Regaining his breath and composure, Omm comments drily, "Well, that majorly sucked." Though a smarter man might have intended the play on words, probably not so of Omm. He honestly meant what he said and the irony may have been lost on him.

"Now what?" he asks his companions, completely exasperated at their predicament and perhaps even somewhat forgetful about why they had even come here.

Felix ponders the events for a bit and then says hesitantly Well, if confronting one of the mages made them vanish somehow, then maybe, um... maybe we should confront the others?

"Fine" Omm snaps back hotly. "Let's go confront one of the other mage and be ready for trouble from the outset." The warrior firmly grips his sword and adds, "Maybe let the sword do the talking this time..." , his eyes are distant and stormy as he imagines what this might be like.

Now hold on a second, big guy.  A sword wouldn't have helped here, and it might not help with the others.  Maybe we should send one of the skeletons in first to check it out.

"Okay...if you say so," he adds in a deflated tone while returning his sword to its sheath. Turning now to the quartet of skeletons, "You hear that boys? We got a little mission for you!"

He takes a few steps toward the empty space where the Scribe once stood and then examines his stone placards for any signs of change.

After that task is complete, he addresses his companions, "So...who do we visit next?"

''But the robe...'' Sidd grieves for the only magic treasure he ever touched that really interested him, and now it is gone.

''Remember, we can vanquish the Yellow mage quite easily. We have simply to hit that demon torturer. But is that what we want to do? With the mages gone, it might be us who have to hold the fort here, unable to leave this dimension and bound to it and that damned fool. I would reconsider that path of action until we know more about it.'' Zar states.

''Anyway, we have an open invitation from the red sorceress, so I'd say we head over into her lake.''

There is one thing to grab, after all: The Magician's card.



With what it is to be checked out considerately undefined, the four continue to bob their jaws in gratitude.

Off to the sorceress, one and all, the cavernous vassals chummily agree.

Having forgotten about Arnie until one of you bangs his elbow on his stone placard, the one that reads

"To soften his stone,
 Erodiade, the sorceress,
 bids you visit her
 beneath the lake,"

you are further convinced of the rightness of your destination.

It must have been Sidd, too busily daydreaming about the cloak that could have been his.

After a day's worth of slogging you gain the lake, conveniently just before dusk when you're sure the show will begin.

At this most crepuscular hour, the lake begins to reveal its supernatural nature. Countless fireflies dance about the marshy grasses, casting a glow about the lake’s glassy surface. The demi-plane's moon has replaced its sun in the sky, having just begun its traversal across the horizon. There is probably astronomical term to define this but the Sage fails to breathe the word across the void.
This message was last edited by the GM at 23:29, Wed 17 Dec 2014.

Zar blanches as he picks up the card.
''This is a new one. The mage has turned into a card! Does this mean we will, too, if we die here? And turn into toys of the Fool even more so than we have already?''
''We have to avoid this at all costs!''

Omm looks carefully at the lake's in an effort to discern some hidden path beneath the water. Such a flight of fancy was entirely possible in a demi-realm like this. In particular, he watches the reflection of the moon in the water and hopes to find a portal of sorts. Barring that, the fighter will stride into the water a few paces, careful not to disturb it too much.

Sidd and Zar help Omm in the search for a passage.
Sidd also remembers that there has been a signpost around somewhere...

Felix is content to watch the others do the hard work for now.  If they ask him for any kind of assistance he will probably oblige.

Deep-thewed Omm, not normally given to moon-gazing, studies the position of the satellite in the waters. It approaches Darjr’s tower and should reach it ere long; only those well-versed in astronomy could predict the time of its occlusion.

Impudently, some might say, Omm plunges one boot into the enchanted lake's water, so the fireflies respond with truculence, three more so than the others. The luminous insects would set the man ablaze!

OOC: Meet or exceed init 3 to act before the fireflies
This message had punctuation tweaked by the GM at 23:15, Sat 20 Dec 2014.

After wading knee-deep in the water for a bit, Omm notices the fireflies approaching closer and becoming more agitated with each passing second. Sensing the danger, the warrior readies his sword. Two of the fireflies come within striking distance. With a fluid flick of the wrist, Omm executes a vertical slash followed quickly thereafter with a horizontal slash, the goal being to slice and dice both at once.

"Look alive boys!" Omm calls out, not realizing the irony of such a comment, when considering the nature of the party vassals. Maybe it wasn't ironic. Oh well, let the philosophers quibble about such things. There were things to stabbity-stab.


01:15, Today: Omm rolled 4 using 1d8. damage.
01:05, Today: Omm rolled 15,3 using d20+1,d3 with rolls of 14,3. Skewer the Fireflies.
01:03, Today: Omm rolled 4 using 1d20+1. Initiative

It is said that, as a youth, Zar raced vipers - it might be true, since his reflexes are still paramount.
''Fight fire with fire!'' He cries, and flames shoot from his fingers. Unfortunately his magical power is not big enough yet to engulf all of the fireflies, but at least he gets one. If it isn't immune to fire attacks, that is. Zar might have been a bit hasty.

Sidd meanwhile tries to swat a fly with his shovel, but the wily beast avoids his swing.


OOC: Zar casts Flaming Hands and hits one target for 3 dmg.
Sidd hits only AC 9, I suppose that's a miss?

20:48, Today: Sidd and Zar rolled 9 using 1d20. Sidd does his thing with the shovel.
20:47, Today: Sidd and Zar rolled 3 using 1d6. dmg.
20:47, Today: Sidd and Zar rolled 15 using 1d20+2. Zar casts Flaming Hands.
20:47, Today: Sidd and Zar rolled 22 using 1d20+2. Initiative.

Felix doesn't see much sense in using daggers or crowbars just to hit flies.  So instead he dons a pair of leather gloves, from the set that he's been carrying around all this time for who knows what reason, and tries to catch one of the fireflies between his hands.

Josh rolled 5 using 1d20+1. initiative.

Josh rolled 8 using 1d20+1. catching a firefly.
Note - if it's obvious to me that this is a bad idea, such as if the fireflies are completely engulfed in a significant amount of flame, I will edit this post accordingly.  Though with that attack roll it's not likely to matter much.

The one unextinguished son of Lampyridae alights on Felix's shoulder where some splash of swamp muck prevents ignition and then takes off into the moonlight.

Four sons, more belligerent than the rest, descend upon the lake invaders.
This message was last edited by the GM at 19:55, Tue 30 Dec 2014.

Omm retreats a few paces in an effort to regain solid ground underneath his feet. Once there, he readies his sword to swat down the next wave of fireflies. Well, at least one of them.

OOC: Conditional attack in case the fireflies come to Omm


12:47, Today: Omm rolled 15,1,7 using d20+1,d3,d8 with rolls of 14,1,7. conditional attack.
This message was last edited by the player at 22:48, Mon 22 Dec 2014.

Okay, maybe the crowbar would be a better idea after all.  Felix pulls it out, finds himself some good footing near (but not right on) the edge of the water, and swings at any firefly that gets close.  He swings downward, hoping that plunging them into the water with enough force might help extinguish the flames.

Josh rolled 18,2 using d20+1,d6+1. attack, dmg. (just in case)

Sidd and Zar just nod at each other and carefully step out of the water, retreating to the shore and solid ground. They hold their weapons to swap the fireflies away, but otherwise they are putting a theory to test.


OOC: The equivalent of full defense.

Not one of the luminescent fliers will brave the fury of Felix's bar now that it casts its moon-shadow over the mushy shore of the lake.

It looks like you have some time on your hands, assuming you wish to uphold this détente between biped and insect. How do you wish to pass it? Surely, you would not be invited to the enchantress's lake without an eventual means of ingress.
This message was last edited by the GM at 20:01, Tue 30 Dec 2014.

Keeping his eyes on the flies, Felix says to his companions Could we send the guards into the water to keep a path open, and then we go in between them?

"Or pass under cover of our own shadow? Say by holding a tarp over our heads while walking across? Or, by walking in the shadow of the tower itself?" Omm offers before looking at the lake to determine whether such a thing is even possible.

''Uh...'' Sidd is at a loss.

Zar is, too, but he would be damned to admit to it.
''Hmm. To enter the presence of the blue sorcerer we had to unravel the riddle of the basilisk. I am sure there is a solution to the fireflies, too.'' Also, Zar likes to hear himself talk.

''Maybe we can cut off long reeds and breathe through them while swimming under the water's surface? Sidd, give it a try!''

Sidd bristles, but due to the lack of any better idea he follows Zar's plan. He cuts off a foot of reed and then dives into the lake, too fast hopefully for the fireflies to go after him, and stays under the water.

Nobody seems to pay any attention to Felix, except for the guards who have retreated a respectful distance from the lake's edge.

You pass some time in feckless yet persuasive palaver, with Sidd prepared to submerge himself within the lake and swim its breadth. Does he even know how to swim? Before he sinks even one booted foot into the water, three scions of Lampyridae flit feverishly towards him.

The moon crosses the sky, its occlusion of the tower of the torturer inevitable.

OOC Sidd, if you meet or exceed init 11, you can act before the fireflies.
This message was last edited by the GM at 02:56, Tue 06 Jan 2015.

With one foot already hanging over the water Sidd realizes belated that he cannot, indeed, swim. Indecision paralyzes him while the fireflies converge on him - really, a piece of bad timing that.
His confidence in Zar's plan is shot to hell anyway and he will retreat after the flies' first attack run.