(1) Atalantia - Scourge of Magic

Game Master mdt

Like I said, the first two killed it

Connor saw little from the back where he was, so he felt rather than saw Selvan switch places with Alys, just as a sickly flash of purple light burned his vision. ::Whoa! Alys? Hero? Selvan?:: Connor said, ducking reflexively. ::Everybody speak up! Everybody all right?:: he asked.

Hero, Connor told his psicrystal, get back in the room and check everything out again. I don't want one of those balls of light coming after us. The psion had no idea if his constructs had finished off the life-energy-sucking balls of light or not. They should have followed orders, and gone out swinging.

::Good work, Selvan.:: Connor added. ::Much better than you being silent all the time. Good shooting, everyone.:: He started concentrating, mentally creating another construct out of ectoplasm at the outermost reach of his psionic ability.

Well that works. Just got home from a 12 hour shift riding with a big jolly jamaican delivering packages to people who don't want them in a shitty U-haul all over the northeren part of Atlanta.

[b]"Whose hurt"{/b] Selvan grunts.

Ouch, not a fun job

reflex with evasion: 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (14) + 8 = 22

"You are.", Alys says looking at Selvan, "but once you've taken care of yourself, I could use a little help too."

(Cleaning up the map - order of the good guys, Hero is back in Room 22, etc. We've still got images of two balls of light in the room, I'll let mdt remove those.)

Connor turned and checked Alys. Healing as Perception: 1d20 + 3 ⇒ (10) + 3 = 13 ::I think you escaped the worst of that 'death wave'.:: he told everyone. (I.e., no hp loss, 7/23.) Connor went and squeezed past Sammark, also checking him for burns. Healing as Perception: 1d20 + 3 ⇒ (16) + 3 = 19 ::Sam's hurt too.:: (19/28 hp) The humavian continued with his swarthy friend. Healing as Perception: 1d20 + 3 ⇒ (9) + 3 = 12 ::Reaghar avoided that last wave, I don't know how.:: (21/21 hp) Connor ended with Selvan. Healing as Perception: 1d20 + 3 ⇒ (12) + 3 = 15 ::But you took the brunt of it.:: (3/21 hp) ::And I only took that first 'wave' from the bigger ball of light.:: (8/15 hp)

(My one-minute Vigor has ended. Hero should be at the corpse by now.)

** spoiler omitted **

::All right, that is strange.:: Connor agreed. ::Hey everyone,:: he said over Selvan's Net, ::Hero says he's found a catfolk corpse, but it's solid stone. Halflings never had decorative statues made of other races in their cities, did they? We should go check it out.::

Connor mentally commanded the astral construct to go down the stairs into the room.

(A strategic withdraw may be in order. As in, what my RL gaming table used to call "Evacuate and let the National Guard handle this one.")

"I'm good for now, save the heals for the squishier of our number," Sam said, brushing off the concern.

"Tenfa?" Sam asked when the reports of the statue were filtered back.

Current HP: 8

Remind me is this the first encounter we had today?

Yes, first encounter

What hon? I don't have anything to do with statues, at least not catfolk statues. Maybe a cute cat statue, if it was made of gold... or platinum! Oooh, platinum, that would be nice... with emerald eyes the size of my fist!

::Tenfa,:: Connor asked, seizing the opportunity if the godling was listening, ::could you tell us any more about the person or persons who started putting 'vermin' in this city? We just defeated the largest ball of evilness I've ever seen, and I would not rather end up a stain on the walls in here if some self-proclaimed wizard is trying to establish a home. I can send in my astral constructs until they overwhelm a single creature, but we're all exhausted after that fight just now. If this statue is the man-cat we've been looking for, I'm rather inclined to go back to civilization outside and wait until we have an army, with halflings, to completely clean out this place. At the least we need rest and healing.::

Connor looked at the others. ::Should we rest and get our mindpowers refreshed? Or do we still go on? I could explore a few more rooms, but not if a magic-caster is waiting for us. I don't have enough mind-energy for another fight like the one we just had.::

(Asking the party if they want to go back to the central room and rest 8 hours and recover psionic power points and do some healing. If we're up against something that can cast Flesh to Stone (Sor/Wiz6), that's a pretty high-level wizard. If instead it's a creature, my astral constructs should be immune to petrifying attacks, but ever since the "all traps desk" I'm not 100% confident anymore. If this is Snowcoat, I don't have the psionic power to restore him, not until Level 11! We would be better off leaving him here, unbroken.)

Me? I have no idea what did it. Honestly I don't remember when they started showing up. As to an army of halflings, I'd dearly love it if that were possible. But there are... four halflings on the entire continent, and all four of them are about 1400 miles from you.

(24 hours later, no replies, so...moving on!)

Connor wondered if halvavians would count. Shrugging, he decided to actually enter the room to check out the stone corpse.

::I'll go check out the room while everybody else heals up. If I come back running, just go for the central room and don't stop until we can lock a door behind us!:: Connor told the others.

Walking down the stairs, Connor silently ordered the astral construct present to stay near him, since his ring's light was the only illumination in the room. Not that Hero couldn't see anyway, light or not, but after that huge battle Connor was still on edge. He wished he had a reliable weapon, like Alys' soulbolt-gun. He needed a farsight power. Or a tower shield. Or a healing mindpower. Or if wishes were horses. he berated himself.

Entering the columned room, Connor played his crystal light over the pillars. He felt rather than saw the way to his psicrystal, and slowly made his way to the corpse.
Perception (taking 20)=23

Looking around with his light, he observed the broken wall in the south end. Connor kept both the astral construct and the psicrystal alert, ready to retreat (full withdrawl) if anything outward appeared.

The statue of the catfolk is staring toward the east wall, an expression of what looks like surprise and consternation on it's face. It's an exquisite statue, everything on it perfectly carved stone.

The only thing on it not made of stone is an ornate pocket watch held in it's left hand. That is made of bright metal that looks like it might be adamantine. On it's face, twelve marks are made of diamonds. There are no hands on it though. An adamantine chain leads into the pocket of the statue's jacket.

The broken wall, on the other hand, looks like it was busted out from the other side, as stones are scattered around on the floor in a fan pattern (although the center of the fan seems to have been cleaned up enough to make easy walking). A pale white light shimmers in the doorway, pulsing from the top of the crack to the bottom. The crack is about 3 ft wide.

(I guess Connor is going to have to put a skill rank in Knowledge: Arcana or Knowledge: The Planes in order to figure out what can petrify creatures. Looks like a gaze attack, not a pecking attack. And nothing came to get the pocket watch back.)

::It appears,:: Connor relayed through Selvan's Net, ::to be a catfolk. I'm not completely positive it is Ragreth Snowcoat. And yes, I'm going to make an educated guess and say it was turned to stone by a magic-caster. So we should be - cautious.:: (It is missing two fingers on its' left hand, and its' left ear?) Connor used his autohypnosis (Autohypnosis:Memorize DC 15: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (18) + 6 = 24) to run through the notebook Lorieth Snowcoat gave him. The stone figure was looking east, towards three doorways unseen in the blackness of the room. ::We'll check the eastern doorways here LAST.:: Connor told the others.

Turning back to the brightness in the hole in the wall, Connor observed how the stone debris had been cleaned up. He didn't like the way Hero had described the previous balls of light being "shocked". I've got a plan, Hero. Connor told his other self. I want you to explore that hole in the wall, but I'm going to make an astral construct to protect you from the electricity. Just go in, take a look around, and tell me what you see.

Picking Hero up, he pushed the garnet into the chest of the construct, then had the construct cover the area with its' hands. Connor then told the astral being to walk quickly into and past the pulsing curtain, and release Hero afterwards. And if attacked, the construct would take Hero and dive back through the shimmering curtain into the room.

The statue is missing two fingers and part of it's left ear, yes

Sam approaches the shocking curtain and tries to ascertain how it operates.

Spellcraft: 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (1) + 7 = 8
Haha, nope.

::Snowcoat Senior confirmed. He's a statue.:: Connor sent through Selvan's Net. ::Now sending Hero through, oh, hello Sammark.::

::Keep going, Hero.:: Connor monologued for the others' benefit. ::The curtain isn't electricity? Large chamber, thirty to forty feet wide...another cave to the west...all right, you found gold- Hero? Hero?::

::I've lost contact with Hero.:: Connor declared. ::I don't like this. Sam, if anything comes into view, be prepared to run. I'm backing up out of here. I'm going to command the construct in there to pick up Hero and come back out; I'm sending in this construct to assist.:: Connor retreated, his ring's light turning to the door leading to the stairs. He sent the mental orders to both constructs. Get Hero and come back to me.

The second construct walks through the shimmery wall with no apparent harm, and vanishes into the darkness beyond.

"It isn't electricity and it keeps the death balls out?" Sam mused, "Some kind of opposite energy?"

"Life ball energy?" Alys jokes, "maybe it heals us!"

Connor continued mentally calling to both his psicrystal and his astral constructs. ::I'm at a loss as to what to do here.:: he admitted to his friends. ::We've found our bounty, and can now leave. But this city still holds secrets. I can make another construct, tie twine to it from my ball of string, and see if the curtain here is a portal to a faraway realm, or just a barrier. But why can't I contact Hero?::

There is no response from Hero, and the second construct doesn't respond or return.

"Blast it," Sam said and reached out to touch the energy curtain.

Wall Damage: 2d8 + 10 ⇒ (4, 8) + 10 = 22

Sammark's hand touches the wall, and white energy crackles and arcs over his body, arcing violently around and jolting into the ground. Sammark's hair stands on end and his body shudders.

"Gah!" Sam shouts, jolting back from the wall with as much speed as he can manage.

"Holyshitgoddamn!" He adds for good measure, still jittering from the energy, "I'm, I'm alright. Better than alright even." He checks himself over quickly, all his scabs and scrapes had healed.

::Sam, that's not the best course of-:: Connor broke off as he saw the half-elf touch the curtain over the hole in the wall. ::Sammark's hit!:: he relayed. Connor rushed over to Sammark, quickly checking him for injuries.
Heal as Perception: 1d20 + 3 ⇒ (14) + 3 = 17

::Sam's not hurt, I think. His skin looks cleaner, at least.:: Connor said over Selvan's Net.

Let's assume the healing happens before any shenanigans happen. Give me a bit to put it up.

1d6 ⇒ 5 Touch of pain on alys first.

Spend 3 pp to heal for 9

Total 17 now.

2d6 ⇒ (6, 4) = 10 two more heals on alys

She should be around 22 hp.

Selvan will spend 2 more pp to heal for 6 more

Feeling a bit better Selvan moves along with the others.

Kn(Planes) checks all around please.

Never mind, forgot Sammark is carrying the diamond.

Oooh, honey, you need to be more careful. If you'd held your hand in there another few seconds, you'd have painted the entire room. A mortal body can only handle so much positive energy. Someone set up a shunt.

"Well, if it cleaned him up, maybe it'll fix the stone guy."

::That is extremely unlikely.:: Connor told Reaghar. He tried to remember if there was a mindpower that could de-petrify people.
Knowledge: Psionics: 1d20 + 9 ⇒ (7) + 9 = 16

Nothing came to mind. ::We are up against some high-level magic here.:: Connor said. ::A wizard that can open portals, apparently to both a place of complete negative energy or positive energy. Snowcoat Senior was turned to stone. This wizard does not need to eat or drink, either, nor appreciates the light of the sun above. If we find him, do you think we can ask him politely to leave Tenfa's city?::

::None of my constructs have returned from that room, Connor telepathed over Selvan's Net, ::and I fear Hero may have been overcome by the energy of the place. I had thought a psicrystal would be immune, but not to that level of energy. And I cannot even send a construct to gather his remains.::

Connor walked over to the cat-man statue. ::We are in over our heads here. I don't want to end up like Snowcoat, and there is no one to come after us. This was a side trip, not our dedicated goal. We have knowledge that would let us return, later, when we are better prepared. Years later.:: Connor looked at the statue of the seela. Would it be possible to chip away at the floor, and remove the statue without harming it? He had just enough mindpower left to make constructs to carry the statue up the double stairs and to the outside.

(Edit) In the back of his mind, Connor kept calling for Hero to respond.

The statue does not appear to be attached to the floor.

Alys walks into the room after Selvan healed her up. "Let's not be disheartened by the guy's skill at making fancy doors. Is whoever did this even still around?"

"Any tips on setting up a shunt?" Sam asked Tenfa.

Oh deary, well, of course I know how to set up a shunt, but I can't for the life of me figure out how you'd do it. You don't have a magic bean amongst you, much less a wizard or sorcerer. I'm not sure why you'd want to set up another shunt, the one that's already there is pumping out quite enough positive energy as it is. Unless you intended to set up a shunt to the negative energy plane, which I really don't recommend, unless you want to really blow my ruins all the way back to your home. I mean, the last time someone set up shunts you didn't really enjoy... never mind. Just say it's a bad idea and leave it at that.

"Well, you havent jumped in there yet to get your crystal, so it must not have meant much. Make another? Let's leave."

::It's not like that, Reaghar.:: Connor replied, frustrated. ::Hero is my scout. He goes places I can't, or won't. I lost contact with him, but I don't think he's destroyed. Sammark touched that "curtain", and got zapped for it. Tenfa's telling us not to do that again. My constructs don't obey my commands once they're in that hole in the wall. I don't fancy blowing myself up just to see if it is a portal, or an effect. We could wait for Hero to return, but I don't know how long that will take. The constructs are good for five hours or so.::

Connor turned his ring's light back to the statue in the room. ::I think we could pry Snowcoat Senior off of the floor and take him with us. I'd prefer a wagon with a box full of straw, but I think I can manifest enough constructs to carry him back.::

Connor turned west, to the unknown egress from the pillared room. ::Or we could keep going and explore some more. That way, Hero might return by the time we are done.::

Oh my, I didn't say that, I said be careful. If you're wounded, taking a shower in positive energy is a good thing. If you're not, BOOM! Tenfa sounds entirely too merry about the 'boom' part. I remember the look on one of my high priest's face when he suddenly arrived in front of me. He had been stealing a big fat diamond from Alcinea's temple, took it right out of her statue's right eye. He'd loaded up on every type of energy resistance he could think of, and then buffed himself up and even used a few spells to augment his life force and make himself heal rapidly like a troll does. You can imagine the look of consternation on his face when removing the eye opened a shunt and doused him with positive energy and all his preparations made his body go BOOM all the faster. Poor Kliveth, he was so absolutely embarrassed over how she got him.

"Let's look around a little more then. Worst comes to worse and we come back here when we have some nicks and scrapes," Sam said, trying to fix his hair after the exposure to the positive energy.

::That sounds better. I'll keep telling Hero and the constructs to come back to us. Meanwhile, going west!:: Connor said over Selvan's Net. He formed another astral construct to act as a scout, albeit without Hero's ability to see in the dark, but Connor had the construct use its' natural darkvision to watch for traps.

Connor had the construct start walking down the exit to the left of the room.

West is a corridor, not a door

Walking west with his construct, Connor finds a small chamber with a statue of a halfling, a woman, but not Tenfa. She's dressed in chain armor, which is damaged. The woman looks injured, but inordinantly pleased with herself. She wields two wickedly curved daggers. Under neath her the inscription reads in very hard to follow Halfavian.

Kalistha Shadowblades - Ogrebane and Founder of Ogre Glenn Clan

Beyond the chamber, the hallway curves like a snake and finally ends up at a door.

(You posted in Discussion, mdt, not Gameplay. :) )

::First up is...a statue. A real one this time. Looks like a founding member of the city.:: Connor said out loud over Selvan's Net. ::Apparently the halflings had trouble with ogres, but not for long.::

Connor looked behind him. ::You guys and gal coming?:: he asked.

----------------

Ending at the door, Connor mentally sent another call to his psicrystal, who he needed right now. This is the living quarters? Connor thought to himself. I don't see a nursery or an old folks' convalescent center or anything like that. More like rooms for the rich and noble. ::I found a door. I'm checking it out.:: he mentally "called" over his shoulder. Keeping the astral construct out of the way, Connor inspected the lock and edges of the door.

Perception: 1d20 + 1 ⇒ (17) + 1 = 18 (Close, but no cigar. Let's do this the slow way.)

Connor decided to be cautious and take his time while he waited for everyone else to catch up.

Perception taking 20 = 21

No traps, but the door is locked.

No response from Hero.

Selvan putters along wearing an alert but bored expression.

Disable Device: 1d20 + 6 + 2 + 3 ⇒ (2) + 6 + 2 + 3 = 13
(I will find you in a dark alley, Dicebot, and then we'll see who has the last laugh!)

Disable Device Redux: 1d20 + 11 ⇒ (11) + 11 = 22

Connor grunts and works on the door again, and eventually the lock snicks open. He opens the door to look in, and see's purple light.

Init Alys: 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (18) + 7 = 25
Init Connor: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (13) + 4 = 17
Init Reaghar: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (12) + 5 = 17
Init Sammark: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (5) + 4 = 9
Init Selvan: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (1) + 4 = 5

Init Elementals: 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (3) + 7 = 10

Alys, Connor, Reaghar, Elementals, Sammark, Selven

"More energy balls!", Alys steps around the corner and fires a shot at the elemental to the left.

Attack: 1d20 + 9 + 1 - 3 ⇒ (3) + 9 + 1 - 3 = 10 probably has cover
Damage: 1d10 + 7 ⇒ (10) + 7 = 17

Connor saw the purple light flashing from across the room and swore profusely. He scrambled, grabbing his lockpicks and squeezing past the others to the back of the line in the corridor. His mind quickly commanded the lone construct to alter into battle mode and attack.

(20-ft move up for the construct, 15-ft move back for Connor, will move all the way to behind Selvan next turn.)

AC3 slam attack on the first ball of light: 1d20 + 1 ⇒ (17) + 1 = 18 (Rounds: 5; HP: 15; AC 18, touch 13, flat-footed 16)
Dmg if hit: 1d6 + 5 ⇒ (6) + 5 = 11