Lanwin moves up and continues to attack the modron beside him.
Lanwin moves up and continues to attack the modron beside him.
That takes that one out. That leaves two left -- one on either side of Pinna.
We must keep one alive to interrogate. But as for the other? I'll take umbrage with him. With that, he promptly hurls another acid orb at the nearest opponent flanking Pinna .
We must keep one alive to interrogate. But as for the other? I'll take umbrage with him. With that, he promptly hurls another acid orb at the nearest opponent flanking Pinna .
Pinna hit the same one a couple of times. The modron that Pinna moved away from dimension doors away. The one Pinna just hit will attempt to do the same. (Pinna gets to take an attack of opportunity.)
About the same time as all this, a large squad of modrons appears on the scene led by this guy. He calls out in a big voice -- [biggger]"Beings! Cease these hostilities at once. You are all under arrest and must accompany me to received judgement."[/bigger]
DC should then be 10 + 11 = 21, correct?
Concentration check -->
Looks like both the ones left alive got away.
About the same time as all this, a large squad of modrons appears on the scene led by this guy. He calls out in a big voice --
About the same time as all this, a large squad of modrons appears on the scene led by this guy. He calls out in a big voice --
I'm taking a risk asking him what he thinks is favorable, but it ought to be better than what's likely to happen here next. I still have those teleport scrolls, but we'd have to leave someone behind. It's one of those days where I wish I could cast feather fall.
Pinna nods and drifts casually to U-10 [or whatever square would put her between E. and the squad]. She bows to the head honcho.
"We were just attacked by a group claiming to be lawful authorities here. Please show us your badges of office, or other tokens of your authority in this place."
Pinna nods and drifts casually to U-10 [or whatever square would put her between E. and the squad]. She bows to the head honcho.
"We were just attacked by a group claiming to be lawful authorities here. Please show us your badges of office, or other tokens of your authority in this place."
"Your group was seen attacking other modrons in this area. Although I no longer see them. Where did they go?"
Pinna pokes one of the yellow bodies with a clawed toe. "This is them. It wasn't them before but they changed into them." She peruses the tokens of office, clacking her beak suspiciously and rather disappointed that the dude actually produced them.
Pinna pokes one of the yellow bodies with a clawed toe. "This is them. It wasn't them before but they changed into them."
"You must be lying. What you say is impossible. You are adding more charges to your offenses -- what really happened to the modrons that were here?"
Pinna puffs up and gives the head dude a cold stare. "I do not lie. You lie by saying I lie."
She whispers, "Hurry, E."
Pinna puffs up and gives the head dude a cold stare. "I do not lie. You lie by saying I lie."
She whispers, "Hurry, E."
He is surprised and startled that you said that he is lying. "If these beings were capable of actually changing shapes to look like modrons," he looks around at your group, "I have difficulty believing that you would have been able to have dispatched them so easily. And illusion spells have no effect here -- unless one of you would like to prove this wrong..."
starts whispering in draconic, mostly to himself. Draconic:
Elysia! Could you come here for a moment, my dear? The nice gentlemen here would like to see an illusion. Do you have anything creative you'd like to show off? Surely you do have something for ... he turns to face the modron ... what is your designation again? I may have not heard you clearly the first time. My apologies.
With all this gesticulation, he mumbles in between pauses the phrases for a message cantrip and touches E. on the shoulder.
oh gods, the fate of the multiverse is in the hands of crazed halflings.
Vassago refrained from gritting his teeth.
This time.
"I'm not clear on whether they were using illusions or polymorph magic. In any event, if we are to be held accountable for injuring some modrons, where are the victims? I see none of your people who have been harmed in any way. Surely you must have standards of evidence here." Lanwin is getting a little more accustomed to this lawful nonsense.
"Oh, I'd love to. I do have some especially nice ones. Let's see if they work," she said cheerfully. "Although I think that Lanwin is right about them using some kind of polymorph." She shrugs. "No matter. Don't worry," she said to the modron in charge. "I'm just trying to conjure an image to see if what you said about illusions is still working. Nothing dangerous at all. Hmm....I think maybe the one with the rainbows and and dancing unicorns...maybe I should throw in a few juggling griffins. Everybody likes juggling griffins..."
Well, it works.
And suddenly there are lots of screams -- you'd think that you just cast fireball on them. Some of them start muttering about the end of the universe. A few just sit down and almost ... turn off.
He approaches the image and puts his hand through it. And again. And again. And again. It's almost like no matter how many times he does it, he doesn't believe it. Eventually he turns to you again -- "Why are you here?"
Elysia! Could you come here for a moment, my dear? The nice gentlemen here would like to see an illusion. Do you have anything creative you'd like to show off? Surely you do have something for ... he turns to face the modron ... what is your designation again? I may have not heard you clearly the first time. My apologies.
With all this gesticulation, he mumbles in between pauses the phrases for a message cantrip and touches E. on the shoulder.
** spoiler omitted **
oh gods, the fate of the multiverse is in the hands of crazed halflings.
Vassago refrained from gritting his teeth.
This time.
"Huh, buh, whuh?"
<Emphatically nods>
"Good show, Elysia!"
He is surprised and startled that you said that he is lying. "If these beings were capable of actually changing shapes to look like modrons," he looks around at your group, "I have difficulty believing that you would have been able to have dispatched them so easily. And illusion spells have no effect here -- unless one of you would like to prove this wrong..."
After the illusion spell works Sebastian looks grim
"It would seem that dark things are afoot in this place. Somehow, creatures of chaos have managed to infiltrate here, and are aware that the laws of this place have been changed. That points to a larger, hiddden antagonist at work against both us and your modron folk."
"It would seem that dark things are afoot in this place. Somehow, creatures of chaos have managed to infiltrate here, and are aware that the laws of this place have been changed. That points to a larger, hidden antagonist at work against both us and your modron folk."
"Hidden...where? And, again, why are you here? What is your purpose in Regulus?"
What is your designation, modron?
I do not need to go into detail about your Great March as commanded by The One and The Prime every seventeen years, correct? Your next one is not due for four more years, but I fear for the sake of the multiverse we cannot wait that long. For as you have witnessed with your own eyes, Law is descending into Chaos. We seek a key we are told can be found in Regulus that is one of that can be inserted into a device which draws its power from all of the concordant planes to keep Law - and Chaos - in balance; but to prevent it from engaging as it leads into complete annihilation if we do not retrieve them quickly.
Speaking of the Primus, has anyone noticed His whereabouts ... or the lack of His whereabouts? Surely there has been nervous whispers? Especially when protocol appears to be in conflict with standard procedure. Analyze this for yourself, modron. Search your logic and rationalize accordingly. Remove the fetters that blind you. Or else what Elysia has demonstrated to you moments ago is merely a prelude to what madness will come forth. Do you want to contemplate the odds of your survival? Or would it be easier for you to just shrug aside what I say as madness?
En passant. Your move.
What is your designation, modron?
"I am the '5th of 49'."
Speaking of the Primus, has anyone noticed His whereabouts ... or the lack of His whereabouts? Surely there has been nervous whispers? Especially when protocol appears to be in conflict with standard procedure. Analyze this for yourself, modron. Search your logic and rationalize accordingly. Remove the fetters that blind you. Or else what Elysia has demonstrated to you moments ago is merely a prelude to what madness will come forth. Do you want to contemplate the odds of your survival? Or would it be easier for you to just shrug aside what I say as madness?
En passant. Your move.
He looks around at the other modrons and they begin to leave.
"What you say is true. You are well informed for outsiders. If you are done here ...", as he motions to the dead gith, "...I request that you come with me. He was last seen in the Cathedral. Something happened there and he was suddenly gone. He is not dead or we would have a new Primus. Perhaps with your additional ... information ... you will find something at the Cathedral that we might have missed."
Thank you, designation 5th of 49th, for taking my words seriously. We shall accompany you to the the Cathedral to seek what needs sought. My only request if there is any way that we may have some writ of passage so that we may not be assigned erroneously as unfriendly combatants to other roving squadrons? As you can see here, we ran into some trouble with duplicity. Or if you or another designation are to be assigned to accompany us during our stay in Regulus, we would be most appreciative.
What am I saying here?
Thank you, designation 5th of 49th, for taking my words seriously. We shall accompany you to the the Cathedral to seek what needs sought. My only request if there is any way that we may have some writ of passage so that we may not be assigned erroneously as unfriendly combatants to other roving squadrons? As you can see here, we ran into some trouble with duplicity. Or if you or another designation are to be assigned to accompany us during our stay in Regulus, we would be most appreciative.
** spoiler omitted **
** spoiler omitted **
"I will be accompanying you as you will need to be escorted by one of my level or greater."
By my account, there were a number that were damaged. I show...
Lanwin -- 8
Pinna -- 25
Vassago -- 9
E. -- 17
Elysia -- 0
Ra's-ug -- 47
Sebastian -- 16
The number is how much damage they took -- by my record.
"I can help with some healing as well."
<In a stage whisper to Vassago>
"Why does it sound like you drop the 'd' in 'modron' alot. Does the weird mask make it difficult to pronounce that letter properly?"
Lanwin channels positive energy to heal his allies . If anyone needs more than that, E and I can sort you out.
"Thank you; I am well enough. Save yourselves in case we are accosted the next time we attempt to ask for directions or buy an ale."
Lanwin channels positive energy to heal his allies 4d6. If anyone needs more than that, E and I can sort you out.
Pinna -- 12
E. -- 4
Ra's-ug -- 34
Sebastian -- 3
"I can help with some healing as well."
<In a stage whisper to Vassago>
"Why does it sound like you drop the 'd' in 'modron' alot. Does the weird mask make it difficult to pronounce that letter properly?"
<returning stage whisper to E.>
You heard correctly. Because they're not going to notice you looting through the bodies to see if there are anything of value to help us save the multiverse. I believe it is fair compensation given the inconveniences they've caused us. Maybe they may have some svirfneblinium in their pockets?
O_O
"Oooooh. Svirfneblinium! Let me check!"
<Rummages through yellow creatures' pocketses>
Search:
"This pocket lint might come in handy."
O_O
"Oooooh. Svirfneblinium! Let me check!"
<Rummages through yellow creatures' pocketses>
silver
5 200gp small opals
Spellcaster had...
magic headband
magic bracers
magic cloak
magic ring
The leader had...
magic longsword
magic shortsword
magic breastplate
magic belt
magic ring
magic cloak
The three others had each...
magic longsword
magic breastplate
magic shield
magic cloak
"Hidden...where? And, again, why are you here? What is your purpose in Regulus?"
"If I knew where the foe was hid I would challenge him to open combat. We are here to discover who is causing these problems and stop their perfidy. I think going to the Cathedral to investigate is a good first start."
Pinna peers over E.'s shoulder to see if he found anything shiny. "Oooh.!"
After you collect items from the dead, you start to follow "5" through the streets. Everything seems to be rather well organized -- buildings are clearly marked and in the same places, buildings that would see a lot of use are available at regular intervals, the buildings themselves seem to be built very much for function and don't have a lot of extra decorations to them.
Pretty soon, you can make out a large tower coming up quick. On the way to the tower, you see a lot of Modrons -- and little else in the way of other creatures. And the closer you get to the tower, the Modrons seem to be more focused on looking for something rather than fixing or maintaining like usual.
Eventually you make it to the Cathedral itself. "5" talks to the guards at the entrance and vouches for you and you are allowed entrance.
When you enter, the sight before is breathtaking. The tower rises many, many stories -- and it seems to be largely hollow inside. There are different levels and places along the outskirts where there are some Modrons working on various devices or other things, but everything seems dwarfed by what is in the center of the building. Right now, it just looks like it's a complicated sculpture, but you are pretty sure that it is meant to move. There are spheres, and disks, and gears, and all sorts of things that look like they are meant to move all around and through each other.
"5" looks at you and says -- "Mechanus stopped moving. Primus was going to try and find out why. He was last seen coming here. Perhaps you can find where he is now."
"Who saw him last? Was he seen actually entering the building?"
"Who saw him last? Was he seen actually entering the building?"
"I am not certain who saw him last. He cleared the Cathedral when he went in -- not an unusual thing for him -- and when he didn't emerge, Modrons were eventually sent in to investigate."
"What happened to those that were sent to investigate?"
"What happened to those that were sent to investigate?"
"They emerged reporting that Primus was no where to be found."
"Are there other ways out? Does magic work in the Cathedral?"
"Are there other ways out? Does magic work in the Cathedral?"
"There are a number of ways in and out -- but all those ways in here are and were guarded."
"Magic does work here -- at least magic that is supposed to work. Illusions are not supposed to work anywhere on Mechanus so I'm unaware if that change has affected things here."
"Hmmm. Now that you mention it ... it isn't too unusual for Primus to take a Modron into the Cathedral only to emerge alone. Of course it is Primus and so we never thought to question 'how' or 'why'. And for that matter, Primus could have simply teleported the Modron elsewhere -- but there may be a magical 'exit' that we don't know about."