"Interesting. Well, why not ? I've made a life of being prepared for everything, or at least making sure no one ever finds otherwise, but I'll take a little more preparation if you offer it."

Still gazing off into a blank wall, Pale shakes his head. "I am prepared. Find me again here come sunrise."

With a wave of his hand the mountain ground arose to cover Pale and he slowly sank into the earth.

Wild-Shaping into an Earth Elemental for the night.

Zhorr nodded and joined the circle: "Very well. Let's go then... I can think of a few things that we are going to need."

"Hey, you are not planning to leave me here, are you?" Piped up Lareth joining the circle herself.

"Why of course not Lily... Shall we?."

And then they were off.

Linking hands with the others, the Archmage says a few words. Time and space folds around the group as they were transported to the demi-plane.  "We are here."  he says as the group arrived.  A small shack that looking like a peasants hut with a hammock in front of the home was seen by the arrivals. 5 trees with fruits and nuts

Baron Sider reached into a pocket on his robe, pulled out a metal key and unlocked the door. Inside, an overstuffed chair in front of a fireplace with a small table next to it greeted the guests. A square shaped glass bottle with a black label in a strange tongue sits on it, half empty.  A marble illuminated the hut with an adjustable cover to control the intensity that dangled over the chair, another one like it rested next to the bed, that was also stuffed to the Baron's liking.

On the wall is a wood desk with papers and books strewn all over the place along with a book case stuffed with more material was seen.  On a cabinet next to a small dining table for 4, various bottles with labels like "Old Rot gut" "Shadowdale Ale" and "Greyhawk mead" A strange metal box sits nest to the table.
This message was last edited by the player at 15:44, Sun 09 Dec 2012.

Zhorr looked around with a wistful smile, then muttered a few words that sounded like some kind of blessing.

"We thank you for your hospitality, Archmage. It looks like a lovely place, and I am certain we shall be able to arrange accommodations for four people..."

"There's five of us, you know?"

"Yes, about that: you probably should change into something with a more appropriate size, seeing how... Well, seeing how you can, really. Do you mind, Lily dear?" He smiled at the young girl, who looked around annoyed.

Mattering something that sounded suspiciously like "annoying human", the girl suddenly shrank to about two feet tall: "Is this small enough?"
This message was last edited by the player at 20:20, Mon 10 Dec 2012.

"You didn't have to go that small!"

Poor Lareth. Enthusiastic as kids are, but with all the ancient power of her heritage running through her veins.

Though he does turn to the Baron.

"You really should've included a place for her, ya know."

"Oh it not his fault... It's his." Replied Lareth pointing at Zhorr.

Zhorr blinked: "Lee, dear, how is it my fault? I wasn't even here." he replied reasonably.

"Exactly!" Lareth exclaimed, then she stopped. "What am I saying? I'm sorry Dee, I don't know what came over me. I was suddenly angry for no reason. Weird..."
This message was last edited by the GM at 15:20, Wed 12 Dec 2012.

Mirelinda's face takes on the professionally unmoving look of someone who is most definitely not going to show just how bewildered she is. She is, after all, the Grandmother, and Grandmother knows all, sees all, and is never surprised.

Which is why she takes out a beautiful painted harrowing deck, cuts it, and turns out a card while muttering a few words¹. Then she smiles, mystery solved.

"So, planning, eh ? Very good, very good. Never could get the hang of it myself, but to each his own I suppose. Lareth child, why don't you and me sit in a corner, and you can tell me all about your life, while those serious looking people plan all our future lives ?"



¹ a Spellcraft check would reveal those to be for the true seeing spell, although strangely Mirelinda does seem to have skipped the customary eye ointment.

Lareth sighed: "I'm not that young, you know? I'm twenty-four years old."

In fact, she had almost included the months, before realizing that it would not have helped her case.

Still, she was so far behind the average age of that group it wasn't even funny, so she scamp- ahem, she quickly, yet composedly, reached the spot Mirelinda had indicated.

"Yes, Grandmother." Then she paused: "Uh, you do realize that my actual grandmother is several times your age, right?"

"Of course my dear, of course. But then, we humans are short-lived by most other species' standards.

So, what about you. Are you happy with your life so far ? I certainly hope you are !"

Lareth sat down cross-legged and pondered on the question for a moment: "I am... Content?" She shrugged.

"We... I mean, dragons, don't usually have strong family ties. I would have liked to know my mother, but I think I'm pretty lucky, all in all. My humans so far have been nice. Some of them were rather well-behaved, even. Some, not all." She smirked and shot a sideways look at Zhorr. She wasn't speaking loudly, but then the hut was pretty small...

[GM: Perception DC 18 check will allow you to hear the entire conversation.]
This message was last edited by the GM at 00:04, Thu 13 Dec 2012.

Mirelinda smiles

"Your humans ? You're collecting them ? Well, good for you I guess. After all, humans collect each other all the time, so why not you ?

So, are you planning on coming with us ? It's not like you need rejuvenating, not for a long, long time."

"I gather she's going to be needed where we're going. I'm just glad my youth is part of the bargain. Lareth here and I would be parted far too soon if old age took its logical course. I might even live long enough to see her have wyrmlings of her own, if the youth is permanent."

And if he doesn't, he might have to down more potions of longevity and elixirs of youth then he cares to think about. Vanity isn't anything he cares about, but he'd hate to leave his dragon alone at this point.

Zhorr pondered on it for a moment: "You know, I haven't really asked. I think I've been aging normally since I was rejuvenated, but there are probably ways to make it permanent."

"Wait, how does one collect humans, exactly?" Lareth was looking with interested at Mirelinda.
This message was last edited by the GM at 00:13, Sat 15 Dec 2012.

"Collecting humans, well... there are many ways, really, but at the most basic, you just arrange matters so that they want to stay with you or near you, and maybe do what you tell them to. So you could make them love you, or worship you, or just like you; you you could shower them with gifts, or threaten them with reprisals if they leave; you could just make them very happy to be with you.

But of course, the true master collector doesn't do anything so crude; he just makes sure he learns everything there is to know about his humans, and that is enough. If he ever needs something from them, he knows which button to push, but the true collector does not need or want something from his humans, just knowing he has them collected is reward enough."

Mirelinda's words left Lareth somewhat troubled. She thanked the woman for her insight and went outside, under one of the fruit trees, to meditate and clear her head.

"Shall we get started? As I was saying, we cannot carry any equipment through the portal, but any active spells will should keep working, and small magical tattoos should survive the trip. However, anything really powerful will be destroyed. here's what I know..." Zhorr briefly summarized his thoughts about a few useful spells and items that would most likely survive the trip, and listened to the suggestions that were made, then concluded: "This is going to take a few days, so I would suggest that only the people who are actually involved remain here: the others can wait on the mountain: to them, it will look like only a few seconds have passed."

"We'll need the necessary tatoos...once I get my vigor back, I won't feel right without a mighty suit of adamant plate, and an equally strong sword made of the same. Then I'll need to have it all enchanted, and, well, you get the idea. Lareth has needs of her own, of course. Which we need to account for."

Zhorr probably already knows, but he can offer reminders if needed.

"Well, when it comes to tattoos I'm your girl. Just tell me what you want, and take off your shirt !"

Baron Sider watched the banter between the others as he walked over to the strange metal box and opened it up. The inside of the box appeared covered in white and he reached into it, pulling a small metal bucket with little blocks of ice contained within. Three of them were put into a glass and the container was placed back into the odd box. Taking the square bottle, he removed the top and poured a dark liquid over the ice enough that it covered the little blocks of ice. Putting the stopper back on, the baron sat back in the chair, watching the work on Delkar, knowing that he is next under Mirelinda's needles.  After a while, a small helmet floated off the bookcase and flew over to rest on the Archmage's shoulder.

"Good day Helmut, your services will be needed as we will be going on the road again after two and a half decades. Yes, it has been a long time"

Things were quickly worked out from there: Mirelinda, Sider and one other person would remain in the demiplane, where Mirelinda could work her magic, in both an artistic and literal sense, to create the tattoos required for the trip; this would take several days inside the demiplane, but only a few seconds would pass outside - the time required for Sider to open a gate from the demiplane to the mountaintop. As long as the gate stayed open, the demiplane's time would align with the outside one, so people could go through the gate without problems; as soon as the gate closed, the people inside would once again have unlimited time to work.

In less than a minute of outside time, weeks and weeks of work were completed. Before it was even afternoon, everyone was about ready for the journey.

Once everyone left Sider's demiplane (as there was apparently nothing left to do but wait), the discussion moved onto the topic of how to effectively use the resources they had to achieve their goal.

It quickly transpired that they could easily wish for most things, but doing so would be inefficient for anything that did not have a monetary value close to the price of the wish itself: without the magical entities usually charged with interpreting wishes, only basic ones could be granted.

Zhorr explained the restrictions, as well as he understood them, to the others, and an idea came up. Perhaps some more work was required, after all...
This message was last edited by the GM at 16:44, Mon 07 Jan 2013.

Tilly had a browned, wrinkled face like muffins, and hair spun like frosting.  Her grey dress was of little account, and her eyes were clouded from time to time.  She was inactive, easily confused, and often watching.  Whatever great deeds she had done, it was hard to believe them, seeing her.

Of the demiplane, she said, "It is too quiet here.  The sky lacks any life."  And she seemed to grow quieter as the days passed into weeks.

But by the second week, the plane had grown a garden, from where, no one could say.  Sometimes, Tilly did come to watch, curious, at Mirelinda's work, but she was oftener outdoors. The garden herbs grew plumper and righter.

On the ending of the third week, Tilly cleared a table and, carving up her produce, made them cucumber and tomato salads.

"This is a quieter magic, " she said of the garden.  "Who knows if I had a hand in it.  Sometimes, life comes from through the cracks and makes its home where you least expect it."

After their return, she grew warmer in spirit but greyer in body, and it was apparent that her days were numbered, unyielding to science or potent enchantments.
This message was last edited by the player at 01:20, Tue 08 Jan 2013.