DM Avian Aloft |
The hall is shaken again by the relentless attacks. Silas nods at you, acknowledging your bravery and beckons you follow. He leads you down, deeper into the base of the tower to a large room. It is clearly an arcane workshop that has seen much use. Four large platforms hold strange constructions of wire and crystal. He turns to you...
Silas Shoreborn |
"This is your last chance to change your mind. Once you have gone through you are committed. Would anyone like to leave? No? Good."
His weary smile shows his exhaustion as he runs a hand through his white hair.
" We will need a number of things on the other side. Fresh water, some sort of safe food source. A map would be nice of the area you choose. Your task is to find us a site for our settlement. Your second task is to document as many of the dangers of these new worlds as possible. Your third is to make contact with, and determine if any natives are a threat or peaceful. The last is to determine as best you can the mundane aspects of the world, such as the weather, or what plants are edible or good for other things. Each talisman is keyed to a specific gate but will also be your recording device. To document these things simply speak to it using the phrase "Shoreborn Stone, I would like to report..." When the time comes for me to re-open the portal and send through others I will first retrieve your report, this will determine what comes to you through the portal. Then I will open the portal. It will open near to the Talisman, or, if you have buried it in soil or sand, immediately upon it. Burying it will allow me to hold it open longer and send more through so that preparation could mean all the difference if you can manage it."
He looks at the three teams. "Any questions?"
Zoey Baristan |
Zoey's hand grips the fauchard tighter. Her hands shake. She tries to speak, but feels her throat close up on her. Closing her eyes she tries to focus and calm her nerves.
I... we can do this. We must do this.
"Ready," she says as she steps forward to accept the talisman for her group. "How much time should we expect before the first portal shall re-open?"
Silas Shoreborn |
He nods, "Good questions, I will be able to keep everyone here intact for a little over a year. I will draw the information from the stone in 365 days, and open the portal within a week after that. As for how much information... I have not tested the upper limits but each of you can make a 25 word report per day without losing any information within those 365 days. More may be safe but I don't know."
Cassandra Hanata |
Cassandra stood by her (half-)cousins, her backpack stashed with a mix of various things.
Her lethal whip rolled up at her hip and a warhammer on the other, she straps her belt tight before departure.
Seeing Zoey's hands shake, she lays a hand on Zoey's shoulder and speaks in a neutral but assuring tone.
"We'll make this count, we have no other options anyway."
At Silas' mention of the amount of words:
"Then we'll have to use short sentences, as short as possible."
Luthor Rowe |
"We can document the most important information, I shall write down anything else of interest." Luther said in his usual monotone, patting the heavy book in his satchel for emphasis. Grim as the conditions that have lead to this expedition, I cannot deny a certain sense of excitement about the journey on which we now embark." He added, managing a stiff smile to accompany the excitement in his eyes. "I hope there are trees there atleast, something to remind me of home."
I am woefully lacking on background currently. Would it be alright if I add that slowly over the next few day? I find playing the character and discovering who he is can be more fun that just sitting down and typing something.
Cassandra Hanata |
her family members and friend?
If you mean me, if going by the "original general connection", i'm a cousin to the spot Ashe had, now filled in by Luthor. But if going by Stephen's bio he's met up with me on another occasion.
"Ok, no time like the present."
Cassandra walks after Zoey into the portal.
Any1 got this Stargate SG1 vibe?
Stephen Baristan |
Don't know yet about Lex yet, but Cassandra is a Human cousin (1st degree from our Human fathers side.) and we did meet at a later point in time
Drawing his weapon IMF Mission Start is all that he says with a smile as he goes trough
Luthor Rowe |
Any1 got this Stargate SG1 vibe?
Why do you think I applied for this game? Best show ever! Also, as for relations, so far Im thinking Luthor grew up amongst elves. Half elves being so different in the aging department, he gravitated towards the solitude of the woods, feeling more connected to it than his supposed family (who acted with the usual unintended scorn towards their half-elven family member). Basically, Im seeing Luthors "monk" levels as more of a selftaught thing, although ill likely put a druids guidance in there to give it a bit more realism to the spiritual side of it.
With a wordless solemn nod to the wizard, Luther looked at his companions in turn, before rushing towards the portal, woodsmans cloak billowing behind him. A few feet before colliding with the shimmering surface, his pace faltered, a moment of doubt evident. Then with a grunt he picked up the pace again, disappearing through the portal.
I also just now realized I should have Survival. Anyone know of a Trait to get it as a class skill?
Luthor Rowe |
Well, Luthor probably wont qualify as "close" to anything but the world around him, but being another half-elf in the community he could atleast be someone to relate to. I dont imagine it would have taken much convincing to get Luther to come along. Sort of a "Never felt at home where he lived, but never had the courage or idea to strike out on his own" kind of deal.
I also see Luther as more of a pseudo Druid, not initiated into their ranks or able to cast spells, but living by a philosophy much like theirs, yet entirely his own. His Qinggong archetype will let him cast a small amount of magic eventually, most notably Barkskin, a druid spell, so I think it matches up nicely.
DM Avian Aloft |
Your stomach lurches and you feel like you are being torn apart. After what seems like an eternity of falling you land on the ground on the other side. Landing on your hands you nearly heave. As the dizziness and pain passes the first thing you notice is the hard ground. It appears to a perfectly smooth flat stone surface.
Looking to your left and right you see what appears to be perfectly formed buildings on either side of you, all made of the same slate grey perfectly smooth stone. Looking up you see a starry night sky, with a strange dark shadow passing over and across it. After a moment the shadow begins to brighten as if being lit from something below you and you see what appears to be a city, facing you from a massive stone arm that appears to be moving across the sky.
You appear to be in a small alley and looking down it you see a lit street at one end while the other ends in another building with a small stone door.
heh nearly gave you the wrong intro XD
Luthor Rowe |
Luthor quickly got up into a crouch, stifling a nauseous belch as he did so. "Civilization?" He said in bewilderment, looking around their surroundings warily.
Perception: 1d20 + 10 ⇒ (13) + 10 = 23
"This is either exceptionally fortunate, or incredibly bad." He muttered, continuing to look around, his brow knotted in worry. "Let me try to observe any locals from afar before making contact. Who knows what kind of people we are dealing with."
With that, he dashed off towards the lights at the end of the alley, doing his best to stay shrouded by shadow as he neared the opening.
Stealth: 1d20 + 10 ⇒ (9) + 10 = 19
Zoey Baristan |
Fumbling about, Zoey finds her polearm and peacebonds it to her back.
"What is this place? I wasn't expecting to find such a place. I think it would be best that we put our weapons away and avoid causing too much suspicion while Luthor scouts our surroundings," says Zoey.
DM Avian Aloft |
On the Street
The street is an odd sight. The buildings appear to be uniform in size and shape. Most lack any ornamentation however a few seem to have designs carved into them after the fact or minor signs attached. While the writing is completely foreign each sign is also accompanied by a picture that makes it clear what the buildings are. It looks like many of these are taverns and inn's of some sort.
The road is lit by an odd lamp on a pole in the middle of the road. There seems to be no reserve for oil and no scent of smoke. The light is perfectly steady and even.
Looking up the road you are stunned to realize just how far it goes and how straight. It almost looks like it goes downhill in both directions. There are regular cross roads and a number of alleys. There doesn't seem to be a whole lot of traffic at the moment but you do see a few people. You see a number of races you recognize, or at least they look similar. Elves, ogres, humans... but all with slight differences than what you would expect. You also see some strange things you have never seen before. But they all seem to be getting along. Some are even travelling in groups of mixed race and often seem to be carousing with each other.
In the Alley
You notice an oddity. The stars don't seem to twinkle here. They appear to just be a steady light... but wait? Why do they seem to be visibly moving? A scraping sound behind you breaks the reverie as the door at the end opens and a strange being comes out carrying a metal canister. With the illumination from the open door you see he has skin of pale cream, he was four arms and an oddly flat face with no nose. He glances at you with relative disinterest before dumping the canister onto the ground. You note a small yellow and black striped circle painted there in the light from the door and as he steps back you see motes and sparkles of blue light well up and consume the trash that was just dumped there.
Stephen Baristan |
Civilization means that the planet is habitable and it is also bad new as it means we will probably have to contend with resources once we brings the millions of survivors from Golarion. It also means to the will be increased chance of arousing suspicion before we can pass for natives.
he thinks for a second
We have to get out of this city now so that we can better come back later. it wouldn't do us good is we are trown in jail and then transpfered to some place for experimentation in the case they find out we are a race they have never seen Even tough these ere creatures that look like elves but with some difference. We will have a better chance as gaining information from far off farms and such where we can meet un educated folks that we can bluff. Every one ok with this?
Luthor Rowe |
"Such magic for simple trash!" Luthor gasped, emotion slipping into his usually steady voice. "If this is to be our home, it will be on the locals terms, not ours, that much is certain. Just think what other magic may be simply common household items in this place." He looked at once amazed and concerned.
"We should try to get to the roofs." He said after a moment, looking out on the street, trying to catch any obvious way to get topside without entering a building. "These buildings are so perfectly mirrored, once we get up there, jumping from one to the next should be possible."
If no obvious route to the roof is evident...
"We need to enter one of these taverns and get topside." He pulled his hood tighter over his head. "If we cover our differences up, it shouldn't be too hard to mingle." Waiting a moment for anyone to disagree, he then stepped into the street, making his way towards the tavern that seemed to have the most noise emanating from it.
Zoey Baristan |
"I'm not so sure about this plan, Luthor. If I noticed someone on the roofs, I'd be ever the more suspicious of them. I think our best chance to avoid unnecessary attention is to just try to blend in and appear as if we fit in. At least until we can make friendly contact or find a way out of this city," says Zoey closing her cloak tighter around her to cover her breastplate.
"I think it would be best to each peacebond our weapons, cover our armor and unobscure our faces. The more guarded we look, the less we will be able to blend in I'm afraid. None of us our masters of disguise so our features will just have to be taken as uncharacteristic at best."
Luthor Rowe |
"I doubt anyone would see us. Its dark and we would have the field of view to make sure noone sees us go from one roof to the next." He motioned at the houses. "We also do not know the extent of this city, or what direction to go to get outside of it the fastest. If nothing else, going to the roof will lets us get an idea of the scale."
He stroked his chin thoughtfully for a moment. "You make a good point about weapons though. We should wait and observe a while, see to what extent the locals carry arms. Walking around obviously armed if noone else is wouldn't exactly be incognito." He settled into the shadows, seemingly intending to commence the stakeout immediately.
"Im also curios to see what weapons they have around here."
Cassandra Hanata |
Cassandra looks around.
None of us our masters of disguise so our features will just have to be taken as uncharacteristic at best."
"Well about that, precautions are lifesavers."
Cassandra takes from her backpack 2 translucent cloth tubes and slides them over her arms. She'd use this to adapt her clothing to whatever is worn by women there. If those clothes include a hoodie, that'd be included.
I purchased Sleeves of many Garments. We'll see if the intended result comes on or not, with the new laws of magic.
The wearer of these sleeves can, when she slips them on, choose to transform her current garments into any other non-magical set of clothing. These new clothes fit her perfectly and are always clean and mended unless she specifically designates otherwise. When she removes the sleeves, her clothes revert to their original form.
DM Avian Aloft |
1d100 ⇒ 53
1d4 ⇒ 3
1d100 ⇒ 10
1d8 ⇒ 5
You feel the wild magic surge. Will saves please everyone but Cassandra
Your companion twists and bends horribly with a horrible crunching of bones until the form settles on the identical image of the creature who had come from the door, clothes and all.
It would be a fairly easy climb up to the roof on the bui;ding on the left,DC 15
Cassandra Hanata |
Haha. So to them i now have 4 arms. If that's what happens with a mere clothes altering illusion...
Casssandra looks down at herself.
"Hmm, well it's not Golarion fashion, but it looks allright to me.
...Why are you looking at me like that? It's not like i have just stripped, pull your jaws back up."
Stephen Baristan |
Will: 1d20 + 3 ⇒ (3) + 3 = 6
Cassandra you look like the creature we just saw, 4 arms and all he says with a smile
Everyone, it would be to hard not to make a mistake if we stayed in the city. We really should get out of here now so that we can better come back later, working our up upward in the information chain. Our group skill set was focused around survival in an non hospitable land. Not with infiltration, spy and information gathering. We must retreat first into the wilderness, test our magic, figure out what we can do with it here and then slowly work our way back. We have no local coins, no local knowledge and besides cassandra we are all terrible liars and such on top of the fact that we don't not yet what kind of languages they speak or is we have the correct local pronunciation. So raise your hood up, walks the streets and out of the city as fast as possible
Lex good idea, can you please climb up a building to asses the city view so you can find which way is out and how large of a city we are talking about?
Luthor Rowe |
Pfff.
Will: 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (3) + 7 = 10
Luthor raised an eyebrow at the rather horrific transformation, wincing once or twice at the crunchy sounds. "As I recall, those bracers didnt quite have that effect previously." He looked her up and down. "I didnt exactly get a good look, but it seems to be a complete copy. Definitely could be useful."
He sighed as he made his way to the wall. "Sometimes I lament my lack of magical talent, but for this mission, I must admit a certain amount of relief."
Cassandra Hanata |
Lol, i was actually joking with that, sorry if it gave off a different impression. It's more for the fluff.
"If the effect is consistent like back at our world, it should last until i remove these sleeves. For now this will hopefully work to our advantage. Speaking of which, you mentioned a tavern, it may provide useful. But if i now resemble a local, it could be a problem if they'd start asking questions."
Luthor Rowe |
Nah, I got the right impression, no worries. "Pfff" was supposed to mean blowing a raspberry ;) although looking now, thats not exactly what it normally means in text.
Hanging off the wall, Luthor stopped his ascend, looking down and calling in a whisper. "Try changing to look like one of us, get a feel for how it works."
DM Avian Aloft |
Will save DC 10 please to prevent from staggering off the roof at the sight, DC 10 reflex save to prevent yourself from falling if you fail that.
The view is staggering, the city is on a giant ring and you see stars all around. The ring appears to be moving and you see another ring even more distant out lit from something below you except where the shadow of your ring passes over it... and the shadow of another ring below you as well! It appears that the entirety of what you can see of this ring is all city. The ring above you seems to have a lot less buildings. In the distance to the "North" on your ring you see a massive cylindrical connector joining this ring to the distant one.
On the Ground: A strange being staggers into the alley. He appears to have purple skin but otherwise looks like an orc. He makes it nearly halfway to you before collapsing with a moan of pain. As you look closer he appears to have been stabbed.
Luthor Rowe |
Will: 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (6) + 7 = 13
"Woah..." Luthor muttered under his breath, standing slack jawed and for once not looking serious at all. "The magical trash disposal had my expectations high, but this...Well, it wasnt amongst my guesses." He added, talking only to himself in a low breathless whisper.
Regaining a measure of composure, he staggered to the edge, feeling his way towards it with his feet, eyes still firmly staring at the massive spectacle before him. "You have to see this." He called in a low whisper, oblivious to what was transpiring below him.
Luthor Rowe |
"What, oh, right." Luthor replied, having difficulty taking his eyes of the sights he was seeing. Finally focusing, he quickly got out his rope and tied it off, letting it drop down to Stephen. Noticing the purple orc, he quickly got out his bow, placing it on the ground but still grasping it, an arrow held ready in his other hand. "What are you doing!?" He hissed at them. "I thought we were going to avoid the locals for now."