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The benefit of being unseen is that nobody knows where or when you're going to appear next. Nor do they know what you're going to do, until it's too late to stop you.
Thus it was with Hamza. Power drove him. It's part of what brought him down here in the first place. The potential to gain more power, through alliances, death or seizing on the right opportunities.
Opportunities such as this font of power before them. Power that could threaten Athas the Kreen said. That is power he would have, if he could.
He steps into the shadows, only to suddenly appear in the middle of the vortex.
Hamza feels the ancient power of the Red God surge through him.
"No!" Ri'Kli'Klek shouted as soon as he saw Hamza within the vortex. Without thinking he charged forward and grabbed for him, trying to drag him out of the vortex.
...and thereby exposing himself to the vortex, as well.
"No!" Ri'Kli'Klek shouted as soon as he saw Hamza within the vortex. Without thinking he charged forward and grabbed for him, trying to drag him out of the vortex.
...and thereby exposing himself to the vortex, as well.
[dice=Combat Maneuver]1d20+10
The power of the Red God surges through the kreen.
As Hamza and the kreen bath in the vortex, Amunets curiosity 6 takes over and she steps in as well to see what happens. How else should she report about it?
(1). Everyone gets this feat as a free feat:
Physical Paragon
[Horrifically Overpowered]
You are the peak of physical perfection
for your race.
Benefit: Your Strength, Dexterity, and
Constitution are a base of 18 (before racial
and level-based adjustments). If you take
this feat at first level and roll for ability
scores, you may only roll for your mental
statistics. For example if your campaign
normally has new characters roll six times
for ability scores, rolling 4d6 and take the
best 3 each time, you are only allowed to do
this three times (using the values for your
Int, Wis, and Cha). If you take this feat at 1st
level and use a point-buy for ability scores,
you get only half as many points (round up)
to buy your mental ability scores.
(2). Everyone gets an additional 'bin' of feats. These are equal to the number of feats a fighter of your same character level would possess. The 'bonus' feats for this bin must be spent on combat feats.
(3). Everyone recalculates Vigor, adding their constitution bonus to their Vigor scores.
Elemental Vortex:The power of the Red God surges through the kreen.Make the following alterations to your character:
(1) You obtain an additional 'bin' of feats. These are equal to the feats you would gain as a Fighter of the same level as your current character. These feats can only be spent on combat feats.
(2) You increase in size by one size category.
(I'm trying to tailor the bonuses to each character; everyone is getting some more feats; I let Hamza calculate his Vigor and Wounds from a different base stat and gave him an overpowered feat that increased his physical stats. I'm trying to figure out a physical bonus that is useful for an unarmed combatant. Give me any suggestions if you don't think the size increase is useful).
Still inspecting his transmogrified rope, Jimbli cocks head as he notices Amunet-Ra heading in... "You sure you don't wanna think about it for a second?" She is already within the vortex by the time Jimbli finishes his sentence.
Skeptical... he waits for some comment from the three who went in before making any judgment.
Looking at Jimbli, Amunet-Ras eyes widen as the red motes sink into her. She gasps loudly as spasm run through her body and some form of transformation takes place, but it is all over in seconds.
There's disbelieve in her eyes as she looks down her hands and body, then around.
This is amazing. I feel a lot stronger and more powerful than before. I can now understand, how they dominated the world back in the day. Don't be afraid Jimbli, while the source might be doubtable, the effect is useful. We probably will need any advantage we can get in the days to come to fight this ancient evil.
Raxus watched as his allies grew to the size he was. He was quite confused about what he was seeing. "I do not understand."
** spoiler omitted **
Ri'Kli'Klek had not stopped to consider his actions, and now came to regret it. His efforts to prevent any from partaking of the Red God's power... had accomplished exactly the opposite.
"No..." he whispers, weakly, as the power washes over him. "No..."
Leonidas drops his staff as he is bowled over by the sudden pulse of power that sweeps the room. Somersaulting backward, he comes up on all fours, snarling as his limbs and muscles mutate. Looking down at the changes, he wonders aloud:
"Power of the Crimson God,
One cannot help being awed.
But are we better or worse,
Be it blessing or curse?"
Rokan looks on curiously as the group heads back towards the red motes...
I thought we were headed this way... He points at the door. They don't seem to be listening and when Hamza steps the Kreen jumping for him causes Rokan to start.
Unsure what is the right thing to do, he follows Amunet-Ra.
Rokan holds out his fists to let the motes sink into them and all up his arms.
This is.... too easy. We may have to accept consequences for this when the source becomes apparent. (Or when we become apparent to it)
(2). Everyone gets an additional 'bin' of feats. These are equal to the number of feats a fighter of your same character level would possess. The 'bonus' feats for this bin must be spent on combat feats.
Ri'Kli'Klek stumbles out of the vortex in a daze, a stark contrast to his usual smooth strides. He stares at his hands, wondering if they are redder than before.
"Yes... the Red God's gifts are always poisoned," he murmurs. "Wishest thou to know why I rested above? When the time came for rebellion, I could not stand against him. The 'gifts' he had given, the changes he had wrought on my body while I served him, had within them a seed of weakness that he used against me, and the others who had once served him. In the end, I had strength only to flee, until I found the resting-places, and thought I might be able to guard against his future awakening, where I could not fight in the present."
Raxus stared at the glowing pools of power and decided he wanted nothing to do with them.
Amunet-Ra steps closer towards Ri'Kli'Klek.
Poisoned you say? I can imagine and my curiosity drove me into this trap. On one hand it is good, because i understand some more things now. On the other hand it is very bad. I don't want part of this red god. From what i saw he slaughtered my kin by great numbers, sacrificing them for his personal power and bloodlust. I believe you when you say, it is a threat to Athas overall. It fits with all the facts i witnessed.
She sighs.
I really need to keep more disctance and a clearer head. For a moment i tought it might be good to take over the red gods legacy and power to use it for our ends. Maybe we can, but maybe it is also a dangerous trap. Is there any way we can get rid of those weaknesses you talk about?
As the power washes over him, Hamza grins wickedly. Knowledge unlocked within his mind of new ways to cut down his foes. He suddenly knew how better to wield his weapons, making them deadlier in his hands. He felt stronger, quicker, and tougher.
Stepping out of the vortex he overhears the exchange between the Kreen and Elf. "Maybe the weakness was in you? Perhaps you were not meant for such power in the first place? Regardless, we now have some of that power within us, and we choose how to use it. We can use this against our foes, whomever they may be."
The debate inside Jimbli head is clearly displayed by his current manner and look of concern.
"Inviting evil inside does not seem like a wise choice. The power... does it feel.. malevolent?" He shakes his head... "You know what... if it is.. I'm certain there would be a way to expunge the tainted part of my psyche when this is all over, right?" Jimbli smirks as desire wins over reason. He blinks into the vortex.
"You know not of what you speak," Ri'Kli'Klek forcefully replies to Hamza. "I have seen where this power leads. At first it seemed a blessing, but we knew not the cost, nor the hunger it engendered. For every gift it gives, it must destroy many times more. The Red God promised a return to the Blue Age, plentiful prey, great harvests... but we learned in time that for every field he 'blessed' he killed a dozen, for his power could not create more than it destroyed."
"Worse was the hunger. A single taste of power was never enough. Always those who gained a little wanted more... and in that desire wrought death."
His gaze sweeps over those who touched the vortex. "Tell me, do ye not want more of this power? Think ye that ye can resist that desire? What if we find another of these vortexes? What will ye do then? And what if it were necessary to take the lives of others to gain more of it?"
Rokan continues his inability to hide his own conflict...
I'm... unsure what is right. Do we have an opportunity to destroy a great evil or are we taking a path that so many others have been seduced by and been spent by the Red God. Normally I would follow this thread of logic to decide that it was not worth it. However, with the recent opening of the gate in Kalidnay and the convergence of other powers that would seek its advantage... I'm not so sure passive choices are called for right now.
All the same, lingering has also not helped us.
He proceeds back to the door they were recently headed to and opens it...
"Yes, let us be gone from this room quickly. But we must not touch any others of these vortexes."
Although Ri'Kli'Klek clearly adresses Hamza, who seems to have his very own motives and still seems shady, Amunet-Ra blushes and can't keep silent.
Ri'Kli'Klek i see what you mean. Those offerings of power are seductive, but they corrupt and we don't know what is attached. It just seems like the sorcerer kings. All of this leads nowhere, only to more destruction. They only have wrong and empty promises, but can't create something or offer salvation.
Resolute, she adds:
How about we destroy the vortexes and similar installations? That way we should weaken them! Is it even possible?
Ri'Kli'Klek looks at the vortex to see if their entering it seems to have drained it at all.
"I know not of any way to destroy them. They are beyond our power."
As Rokan moves to the door, Jimbli blinks five feet above and behind him. He scans the door for traps.
As Rokan moves to the door, Jimbli blinks five feet above and behind him. He scans the door for traps.
[dice=perception to search for traps]1d20+18
"If we can not destroy them, would it not be best to take their power for ourselves, rather than allow strangers or even enemies to empower themselves?"
Amunet-Ra is still at the vortex in conversation with Ri'Kli'Klek.
Mh. We have to find a way. I think it would be good.
"But even all of us together have produced no visible effect on the vortex," Ri'Kli'Klek replies to Hamza. "Whether or not we touch them they will remain."
There must be a way. Everything that is made can be undone. Those are just some artifacts, channeling power from different planes. They must have been made with some magic. Powerful magic, but still magic. And we all know magic can be undone somehow. We have to find out.
"I am uncertain if we posses the means, or the time necessary to undo this vortex, let alone any others we might come across. Forgive me if I am wrong, but I had thought your quest down here was at least somewhat time sensitive." Hamza replies.
He's quiet for a few moments, thinking over their options. "About the best I think we could do is wall it off somehow, and even that would take far too long."
Raxus looked at the roof of the room.
"As little as I like it, I agree," Ri'Kli'Klek says to Hamza, then looks to Amunet-Ra. "Thou knowest not the power of the Red God. While it is true there must be a way to undo this, the power to so do is likely beyond our means. It might take one skilled in the ways of magic months to uncover the means by which these vortexes may be destroyed. What is best is for us to finish what needs to be done in this place quickly, make certain those interred here will still sleep, and then seal these tombs again."
“Aye... I agree as well.”
Mh, you are probably right. I don't know too much about magic and i'm no magic user. Perhaps the elders of my tribe can say something on it. Let's move on then for now.
All the same, lingering has also not helped us.
He proceeds back to the door they were recently headed to and opens it...
The very second that the ascetic opens the door, an ear-shattering din shakes the entire Eastern Chapel of the Living Vortex.
Suddenly, the walls of the elaborate chapel dedicated to the restlessly-sleeping power of the Red God recede as the result of a fantastical contraption, the seemingly immovable and ageless walls of the chamber beginning to slowly recede upwards, lifted inexorably by some heretofore unseen mechanical mechanism. The loud clicking of whatever immense orrery drives this transformation clicks methodically like the chatter of some immense clockwork insect.
The hieroglyphic-inscribed panels recede to reveal a remarkable panel of sheer glass that extends around the entirety of the room's confines.
Beyond the glass is a veritable sea of churning lava. It is now apparent that the Eastern Chapel of the Living Vortex represents but a small intrusion into an immense funnel of liquid fire that extends on all sides of the chamber, now shielded only by glass walls from the ensuing inferno.
The door opened by the ascetic is quickly closed as the room begins to turn, the openings that had existed to offer access to the rest of the mortuary complex now moving as a result of this strange mechanism.
However, the far side of the door reveals a new stranger who is quickly separated from the rest of the assembled company by the operations of the insidious mechanisms underlying the Eastern Chapel of the Living Vortex. This newcomer is a strange, slightly wild-appearing elf clutching an elaborate spear made of that rarest of all substances on Athas -- metal.
The Blood Stealers elf tribe of the Ceramic Desert, the brutal waste that lies of the western side of the Kalidnay ruins, are among the most feared natives of the troubled region, even though they are among its most recent additions.
Indeed, Blood Stealers, known as the Isatai'i in their own tongue, were recently led from the Hinterlands of the Tablelands, far beyond the sheltering enclosure of the Ringing Mountains. Their leader in this exodus was a prophetess named Sakakawea Kanten. The seer received powerful visions of a great destiny that awaited the tribe in the ruins of a gilded city that lay beyond the horizon. Though this mythical leader perished in the journey from the wastelands, Sakakawea Kanten's sons and daughters continue to guide her people.
Above and beyond all, the Blood Stealers are greatly feared for their puukuwasápe cavalry, a force composed of highly skilled elven arcane archers mounted on bizarre mounts from the wastes -- a fearsome combination of a massive horses' forequarters married to the head, claws, and bellowing chest of a ravenous dire grizzly bear. These mounted archers are known as the Baaweka'aipunni or Blood Destroyers. Their most important task is to wipe out the lineage of enemies, as well as destroy the records and history of their foes.
Ehawee's recent expedition into the ancient Kalidnay ruins was fraught with peril, and only she among her reconnaissance force survived to flee into the mysterious kreen ruins. Her party met heavy opposition while exploring the ruined citadel of the High Templar Ahmun Ahnpur known as the Scarab Hold. The vast complex of the sorcerer-queen Kalid-Ma's greatest servant sprawls on the shores of the dark waters of the Lake of Doom, and is the most significant construction in the Plaza of Eternity. Besides the Temple of the Great Mother, which looms on the far side of the Plaza of Eternity, it is perhaps the greatest monument in the dead, but not sleeping metropolis.
Facing a mysterious force of dog-like humanoids led by a red-haired giantess riding aloft in a mysterious flying contraption, Ehawee's party were routed into the under works of the Spires of Apep, the high-towered central keep of the Scarab Hold. She alone survived its horrors, and managed to pursue a long and winding path within the seemingly endless caverns beneath the ruins. These terminated in an exit to the roof of a vast square chamber whose main features were a monumental statue of an enthroned kreen. She exited this chamber with her prized spear, following a large, seemingly central arcade in her attempts to divine an exit from the underground world in which she has found herself trapped. Eventually, the shaman made her way to a series of highly decorated chambers, and was on the verge of opening a door, when it moved independently of her actions to reveal a bald man on the far side, as well as a large company of other individuals. The opening was as soon revealed as closed, for a dense shield of glass quickly interspersed itself between the elf and the stranger as the room beyond began, apparently, to move, revealing, as the stone walls receded, a veritable sea of lava surrounding the ornate chamber on all sides...
Saris' memories extend for aeons, into a distant past when it rode the stars in sleek vessels, a tool of the enigmatic Glassmakers and their allies. In time almost beyond reckoning, the Glassmakers descended upon Athas along with the grey-skinned Fraal and the diminutive race known as the rhulisti, and would eventually be called 'halflings'. These servants of the mind and order were quickly opposed by the forces of the Stoneburners, the ancient lords of chaos and war, whose legions laid waste to the ancient world. In the wake of the conflict, Saris, once known by a name a million syllables long, was lost and forgotten in a hollow mountain within a water-less desert.
The region was eventually settled by a tribe of enterprising dwarfs who discovered Saris and created a small shrine to its honor within their vast underground city, but when they, in turn, were conquered by humans, the ageless weapon was once again abandoned within the depths of the hollow mountain.
In good time, the humans of Kalidnay sought to explore the ancient ruins underlying their city and mines, and none were more assiduous in this task than the High Templar Ahmun Ahnpur, greatest of the servants of the sorcerer-queen Kalid-Ma.
Though the timeless blade was originally recovered by the servants of the High Templar Khnum Khamunkhephres, the relic was stolen by the servants of Ahmnur Ahnpur, an event which began a covert conflict between the two of the five High Templars of Kalid-Ma.
During the fall of the city, the blade was placed in the tomb of Ahmun-Ahnpur, which lay beneath his vast fortress, the Scarab Hold, which loomed terribly, as now, on the dark shores of the Lake of Doom. And there Saris lay for untold years beneath the central keep known as the Spires of Apep.
The shaman Ehawee's elf tribe periodically ventured into the ruins of 'Elder Kalidnay' to forage and seek for treasure. On one of these expeditions, the sword was recovered from the dungeons of the Scarab Hold.
This site has recently been occupied by some new force, and the ruins have become alive with strange creatures summoned by the extra-dimensional gates which exist throughout the city.
On a recent return visit to the Scarab Hold, Saris' new wielder's party was destroyed by strange interlopers, a group of canine creatures led by a red-haired giantess who attacked the elves from a strange flying vehicle.
Ehawee only narrowly survived the encounter by fleeing to the depths below Kalidnay, where she has now found new dangers in a mysterious and vast kreen tomb...
Ri'Kli'Klek tenses, ready to spring, as the room shifts around them. Seeing the changes he looks above, below, and to the sides for signs of an exit or at least something other than barriers.