Mythic 6 - Tar-Baphon's final trap and the world left untouched.

Game Master Davachido

"I have to agree with Elise that sneaking may not be our best option. I feel that it would be in our best interest to take these Behemoths down as we get to them. That way, when we leave, they have no way of trapping us inside."

Nethan gives Elise his signature flirtatious grin which seems to be more pronounced after Elise's sting (zing) and nods, "You only can plan so far before your plans fail and then you have to be ready to adapt to battlefield dynamics. After all, plans are truly not meant to remain unchanged. However we must not leave before some preparation questions are answered nor other necessary preparations are made."

Alþórel thinks

"Yes, let us travel to the Web and investigate. I will know more about what precautions to prepare with more knowledged."

"How big are these behemoths?"

Amelia exchanges a knowing glance with Elise and rolls her eyes at Nethan's unceasing advances. She also tries very hard not to look at Calathar, who appeared as golden and radiant as ever. She wonders whether she's aged as gracefully, but is quite sure she knows the unfortunate answer.

Shaking her head clear, she tries to refocus on the task at hand. "Sienna, would you be able to show me these behemoths and lazers personally with your spyglass?"

Sorry for the bit of delay

"Huh tomes?" Sienna stares an Nethan blankly "Ah no, I don't read books, just take information from what people tell me and I see. It's great! Err... try a library!" Sienna says happily, oblivious to the silliness of her statement. "And I don't know about any anti-magic field, again only seen the surface. AMFs are generally very short range, I was no where near the commotion!"

Lionel speaks from the back to answer Calathor "Many of my men have already died, I do not wish to risk their necks any more than I already have. I am hiring you all as you are far more skilled and powerful than my knights and have a far greater chance of succeeding. I'll leave it to Sienna to explain why the Well."

Sienna pipes up again. "Don't assume that we are assuming, assuming is bad in the real of study is it not! No, we know full well it is the well! We just don't know what it is in the well exactly. Most of the Isle of terror has a certain chaos to it yes? The well as we know was a trap so was left rather much alone, but stuff and magic is starting to get out? Why? How? That's for you to find out my duckies!" Sienna says with a mix of excitement and disappointment, almost like she wanted to go.

"The behemoths are about .. oh.. hmm.. 9-11 feet tall? Probably just as wide." Sienna finishes.

Okay seems like people are getting ready to plan the next step, Sienna and Lionel will be there for you to ask questions but you can come up with how you'd like to approach the start. Drawing the behemoth out seems like step 1.

Edit: "Oh yes yes.. though we will need to get closer. I can't unfortunately see through walls with my spyglass. Note to self, invent ability to see through.. don't mind me... walls..." Sienna replies to Amelia.

"Hmm, I was thinking of pushing one in the hole in the hopes it would set off the traps. But drawing one out would be beneficial, certainly."

A frustrated Nethan shrugs at the Tome and AMF comments, "Thank you Sienna and Lionel, do you have anything more for us?" Nethan looks to the group, "Unless Sienna and Lionel have something else to add or give us, I am ready to depart."

Elise grins with anticipation.

"Ready as I'll ever be"

"I've been ready since I got here," Flynt said, flicking his cigar butt out the flap of the tent to sizzle in the mud.

Calathar stands, smiling broadly at the prospect of action and conflict.

"Nine feet tall?" he laughs, a rolling, merry sound. "You had me worried for a moment, Sienna. From the name, I thought they'd be much bigger. Well, we'll just have to content ourselves with thrashing these pint-sized colossi. And then we'll have to figure out something else to do -after- lunch."

Still grinning, he turns to follow Flynt and finds himself face to face with Amelia. The smile freezes momentarily, replaced a moment later by by a more personal expression of real pleasure. If he sees any changes in her they do not seem to alter his appreciative regard.

"Hello there, Amelia" he says, his gaze searching her face for clues to their new status. "It's been awhile." Awhile since he walked out at the conclusion of a bitter argument.

"I'd heard you were going to be with us on this. We're lucky to have you." His voice trails off as if there were more he might say. He gives her an awkward embrace and steps back, releasing her. "I heard you'd been traveling with Nethan. I'm glad you've got each other's backs." The lack of jealousy in his voice is either gentlemanly or clueless. Possibly both.

"Finally, we get to the action! I was growing tired of these words." Tsadok is very relieved to be leaving. He isn't very fond of prolonged conversation.

Not happy with Calathar moving in on "his" woman, he stares into the back of Calathar's head like a "laser beam" with his arms folded, and whispers, "She just likes him because of his muscles. Women are such finicky creatures." ... Playing a joke on the Oracle, regardless if it works or not, it will still interrupt his flirting. Nethan sends Calathar a missive,

Bluff: 1d20 ⇒ 18 Bluff roll if needed

Not sure what, exactly, you're directing me to in the discussion thread. What should I be looking at?

I don't think you're going to impersonate an Empyreal Lord with a 0-level power. Not even with a really good bluff check.

Calathar stops short, a strange look on his face. His eyes momentarily look skyward, then he frowns, looking around the tent until his gaze come to rest on Nethan. His frown deepens, a thundercloud made flesh.

Then he snorts. Then giggles. Then laughs uproariously. He puts an arm around Nethan's shoulders and another around Amelia's, tension forgotten as he heads out of the tent. "Yeah," he says, still chortling. "Like -that's- going to happen."

"Come on, you two. I want to buy two old friends a drink and hear what you've been up to before we head out on this mission."

[ooc]Unless you guys have more you want to add, I'd suggest we let the GM move us on to the next scene.

"There is never enough time for words, but it is a mistake to delay action in the hope there will be."

Nethan didn't think he would be successful at the ruse but he was successful for deflating the moment, and that is still a success ... :-)

A little resistant at first (oh yeah, this scholar has some muscle on him), relaxes, laughs, and looks at Calathar, "That may be true my friend, but one must try. A drink? That sounds good! But first, let's see if Lionel and Sienna have anything more for us?"

I am good unless the GM has more for the party. And if there is time for drink, it will be smaller proportions than normal to not be inebriated or worse while adventuring into the Well.

Amelia tenses when Calathar first embraces her, but then relaxes a little and smiles as Calathar seems to approach with high spirits. Indeed, you haven't changed a bit, she thinks, returning his embrace.

"Nice to see you again, Cal. Small world, isn't it? It's a good thing we decided to come here - so you don't get yourself into more trouble than you can handle!" Though thinking back to their previous adventures, Amelia knew that they had a talent for finding trouble when traveling together.

Lionel and Sienna do not have much more to add to the current events. Nor do they have anything to add about the plans as none seem to be firm at the moment. Sienna has agreed to come with them at least to where their initial team was able to look at the entrance to the well from a distance.

After the group has a bit of catching up they depart with Sienna setting pace through the Isle of Terror. The path they are walking seems to be well tread. Likely this is due to the groups leaving Lionel's Spearhead in search of the cause over the past few months. After about 2 hours of travel over this path Sienna turns off the path and enters the wilderness. The Isle's ecology seems to be a mesh of many different types of plants and animals. Some you'd not think to live in the same climate, the ever changing weather patterns and natural hazards accommodate the plants to different degrees which are causing this eclectic mix of greenery. The group encounters the occasional minor threat though the animals either are too afraid to approach or get cut down without the creature being able to act. The pathfinders have faced far greater challenges than these minor delays. However the true danger is yet to start.

Sienna leads the group to a hill that they climb up, it crests over a large plains area. The plains have scattered trees and shrubbery around the place but it is void of wildlife. The greenery though looks to be slowly dying though not due to a lack of water or sunlight. It is difficult to make out much in the plains other than the plantlife due to a large mist that has enveloped the area. Sienna excitedly points out towards the centre of the plains and says: "The well is in the centre there, bit difficult to see at the moment but it is a large shaft made from magic. The hole has been perfectly bored through with a smooth surface. It is a spectacular feet of engineering but now is not the time for that! It isn't as clear as before. However here.." She holds out her spyglass to the party, it looks like a regular spyglass for the most part except for the slightly tinted lenses.

The party take it in turns to look through the spyglass towards the well. The mist doesn't obfuscate the spyglass as much as it does your naked eyes however still it isn't a clear view. The well can be seen in the centre very similar to what you would expect a water well to look like. Though this one is 40 feet in radius and the walls are about 5 foot from the ground. The group also sees moving shadows patrolling the well. To their surprise these shadows do not move steadily like you'd expect from a walking creature. They 'jump' across your vision as if each step sends them 10-12ft forward without actually walking. Except for one shadow, which can be assumed to be the behemoth. It is 10 feet high as described, however it is on all fours. It is difficult to make out too many features about the creature from here but it has a tail and back legs similar to that of a wolf. Whereas its front legs are massive, more akin to a gorilla. What would the party like to do from here?

@Tsadok: Is it alright if you bold the words that Tsdaok is saying out loud? It makes it a bit easier to read :)

@GM yeah, I meant to do it last time, I just forgot, and didn't notice it until it was too late to edit it

"So, what are we supposed to do when we get to the well? Are we going to be descending into it, are we here to study it, or is it something else entirely?"

Sienna smiles "We know that what you need to find is in the well. That being knowledge on what is wrong in there and how to stop the problems. Heck if you stop the whole problem before coming back I'm sure Lastwall will give you a greater reward than was offered. You'll need to get further than we did to find out where that information lies. Something is unstable in the well, what exactly that is escapes even me!" Sienna rocks back and forth on her heels. "I guess if you want to study the entrance first that might be a plan!"

"Ok. I doubt I will be much use in studying it, but I can certainly help with the skull-bashing to get you scholars there."

Nethan shrugs, "Well since we can not glean too much information from our current observation point, let's see what we can?" ... Nethan takes one more look through the spyglass.

Is there any way in safer than the others? Can a patrol rhythm be detected? Or is it pretty safe until we get closer at least from what we can currently see?

There is no current accounting that the creatures can see through this mist, so finding a way between their defences might be safer. After looking the patrols for some time they don't have a steady pattern. It is more akin to a set of animals waiting for something to get close enough, pacing back and forth between areas until they spot prey. Erratic maybe, but playing to instincts might work.

Getting closer under the cover of the mist could prove useful to get more information, those who can use stealth can likely get relatively close without being noticed. Saying that a distraction could be useful too, to separate their numbers.

Nethan gives the spyglass back to Sienna and executes a head bow from the neck, "Sienna, a nice device this spyglass is indeed. Does it only work for the well or are their many applications for it?" ... While waiting for her to respond, Nethan's scholar mind is processing quickly, "The best course of action I can see at this time since there is no rhythm to the patrols, is for our more clandestine inclined party members to stealth up and take a closer look at the situation." ... Nethan looks at Amelia with a smile and a wink. Then he looks at Sienna waiting for his response.

"I assume the big one is the behemoth - is there anything known about the lesser guardians? The seems to be more like watchdogs then actual guards."

She start to grin and adds

"Maybe we should just dig a pit and throw them a bone to lure them in"

Amelia shrugs. Taking a look through the spyglass, she looks for a sensible path closer to these creatures. "It should be easy enough. I'll get close and see what I can figure out. But you all don't stay too far away. If these creatures can smell like dogs, a little mist won't help if I get too close."

She twirls the spyglass in her hand. "Sienna, would you mind if I borrowed this for a bit?"

Once she has the go-ahead from Sienna, she will try to make her way closer to these creatures, to get more information.

"im ready. "

Calathar remains quiet, listening to all that is said. His nonchalant grin fades when Amelia heads into danger, and Calathar places himself on the path where he can charge after her if need be.

Flynt draws his revolver and checks the cylinder for the second time.

"Once Amelia gets back, we should draw them out. You lot can take positions out of sight. That should be well within my range," Flynt narrows his keen eyes and studies the distances.

Nethan nods his head at the suggestion, "If that even works and we may have to draw them out within the mist since it appears they do not leave the mist but it may be better to draw them out of the mist if we can? Let's wait for a full report from Amelia? She specializes in stealthy reconnaissance."

Tsadok unsheathes his greatsword and grips it with one hand, while grabbing his Wand of Enlarge Person with the other.

Dreyyn also draws his sword. "I'm no expert in stealth, but drawing them out of their element, if possible, is wise "

"Amelia. If you give me some minutes to prepare I believe I can ward you versus simple divination spells. While I have no reason to believe this necessary the protection will last some hours."

While he waits for Amelia's answer Alþórel attempts to identify the foes through the spyglass.

perception if needed: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (19) + 4 = 23
knowledge: 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (10) + 8 = 18

"Thank you Aphorel, that would be a sensible precaution". Amelia consents to waiting for the necessary time.

-Posted with Wayfinder

Nethan agrees with Alþórel, unfortunately divination was one of his opposition schools BUT that is why there are two scholars, redundancy or to help insure mission success through the arcane arts and the power of knowledge and wisdom.

Intention is to memorise and cast Misdirection onto Amelia and a stone.

"Very well. I am not fond of using magic where not strictly needed, but such wardings will be needed when we enter the well, so we migth as well start with them now."

"Amelia, find a stone you feel a connection with."

Alþórel reads while he waits for Amelia to return with an item.

Sienna is confused at Nethan's question for a second. "It's still a spyglass, you can still use it to look at things. The modifications I've made to help with certain problems of the natural eye but you can use it to look at far away things. As long as you draw line of sight of course, it is has divination capabilities sadly." Sienna says as she collapses the spyglass. "What would you like it to be used for though?! I can tinker with it a bit more!" The dwarf says with a twinkle in her eye.

Sienna passes the spyglass to Amelia winking at her saying. "Sure thing, don't lose it! I only have one on this gods forsaken island."

Alþórel can't tell exactly what kind of creatures these are as they are but shadows and outlines from this distance. However the darting shadows that hop from place to place are very similar to that of blink dogs. Possibly the creatures have access to a similar effect to that of dimension door. By the lumbering nature of the Behemoth Alþórel can take a guess that it either has large claws at the end of those or uses it like the arms on an umber hulk.

Amelia after gaining some protection from Alþórel Say which spells you are casting. scurries off without the slightest inkling of a sound going nearer the well. Amelia hides behind a tree leaning down to see what she can, possibly taking out the spyglass now that there is less fog in the way.

From this distance she can make out the smaller shadows and the behemoth is just on the edge of her vision. The behemoth has fur and is making a lot of mechanical sounds but moves quite quickly and fluidly. The shadows now in view are undead humanoids that look like zombies. They stand very still but move their heads to side to side while standing at a point. They then disappear and reappear 20 feet away, moving in erratic patterns. It is a rotting husk like you'd expect most zombies to be but every time it 'jumps' there is a slight flash of blue in its eyes and mouth.

Alþórel turns to Calathar and speaks, holding out a hand with Amelia's stone.

"Calathar - نام آملیا را با آن از سنگ رد و بدل کرده اند. او باید آن را فرو برد، قبل از او می خوابد. من فکر می کنم این امر می تواند بیشتر" he pauses " مناسب را برای شما به آن را نگه دارید، با توجه به رابطه آشکار خود را با او"

Nethan looks to Alþórel and he replies in Elven before the incantation,

"Amelia, find a stone you feel a connection with."

Amelia ponders a bit. "Hm, nobody's ever asked me to do that before." Amelia looks around the ground for a bit, and chooses a worn, smooth stone. "How about this one? It looks like it might have come from the sea."

After selecting a stone, she proceeds to sneak closer. Amelia observes the creatures, realizing they are undead. She wonders how they might react to an unexpected sound or movement. Picking up another stone, she looks for an object from which she might bounce the stone and have it careen toward the assembled creatures. Hopefully some of the creatures would be led astray by the distraction.

Amelia's mythic path ability - Ricochet - seems well suited for such antics. With the mists shrouding everything, I'm hoping you'll allow this trick to work! (Or have it backfire in some glorious manner.)

Amelia takes a small stone and she sees a nearby boulder, taking aim she bounces the stone off the nearby boulder towards the zombie. The zombie immediately 'jumps' next to the boulder when the stone flies near it. The zombie just stares at the boulder outstretching its arms to it. It tries to push it and realizing it is naught more then rock it continues its black stare out towards the mist.

Amelia heads back to report her findings. "There are these creepy, mindless zombies everywhere. But they aren't ordinary zombies - they can teleport about 20 feet. Every time they teleport, there's a flash of blue in its eyes and mouth. They seem to operate pretty much on instinct - I threw a rock as a distraction and one of them just teleported over to it, then stared blankly through the area."

Amelia hands the spyglass back to Sienna. "As for the behemoth, it seems to have fur, but it also makes mechanical sounds. But it has very fluid motions. Do you suppose it's just a very sophisticated construct, Sienna?"

Elise is content to lazily observe Amelia and Alþórels preparations from a distance - spending the time leaning with her back towards an old dry tree and checking her weapons. The position gives her a decent overview the area but puts her away from direct line of sight - precaution in case Amelia brings back any unwelcome company.

Meanwhile her thoughts wander until Alþórel commands Amelia to choose a rock. A rock to connect with ? *heh* I wonder which one I would pick. looking around, glad to have something to waste her time on - waiting have never been her strong suit, she finds a small pebble and picks it up. After studying it intently for a moment she shrugs and looks around.

"Hey Tsadok!" she flings the small pebble towards him, where it bounces of his armour "If you were to relate to a rock - what would you pick?"

Just passing time :P

edit:

"Welcome back! Sounds like you were at a Chelaxian banquette then" *laughter* "But that teleport thing sounds interesting - it might be hard to utilize a pit trap against them but we should be able to come up with some way to exploit that ... "

Nethan nods at Amelia with a smile, "Thank you Amelia for scouting out the area and reporting your findings. I knew you could do it without getting hurt and reporting your findings with such great detail." Then Nethan looks at all the armored party members then at Elise, "Well, we need something since most of you warriors clink and clank so sneaking around without magic, like Silence, will be difficult even with distractions. Because once the undead and constructs hear your clinking and clanking, they will come to us or you. As for a pit trap, that's not going to work unless we are able to seal it or the pit instantly destroys them because they will just blink off the pit spikes or out from the bottom of the pit. At least, the fog does not appear to be dispelling in nature or Amelia is just that good with skill, which she is, and the magic was dispelled without her knowledge."

Sienna scratches her head. "Well...it could be a sophisticated construct. That would be ahead of its time by miles though. I know Tar-Baphon was up to scratch with anatomy and all being a necromancer but..." Sienna starts to spin around on one foot trying to think. Her eyes light up at an idea. "Oh I know! Modification! It has got to be, that seems more like the time! Very few people knew about making full machines ... so how about part machine things? Attachments! Hmm... come to think of it I should make some of those. Hey don't destroy the thing completely if you please?" Sienna asks with a wide grin on her face.

Scene is set, you have a lot of information to work with to go in, so let's see what you come up with. Plan B being 'charge everything' I'm sure :P

Nethan looks at Sienna, "We will try because I am just as curious as you and perhaps there is something the hybrid has that we need?" ... Nethan looks to the party, "Let's start with a more simple strategy, does anyone have a silence spell because I know Alþórel and myself do not?" ... Then Nethan looks to Jeremiah, "Or perhaps a means to make a large enough explosion or fire to send all of them to the opposite side of the well and memorize or perhaps loud enough to distract and hide our movement long enough to get past them?"

Elise rolls her eyes at Nethan and grinns.

"Subtelity is not my strong suit as I said - besides, if we were to try and sneak and someone would sneeze we would get all the teleporting zombies at us at the same time. There must be something better ..."

Her gaze wanders over the plains then back over each member of the party. She briefly thinks thru what she knows about each of them to see if there is anything that might help. Her eyes land on Flynt and she gets an idea. An unsubtle idea - a grand destructive idea, an idea entirely to her liking.

"Amelia - you said they were easily attracted by noise?"

she says without letting her gaze leave the gunslinger. Her grin widens to an almost deranged expression.

"Flynt - your guns - they have somekind of powder in them ? I've seen when you refill them and when you fight - that powder explodes right ? How much do you got ? Or can you make more ?"

Her eyes get a dreamy look in them

"If we could fill a crate with that and then load it on a crate - like a fireship! Just roll it down into the mist, throw a rock or tie a bell to it and enjoy the show"

Elise closes her eyes and gesticulates - obviously imagining the mayhem that might be released

"Yes, sneaking may not be the best option, and it's an option I don't like to consider. If I am going to kill something, I would rather it know that I'm coming, so that it's a fair fight. As far as a plan, how about I use my wand to make myself larger, and draw the beasts out, then you all attack them after they have come to me? That way, we will know how many there are, and we will have them all in one place, so that we can surround them, and then our mages can blast them all with their spells."

Edit: I wrote this before I saw Elise's post, and it was meant in reply to Nethan.

Just noticed that I accidentally a word and its to late to edit. sigh. The last thing Elise says the second instance of crate should be cart - "If we could fill a crate with that and then load it on a cart - like a fireship"

Nethan lifts one eyebrow at Tsadok, "Think about that one my warrior comrade, if you did that and all of sudden you or we are inundated with undead and 1 or more Behemoths, do you think you can handle all of that focused attacks before you perished and then we follow you into darkness? I am not sure frontal assault is the way to go until we know their strengths, weaknesses, or perhaps it will be a combination of attack and distraction? I am just as eager as you to get this party started but at the same time, we cannot go charging in there and expect to live or perhaps we can? Amelia was not able to test their fighting prowess to ascertain if a charge would be the best plan of attack and I am guessing no given the archmage or whoever made these guardians."