GM icehawk's wrath of the rightious

Game Master icehawk333

Anvina, after a moment, looks to azlana. "so, uhm. I have... An odd question. Is... My being a drow odd?" she seems... Confused, in quite a few ways.

Meanwhile, the party comes to a small shaft ahead that leads up at a rather sharp angle, but seems to have cracks and footholds that almsot seem delibratly placed. It shouldn't be much harder then climbing a ladder to get up.

Azlana grabs the invisibility potion so it doesn't get left behind.

____

Azlana picks up the spellbook to see what is in it.

She responds to Anvina:

Well, living as a drow above ground is very unusual. I'm surprised by it, yes. You seem confused about yourself, and your memories don't always seem to match apparent reality, but I didn't want to say anything until you were ready to talk about it. Are you ready now?

The women continue walking with the party during this conversation... we aren't holding anything up. Also, if someone else wants the potion, just say the word. She isn't necessarily claiming it. Just holding it in case it is needed.

the spellbook contains the following spells, with the following spellcraft DC's to read them without read magic.
Detect secret doors, fog cloud, grease, invisibility, blur, levitate (DC 22)
Color spray, Mage armor, Magic missle, resist energy, shocking grasp, silent image. (DC 21)

"y-yeah, I think i'm ready."

those in the front, at the top of the roughly 60ft incline, there's a silvery shimmer- the ooze, again.

Spellcraft: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (6) + 5 = 11

Hmm. Can't make anything out. Must be arcane. Anyone else want to try?

To Anvina:

So, what do you remember? Were you changed somehow into a drow... do you have memories of being a human? Or do you think that you were a drow all along, and just disguised somehow?

"I've just always been a drow. No-one questioned it. No disguise, nothing. I may as well have been human, because it seems... No-one noticed."

Until now? ... Why were you asking me if I thought it was odd? You must have some cognitive dissonance going on there. How could no one notice? Have you ever been sensitive to bright light?

Until now? ... Why were you asking me if I thought it was odd? You must have some cognitive dissonance going on there. How could no one notice? Have you ever been sensitive to bright light?

"... No, no issues with bright light. No-one even called me a drow. I've got no idea. I'm very confused."

And you remember looking in the mirror and at your own body and seeing what is there now, so you feel that nothing has changed?

I'm assuming the rest of us can hear this?

"I think something changed," Haruto interjects. "I don't think you were born a drow. It just doesn't make sense. Something changed you... and I'm worried it's a step ahead of us."

Azlana glares at Ueto, worried that his comments would scare Anvina into silence again. What he said was her concern as well, but blurting it out like that wasn't helping.

Instead of addressing what she remembered seeing when they all fell down into the cave system, she waits to see how Anvina will react to this new interjection.

"I..."
Anvina shivers a bit.
"but I remember... How could such a thing be possible?"

I think Ueto is right. Something must have changed you, and it might be the silvery something that we've been encountering. Something like it seemed to be in your hair when I first saw you.

She motions Ueto over, relieved that Anvina hasn't gone silent, and now hoping he can help.

Ueto, do you remember the moment when we fell down here, and were rescued? Was there a drow in the group that was saved, while we were falling?

Haruto seems completely oblivious to Azlana's glare as he gazes at... or more like past Anivia. "I don't remember... I was distracted at the time, not really paying attention to people..." He murmurs, memories of his dreams crowding in on him again.

[dice=Spellcraft]1d20+5

Hmm. Can't make anything out. Must be arcane. Anyone else want to try?

To Anvina:

So, what do you remember? Were you changed somehow into a drow... do you have memories of being a human? Or do you think that you were a drow all along, and just disguised somehow?

hanna casts read magic and squeals in excitement at seeing so many second level spells and even a couple first level spells she didn't already know! "this basically doubles the spells in my spellbook. I might need to practice a few of them though

She listens quietly to the discussion on the girl turned drow and frowns "just raises more questions about what is that thing and what does it want?"

Anyway, doesn't matter says Azlana to Anvina. I saw quite clearly, and there was no drow. There was a human woman... who is not here now. Somehow when you came down here you must have changed. What I can't figure out is why you don't realize it... and why the change in you seems to be so harmless, since you remain sane and even kind, but (if it is the same thing) how it is warping others like that dwarf into evil parodies of themselves.

Anyway, doesn't matter says Azlana to Anvina. I saw quite clearly, and there was no drow. There was a human woman... who is not here now. Somehow when you came down here you must have changed. What I can't figure out is why you don't realize it... and why the change in you seems to be so harmless, since you remain sane and even kind, but (if it is the same thing) how it is warping others like that dwarf into evil parodies of themselves.

Azlana falls quiet again, for a while, then mentions "did you consider the dwarf might have been evil in the first place? I mean, he was living in what I can assume to be exile..."

"he also might already have been crazy. Our information isn't complete enough to draw any real conclusion" is there a way around the shimmer?

Those are both good points/b] Azlana says. Maybe the gray stuff isn't inherently evil... it just enhances what people already are.

To Anvina
Although... I wonder if you had some drow blood in your ancestry somewhere. Do you have a family? Children?

"no children. My wife, irabreth is the only family I have left, and... Oh.. Oh, what is irabreth going to think?"

you can Probobly get around the shimmer once you get to the top of the 60 foot incline, yes.

Hanna takes point if no one objects and slowly moves to do so, wary of the puddle, her weapon is drawn and her off hand is held in the opening hand position to begin casting as quickly as possible if need be, but she hopes she doesn't have to. Her resources down here were hardly infinite and even if she had enough castings it would hardly be a good time to look for more bat guano or newt eyes.

To Anvina:

I'm sure Irabreth will love you, no matter how you've changed. It might take some time to adjust, but I'm sure she married you for who you are inside, not just what you looked like.

____

Azlana and the elves follow Hanna.

anvina composes herself for a moment.
"y... You're right. Sorry."
as the group climbs the incline, the slime flees again, off into the darkness. It's a long walk once they get to the top. Horgus, suprizingly, actually does make good on his word and is near the front. He doesn't really seem afraid. Dispite all his complaining and whining, it seems there's something more focused in the man. It's another 30 minutes before anything else is come across.

anyone who wishes to, feel free to talk to and make diplomacy checks on any NPC you haven't made checks with yet.

"You've no reason to apologize. We're just trying to help," Haruto says to Anivia, with a distant smile.

"so horgus, you seem to know your way around a blade pretty decently, how'd you come about that skill?

"You've no reason to apologize. We're just trying to help," Haruto says to Anivia, with a distant smile.

"I... Thank you."

"so horgus, you seem to know your way around a blade pretty decently, how'd you come about that skill?

"I trained with the rapier in my yard. Never... Real combat, but I did train."

Rolling Diplomany for all NPCs since I have talked to all of them fairly recently

Diplomacy Anvina: 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (15) + 8 = 23
Diplomacy Aravahnial: 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (20) + 8 = 28
Diplomacy Horgus: 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (14) + 8 = 22

Hannah nods understanding this " in times of peace it's good exercise, in times of war it could save your life. Good on you for recognizing this truth that Fortune favors those who Make their own luck"
[dice]1d20+3[dice]

Haruto lapses into silence as the group travels. Had the silver rain from his dream been a symbol of Terendelev's fall, or did it have something to do with this odd ooze they kept encountering? What was this ooze, for that matter? And what was happening aboveground now?

the cave soon widens again, opening to a large cavern, about seventy feet across. Cylindrical rock formations along the walls arch up to make a domelike chamber, but the walls and floor are riddled with cracks. At the center of the cave, a stone tower that may have once reached the fifty foot high ceiling has collapsed unto it's side. In the darkness ahead, a voice calls out and a muffled voice replies.

there is no map here.

Haruto frowns faintly. "Who's that?" he asks no one in particular, and starts walking forward.

Azlana keeps her bow out as they move forward.

perception: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (8) + 5 = 13
Hanna smiles at the sounds of voices People! Maybe someone who knows the way out or a sign we're getting close! she thinks and is about to call out when a thought occurs to her or it's more monsters like that tentacled wizard freak'. She looks to the others and whispers "what do we do?"

Lothar grins as he whispers in response, the irony not lost on him even if he's never heard the word before, "The same thing we have been doing: Proceeding with caution."

as the group approaches, and light is cast over the tower, two people can be seen- a strange man with half his face that of a beautiful elven man, with a ram horn curling from his head, and the other half of his face covered in scales, with a serpent eyes. His lanky form and fingers that seem to mostly be large, spadelike claws shift nervously as he whirls around and adopts a defensive stance. The woman next to him, a similarly lanky woman, does more or less the same, taking a defensive posture. The bottom of her face is covered in tumors, and these tumors extend behind her to the back of her neck. The two give nervous glances to each other, then back to the party. The man speaks up in a raspy voice.
"if your intentions are ill, we ask you to move on and leave us in peace. If they are good, perhaps you can help. As you can see, misfortune has befallen us."
He gestures to the tower, where the muffled voice is coming from. A large portion of it has been dug out, and a large rock of it is still on top of what seems to be a hard to see humanoid figure.

Haruto looks at the others. "I, for one, say we should help," he states.

Azlana moves forward to help, hoping that it isn't an ambush.

might I ask how you came to look the way you do? Hanna asks as she moves to help shift the rubble.

Upon seeing the collapse, Lina immediately stows her weapons. "Yes, of course," she says. Her eyes linger on the serpent-man, but she pulls her eyes away and says nothing about it as she moves to help.

those who want to help, make a str check, max 6 people. The person with the highest bouns will be used as the main roll and the rest will be aid another.

azlana: 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (14) + 2 = 16
hanna: 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (10) + 2 = 12
Lina: 1d20 + 1 ⇒ (7) + 1 = 8

Are those the strength checks of those who already volunteered to help, or are we making another roll?

Haruto stays back. "I doubt I would be any help," he states.

Strength is not his, ahem, strong suit.

"you can try with some of the smaller rocks
you have a 55% chance of adding a +2, and a 45% chance of nothing happening

I suppose, though there are eight people and six spots, so I could possibly take a spot someone more suited to it could take.

"I guess..." Haruto replies, uncertainly.

He comes over and looks at the rocks with an air of faint confusion, before pitching in and doing his best to do... something.

Str: 1d20 ⇒ 12

Are those the strength checks of those who already volunteered to help, or are we making another roll?

the str check of those who already volenteered.

Lothar does not speak immediately, instead gazing intently at the two monstrous creatures before him and the one currently trapped under the rock. Anybody paying attention will see his eyes change color - the blue of his irises and the black of his pupils nearly disappear beneath a cloud of white.

Cast Detect Evil

no evil here.

Lother gives himself a mental shrug and walks over to the largest rock pinning the buried member of the new group. He feels around for the best set of handholds, and with a couple of deep breaths and a primal scream, Lothar lifts.

bloodrage strength check: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (14) + 5 = 19

with everyone's help, the rocks are soon pulled away, helping crel escape. The two definety seem happy, helping crel to her feet. "thank you, travelers." the goat-lizard-man says. "my name is lann. Is there anything we can do to aid your group?"