As people begin to move around and look at the pallets, they begin to find equipment. Most of the equipment is similar to what they would have had, but it's not the same thing. For example, there are several falchions, but they are all exactly the same, and none look like the ones people had before.
There are 9 backpacks, 6 medium sized, and 3 small ones, laid out in a circle. All masterwork quality. But none of them are the ones people had before.
As people begin to look at each other, another change becomes apparent. Everyone has a small blue crystal in their foreheads. It's just above the point where their eyebrows would meet (for those who don't have eyebrows), and about a half inch in diameter.
Goghurt ignores the crystal in his forehead and dashes to the boxes and backpacks full of stuff, especially the small-sized backpacks, looking for things that would suit him. He grabs the formulae book that he finds and begins riffling through it with relief, and stands NONE OF ANYONE TAKING IT NO.
Besides that, he finds a pair of alchemists' fire (among others) and very gratefully clinks them together. A smile spreads across his face at the glassy sound.
Tolla groans as she wakes disoriented. As soon as she seems to gain some consciousness of where she is, and what happened, she looks down to see herself covered in a thin, ugly shift that feels like it will tear unless she remains perfectly still. She sighs in relief, but still hugs herself tightly with a vulnerable and embarrassed look on her face. She quickly makes her way over to the crates, and fishes out some clothing. She grabs armfuls of cloth and moves a couple crates around her for a make-shift fitting room of sorts, putting on a cotton tunic and wool skirt, as well as a belt and cloak. She pulls on some sturdy boots, amazingly enough in her size, before looking in the other boxes as well. She pulls her collection of backup alchemical gear, her set of weapons that she's fairly sure no one else here can use properly, and picks up one of the well-made looking backpacks, stuffed with items that are the same as what she used to own, if not the exact same ones.
Brushing her hair out of her eyes, Tolla's hand touches something hard on her forehead. She feels it more carefully, concerned, before noticing that everyone else also has a strange, blue crystal in the same spot. "Where the hell are we now?" she complains loudly, to no one in particular.
Cale Ignores the crystal on his head. He already had crystaline skin after all....
Uncaring of what the others may think, he stips and changes into his outfits revealing a heavily scarred chest, strapping on his armor and weapons first as he pull on his boot after checking his 'little' surprise, he begins to eye certain items in the pile. As the weight of familar items settle on him, he begins to carefully pick out his items, going through the pile more than once in order to pick out things to his satisfication including those he was sure he didn't have at the same place.
"In an unfamilar place such as these, grab what you need, and then we reconvene together in a aplce where we can watch each other backs. Then we discuss the important questions."
Holding onto his trusty nodachi, with all the other equipment in that well made backpack and other containters, he moves himself away from the pile and waits for the others.
Gniel goes around the pallet, searching for something.
Apparently he finds it as he squeals with delight.
"It's here. Oh how I missed you!"
He pulls out a lumpy little bag. He reaches in to pull out a few things to make sure everything is there. Springs, nuts, bolts, and washers of varying states of age are in there.
"And my SASHA is here too! Oh what joy! Oh wait, no it isn't. It doesn't have my marks...well it's similar enough, though the wiring seems a little off. Well I can fix that later."
He fiddles with what appears to be a elaborate set of goggles before setting it on his face. It whirs to life as he punches a button on the side. As he does so, he learns of the crystal in his forehead.
I wonder...
As he searches the pile, he finds more of the things meant for him things, including a book full of incomprehensible scribbles and drawings, rope, bedroll and blanket, a fancy bag, and a set of fine tools. His face falls however when he sees no repeater crossbow.
"All this, but not Margret or a repeater to replace her... I guess she must have been destroyed in the fire. Oh well, this will have to due for now."
He pulls out a small, light crossbow.
He puts his pile in his bag, but then struggles to put is on.
"You there. Oread. You look strong. Could I possibly trouble you to carry a few things for me?
The goggles whir to life, but they are extremely sluggish. It takes the 3 times as long to perform an analysis, and there's static and power fluctuations on the screen.
Subject : Crystal
Structure : UNKNOWN
Mana Level : ERROR
Probable Purpose : Scrying & Data Storage
Information : Unknown material, short range transmissions identified. Receiver in area.
Information : WARNING WARNING Power Level near exhaustion. Insufficient environmental mana to operate. Operator mana near exhaustion.
Before talking to the Oread, Gniel says to the group The crystals seem to be some sort of scrying and data storage device. There is some sort of receiver in the area. I imagine we should check it out
As an hour or two passes, and people sort through all the equipment and get their own gear squared away, they begin to notice that the sun is still directly overhead. However, it's no longer a full round disc. Instead, it's kind of oval shaped, like an eye now. The sunlight feels less than it was before as well.
The light in one direction seems just as bright as before, and in the other direction it seems darker than before.
Curiouser and and curiouser.
The ritual takes a LOT out of you. And it takes too long, almost 10 minutes, as if you were trying to reforge a connection with Relas. But finally, the glow comes into place, and Relas's body begins to form. But it's a slow process. Finally he steps forward though, his body once again fully formed.
Palomia draws some symbols on the marble, and spends ten minutes chanting, by the end she's trembling and sweat is pouring off her, but about 5 minutes in, a form begins to grow out of blue light, feline in nature. At the end of the ritual, a medium sized feline creature with a glowing rune on it's forehead steps out of the circle...
... and immediately stumbles and falls on it's side, panting. It's legs tremble and twitch. It let's out a pitiful mewling sound of pain.
You can't believe it, it's your summoner! After all this time, she summoned you again! You thought she was dead this last two years. But she finally summoned you. But it so hard, oh so very hard to make it to her. And the place she summoned you... there's no magic in the air.. oh gods it's so deprived of mana, it's like breathing in a vacuum.
When Palomia touches you, the pain will ease, there's mana in her you can use to survive, but she needs to transfer some of her weakened magic to you if you're going to be able to do more than lay here in pain and pant.
[dice=Perception]1d20+9
Curiouser and and curiouser.
Knowledge (Planes) or Knowledge (Geography).
Also, please see the discussion thread on how to set your alias's Race and Class bits so they contain the relevant GM information for me. Thanks.
Once Palomia touches him, his colors sharpen, and the pain begins to subside. He also starts breathing better.
This pain...this place...what place is this with no magic?
"Help me...there's no mana, no energy...it hurts...", he wheezes.
"A little of your power...please..."
"You there. Oread. You look strong. Could I possibly trouble you to carry a few things for me?
Cale looks down.
"I supposed so though I'm carrying abit of a load here. Indicating the barrel he's currently set down. but I should be able to squeeze a few more. What do you need carried?"
Not much, just some equipment. When we get the chance I can make a bag that will fit everything we would need, but for now, I'm afraid I can't carry much
He hands you a 17 pounds of stuff in a bag(small fighters kit and rations)
Cale takes it and attaches it to his already massive pack, making sure it's easily seen and accessible by Gneil if he's standing beside Cale.
"Tell me Gniel, if you think you can build a raft or something from among this equipment, we might need it sooner than we think."
Cale observes the rest of the people as well as over the horizon.
As Cale looks at the horizon, he realizes something is off. The platform must be very very high, given the ocean is not close.
Walking up to an edge, he looks down... and down... and down.. and down...
What must be a thousand feet down is the ocean. He also sees stairs winding their way down to what looks like some sort of dock.. a boat is in the dock.
The platform has six sides, and from what he can see, there are more stairs on the two other sides he can sort of see from the side he's on, with more stairs leading down to them. He thinks there might be a boat in each of those docks, but he'd have to walk to the other sides to confirm.
Cale looks down. It really goes down. Falling would be unpleasant.
"Hold that though Gniel. There's boats and they're really down there if you get my drift. Maybe it's for us to take though I see other docks that may have boats in it as well. We're going to need the water and those rations."
Gniel looks a little disappointed, having started already to gather supplies to build a raft.
He peers over the edge.
"Wow it's really down there isn't it. It will take for ever to walk down those stairs. Hmm..."
"Sorry about that. Only noticed this just a while ago."
Cale shrugs in apology towards Gniel.
"If we're going to be sailing, we'll need to move water and rations over. Think you can rig up something to make that easier? The barrel's heavy."
There is something I could try.
Gniel takes out his tools and starts rummaging through the gear. He places a lens over a tube with some sort of device inside and starts focusing his magic into it. .
The process is extremely draining, but Gniel manages to make a floating disk prototype. He's not sure if it will last the normal amount of time. By the time he's done priming it with mana, his body is sweating and his hands trembling. He's not sure if he has more than one more thing in him today.
Visibly shaken, Gniels says This should hold roughly 300 pounds of supplies, but there is something very wrong with magic here. I do not know how long it will last
That will keep Relas up and moving around and talking. But he's at -2 to all physical stats.
Tolla holds her hand up to her brow to look for the sun in the strange black sky, to note the time. Her eyes narrow, partly from the brightness and partly from the strangeness of what she sees.
Hearing the sound of an animal in pain, though, Tolla whips her head around toward Palomia and a strange feline creature panting on the ground. Ignoring the troubling sky for now, Tolla quickly walks over with a concerned look on her face. "Where did this cat come from?" she asks, sounding worried. When the thing speaks, she jumps back and clutches her chest. Looking it over again, she realizes that it doesn't look exactly like a large cat should look--or at least none that Tolla knows of. Still, her eyes grow soft and she steps a little closer again, crouching down before the creature and Palomia. "What's wrong? Can I help? Oh, your poor thing," Tolla croons, resisting the urge to smooth the strange talking cat-thing's fur.
Noting the struggle to carry everything away from where they were, Goghurt jumps into action. Taking out his alchemy kit, Goghurt mutters "Can do that, can do that." He takes out a couple of vials of different liquid and powder ingredients and begins to mix them together. "Goghurt can help!"
@Tolla - The sky is blue (although it's darkening as the sun becomes slimmer and slimmer). So is the ocean (again, darkening though). But when you look out, it's as if there was a curtain that starts somewhere in the heavens and drops to the ocean. Impossible to tell how far away it is, but it's in every direction.
Goghurt, you are able to mix up an extract, but it is a draining experience. Like others, you are left trembling and sweaty at the end. You think you might, might, have 2 more in you. But you're not sure.
As Palomia lays her hand on him and focuses, Relas can feel his pain gradually easing and some of his strength returning. He slowly gets to his feet.
This still isn't right...but it's better than it was!
He looks up to see Palomia's concerned face leaning looking down at him, as well as a strange human woman who also wears a look of concern.
"I think I'll be okay. Still feel weak, but I should be able to move around as long as I don't try to overdo it. Where are we, anyway? Hey! You made a friend while I was gone! I knew you could do it!"
He looks at the strange woman. "My name is Relas. What's yours?"
"When we leave, Goghurt says I drink this extract and then help carry things. Goghurt will be very strong."
He shoots a glance at Goragg, as if daring the hobgoblin to disbelieve.
Tolla raises a concerned eyebrow at Palomia. Consorting with summoned creatures was usually the work of cultists as far as she had heard of such things. But nothing about Palomia or Relas seems to say "devil-calling cultist," so she relaxes a bit. Plus, Relas seems very friendly, and very cute for an extraplanar creature. "My name is Tolla. Nice to meet you," she says, extending a hand toward Relas, unsure whether the large cat-thing will shake it or simply let her pet him.
|
Yes, but in a couple hours I will still be strong, and you will be weak and useless like the rest of your kind.
Feeling a challenge, Goragg begins to gather extra sacks and load them up with whatever leftover items he comes across (in no particular order).
You think you can out carry me, little one? Let's see you try.
Well, might as well grab some supplies. Rutheric does exactly that, taking what he needs and nothing more. So there's a boat down there? I propose we head that way. Not like there's any other way to go... The kappa looks querulously at Relas, wondering why one would use up quite a bit of strength merely to summon a cat. But if it helped them achieve whatever goal this Voice had in mind, he wouldn't complain. He picked up a few more things, taking care to put his personal supplies in waterproof bags in his backpack, and moved down the stairs. Let's get a move on.
Relas head-bumps Tolla's outstretched hand in typical feline fashion. "It's good to meet you, Tolla! It's also good to see that Palo seems to have made a friend while we've been separated. She'll have to tell me how...you..." His voice trails off as he looks around, finally taking in the rest of bizarre scenery around them.
"Wait, where are we? What is this? Who are those others scurrying around?
He spins suddenly to look at Palomia. "And what happened to YOU? It's been two years! I thought you were dead!"
Hold it. Rutheric stopped in his tracks.
Two years? That means...the forest is gone. Stumps everywhere. This...I failed. I don't get to change that. He drops his things he was carrying (taking care to place them down gently) and walks over to the large cat. How...how sure are you that it has been two years?
Relas looks at the small creature curiously, having never seen one before.
"I'm not really sure myself...maybe my link to Palo has something to do with it? It could be that it somehow gives me a sense of the passage of time on the Material Plane. But that doesn't have to mean that it's been two years for *you* or any of these other people", he says, trying to sound reassuring.
Cale tries to calm everyone down, as he shoulders his massive pack speaking to get everyone's attention.
"We can compare strength another time. Magic is currently unstable isn't it? I see too many of you sweating already and my gnome friend here seems exhausted though his movements speak of practice. We can also compare time later with the ermm friendly cat there later. What we need to do now is to claim a boat and leave this place. Staying here will get us no answers. Carry what we can and we shall go look for the boat that is seemly docked below us. I could also use some help with the barrel. We'll need water where we're going."
Moving with his usual gait, Cale makes to go down the steps, rolling the barrel carefully.
Gniel points the rod at the barrel, causing a force disk to appear under it.
This will be much easier, for as long as it lasts. Let's load the other rations on here as well.
"Agreed."
Without further ado, Cale begins to load the rations onto it.
As people begin to gather up and ready to move out, the air is split by a voice.
You don't hear any of this.