale asks once the group has left the goblin place.

Unsure of goblin culture and if asking about his boss's apparent eagerness for him to leave would hurt his feelings, Gale looks for an icebreaker.  She looks impressed with the wheelbarrow and comments, "I'm familiar with Tensor's Floating Disk, but haven't heard of a self-propelling wheelbarrow.  Is this your own creation?"

To May she smiles and nods.  "Now to decide on the next destination."

  Hoal either has the best sibling, or he his highly biased...  Nah, it's probably the first one.

  "It is rarely a problem.  Teiflings are often looked down upon for their link with the Nine Hells, regardless of their actions.  Genasi all share a link with the primordial elements, nobody cares and we all look varied enough that many would not bother to keep track.  Some of us trace our manifestations from something deeper than the Elemental Chaos, however.  My own Voidsoul manifestation being the only one visually distinct."

  DC Magical Second Grade to remember the Abyss is under the Elemental Chaos.

Aun smiles proudly from Gale's question and says, "Give me a lever big enough and I'll move the world, they say. Well I took that and made sure this wagon had enough gears and chains to make it's propulsion only take a tiny bit of effort. I'm literally moving that whole thing with mage hand."

Aun's Wagon: Mechanical Wonder
Operation: When you use Mage Hand to pump the peddle, the wagon moves 6 squares.

Aun then reaches a hand out, beckoning with his fingers. "Lemme have a look at that list-o-races."

May hands him the list.

Gnomes √
Goblins √
Kobolds √
Lizard men
Ogres
Orcs
Pixies √
Trolls √
Wemics √

After looking it over, Aun says, "Gnomes: check, Goblins: check, Kobolds: check, Lizard men... not-check. blablabla... yeah. Fun. You have Lizard men, Ogres, and Orcs left to check off the list. HOW did you warn the trolls?"

May says, "Don't lookit me. I wasn't there for that."

Quelenna says, "We were lucky. They heard us out enough to hear we were there for their sakes. Once we told them the warning, the chief served us dinner, gave us a gift and sent us on our way."

Aun says, "Well the closest on the list are the lizard men. Who happen to be a tribe my tribe is at war with."

Gale ahs at Hoal's explanation.  "As well as we've been treated by those who have stigmas associated with them, I'm beginning to wonder if Tieflings, devils, and demons have all been given an unfairly bad wrap because of the misdeeds of a few.  Certainly whatever taboos there are on the the races in our group have proven undeserved by present company."

She gives a friendly smile to Aun when he brags on his creation.  "Very impressive!  I can think of several people at the school whom this would make a fantastic prank for.  Not to mention it's practical use."

She looks concerned when Aun brings up the war.  "Oh dear.  That could complicate things.  You don't suppose they'll react favorably to your being our group when we talk with them, do you?"

  "While I would agree with your point regarding Tieflings living among us, I would not hold quite so much optimism for the denizens of the Nine hells and Abyss."   Existence was free to prove him wrong there.

  He looks over to Aun, "That is decidedly more awkward than our previous trips.  Active hostilities are a bit more direct than merely cultural ones, unless they are willing to belive your willingness to warn them as a sign of us being serious."

Quelenna says, "I'm with Hoal, Gale. Optimism is nice, but it's best we assume the worst with anyone we meet. Better to be pleasantly proven wrong, than to be sorely disappointed."

May pshaws, "Doesn't mean we can't be nice to everyone until they try to hurt us. Then it's on and we kick their butts. I don't see a problem here."

Aun says, "ANYway... much as I hate to say it, you all may as well tie me up and only argue that I'm YOUR prisoner, not theirs."

"Indeed," Gale answers with an amused smile, "Expect and prepare for the worst.  And someone attacking is unprovoked is a sure sign it's time to kick some butt.  Thanks again for your help with the butt-kicking of that bugbear, May."

She conjures a pair of shackles on her wrists then breaks them with a mere tug.  "Assuming you know prestidigitation, it would be a simple matter for you to give yourself the appearance of a prisoner and still be ready to defend yourself on a moment's notice, Aun.  I appreciate your willingness to cooperate.  Even with the Lizardfolk involved."

  Hoal considers the list of races for a moment, and wonders why all the Green races are considered minorities?  (Genasi technically count, with some manifestations).  Half the list was green people.

  "I do not suppose it would hurt to make him ride in his own escape vehichle, unless there are a lot of stairs involved."  Goblin in Wheelbarrow vs Staircase, FIGHT!  Stairs win!  Flawless Victory!  Brutality!

Aun grumbles. "I may not like Lizardfolk, but I wouldn't wish complete extinction on an entire sentient race. That's just... madness. And who knows? They might be key in stopping the mass genocide of every OTHER race."

Soon, the group is ambushed by Lizardfolk. Who look ready to attack.

Moses, May and Mara-Kai stand defensively, having Rebecca, Quel and Gale behind them as they try to form a circle of protection with Hoal.
This message was last edited by the player at 20:25, Tue 15 Jan 2013.

Gale nods.  "Sounds reasonable enough to me."

When ambushed, Gale is at first ready to retaliate, but when the lizardfolk don't immediately turn violent, she drops her guard and addresses them.

"Greetings, brave lizardfolk.  My name is Gale, and these are my heroic friends.  We have come here with grave news of a great threat to all people.  Will you listen to our warning?"

  Hoal wonders if there may be height issues between Kobolds and Lizardfold like Goblins and Hobgoblins.

  He too, like Gale, is relived when the Lizardfolk totally waste their surprise round.

The lizardmen decide to listen first. After hearing the warning, they look at each other, then laugh. "Wh...wha..... what kind of... comedic group... of unlikely... HAHAHA!"

Another lizardman says, "Enough... you all come with us now. You all prisoners."

Gale turns a glance at her allies.  "In some ways, this is the response I was expecting, in some ways not."

She turns a cold look to the lizardfolk and shakes her head.  "You are not the only race to be warned, nor will you be the last.  We have not been hostile or even asked for hospitality, but clearly we are unwelcome.  Fine.  It is up to you what you do with the message, after all.  But out of respect for your decision, we will be leaving your territory."

  The party was what, eight people and a brain?  Gale's lack of respect for the Lizardfolk's claims would not be surprising even without Gale's usual personality.

  "While it is a potentially serious threat,"  If not an elaborate Fey Hoax/Frame Job.  "I wonder if the remainder of our destinations will miss out solely because we have found this sort of reception to be getting old and repetitive."

May keeps her eyes on the lizard men while answering Hoal, "Never give up on the innocent because of the acts of a few vile villains."

Mara-Kai says, "We are only messengers. We are no threat to you.. But because of the message we bear, we can't afford to be taken prisoner. Please grant us passage and pass the message to your leader."

The lizardmen say, "We said you are our prisoners. Are you deaf? You no leave until we say you leave. Simple."

Quelenna says, "We will defend ourselves. If you attack, even if you best us, we can not guarantee you will all get out of this alive. Rather, I promise that if you attack us, more than one of you will die."

At first, Gale is preparing for a fight like the others, her fists erupting with writhing shadow, but she pauses to rub her chin in thought.

"There must be a good reason you would want to take us prisoner rather than attack us without warning or demand we leave your land.  Why do you want to take us prisoner?"

She thinks better of asking, 'Is your food supply low and you want to eat us one at a time?'

  "When people do not listen, the end result is the same as not trying.  Though I suppose it is still required of us to make the attempt."

  Gale also shares his thought process once more.

The lizard men have the group surrounded.

A ball rolls out to the middle of the group and spews a bunch of gas!

May tries to keep a defensive posture, but looks to be getting weaker.

  Hoal... Might have Eyerolled.  It's hard to tell with solid white eyes.  He thinks to himself  'Please, we are not getting captured in the middle of a conversation again'

  He simply steps up to the ball holding his breath, reaches down, and vanishes along with the gas bomb.

OOC Style: Checked with Tim first.  Finally getting some used out of Hoal's Racial power.  He'll be back in around "Start Of His Next Turn", or 6 seconds ish?  Things won't be good for the biggest smack talking Lizard at that point.
This message was last edited by the player at 06:02, Sat 26 Jan 2013.

Nice one, Hoal, Gale thinks as she conjures a small gust of wind to blow the gas toward the enemy, then for good measure casts the sleep spell on them.

The entire group is slow, but that doesn't stop them from doing standard actions! The bunch fight (except Erolant. The bodiless have ascended beyond combat, after all) and within seconds, May falls flat on her belly, smile on her face and snoring softly. Quelenna soon follows, flopping on the ground and laying her head on her arm. Moses looks a little zonked, but is fighting as best he can and doesn't konk out. Rebecca collapses and sleeps like the other two.

'Please. I'm not going to be useless to the party again.' Mara-Kai thinks to herself. And with that, she takes point, swinging her sword and drawing attention if possible!

When Hoal pops back into existence, he finds 3 unconscious allies. But at least he's in a position to make the same happen to the enemy now...
This message was last edited by the player at 15:50, Wed 30 Jan 2013.

  Reality welcomes back Hoal, while the mouth of the Lizardman who had been doing the most smack talking welcomes back the gas bomb.  Not so creative usage of his Assault Aegis sends him teleporting back to the largest melee carnage sword swinging and perpetually on fire (The sword, not the swordmage).

  Hoal may question the usefulness of his arts to more sturdy "Defender" classes a times, but this was definitely a situation where being able to spam 360 melee attacks at enemies, or making fire explode out of those you strike came in handy.

  "Ah yes, A fighter draws the attention of the strongest.  A swordmage is walking crowd control for the rabble."  Flashy glowing swordsmanship best suited for (non-lethally) carving through a crowd of nameless minions.  Was it any wonder Hoal's player associated Swordmages with Jedi stereotypes?

"If this gas is like most sleep effects then injury should walk the sleepers," Gale announces while slinging an attack spell at the most enemies she can catch in it, "Here's hoping this works..."

She drops her backpack on top of Quel, hoping it'll hurt enough to wake her without doing any real damage.

Quel stirs a little, but remains asleep. Mara-Kai would join her bro, but due to the enemy surrounding the group, Mara keeps to her side, defending the group's rear.

Moses says, "Forgive me, Rebecca..." and smacks her rear end hard with the flat of his blade. She squeaks and hops to her feet and takes up arms. "Ow!" "Sorry. Sleep spell. Only way to wake you is to hurt you."

The lizard men look furious. "They're waking their allies!"

One of them shoots a flare into the sky!

  "As much as it hurts their credibility by calling for reinforcements to deal with people they outnumber Three to o... Two to one"  This mentioned more because of falling lizard men than awakening allies "I do not think they are so bad at this that we can fend off their entire army for long."  Maybe for five minutes, at least.  Really, really terrible at this those lizard men are looking.

  Manly swordmage hefts May over his shoulder with a free hand, if given permission by her player Hoals choice method of waking May through harm will be to beat a lizard man unconscious with a razor pointed Kobold.  Otherwise, He'll spare some sword momentum for following Moses's example.
This message was last edited by the player at 14:30, Sun 10 Feb 2013.

"Was thinking the same thing, Hoal," Gale agrees.  She blasts the flair with a magic missile if it's still within range hoping to misdirect the re-enforcements.  If not she'll default to beguiling strands or hypnotism, compelling the enemy to fight each other, depending on enemy positioning.  "Got anything in that cart of yours that'll help cover our withdraw, Aun?  Like a smokestick or something?

Rebecca please try and wake Quel like Moses did for you.  If she doesn't wake we'll need you to carry her on your back."

May wakes up at the cost of a lizardman getting sharp armor to the shoulder. May blinks a few times. "...was I just used as a weapon? ......AWESOME!" As soon as she's let back down on her feet, May joins in combat again. Battle trumpets can be heard in the distance, but the group has finally cut an opening in the otherwise surrounding Lizardmen.

Rebecca looks unsure, but raises her hand and spanks Quelenna. Quel wakes up as a result and looks quite embarrassed.

Aun answers Gale, "I... uh... oh! Cover your eyes, everyone!" and with that, he stabs a stick into the ground and squints his eyes, pointing his face away from it and shielding his head with an arm.

A BRIGHT light shines out from the stick. Anyone who had their eyes open got blinded.

Only one lizardman was smart enough to close his eyes when he heard Aun.

Erolant says, "We bodiless have ascended beyond being blinded b-OH DEAR GODS THAT'S BRIGHT! MY EYES! ....just kidding."
This message was last edited by the player at 19:14, Wed 13 Feb 2013.

  "Good to see you took that well May, though I apologize on principle."   Hoal shields his already blank white eyes from the annoyances of blind status, as he falls back with the others.

  "A sense of humor appears to have rated worthy of evolution, how comforting."

"I'm impressed with your courtesy, Hoal," Gale says, shielding her eyes as she makes her way toward the opening in the enemy ranks, using her staff to feel for obstacles.

"And your positive attitude, May.  Thanks for waking Quel, Rebecca.  And thanks for the cover flair, Aun."

She chuckles at Erolant's joke then wonders how does one see without eyes.

The group manages to squeeze an escape, but the sounds of distant lizardmen yelling can be heard, indicating the group isn't done running.

May says, "Ya know... I'd like to think I'm good at protecting my friends, but I also know my limits. I can't keep up with you guys on track-and-field with all this armor and weaponry! So is there a way we can speed u-WOAH!"

May starts lifting off the ground and wooshing along as fast as the fastest runner.

Erolant says, "We bodiless have ascended beyond limitations like needing the ground or to obey gravity. Thankfully, I am also capable of helping you overcome such limitations as well."

May says, "WHEEE!!! No objection here!"

Quelenna says, "I admittedly don't *pant* have the endurance you bunch *pant* have. I may have *pant* longer legs than you, May, *pant* but you would last longer and *pant* outrun me!"

Rebecca says, "Just hop on my back, Quelenna. I can run and carry you!"

Moses offers to carry Gale if she needs it.

Aun says, "Don't suppose anyone else can afford to carry someone?!"