Voice of Awesomeness |
The last thing you remember is a large sack being thrown over you, just as you thought you had finally gained your freedom. You were then knocked out, probably to stop you from flapping around like a mad bird.
When you come to, you realize you're obviously in some large cage. You think you might be able to squeeze past the bars, but you aren't positive.
You pace about the cage, annoyed more than anything else. That's when you spot the shoddy lock. Maybe you can break out after all!!
Disable Device 15. You can take ten. Yea, it's that crappy!
Also, give me a DC 12 Perception check, please!
Brennus the Raven |
Perception: 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (20) + 8 = 28
Brennus shakes himself slightly as he comes to. Had there still been some bandits around the Spire? He cursed his own lack of caution. The question was, who would grab a raven?
He peers around cautiously, noting the terrible lock, then looking (and listening) at his surroundings. The lock looked pathetically easy to get out of, which meant someone didn't think he could even try. Just who were his captors, and were they watching? Best not to reveal his power just yet if they were ignorant of them, after all...
Voice of Awesomeness |
Your incredibly keen senses easily pick up the following loud conversation from a different room.
"Man, these dumb animals are gonna fetch us a real nice haul. That circus master said he would pay us gold for every animal we broughts him!" It's obvious to you that whoever is talking is probably not very bright.
You hear a bark of a laugh in response "Yep! And we gots twenty, includin the six birds he pesifically asked for." Oh yes, real mental giants here.
Brennus the Raven |
Brennus almost laughed aloud. Oh, this was going to be fun. He might even forgive these buffons after he was done playing with them.
With a wave of his wing, he summons up telekinetic energies and makes quick work of the lock. He easily beats it taking ten. Then he quietly opens his cage and flits out, taking a look around. Who (or rather what) else had they caught with him, and which ones would be most entertaining to free?
Voice of Awesomeness |
The first thing you notice is there's not much light in this room. There's a few sputtering torches, but that's about it. It seems like this is some sort of storage room, off the rest of whatever house or building you were brought to.
The next thing you see is right next to you are the five other birds. They each look at you knowingly. It's likely that they aren't 'special' like you are, but they can still sense your power.
You also spot a trio of large, sleek looking dogs with brown and green spotted fur. To your trained eyes, they radiate a slight otherworldly power. K: Arcana, DC 12. Yes, I know you auto make it, I wanna see if you gain any more info
Also, give me a trio of Perception checks.
There's more, but this is a good start.
Brennus the Raven |
Know (arcana): 1d20 + 14 ⇒ (4) + 14 = 18
Perception: 1d20 + 10 ⇒ (3) + 10 = 13
Perception: 1d20 + 10 ⇒ (1) + 10 = 11
Perception: 1d20 + 10 ⇒ (1) + 10 = 11
Okay, making up for that 20 XD
Brennus the Raven |
Interesting, interesting... kind of surprising that the fools doing this had managed to catch them. Maybe they'd had help?
Well, best to be wary, then. He flies over to the door out of the room and carefully checks if it's locked.
Voice of Awesomeness |
You're not even sort of surprised that the door isn't locked. This is clearly not the best of operations. You're not sure how they manged to capture you, or the hounds, but you're started to suspect that maybe it's just dumb luck.
Flying across the room, you hear a slight feline hiss. Looking down, you spot a black cat.
Brennus the Raven |
Of course it's not locked, but the hinges probably sqweak. Better to present these buffons with a fait accompli...
Oh, and best to avoid the cat. Wouldn't want to have to singe its fur to prove a point, after all.
Staying out in the open where the cat can't climb up on something to pounce on him, Brennus starts using his magic to unlock the hounds' cages. He doesn't open them yet, though clever dogs that they are they might figure it out themselves.
Brennus the Raven |
Brennus pauses and looks over at the cat. He caws a soft laugh.
"These fellows really don't know what they caught, do they? I'm not sure what kind of luck they must have to catch all of us... but I think it's about to turn bad."
"I'll open yours up, too, now... just don't eat the other birds." He gives the cat a wink and then works on his lock.
Taking 10 for a 22 total on Disable Device.
Voice of Awesomeness |
The cat bows it's head in thanks as the lock pops open. "There was a third, some sort of magician. She was very young, and I think the other two convinced her that we had a better fate than the circus. When she found out the truth, she stormed out. That was just before they caught you. I don't suppose you could pop this collar off of me too?"
Brennus the Raven |
"Your collar, hm?" Brennus focuses for a bit, taking the arcane energy within him and using it to enchant his eyes.
His little black eyes glow for a bit as he looks the cat and its collar over. "So how do you talk, hm? Were you someone's familiar at some point?"
Using his See Magic aracanist exploit--he can pinpoint and identify the school of magical auras as if he'd focused for three rounds with detect magic.
Brennus the Raven |
"Just a moment. I need to touch it," he says, flying down to the cat. "No funny business though," he adds, looking the cat in the eye.
Assuming the cat doesn't do anything foolish, he reaches out and touches the collar while asking, "Just what does this collar do?"
Touching a magic item while under the effect of See Magic lets him immediately try to identify the item.
Spellcraft: 1d20 + 14 ⇒ (7) + 14 = 21
Brennus the Raven |
Brennus considers for a moment. While that answer and the power of the collar *did* indicate this was a potentially dangerous entity... having a potentially dangerous entity owe him a favor might prove useful. He'd just have to be careful with it was all.
With a wave of his wing, Brennus uses his telekinetic powers to try to undo the collar.
Brennus the Raven |
"Maybe it works on something other than Silvanshee," Brennus comments. He eyes the collar again. "It's rather powerful, it might be able to trap some other kinds of beings, too. Or it might just be that she, like so many of us here, is not what she at first seems."
"Now back to the escaping!" While he has the magic on, anyway, he looks over the room quickly, trying to spot anything magic in it, then goes back to unlocking the cooshees' cage.
Perception if needed: 1d20 + 10 ⇒ (5) + 10 = 15
Voice of Awesomeness |
The dogs walk out slowly, unsure at first of what's happening. They look around, spotting you and the Silvanshee, and nod. They lack speech, but it's clear they are a bit more intelligent than the norm.
1d6 ⇒ 2 evens good.
Looking around the room again, you spot your pack and ring on one of the shelves.
Brennus the Raven |
"Just wait a bit, we'll make a break all together," Brennus says to both Silvanshee and hounds. He doesn't know if the hounds understand, but he wouldn't be surprised if they did.
Spotting his pack, he zips over to it and uses his magic to put it on. "There, now I'm ready! So here's the plan--I'll open the door and take a look in the next room. If the way is clear except for the two buffons, I'll use some illusions to distract them while you all make a break for it. Otherwise I'll open whatever doors need to be opened first."
He looks over at the other birds. They certianly couldn't understand him, and once he opened the cages they'd probably start making a racket. He looks over at the Silvanshee.
"If I unlock these cages, can you open them once we're ready to go?"
Assuming he can, Brennus starts unlocking the cages but leaving the doors shut. If all goes well with that, he'll fly over to the door and open it just enough to peek through.
Brennus the Raven |
Oh, and before I forget--he also slips the collar that used to be on the Silvanshee into his little pack.
Voice of Awesomeness |
The two men who captured you are sitting at a table, playing cards. There's a pair of mugs sitting in front of each of them, and you can easily smell the alcohol, even through the small crack in the door.
Taking 10 on your perception
You peer around, and notice there's only one door, which can only lead outside. This is obviously a tiny building, very likely some sort of way point.
Brennus the Raven |
He looks back into the room he came from. "I'll be right back. I have an idea..."
His eyes glitter as he vanishes from sight greater invisibility and slips into the room with the two men, closing the door behind him. He grips one of the torches around the perimeter of the room with his telekinetic grasp and slowly lifts it out of its sconce, then has it slowly start floating towards the two men.
As he does this, he croaks in his best "creepy old ghost" impression, "My, what nice pets you've brought me. Perfect for a circus. But a circus needs clowns, and I think you'll do nicely. You'll need to be branded first, though..."
Voice of Awesomeness |
1d20 + 2 ⇒ (8) + 2 = 10
1d20 + 2 ⇒ (14) + 2 = 16
One guard loses his nerve utterly, scrambling out of his chair, spilling the ale everywhere. He runs straight for the door, leaving his partner behind.
Who gets up shakily, and unsheathes his longsword, raising it protectively in front of himself. "W-w-who are you? W-what do you want?"
Brennus the Raven |
Brennus slowly floats the torch slowly towards the remaining guard.
"I am the spirit of the woman whose GRAVE YOU WERE JUST SITTING ABOVE PLAYING CARDS!" He telekinetically shakes the torch for emphasis.
"And what I want is to REST IN PEACE! So if you don't LEAVE NOW I will LIGHT YOUR HEAD ON FIRE!"
Intimidate: 1d20 + 11 ⇒ (19) + 11 = 30
Brennus the Raven |
Brennus winks back into view as the other guard flees the building. He flies over to the door to make certain they aren't sticking around, then flies back over to the back room and opens the door.
"Everybody out!" he cries, eyes glittering with unvoiced laughter. "I don't think those two will be coming back here any time soon."
While opening bird cages and hearding everyone out, he takes the time to give the whole building one last look-over to make certain he hasn't missed anything interesting.
Perception: 1d20 + 10 ⇒ (8) + 10 = 18
Voice of Awesomeness |
There's nothing of real interest. Some coins, packs that contain human gear, stuff like that. Nothing magical or worth taking. The other birds fly out of their cages, and into the night, but the hounds and the Silvanshee hang around, curious as to what you'll do next.
Brennus the Raven |
Brennus looks the hounds and the Silvanshee over. "Let's get out of here before we chat," he suggests, and flies out the door.
He leads them a little ways from the little building before finding a convenient perch.
"So, what is a Silvanshee doing around here?" he asks, looking at the cat-like celestial. "And what's your name? I'm Brennus."
Brennus the Raven |
Brennus gives Arshee a little bow from his perch, eyes glittering with humor. "Interesting... it must be an unusual summons, for you to come over to the Material Plane somewhere distant from your summoner. Which way will you need to go?"
He turns to the hounds. They seemed smart enough to understand even if they couldn't speak. "And which way are you going to go?"
Voice of Awesomeness |
"Something or someone hijacked the ritual. I got re-directed quite aways from my summoner. All I know is he or she is in a generally south-ish direction. I think. The link is very faint, and warped. For all I know, my summoner could be in an entirely different direction, but I'm currently being pulled south."
Brennus the Raven |
"Hmmmmm..." Brennus considers Arshee's story. Warping a summoning ritual... that was interesting magic. The kind of magic that he would very much like to take for himself, if possible. Of course, it might be insanely dangerous... but who would attack a raven?
The hounds were interesting, too. The hint of First World magic on them could mean a number of things... but without being able to speak they couldn't exactly tell him about it.
"That sounds like you might need help," he says aloud to the Silvanshee. He looks over at the hounds. "Will you three be all right on your own?"
Voice of Awesomeness |
The dogs nod, in clear understanding. They take off, racing towards the tree line of what is obviously a large forest.
Arshee stretches, and swishes it's tail "From what I was able to gather, those three belong to a small tribe of fae touched elves who live somewhat close to here."
Brennus the Raven |
Brennus watches them go, noting their direction of travel. "Maybe I'll look for them sometime," he says, turning back to Arshee. "Let's go find your summoner. We don't know how much time we have."
Voice of Awesomeness |
The pair travel quickly, both of them able to fly rather fast. As they zip along, Arshee explains a bit about herself. She's not been an Agathion for long, and this was her first mortal. She spoke to her leader about what or could have hijacked the ritual, but the best it could come up with was it was either a very powerful mortal mage, or some sort of sinister fiend.
Brennus the Raven |
"What's it like, being an Agathion?" Brennus asks, genuinely curious. "And who's your leader?"
He continues to ask her about her life and her home plane as they travel, always hungry for more knowledge. In between some of his questions, he states, "We'll want to be stealthy when we get close. We don't want to stick our beak and nose into something nasty unprepared, after all. Can you tell how far it is?"
Brennus the Raven |
Brennus is a bit disappointed by this answer, but turns from this to other questions about Nirvana.
"Let me know when we're getting close," he says after a round of questions.
Brennus the Raven |
"Oh? That's quite interesting..." Brennus muses. "Though I suppose it makes sense--planar travel is rarely accurate, so it's not that surprising you ended up so far off. How long have you been on the Prime Material now?"
Another thought occurs to him. "I wonder if I might be able to see anything of your altered bond to your summoner..." He casts detect magic and looks over Arshee, trying to see if he can make out anything of the bond.
Spellcraft: 1d20 + 14 ⇒ (16) + 14 = 30
Knowledge (Arcana): 1d20 + 14 ⇒ (13) + 14 = 27
Voice of Awesomeness |
"Counting my time locked up, about a week. Aside from that, a day or so."
As you are intimately familiar(HA!) with this specific sort of magic, you can immediately tell there's something rather wrong about it. It's a very warped and tangled mess, and with your highly trained eye, you're pretty sure there's an effect keeping Arshee bound to the Material Plane.
You're able to detect some sort of Dimensional Anchor effect on her.
Brennus the Raven |
"Well let's try to make the rest of your visit more pleasant," Brennus says. "It looks like whoever mangled your summoning slipped a dimensional anchor in on top of the rest of the mess. That's very interesting, I wonder how they managed that?"
The whole time he keeps staring at the mess of magic, trying to see if he can learn anything else, like "how might they have done this?" or "how could it be fixed?" or "could he use it to track who did this?".
Distractedly he adds, "I've been asking all the questions, maybe you have some for me?"
Brennus the Raven |
"I wouldn't have said it if I weren't sure!" Brennus says, feigning being insulted. "And I know that, which is why I'm wondering how they did that."
Indeed, he was quite well aware of the kind of power this implied... and it set his heart racing. If he could figure out a way to steal just a little of that power...
He eyes Arshee. "It seems a lot of trouble to go through for just a Silvanshee... no insult intended, of course. Do you have any idea who your summoner is? Someone powerful must not like them very much, which means we're going to need to be careful about this."
Brennus the Raven |
"Yes, but why? Or is all that happened to you somehow just a side effect..." Brennus muses.
After a long moment of circling above Arshee, lost in thought, he shakes himself. "Well we won't find out here. We'll have to go in quiet and sneaky. If we're lucky whoever did this won't notice small, 'weak' creatures like us, so we'll be able to look around and learn something about what's going on."
He pauses a moment. "If you don't mind, though, when we stop for the night I'll take a good long look at this mess of a bond and see if I can't spot anything else on it. I wouldn't want to get there and find out whoever did this has been tracking you the whole time."
Voice of Awesomeness |
"I'm not sure why I'm involved, but I don't think is mere coincidence." Arshee replies to Bren's musings.
She nods in agreement at the raven's suggestion. "That's probably a good idea, attempting to unravel this mess."
The odd pair continue to fly along, and soon decide to stop of the evening, at an abandoned barn.