Will save vs Yog-Sothoth's maddening song
When Daisy hears....feels....that horrible flute-like call, tears well up in her eyes, and she feels her bowels quaking....
Do NOT s%%* yourself in front of the others, Eagle-Feather!
Indeed! Levinson only requires 3 days of rest to get over the mental trauma of hearing that awful piping....
Will save to avoid going koo-koo for Cocoa Puffs for a whole week ....
Mikey Jay begins laughing hysterically at the awful piping call of Yog-Sothoth....
The laughter continues after the portal snaps shut, MJ pointing at where it once hovered in space, and grabbing his stomach with his other hand....
He laughs until he is hoarse, then lapses into a dazed, glassy-eyed near-catatonic state, in which he is easily led around, but takes little action of his own volition....
The FOs have saved Earth from an unthinkable doom, at the cost of temporary sanity loss....
But a week's rest in the idyllic peace of Alfheim should restore their sanity and resolve....
Take us home, Radsworth.... I.... I wanna go home....*sniff*
Again, the ghost of a mythic Egyptian King materializes among you....
Thou hast saved the material world from certain doom, brave heroes! Neferkaptah, Once King of Egypt, salutes thee!
The ghostly Egyptian smiles broadly and raises his right hand in salute....
Now, I kindly bid thee, give unto me the Book of Thoth.... Though mine hands seem not to be fully in thy world, yet wilt they bear the Book of Thoth....
Levinson looks warily at the ghost for a moment while clutching the book before deciding if it is safe to hand the artifact over or not.
to see if she knows the story of Neferkapth and the Book of Thoth.
+ = 31
Levinson looks warily at the ghost for a moment while clutching the book before deciding if it is safe to hand the artifact over or not.
[dice=Knowledge (history)]1d20+6 to see if she knows the story of Neferkapth and the Book of Thoth.
This is what Levinson knows about the Book of Thoth and Prince Neferkaptah.... Just read the fictional Book of Thoth section....
Levinson was torn between wanting the knowledge of the book and knowing it would be safer back in the tomb. Finally, she handed over the Book of Thoth to Neferkaptah's ghost.
Levinson was torn between wanting the knowledge of the book and knowing it would be safer back in the tomb. Finally, she handed over the Book of Thoth to Neferkaptah's ghost.
The ghost accepts the book with both hands, reverently....
I thank thee, My Lady.... Thou hast made the wiser choice.... The knowledge of the gods was not meant for mortal minds.... 'T'will rest safely in mine tomb with mine bones, and the bones of mine wife and child....
The ghostly King takes the book, and it seems to become incorporeal....
Ghost and book fade like a dream at the break of day....
Resisting the urge to keep the Book of Thoth was a mythic trial, single-handedly accomplished by Levinson....
1 trial toward 5th tier accomplished....
Those with ranks in Knowledge (religion) may attempt a DC 23 check to know about liches and their phylacteries....
The tawny cat leapt onto his human's shoulder.
"I still think that was a pretty foolish decision, Arcanist. Imagine the secrets held in such a book. And really. All over the fear of some silly ancient deities. Not like we don't have out own deities on out side. Oh well..."
Levinson is aware that the lich will eventually reform with the power of a phylactery.... A box or gem, or some other soul object that holds some portion of her soul....
Levinson frantically searches the corpse and the remains of Wilbur all while reaching out trying to detect magic in hopes that the phylactery is close at hand.
Wormwood, Mahatma, Kepler, Cornugon: quickly, scan the area and find any clues."
Marcus sits on the ground, mind broken by the appearance of Yog-Sothoth.
His usual manic personality gone for the moment, replaced with something much quieter and more subtle than his usual antics.
He slumps over, head resting on the ground, feeling thoroughly depressed. Their recent triumphs ignored, not registering to his brain, old wounds resurfacing, guilt over Marie and the other atrocities he committed the last time gazed upon one of the Great Old Ones rushing back to him.
He considers, for a moment, healing himself of this damage to his mind.
"No...what's the point? I deserve to feel this way..."
Marie tries to snap him out of it, but of course can never really touch him, and her words fall on deaf ears.
"Hey! Get up! This isn't the time to be moping around Marcus!"
In the remains of Wilbur, Levinson finds what she seeks....
A heart-shaped box made of garnet, about the size of an apple....
It had been sewn up inside the flesh golem's ribcage, next to its real heart....
Levinson has Kepler crush the box, but she makes sure to save all of the pieces to better understand the device later as the temptation to create her own continues to rise...
MJ sees Marcus sit down and then slump over in despair....
He is shaking with hoarse laughter....
Marcus mutters something about deserving to feel this way, and a fresh bout of hilarity hits him....
He's right! HAHAHAHAHA!! We brought this on ourselves! HAHAHAHAHA!!! We just HAD to look, didn't we!? HAHAHAHAHAHA!!! I knew it'd blow my f#!!in' mind.... But I still looked, didn't I!? HAHAHAHAHA!!!
Kepler destroys the phylactery, forever erasing the evil of Lavinia Whateley from the Earth....
Koran's already Battle crazed mind managed to fight off the twisted old-one but he still felt the insanity attempting to bring out his inner monster, the one he worked so hard to keep in check so that he could protect the world.
The giant walks over to Mj and heaves him to his feet by the scruff of the neck.
SNAP OUT OF IT! He backhands the Warrior-turned-Nutcase across the face.
Damn, my CMD is 34.... You got me by my scruff! Lol....
The smack from Koran only increases the comedy in MJ's melted mind....
Tears stream down his face as he gasps with uncontrolled laughter....
Radsworth watches the vanishing form of Yog with maddening anticipation. So many secrets! So much to learn! He would die learning the equation of everything!
Then something goes wrong, and the old god vanishes.
Screaming, Rad begins firing bursts of arcane magice into the air.
"Come back! Come back and show me! Show me what I have yet to learn! I'll die screaming within your choking blass mass but at least show me you bastard!"
Ammunition spent, Rad continues to fire into the sky, each pull of the trigger a spectacle of cosmic power...but only in his own mind.
There a strong chance I wont be able to post again until april 16th.
As a Tax Accountant, you can imagine my time is getting short.
I think we can take a break til then, Rad.... This seems like a natural point for a pause as we level up and add 4th tier....
And the FOs will need a week in game-time to recuperate from the madness-inducing call of Yog-Sothoth....
Works out good! :)
After several raving hours, thirst and hunger compell Radsworth to gather his wits enough to teleport the traumatized FOs back to the Black Forest....
From there, they half fly, and half stagger through the hillside portal into Alfheim, and reeling as though half drunk through and over the meadows and hills of the elven realm, until they reach the Castle, where concerned Pandora's Box personnel help them out of their bloodied armor and clothing, and into the cleansing, almost magically soothing baths....
A nourishing feast is prepared for the addled FOs in the great kitchen....
Loot taken from the lich:
2 potions of invisibility
+3 chain shirt
+1 heavy mace
Amulet of natural armor +3
Belt of incredible dexterity +2
Cloak of resistance +3
Headband of mental prowess +4 (Wis, Cha)
Ring of protection +2
Derrik noticed the creature getting closer and closer.. inching itself towards his plane of existence. Was this being what we feared? Was this the power of a creature from the Far Realm, He gritted his teeth as his mind was assaulted with disturbing images, those that made him remember the Happening; When this all started. And then, to his Horror, it happened again just like before, while his mind seemed to fight off the brunt of the song of Discord.. his allies.. many of them seemed much more affected. Mikey blathered; Radsworth pleaded madly; Koran started Slapping Mikey; Marcus went into depression. It all seemed to similar.. why did he seem so little effected? Had they become changed as well? Would he have to do the same as he did before? Bloody his hands once more.. he hoped not.
Derrik went about trying to care for the distraught and insane for now, assuming this effect was not permanent. But with little effort he noticed that Lich's have a phylactery.. and with Levinson helped find and destroy it.. though she seemed.. changed by it.. He would question her later.. He had hoped he would not have to do something about that later. The temptation was high, he knew.
Koran will nab the amulet of natural armor if no one minds, also wouldn't mind the headband, but other probably need it much more.
Rad will get moderate use out of the belt, helping with Touch, Ranged Touch, and a smidge of ac.
Levinson could use the cloak if no one needs it more.
Derrik could use.. pretty much all of it because he doesnt have alot of defensive items but 1) His saves are the highest, there is not need to buff them 2)Depending on Upgrade cash we will get he can fix his defenses... so really only the Headband will do.. which is an upgrade of his current one.. funny thing they both came from Undead creatures. The ring is about the same thing he can get from shield of faith or smite.
Marcus doesn't really need any of it. Extra Wis would be nice to shore up his Will save, but I like that he's barely sane as-is with 10 Wis.
Need to remember to craft that save boosting Ioun Stone.
During the week in which the FOs are recovering from their harrowing ordeal, a particularly rich ore of silver is discovered by gnomish miners who work for the elves. In recognition of the FOs' heroic efforts in saving Earth (and possibly Alfheim by extension), the elves reward each FO with 20,000 gp value in upgrades or new magic items or equipment....
With her reward of silver ingots worth 20,000 gp total, Daisy has an elven artificer-wizard upgrade her ring of protection and amulet of natural armor from +2 to +3....
MJ spends his reward upgrading his belt of giant strength and ring of protection....
Marcus crafts himself an Orange Prism Ioun Stone (+1 Caster Level, 15k), and a Amber Spindle Ioun Stone (5k, +1 to all saves), and a Jingasa of the Fortunate Soldier (2.5k, +1 luck to AC, negate a crit 1/day).
MJ spends much of the week of recuperation walking in the hedge labyrinth in the Castle courtyard, admiring the elvish topiaries, and trying to avoid woodwind music of any kind....
Daisy spends her time among her people, letting the shamans burn sage and other warding herbs and wave their smoke on her to cleanse her of any evil stain left by her encounter with Yog-Sothoth....
One night during the FOs' weeklong hiatus, Jewels and Derrik are standing on a moonlit balcony off Derrik's private chambers, overlooking the meadow where tepees are illuminated by campfires....
The sky is clear, and full of strange stars that glitter like diamonds on a field of deep violet, arranged in constellations unknown to Earth's astronomers.... The Drake, the Cockatrice, the Griffon.... A couple stars race across the sky....
I just made a wish.... But I can't tell what it is.... Or it might not come true....
Jewels gazes with big, darkvisioned eyes into Derrik's eyes....
Wouldn't this castle be the most awesome place for a.... A wedding? Like, I'm just sayin', if a couple got married.... Where would be a more beautiful place than the courtyard of this castle? Right?
Levinson spends a day crafting a wayfinder and clear spindle ioun stone removing her need for food and drink and granting her protection from possession and mental control.
The rest of the her funds have been put towards crafting her robe of the archmagi (26,000 of 37,500gp).
Koran moves his tent away from the castle to spend some time in seclusion. His mind overwhelmed with thoughts of Yog-Sothoth almost releasing his inner demon. His dreams are filled with images of himself ripping the other Fierce Ones to pieces. His most vivid dream is of him pinning Radsworth to the ground and ripping out his throat with his fangs. He spends the next day trying to stay close to Radsworth and convince himself that he would never hurt the kind professor.
Marcus, on the first day, wakes up feeling slightly better. Still in a blue funk, but at least aware enough to know that this depression wasn't natural, and he should try to do something about it.
He hits himself with restorative magics, hitting himself with spell after spell until he finally feels like his usual self again.
Not quite sane, but functional, he feels he can carry on with his business.
Captain Kermit, Hooty the helicopter pilot, and Dr Hugo Grimm invite the FOs to go fly fishing with them at a river that runs east-west through the meadow north of the Castle....
The river is full of leaping trout, salmon, and other freshwater fish, and the activity is a peaceful, mind-soothing contrast to the harrowing adventures the FOs have endured lately....
Later that evening, the elven chef Galinthor prepares the catch in a delicious fish feast, served with a variety of exotic elven side dishes.... The festive atmosphere is a much-needed balm to troubled psyches....