GM Cellion's Dawn of Flame AP (complete) (Inactive)

Game Master Cellion

Bel sees the doors are closed, but from afar isn't sure if they're locked. The woman dispels any uncertainty however when she answers Flint's question. She looks through the cloaks and takes one with a particularly long cut. After throwing it around her shoulders with a satisfied sigh she says "Thank you. As for my sisters, I said they were indisposed and that we did not have much fondness for one another. I'm surprised I have to spell it out for you, but I've ensured they can't try to cause trouble and make this into a scene by locking them in for now. Please give me the other two cloaks. You won't have to worry about us after that."

"As for the Wishing Engine, it was once here, but has long since been moved closer to the Heart of this sun. Further... down."

"What kind of scene could they cause if we're helping them gain their freedom?" Belmarniss asks. "I know people like you enjoy deception and betrayal, Hell, I'm related to a whole family-owned corporation of them, but I know that you're also the kind of person who'll drop the act and deal forthrightly to get out of a jam. And right now, you seem like you're still maintaining an act, and for what? To get one up on your sisters before you've even had a chance to escape? You're at your lowest point already...technically even a little elevated since you've got your own cloak back now...I doubt your sisters could embarrass you further, so why NOT let us witness the family reunion, for our own peace of mind?"

The woman considers for a moment and then says "Their cloaks give me... leverage... over them. I don't have any interest in letting them out until I have them. This is a family matter between us. Nothing for you to worry about."

”We have given you your cloak, so please tell us now what we will be facing and how your protections can aid us,” replies Flint.

Diplomacy: 1d20 + 20 + 1d6 ⇒ (8) + 20 + (6) = 34

To Belmarniss, he says, ”I know little of these people and would defer to your judgement, Belmarniss.” He looks like he wants to say more but not in front of the hag.

Continued close scrutiny of the hag’s intentions Sense Motive: 1d20 + 14 + 1d6 ⇒ (1) + 14 + (4) = 19

"Coven politics don't matter right now--I say give her the cloaks, and if they double cross us we'll kill them just like we killed the genies."

Belmarniss makes a disgusted noise.

"'Family matters.' You even sound like one of my great-aunts! Fine. But I reserve the right to say 'I warned you' in the event of betrayal."

She readies her junksword to emphasize the point.

”Very well,” agrees Flint, ”Answer my question, and I will give you the other two cloaks so we can fulfill our agreement.”

The woman smiles, then says "Of course. I don't know what you will find, as they didn't exactly share their plans with us. But I do know that dozens of efreeti have gone down there to contribute their wishes. Other than the rank and file, the General himself also approached to oversee the proceedings here at the end." She purses her lips "As for the protections... The sun's core works in powerful ways, it's nature bends time and space around it. Down there, you can spend weeks or months while only a few hours or days pass up above. Mind and body both need to be protected against such forces, and void hags like myself are some of the only beings capable of such magic."

Flint thinks this explanation seems honest. All agreeing, you pass over the remaining two cloaks to her. She dons both of them over her first one. "Very... good. Now, let me get things ready, and you'll soon have the protection you need. This requires all three of us, but I assure you the other two will not be a threat now that I bear their cloaks." She turns to the computer console and spends a few moments rapidly typing away. She then heads over to the square pool of shining white liquid and starts stirring it with a spoon.

Curious despite himself, Ordyt watches the void hag work and considering what she said about spacetime being bent nearer the heart of the star. What strangeness might be found in such a place--and who built this dome of darkness and seems to immune to the light, head, and gravity of a star itself?

Does a Mysticism 30 reveal anything cool about whatever magic she's working?

Belmarniss joins Ordyt in watching the magic unfold, still paranoid about the nature of their "ally" and her "protections."

Mysticism: 1d20 + 17 ⇒ (20) + 17 = 37

Both Ordyt and Bel can tell that she's not casting anything or working any magic. The pool of liquid itself *does* however seem to be strongly magical.

After a few seconds of stirring, suddenly all three of the doors leading from the room beep. The woman glances at the nearest door with a little concern as she climbs up onto the rim of the pool. The doors slide open.

The north-east room is filled with aged computer terminals and is lit exclusively by the glow from their monitors. A single table sits in the center of the room and in a chair behind that table is slumped a woman with mottled skin and glittering green hair. She seems to be quite elderly and is currently either fast asleep or dead from her posture.

The south-east room is quite an ordinary bedroom, though it is immaculately tidy and reasonably well appointed. A rail thin woman with mottled skin and glittering green hair stands in the doorway. Anger fills her eyes. She appears to be middle-aged.

The south-west room is filled with hanging vines and flowering plants. A fancy bed stands in the middle of the room, covered in a brown beast's hide of fur and feathers. On the pillow is a poppet decorated with spikes of metal and bone. A young woman with mottled skin and glittering green hair seems to have just woken up and is shimmying off the bed. A small smile plays on her lips.

Belmarniss glares as the three hags are revealed.

"I knew we were being played!" she growls. "Hags aren't the only ones who deceive and weave illusions, are they?"

Nurleth? ;)

Not sure what is going on, Flint tenses at the name Belmarniss speaks, ”What is going on here?” he demands.

Not sure what is going on, Flint tenses at the name Belmarniss speaks, ”What is going on here?” he demands.

I didn't say the name, I was asking out of character if my hunch was right. :P

Captain Flint Conners wrote:

Not sure what is going on, Flint tenses at the name Belmarniss speaks, ”What is going on here?” he demands.

I didn't say the name, I was asking out of character if my hunch was right. :P

True, but you thought it really loud. Relationships typically take longer than theirs for hearing each others thoughts…Still, Flint is pretty tense.

Intimidation if needed: 1d20 + 20 + 1d6 ⇒ (14) + 20 + (3) = 37

Hag coven--pretty sure it's a Maiden/Mother/Crone situation, three women each of a different age. Which probably means the one we just spoke to isn't really a hag, like Bel suggested.

The instant it registers to Ordyt that the three rooms are already occupied--meaning there was one hag too many in play--he rushes the woman by the pool, fully intent on running her through!

The elder of the two hags currently awake snarls "What have you done, you fools! You betray our agreement, doom us to slavery once more. And to that efreeti of all people!"

|||| INIT ||||
Ordyt (99SP/73HP)
Flint (110SP/72HP)
Bel (86SP/59HP)
Mother Maelstrom
Daughter Drift

"NURLETH!" Belmarniss roars upon seeing the betrayal she expected come to pass.

Waiting to see what the others decide before committing to an action.

”She tricked us!” roars Flint indignantly as he draws his blade and jumps into the pool after the deceiver, ”I’ll get your cloaks back if I can,” he says as he enters the pool.

(Flint plans to use Jet Charge Stellar Rush to propel himself through the fluid toward the trickster and attack her if he can see her after jumping into the pool. Normally a 90 foot charge with an attack or bull rush at the end)

Flint leaps over the lip and splashes into the pool. The liquid is a brilliant, shining white material and he finds it fairly dense, making it difficult to swim through and impossible to see through. He dives down, but find neither bottom nor Nurleth. Instead, he feels himself being drawn downward. (I'll give you an opportunity to swim up to escape if you wish, otherwise you'll get dragged down by it to destinations unknown)

Flint swims up and bursts out of the pool, exclaiming, ”She is not in the pool, though I felt the presence of a portal there! How could I have been so stupid as to let her trick us!”

Flint clearly does not want to fight the hags, but he worries he will have no choice given his lapse in judgement.

Ordyt and Bel?

"Retreat back to the elevators? This isn't a fight we have time for right now Captain!" Ordyt takes his own advice and circles around into the elevator, eyeing the hags warily as he backs into the elevator.

(If Flint has any movement left, he will head to the elevators as Ordyt says.)

Flint, I'd say running to the pool, diving down, and coming back up would have used up your movement. For Bel, I'll assume she's also heading to the elevator.

The young hag strides forth and summons up a powerful cosmic eddy that fills the elevator and spills out to spread across across much of the room. Ordyt and Bel are both caught by the eddy and tossed about before smashing into the floor. You both take 10 dmg and end up prone. The eddy lingers, no longer doing damage but making both land and air in the area difficult terrain as it swirls about.

Ordyt Reflex: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (10) + 4 = 14
Bel Reflex: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (7) + 6 = 13

Mother Maelstrom doesn't go for overt violence and instead moves closer to her fellow hag before casting haste.

|||| INIT ||||
Ordyt (89SP/73HP)
Flint (110SP/72HP)
Bel (76SP/59HP)
Mother Maelstrom (haste)
Daughter Drift (haste)

Flint uses his turn to retreat to the elevators, stumbling through the difficult terrain, ”I’m really sorry—it isn’t fair that your cloaks were stolen and we were tricked trying to give them back to you,” he says as he goes.

"I WARNED you! I freaking WARNED you!" Belmarniss yells as she's knocked around by the hag's spell.

She scoffs at Flint's apology as she tries to join him by the elevator.

"The only apology they're going to accept is us getting them back, and now we have to go through them to get them back, Captain!

"I have no love for hags of any stripe, but our true enemy still waits for us. With a little luck, if we meet again we'll have Nurleth's head." The moment Flint clears the elevator doorway Ordyt slams the [Door Close] button and sends it on its way.

Readied Action to do that

You close the doors, isolating you from the hags (although the swirling eddy of dust and ice continues to fill the elevator) and hit the controls to descend. The elevator doesn't move, the display reading "Floors Temporarily Inaccessible". Bel interrogates the readout for further details and you find that the elevator shaft itself is somehow damaged and any further floors aren't providing any indication of their status. It seems this is as far as the elevator can take you.

We will dip out of combat since you have a very solid elevator door between you and the hags

"How bad is the damage, Belmarniss? Can we burn through the floor and continue through the shaft or is it blocked?" asks Flint.

"And yes, you were right, Belmarniss. I totally bought she was one of the hags, but I should have waited to talk to the one I was in mental contact with to be sure," he adds.

"The Legion must have sabotaged the shaft to keep us out--that means they're getting desperate." Ordyt watches the elevator door warily to make sure it wouldn't open again, then joins the others in finding an access panel or other way to continue their downward trek.

"Blocked," Belmarniss confirms. "Shaft itself is somehow damaged. We'll probably want to see just what kind of damage it is to figure out if we want to try brute-forcing our way past it or take our chances with the hags."

Bel isn't able to get any further information from the elevator's control panel, and as far as you can tell there's no access hatch in the floor or ceiling to exit from the elevator car into the shaft. Most likely you would need to park the elevator car on a floor, exit, and then send it up and descend yourselves. Given the very thorough security measures set up for elevator operation, that may be more complicated to execute than it seems at first glance.

Taking a 10 gets Ordyt to the DC, just barely.

Giving up on the fruitless search for a floor panel with a frustrated grunt, Ordyt closes his eyes to think. Placing his hand on the wall of the elevator he tries to picture the layouts of the station relative to the bubble of darkness.

"Captain... I can't be sure, that spatial and temporal distortion effect seems to be real, but--I think we must be near the edge of the bubble of darkness, assuming its a perfect sphere like the other one we saw. I don't think this elevator goes much further, it would jut out into the Burning Mother and the efreet can't build structures that can survive that just yet."

"Yeah, we probably want to take the stairs," Belmarniss replies with a sigh.

Ready to fight?

Echoing Bel's sigh, Ordyt checks the mag on his rifle and tightens one of the bolts on the bayonet. "They're hags, they'd have probably double-crossed us and then gone to an all-you-can-eat infant buffet on Eox or something. Let's get this over with."

”I would have preferred to avoid this, but if they insist on fighting, we must reciprocate,” says Flint, ”And we are at a dead end here. Let’s go.”

Belmarniss grips her junksword and nods.

"We give them one chance to stand down, and if they push it, we defend ourselves. Up to you two if you want to honor any surrender they offer. Sarenrae has always been more forgiving than Iomedae."

While you're speaking, the cosmic eddy fades, leaving only dust across the ground. After readying yourselves you open the doors once more. You don't immediately see the hags after the doors are open, but you do here them somewhere nearby, speaking with one another in Aklo. It seems they're trying to work out what to do next.

|||| INIT ||||
Ordyt (89SP/73HP)
Flint (110SP/72HP)
Bel (76SP/59HP)
Mother Maelstrom (haste)
Daughter Drift (haste)

”We are not your enemies, but we will fight you if we have to so we can continue on and destroy the wishing machine. I promise we will get you back your cloaks if we can, so you have your choice—side with your enslavers who stole your robes, or side with us as we endeavor to defeat our common enemy. Choose well and quickly,” says Flint.

Persuasion or Intimidation: 1d20 + 1d6 + 20 ⇒ (19) + (1) + 20 = 40

"Not our enemies?" Mother Maelstrom barks a laugh. "Why should we trust you now, when you've failed us already, betrayed us to efreeti. If we let you go and you get fooled again, we will suffer punishment as dire as what we did when we were first captured. You've proven your promises are worthless. What can you offer us that doesn't require us to trust you?"

To be clear, that was a very good diplomacy, so you have an opportunity to avert the fight, but only if you can find a way to address the hags' concerns properly.

"Betrayed you? We were tricked ourselves--if we hadn't intended to honor the deal why would have turned over the cloaks to one we thought was of your coven? That walking war crime Nurleth is the enemy of all of us. If we brought the genie Nurleth to you along with your cloaks, could you see your way to letting us pass?"

Aid Another: 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (8) + 8 = 16

Belmarniss assesses the conversation and nods.

"You want something tangible as collateral."

The easiest way to placate them would likely be to provide a hostage, but Belmarniss isn't gonna say that out loud because 1) the only one she'd volunteer for that is herself, and that'd effectively remove her from the campaign and 2) she doesn't want to give the hags that idea.

The hag scoffs at Ordyt "Yes, you don't need to tell us how vile Nurleth is. Or remind us of your incompetence. And promises on top of promises are as relevant as air, now that you've proven your gullibility." But when Bel speaks you hear "Yes, the girl has it. Something tangible. Meaningful. A solution."

The younger hag pipes up, perhaps upset to have been left out of the conversation "And a nice puppy I can carve up!"

"Gonna have to disappoint you on the puppy front," Belmarniss comments.

We've been in combat-round-limbo chatting for a bit here. Just to be clear, you haven't given up combat priority with this. It's still your turn. So you can certainly make your offer or decide to strike (per discussion) when you're ready.

”We sacrifice no one to be carved up by you! You can stand aside and let us continue to fight the Efreeti, or you can stand in our way and be slaughtered,” intones Flint, his body starting to flame in frigid hues of blue fire. ”Choose now—live or die!” he threatens, his body balanced on the razor edge of attack!

Intimidate: 1d20 + 20 + 1d6 ⇒ (9) + 20 + (5) = 34

(Move action for Cold Plasma Sheath, readied action for Stellar Rush at the first sign of aggression from the hags)

Flint, while you were talking to them they stayed out of your direct line of sight. So you don't see them to dash at them if you spend a move action for the plasma sheath. See map.

"Then you're worthless to us. We'll find our own freedom, as we ever have before." Mother Maelstrom spits her words while Daughter Drift giggles in glee that things will become violent.

|||| INIT ||||
Ordyt (89SP/73HP)
Flint (110SP/72HP)
Bel (76SP/59HP)
Mother Maelstrom (haste, shaken)
Daughter Drift (haste, shaken)

"So be it," says Flint as he moves into the field of vision of the hags he speaks to (no Plasma Sheath). As his eyes flash with photonic power, he Stellar Rushes the nearest hag, slicing with his solarian scimitar!

Solarian Scimitar Attack: 1d20 + 18 ⇒ (9) + 18 = 27
Slashing, Holy, Frost Damage: 5d6 + 24 ⇒ (5, 6, 6, 4, 1) + 24 = 46

"If you won't take mercy, you'll get justice," Belmarniss says, taking position and pointing two fingers at the hag Flint is attacking, chanting a spell to dissipate her preparations.

Dispel Magic: 1d20 + 11 ⇒ (17) + 11 = 28