Previously: A priest of Erathis, Inogo hails
from the distant city of Sherrbyr. This city lies far
to the northeast, beyond Elsir Vale by at least three
weeks’ travel

Clearly they have a teleportation circle or Kalad could not have died there.

Mits nods.  "We'll have to teleport."

Amyria holds up a hand.  "Let's talk to the Coalition first.  Calm things down.  Make those assurances you were talking about."

Mits ohs.  "Right right."

Now, the Elsir Vale and Sayre seats on the Coalition are open, and the council lacks a leader. The
head of Brindol’s council, Eoffram Troyas, seeks both
spots. Many people, both citizens of the Elsir Vale and
influential people in other regions now ruled by the
Coalition, have suggested Amyria as a replacement
for either seat, and for a position as leader. The PCs
take part in a skill challenge as they put forth a candidate they’d like to see on the council and run a brief
campaign to put that person in power.

After the deaths of two of its members, the Coalition’s
council lacks a strong leader and needs representatives for the Elsir Vale and Sayre. The PCs can
nominate a candidate. Most likely, this would be
Amyria. The members of the council make it clear
that the PCs will not be accepted onto the council,
since they are vital to combat efforts and are needed
elsewhere. The candidate is selected by all the members of the council who aren’t running for the seat,
but the council members also listen to those they
represent, so convincing the people of various regions
is as important as convincing the council members
themselves.

Rival Candidates
Two major players oppose the PCs’ candidate.

Eoffram Troyas
A member of the Brindol council, the male halfelf Eoffram Troyas is outspoken and rash, and has
become even more so as he hears more news of
war. When speaking, he is somber, methodical, and
humorless. Debate bores him, and he’d prefer to
make quick, unilateral decisions than let issues get
bogged down in endless chatter.
If you’re playing Scales of War, Eoffram was the
NPC who recruited the PCs in “Rescue at Rivenroar.”
Represents: Brindol.
Motive: Though he truly seeks to do good, Eoffram
believes his ideas are the only ones that matter. He’s
willing to sacrifice whatever he needs to if it helps end
the war. A quick, decisive victory is what he believes
he needs to establish his leadership and immortalize his name. Eoffram wasn’t chosen to advise the
Coalition, and still harbors resentment that he wasn’t
included.
Platform: Eoffram wants to be aggressive—to take
the fight to the enemies of the Coalition. A show of
force can, in his opinion, cause the enemy troops to
scatter and retreat. He favors a combat crash course
for citizens of all the Coalition’s communities, along
with recruiting mercenaries, followed by a rapid
assault against the evil forces.

Quelenna Entromiel
Since the council’s inception, Quelenna has occupied
a seat. Ruler of the settlement called Dornaithos, she
has influence over trade in several lands, and she can
easily access raw materials needed for the war effort.
Traders in every major settlement know her name.
She’s an expert at arranging deals, especially when
time is tight, and some say she’ll even use bribes if it
will help her.
Represents: Dornaithos, a major trade city.
Motive: Quelenna want Dornaithos’s fortunes to
continue, and she thinks running the war council is
a way to make herself more prominent and secure
better deals for Dornaithos to provide war materiel.
Platform: Two words encapsulate Quelenna’s
proposal: caution and commerce. Quelenna believes—
and makes this belief widely known—that the war
won’t last long, and that the free cities can weather
the storm once the githyanki assault runs out of
steam. She encourages a defensive posture and argues
that building up the defenses of the cities is best for
now and for the future. Of course, Dornaithos is
happy to provide the materials and expertise to build
these fortifications.

The Coalition’s Leader Level 15
Skill Challenge XP 6,000
Your actions determine whether your candidate becomes the
leader of the Coalition.
The PCs argue for their candidate, try to gather support,
rebut the arguments of the other candidates, and train
their candidate to be a better leader. Most checks in
this challenge take one or more days to resolve, so the
challenge takes up a bit of time.
Complexity
5 (requires 12 successes before 3 to 6 failures).

Primary Skills
Diplomacy 18, History 18, Religion 18, Streetwise 23.
Other Skills
Bluff 18, Streetwise 11.

Political Gambits
The PCs’ rivals aren’t passive in this challenge.
The following political events can happen during
the course of the challenge, and give Eoffram and
Quelenna opportunities to gain successes for themselves (bringing the PCs closer to defeat). Each gambit
can appear after the PCs have a certain number of
successes, and an entry mentions in what range it
should appear. For example, “The Blockade” can
occur when the PCs have 2, 3, or 4 successes, and
the PCs choose whether to forgo actions when you
announce that event occurs.
The Blockade
Occurs when the PCs have 2–4 successes.

  "If he had any experience with the scale of these matters, I'd have a better opinion of Troyas.  The problem is this is a whole different situation than hiring us to rescue a handfull of people from a keep, and is as much concerned with making a name for himself as not sitting back and hoping the invasion blows over."

  He sighs,  "Though considering I grew up in Brindol unlike the rest of you, I'm sure everyone who prefers Quelenna over Amyira or Troyas will just think I'm only saying most of his ideas should be used is just regional bias.  Even though Amyira has a better grasp of what we are dealing with than him."

  Someone who wants to teach citizens to swing a sword straight instead of hoping the problem goes away? Wowie zowie!

Raichel looks over at Kyle and says, "We'll be letting Tim do most of the talking anyway. The rest of us can merely present facts. I think Troyas will be perfectly fine with anyone being in charge as long as we go on the offensive. So let's use that."

Once the group enters, Timothius says, "Hail. We bring good news." he walks to the table and tosses a white dragon scale onto the table. It's big enough to eat dinner off of. "This scale belonged to Chillreaver; Exarch of Tiamat. We fought him, defeated him, and now he is dead. With his death, we freed Nefelus and they agreed to join the Coalition. With me is Bejam, a member of Nefelus's own Thraxinium. We now have an army of devas and their vast libraries of knowledge and history on our side."

He presents Bejam so the man can greet the coalition however he wants.

---

Timplomacy: Auto-success. Would have to roll a -4 on the dice to fail.
Tim Religion: 34 success
Rai Streetwise: 26 success

History DC 18 (1 success, maximum 2 successes)
The PCs use their knowledge of historical warfare to coach their
candidate on lessons to be learned from past battles, so the
candidate can look more knowledgeable about the art of war.

Religion DC 18 (1 success, maximum 1 success)
By encouraging their candidate to show religious devotion,
the PCs gain the backing of many religious leaders in various
regions.

Diplomacy
DC 18 (1 success, no maximum successes)
The PC speaks to common people, convincing them to urge
their leaders to support the PCs’ candidate.

Insight DC 18 (1 success, maximum 2 successes—one per rival)
The PC watches one of the rival candidates speak and figures
out some of that candidate’s true motives. This also gives a +2
bonus to all checks during the next event (see below) triggered
by that rival.

Mits reaches to put a hand on Kyle's shoulder.  "Perish the thought.  Not only was Troyas the first to show faith in us, but none of us would accuse you of something so petty as playing political favorites.  You're a professional.  I'm sure we can compensate for whatever shortcomings may come up regardless of who winds up taking the reigns."

She unrolls the painting of the victors standing over Chillreaver and shows it off to the Coalition.  They all look impressed.

Bejam bows.  "Thraxi Bejam of Nefelus at your service.  I can attest to what the hero says.  Nefelus mourns with Sayre and Overlook at the loss of their most noble Coalition representatives."

He takes his seat at the table.

"The Heroes of the Prime Material Plane wish to resurrect Kalad," Amyria explains, "They will now present their case for the candidate they support for the new leader of the Coalition, then will be on their way."

Mits does not object to the title upgrade.  They are more than just the Heroes of the Elsir vale now, after all.

"My suggestion is this:  Amyria will be interim general until Kalad is resurrected.  As for who the next leader should be, I think all our options have merit.  I'll let Timothius here present the case for the wisest choice."

---

Diplomacy
DC 23 (1 success, maximum 1 success)
Eoffram Troyas seeks both the Elsir Vale seat and the leadership.
If the PCs’ candidate seeks only the Sayre seat and leadership,
Eoffram fights less ardently since the Elsir Vale seat will likely
go to him. A PC attempting this check gains a bonus equal to
the number of successes the PCs have.
This message was last edited by the GM at 07:58, Fri 08 Jan 2016.

The Blockade
Occurs when the PCs have 2–4 successes.
A group of hobgoblins seize a road used by the
Elsir Consortium and prevent the flow of goods.
Quelenna uses this as evidence that trade is vital to
the war, and she intends to make sure resources move
through it.
effect: Any number of PCs can skip their next
skill checks to travel out and try to break the blockade. One of the PCs makes a d20 roll, with a +5
bonus for each PC participating. The DC is 17.

 "Well, that certainly had some odd timing."  If the party doesn't want to go for a free History success this round, Kyle will contribute towards the attempts at dealing with the blockade.

OOC: "Okay, THIS time my utility will-Oh."  Anyways, latest Utility lets me use my +21 (+25 if you count a Skill challenge as a "Hazzard" ;P) Arcana on a CHA skill check as an encounter power. And looks like this challenge takes course over some nonspecific stretch of days?

Streetwise DC 23 (1 success, maximum 1 success)
The PC finds out that Quelenna Entromiel has been bribing
officials to secure their support. Exposing her also removes 1
success from her tally, if she has any.

Streetwise DC 11 (no successes)
By gathering or spreading rumors, the PC find ways to
undermine a rival’s support base. The next ally who makes a
skill check in this challenge gains a +5 bonus.

Tim supports Amyria. He appreciates that Troyas wants to go on the offensive, but thinks putting a "my way or the highway" guy in charge would be a mistake. On the other hand, Quelenna is emphasizing defense, which is right up Tim's personality preferences.

Rai supports Amyria, but has a soft spot for Troyas because he was behind us way back when. She admires his decisive nature and believes his line of thinking to be the ONLY way. Best defense is attack.

May thinks similarly to Raichel, but with a little less sentiment towards Troyas than Raichel has.

Timothius is sure to point out that while Amyria is still his choice for head of coalition, he agrees with both Troyas and Quelenna; the war needs to be brought to the enemy's front door, but the people need to bolster their defenses. He suggests that, rather than do one or the other, Quel focuses on bolstering defenses while Troyas focuses on the assault. He suggests that the leadership of the coalition would distract both Troyas and Quelenna from their goals and that with Amyria in the seat, those two could focus on their tasks while garnering support where needed.

In short: Timothius pretty much spins it that having Amyria in the leader seat would actually get both Troyas and Quelenna what they want.

Rai and May find Tim's suggestion to have merit, so they support Amyra like they were planning to do anyway.

Raichel, however, finds out Quelenna has been bribing officials and immediately reports it, along with evidence. She is teary-eyed and angry when talking to her allies, but cools down before allowing herself to see the council again, reasoning that Quelenna is clearly just doing everything possible to get what she thinks is assured protection of the people of Sayre. So Raichel soon no longer feels betrayed by this act.

When news of the hobgoblin ordeal happens, May suggests the whole team go there. "We never split up. We sleep together, fight together, and when the time comes for me to die, I hope it is at your sides."

Timothius agrees and lets Amyria know he trusts she has the rest in hand. "We'll deal with this threat and then resurrect Kalad."

  Kyle is in overall favor of Amyria calling the shots, considering she's has the most insight and personal experience with the whole sorry situation they are dealing with.

  Despite his upbringing by merchants, it seems clear that Qulenna's only concern is her buisness and hopes the whole war will blow over.

  If not for their impatience and desiring recognition as much as anything, Kyle would have been tempted to put Troyas on the job so Amyira didn't have to deal with the political headaches.  But as much as he admires most of their 'hey let's arm our citizens and give them enough training to handle basic minions' thinking, it's seems a given they will just throw under leveled NPCs at purple cons.

  "It's a sorry state when leaving a friend temporarily dead is the closest you can do to giving them a vacation." But it's also a good way to try and not throw as many curveballs at the module writers as possible.

Amyria humbly accepts the nomination of the heroes.  "Should I be chosen, I shall do my utmost to live up to the responsibility of the position."

Mits is sure to point out, "It's not like Amyria isn't the friggin' founder of this entire Coalition!  If not for her arm-twisting, this whole group wouldn't even exist, and each rep would be back home wondering how their small group of people are going to survive an inter-planar invasion on their own."

Her words aren't exactly flattering, but none of the Coalition members deny the truth of them.

"On the topic of who will represent Sayre, I nominate Lady Catherine Torrance.  And for who will be interim general, I say the obvious choice is general Alvro Taramin.

"And outside there being any other candidates, Eoffram Troyas as interim rep for the Elsir Vale is a given."

Amyria addresses her friends before they go on the first of the side-tracks.  "I shall remain here and see to it that the debate goes smoothly.  Your resurrection ritual scroll can be used by anyone with basic understanding, correct, Kyle?  I suggest that while we are all occupied, a delegation from the church of Moradin be sent to resurrect Kalad.  As much as he deserves a longer rest in paradise, I do not want to risk some distraction or complication that may crop up in the next few days in your absence be enough for us to lose our window of time when we can bring him back."

Complications such as....

Raid on Brindol
Occurs when the PCs have 4–7 successes.
A stealth raid by hobgoblins against Brindol is
easily foiled by the city’s guards. Eoffram claims this
shows that the evil forces can be defeated easily, but
the details of his story don’t add up.

effect: One or two PCs can skip their next action
in the skill challenge to instead investigate the
evidence of this raid.

Victory: The PCs reveal that the severity of the
raid was greatly exaggerated, and there’s no evidence
that the hobgoblins were even associated with the
githyanki.

Accusation
Occurs when the PCs have 7–9 successes.
Quelenna uses her connections to find out about
the PCs’ wealth, acquired from their various adventures, and uses this evidence to claim that the PCs
have only their own profit in mind. Claiming the PCs
are biased, she contends that the PCs want only a
pawn who can send them to the lands with the most
riches.

effect: Each PC has to defend his or her motives.
Victory: The PCs break the blockade, but gain no
successes.  blockade???

Changing Sides
Occurs when the PCs have 8 or more successes.
Once the PCs are close to victory, one of the other
candidates might switch sides and come to the aid of
the PCs. (You might choose to have a rival switch just
after his or her second political gambit fails.)
effect: If either rival has fewer successes than the
other, he or she joins the PCs’ cause and says that the
PCs’ candidate speaks for his or her people. This gives
the PCs one success and removes a candidate from
contention. The rival gains or retains a seat on the war
council in any case.

False Commands
Occurs when the PCs have 9–11 successes.
Desperate to prove his plan’s viability, Eoffram
sends out false orders to three cities, commanding
them to raise civilian armies and strike back at the
invaders.
effect: Up to three PCs can forgo their next
skill checks to instead try to prevent the messages
from being acted on.

Victory: If all PCs succeeded, they prevent Eoffram’s plan from working and likely save some lives.

Defeat: Eoffram denies responsibility for the
orders, claiming that the people demand this course
of action. He must be given control or the war effort is
doomed to failure. He gains one success.

One way or another, the PCs curb-stomp the problems, Amyria is chosen leader, and Kalad is resurrected!  He sends a message since he still has an army to re-build where he is after the githyanki victory in the area.  He is thankful, regrets to say he has no memories of the afterlife, but is grateful for the fact.

"Don't want any dreamy idealistic images running around in my head to distract me from my mission here.  I'm just happy to know I was deemed worthy to send back.  And that you all would go to the trouble of havin' me brought back.  I wish you all well with your dragon-slaying adventures.  I'm fine with Troyas taking my seat as rep for the Elsir Vale.  I've got my hands full as general and can't afford to be tied to a desk debating what to name things."

Raichel is infuriated by Quel's accusation, but bites her tongue.

May bites her tongue for a different reason; there is some truth to Quel's claims when it comes to May. She wants a horde and to buy things she likes. So her reaction is to blush and jaw-drop, kinda rendered speechless.

Timothius immediately makes sure his team is OK before making his point diplomatically. "To anyone who didn't know us, I'm sure that's how it looks. Our wealth is undeniable. It has become a part of our lives. When you fight an animated pile of gold made to look like Tiamat, you're bound to walk away with riches. That said, I have counted the number of days we have been allowed to relax and the days we are fighting evil, watching people die at our sides, and just generally saving the day for everyone. We have been fighting evil about 8 months. We have relaxed about 1 month total. Riches are no good if you can not enjoy them. Most of our wealth is what you see before you: An arsenal designed to fight evil. Assuming that isn't enough to persuade you, Eiffram himself can attest to our beginnings and what our motives were. We went for the people first before we even began to think about saving the town's treasures. We almost went to do so without pay entirely because, and again, Eiffram can attest to this, the council of Brindol was against hiring us. So we would have done all of that for free. Now that said: Raise your hand if a single one of you remembers hearing any of us so much as ask for pay doing the ground work of slaying armies and exarchs?" He waits for anyone downright stupid enough to raise their hand before saying, "And there you have it. Mittens' motive was to be like the storybook heroes she grew up reading about. Raichel's motive was to expose corruption and crush it. My motives started with keeping my sisters alive, but have since gone to damage prevention. Kyle's motives started out with using his professionalism to making sure my sisters and I didn't get ourselves killed. And we needed him for that." He gives Kyle a look of gratitude before looking back to the council. "And May's motive has been to show the world heroes are real. Which is... similar to Mittens, but there are some differences. Brindol, Overlook, and now the local Githzeri will attest to our motives. Which isn't to say anything of the gods who have been sending me personal messages from an angel, talk to Mittens on the regular and have blessed our whole team." He tosses his holy symbol onto the table. "This was 2,600 gold worth of investment. I never sold it. Why? Because it's a holy symbol of my god Pelor. I would sooner give it away to the church than sell it. These rings? 21,000 gold a piece. After that fight with Chillreaver and his goons, I think I will hold on to this ring. So..."

He snatches the symbol back up and says, "I've told you our motives. I've told you the gods favor us, which has already been evident by the visions and dreams we have shared with you. And if you still question the motives of a team chosen by the gods to save our plane from astral pirates, you also have Eiffram, then soon-to-be-raised Kalad, and many many people who bore witness to our motives and deeds. I will add this one last thing: If our motives were, in fact, purely money, I would contend that pirates from the astral sea who have riches none of you can imagine, would have recruited us long ago. You would be dead and your souls would be ripped apart, fueling one of their horrible soul-eating airships. No. Money is meaningless if it can't be used to protect the innocent. And that is what we will do."

  Kyle is so proud of both the complete turn around from 'barely surviving with his help' to 'would be mildly inconvenienced without him', as well as Timothius's growing expertise in passive aggression.

  "Eoffram knows how much I hold to actually getting paid for services rendered.  Too many expect help for nothing but a few kind words at best, hoping to take advantage of those who want to live up to stories.  Of coures, even then, I know enough not to leave people to suffer over it.  Even if I were in it purely for profits, one can hardly spend coin in a city burnt down by trolls, or a plane taken over by invaders."

  He shrugs, "I'm almost ashamed to say that somewhere down the line, I began to forget even thinking about it.  Oh, we have to recover a long lost fey artifact and kill a dragon four times as large as those the Gith use? Better go get that sorted then."

Mits also is proud of Timothius.  She smiles and thumbs-ups at him.  To Rai she reaches to put a hand on her shoulder.

To the Coalition she says, "There's an old saying.  When you point a finger, there are three more fingers pointing right back at you.  Quel, I appreciate your being among the few with the guts to be here.  But you're not making any friends by slinging mud at heroes because you're projecting your own greedy motives on others.  So I'll make an accusation of my own..."

She points dramatically at Amyria.  "You!  You put your life on the line to stand up to evil!

"And since Kalad isn't here, I guess I can't accuse any other Coalition member present of that.  But I invite anyone with the guts to come join us on just one of our missions."

She shows off her painting again.  "Exarch.  Of Tiamat!"

Bejam interjects, "I would like to point out that when the Thraxinim offered the heroes 310,000 gold for their brave deeds, they turned it down.  They asked for a tiny amount of residium instead.  As mentioned, they used the powder to create more tools of their trade, anticipating having to use them for our defense in the future.  I have an article here about the modest vacation they enjoyed in Nefelus after their victory where they could have easily exploited their popularity for many extravagant rewards.  They are above reproach."

Amyria bows.  "Once again, I thank you all for putting your lives on the line for the people of the Material Plane.  Even if it is your home, that does not diminish that you are all noble for doing so.  May the Platinum Dragon grant you an eternal reward.  One worthy of housing the wealth of friendship and love worth more than all the treasures of the world that you already have.

"Now.  We have an important matter to discuss."

The
fomorian Cachlain, known as the Stone-Skinned
King, allied with the githyanki. They have been funneling troops through his domain in the Underdark
of the Feywild, taking advantage of the numerous
portals to other lands that lie within it. Githyanki
have moved more rapidly due to this, but no one is
sure how severe the problem is. Caliandra has been
tracking the situation in the Feywild and knows that
Cachlain wants the Seed of Winter. The fomorian once
believed it belonged to him, and Caliandra believes
he lent it to aid those who attacked Nefelus.

The coalition wants to decipher Cachlain’s motives
and prevent him from helping the githyanki if possible.
They believe the PCs are the only ones strong enough
to safely travel to the king’s domain and deal with him.

May grins. "Let's go do what we do best. I'm excited to see what manner of muppets, plushies, and impossible imaginary weapons Mittens comes up with next!"

Raichel is grateful Quelenna isn't talking back. Not like the heroes left her any room to, but still. "Cachlain... we've heard the name a few times now. We were planning on going to the feywild when possible and now our time has come."

Timothius says, "So how are we getting to the feywild?"

  "His motivations seem to make little sense even compared to what we normally deal with.  I could understand him wanting to take an ancient tome, that's simple enough.  But why give up an even greater artifact you already had, if you want it for yourself that badly?"

Mits shrugs.  "My guess?  'I'll loan you this Seed of Winter.  In exchange, you give me all the fancy books you loot from Nefelus.  And don't think I'm just going to trust you.  You give me collateral for the Seed.'  But who knows.  Could be the guy is insane."

Taking advantage of the chaos caused by the
githyanki attacks, Cachlain has been sending underlings to the world to collect slaves for his court. By
comparing the locations of a few raids in the Elsir
Vale, the Coalition has guessed that the slavers have
been traveling out of Rhest, a ruined city that was
once the capitol of the kingdom of Rhestilor. Some
explorers were trying to excavate the ruins, but no
one’s heard from them in a long time.
If the PCs go to the ruins, they find the cyclops
slavers didn’t take much care to cover their tracks.

The PCs go down a narrow set of stairs that leads to a
large room where water drains from the ruins above.

When they look into the room, read:
Ahead is a room built with white stone brick. Deep channels
built into the floor carry water out, away from the room,
and you hear a steady flow of water to the south.

In the room sit four cyclopses, who all appear to be
relaxing. Two have giant wooden clubs, and the other two
have nets attached to their belts and spears slung across
their backs. Near the entrance, a stone golem stands
perfectly still.

Surprise
The PCs can try to gain surprise. The PC with the
lowest bonus Each PC rolls a Stealth check opposed by the
slavers’ passive Perception checks (26 is the highest).
The PCs have surprise if no enemies detect them.

Dungeoneering Check
DC 18: This room looks newer than the surrounding ruins.
Judging from the way water falls into the room, it appears
the room was built to drain the swampy water away from
the ruins, perhaps so they could be made livable once again.
The construction uses dwarven methods, and the room was
clearly not constructed by cyclopses or other fey.
This message was last edited by the player at 15:43, Sat 09 Jan 2016.

<Elven>"Intruders!"<Elven> one of the slavers warns the others.

He moves forward cautiously, squints his eye, and throws a large shuriken at May, but she dodges it by a fraction of an inch in dramatic slow motion!

<Elven>"Highly skilled intruders!  We may need to use our jutsu!"<Elven>

May trots off to the center of them and gives them all a daring grin. "I am your opponent. You just TRY getting past me and you'll fall!" The speed that little lizard just used demonstrated she can reach any of them with ease.

---

Move: To center of enemies.
Standard: Shield Clamor. Close burst 5, marks all targets.
 Effect: If any marked enemy makes an attack that doesn't include May, she can charge them.

Raichel steps forward. "What is she doing...? Oh well." ZAP! Large bolt of lightning, but the cyclops who missed May pulls a dodge much like May's where the bolt barely misses.

---

Move: To a good view
Furious Bolts v S1,S2,G,C1,C2. Miss(24)

When the PCs see the people imprisoned behind
the portcullis, read:

An iron portcullis blocks off a dead-end tunnel. Inside are
several humans, dwarves, and other residents of the Elsir
Vale. When they see you, they shout at you, begging for help.

All the cyclopse return May's challenge with an evil eye!

<Elven>"Save the jutsu for after we've tested them,"<Elven> a slaver answers, <Elven>"Those components aren't cheap!"<Elven>

Ping!  Shuriken bounces harmlessly off May's armor.  A cyclopse bruiser hefts his spiked greatclub.

<Elven>"Pff.  You guys and your jutsu.  Watch this."<Elven>

SLAM!  He hits with enough force to send May sprawling in the water!

<Elven>"It survived!  Not bad."<Elven>

SMASH!  Another bruiser smashes May hard!

<Elven>"Tough as hell!  But if they don't have a healer, we're golden."<Elven>

Mits heads into the room and a mini, bald Mittens appears among the enemy.

"Solar Flair!"

A burst of bright light emits from her forehead, and the enemy staggers about.  Mini bald Mits helps May move to a better spot.

Just so happens the healer speaks elven. <elven>"We're testing you too. For example, if Mr Jutsu-isn't-cheap attacks anyone, he'll be unable to do anything."</elven> Timothius calls out before saying in common, "Which one needs to go down first?"

---

Pacify v S2. Hit(31)
 If S2 hits or misses with attack, he is stunned

The Stone golem crushes the kobold- Oh May rolled out of the way...

The stone golem CRUSHES the Kobold-oh, May blocked it with her shield.

The Golem's rocky unibrow furrows in disappointment.

OOC: Golem's double melee basic LOL miss and close miss.

Kyle meanwhile (and anyone else who desired) is using cheaper grade magic items to fill in the expected language gap.  He walks ahead so he can see the Battle, toughens up May, and casts his encounter attack that he really treats more like a Utility these days.

Imagine the general shape of Gumby, if they were made of tornados.

That's what does a leaping double kick to one of the Cyclopses and the Golem away from May. (What, missed 3rd attack? We don't know what you are talking about).  It stands guard beside May while it lasts.

"The one hanging back is trouble, I know trying to decide who to use alchemy on when I see it."
This message was last edited by the player at 04:33, Sun 10 Jan 2016.

<Elven>"Im..pressive.  Looks like we've got one shot at survival, guys.  Sleep Jutsu!"<Elven>
The slaver makes hand signs then tosses a vial at the group the explodes in a cloud over Kyle and the twins!  He then goes limp.

May hops to her feet and says, <Elven>"MAN I love these translating magic items!"</Elven> she hops to her feet and whacks all three enemies! Only finds purchase in one enemy's defenses while the others block her weapon. <Elven>"Speaking of one chance; you guys have one chance to surrender. We treat those who surrender fairly. Those who don't... well just ask Chillreaver how that fared for him when you see Tiamat tormenting him in the afterlife for his humiliation."</Elven>

---

Come and Get It v C1,C2,G. Hit(38)! Miss(25) Miss(22)
 dmg: 14

C1 HP: 137 - 14 = 123

Raichel looks tired and says, "Rai..." before shooting a bolt that takes chunks out of the stone golem. <Elven>"Wake me... if you need me... mmm..."</Elven> and curls up on the ground, sleeping with a content smile.

---

Lightning Strike v Golem. Hit(38)!
 dmg: 33
Save throw: 1 Fail. Fall unconscious

G HP: 285 - 33 = 252
C2 HP: 119 - 16 = 103

(Elven a given from now on.)

"Chillreaver!?  You bunch?!  Yeah right!"

A slaver steps out and tosses another sleep powder at Mits!  It hits!  But she and Kyle both look unaffected.

"Hmm..."

"Aw come on, don't buy their bluff!"

SMASH!  May unharmed.

"Um...  guys?"

SLAM!  May still unharmed.  The enemy is looking nervous.  Except for the rock golem.

"Believe it!" Mits says, "But in the time it would take to show you the scale we took from him and the painting of us standing over Chillreaver's corpse, we could have defeated you."

She rushes by a cyclops, May whacking it when it tries to smash Mits.  Mits then performs a justsu of her own.

"Mittens clone jutsu!"

Several Mittens ninjas appear and carve up the enemies with their laser swords!

Timothius move towards the enemies and bursts with radiant energy, then tosses a white fire at the golem, causing portions of rock to melt! He holds up a Chillreaver scale. <Elven>"Huh. Guess this rather large white dragon scale I'm holding is just my imagination. Thanks for clearing that up for me."</Elven>

Tim thinks better of asking Kyle to show off the seed of winter. The enemy doesn't need to know about that.

<Elven>"Did I not warn you that you were being tested?"</Elven> He lifts his hand and chains burst from the ground, ensnaring all by the stunned guy! The chains cause the enemies to feel vulnerable and in need of their mommies.

Raichel lightly paws at her nose, kicks a leg slightly and continues sleeping happily.

---

Move: To be in range
Minor: Solar Enemy
Sacred Flame v Stone Golem. Hit(35)!
 dmg: 36
Rai save: 6 fail
ACTION POINT! +4 to attacks that do no dmg until end of next turn
Chains of Blazing Light v C1,C2,G,S1. Hit(31)! Hit(36)! Hit(34)! Hit(44)!
 Targets are dazed and take 10 extra radiant damage first time they are hit

G HP: 206 - 36 = 170

The stone golem goes to slam May and she holds up a shield that seems to glow briefly with magic Kyle instilled in it. The golem, annoyed, goes to charge everyone, but May immediately hooks the golem's leg and knocks him on his butt. "NO you don't!"

  Kyle sighs at Raichel's alchemy induced catnap, and decides even if it will not compare at all to her, fill in for frying their enemies with lightning.

  You can tell, because it creates her name in cursive along the way to zapping the crusher hard enough to cause sparks to fly from their teeth.

The slaver breaks free from being stunned and sees Raichel sleeping.

"Only one of them sleeps?!"

He starts taking in the situation.

"Uh... oh...  We're dead."

May yells, <Elven>"Not too late! Since Timothius put you out of your wits for a bit, we didn't expect you to surrender in that state. So we'll accept your surrender now."<Elven>

CRACK! She hits the downed stone golem and gives a disappointed frown as she didn't break through this time.

---

Standard: Appalling Crunch v Golem. Miss(25)
Minor: Daring Shot marks all adjacent to May

Raichel yawns and cat-stretches! http://i2.wp.com/karenjeffery-...1/stretching-cat.jpg "Raaaaaiiii...."

Then looks around. "Oh... is that my name scortched into the ground?"

---

Save throw: 12 success!

Zoop!  Zoop!  Two of the baddies are dropped by Mittens clones!  Zoop!  Another one is slashed.

"OW!  Ok ok!  We surrender!  Klaatu barada nikto!"

The slaver drops his spear and the rock golem stops moving, the glow it its eyes turning off.

"...good call."

The other slaver drops his spear!

Mits huhs.  "Wow.  One could get used to this.  But I'll be real impressed when we get a githyanki to surrender."

She proudly shows off the painting and the slavers gawk.

"Please help us!" the slaves beg.

"Oh.  Right.  The keys."

Slaver two reaches into his pocket to pull them out and offer them to the heroes.

  Yes Raichel, it's your name scorched into the ground.

  "Yes, normally we could reduce them to smoking skeletons and the last survivor would still refuse to surrender."  Well okay, a little exaggeration.  There's usually SOME survivors even at the party's most trigger happy.

  Key haz!  It will be in your Key Items list for all eternity and drive you crazy.  He gets to freeing prisoners should nothing inconvenience that task.

May says, "Well you know the next part. We..." she looks at the cage, "...don't put you in the cage because it isn't big enough for all of you. So we need to tie you guys up. But I promise your surrender will matter."

Raichel says, "By law, slavers are prison-sentence at worst and it depends on who you enslaved and who catches you. So you'll be fine."

Slaves may are may not be a common practice in the elsir vale, but it sure is common in other areas of the world.

Timothius tends to the wounds (both physical and mental) of the freed slaves first, but then tends to the giants' wounds (just the physical for now) once they are bound.

The cyclopse gulp but relax a bit at May and Rai's assurances

"Oh wow!" the slaves gasp upon being released, "It's the Heroes of the Elsir Vale!"

Mits grins and stands proudly.  "Theee one and only!"

She shows off the painting to them as well.  The people are awed.

"Something familiar about you all," a cyclopse says, offering no resistance to being tied up, "No hard feelings.  We're slaves too.  No taste for this job, but hey.  Do what you're told or die in the arena.  So being your prisoner actually is an improvement."

  "I'd much prefer not having the problems in the first place, but I'll take enemies who are capable of being reasonable over the usual.  If you're lucky you'll end up with boring manual labor rather than 'off to the front lines, more of the same'"  Sure, Cyclopses fighting the Gith would be convenient, but that would require anyone to trust them to not run off from the people who take up 7 less tiles of space than they do.

Raichel blushes when the painting is pulled out, but that doesn't stop her from telling the people how Chillreaver didn't listen to their threats of humiliation, so they knocked him out instead of killing him and humiliated him before the entire city of Nefelus.

May encourages the slaves that they can be heroes to those around them, just by keeping a positive attitude and looking for ways to help.

That "familiar" comment catches Tim's attention. "Familiar? Well... Mittens, pull out your journal. Read off the chapter titles and see if any of our skirmishes ring a bell for him."

The people are wowed by Rai and encouraged by Timothius and promise to use stories of this rescue to encourage others.  Mits reads off the titles and the Cyclopse oh when the Inconabulum Primeval comes up.

"So you were the ones who thwarted the last away team!  Nobody believed their exaggerated claims...  Hah.  Now I see why they lied about what you look like.  And how many of you there were."

  "Yes, three adorable cats, a kobold, and a human killing Trolls with strawberry scented crystals would have likely sounded much more outlandish." Pop rocks 1, trolls zero.

  "While I doubt you ever found out, by chance you wouldn't happen to know why he wanted that tome, outside of 'it's rare and I want it'"

Rai and Tim blush from the adorable cats comment and mew in unison.

Timothius says, "So our reputation proceeds us, but due to exaggerations and lies, nobody is honestly going to recognize us until it's too late for them."

May says, "Among the enemy anyway. Which they are just shooting themselves in the foot by lying since that gives us the element of surprise. Our enemies can keep underestimating us; it makes it sweeter when they fall too fast to flee."

Raichel nods, "May's right. All I care about, concerning our reputation, is that those we save know who we are and what we did." She glances at the cyclopses. "Which, weird as it sounds, now includes you guys."

But all three lean in to hear the answer to Kyle's question. It's an important one... if these guys know the answer.

Mits grins at the cuteness going on and arm-arounds her sibs.  She too is curious if the cyclopse know anything.

The cyclopse chuckle at the comment about being rescued.  "Thanks for that, by the way.  Still sinking in that an enemy would be so kind.  But it's consistent with what the others mentioned.

"'His highness' does not let slaves into his confidence, but it's not like he's hard to figure out.  He's always lusting after power.  About the only thing that can compare to his love for powerful allies, items, and whatnot is his obsession with the arena fights.  Especially now that he has a rival.  A book so powerful it's reputation spans the gap between our worlds would keep him up at night wishing he had it in his grubby hands.  Heh.  Nice job making him loose sleep, come to think of it."

Mits smirks proudly.  "Thanks!"

  Which just makes the whole 'give away the Seed' thing all that much more confusing, but still not mentioning it in front of the recent enemies.

  "To be honest, we likely would have forgotten all about him if he kept it to just that first attempt.  So many of the people we have to put down have a habit of provoking us in the first place."

Timothius says, "And before you think "well duh", allow me to tell you the degrees of which people will beg us to go kill them." Tim recounts the recent Telicanthus story and how pretty much thanks to hiring people to go after the group, they got valuable information that helped prove Telicanthus a villain. "Of course, villains don't understand we actually try to keep our enemies alive. Not only is a live enemy valuable for information, but... well I prefer people have a chance to regret their actions in this life. Then there's a chance they could turn and become good. Which from a pure logic standpoint, can only add to our number."

Raichel says, "Thanks for the information. And an extra thanks for letting us know our efforts lost Cachlain some sleep."

May says, "So where do we go from here?"

"Sad but true," Mits says in regards to the bit about enemies giving themselves away.

She grins and adds, "There's also the fact our enemies would rather die than be captured.  Why give them what they want?"

To May's question, "Well we wanted to confront Cachlain about his alliance with the Githyanki.  So we came here for info on where to find him."

The cyclopse sweatdrop.  "Your welcome.  Any chance we could trade that info for our release?  Like we mentioned, never wanted to bother any of you in the first place."

The other one glances nervously.  "Just tell 'em.  Don't wunna make 'em mad."

"Ok fine.  We've got a map and ritual scroll to a nearby portal circle that'll take you right to our base camp back where we come from.  We'll be happy to vouch for you if you want to save yourselves the trouble of stomping our allies over there."

  So many emo Shadrakai, yes.

  Common sense would suggest it's either a trap, or the group would attack them anyways.  But the chance of it actually working out is worth the novelty alone (and besides, they'd have to head there anyways).

  "Well, that's certainly less investment than working out a circle to the Feywild ourselves." Plus even with how much of the Feywild they will have to head through, it's bound to be closer than picking at random.

OOC: Hey, how about we ask the Seed where in the Feywild they come from and go there directly-oh the Module is crying again.

Timothius says, "Didn't you just say that releasing you just means going back to being a slave under Cachlain? I'd rather you be safely tucked away at either Sayre or Overlook than risk him throwing you in an arena using the excuse of your "failures" to do so."

Raichel nods and says, "If you come with us, that would be helpful. We won't ask you to fight and we will protect you."

May nods. "Only really need one of you to come."

"Handy!  So where are those items?"

One of the cyclops looks at his hip.  "My pocket."

Mits mage-hands the items and checks them out.  "Hmm.  Not far."

(( GM Handwave.  Group had the foresight to bring along some lowbie soldiers who agreed to escort any freed slaves to safety.  In case we found what we were looking for and didn't want to waste time running people to safety and back.  Module assumes the NPCs just run off and vanish like in an MMO, I guess. ))

The cyclops answers Timo, "Put yourselves in our shoes.  This world of yours is as hostile and alien to our kind as ours is to you.  Maybe moreso.  Is there a community of our kind in Sayre or Overlook with pretty single cyclops girls we could start families with?  I'd sooner take my chances in the Feywild.  So long as we avoid Cachlain and Sangwyr's domains, we'll avoid re-capture."

  The NPCs run in zig zags until deciding on the closest building door to enter through and never be seen again.

  "Not likely, no.  Though I'd at the very least give it a week before heading back.  That should give you a bit more time for this latest set of issues to at least be more sorted out than before.  Or for your old boss to be too distracted to even remember you."

Raichel would continue the argument with things like "then why haven't you already taken your chances and run off without us showing up?", but Kyle kinda makes a good, time-saving point. "Yeah. That. I think you can handle the Prime Material for a week or two."

Timothius kinda mutters, "I dunno... as much exposure as the bunch of us have been getting, if the cyclops were pretty enough and good-hearted enough..."

May continues Tim's thought with, "Then she'd join our team and kick butt!" completely missing the point.

Mits conjures a cyclops muppet and has it lean over to kiss Timo on the cheek.  http://vignette4.wikia.nocooki...st?cb=20121005001124

"That scroll is a one-time deal.  Once you use it, we'll have no way back to our home world.  We can wait things out near the portal circle.  Plenty of places to hide considering you'll be keeping Cachlain busy.  Area may be controlled by a fickle archfey, but I'm sure it won't mind us being there for a week considering it tolerated us so far."

  "Hang onto the scroll then.  The circle itself is the more important part than the ritual... Well, at least to us." And Tim, too.  "Though if you really wanna go now, may as well I guess."

Timothius says, "We'll just have them stay for now. Not like we can't handle what's on the other side."

May says, "So then. We ready to go?"

Raichel says, "I am."

"Yuppers!"

The cyclops are surprised and grateful for the offer of being allowed to keep the scroll and thank the heroes.  The freed slaves are taken by the guards to safety.  And the group finds the circle and uses it to travel to the Feywild!

You are surrounded by a circle of tall, columnar stones. A
ring of glowing runes encircles them, and then it dims after
you arrive. You’re in a verdant grove in the Feywild, and
a vibrant moon hangs in the sky above the tops of the tall,
ancient trees. A bit to the west is a steep cliff. A cave mouth
is directly across from you, and two enormous doors made
of entwined wood and vines span the tunnel, which is just
inside the cave mouth.

The firbolg hunting party wants to surprise the PCs,
so roll a Stealth check against the highest passive
Perception of the party to determine surprise. Use the
lowest bonus among the enemies (the firbolgs’ +19).
The PCs can’t surprise the firbolgs, since the firbolgs
know they’re coming and the portal doesn’t allow for
a stealthy entry.

Rolled a 36 total.

When the PCs see their enemies, read:
You see two humanoids, each about 12 feet tall. They wear
headdresses crafted to look like crows and carry enormous
picks with the same motifs. Near them, you can barely make
out two snakes, each of which has two heads and is made of
solid shadow.

A shadow snake slithers closer and bites Timothius!  Then another slides into view and bites Rai!  Two Ghostravens charge at Mits and May, slamming both with their their war picks!  When they see that their enemies don't die in one hit, they look very pleased!  Then Timothius' snake bites Kyle and slithers back into the nearby bushes!

An Insight check (DC 20) reveals that
they are testing the PCs and not fighting as aggressively as they could.

Raichel flies to the top of one of the trees and hurls a lightning bolt at one of the firbolgs, who pulls a Neo-dodges-bullet and barely dodges the lightning. Raichel furrows her brows in annoyance. Too annoyed to notice the enemy is "testing" the team. She just assumes the smiles are because they are enjoying the challenge. "Enemies who can dodge lightning is quickly becoming annoyingly common."

---

Take 10 poison damage
Move: Fly to top of tree
Standard: Furious Bolts v G1,G2,S1,S2. Miss(27)
Save v ongoing: 19 success

Raichel HP: 81 - 10 = 71

A portal hound notices the noise of combat and teleports to the door.

"Woof?  Woof!  Bark bark bark!"

It charges towards the heroes!

Sway the Sky Shaper Level 16
Skill Challenge
A rumbling voice thunders through the sky. “You fight in my domain, do you? Fine, then. Entertain me.” You quickly realize this
must be the Sky Shaper, the archfey Caliandra told you about.
The PCs can try to sway the Sky Shaper to their side,
causing him to make his domain sunny to disadvantage
the firbolgs. As the PCs gain successes, the sky gets lighter,
and it darkens again if they fail. Each PC can contribute
once per round. Most attempts require a minor action, but
a character who makes an Acrobatics check for a different
reason can count that check for the challenge, and Arcana,
History, and Insight checks are all free actions.
Complexity
1 (requires 4 successes before 3 failures).
Primary Skills
Acrobatics 13, Bluff 13, Nature 20.
Other Skills
Arcana 20, History 20, Insight 13
This message was last edited by the player at 04:51, Tue 12 Jan 2016.

May says, "Remember, everyone! Keep our enemy alive!" then uses telepathy on her allies, <Telepathy>"And un-maimed is possible! These guys are just testing us. They MIGHT not be evil!"</Telepathy>

May darts over to the nearby firbolg, roars a draconic roar and gives a challenging eye to her enemies! When the snake begins attacking, May tumbles under her allies and rises for an uppercut on the snake, hitting it but not hurting it.

---

Minor: Shift 2 to ideal position
Standard: Shield Clamor. G1,G2,S1,S2,H1 all marked
Minor: Acrobatics to impress fey-face - 17
This message was last edited by the player at 05:07, Tue 12 Jan 2016.

The voice sounds impressed.  "Nice tumble, there!  Intruders: 1."

The second snake snaps at May and Kyle, missing both, then slinks behind the trees.

  Kyle steps between his friends not to use them as cover (which is purely incidental) but so he can provide the closest friends (Physically, He still likes Raichel just as much) with his 'I shot someone so now you hit harder' buff.

  As per practical tradition by now, he toughens up May.  "Watch the hounds.  I was expecting the kind that fly, but those can teleport you just as well as they can teleport themselves."  That said, he shoots the magical doggy.

The portal hound yelps!  Mits sadfaces.

"Poor doggie.  So kyoot!  Eyebeams!"

She lasers at a ghostraven and it dodges!  "Dang.  Annoying is right, Rai."

<Elven>"Do you speak Elven, perhaps?  Why are you attacking us?"<Elven>

The ghostravens look disappointed and annoyed by the question, but give no answer.

Mits zaps the snakes, smiles, and gets all fan-girl over the Skyshaper.  "Wow!  Just seconds into the Feywild and we get to meet someone so amazing!  The Skyshaper!"

The voice answers, sounding very complimented.  "You've heard of me?  Well!  Keep amusing me, and I'll show you something truely amazing.  Material Plane Fighters: 2.  Firbolgs: 0."

May gets quite the workout as the two ghostravens and the portal dog all attack!  None of them hit.  The ghostravens look real impressed with May, grinning.  When one gets an opportunity to attack May for charging, it chooses not to.  But the portal hound snaps at her.

"I recently read about you from a Nefelese book, Skyshaper. The sky isn't the only thing you reshaped... the very ground we fight on was reshaped by you! Oh to see such a sight..."

He is genuinely excited. This is the feywild equivalent of bumping into a god, so... 2nd direct deity encounter is go?

He points to the prone dog and a target appears on it.

---

Tim takes 5 (10-resist5) ongoing poison
Minor: Nature: 33
Move: Provoke from Doggy.
 Dog-o-O: 33. Nom! dmg: 13
 May-o-O: 36. Nom! dmg: KNOCK PRONE HAHAHAHA
Standard: Prophetic Guidance on Dog
Save v ongoing poison: 18 success

Tim HP: 85 - 5 - 13 = 67
This message was last edited by the GM at 06:31, Tue 12 Jan 2016.

Shadow snake returns and attacks Mits, but gets hit by a charging May!  Once again, the ghostraven that could have attacked chooses not to.  The snake bites at May and misssesss.  An especially large firbolg appears, looking worried.

"Save some for meeee!"  He runs full tilt toward the combat, looking happy now that he sees what's going on.

"Hey Skyshaper!  Check this out!"

He pole-vaults into the air mid charge, does a somersault, then comes down on Timothius with his spear!  For a half second, he looks concerned, but cheers when he sees Timothius is still standing even after a direct hit!

"YEES!  Worthy adversaries!"

The Skyshaper laughs.  "So glad you noticed, visitor!  That's 1 for the home team, 3 for the visitors!  One more point wins it for them!"

"Roar!"  A bear-skin-clad giant emerges from the cave!  It takes a zig-zaggy path as it charges at Timothius!

"Grizzly PUNCH!"  Timothius dodges the punch!  The bloodbear looks very pleased.

The Skyshaper hmms.  "Sure.  Point.  Home team: 2."

Raichel says, "Oh come on! That was a point for Tim! Oh yeah? Well watch this...." she places her staff on the tip of the tree, climbs it, break-dances at the top in order to stand on it and calls down a 15' thick lightning bolt that SLAMS the two new guys onto their butts while setting the ground ablaze! KRACKBOOM!

She waves a hand and Kyle goes flying to the top of another tree!

Lightning then shoots from her at random, zapping three enemies!

---

Move: Fly Kyle to top of another tree
Standard: Vezzuvu's Eruption v Pyradan, Bloodbear. Hit(32)! Hit(27)!
 dmg: 21
 Both knocked prone
Minor: 37 acrobatics

Pyradan HP: 322 - 21 = 301
Bloodbear HP: 240 - 21 - 6 = 213
Hound 1 HP: 114 - 6 = 108
G2 HP: 236 - 6 = 230
This message was last edited by the player at 07:04, Tue 12 Jan 2016.

The Skyshaper's voice reverberates as it responds to Rai, "Excellent!  The visitors win!"

The sun suddenly rises!  The shadow snakes hiss and recoil.  Dark tendrils begin rising from beneath the firbolgs!

The portal hound stands and chomps at Mits, but misses!

May deftly charges past the snake and hound, deflecting them nonchalantly before stopping at the newcomers and letting out another roar! Everyone in 15 feet of her is forced to move towards her and those next to her get a taste of weapon-to-face. Magic weapon at that. Thanks, Kyle! "So not only do we have the favor of Bahamut, Pelor and Moradin, but now in the Feywild, within seconds, we have the favor of the Skyshaper? Yeah. I think we are destined to clean up the filth and villainy that dare defile any of the realms!"

---

Move: To new guys!
May provoking from Snake 1 and Hound 1. Miss/Miss! (They both rolled 2's)
Standard: Come and Get It v Pyradan,Bloodbear,G1,G2,H1,H2. Hit(27)! Hit(30)! Hit(38)! Hit(32)! Hit(37)! Hit(29)!
 dmg to those adjacent to May: 6+5=11
 All of them marked.

Puradan HP: 301 - 11 = 290
Bloodbear HP: 213 - 11 = 202
G1 HP: 218 - 11 = 207
G2 HP: 230 - 11 = 219

  ""Much of destiny seems to be picking the winners and saying 'Totally called it ahead of time, I swear.'" Of course, the Gods would hardly hardly get where they were without rigging the numbers in their favor from time to time.  Just look at those Avenger feats that literally rig the dice, for example.

  Kyle's next actions are not particularly impressive.

  Of course, as the powder sizzles and puffs with the scent of apple pie in the flames among the Firblogs, it's not like their enemies will be doing anything impressive either in the immediate future.

Paci dust: Hits all Fir blog types (so, everything but the animals).

Zoop!  The portal dog teleports Mittens to a spot where it can flank her!

"Ooh, sunlight!"

She shifts over into the thornbushes.

"Alakazam!"

She conjures up six huge crystal eyes in the air that focus the sun's rays into intense beams that burn the enemy, dazzling them!  http://images.bijouled.co.uk/i...3531839-61906100.jpg  The portal dog yelps and passes out.

"Didn't kill the puppy!  Poor doggie."

The other one charges at her and bites her on the leg!  Grr!  The ghostravens blink-blink in a daze, sneezing from the dust, and crouch to ready themselves for more attacks.
This message was last edited by the GM at 23:14, Tue 12 Jan 2016.

Timothius seizes the opportunity. He bursts with light, causing more vulnerability, encases the firbolgs in radiant chains, and then looks at Pyradan, saying, "You can't beat us. Our test is over already. But if you wish my team's assessment of you, you may have it now or after they pummel you."

WHAM! Pyradan takes a major blow to his morale / confidence and feels weak.

---

Minor: Solar Enemy
ACTION POINT! +4 non-damaging attacks
Standard: Chains of Blazing Light v Firbolgs. Hit(41)! Hit(30)! Hit(30)! Hit(40)!
 Dazed. First time they take damage, they take 10 extra radiant
Break the Spirit v Pyradan. Hit(39)!
 dmg: 53

Pyradan HP: 184 - 53 = 131

The big firbolg carrying two spears struggles to stand.  "You are worthy opponents indeed.  And now that we know what a challenge you are, it will bring us great glory to capture you for the Daughter of Frostwhite Forest.  I am Pyradan, and the fury of the Wild Hunt runs through my veins..."

The bloodbear tries to stand and immediately gets knocked right back down by May.

Pyradan looks discouraged.  "I've only gotten to attack once so far..."
This message was last edited by the player at 04:25, Wed 13 Jan 2016.

Raichel leaps down from the tree, turns into lightning and ZAPS through the enemies, taking out two of them and severely wounding two others before appearing next to her sis. She catches the hound with her foot in order to gently lay its unconscious form on the grass.

The fire from earlier goes away. "None of us have bothered with healing powers yet, you know. We got about six to twelve times more endurance than this left in us before we might think about this being a challenge."

---

Spark Form v firbolgs, hound. Hit all but Pyradan
 dmg: 55 to firbolgs, 45 to hound

G1 HP: 54 - 55 = KO
G2 HP: 105 - 55 = 50
Bloodbear HP: 71 - 55 = 16
Hound 2 HP: 41 - 45 = KO

Pyradan drops his weapons and nods to the bloodbear who holds up his hands in surrender.

"Well fought!  You have won this day, powerful warriors!  Did you defeat the other half of the cyclops slaver camp?  Introduce yourselves so we might speak as warriors."

  Kyle has only used two actions this whole encounter so far either. So he knows the feeling.

  But if you consider his second action was to use pacification dust, does that mean stealing the actions of others have made him effectively take six actions?

  "They took slightly longer, but yes."  He doesn't even consider claiming they don't deserve a warrior's treatment, because he's hiding up in a tree throwing things at people as a tactic.  "I am Kyle, my friends can speak for themselves." Because they have better CHA mods.

Timothius waves a hand to cause Mittens' wounds to vanish. Then begins walking towards the enemies. As he does, his wounds close themselves. "I am Timothius. The lightning bolt is my sister Raichel. The radiant beacon is my sister Mittens. And the weapons master shaking your hand is May. The skyshaper told us his reasons for testing us. What are yours? You mentioned capturing us for the Daughter of Frostwhite Forest?"

With that, he begins binding the enemy's wounds.

May telepaths to Kyle, <Telepathy>"Let that seed know it better not speak out right this moment. These guys could be working for an enemy of hers for all the seed knows and will just as soon take the seed FARTHER from the seed's goal."</Telepathy>

Raichel rests quietly, then Ohs! and waves a hand to guide Kyle down to the ground safely. She blushes a little. "Sorry, Kyle."

The Seed of Winter comments, "These firbolgs could make for useful minions.  Kyle, enslave them!"

"Implied in your question is that you defeated this side's half.  So...  Why did you?  And why attack us if you have a beef with them, and clearly we defeated your enemy?"

Pyradan explains...
A dusk harrier named Pyradan leads this small group
of firbolgs and their beast allies. He’s comfortable in
battle, but gruff and tactless when interacting with
others. He works for the eladrins only because they
have the foresight to find powerful opponents who
can give the firbolgs a good fight. He uses the missions they give as training, and he asks only that he
be allowed to take trophies of his victory.

These firbolg hunters, working to gain favors from
the eladrin of the Frostwhite Forest, have staked out
this grove. The eladrin have detected the path of the
Seed of Winter and helped set up the firbolg ambush.
The firbolgs want to capture the PCs. The first group
doesn’t speak. They fight for the sake of fighting,
wishing to test the PCs’ mettle. In the second battle, if
the firbolgs find out the PCs are willing to meet with
the eladrin peacefully, they volunteer to lead them,
but still ask if they can fight until one side submits.

  Kyle quietly comments to the seed, "An interesting suggestion for our stay, if you provided means.  If such control you demonstrated before is something you either will not, or can not grant while in my possession, then I suppose I'll have to remain disappointed."

  That will probably be the closest thing him and the seed have in common, really. Feeling annoyed and/or let down by eachother.

"We did, in fact, defeat the other encampment." Timothius says, "Were there any slaves with the encampment that was on this side?"

While Tim binds wounds, May binds limbs so the freshly surrendered enemy can not escape.

Raichel assists with that as well. Of course, if the firbolgs object, Raichel will remind them they did attack and until things get proven / sorted out, that makes these guys enemies and thus prisoners.

The Seed argues that one does not need mind control to enslave a person, but it certainly does not hurt.  But get me some magic mirrors, and mind control can be yours!  Etc.

The firbolgs do object!  "Can't we just go together as respected rivals?  It's not like you couldn't just defeat us again if you're worried about us fighting you again."

"You'd have taken us prisoner had you won," Mits points out.

"Be that as it may, but you are the visitors to this realm.  It will look better for you if you don't bind up locals willing to go with you peacefully."

Mits huhs.  "Skyshaper?  Is that true?"

"Meh.  Just tell whomever you have my favor.  That'll carry more weight than a hundred sore loser firbolgs, tied up or otherwise."

"No, not sore losers!  We accepted our defeat without making excuses like, 'Well an archfey intervened, so it doesn't count!'"

Skyshaper laughs.
This message was last edited by the GM at 05:42, Wed 13 Jan 2016.

  "Well, that does set a high bar compared to the rare occasions out enemies surrender, yes." Even if it has been getting more common of late.

  "Though maybe if you can legitimately claim those you lead us to would believe you went down as fast as you did, then maybe we won't need the ropes as much as evidence it happened as to keep you behaved.  A personal hand written note from the gods would not convince most people we meet of our credentials even as we drag the remains of our enemies behind us"

"We will tell the truth of our encounter if you show your rivals respect.  Humiliate us and we will remain silent."

Timothius thinks. Just a year ago, that attack Pyradan did to him would have killed Tim to the point where there would be no hope of bringing him back. But on the other hand, the firbolgs very likely knew whoever came through was equal to or greater than the cyclops encampment. So he accepts that these guys, no matter how excitable, honestly didn't want to kill the heroes.

Raichel says, "We have defeated an exarch, you know, and managed to keep him alive. If you want to know humiliation, ask us what we did to him. Being tied up isn't humiliating. Being dragged before your enemies to be spat on; that is humiliation."

May says, "Not that you did anything to warrant us wanting to humiliated you. Raichel's just saying that being tied up isn't humiliation..."

Timothius shrugs. "Untie them. We will have not only their honor to speak well of us, but they will attest to the fact the Skyshaper favored us. If they lie, they will lose their honor... which I'm guessing is worth much more to them than their lives."

May shrugs. "Tim says untie, I untie. Unless it's obvious he's being mind controlled. Which would take a deific power and wouldn't last anyway."

Mits shrugs.  "At least they recognize that we're way out of their league.  What kinda surprises me is that they trust that we value honesty over making up our own story about what happened."

The firbolgs look perplexed, but are satisfied that they got what they asked for.

"An exarch!  Fantastic!  If you ever want a rematch, we'll be more than happy to oblige!  Which exarch?"

Mits shows the painting and they oh, looking impressed.

After the battle, the firbolgs lead (or carry, if the PCs
lost) the PCs to a battle camp of eladrin ruled by
Inzira, Daughter of Frostwhite Forest.  (What happens if the PCs killed the firbolgs???)

In the battle camp, the PCs meet one of Inzira’s
lesser generals, Druemmeth Goldtemple. He is a tall,
muscular eladrin with long, dark brown hair and,
true to his name, streaks of gold in the hair above his
ears. Adorned in mithral chainmail and wearing a
longsword, he’s clearly prepared for battle.

After boasting about how amazingly powerful the visitors from the Prime Material are, with detailed descriptions of the fight, the firbolgs depart soon after.

Druemmeth questions the PCs. He has heard tales
about the war against the githyanki, so he knows the
PCs by reputation and is friendly to them as long as
they aren’t aggressive. In fact, he apologizes for sending the firbolgs after them, claiming that he would
have approached them more diplomatically had he
known who they were.

"All I knew was that whomever took the Seed of Winter used that portal to enter your world."

However, Druemmeth hasn’t received word about
the events in Nefelus, and he wants to know how
the PCs attained the Seed of Winter. If they’re forthcoming and appear honest, he believes them easily.
Otherwise, his attitude is no longer friendly, and his
interrogation grows more threatening. Whether he
finds out what he wants to know with little effort or
is unable to pry any information from the PCs, he
asks the PCs to leave his tent while he converses with
Inzira, his ruler.

  "An Exarch was using it to create icebergs in a tropical climate, it was rather impossible to hide it's location even from a different landmass."  even without the request for assistance, that would have stood out.  "What circumstances prevented you from looking for it in all that time?"

Tim has no reason to lie and has a personal code to reserve it for enemies only. Rai hates lying. May doesn't really understand the complexities of lying and is bad at it.

While Timothius has thoughts on why goldielocks didn't go to another plane to start looking, he keeps quiet and listens for the actual answer.

May is impressed the guy has gold hair. Even if hers was literally given her by a gold dragon.

((Conversation has been in Common.))

"Just out of curiosity, is tying up defeated enemies taboo in the Feywild, or...?"

Druemmeth tries to be stoic, but looks annoyed with Kyle's news.  "Would that it were so obvious when it was in the Feywild.  Nothing prevented us looking.  Finding was another matter.  Only recently did we learn that it had been taken to your world."

To Mits he answers, "Not as a rule, no.  Firbolgs have their own culture regarding such things if that's what you're referring to.  Now if you'll excuse me.  Please."

He motions for the exit.  Mits steps out and takes in the crisp air.

"Wow.  The Feywild!  Stuff of legend and fairytale!"
This message was last edited by the GM at 06:47, Wed 13 Jan 2016.

  As Goldenfancyman heads off, Kyle acknowledges the planar difference.

  "I apologize, so many visitors from other planes have both possessed and claimed quite the bit of knowledge of current events in our realm.  I assumed the same would have applied here."

  Kyle makes an emergency usage of his 'not suck at diplomacy' utility to not bring up that apparently some casual weapons dealings and light mercenary work warranted better Intel and preparation than an infamous artifact of historical importance.

Luck is a factor also. Kyle's INT score can figure that much. Sometimes Murphy just hates you and then adds extra taunts like "haha neon sign and you missed it! Don't you feel like an idiot?"

May, Raichel and Timothius exit the tent and take in the beauty. "Your FACE is the stuff of legend and fairytale, Mittens!"

Timothius chuckles and says, "Seriously... for the people here, it is simply home and we're the ones who are legend. We are to them what the Shadowfell is to us. But that doesn't stop how we feel after growing up hearing stories about it..."

Raichel is smiling also and says, "Let's be sure to pick up some souvenirs from the feywild, then."

Mits laughs at May's taunts.  "Back atcha, May."

When he brings the PCs back in, he
has prepared a means for the PCs to converse with
Inzira.

The general says, “Inzira seeks a temporary alliance with
the Stone-Skinned King. It’s best if she speaks with you.” He
then removes a mithral medal from his chest and pins it to
the wall of the tent. Ice spreads from it, crystallizing across
a large surface, and forming the image of a female eladrin’s
face. With long white hair and piercing, icy blue eyes, her
presence is cold and unfeeling. Her eyes study you as she
speaks.
“The Seed of Winter belongs to me, not to you and
certainly not to the Stone-Skinned King. It was a gift
from Koliada to me when I was a mere child, and I have
no intention of parting with it. However, I see that the
fomorian and I must work together to foil the plots of
Sangwyr. Use the Seed of Winter for the time being, as a
tool to make a way into the King’s court. I’ll be expecting
you to return it when you’re finished.
“It’s convenient that our interests align, so you’ll be my
messengers. Tell the fomorian I do not like him, and I know
he does not like me. However, Sangwyr utterly hates both of
us, and we must stop his stupid uprising.”

  "Oh thank the gods, Archfey, or whatever you prefer, a practical leadership figure." Well, it's MOSTLY an improvement to his usual attitudes?  "Could you inform us more about Sangwyr, as it is likely we will have to deal with him directly before this is all over with." He wonders if the seed has anything to say over this... Well, to Inzira's icy face at least, rather than complaints out of her icicle earshot.

Raichel says, "We have no love for Cachlain either. It is very likely if he makes a wrong move against my team, we will beat him up."

Timothius will wait for Inzira to answer Kyle's question for asking one of his own. "If I may ask; how did the seed leave your possession in the first place?"

May stands confident. Well OK, only Timothius might be assuming anything resembling a humble posture at this point, but still. "The seed likes to annoy us, so you can be sure we probably will be more than glad to give it away."

The Seed isn’t pleased about being
used as a bargaining chip, and it makes its wishes
known. When it realizes it has the chance to return
to Inzira’s possession, it decides that’s what it truly
wants. The Seed is impatient and vocal about its
wishes, but Inzira can calm it for the immediate
future.

"Sangwyr, like many other fomorians, believes himself to be the world's gift to existence.  He employs slaves of many races, including shapeshifters such as Oni, rakshasaa, and hags.  He extends his tunnels with bulettes and controls them through drow and their ilk.  What makes him so much more dangerous than the others of his kind is that he has a knack for uniting the disparate factions underneath his rule, thus presenting a formitable unified front that threatens my realm where before they were content to war amongst themselves.

"The Seed of Winter was stolen from me.  It is good that you wish to return it.

"From what I've heard, I do not doubt that you would survive a direct encounter with Cachlain.  But as deserving as he is to die by your hands, I would rather that one seated than Sangwyr.  And while Cachlain can be found, Sangwyr cannot.  So long as Cachlain remains in power, he will serve as a good diversion for Sangwyr while my agents search for him.  Which may take a long time."

Mits hrms. "It seems odd to me that the githyanki should go to the trouble of making alliances for means of moving troops around rather than do so within their own realms.  Well it sounds like we've got an understanding.  Shall we get going, then?"

Inzira doesn't know why either, but she's not going to expound upon her ignorance unless pressed.
This message was last edited by the GM at 07:43, Wed 13 Jan 2016.

  Kyle has some throwaway reasons one may do such in mind, but will mention them later.

  "The remaining large question remains, why would he give up the seed in the first place if he wants it so badly.  I suppose we will not find out until we can ask him directly." Seriously, they wouldn't even be here beating up all the Feywild nerds otherwise.

  Next encounter, Mittens shoves their enemies into a locker.

Raichel says, "What if, after beating him up, we took his seat of power? Isn't that how it works for thugs like him? The strongest, not the smartest, leads?"

Timothius looks over at Raichel. "Then we would no longer be free to directly investigate Sangwyr. Our adventures would stop and he'd wait for us to live to the end of our relatively short mortal lives."

Raichel says, "Fine fine..."

May says, "Like Mittens said, let's get started. Nice t'meetchya Inzira!"

Timothius nods and says, "Yes. Thank you for your time, your highness." he gives a polite bow. Raichel copies Tim. May gives a big grin and does the same.

Mits shrugs.  "Maybe some other day we can take over an evil Feydark organization and lead it in a war against other tunnel dwellers.  Mmm.  Or maybe once we defeat the githyanki, we can take over their civilization.  That sounds a bit more fun than tunnel wars."

Druemmeth offers to guide the PCs to a place near
the Stone-Skinned King’s palace, where they can
easily find some of the king’s guards. The general is
proper and respectful, though it’s clear he resents
that the PCs were sent as Inzira’s emissaries rather
than himself. He also mentions that emissaries were
sent before, but haven’t been heard from again. He
asks that the PCs attempt to find them and have them
released—if they’re alive.

While the PCs are finalizing their agreement with
Druemmeth Goldtemple, the sound of clashing
blades and shouts of alarm echo from a distant part
of the camp. All the monsters are attempting to hide,
so make Stealth checks for each group. The monsters,
NPCs, and PCs roll initiative.
When a PC looks outside, read:
Though the sounds of battle come from far across the camp,
you see a few eladrin bodies much closer. The bodies are
peppered with arrows or flayed with hundreds of tiny cuts.

If a PC’s passive Perception check beat a monster’s
Stealth check (15), point out the location where the PC
sees movement in the trees.
When a PC sees the troll vinespeaker, read:
You see a troll with thorny vines wrapped around its arms
and chest. It chants as it lashes out with magical rays
formed of razor-sharp brambles.

"Wild guess, these stooges were sent to recover the Seed of Winter.  I'm beginning to think returning it to Inzira will mean no end of trouble for her.  Oh well."

A hag approaches the tent and wiggles her claws.

"Sssleep"

Druemmeth and one of the Eldadrin guards look drowsy.  A rakshasa shoots and misses then hides behind a tree.  The winter blades attack the hag, slashing it!  Another hag appears and kills an eladrin guard with her claws!

"For Sangwyr!"

"They work for Sangwyr! Catch them ALIVE!" Raichel demands! With that, lightning leaves her hand, hits the hag, bounces from that hag to the other hag, then to the rakshassa each in turn, frying all of them! Seems hiding didn't do anything for them.

With that, her scythe glows briefly before Raichel turns feral.

---

Furious Bolts v Hag1,2,Rak1,2,3. Hit(36)! Hit(35)! CRIT(39)! Hit(36)! Hit(36)!
 dmg 1: 30
 dmg 2,4,6: 24
 dmg 3: 42
 +5 to Raichel's next attack
Minor: Activate Blood Fury Scythe
Minor: Razorclaw Shifting

Hag1 HP: 109 - 30 = 79
Hag2 HP: 93 - 24 = 69
Rakshassa1 HP: 110 - 42 = 68
Rakshassa2 HP: 110 - 24 = 86
Rakshassa3 HP: 110 - 24 = 86
This message was last edited by the player at 04:45, Fri 15 Jan 2016.

Mits teleports out of the tent.

"At least they don't scream."

She wiggles her fingers back at the hags, and they shriek in pain!

"I stand corrected.  Still not as bad as that desert hag.  Or harpies."

Timothius says, "Surrender and make this less painful for yourselves." as he steps out and waves a hand towards the hidden rakshassa before giving the hags a stern look with glowing eyes and bursting with radiance, his hair rippling a little from the wind it causes.

---

Move: To Hags
Perception to notice Rak3: 31. success.
Pacify v Rak3. Hit(35)!
 If Rak3 attacks, he becomes stunned until the end of his next turn.
Minor: Solar Enemy

May deftly hops about until she is standing between the hags. WHACKWHACK! One hag goes down and the other looks really bad while also dizzy. "We really need a name besides "the heroes of Overlook/Elsir Vale" since our resume keeps adding to the title."

---

Move: To hags
Minor: Shift in the midst of the hags.
Standard: Funneling Flurry v H1,H2. Hit(27)! Hit(31)!
 dmg: 41

Hag1 HP: 51 - 41 = 10
Hag2 HP: 41 - 41 = KO

A rakshasa fires an arrow wreathed in shadow at May, but misses.  It then hides behind a tree.

  Kyle steps up and uses the ancient arcane art known as PUNCH TO THE FACE.  But at least the Hag's nose is straighter now? "Well, I hardly have any proper ideas despite it all.  Unless Merry Mercenaries is somehow a good idea."

  He toughens up May, not just as a formality but because he noticed the big guy hiding behind the initiative order window.

The rakshasa fire more shadow arrows.  One hits May, and another hits Mits.  The one who shot Mits is stunned by Timothius' power!  The vinespeaker troll appears from the southwest.

"No you surrender!"

It creates a patch of brambles that slash Druemmeth and Timothius!  A winter blade charges the troll and slashes it!

Mits strolls to the north to get a better angle on the enemy.

"I'm guessing 'Rainbow Riders' wouldn't be on the table either."

She fires rainbow beams at the enemy, splashing them with color!

"But 'Heroes of the Prime Material Plane' as Amyria called us works for now."

Raichel says, "Oh. It's a stupid-head." she gets pricked by some brambles, but flies out of the bramble patch before turning into lightning, zapping THROUGH the troll and then following up with a staff combo that looks like a helecopter did a breakdance with its blades... and hit with each one. Whack-thud-thud-whack-snap-thud-whack-whack-thud-thud-thud-crack-wham-ZOOOOOP!! ....the troll is teleported away from the winter blade!

The troll looks to be VERY hurt by that. "You simply aren't impressive enough to surrender to."

---

d8 dmg for starting in brambles; 7
Move: Fly out of bramble patch
ACTION POINT! Do 6 lightning dmg to up to 3 creatures within 5 (Vine and Rak3)
Spark Form v Vinespeaker. Hit(34)!
 dmg: 20
Step Between Worlds v Vinespeaker. Hit(32)!
 dmg: 30

Raichel HP: 98 - 7 = 91
Rak3 HP: 62 - 6 = 56
Vinespeaker HP: 134 - 6 - 20 - 30 = 78

Timothius says, "I keep meaning to figure one out, but I always think of good names when I don't have a pen handy..." he then causes radiant chains to bind the troll.

---

Chains of Blazing Light v Vinespeaker
 Dazed. Will take 10 extra radiant dmg when first hit
Save v immob: 4 fail.

Tim HP: 98+26 - 3 = 98+23

May hops out of the brambles and charges the troll. WHACK! Didn't hit as hard as Raichel, but she did hit hard! "We'll figure it out!"

---

1d8 dmg from bramble: 2
Minor: Shift over 1
May charge v Vinespeaker. Hit(28)!
 dmg: 23
save v status: 20 CRIT success!

Maych-P: 131+33 - 2 = 131+31
Vinespeaker HP: 68 - 23 = 45

Druemmeth teleports out of the tent and breaks free from the vines around his feet.  One of the rakshasas collapses from rainbow damage.

  Kyle trusts in indiscriminate explosions to deal with his problems as he tosses a vial of acidic fire behind him in the general direction of where the not yet doomed Rakasha was hiding... Well, that's Fire, Acid, and Radiant all at once then.  Not a good day to be that Rakasha, or the tree.

Two rakshasa collapse, defeated.  The winter blade attacks the troll and misses.  The troll claws at May but does no damage.

"No you're a stupid head!"

Raichel fires lightning at the troll, taking it down. "This one needs to be tied up while we beat it up."

---

Lightning Strike v Vinespeaker. Hit(26)!
 dmg: 38

Troll HP: 30 - 38 = lunch money

The enemy is subdued and interrogated.  They had magic cast upon them that allowed them to navigate through the labyrinthine tunnels of the Feydark to this place and had no way of finding their way back.*  Their vast wealth of ignorance of anything useful about Sangwyr is impressive.

Moving right along!

As you descend into the tunnels of Cachlain’s domain, the
air becomes cold and stagnant. The purple crystal that
forms the walls around you glows faintly. Strange, vibrantly
colored mosses and fungi carpet the floors and walls,
though living quarters and common areas you pass through
are scoured clean. Slaves and their cyclops overseers walk
the halls, and you begin to see a wider variety of fey as you
move closer to the heart of Cachlain’s holdings.

1. Foyer
The only room connecting public passageways and
Cachlain’s throne room, this room also contains a
secret door that leads to a set of stairs connected to a
hidden prison (area 6).
Perception Check
When PCs are in this room, compare their passive
Perception checks to the DC below.
DC 25: You catch a faint light shining through the deep
purple crystal of the eastern wall of this room. It outlines
what is almost certainly a secret door.

"Wait here," the cyclops guide says.

He heads off to let Cachlain know that Inzira's representatives have arrived.

---

*GM note: not going to plug any holes for the module writers.  PCs can't find Sangwyr by any means.  Because plot.
This message was last edited by the player at 07:25, Fri 15 Jan 2016.

"Purple walls.  Nice."
This message was last edited by the GM at 07:26, Fri 15 Jan 2016.

  Kyle wonders if they will be attacked in the five minutes it takes for the cyclops to get back.  "We'll have to keep this spot in mind, though I wonder if we will have the time for it."  Haha thievery=detect doors.

Once the cyclops is out of sight, May emulates the Cyclops' walking by waddling like a gorilla. Then goes back to normal and says, "You know? By the time we have a mobile headquarters, it's going to have influences from so many places that nobody will be physically capable of calling it boring."

Timothius squats down to examine the moss and some of the glowing purple crystal. "It's so beautiful. Just like everywhere in the feywild so far. I wonder if we'll be able to take this stuff back home..."

"Your FACE is beautiful." May says out of nowhere.

Timothius blushes.

Raichel chuckled from May's gorilla walk and then says, "We'll ask at some point if we can take some souvenirs home."

audience
wiTh The King
encounter Level 13 (4,200 XP)
Setup
The PCs are taken before the king, in the company
of several cyclops bodyguards, when they first arrive.
Cachlain is accompanied by his advisor, Sovacles,
and they begin to question the PCs about why they’ve
come and how they attained the Seed of Winter.

A massive throne of purple crystal stands on the far side
of this room. Cachlain sits there, looking you over with his
grotesque eyes. Like other fomorians, his body is deformed,
and his skin purple and covered in warts. Plates of stone are
bonded to his flesh. They look almost like armor and are
carved with elaborate designs.
Next to the throne is a smaller seat, and when you enter,
a human rises from it. He’s a slight, bald man, and carries
a staff of office. His eyes dart among you as he prepares to
speak.
The unique feature of this room is the floor. Giant panes
of glass—or maybe smooth crystal—form a window that
looks down on an arena far below. Gladiators battle there,
and you catch the king sneaking glances at the fight

http://i.imgur.com/sKs0U6d.jpg?1

Arcana or nature Check
DC 13: You can tell that the plates in Cachlain’s skin are
fragments of a stone golem, and they still retain some of the
golem’s magical essence.

running The challenge
This skill challenge will end in failure as far as the PCs
know. Later in the adventure, influencing Cachlain
here matters. Keep the number of successes and
failures the PCs have accrued a secret—play this
challenge close to the vest.

Audience with the King Level 16
Skill Challenge XP 4,200
The Stone-Skinned king sits upon his tall throne, looking down
on you with disdain. His advisor, Sovacles, steps forward and
asks you, “Why do you come here, and what makes you think
the great king cares what you have to say?”
Though the PCs are supposed to be here negotiating with
the king, it’s a certainty that they won’t succeed.
(Spoilers)
Complexity
3 (requires 8 successes before 3 failures)
Distraction
The gladiatorial battle in the area below distracts the king.
At the start of each round of the skill challenge, roll a d6.
On a 5 or 6, the king isn’t paying attention that round, and
the DC for primary skills is increased by 5.

Insight
DC Tim wins:
The PC tells by Cachlain’s behavior that he doesn’t have his
wits about him, or sees that when Sovacles makes a suggestion
Cachlain is quick to adopt the same line of thinking.

Primary Skills
Acrobatics 13, Athletics 13, Bluff 20, Diplomacy 25, History 20, Intimidate 20.
Other Skills
Arcana 13, Insight 13.

"Well for starters, I'm sure the great king would be interested to know that the ones with whom he speaks could easily shred any group of his gladiators in under a minute."

She shows off the painting.

Cachlain stares in wide-eyed shock, clearly shaken.

"Threats won't work against the great king," Sovacles claims, clearly annoyed.  Bluff 34.

Timothius is able to tell that Sovacles is enraged by the painting.

---

Intimidate success.  1/8.
This message was last edited by the GM at 06:47, Sat 16 Jan 2016.

Timothius looks over to Sovacles and says, "It was not a threat, but a fact. We don't need to waste our time with threats; we simply defeat our enemies. I'm sure my lovely sister was pointing this out to impress Cachlain, because the king clearly admires combat prowess. Now then, you asked why we came here. The answer is we were asked nicely by Inzira, who wants a temporary alliance with Cachlain in order to stamp out Sangwyr. What makes us think the king cares what we have to say, my sister already answered; We have crushed a dragon exarch without much trouble. No matter what you may think of our truthfulness, you know for a fact Chillreaver had the seed. Now we do. And not one of us is afraid to stand here."

May says, "Besides. Look what I can do!" She stands on her hands, then lets go with one hand so she is single-hand standing. Then does one-arm handstand pushups.*

Raichel then flies to stand on May's foot and remains perfectly balanced while May keeps doing the one-arm handstand pushups. "Weee..."

---

Timsight: 40
Timplomacy: 30
May: Auto-succeed on Athletics
Rai: Auto-succeed on Acrobatics

*Go to 1:26 on this vid: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RK5n-X-Jlbk

  "Chillreaver of course, despite having possession of the Seed Of Winter at the time, failed to actually use it in that fight.  He foolishly left it behind in the next room, entirely unguarded."

  Well, that's the good check.  Now all he has to do is not say anything tactless-

  "If you are willing to explain, why did you give it to Chillreaver?  I can only imagine unpleasant political circumstances forced your hand, or similar" damnit Kyle.

OOC: Success on history.

"I was holding his icy lair together," the Seed objects, "So of course he didn't unseat me from my housing."  (( Ignore if team wanted Seed stuffed in a bag of holding ))

Cachlain hrms.  "Inzira hates Sangwyr enough to make an alliance with me?"

Sovacles, anger rising, counters, "Sounds to me like she's already allied with Sangwyr and is trying to lure you into a trap."

"Of course!  I should have known!"

Cachlain smiles at May and Rai's antics.  "Incredible!  I've never seen such effortless feats of strength and agility!"

Sovacles face-palms.  "Nothing a pair of trained monkeys couldn't do."

"Oh.  Right."

Cachlain stares blankly at Kyle.  "Why...  Why..."

Sovacles reminds, "Chillreaver made a military pact with you in exchange for borrowing the Seed.  The exarch of a powerful deity of wealth is an advantageous ally indeed."

"Yeah.  But now he's dead!  I want my Seed back!"

Sovacles points out, "Paintings can be forged.  Magic items can be faked.  They claim to have the Seed, but I'm not so quick to trust them."

Cachlain grumbles.  "Still want it back."

Mits giggles at May and Rai's antics.  "Your FACE looks at what you can do!"

---

successes: 5/8 failures: 1/3

Timothius says, "Do you see any fear in us? If what we said was untrue, then we would be shaking in our boots by now from Sovacles' claims." He gives Sovacles a look that Sovacles can FEEL. "Watch your tongue, Sovacles; do not belittle my sisters or my friends, or you will find out first hand what we did to cause a dragon exarch to drop his jaw in terror."

Raichel says, "Can a monkey be trained to do this?" she proceeds to do a staff form with beautiful precision. "Hint: The answer is no."

May says, "And by the way, what we did earlier? I'd like to know when and where You OR Sovacles ever saw monkeys do that. It is not something trained monkeys could do. Raichel here is twice my size, plus the number of weapons I'm wearing weighs quite a bit. Plus... I'm relatively sure a monkey wouldn't be doing pushups with one arm while standing on it. But speaking of things Monkeys can't do;" she goes to pick up Mittens with one arm and then pick up Raichel with the other arm. "Monkey's can't carry one person in each arm, much less make it look easy."

---

Timtimidate: CRIT(33)!
May: Auto-succeed on Athletics
Rai: Auto-succeed on Acrobatics

successes: 8/8 failures: 1/3

  "Sovacles, I wasn't aware the Seed Of Winter was some petty bauble so easily copied. Do you know where I might find a working copy of the Arrow Of Fate then?   Of course, speaking of petty baubles, I suppose an endless keg of Dwarven Ale would fall under such things.  Alas, I fear any sudden drops would make how to make one slip my mind."

"ACK!"  Cachlain jumps to hide behind his throne!

Sovacles looks positively livid and is giving Timothius a death glare.  Kyle didn't improve his mood any.

Cachlain looks relieved and is super impressed with the girls' antics.  "Awesome!"

He claps like an entertained todler.

"Enough!" Sovacles shouts, "Is this how representatives of Inzira behave?!  I think not!  Begone!

"Guards!  Take the Great King to safety!"

Cachlain is escorted out, Sovacles leaving with him.  A few sweatdroping cyclops guards remain to see the heroes out of the throne room.

"So uh... does that mean they go to the banquet?  Or..."

"He said begone.  So um...  we take them out of throne room.  Then we done our job."

"Yeah.  Sounds good."

Mits skews her lips.  "So has Sovacles and Cachlain always been like this?"

The cyclops shrug.  "Ever since we were assigned here, they've been like that."

Timothius nods to the guards. "Lead the way." and follows them out of the throne room before saying to his team, "Sovacles is influencing Cachlain. Probably with some minor mind-control or some kind of charm magics. Just enough to allow Cachlain to seem to act freely. I didn't say anything while we were in there, but this Sovacles is very likely an agent of Sangwyr."

Raichel ohs. "Well... I would say 'that explains his rude behavior', but honestly I expected that regardless."

Timothius leans on Mittens some. "....I didn't mean to scare Cachlain... I was just trying to set Sovacles straight. Seems he reacts to intimidation with anger. I was hoping he would either back down or open up combat with us then and there. The fact he did neither tells me he couldn't afford open combat with us just yet."

May says, "So now what?"

Raichel says, "Well now that we were ejected from the throne room, maybe we poke around and look for some answers."

May nods. "Sounds like a good idea."

  "Likely does not take much to do the job of controlling Cachlain, no wonder he's preferable to Inzira over the one actually capable of plotting, regardless of intentions."

  He considers some options for other obvious problems, and says "I am uncertain if I can think of something that would completely negate the issue, but I doubt any one of us would be surprised if that glass display floor opens up.  At the very least, the harm from falling can be prepared against readily enough."

  They probably wouldn't get away with standing in the safer looking corners of the room talking to the king.

  "Still, for the immediate future, A ring named after banquets is in order."

"You're probably right.  So let's wait for Kyle to make us some magic items before moving on.  Thanks, Kyle!"

She thinks back to the encounter.  "At least now we know why Cachlain would give away the Seed.  He was mind-controlled to.  I think Timo is right that the mind control is limited.  Even looked like Cachlain might have been on the verge of snapping out of it.  Could be another reason for Sovacles to eject us.  We need some evidence that he's a traitor."

She turns to the Cyclops guards.  "What banquet?"

One motions to the double doors to the east.  "There's some banquet going on for our other visitors.  The king's cousin, some slave trader, a dwarf from your world, and...  that other guy.  What was he here for?"

"How could you forget all the nagging?  Border dispute."

Timothius head-nudges. "Then let's go that way. We may not have been invited, but I'm curious enough to check it out."

Raichel nods. "After Kyle's done."

May shrugs. "Unless Kyle can make those on the way to the room and while we find out what's going on?"

 "Banquet ring only needs one, so I can pull that off. I'd prefer some time before the obvious trap door issue."

Banquet Hall
An enormous table fills the center of this room. It’s
made from an enormous, ancient tree split in half,
and a few twigs still grow from it. The table is ringed
with chairs, some sized for Large creatures and others
for Medium creatures.

Seated at the table are a fomorian king, a tiefling woman, a satyr man, three githyanki, and Bram Ironfell!  http://a2irongods.net/wiki/ima.../31/BramIronfell.jpg

Bram ironfell: the PCs met him in “The Lost Mines of Karak”

Everyone looks at the heroes as they enter.  Mits blinks in surprise.  "Ironfell?!  What on earth are you doing here?!"

Bram looks a little ruffled.  "I could ask the same of you."

  "Business as usual, Ironfell.  I do wish those mines were not cleared out long before you asked us to check them for you, for what it is worth." As much because they were being used for some nonspecific enemy funding.

  Kyle grants everyone in the room immunity to ingested shenanigans.

Timothius says, "That's the second time we bumped into a familiar face in the course of our duties..." He looks at the group. "We are the heroes of the Elsir Vale. I'm Timothius, these are my sisters Mittens and Raichel, this is Kyle and May." he introduces as he says their names. "For the time being, we are here because Inzira asked us nicely for a favor that aligns with what we want to do anyway."

May looks up at Kyle. "Might wanna extend our courtesy immunity to the guests here too, if possible..." May discovers her relation to failgator and remains quiet.

Raichel smiles at Ironfell and says, "Alrighty, Mister Ironfell. Timothius answered you first, so kindly answer us now?"

Mittens wouldn't have been so generous to complete strangers (and guy she never trusted) in the Feydark, but whatevs.  She doesn't object.

Bram looks harried and fearful.  Avoiding eye contact, he clears his throat and answers, "I'm serving as an ambassador on behalf of the githyanki."

Mits gawks.  "WHAT?!  You're working for the army that invaded your hometown?!  The one you promised the proceeds from the mine would be used against?!  Never trusted you!"

His githyanki bodyguards are stoic and make no comment.

"No shouting, please," the tiefling requests, annoyed.

The bored fomorian snickers.  "Nah.  Do please carry on.  This is the most fun I've had in weeks.  Have some seats, Heroes of the Elsir Vale."

  "See Mittens, this is what happens when I am not cynical all the time.  Clearly I have been letting myself slip"  All this hugs and friendship stuff must be getting to you.

  "Still, this is the first I've heard of any ambassadorial outreach. How has the job been treating you then, Ironfell?  Any retirement options, or merely more words before they do the usual to you as well?"

Timothius puts a hand on Mitts' shoulder to try to calm her down. "There has to be more to the story..."

Raichel seems surprisingly calm, considering how she tended to react to traitors before. It is because she believes what Timothius said, and last time Rai was upset it turned out there wasn't anything to be upset about.

She's trying not to waste her hate until it's needed.

May says to the fomorian, "Sorry, sir, she said please. We only ever get politeness of that magnitude from our dearest friends, so I am forced to acquiesce to her request. But you said please also... hmm... If you're bored, Timothius plays a mean game of Three Dragon Ante."

Timothius glances at May and rubs behind his head. "...thanks, May, but I can honestly say I'm not up for a game right now... why don't you show him your weapons?" ZOOP! May is suddenly next to the fomorian and begins showing off her arsenal to him.

Timothius then looks at Kyle. "While it has its place, Cynicism is over-rated. I'd rather be happy and unpleasantly surprised than to not be happy ever."

Timothius walks over to take a seat near Ironfell. Everyone he passes can feel peace washing over them and once he sits, all the githyanki can feel peace remaining.

Raichel walked alongside Tim and when he sits in the rather large seat, she sits next to him in the same oversized chair.

Timothius looks at Ironfell. "If this is about survival, at least know Kyle is right; when they are done with you, they will kill you. They might not even wait that long. Now that said, please... explain your position."

Droeth shrugs at May's statement and frowns, impressed with her collection.  All of the guests look uncomfortable with Timothius' aura.

Mits hrms and takes a seat.  "Sarshan was working for the githyanki and said stuff about 'your world will burn' etc.  That might be considered ambassadorial outreach maybe?  But githyanki brazenly playing both sides of the Cachlain / Sangwyr conflict comes as no surprise."

Bram is getting increasingly nervous.  He clears his throat again, still avoiding eye contact.

"Survival.  Yeah.  I'm surprised at your successfully fighting off the githyanki and their allies thus far.  Nothing short of a miracle that you're all still alive.  I've seen what they do to their enemies.  They're merciless.  Leaving nothing behind in the realms they conquer.  After sacking the entire land and destroying everything they find, they leave nothing but a barren wasteland."

He has the look of one who's horrified to recount what he's seen.  The githyanki remain stoic, not reacting to Bram.  Cyclops waitresses arrive and serve food and drink.

Perception Check
DC 25: You detect an odd, sweet scent in the food and
wine.

A PC who succeeds on the Perception check (or is told
about the strange scent) can make a Nature or Thiev
ery check.
DC 20: On closer inspection, you can tell the scent is
typical of alchemical elixirs that cause sleep.

"Sleep poison in the wine," Mits warns before it even hits the table.  She takes a sip then raises her glass in toast to Kyle.  "Good flavor, though.  Thank you, Kyle cynicism."

The waitresses are embarrassed, bow, and hurry away.  Droeth busts out laughing.  The other guests look much less amused.

"What's the meaning of this?!" the satyr demands, jumping out of his seat.

The tiefling is eyeing her glass, silent.  The githyanki glare at Droeth, but say nothing.

  "A toast, to predictability, and fine choice in drugs.  They had the courtesy to select one that will not ruin the taste of the wine."  Drinking on the job isn't very professional, but then spite wins over as he downs half his glass.

  "Though I wouldn't try drinking it in ten minutes, but for now I felt the other guests deserved the same protection.  I wonder if the meal will still be served after the ambush?"

Timothius gives Ironfell a sad smile and says, "You underestimate us, Ironfell. We make our own miracles these days. When we defeated the exarch Chillreaver, we were able to take him alive and shame him throughout the streets of Nefelus. A fate worse than death comes to our enemies who refuse to surrender; and that is shame, dishonor, and then death at the hands of some lawkeeper rather than at the hands of a worthy warrior. Even now, Telicanthus' soul gets to live forever in a bauble that the githzerai he sought to defame get to keep. The githyanki destroy, but we make our enemies wish we had destroyed them."

He drinks his tea. "It's safe, everyone. Kyle gave everyone in the room immunity to poisons. You may drink freely if you wish, but I won't blame you if you don't."

May says, "Whoever comes into the room seeking to ambush us, they clearly meant to drug you also. When they come, feel free to either help us fight them, or take cover if you prefer not to fight. Timothius is a healer and can keep you alive... and even bring you back to life mid-combat if need be."

Raichel sips the tea. "Well I'm ready for a fight." she gets to her feet and grips her staff. Winds swirl from the corners of the room and coalesce at Raichel as lightning dances across her. "Feel free to watch, Ironfell. First hand witness."
This message was last edited by the GM at 06:24, Tue 19 Jan 2016.

Mits grins proudly and shows off the picture of dead Chillreaver.  "Chillreaver Stomping Day is a now a national holiday in Nefelus."

The githyanki look surprisingly nervous and glance to Droeth.  Ironfell's jaw drops and he stares in disbelief.  The other two guests look confused.

"Ambush?  What ambush?" the satyr asks.

Droeth rubs his chin.  "So the plan was to simply put the guests to sleep, kidnap them, and hold them ransom.  No fuss, no muss.  Sangwyr figured it would be a blow to Cachlain whether he paid up or not.  But I didn't count on dragon slayers showing up with magical poison resist stuff."

The nervous satyr starts edging toward the door and Droeth shakes a finger at him.  The githyanki jump up and block off the exits.  They shed their disguises.  They were rakshasa!  Bram is shocked!

Droeth stands up.  "Let's not be hasty.  I'm sure we can work out a deal here."

He looks to Timothius.  "You seem to be interested in this dwarf guy.  You take him, we take the other two, nobody has to get hurt.  Deal?"

  "Or you could just walk away entirely.  It would be poor form to let the other guests be kidnapped, and I'm sorry to say they probably matter more at this point.  Regardless of our past dealings with Ironfell."

  He checks his crossbow,  "Of course, seeing how this is the least impressive premeditated attack I have seen in quite some time?  His odds of immediate survival are looking quite reasonable."  Whether or not the Module really cares about him past this encounter is another matter, but hey, thought that counts right?

  The biggest shocker is that the fact the Gith were really Rakashas in fact, makes their fight easier.  Because these are the Rhakashas that slept in on 'hand out BS vs will powers' day.

Timothius looks around and sighs, then stands up and grips his staff. "I don't know who these people are, so I can not in good conscious allow such. But I do have a counter-offer: When you see how seriously we were not bluffing about how powerful we are, you surrender and we will both spare your life *and* not make you wish you were dead. But you will be our prisoners."

Raichel doesn't say anything, but gets in a ready stance with a stern expression.

May smiles and says, "Heh. You have me at a disadvantage... you have seen some of my arsenal. But you know what they say; it's not the weapon that makes the warrior..."

Raichel says, "Then it begins! Submit!" Lightning shoots all throuout the room, zapping all the enemies present. One of the rakshassa blocking the satyr gets hurt especially bad!

---

Furious Bolts v R1, Oni, R3, R2. Hit(32)! Hit(27)! CRIT(40)! Hit(33)!
 dmg to R1: 33
 dmg to Oni and R2: 26
 dmg to R3: 52
Minor: Blood Fury weapon
Free: Drop weapon
Minor: Razorclaw shifting

R1 HP: 142 - 33 = 109
R2 HP: 142 - 26 = 116
R3 HP: 142 - 52 = 90
Oni HP: 142 - 26 = 116

"You have 10 seconds to comply!" WHACK! "10.. 9..."

---

Weapon Mayster's Strike v Oni. Hit(26)!
 dmg: 17

Oni HP: 117 - 17 = 99

"We have no quarrel with you!" one of the rakshasa screams!

He knocks out the fleeing satyr and starts carrying him to the stairs to the north.

  Kyle sidelines his initial plans against the Oni, and nails the kidnapping Rakshasa in the face with the by now familiar bright purple glowing tanglefoot bag.  We'd love to blame his skill as an alchemist, but really it's targeting keywords that keeps any of it from getting onto the Satyr.

  He summons the dancing weapon to miss terribly twice guard over the Satyr, as he blast the enemy across the room to stick upsidedown against the wall with a forceful crossbow shot. "I'll spare you the quarrel related jokes" because crossbow, haha "But you really were not paying attention if you thought we'd let you run after trying to kidnap people anyways"

Rakshasa 2 HP: 116-27=89
Effects: Rakshasa prone.   Also Immobilized (until end of my next turn),
Rakshasa 2 is glowing bright purple (duration LOL), have fun hiding with shapeshifting now asshole.
AFTEREFFECT; Slowed until end of it's next turn.

Dancing weapon: +23 Vs. AC; 1d10+10 (allowed my assorted bonuses). CAN MAKE AoO ATTACKS.

The rakshasa just groans in reply.

RUMBLE!  Something like the sound of a land-shark breaking through crystal flooring booms from around the northern passage!

"Dear gods you all hit like titans!" the Oni complains, "You gotta understand!  We can't go back empty handed or we're dead men!"

Mits hops up on the table and points an accusing finger.  A magical target appears over the oni.

"Simple solution: Don't go back at all!  Eyebeams!"

She blasts the oni and the northern rakshasa with eyebeams!  Her tail-beam misses the one to the south, unfortunately.

"OW!"

"Still no surrender?  54321lasers!"

She fires a DBZ style rapid-fire attack against the enemies and the oni passes out!  The rakshasa shriek and flee to the north toward the source of the rumble sound!

Timothius walks on the table to the center of the room and says, "Let them come to us. We stay in this room." He grips his staff with both hands and an updraft causes his hair to fwoof a bit as the entire room begins to glisten and resemble the astral sea. Everything is cleaner, clearer, brighter, and more vibrant.

---

Move: To center of table.
Standard: Holy Ground
 Effect: Makes a zone for encounter. +2 attacks, defenses and saves while in zone.

Raichel shoots a corkscrew of white lightning bolts at the rakshassa and it turns the bend, downing the fleeing one. "FLEEING IS NOT SURRENDER! Geeez! How many times do we have to say that to our enemies?!"

She moves to be right next to Ironfell. "You aren't leaving, Ironfell. But at least now you see what the heroes can do."

---

Lightning Strike v R3. Hit(39)!
 dmg: 41-6(to be applied to other guy)=35
 dmg to other guy: 16+6=22

R3 HP: 31 - 35 = KO
R1 HP: 22 - 22 = KO

"Powerful adventurers!" the rakshasa had warned, "Dragonslayers!  We gotta get outta here!"

"Craven worm," the dryder answered, disgusted, "Get back in th"ZOT!!

The drow underlings gulp.

"Eee!" one of the firebats squees.

It swoops into the room and charges Raichel!

May charges the bat and expertly hops around it to flank with Raichel before WHACKING it good in its batty back! She yells up the stairs, "Hurry on over to get your butts kicked! We're already done with the poison guys! Can't you at least show up on time for your humiliation?!"

---

Move: To bat
Minor: Shift into position
Standard: Weapon Mayster's Strike v Bat1. Hit(42)!
 dmg: 21

144 - 21 = 123

The last conscious rakshasa blinks in awe at Timothius' power.

"So um...  I'll take that 'be your prisoner' offer you mentioned earlier."

  Kyle finally toughens up May (you know, now that we are on all of his second turn), as the dancing weapon floats over beside May, and he introduces the first Drow to show itself to the joys of getting his shin stapled to the stonework with a crossbow bolt.

  Somewhere, Sehanine can't decide if she momentarily doesn't hate crossbows.

Oh the sweet irony!  Crossbow being used against Lolth's little spiders!

"For the boss!"

Several more charge May, but they all fail to get past her impressive defenses!  The drider shows up and spits a web at May!  Nope!

"Curses!  Bulette!  Attack!"

Mits tip-toes across the table without breaking anything, hops off, and passes the fire bat.  After a cascade of reactions that result in the bat being worse off than Mits, sunshine kitty wiggles her fingers at the enemy.

"Astral diamond attack!"

Diamond dust falls on the enemy and makes them sneeze themselves into unconsciousness!

"Ingredients: imitation astral diamond dust."

"Eee!"  Another fire bat enters and charges May!

"Roar!"  A scarred bulette also charges!

Timothius looks to the "surrendering" rakshassa and smiles. "Wise choice." then turns a concerned look to the drider. "Oh... a drider. You do know that process can be reversed, right?"

He turns to look at the bulette and waves a hand at the bulette. He walks over and bursts with holy energy before causing chains to come up and bind the bat and drider.

---

ACTION POINT! +4 to non-damaging attacks
Standard: Pacify v Bulette. Hit(43)!
Move: To May/Mitts/DancingWeapon area
Minor: Solar Enemy
Standard: Chains of Blazing Light v Bulette, Bat2, Drider. Critfail(27), Hit(41)! Hit(33)!

Bram slips out from hiding.  "You all are so inspiring!"

He charges a fire bat and slices it with his dagger!

Raichel feels... REAL good. Somehow, a dwarf going from "scared witless to the point of joining his enemy" to "you are so inspiring!" and charging the enemy just made Raichel feel like this hard work is paying off in more ways than just keeping people from dying. They can inspire people to be something more.

Empowered by Ironfell's words, Raichel gets an idea and says, "Bunching 'em up."

She transforms into a lightning bolt and charges (pun intended) through the enemies! Raichel materializes next to the drider. "You can't hide." WHAM! shadow-kick to the belly and the drider gets pulled into a vortex that lands him amidst his allies and Raichel teleports to block his path back. "But you can surrender."

---

Spark Form v Bat1,2,Bulette,Drider. Hit(35)! Hit(33)! Hit(29)! Miss(23) <-three Hit(39)!
 base dmg: 29
ACTION POINT! 6 dmg to 3 enemies within 5 of me (all but bat1)
Step Between Worlds v Drider. Hit(29)!
 dmg: 40
Move: To block drider's escape

Bat1 HP: 98 - 34 = 64
Bat2 HP: 144 - 44 - 6 = 94
Bulette HP: 304 - 34 - 6 = 264
Drider HP: 142 - 49 - 6 - 40 = 47

"EEEEE!" the bat figures it best attack May in addition to the others. However, it doesn't know May attacks anything that moves. WHACK! "Eeeee..." the bat says dizzily and somewhat depressed.

All it wanted to do was share its fire with people. ;.;

---

Fiery Swoop v Ma-
May-o-O! Hit(46)!
 dmg: 28

Looking at the bats, I feel sorry for them. They don't have much of an attack since it is a status effect. And May is already suffering said effect, so...

Bat1 HP: 64 - 28 = 36

May says, "2... 1... We'll keep you safe, rakshassa who surrendered! And no humiliation in the future!"

With a thunderous whirl of her carrikal, May swings wide, hitting every enemy, and seems to even hit the drider during the first swing! In the process, she hooks onto the bat behind her and tosses it to be in front of her. "EEE!" The second swing, which uses May's shield - the tortoise blade - hits the ones in front of her. Lots of whacks and thuds can be heard.

---

May takes 4 fire damage (10 - resist 6 ongoing)
Minor: May takes 10 damage to auto-save from the ongoing.
Standard: Lunging Dervish v Bat1,2,Bulette,Drider. Hit(30)! Hit(37)! Hit(29)! Hit(29)!
 base dmg: 15
 Secondary attack v burst1: CRIT(44)! Hit(29)! Miss(26)
  base dmg: 12
  crit dmg: +20

Bat1 HP: 36 - 24 = 12
Bat2 HP: 94 - 20 - 17 = 57
Bulette HP: 264 - 20 - 37 = 207
Drider HP: 47 - 29 = 18

  "Thanks, Raichel."  He pitches orange clove scented pacification dust into the conveniently crowded enemies, though the most injured bat flaps wildly enough to keep it off themselves.

  The Dancing weapon shift floats over one of the bats and in front of the Drider.  "Morningstar!" "What, that's clearly a sworaaaagh!"  The dancing weapon smashes the Drider chin first into the stairs by way of bashing it's Morningtar themed pommel onto his skull.

OOC:  OOC results:
Drider KO.
Bulette and Bat 2: Pacification dust.
NO STANDARDS (aftereffect, slowed).
This message was last edited by the player at 23:25, Wed 20 Jan 2016.

Mits slams her staff on the ground, striking up sparks that ignite all the astral dust!  One of the bats passes out!

"I've always wondered what it would be like to be an explosion.  Let's find out."

She pulls on one of her pigtails, turning it into a fuse.  She snaps her fingers to light the fuse.

"EEE!"

The other bat tries to flee, but gets knocked out by May.  The bulette also tries to flee the Mittens bomb but gets knocked down by May!

"Roar."

It stands back up, raspberries the drider - it's former master, and dives into the stairs, disappearing below ground, leaving only a heap of rubble in its wake, never to return.

Mits' fuse fizzles out.  "Aww.  Didn't get to use the second part of my new spell.  Amazing new moves there, May!"
This message was last edited by the GM at 03:26, Thu 21 Jan 2016.

Timothius looks down at the rubble, gets a sad smile, and waves a hand. The astral appearance of the room fades back to its original state. Which is rather beautiful, still. "Well at least that poor, tortured animal gets to go free." Timothius looks over at Mittens. "I take it you like that Holy Ground power I was recently gifted."

May begins binding the drider. "Hmm... this one's a little confusing, but after binding half a dozen dragons and an exarch with two heads, you'd think I have this whole binding thing down."

Raichel says, "All of these guys work for Sangwyr. The drow among them thought themselves super competent, so hopefully they know at least a sliver of info on Sangwyr. But with them taken care of, we can let Cachlain know we have some servants of Sangwyr captured now."

May puts on a mock-tone of Sovacles and says, "See? They are in league with Sangwyr and trying to frame our guests!"

May then returns to her normal voice and says, "At this point, I'd say let's just beat the tar out of Sovacles and if Cachlain decides to join the fight, we beat the tar out of him. Then we crush Sovacles' balls until he caves and confesses. Then we proceed with what we were here for in the first place."

Raichel says, "We can still be civil, May. They'll attack us soon enough anyway."

Timothius nods. "May's point, though, is good in so far as us fighting on our own terms."

Rai asides to Ironfell. "Nice to have you back on our side, Ironfell. Don't lose heart. You are on the winning side now."
This message was last edited by the GM at 03:41, Thu 21 Jan 2016.

  The Fact Ironfell took a swing at enemies at all, let alone hit, means he's done more on screen than 99% of the Coalition against the Githyaki.  Not bad for somebody the module probably only thought far enough ahead for as a cameo victim.

  "That would be ridiculous, May."  See, common sense- "He would need to have any balls to begin with" ...Well, still common sense, in a sad way.

  "Now that we have a little time, I can at least prepare those elixirs for the occasion."  Elixer's of flight, order now and we'll throw in a 6th one for 99.99!

Mits smiles and nod-nods to Timo.  "Talk about epic looking!"

Regarding pre-emptive strikes, she shrugs.  "Thank you, Kyle.  Now that's what I call fighting on our terms."

For Ironfell she has a stern look, pointing to her eyes, then pointing at him.

Bram’S faTe
After the fight, the PCs need to decide what happens
to Bram (if they didn’t already kill him). The githyanki
are finished with his services, the Coalition won’t
welcome him back, and Cachlain doesn’t want him
around if he’s not a useful diplomat. If he’s set loose
on his own, the githyanki probably kill him, and if
he’s taken back to the world, the Coalition might
execute him for treason. The future’s not bright for
Bram Ironfell.

Bram smiles sadly to Raichel.  "Maybe so, but I seriously doubt that I'll be shown any leniency.  I'll likely be executed for helping the githyanki.  Still not entirely clear on why I wasn't just killed.  Not like they really needed me.  Well I'll tell you what I've learned at least.  There's a chance I may have found out something you haven't.

 Vlaakith, the Lich Queen, who once led the
githyanki, has been slain. They’re now lead by
Emperor Zetch’r’r, who seeks to bring war and
conquest across the planes."

Mits raises an eyebrow.  "That is news to me.  Presumably her phylactery was destroyed?  Liches just keep coming back if they aren't."

Bram looks confused.  "I wouldn't know anything about that.  No githyanki mentioned anything about the nitty gritty of how to destroy a lich."

Raichel says, "With information that useful, maybe we can pass you off as more of a double-agent than turncoat. Though obviously now you can't return to the githyanki."

Timothius says, "A recommendation from us will go a long way. But the only leniency I can guarantee is your life being spared. Sayre's laws forbid them to execute their criminals, for starters."

Tim looks over to Kyle and smiles, "Yes please! I've never flown on my own before..."

Raichel says, "It's fun."

May says, "I will gladly take one, Kyle, thanks."

Timothius says, "Oh... and yeah. When it comes to monsters and villains and such... Mittens knows it all. Could even be the lich queen is still alive and this Zetch'r'r guy doesn't yet know he's gonna get a knife to the back. But eh... I doubt it."

Raichel says, "In their kind of culture, I would be surprised if any of their leaders ever died of old age."

May looks up at Mittens with a cheerful smile. "Thanks to Ironfell, we've got all kinds of time to think up annoying pet-names for this Zetch'r'r guy!"

  "Talk politely for the Githyaki or get killed, unless you were obvious in deliberately seeking them out you may be able to point out how little you did in exchange for your life."  Honestly it sounds like the Gith just grabbed the closest named NPC they could find for the job.

  Bram was never really all that tactful to begin with.  Then again, even Kyle would be a master diplomat by comparison to the average Githyanki.  Even... uh, what was his name?  Tea sip mc souljarred's name probably wasn't that important anyways.

  Beverages of fly 4 until end of encounter are handed out to the party.

Mits grins and offers May a high-five!

"'Vlaakith Jr' would probably push his buttons.  But yeah.  Creative names.  Sooo looking forward to that."

Bram bows.  "You are all so very kind to be so understanding.  Right now that's all I have to offer.  I can tell you Sangwyr is a cunning snake.  Constantly changing his tunnels around and his own location to reduce the chance of ever getting found and assassinated.  One rarely gets to see him face to ugly face.  Usually sending stones.  A blessing that.  But what I'm getting at is that his minions here won't know anything useful.  Like how to find him."

"Only indirectly a minion of Sangwyr," the rakshasa says, "Me and my crew are independent contractors.  Our contact was that drider."

"How in the world did you replace my guards?"

"Not too hard.  That sleeping poison can work wonders if timed just right."

"So they're still alive?"

"Nah we killed the guards we replaced."

"Good to hear.  Thanks."

"...your welcome."

"Did you take out the leader?  Arzoa.  The woman githyanki."

"Nope.  Just the three."

"She must be lurking about here somewhere, then."

Timothius says, "In that case, we keep you close, Bram. At least if you are in my sights, I can heal you."

May takes the high-five and says, "Zetchbell. Zit-roar. R'r'zetch. Though if he's a guy, your "Vlaakith Jr" gives me the idea of calling him Lich Queen or Your Highness or such."

Raichel furrows her brow. "Arzoa roams free? Ug. Well I hope she doesn't think her life is worth killing you over, but we've known enemies to die for much less. Like telling us the time of day. Or 'just because'."

May shrugs. "I dunno... Bram looks like he could take a hit or two. Anyways, let's take these prisoners to Cachlain." she looks at the satyr and tiefling. "Willing to be witnesses that we were attacked by people working for Sangwyr and that we bested them?"

Timothius says, "While I'd like to think that people other than us being witnesses would help, it is obvious Sovacles is an agent of Sangwyr, so his reaction would be to suggest that our witnesses are also spies in on the whole thing. Best we just go on our own word and leave them out of this."

He looks at the two. "Of course, you are welcome to come and watch us inevitably get attacked only for us to win if you like." Why is Tim unafraid of taunting Murphy with comments like "we will win, murphy or no"? Because he knows Murphy is scared of the alternative. If the heroes lose, then Murphy will have much fewer innocent people to pick on.

  "I suppose they could always simply keep quiet and give the impression they don't mind kidnapping attempts. Stay off the glass in either case." That would be silly, but many people they have rescued, fought, or simply met in passing make a group of people punching two headed dragons seem reasonable by comparison.

  "Though yes, it appears at the moment Sovacles could tell Cachlain 'They are obvisly lying that the Kobold is Green, she's clearly red!' and they would agree."

Mits laughed at May's names.

"Yeah pretty much," she agrees with Kyle, "So nevermind even bothering telling Cachlain that we kicked the butts of his enemies just yet and instead focus on hunting down Arzoa?"

"The sooner she's dealt with the better," Bram says, "But if you guys need a rest first, I'll understand.  I can show you to the guest room I was given, if you like.  Thanks for offering to protect me.  Hope to make it up to you all."

Mits shrugs.  "Serously doubt I'll need nap time for dealing with one githyanki.  But chances are she'll have backup somehow."

"I'm just going to go home till this all blows over," the satyr says, "Thanks for the rescue."

"What he said," the tiefling agrees.

Timothius nods to the two diplomats and sends them off with a blessing.

May says, "Eh. We haven't even used our most powerful abilities yet. So let's just hunt her down, stomp her, then rest so we can be ambushed while sleeping."

Timothius says, "Yeah. Kyle and I can set up an eye of alarm when and if we decide to sleep. Which I prefer to do before fighting Sovacles if possible, but like May said, we've got most of our more powerful stuff at our disposal, so we should be good even if we aren't allowed sleep."

Raichel says, "Alright then!" She looks at the rakshassa. "Since you're being so nice... care to tell us any hidden doors you might know about before we go looking in all the wrong places?"

May grins at Bram. "I'm so glad Tim wants you sticking with us... when we fight Sovacles, you might get to see us at full power. Mostly because we expect high-profiles like him to be powerful enough to hold nothing back. But I say 'might' because sometimes... we finish such enemies too fast to get the chance to use everything." It's true. Some boss fights where May, Rai and Tim all wound up using only 2 or three dailies total between the three of them. Not that they are complaining.
This message was last edited by the player at 07:24, Thu 21 Jan 2016.

  Considering how large the explosions tend to be, Bram may not be able to tell the difference.  "Hopefully your trip home goes better than your visit." Hmm... They never DID get served any food.  Wawaiwai feels the urge to cast Flare in another setting.

"60% power at most to stomp Sovacles and Cachlain," Mits estimates.

Bram headshakes.  "None that I know of."

"Kyle spotted one earlier," Mits reminds.

(( Referencing this guy: http://vignette2.wikia.nocooki...st?cb=20130624065241 ))

Ambassadors’ Quarters
Visitors to the court stay in these modest rooms. Two
are meant to house Medium creatures, and the northeast room is larger—fit for a Large or Huge visitor.
The doors to the chambers lock and require a DC 20
Thievery check to open.
The middle room is for the PCs, and Cachlain’s
servants bring cots if there are more than four PCs.
It’s not particularly comfortable, but the beds are high
quality, and the room is quiet.
The room to the west houses Bram Ironfell and
his two guards. See the sidebar about Bram Ironfell.
He also makes an appearance in the “Disrupted Banquet” encounter.
Sangwyr’s agents tunnel into these rooms and
begin marauding through the halls.
Tactical encounter: B2. Invasion Tunnel
(page 34).

May says, "Let's get to scoutin'."

After checking out the northern rooms, May comes back and shrugs. "Just a bunch of empty rooms."

  "Surprising, usually there's more."  Look Kyle, the maps can only fit so many ambushes with this few rooms.

"Off to secret door, then."

Mits heads off.  Bram looks hesitant and takes up the rear.

As usual, May takes point and heads down the stairs. She turns invisible and is careful to sneak and scout again.

---

Activate armor's encounter-long encounter power to turn invisible
Stealth: 40
Perc: 34
This message was last edited by the player at 07:57, Thu 21 Jan 2016.

Hidden Prison
Located below the other rooms on this level of the
court, this prison is down a flight of stairs concealed
behind a secret door. The prison contains three cells,
each of which is occupied.

A female cyclops in one.

In one cell sit two eladrin.  A man and a woman.

And in the third is a gnome.

May returns, reappears, and reports. "We should all go down there. Sure it's a prison and I saw nobody there. But at this point, enemies might just pop out of the ground at random just because. Or the prisoners get possessed by a githyanki and attack us as soon as we set them free."

Timothius says, "Sticking together is good, yes."

Assuming everyone agrees, May leads the team downstairs, this time not invisible.

  "Hopefully none of them are sitting on another secret door for said enemies to pop out from."

  He checks his crossbow, "Well, that and that none of them are in a hidden prison for reasons such as 'ate other guests' they want to continue"

As the PCs explore the hidden prison, mysterious
assassins attack them. Make Stealth checks for each
monster and compare the results to the PCs’ passive
Perception checks. If the PCs don’t detect any of the
enemies, the assassins have a surprise round.

If a PC’s passive Perception is higher than a
monster’s Stealth check, read:
You suddenly hear soft footfalls coming from the hall. Whatever’s approaching is clearly trying to conceal its presence.

Mits points.  "Sneaky sneaky!"

"Hiss!   We've been ssspotted!"

Skulking through the shadows comes a creature with a
vaguely humanoid shape. Purple scales cover its body,
and its long tail, tipped with spikes, lashes in the air. It has
humanoid arms and carries a longsword.

What's more, unless there is yet another hidden door or the monsters spawned, May would have warned the team ahead of time anyway, what with her searching the place just seconds ago and rolling a 34 perception.

May uses the confined space to her advantage and begins the combat with Come And Get It! The enemies are forced over to her and she whacks most of them good!

Timothius, of course, gets in close and bursts with holy energy to cause vulnerability before hitting the big bad with Pacify.

Raichel does what she has been doing at the start of every combat now; activate blood fury scythe, go feral via razorclaw shifting, furious bolts* and hits them all!

---

*Rolled out of curiousity. 38, 32, 34. Pretty sure that will hit any and all of the enemies

  Kyle knows what Purplespawns are, so makes them even more purple by shooting Violet Phosphor bolts at them.   One of them tries the whole 'shapeshift so they can't tell!' trick, but it's not really hard to tell the difference between May May, and 'Bright glowing purple' May.

  "I am getting a surprising amount of practical mileage out of novelties." Kyle comments, as he knocks Not May to the floor.

The eladrin look over to the cyclops.  "See?  Agents of Sangwyr!  Adventurers!  Give 'em hell!"

A githyanki clad in heavy, red robes glares determinedly
and brandishes two silver longswords. You catch a glimpse
of chainmail during her rapid, graceful movements.

"Meddling in affairs that do not concern you will be your fatal failure, adventurers," Arzoa threatens.

She forward flips over the frontline and attacks the group from behind!  Woobwoobwoob!  The whole team is blasted with psychic energy!  She then slices Timothius and telekinesis slams Raichel!  Then another slash and slam for Kyle and Mittens!

"Watch out for the tails!" the gnome warns, rattling his bars, "They're poison!  And hit 'em with radiant magic!  It stops their regeneration!  Get me outta here and I can help!"

"Misstress sssshall ssshred you!"

The purplespawn nightmares begin healing their wounds.  The powdered one swings at May but fails to get through her defenses.  The other purple spawn changes itself to look like Raichel!  She then attacks with a flurry of blows that fill Raichel's mind with terrible nightmarish thoughts!

"Allow me to help," the cyclops says.

She closes her eye and meditates, then glares at Raichel, helping reduce the mental pain!

"I'll show you nightmares!" Mits summons a swarm of yellow mongooses that beat up on the enemy with snake-charmer flutes!

She tisks at Arzoa.  "Perhaps you didn't get the memo.  We just got done killing Tiamat's exarch, Chillreaver.  You're in way over your head."

Kazowie!  She flashes with explosive magic power, severely damaging all the enemies and threatening to damage them even more very soon!
This message was last edited by the GM at 04:31, Sat 23 Jan 2016.

Bram flanks purple May with May and ganks it in the back!

"Much as I'd love to get a piece of Arzoa, I'm happy just helping where I can."

Raichel mews a moment, but pushes her fears away immediately with her superior will... that and, "Nice moves!" her love of martial arts. "Lemme show you mine!" with that, she does that teleport thing, whacking the fake Raichel to be next to May and then teleports herself to flank the thing with Timothius.

May nods to Bram and pulls out a glowing sword and SLICE! hits fake May with a mini nuke of radiance and slides it over to a spot where she can still keep it close! "I'm going to enjoy beating the tar out of you when your turn comes up." May slinks over to be in Arzoa's face and lets out a dragon's roar! It isn't come and get it, but it does mark everyone next to her.

Timothius corrects Arzoa with, "Don't pretend like your people making war against my home doesn't concern me. Zetch'r'r making war with everyone will be his downfall as he forces everyone's hand... including us." The snake that turned into Raichel begins to just stare blankly. "And looks like that one is out of the fight." he points at the snakes that look like May and Rai and chains pop up, hindering them. Doesn't matter much for fake Raichel, but it does mean 10 more radiant damage to both snakes. Oh... and thanks to the repositioning that just happened, Arzoa gets hit with it too.

  "Well, it is still closer to sensible than trying to poison us and then yelling 'we have no quarrel with you' when we show them what a foolish idea that was."

  Considering May's commentary, he opts to shoot the fake Raichel to leave that chance.  So... uh... Welp, even the freeform attacks don't quite finish them off. But at least it hit and made their own melee attacks that much worse.

"Those snakes resist psychic attacks," the gnome informs.

"Bram you fool!" Arzoa shouts, "You will pay for telling them githyanki secrets!"

But she and her allies don't last another round.  Badguys are beaten and tied up.

The prisoners cheer!  The gnome rattles his bars some more.  "Fantastic!  Now please get me outta here."

The eladrin nod.  "That would be most appreciated, yes."

Mits nods.  "Appreciate the offered help earlier."

Cells: The prisoners’ cells are locked. Opening the
lock requires a DC 30 Thievery check. The bars can
be bent or destroyed (break DC 28; AC 4, Fortitude
12; hp 120).

Bram searches Arzoa, muttering, "Who's the fool now, idiot?" but he finds nothing of use and sighs.

"If she knows anything important, she likely memorized it and destroyed the letter."

May gets to unlocking doors with Kyle, careful to pay attention to Kyle's technique. When she tries, of course, she pretends her pick is a sword and "stabs" the lock. "Ahhh! You may stab me, but I won't let you unlock me so easily!" she narrates.

Timothius chuckles at May and then looks to Bram. "Most enemies are not used to people like us being any challenge whatsoever and would be impressed we so much as scratched them. But even enemies who know who we are seem to think our stories are exaggerated or that we were very lucky. You get used to it. To be fair, my team and I are very powerful and would think someone arrogant to hurt us, even if they started to manage making some headway. But I think we know our limits enough now that if someone was a serious enough threat, we'd try to escape.... come to think of us, do we even HAVE hasty escape options?" he looks at Kyle.

Since the experts at freeing people from cells are on freeing people, Raichel sits on Arzoa and slaps her several times to wake her. "So save me some time. Are you going to self-destruct and revert to childhood before you don't have a mind left? Or perhaps astrally project? I want to know if you are useful for anything or if I should show you what happens to people we take prisoner."

May, meanwhile, gets frustrated with the lock and RIPS the door off its hinges, tossing it aside for Arzoa to see. She asks the cyclops, "High... err... low five? Thanks for the help." she offers a high-five with tippy-toe.
This message was last edited by the GM at 06:05, Sat 23 Jan 2016.

  "Unfortunately, I don't recall offhand anything that would let us escape in a hurry if things went that bad." Honestly, more results for preventing escapes (you know, when it's not a handwave free action NPC exit).

  Kyle approves of May's unlocking technique, because it works and hey, not like it's a door they should care about.
This message was last edited by the player at 06:25, Sat 23 Jan 2016.

The cyclops sweatdrops and accepts the high five.

"Thank you, powerful adventurers."

The gnome jumps for joy when released.  "You guys are the best.  And gals.  Lovely ladies!  I'll be gettin' outta your way, then.  Maybe someday repay this kindness!"

He hurries for the exit.

The eladrin bow and introduce themselves as followers of Inzira named Elletraius (male) and Serennel (female).  "Sovacles and the king jailed us shortly after we arrived two weeks ago, seeking an audience so we could propose an alliance.  This cyclops is Talyrin, the adviser whom Sovacles replaced and falsely imprisoned."

Arzoa wakes.

Arzoa’s Secrets Level 18
Skill Challenge XP 2,000
As you attempt to interrogate Arzoa, you catch a flash of
psychic power. She whispers, “You’ ll get nothing from me. My
mind slips away even as I speak. Failure is unacceptable.”
The PCs have only a short time to interrogate Arzoa before
her mind is gone.

Mind Degeneration
After every two skill checks the PCs attempt, Arzoa’s
mental faculties deteriorate, giving the PCs an automatic
failure.

Primary Skills
Diplomacy 20, Intimidate 20.
Other Skills
Heal 20, Insight 13.

Insight
DC Tim wins. (no successes)
Timothius realizes that Diplomacy works best early in the challenge,
and Intimidate gets better later on.

"Looks like that would be the former, sis."

She shows off her painting of Chillreaver.

"Yes.  We are that strong."

“You fight well. Chillreaver . . . perhaps not such a failure.”

Timothius goes to Arzoa, looks genuinely sad and says, "It is a shame you are programmed to throw your life away so quickly when your words could very well save many of your kind or help what you believe in. It is clear your people have tried to convince you to take the coward's way out and you are only acting on instinct from your training. But before you slip away, perhaps you can show me your way of thinking and open up to me. Don't let the name Arzoa slip into nothing and then nobody knows your name ever again. I promise; you give us something useful and I will help maintain your name."

May reaches for the gnome. "Hold on a sec! Can't you at least tell us who you are and why you're here? At least stick with us so we can make the way safer for you!"

Raichel doesn't care if a gnome decides to run off. Especially after hearing about wrongful imprisonment. She fills in the eladrin and cyclops about the fact Sovacles is obviously manipulating the king and probably even using magic to do so.

She then looks over to Arzoa. "If you don't provide useful information... well let's just say one of our enemies is now a soul trapped in a globe to be taunted by githzerai forever. Your mind may forget, but your soul won't."

---

Timpomacy: CRIT! 41
Rai Intimidate: CRIT! 33

  "We do have that ritual on hand, yes.  However, throwing your mind away for the sake of those who would not appreciate such a sacrifice is already worse.  You just tried to kill us, but we still have more concern for your welfare than your masters."  Hardly befitting any proper employer...  And also the whole planar wars and enslavement thing is bad too, but you know how Kyle can get about these things.

  OOC: Arcane mutterings to Auto the Diplo

“Bram is not strong. Not strong like githyanki.”
“Cachlain will fall. Too much resistance . . .”
“I follow githyanki ways . . . now the dragons’ ways.”

"The dragon.  You mean the githyanki are on this warpath because Tiamat told them to?"

"Too late.  Mind slipping."

Arzoa dies.  The gnome is startled by May grabbing him and thrashes about, "Lemmegolemmego!...  Oh.  Sorry.  Old habits die hard, heh.  That's very generous of you to offer.  I'd hate to trouble you all.  I can sneak pretty good and turn invisible if need be, so I should be alright on my own.  Name's Kimdal.  I'm here 'cause I'd be a smear in the arena too fast to be of any fun for Cachlain."

Mits addresses the eladrin. "We came here to convince Cachlain of the same.  Sovacles has him under some kind of mind control and kicked us out of the throne room.  Any insights on how to undo the mind control?"

They shake their heads.  "None.  Sorry."

Timothius says, "I'll wait and see if any of that was useful before I pass judgement on her spite move." he pets her eyes closed and his expression goes from sad to "if looks could kill." "I get the feeling I am going to begin a personal collection of souls. Please ready that ritual, Kyle. Thanks."

Raichel says, "So as usual, it all is going to boil down to beating the enemy into submission and words are meaningless."

Timothius nods. "When it comes to our enemies, yes. I love the coalition if for the fact my words matter at all with them."

May shrugs. "Sorry Timothius. But you can't say Sovacles would be the most word-friendly person anyway." she then looks back to the gnome and smiles all friendly-like. "Well I understand that, sure, but why were you caught in the first place? Bad luck? Or did you find something useful?" If the gnome doesn't have anything useful to offer, May lets him go.

  "I'll do it for you, Timothius.  Though with their mind gone beforehand, there is likely no reason to."

  He looks over to Mittens, and asks "Still want to try for that night rest? Or improve the odds of it with the treehouse ritual?"

Mits offers her sibs a group hug.

"My family is still alive, kicking, and very healthy I might add.  So I'm grateful for that fact.  If our enemies didn't at least annoy us, I'd have to wonder if they're really enemies at all."

Mits shrugs to Kyle's question.  "I dunno.  What do you all think?  I think we'll do just fine without whatever daily powers we've used up by now.  I've hardly broke a sweat all day."

Kimdal looks disappointed.  "Useful?  I wish.  Best I can offer is you'll likely find a few coin inside those snakes' bellies.  That's how they carry money without pockets.  You guys and your beating up dragons and kings are way outta my pay grade.  I'd like to offer you something...  Oh!  If you didn't know, the king's glass floor is actually a magical trap door.  If he doesn't like what you say, Poof!  The glass vanishes and you get dropped into the arena.  Stay away from the treant if you can."

Mits chuckles.  "That's more than most offer.  Thanks."

Kimdal smiles.  "You're welcome!"

The cyclops speaks up.  "I'll tell you all I know in case it is helpful."

✦ Sovacles arrived about three months ago and
quickly ingratiated himself with Cachlain. Soon
after that, Talyrin was imprisoned in the middle of
the night. She was imprisoned by Cachlain’s order,
and no evidence or even accusation is needed
for the king to imprison someone.
 Sovacles arrived about one month
before the PCs encountered the fey in “The Temple
Between” (Dungeon 161).
✦ Talyrin believes Sovacles has supernatural power
that lets him control Cachlain. This is the first of
the Stone-Skinned King’s advisors to wield magic
openly. Fearing its power, Cachlain was unwilling
to choose anyone but sages and powerful warriors
as advisors in the past.
✦ A rival of Cachlain named Sangwyr has long
coveted the Stone-Skinned King’s caverns. For
decades now, the upstart has fought both Cachlain
and the eladrin of Frostwhite Forest. Talyrin hears
that Sangwyr’s forces are growing, bolstered by
allies from another plane. (She doesn’t know they’re
githyanki.)
✦ Under Sovacles’s guidance, conditions have gotten
worse in Cachlain’s realm. The troops moving
through secret complexes deep below ground take
food and resources that would go to those who
live in the court. The cyclopses collect more and
more slaves, and Sovacles sends them to assist the
githyanki soldiers.
✦ After the eladrins in another cell told her that
Inzira seeks an alliance, Talyrin came to believe
it’s a good plan—if Sangwyr is truly becoming
dangerous. She fears the rumors of his power might
be lies spread by the eladrin to trick Cachlain, and
she hasn’t seen evidence that an attack is imminent.
This message was last edited by the GM at 08:01, Sat 23 Jan 2016.

Raichel says, "I dunno... I haven't really used any of my best today. I think? The days meld anymore and it gets hazy..."

May says, "I am relatively sure I didn't use anything major today also."

Timothius says, "I won't be able to bless the arena as holy ground like you saw at the dinner table until I've rested a while. Other than that, no major powers used up from me."

  "We were assuming as much about the glass floor, but it is good to know for certain.  Hopefully he forgot the extra precautions I've often heard about in such cases." 'PS Flying turns off' is often a disclaimer in things like that.

  "While I'm still doubtful about Cachlain's quality as a leader overall, it is true the alternatives are much worse.  Though I doubt any would take the copper bet he'll at least tempt us to beat him with his own throne before this is over."

"Let's just finish dinner then kick butt," Mits suggests.

When the group exits, one of the cyclops throne room guards motions to them.

"Um...  Cachlain wants to talk to you.  Should I let Him know you're available, or...?"

Timothius says, "So much for dinner." he nods to the guard. "Sure. We're available."

Raichel says, "Knowing our luck, he'll talk to us for exactly 5 minutes so the potion will wear off. So just be ready to drink it the moment the floor opens."

May nodnods. "Got it."

If the others in the team are ready, they head for the throne room. Rai readies her flight movement for when the floor opens. The others ready drinking the elixer for when the floor opens.

  Better living through magical chemicals.  Shame about the expenses, but then at this point it's less than pocket change territory for these ones.  (It's chucking +3 level items that Kyle is thankful for being able to handwave one into existence per encounter).

  "Wishful thinking for an anticlimax, where he merely wants to ask about that Dwarven Ale keg."  If only.

"Alrighty, then!"

Mits is ready with the flying as well.

Sovacles commands the doors to the throne room, and they
slam closed behind you. The advisor, clearly angered, yells,
“The gracious king invited you into his palace, and you
use trickery and deceit to compromise the security of his
domain. You aid his great enemy, Sangwyr, and you plot
against our brave, wise king! At every opportunity, you’ve
allowed them into the king’s domain and led them in their
assault! Now, submit to imprisonment and the king might
spare your lives.”

"It's something that I didn't hear much of in the storybooks about heroes, but apparently it's an ongoing theme that, 'no good deed goes unpunished,' - for enemies of truth to accuse the heroes who risk their lives for them of wrongdoing.  Well I say again, 'when you point a finger, three more point right back at you.'"

May says, "Called it! Instant accusations even with evidence completely opposite of what he's saying. Also, slamming doors is rude and I could easily kick those doors open."

Timothius says, "We defeated every last enemy that burrowed their way in. Every single guest you had is our witness. And if they are all "lying" as you like to point out, then you don't have any friends left, Sovacles, in which case you don't have a kingdom left, so what's the point?"

Raichel says, "Spare us your filthy lies, Sovacles, and just get on with the fight you want so badly. At least then the king will be happy watching us fight... and we will tear you apart for tricking the king and treating us as you have."
This message was last edited by the GM at 20:05, Sat 23 Jan 2016.

  "Simple question, King Cachlain.  When was the last time you were giving the orders to your adviser, instead of obeying Sovacles's every command?  Or do you have nothing to add at all while he makes demands of your guards and us?"

  OOC: Elixir is Fly 4, slow controlled safe fall if flight wears off/gets canceled above ground.

If the PCs try to reason with the king and his advisor, they quickly find that logic won’t work, and
that Cachlain follows the irrational hatred Sovacles
demonstrates for the PCs. Once the PCs become
aggressive or anger Sovacles with their persistence,
the advisor leads Cachlain in an attack against the
PCs

"You dare challenge the great king?!" Sovacles screams, "You had your chance to surrender peaceably!  Cachlain!  They want to kill you!"

"AAACK!"

Cachlain hops out of his throne, and hulk-slams most of the team into the corner!  He follows up by glaring at May, sliding her over to Kyle, and forcing her to take a swing at him!

May resists the urge to hit Kyle! And then raspberries Cachlain!

Raichel's scythe glows and she drops it before coursing with lightning and then fires a lightning bolt at Cachlain, but misses. "We didn't challenge the king, we challenged Sovacles!"

---

Minor: Activate Blood Fury Weapon
Minor: Lightning in the Blood (Rai can now do +1 die dmg)
Standard: Lightning Daggers v Cachlain. Miss(22)
Intimidate: 29 success!
This message was last edited by the player at 23:43, Sat 23 Jan 2016.

"I'm right behind you, great king," Sovacles says, "My alchemy shall hinder them for you."

He tosses a bag of coal dust at Timothius.  He's forced to clump up with the others.  Sovacles then tosses two small clay pots.  They explode with poisonous shards flying everywhere followed by a thick cloud of poisonous gas!

Release Cachlain’s Mind Level 18
Skill Challenge XP 6,000
The fomorian king is fighting against Sovacles’s control, even
while attacking you. He squints his eyes and shakes his head
as though he were trying to banish unwanted visions.
While they fight the Stone-Skinned King and Sovacles, the PCs
can attempt to free the monarch from his advisor’s control.
Each PC can attempt a skill check as a minor action once
per round to contribute to this challenge.
Complexity
2 (requires 6 successes before 3 failures).
Primary Skills
Arcana 25, Diplomacy 20, Insight 20, Intimidate 25.
Other Skills
Heal 13

Special (1 success, maximum 1 success)
If the PCs succeeded on the skill challenge in “Audience
with the King,” they gain an automatic success.

"Is that all?" Timothius asks as he stands up. Sovacles can see Timothius wave a hand and cause ALL of Mittens' wounds to vanish and simultaneously, Tim's wounds all vanish! "Sorry, but you will have to try harder than that." and with that, he walks forward, eyes closed and opens his blood coin purse. "Pay in blood." and with that, their blood begins getting sucked out. "The pain will stop for you when you stop licking Sovacles' boots, Cachlain." His eyes open and he looks right at Cachlain with a stern look.

---

Tim takes 5 damage
Move: Get up.
Minor: Healing Word on Mittens: 64
 Save Throw: 1 fail.
Free: Cord of Divine Favor. Tim spends a surge.
 +2d6+5(Pacifist): 14
 Save Throw: 8 fail.
Move: Walk to position
ACTION POINT! +4 to all non-damaging attacks.
Standard: Penance of Blood v Sov, Cach. Hit(42)! Hit(39)!
Save Throw: 19 success
Timplomacy: Auto-success

Mittens HP: 47 + 64 = 84 + 5
Timothius HP: 54 - 5 + 25 + 14 = 88+5
This message was last edited by the GM at 22:59, Sat 23 Jan 2016.

  "Sovacles, you are an affront to your profession.  Hiding behind your king, treating him like some grunt.  Even if any of your laughable accusations were true, it would not change how little you care for your king compared to your own safety."  Hey, they were hiding behind the king before the blind zone.  Kyle doubts that changed.

  He gropes for May to be sure where she is, toughens her up, then blindly walks in a straight line until he bumps into the fallen Raichel.  He helps her get stronger rather than help her up, sorry for the poor manners.

  Now that he is no longer blinded... Yup, baby Sovacles still hiding behind the kind.

OOC:
Arcana success.
Saves vs everything.
Minor: Resistive for May (+1 AC. free cash in for Surge+10 THP, and to an ally within 5).
Move: blind stumble to Raichel.
Minor: Sigil of luck for Raichel (+1 hit, +5 DMG rolls for Encounter).

May hops to her feet says, "Come ON! Tell you what. Help us take out Sovacles and we'll do a beautiful arena performance for you later! I'll show you what I can do and you won't have to get hurt for it!"

She jets past Cachlain and whacks Sovacles hard before whacking him again even harder! Cachlain can hear the bone crunching sounds of the hits. She gives a very wicked grin to Sovacles. "You brought this on yourself, you slithering, dishonorable worm!"

---

Move: Stand
Minor: Quicksilver Stance
 Effect: May can shift her speed and make a basic melee as a Standard every round.
Standard: Shift to Sovacled + Maysic Melee v Sovacles. Hit(35)!
 dmg: 28 (thanks vulnerable!)
May Diplomacy: 24 success (5 successes. 0 failures)
ACTION POINT! May resists 10 ALL
Appalling Crunch v Sovacles. Hit(32)!
 dmg: 40
 Both Sovacles and Cachlain are marked!
Save throw: 18 success
Free: Turning in resistive and giving spare to Timothius

Sovacles HP: 340 - 28 - 40 = 272
This message was last edited by the player at 23:44, Sat 23 Jan 2016.

Mits shuffles over into flanking with May then blasts both the king and Sovacles... but misses.  She sighs and chugs a potion.

"Poison alchemy theme?  Ok.  Potion of resist poison.  Take that!  We know all about Sovacles' mind control.  Notice how unconcerned we are at being attacked?  Honestly.  A fomorian should be able to shake magical mind control on his own.  And then the baby won't be able to hide behind him anymore."

---

Mits intimidate: 33 success (6 successes. 0 failures.  Retroactive success for Rai intimidate.)
This message was last edited by the GM at 23:44, Sat 23 Jan 2016.

"M...magical?" Cachlain stammers, "Mind control?!"

Sovacles, wounded and angry, snarls, “You have no idea
who you’re dealing with! My queen has given me the power
to destroy you easily! Tiamat will have all that you possess
and more, and your blood is my gift to her! And I’m sure
Cachlain’s replacement will be more amenable to our
commands.

Cachlain responds quickly, shouting out that he’ll
never let the god of greed steal what belongs to him.
He gestures at the floor and his evil eye flashes green.
Then, the plates of glass flutter away, opening a hole
that drops the PCs and Sovacles to the gladiatorial
arena below. The fall is 40 feet (4d10 falling damage).
Remember that a character trained in Acrobatics can
make a check as a free action to reduce the damage
by half the result of the check.

"You'll pay for thiiis!"  THUD!  Sovacles hits the floor of the arena below.

Cachlain hovers in the air, blinking in surprise that he's not alone.

"You can fly?!"

  "You are hardly the first government official we have dealt with that was either replaced, mind controlled, or otherwise indisposed.  You are the first where it was so obvious the entire time to everyone around, however. Which I suppose is why Sovacles spent so much time killing, arresting, or kidnapping everyone in sight who ever so much as saw him or you.  A bit like trying to cover your tracks with signposts, really."

  He checks his crossbow.  It's a free action like talking.

In the gladiatorial arena below you, a handful of eladrin
gladiators fight an undead treant bound in place with
massive cold iron chains. A crowd massed in dozens of cave
mouths along the towering walls takes in the bout.
You see Sovacles plummet down and hear his body snap
as he hits the purple crystal of the arena floor. The crowd
cheers! Just when it appears that the advisor’s threat is
ended, his body evaporates and forms into a wispy green
cloud with smoky wings.

“You have destroyed my human guise! Still, I have four
more forms that can defeat you easily! Now you know
you face Virizan, exarch of Her Dark Majesty Tiamat!
All in this room will take my secret to their graves!”

The cheering crowd falls silent.

Raichel answers, "Yes. We can all fly." which she demonstrates by flying over Sovacles (but nowhere near him yet) and shoots lightning down at him before landing next to the throne. "Any gladiator down there who wants out, I can bring you up out of there! But only if you don't attack us while we take out Virzan!"

---

Minor: Activate Razorclaw Shifting
Minor: "Stand" from prone
Free: Lightning Daggers v Virizan. Miss(25)
Move: To near May

Virizan transforms into an enormous, coiled serpent with
a humanoid face. A row of green quills run down his spine,
and longer spines jut out from the tip of his muscular tail.
Peals of thunder sound at his command.

Raichel says, "Umm.... hate to tell you this, but I am a STORM sorcerer. Your thunder means nothing to me."

Timothius says endearingly, "Lookit the cyooot li'l exarch! Throwing a temper tantrum like a widdo babyyyy... Mitts, I want a Virizan plushy!" He waves a hand and Kyle gets healed back to full and feels uber-tough for a bit. "Attack again and I will fill your mind kindness and goodness and such cyootifulness so as you can't do anything."

---

Standard: Pacify v Virizan. Hit(36)!
 If Virizan hits or misses with an attack, he becomes stunned
Minor: healing word on Kyle: 56
 +7 Kyle's defenses

Kyle HP: 67 + 56 = MAX 112+5thp
This message was last edited by the GM at 02:01, Sun 24 Jan 2016.

  "Well, the crowd could simply leave while you were stuck in that pit. But then, you really are terrible at all of your jobs."  Unlike say, Timothius.  Who is over 9,000 fantasy popes level.

  He tosses a crossbow down into the air, which is a silly sounding sentence.  It floats upon a glowing sigil as it nails Sovasnake with a trio of Timothius boosted bolts.

29+29+26= 84
HP: 170-84 = 86

May pulls out her bow and arrow. "Heh. Bet you thought I had to come down to you to fight, eh?" May knocks and arrow while making a flem sound in her throat. Arrow glances off Virizan's tail. But May's loogie hits Virizan in the forehead. "I spit in your face! Ha-ha!"

---

Maysic Ranged v Virizan. Miss(26)
Spit v Virizan. Hit(33)!

The crowd goes wild, cheering for Kyle's attack!  May's humiliation gets an, "Ooooh!" from the crowd.

"Sure thing, bro!"

A plushie baby naga with a rattle in its tail appears in Timothius' arms.  Laughter erupts from the crowd.

 “Do not think I ever underestimated you. You defeated
Chillreaver, so you’re clearly skilled. None of Tiamat’s
exarchs falls easily!”

"Chillreaver lasted less than half a minute against us," Mits counters, wiping the venom from her eyes, "Only reason you're still yapping is 'cause we're going easy on you.  And speaking of your job of protecting Cachlain..."

She floats to be in between Cachlain and Virizan and asides to the fomorian, "You might want to get yourself to safety, highness."

 “Cachlain won’t last long! Sangwyr marches, and the
fomorian weakling’s forces can’t stop him alone. Tiamat
covets this domain and it will be hers, and Sangwyr will
be a perfect puppet upon the throne.”

"Zap!"

Mits blasts Virizan with a huge beam of energy, causing the naga to hiss in pain.

"That was my weakest attack.  You like talking about being favored by a diety?  We've been given the thumbs-up by all the gods of good.  Allow me to show you."

The arena goes dark and Pelor shows up, decked out like a paladin!  Radiant Sword Slash!  Then Moradin shows up!  Hammer!  Then Avandra gets a hit in!  Ending with Bahamut doing a Plasma Beam that blasts him into smoke!  The smoke forms into his venom wisp form, which is lit on fire by the heat of the blast.

"Gladiators.  Might wunna take cover.  Or, if you're feeling like impressing Cachlain, surround Snake Face so he can't escape."

The crowd gasps then cheers their lungs out!

(Insert before Rai)

The gladiators huah!  "For glory!"

They charge Virizan, surrounding him and doing massive damage!

"Hiss!  You'll pay for that!"

Cachlain floats over to the relative safety of the ledge then moves over to sit in his throne.

"My replacement, huh?  Can't stand alone, can I?  I'll just team up with Inzira."

Raichel says, "I am DONE with you!" and turns into a lightning bolt. The scene goes into slow motion as Virizian manages to dodge lightning, but when Raichel materializes next to him, flanking with a gladiator, she fires lightning from her eyes at his eye, bursting his latest form like a balloon! Then slams her palm into the newest form!

---

Move: Fly down
Standard: Spark Form v Virizan. Miss(27)
Free: Lightning Daggers v Virizan. Hit(33)!
 dmg: 57 Haha vulnerable negated because CA
ACTION POINT! 6 dmg to enemies within 5
Standard: Strength to Weakness v Virizan. Miss(25)

Virizan HP: 23 - 57 = BONKED FORM
 28 dmg to new form and ongoing 10 dmg (save ends)
This message was last edited by the player at 03:39, Sun 24 Jan 2016.

The exarch’s body rips into pieces, which become writhing
snakes as they fall to the ground. A swarm of the creatures
crawls across the ground, baring fangs that drip with
venom.

The snakes speak in unison:
“I have no illusions that I am the strongest of Tiamat’s
exarchs. Even if you defeat me, you can’t stop us all!”

They glare at Raichel, but she mental blocks the attack.  They all go limp.

Timothius says, "Do want to know how it feels to be cut off from your god? Allow me to show you..." He falls a bit and suddenly stops to hover 25' away from Virizan and points a staff at him! ....while hugging the plushy in his other arm. "Thanks, sis!"

During the exarch's dream of cute fluffy bunnies all sharing lollipops with Virizan (who sees himself a plushy in the dream), he feels his connection to Tiamat get severed.

---

Move: Fly down to be in range
Standard: Sever the Source
 Effect: Until the end of your next turn, target gains vulnerable 22 to all dmg
 (10+wis mod(sever source)+wis mod(penance))
This message was last edited by the GM at 03:55, Sun 24 Jan 2016.

"Heh.  Pile o snakes.  Meet pile o mongooses."

A swarm of yellow mongooses appears and kill the snakes!

Virizan assumes the guise of a human creature with scaled
skin. He produces his staff of office, now twisted and warped
into the image of a hooded serpent.

He still looks to be quite dizzy from Timothius' power.

  Kyle misses two out of three shots with the flying crossbow, but thanks to Timothius, that one hit is more damage than is normally possible for the Artificer.

  He follows up with aboleth slime to the exarch's face, now at 80% more transparent! (well, just the skin).  Sure, poison damage.  But that doesn't stop the weakened status effect (And Tim buffs mean it still does damage, haha).

crossbow: 40 DMG.
Ongoing 10+22 Poison DMG.  Boss has resist 10 Poison, so that would be just 22.
EFFECT: Weakened, Save ends both (also, Encounter long "Origin is Aberrant"

May flies straight for Virizan and says, "Haha! I will- oh right he can't hear me right now." and lands near him and half-heartedly whacks at him, missing. "Pff."

---

Move, Move+Basic, miss(25)

The eladrin don't do quite as good the second go.  Only one of them hits.  But thanks to Timothius, it hits hard.  Cachlain and the crowd are cheering wildly!

"Stomp. The. Snake!" they begin to chant.

Raichel kicks Virizan in the face, chest, belly and then backflip uppercuts him with her feet, causing him to teleport away. Raichel then teleports next to his unconscious form and says, "....no more forms?"

After all the earlier misses... about time.

---

Free: Lightning Daggers v Virizan. Miss(29)
Standard: Step Between the Worlds v Virizan. Hit(34)!

Virizan HP: 44 - 76 = KO! KO! KO!

The crowd goes wild!  Cachlain jumps out of his throne screaming!

"Yeah!  Yeah!"

He kicks his throne over!

"Yeeeaaaah!"

He points authoritatively and commands, "Execute the traitor!"

Mits nods.  "Can't say he doesn't deserve it, but wouldn't you rather him conscious for his execution?"

"He's too dangerous!  Just finish him off!"

"A practical stance."

  "I suppose we could let the crowd rip him to shreds, but that might take a while."  It IS a level 18 body, after all.

  "Any preferences for how we put him out of our misery, King Cachlain?"

May glances at the kitten twins.

Raichel says, "He is guilty of manipulating a kingdom for Tiamat. I'd say that's death penalty material."

Timothius says sternly, "We are not executioners for anyone. I will accept that he is your prisoner to do with as you please according to your laws, but we are not yours to command. We defended your life, Cachlain."

Seeing even one of her team vote "nay", May says, "Sorry. I don't kill except in self defense or if my whole team agrees to it."

"I don't care who does it!  Gladiators!  You do it!  A boon to the one who finishes him off!"

The gladiators nod.  "Gladly."

They hack him to pieces.  Mits shields her bro from the sight by interposing herself between the body and Timothius.

"Not like he would have told us anything useful if we'd interrogated him.  'Tiamat rulez!  You all drool!'"

  Not to be outdone, turns out 'Bane Rulz' has been gratified gainst one of the arena walls.

  "Honestly, I wanted to kill him anyways." and then arrange the body parts to spell out 'unprofessional'  "And pleasing Cachlain would have been incidental."

"Thanks, Mitts." Timothius comments to the interposing sister.

Timothius is highly tempted to say something very spiteful about pleasing Cachlain, but decides discretion is the better part of valor. "Virizan is finished. Now to get to what we were here for in the first place. I can only assume Cachlain hasn't forgotten he was going to join Inzira out of necessity... if not pure spite against the fact Sangwyr didn't want that to happen."

May and Raichel fly out of the pit. Raichel begins making good on her promise and starts flying the gladiators out of the pit.

Once everyone's in the throne room, Cachlain commands the glass floor to re-appear.  He rights his throne and sits again.

"Release Talyrin from prison and bring her to me."

A cyclops guard glance-glances about.  "Um...  Our visitors already released her."

"Then do the second part!"

"Yessir!"

Talyrin is brought in.  Cachlain motions to the chair next to his throne, and she takes a seat.

After they revealed his advisor’s true motives and
protected his palace, the PCs have influence over
Cachlain. He comes as close to trusting them as
a fomorian can. With his autonomy restored, he
releases Talyrin from her prison and reinstates her as
his main advisor. She vouches for the PCs, too.
Cachlain agrees that Sangwyr is a true danger.
He’ll ally with Inzira and her eladrin for now, and
even—though it pains him to do so—allows her to take
the Seed of Winter as a token of this alliance. The Seed
wants to go back to Inzira (for now), and anyone else
who keeps it takes the –1 concordance hit for refusing
the Seed every day.
The king refuses to help the githyanki again, but
doesn’t intend to take up arms against them. Sangwyr
presents a big enough threat to him that Cachlain
will be preoccupied with the upstart’s destruction for
some time.
However, the king does have information about
the githyanki strongholds, since they’ve been using
his portals. He gives the PCs some information on
a githyanki outpost in the mountains north of Elsir
Vale, including a fairly detailed map on how to
reach it.

"You have my thanks for your heroic efforts that lead to his magesty's mind's release," Talyrin adds, "You should be richly rewarded."

Cachlain looks like he wants to give her a swat but realizes the wisdom of her words.  "My thanks as well.  Of course you'll be rewarded!  Richly even.  On top of the valuable map I just supplied."

Lots of residium and other sorts of rich rewards are given.  Such as platinum, precious gems, and so on mined from he tunnels of the Feydark.

"You're welcome!" Mits answers.

  "If it helps, now that you are no longer under literal mind control, you have been one of the most reasonable leadership figures we have dealt with."  Seriously, he's agreeing to give back thing he wants, nevermind work with others in the first place.  All without arranging for the places supposedly under your protection to be attacked by mercenaries to make you look right.

  Oh, right, tried to drop them into a gladitorial arena with an Exarch of Tiamat... Meh, still above the curve on 'good fantasy politics'.

  "If we ever run into Sangwyr personally, it is quite likely a good portion of that residum will be involved with what is used to stab, burn, and otherwise be used to ruin his day."

 60 seconds later, the Cahchlain has a Lv 3 'Cask Of Liquid Gold' for his throne room. Thus saving the kingdom countless gold in taxes used for beer money.

Timothius thinks Kyle is catching on to this whole diplomacy thing if he is offering a king a gift after being given a gift for saving said king's life.

The kitties accept the treasure graciously and May wallows in it a bit before putting her hands on her cheeks, taking a damsel-in-distress posture and saying "Oh no! The coalition will think us villains because we got payed! What EVER shall we do?"

Timothius says, "We'll manage."

With a polite bow, if May/Rai/Tim are excused, they head out with the others.

Once they are out of earshot, Raichel says, "Cachlain seems less evil than I expected. But let me make sure I understand the plan correctly; we are going to hand an extremely powerful evil item to an evil queen who was unable to keep possession of it, and let an evil fomorian continue as king after defeating an exarch for him?"

Cachlain roars out in laughter at the idea of the wealth he's paying will go toward maiming Sangwyr.  And endless beer for his gladiatorial match viewing pleasure.  The group is of course allowed to exit.

If allowed to speak, the Seed insists that 'evil' is defined as those who would oppose the will of the Winter Court, etc., etc.

Mits shrugs.  "We have no reason to believe Frost Queen is evil outside general 'Winter = evil' assumptions.  Or evidence that Cachlain is evil outside, 'all fomorians are evil' assumptions.  With the obvious exception of 'enslave the weak' Seed Face, add the word, 'maybe' before 'evil' to all you said, and it should be pretty accurate."

Bram offers, "Perhaps the better way to put it is that you are arranging for powerful forces to remain annoyances to one another and your enemies rather than annoyances to you.  Nothing says you've agreed to leave them alone once you've dealt with the githyanki."

  One quick check of the PDG to be sure he's listed as Evil later.

  "Seems so.  Although for what little it will help to put your mind at ease, they are the best options right now.  If they were to spontaneously disintegrate, their replacements would be worse.  As for the Seed, I think that is as much it being stuck on autopilot considering Inzira has not been much for the wild expansionist campaigns.  It's not perfect, but with how much we have to deal with the far extremes, leaders merely being bad is sadly refreshing to put up with instead."

  Even when under Evil mind control, the worst the world at large had to put up with outside the gladiatorial pits from Cachlain was trying to steal a book.

Raichel gives Mittens a teenage eyeroll. "Their evil is quite established, sis. Cachlain sent people to steal a holy book from a church of Moradin. And opened up his arena pit with the intent to dump his rescuers along with the exarch. There's selfish or "not heroic" and then there is stealing precious relics from good guy churches evil and stab-your-heroes-in-the-back evil. And the seed just gave a classic villain line you may as well have on your checklist, Mitts! _{so may as well check it off the list...} Evil is defined as defying the queen? Who says that but evil things? ....I'll grant that we know little to nothing about the winter queen; you are right about her, but still."

Upon Bram making his point, Raichel folds her arms and says, "Yeah... yeah, that's actually a comfort, Bram. Thanks."

Raichel glances at Kyle. "....I've never been a believer in being idle against evil because 'the alternative would be worse'. There is acting against evil or not. But I am at least a believer in priorities. Telling myself we are merely shelving these evils for after we have dealt with the worse ones first helps put my mind at ease."

Timothius nods to Raichel. "When healing someone with a broken bone, you try to set the bone before you worry about the scratch elsewhere on their body. Remembering priorities will help all of us, I think. None of you have misplaced priorities that I can recall."

May says, "Good to hear you'll be alright, Raichel. And wow... even by the seed's definition of evil, we still rate as heroes! So far, we have been bringing it closer to the queen and did as the queen asked with the whole diplomacy thing."

Timothius says, "Then let's get going."

More hugs are doled out and Timothius begins drawing up plans for the Virizan plushies, using Mitts if she is willing to continue prestidigitating it for him to use as a base.
This message was last edited by the player at 07:15, Mon 25 Jan 2016.

Mits heads off with the cyclops escort.  "Cachlain has plenty of excuses going for him.  For example, he was mind-controlled to order stealing the book.  Sovacles had already taken over his mind by then according to what we've heard.  And dumping us into the arena is easily excusable as the confused, chaotic act of a person who's mind just rubber-banded back to being un-controlled.  My instincts tell me he's evil mcEvilpants with Evil Sauce on top.  Was only pointing out we've no solid proof.  Yet."

She of course humors Timothius' wishes.  Bram stares at the ground during the walk back.

Inzira and the
Frostwhite Eladrin
To settle the specifics of the alliance, Druemmeth
Goldtemple is invited to Cachlain’s court. He thanks
the PCs, and states that Inzira sympathizes with their
alliance. If the PCs speak with her, they can persuade
her to join the Coalition. She appoints Druemmeth
to the council, effective once he finishes dealing with
Cachlain.

  Kyle wishes the Seed Of Winter well, of all things, when it is handed back over.  "We may not have liked eachother or shared opinions on... Basically anything.  However, you still put up with being used as a glorified bargaining chip with none of the usual baggage Intelligent artifacts are infamous for.  So hopefully things turn out for you, now that you are back home."  And that they won't have to pitch them into the Not Lava of the elemental chaos to shut it up in the future.

  But yes, holy **** actual cooperation from the 'Evil' NPCs with less headache or arm twisting compared to the 'Good' ones-oh no, the Coalition will be failing to do anything useful at all won't it.