"You win some, you lose some." Hamin answers Ezoran's question, with a grin  and a twang of the cord that holds his eye-patch in place.  Then he goes off on a completely different tack, "have you got any normal-sized furniture in here?  I could do with a sit down.  My feet are killing me."

"The tower was built to keep visitors out, not set them up in comfort, I'm afraid," the hooded figure informs Hamin.  "I have furnishings sufficient for my own needs and those of Draxella, but nothing more.  There are some pieces stored on the lower level that were used by the giant who once dwelled here."

Almost negligently he turns to Brugar.

"I seek to breach the portal that I might steal the power of a god for my own," he tells the Dwarf. "Why else ?"

Brugar's eyes widen and his jaw drops as he stares at the mage.

"That's, ... that's, ... what an awesome idea!" he finally exclaims.

He looks around at the rest of the party then turns back to Ezoran and leans forward conspiratorially.

"Can we get in on that plan, too?" he asks.

Hamin glances across at his daughter and Alasa'an when Ezoran speaks, but then wanders off around the room looking at the other circles, although careful not to step into them.

"And you need all these circles for that?" Hamin asks, as casually as he can.

"Not all of them, I'll wager," Ayas tries to maintain his composure in what seems to be a battle of words that might soon erupt into something more pointed.

"This circle, for instance," he indicates the nearest, in which Ezoran stands and Brugar holds station alongside, "it is not complete - to summon a demon within would be to invite disaster."

"The last mortal who tried that didn't fare so well," Alasha'an mutters, thinking of the madness that inflicted the Lady of the Pale.  "Though Rhiannon wasn't altogether there in the first place !"

Indeed, none who contemplated such an undertaking could be considered sane.

"I do not care to share," the hooded figure replies to Brugar, unapologetically.

"Though a god needs servants ..."

Hamin laughs dryly, as he sets down his pack  and reaches around inside it for a handful of Orb Shards.  "Gods always need servants." he says sourly as he straightens and walks back towards the demon circles.

"But then, it is questionable whether you - who can't open the portal, should have us, who can open portals, as servants."  He holds up the shards, "These were left over from last time ...  Oh, and to answer yur earlier question,  I am a bit of a gambling man.  That's how I lost this eye ..." he says as he tosses the orb shards across the boundary of the magic circle, making sure that they land both on the boundary and inside.

"Oh.  Whoops ...  Butter fingers me."  He says dryly, watching the mage rather than the demon.


OOC:  It might work ....

"Have we finished playing with him, then?" Alasha'an snorts as Hamin challenges Ezoran, though the one-eyed warrior decision to scatter the magic dust upon the binding circle causes even she to raise a brow.

"Remind me never to play cards with him," she mutters to Yetta and Ayas nearby as she draws her dark blade and advances, "he'd just go all in on the first hand and wouldn't bluff!"

Brugar grins at Ezoran's reply and glances back at his friends. His grin turns to a frown as he sees Hamin heading toward the central circle. He says nothing but walks slowly southward around the outside of Ezoran's circle, keeping himself and his shield between Ezoran and Hamin.

"I would not dare play cards with any of you!" Ayas mutters, not knowing whether to be appalled at the devil-may-care attitude of his companions, or comforted by the confidence they display.

The mage shifts his staff in his hands with an attempt at nonchalance, for what little that may avail since Alasha'an has already bared her blade.

Ezoran merely smiles and nods as Hamin scatters a handful of fragments of a shattered orb on the circle surrounding the demon, but chooses to offer neither threat nor mockery in return.

If there is any effect upon the wards that bind the demon, then that creature too, it seems, chooses to ignore the opportunity for freedom.

Brugar and Alasha'an step forward, the Dwarf interposing himself and his shield between Ezoran and the one-eyed warrior, while the Elf positions herself equidistant from the wizard and the demon, ready to move towards whichever presents the most threat, while Ayas nervously readies his staff.

OOC: Map of the proceedings updated ...
This message was lightly edited by the GM at 12:51, Mon 18 Oct 2021.

”Oh, well.” Hamin, shrugs as his little experiment fails.  He ponders  for a moment, and adds, ”I suppose that is the nature of gambling.  You win some, you lose some.  And some hands just don’t seem to go anywhere.”

Then a slight smile comes to his face.  Not a happy smile, just one of those thoughtful little smiles that come along with an idea.  There have been a lot of illusions …  But then he shakes his head again.  Perhaps not …

09:23, Today: Hamin Carmine rolled 8 using 1d20+5.  Will save, disbelieve the demon, & circle.

Brugar spares a moment to glance around the huge chamber then returns his attention to Ezoran.

Is there anything that doesn't look, sound or smell the way it is supposed to? Perhaps the smell of the demon, or something about the bird in the cage overhead, or Ezoran's breathing, or a sound or scent from somewhere else in the room?

Both Hamin and Brugar look doubtfully at the demon that stands guard above the rune-carved stone.  The hungry and contemptuous gaze from the ruddy orbs that meets the eyes of man and Dwarf seems all to real.

Not disheartened, Brugar also looks to Ezoran, but though the voluminous hood he wears casts his eyes into shadow, the smile on his lips and nodding of his head show his amusement that the Dwarf might doubt him.

Nor does the Wizard's smile waver as Ayas gasps.

"That is an illusion !" the Elf declares with confidence, dipping his staff towards Ezoran.  "That," he points at the demon, "is all too damn real !" 

The Wizard continues to nod his head as the demon hisses in what might be amusement.

"Huh!" Alasha'an snorts as she deftly pulls one of her many daggers from its sheathe, holding it by the tip for a second as she lines up a cast at Ezoran, or what seems to be the illusion of their host. "Let's test that theory.."

Brugar growls softly to himself and looks around the huge room at the other circles.

"That just figures, don't it? So where's Mister Ezoran got 'imself 'idden? D'ye reckon 'e might be standin' there inside one of them other circles, all invisible like?" he wonders.

Then he stares at the demon for a long moment before asking another question of his friends.

"Any of ye understand what this 'ere big ol' demon said before?" he asks.

"Nope.  No idea what it said at all.  But I bet it wasn't that crap that Ezoran spouted." Then he shakes his head "He is really beginning to irritate me now ...." and with that Hamin strides across to the western magic circle and straight into it, sweeping with his pole arm as he enters it, trying to strike anything inside the circle that might be invisible.

OOC:  Sorry guys.  Player running out of ideas - and a character who is getting irritated, which leads to chaotic ...

Alasha'an's dagger passes straight through Ezoran who continues to smile and nod as if nothing happened.

The ape-like monstrosity in the central magic circle returns Brugar's stare, though it does not deign to reply to the Dwarf's questions, nor does it show any interest in Hamin's actions as the one-eyed warrior strides to the westernmost of the circles, swining his polearm in wide swathes, though the blades meet naught but air.

Suddenly, the chamber - indeed, it seems the whole mountain - shudders.

"While I have no power over illusions," Ayas watches Ezoran continue to smile and nod after Alasha'an's blade passed through him, "I know something of the limitations of their casting."

"An illusion can only react as long as the caster directs it to do so.." he points towards Ezoran. "That would suggest that the master of this tower no longer does so."

The shaking of the room suggests something else to the elf. "We'd best be quick about our business here," he says, perhaps rather too quickly. "Can we defeat that?" he nods at the demon, uncertain but not dissuaded.

Brugar looks at the demon for a moment before shrugging noncommittally.

"Reckon Ah could 'urt it a bit but it'd take me apart afore Ah could do enough to worry it. But these blighters use magic too, don't they? Probably got some real nasty tricks up 'is sleeves, so to speak. 'E's been summoned 'ere, ain't 'e? What do we gotta do to to break that summoning? Reckon 'e'd just vanish if'n we could manage to do that."

Alasha'an wisely chooses to leave matters of spells to those who know of such things, but..

"Don't have to defeat it," the elf suggests. "Just need to keep it busy for long enough to open the portal and see what's hidden behind it."

"And quickly," she agrees, acknowledging the sudden turbulence.

Hamin scowls, "So where do you think the portal is?" Hamin asks.  "Under the Demon, the bird cage?  or somewhere else?"

"Under the demon," the elf gestures with the point of her sword. "So we've got to break the seal and get him out of there. My guess is he'll be happy to try to tear us apart."

Brugar scratches his head as he looks up at the huge demon.

"Ah can't 'elp feelin' we be missin' summat. Why's that damn silly little bird cage danglin' up there right above this big brute? 'E's caged there in that circle, ain't 'e? An there's a little cage danglin' up there right over top of 'im? Ah be no kind of mage but Ah'd bet me next dinner that ain't no co-inky-dents!" he declares with a meaningful glance at Ayas.