The Shards of Oberon

Game Master FangDragon

Going to give Yukarii and Zendara another day. This combat is nearly over, lets finish it!

Dripping with gore from the dead zombie, Zendara leaps off the stone and tumbles towards her friends, singing all the while.

Acrobatics: 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (14) + 8 = 22

She then shoots at purple.

Sixth round:

Attack (+1 Longbow): 1d20 + 13 + 2 ⇒ (7) + 13 + 2 = 22 (inspire courage)
Damage (Piercing): 2d6 + 4 + 2 ⇒ (1, 2) + 4 + 2 = 9 (inspire courage)

Yukarii was missed yet again by the undead and stepped away from it to cast a spell even as Edwin and Xindyra double teamed it. As she finished her spell Yukarii flung two more magical bolts at the nearest enemy target.

Magic Missile: 3d4 + 3 ⇒ (4, 2, 2) + 3 = 11

A trio of bolts sprang from Yukarii's hand and slammed into the zombie's chest, leaving a gaping holes through which ribs gleamed softly. Horribly it still kept coming!

Edwin's blade however divided it in two, causing it to detonate, showering those nearby with a wave of negative energy.

Damage: 2d6 ⇒ (4, 4) = 8

Reflex Edwin DC 15: 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (7) + 8 = 15 <--- PASS
Reflex Yukarii DC 15: 1d20 + 3 ⇒ (16) + 3 = 19 <--- PASS
Reflex Xindrya DC 15: 1d20 + 15 ⇒ (3) + 15 = 18 <--- PASS

Xindrya slashes at another zombie but narrowly misses, thrown off by the stinging detonation.

Zendara leaps past the Zombies pursuing her and sets her sights on a zombie that was attacking Edwin and Xindrya. Taking careful aim she shot it in the chest with a hollow thump. This was enough to sever the nexus of unlife that fueled it causing it to detonate.

Damage: 2d6 ⇒ (2, 2) = 4
Reflex Edwin DC 15: 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (20) + 8 = 28 <--- PASS
Reflex Xindrya DC 15: 1d20 + 15 ⇒ (9) + 15 = 24 <--- PASS

The last zombie to the south sprinted towards Zendara. sneaking up on her with her back turned, to rake her with it's long sharpened claws!
Red dots slam vs Zendara: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (17) + 6 = 23Damage: 1d6 + 3 ⇒ (3) + 3 = 6 <--- HIT
Grey dots slam vs Xindrya: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (12) + 6 = 18Damage: 1d6 + 3 ⇒ (2) + 3 = 5 <--- MISS

The last zombie to the north tried to hit Xindrya, but she parried it's attack easily.

Environment: Daylight, firm footing. Water is difficult terrain.

Buffs and Debuffs:

---- Round 6 ----
Zendara Gravity Bow etc...
Fast zombies
Yukarii Mirror Image (4)
Edwin
Xindyra Many buffs
---- Round 7 ----
Zendara Gravity Bow etc...
Fast zombies
Yukarii Mirror Image (4)
Edwin
Xindyra Many buffs

Damage Log:

Round: 1
Black was hit by Zendara for 35 (total damage taken 35)
Green dots was hit by Zendara for 14 (total damage taken 14)
Yukarii was hit by Orange for 9 (total damage taken 9)
Xindrya was hit by Yellow for 4 (total damage taken 4)
Edwin was hit by Cyan for 18 (total damage taken 18)
Orange was hit by Xindrya for 21 (total damage taken 21)
Yellow was hit by Xindrya for 14 (total damage taken 14)
Orange was hit by Xindrya for 14 (total damage taken 35)
Yukarii was hit by Orange for 8 (total damage taken 17)
Xindrya was hit by Orange for 4 (total damage taken 8)
Cyan was hit by Edwin for 30 (total damage taken 30)
Xindrya was hit by Cyan for 4 (total damage taken 12)
Edwin was hit by Cyan for 4 (total damage taken 22)

Round: 2
White was hit by Zenndara for 69 (total damage taken 69)
Zendara was hit by White for 3 (total damage taken 3)
Yukarii was hit by Red for 4 (total damage taken 21)
Red was hit by Yukarii for 11 (total damage taken 11)
Purple was hit by Edwin for 25 (total damage taken 25)
Red was hit by Xindrya for 14 (total damage taken 25)
Yellow was hit by Xindrya for 25 (total damage taken 39)
Edwin was hit by Yellow for 8 (total damage taken 30)
Edwin was hit by Xindrya for 4 (total damage taken 34)

Round: 3
Red was hit by Edwin for 33 (total damage taken 58)
Edwin was hit by Red for 2 (total damage taken 36)
Xindrya was hit by Red for 2 (total damage taken 14)
Yukarii was hit by Red for 5 (total damage taken 26)

Round: 4
Green was hit by Yukarii for 13 (total damage taken 13)
Blue was hit by Edwin for 32 (total damage taken 32)
Edwin was hit by Blue for 3 (total damage taken 39)
Xindrya was hit by Blue for 3 (total damage taken 17)
Green dots was hit by Zendara for 54 (total damage taken 68)
Zendara was hit by Green dots for 9 (total damage taken 12)

Round: 5
Green was hit by Yukarii for 11 (total damage taken 24)
Edwin was hit by Green for 4 (total damage taken 43)
Yukarii was hit by Green for 4 (total damage taken 30)
Xindrya was hit by Green for 4 (total damage taken 21)
Purple was hit by Zendara for 9 (total damage taken 34)
Edwin was hit by Purple for 2 (total damage taken 45)
Xindrya was hit by Purple for 2 (total damage taken 23)
Zendara was hit by Red dots for 6 (total damage taken 18)

Totals:
Black: 35 damage
Green dots: 68 damage
Yukarii: 30 damage
Xindrya: 23 damage
Edwin: 45 damage
Orange: 35 damage
Yellow: 39 damage
Cyan: 30 damage
White: 69 damage
Zendara: 18 damage
Red: 58 damage
Purple: 34 damage
Green: 24 damage
Blue: 32 damage

COMBAT ORDER:
Zendara
Fast zombies
Yukarii <----- WE ARE HERE
Edwin
Xindyra

Yukarii, Edwin, Xindyra and Zendara are up.

Zendara is starting to feel her wounds, but she knows she needs to keep going a little longer, so she continues to sing and tumbles away again, leaving a light trail of blood.

Acrobatics: 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (5) + 8 = 13

She then shoots at the zombie threatening her friends.

Seventh round:

Attack (+1 Longbow): 1d20 + 13 + 2 ⇒ (2) + 13 + 2 = 17 (inspire courage)
Damage (Piercing): 2d6 + 4 + 2 ⇒ (5, 5) + 4 + 2 = 16 (inspire courage)

Waiting for Yukarii and Xindrya :)

Yukarii was relieved to see the zombie nearest her explode, even if she did catch the edges of the blast, and zeroed in on the last one. She wanted to try and take it down fast so she moved to get a clear shot and sent a beam of scorching heat at it.

scorching ray into melee: 1d20 + 6 - 4 ⇒ (20) + 6 - 4 = 224d6 ⇒ (6, 5, 1, 1) = 13
confirm???: 1d20 + 6 - 4 ⇒ (12) + 6 - 4 = 144d6 ⇒ (1, 3, 6, 2) = 12

Yukarii's beam hit the zombie in the chest and burnt clean through the otherside. This would have been a fatal wound if it had been alive, but but was not and horribly it kept on trying to attack despite being o fire with a gaping hole in it chest!

Environment: Daylight, firm footing. Water is difficult terrain.

Buffs and Debuffs:

---- Round 6 ----
Zendara Gravity Bow etc...
Fast zombies
Yukarii Mirror Image (4)
Edwin
Xindyra Many buffs
---- Round 7 ----
Zendara Gravity Bow etc...
Fast zombies
Yukarii Mirror Image (4)
Edwin
Xindyra Many buffs

Damage Log:

Round: 1
Black was hit by Zendara for 35 (total damage taken 35)
Green dots was hit by Zendara for 14 (total damage taken 14)
Yukarii was hit by Orange for 9 (total damage taken 9)
Xindrya was hit by Yellow for 4 (total damage taken 4)
Edwin was hit by Cyan for 18 (total damage taken 18)
Orange was hit by Xindrya for 21 (total damage taken 21)
Yellow was hit by Xindrya for 14 (total damage taken 14)
Orange was hit by Xindrya for 14 (total damage taken 35)
Yukarii was hit by Orange for 8 (total damage taken 17)
Xindrya was hit by Orange for 4 (total damage taken 8)
Cyan was hit by Edwin for 30 (total damage taken 30)
Xindrya was hit by Cyan for 4 (total damage taken 12)
Edwin was hit by Cyan for 4 (total damage taken 22)

Round: 2
White was hit by Zenndara for 69 (total damage taken 69)
Zendara was hit by White for 3 (total damage taken 3)
Yukarii was hit by Red for 4 (total damage taken 21)
Red was hit by Yukarii for 11 (total damage taken 11)
Purple was hit by Edwin for 25 (total damage taken 25)
Red was hit by Xindrya for 14 (total damage taken 25)
Yellow was hit by Xindrya for 25 (total damage taken 39)
Edwin was hit by Yellow for 8 (total damage taken 30)
Edwin was hit by Xindrya for 4 (total damage taken 34)

Round: 3
Red was hit by Edwin for 33 (total damage taken 58)
Edwin was hit by Red for 2 (total damage taken 36)
Xindrya was hit by Red for 2 (total damage taken 14)
Yukarii was hit by Red for 5 (total damage taken 26)

Round: 4
Green was hit by Yukarii for 13 (total damage taken 13)
Blue was hit by Edwin for 32 (total damage taken 32)
Edwin was hit by Blue for 3 (total damage taken 39)
Xindrya was hit by Blue for 3 (total damage taken 17)
Green dots was hit by Zendara for 54 (total damage taken 68)
Zendara was hit by Green dots for 9 (total damage taken 12)

Round: 5
Green was hit by Yukarii for 11 (total damage taken 24)
Edwin was hit by Green for 4 (total damage taken 43)
Yukarii was hit by Green for 4 (total damage taken 30)
Xindrya was hit by Green for 4 (total damage taken 21)
Purple was hit by Zendara for 9 (total damage taken 34)
Edwin was hit by Purple for 2 (total damage taken 45)
Xindrya was hit by Purple for 2 (total damage taken 23)
Zendara was hit by Red dots for 6 (total damage taken 18)

Round: 6
Grey was hit by Yukarii for 25 (total damage taken 25)

Totals:
Black: 35 damage
Green dots: 68 damage
Yukarii: 30 damage
Xindrya: 23 damage
Edwin: 45 damage
Orange: 35 damage
Yellow: 39 damage
Cyan: 30 damage
White: 69 damage
Zendara: 18 damage
Red: 58 damage
Purple: 34 damage
Green: 24 damage
Blue: 32 damage
Grey: 25 damage

COMBAT ORDER:
Zendara Action posted
Fast zombies
Yukarii
Edwin <----- WE ARE HERE
Xindyra

Edwin and Xindyra are up. Note there are two zombies still 'alive'.

Edwin steps 5ft away from the zombie, staying outside of melee reach.

Black blade, arcane strike, bane: 1d20 + 13 + 2 + 4 ⇒ (1) + 13 + 2 + 4 = 20Dmg, arcane strike, bane: 1d4 + 13 + 2 + 4 + 2d6 ⇒ (1) + 13 + 2 + 4 + (3, 6) = 29

He misses, somehow....

Xindyra steps away 5ft as well, slashing with the tip of her rapier.
Rapier, cat's grace, heroism, studied combat, defensively: 1d20 + 18 - 4 ⇒ (6) + 18 - 4 = 20Dmg, cat's grace, studied target: 1d6 + 6 + 2 + 3 ⇒ (1) + 6 + 2 + 3 = 12

Edwin misses, and Xindyra almost did too but she just managed to turn her blade at the last moment to decapitate it. The zombie then exploded in a shower of gore.

Zendara missed her shot, but then the rest of the party dispatched the zombie from range. The frantic sounds of battle faded leaving your ragged breathing. It was a hard battle with many of you sorely wounded, but you had won. The last and particularly badly damaged ring of standing stones had been cleared of the undead, all that remained was to cleanse it and then to attempt the ritual that would open the way if you dare.

COMBAT OVER - it's been long enough.

Zendara is tired and hurt, but this is exactly what they had been working for, and she casts Prestidigitation over and over again to clean up both herself and the rest of her team.

Then, slightly refreshed, she starts examining the stones and mending them little by little.

Is it safe to camp here? This might take a while.

Edwin misses, and Xindyra almost did too but she just managed to turn her blade at the last moment to decapitate it. The zombie then exploded in a shower of gore.

Zendara missed her shot, but then the rest of the party dispatched the zombie from range. The frantic sounds of battle faded leaving your ragged breathing. It was a hard battle with many of you sorely wounded, but you had won. The last and particularly badly damaged ring of standing stones had been cleared of the undead, all that remained was to cleanse it and then to attempt the ritual that would open the way if you dare.

COMBAT OVER - it's been long enough.

6 rounds is child's play. It ran to a little over a minute in a game one time. Granted, that was the final confrontation against a cult high priest and followers.

"That's a relief, no more exploding bodies.
Is everyone alright?", she looks at each of her companions.

I'm feeling a bit better now that I am clean, but I think we're all still wounded. I can cast some healing spells when we settle down to rest.

I have 3 cure mod and 3 cure light available I think.

Zendara finds the stones to be comprehensively defaced, all of them have been deeply chiseled obliterating the original carvings and engravings, replacing them with profane sigils inlaid with what looks like dried blood. The ground at the base of the stones looks like it was disturbed and she finds the skeletal remains of small human bodies under each one.

She tries a mending spell, not really expecting much to happen and at first it doesn't. But after the third or perhaps fourth casting she feels a slight tremor underfoot. This gets stronger with each casting until suddenly a great chunk of buried stone tears itself out of the ground to reattach itself to a broken menhir. The moment this happens the stone rings like a church bell and beams of energy shoot off to the other distant stone rings. The stones begin to bubble as if covered in acid, but working in reverse. Rather than dissolving the original carvings, they reappear in less than a dozen heartbeats.

Bright sunlight bathes the area and grass suddenly grows over each of the child graves and with incredible rapidity a single perfect red lilly pushes it's way up in the very centre of each one. The whole feel of the place changes from lonely desolation to hushed watchfulness, somehow you know instinctively this is once again holy ground.

It is safe to camp here. What do you plan to do next?

Zendara sits with her back against one of the stones and reviews her notes about the ritual, making sure she knows what she is supposed to do.

Do we have any idea how long the ritual takes? I think we have everything we need, but not certain, so first priority review everything and make sure we can do it, and then second we are wounded so it might be better to camp and then try in the morning.

Based on the length of the encoded music, perhaps ten minutes. It does require a perform check, but that's relatively easy for you.

Zendara lays out the plan, and since it should only take 10 minutes, she pushes for doing it now. Unless someone objects, she explains, and then begins.

Perform: 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (18) + 8 = 26

The Evensong of Elodin was a chant, one that normally would sung inside a temple or some other structure with far better acoustics than a ring of stones at the top of an extinct volcanic or possibly impact crater. It started off simply with Zendars's voice alone in the wind, but by the time she'd finished the first verse something subtle happened giving the air an electric feel and a delayed echo of her voice came in at the perfect moment to self harmoise.

The chant grew steadily in intensity and power, amplifying and enhancing her already superb voice far beyond mortal ability. Some peculiarity of the wind caused the chant rise up to the sweetness and purity of an angelic alto soprano before crashing down to the deep baritone of a tenor. The sound of the chant was no longer that of Zendara's although she was part of it, rather it had become a thing of its own and the beauty of the song melted your hearts.

Roughly five minutes in, it became apparent that something was happening. High above the very center of the crater, a solitary storm cloud had formed and there were peels of thunder from that direction in time with the music. Above this the air far into the sky shimmered as the air currents stirred. Something was coming!

Later you couldn't quite be sure what had really happened next, but at the time you where certain that a choir of angels and solars had descended from the heavens to lend their voices to the chant which was rising to a thunderous crescendo. The whole world seemed to turn white and your eyes where filled with peculiar after images with an intense feeling of otherworldliness along with a bone deep knowledge that The Lord was well pleased but there wasn't much time left.

You came to on the ground of the crater rim which had been transformed from a volcanic moonscape to a carpet of tiny, perfect alpine flowers as far as the eye could see. Floating in the air exactly the way that bricks don't, was a fantasy castle with four spires sitting on a gigantic floating rocky outcrop. It was hard to see at first but there seemed to be a gossamer bridge descending from the castle to the edge of the stone circle. Fully transparent but apparently stronger than steel, you had no idea what it was made of, but if somebody had told you it was forged of spun moonlight you'd have believed them. Whirling fair above the spires and darting down in between them was a pair of dragons, one silver the other gold.

Congratulations and welcome to level 7, let me know what you want to do next.

I won't have time to update my character today, but I definitely want to go in the castle... unless the dragons forbid of course, but hopefully that is the next step. :)

Shall we? Zendara asks her companions.

I won't have time to update my character today, but I definitely want to go in the castle... unless the dragons forbid of course, but hopefully that is the next step. :)

Shall we? Zendara asks her companions.

We're good people, we'll be fine.

"Definitely. A flying castle? What person in their right mind would -not- be curious to see what is inside?"

Yukarii was stunned by the sudden appearance of the heavenly choir and looked on in surprise, and no small amount of pain from the brightness of it all, She was the first to pass out from the overwhelming sensations and the last to wake up, with a splitting headache no less. "Ugh! that was not pleasant," as she pulled her hood well forward to hide her eyes and reduce the light reaching them.

Yukarii nodded in response to the question and said, "It seems the most obvious thing to do."

Rather cautiously you step foot on the gossamer bridge, to find that it barely moves beneath your feet. Still the climb is nerve wracking since the path up is steep and it heads out over the crater which is a good half mile below. If you were to fall...

But that didn't happen despite the wind picking up as you climb up towards the flying castle. For visuals, imagine something like [url=https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FcqXoaGX0AY4LYT.jpg]this[/ur] but with a cross between a french castle and an ornate mosque on top..

Finally after climbing for what seemed like ages, certainly enough to make your legs burn, you stand on a small grassy area in front of an impressive portcullis which appears to be made of some strange silvery metal. Up close the castle has impressive craftsmanship, each of the large stones is fitted so tightly a piece of paper wouldn't fit between them and they're all deeply engraved with runes. You notice signs of siege damage to some of them, scorch marks and deep gouges, although the fortress stands inviolate.

As you discuss how to get inside, you are surprised when a smaller gate inside the main gate opens and a very old man with snow white hair dressed in strange looking armor addressed you in a tremulous voice, "Ahhh! Glory be! The prophecy was true, you have come!"

Perception: 1d20 + 15 ⇒ (6) + 15 = 21 (pass)
Knowledge Arcana: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (16) + 6 = 22 (fail)

Zendara approaches and addresses the old man.

Greetings. We are glad to see you as well, but I am unfamiliar with the prophecy you speak of. Can you tell us more?

The man looked rather distant for a moment before replying "Ah yes! That's it, I knew I wouldn't forget, although it has been such a long time. Sorry I'm babbling. The prophecy was 'That which was closed shall be opened, that which lost shall be found, that which was sundered shall be reforged anew. Look for the ones that open the way on the day of the winter solstice. They shall be ladies three, and a gentleman ratfolk, scholars all.'"

Perception: 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (20) + 7 = 27
Know:Arcana: 1d20 + 12 ⇒ (13) + 12 = 25
Know: Arcana: 1d20 + 12 ⇒ (9) + 12 = 21

Yukarii looked with interest at the rocks as they passed tehm and spoted the caves in them. How she spotted it was unclear to her, perhaps it was the dimming of the light for a moment, or just intuition, but she realized those were dragon layers! So distracted by the idea of dragons living "just over there" Yukarii failed to notice anything else of interest.

When the door opened and the man appeared Yukarii was amused at the way he acted. He seemed maybe a little loopy but as he told of the prophecy her eyes widened. She hadn't expected to be included in a prophecy and it was a great shock to hear. Yukarii looked at her companions for a moment and then bowed to an appropriate depth of respect for their host. "I am called Yukarii, it is an honor to meet you." She gestured around herself and asked, "Can you tall us more about this place? And can I meet a dragon," she was maybe a little too excited by that last possibility as she was a little breathless at the idea.

He brightened suddenly swelling with prdie as he said, "Oh! Welcome to the high house of Elodin the busiest place in Oberon!"

Then in a small voice he muttered, "Oh. Or at least it was before everything fell apart... It's hard to explain how much has been lost. This place was so busy, with delegations from every nation. How to explain it, yes this was the center for Elodin's faithful but it was more than that. At times it was a fortress, but it was a symbol of our civilization. They tried to destroy it you know, many times. In the end, when it was obvious the enemy had won, it was sealed away. To ride out the storm, to be there for future generations to rekindle hope when all seemed lost."

He looked far away for a moment before adding, "As for dragons I can't rightly say. Tex'urdal'nasla and Mishan'contrala usually keep themselves to themselves."

I'm sorry for all that you have lost. I am Zendara. What is your name? And, how can we help rekindle the hope that you spoke of? Our greatest goal is to defeat the enemy that has destroyed so much that is good in this world.

Yukarii's expression fell a little when she heard the dragons kept to themselves but that was pretty typical from what little she knew of dragons. It was likely better that way.

The story of what this place was fascinating to Yukarii as she listened to what the man had to say. Eventually Zandara asked what they could to help Deciding the light was continuing to be rather overwhelming to her sense Yukarii did something she hadn't needed to in a while and cast a spell to provide her a protective layer of shadow to help mitigate the worst of the discomfort as the conversation continued.

I cast penumbra on myself.

"My name..." he looked far away and seemed sad and in a tremulous voice he told you, "I gave that up when I chose to remain. I am simply the Gatekeeper of Elodon's Fastness now. And speaking of that, perhaps you should come in and take a look around."

He leads you inside and takes you on a tour. The fastness itself is an architectural marvel, the entrance hall has soaring vaulted ceilings perhaps eight stories high. There's a grand sweeping staircase at the end of a hall drenched with light from vast stained glass windows. The gatekeeper explained that windows where actually a technological marvel, a metal stronger and lighter than steel.

Branching off from the main hall where conference rooms, administrative centers, cafeterias, barracks, workshops, laboratories, worship rooms with shrines to each of the saints and more. Everything was spotlessly clean, although here and there you came across evidence of a hasty evacuation. Lost cloaks or books, and other various personal items from people over a millenia dead. It was kind of eerie, everything looked like the people who once lived and worked here had all gone out for lunch but apart from the Gatekeeper you were the only ones here.

He took you up towards the top of the building into the command area. You passed an increasingly large number of technological items on the way. You entered a room with wrap around windows full of inscrutable machinery. The gatekeeper told you sweeping his hand this way and that "So this is the bridge, from here it's possible to navigate to well pretty much anywhere, and to conduct a battle. The fastness has short range defensive weapon systems, although it always was more of a carrier than a battleship per se. Before you ask, I'm afraid I don't know how to use this equipment but I have a good idea of what it's capable of. I'll try my best to answer any questions yoy might have."

Knowledge Arcana: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (18) + 6 = 24 (pass)

Are these inactive portals? Where do they go?

If appropriate, she will tell the guardian the idea about destroying the darkness with ... uh, volcanoes or whatever? I would have to go back and look it up, but I know it was something to do with a portal and getting to talk to one certain citymind...

Knowledge Engineering: 1d20 + 15 ⇒ (15) + 15 = 30

This is... a ship... like a spaceship? Wow. Let me see if I can figure out these controls...

Know: Arcana: 1d2 + 12 ⇒ (1) + 12 = 13

Yukarii looked around in wonderment at the structure and had no clue what she was really seeing. Fortunately Zendara was more capable than Yukarii was at the moment as she identified portals and the fact this was a spaceship. Being at a loss as of what to do to help Yukarii said, "Let me know if you have something that you need read for information."

Inspired Kn. Arcana: 1d20 + 10 + 1d6 ⇒ (10) + 10 + (6) = 26
Inspired Kn. Engineering: 1d20 + 15 + 1d6 ⇒ (19) + 15 + (4) = 38

Like Zendara, Xindyra's mind and perception takes in much of the details they come across. Xindyra would eagerly work alogside Zendara to figure out how the place worked.

"Intruiging, Gatekeeper. Would you mind if we try helping you understand the place's mysteries?"

Her tail slowly waves from one side to the other in excitement.

"Are these inactive portals? Where do they go?"

"Yes. They used to lead to all across the system, unfortunately the enemy made planar travel too dangerous to contemplate so the whole system was shut down. The first time that happened in centuries you know, caused utter havok." replied the Guardian in a very matter of fact way.

"This is... a ship... like a spaceship? Wow. Let me see if I can figure out these controls..."

Looking over the controls Zendara spots what she thinks might be the navigational helm, the controls look strange though - she doesn't have words for many of the things she's seeing.

The guardian smiled, "Indeed! There's uh, well I assume anyway there's text books or perhaps it was all done by holo. Wasn't really my department... Anyway we used have a flight school down on the hanger decks. Perhaps you might want to check there."

"Intruiging, Gatekeeper. Would you mind if we try helping you understand the place's mysteries?"

The old man smiled, "The command deck was always something of mystery to me, but I'll try." He looked around and frowned at a blinking light on a console, "Oh! How peculiar it looks like communications system has a message queued up."

He tapped something complex into the keys before trying something else and giving up with a sigh, "It won't accept my access code..."

Knowledge Engineering: 1d20 + 15 ⇒ (13) + 15 = 28 (pass)

I wonder if they could be started up again. The citymind we were talking to mentioned that we should visit one in particular... but also, if we do get rid of the bad guys, it would be so cool to get some of this stuff running again and restore some of this ancient, but amazing, technology.

Knowledge Engineering: 1d20 + 15 ⇒ (1) + 15 = 16 (fail)

Zendara is too excited by the portals and the thought of the flight school to really pay attention to the access code issue.

A flight school? Something that still works that I could learn from maybe? Wow, that would be great.

The talk of portals and flight schools went over Yukarii's head, but the mention of a message queued and an inability to figure out the passcode caught her attention. Yukarii approached and said, "Let me try."

Yukarii approached and gently laid her hand on the control panel to input the code and focused on it. She tried to reach out, to read the code from the panel's past.

Appraise (psychometry): 1d20 + 15 ⇒ (5) + 15 = 20

Yukarii didn't push the buttons but she did begin to get a feel for what functions and controls were most used. She didn't figure out the code but she thought she could guide the next person to try something. "I do not think I can figure out the code myself but I think I can help you the next time you try to decipher it Xindyra -san."

You get +4 Xindyra."

Yukarii didn't push the buttons but she did begin to get a feel for what functions and controls were most used. She didn't figure out the code but she thought she could guide the next person to try something. "I do not think I can figure out the code myself but I think I can help you the next time you try to decipher it Xindyra -san."

You get +4 Xindyra."

"Sure thing.", the tiefling says enthusiastic.

Inspired Kn. Engineering 1st: 1d20 + 15 + 1d6 ⇒ (8) + 15 + (6) = 29
Inspired Kn. Engineering 2nd, aid from Yukarii: 1d20 + 15 + 1d6 + 4 ⇒ (5) + 15 + (3) + 4 = 27
Thanks, that nailed it. ;)

Xindyra goes about figuring out whatever will reveal itself to the group...

The console was complicated which Xindyra discovered immediately. However with Yukarii's help she was able to narrow down the possibilities and soon the biometric sensor whirred into life. She place one hand on it, and a horizontal beam of green light scanned her. Moments later there was a ping and a grainy image formed above the console which resolved into Dr Taproot.

Sounding a little surprised he exclaimed, "Oh! Wait! Ohhhh! Am I dreaming, are you truly in to The high house of Elodin?! Everyone thought it lost. Well now that explains something... You see Vesta asked me to contact you to pass on a message. This didn't make sense, surely it could do that itself? Anyway I rather doubt the Guardian is accepting hail requests from minds. You see before the sundering, the enemy suborned minds in charge of our defense platforms where turned against our cities. Hundreds of million perished in atomic fire. As you might expect afterwards there was great distrust of minds in general, whether they deserved it or not."

The flickering blue figure paced before telling you, "Vesta implores you to research something called The Staff of Jhistal. Supposedly you're near a data cache, the password of which is apparently 'Jhistal Raraku Elodin Imperator.' Once you've learned what you can, Vesta asks that you contact it."

The Guardian frowned, "A message from a transcended, most unusual. He's absolutely right I don't accept calls from minds, never did trust them. They're far smarter than us, they live longer than most of us, we are at best ants to them. The claim was they worked in our best interests, but how could you tell? How could one possible know what was really going on within their higher dimensional processors? This was not a common position I know, folk said I was paranoid. But look what happened, we found to our great cost they were near unstoppable... But whats all this about The Staff of Jhistal?! That's named after Jhistal the first High Clerist. It became the symbol of office for High Clerists. I've never heard of it having any particular powers although naturally it was enchanted."

May we access the data cache? Perhaps we can learn more.

"Hmm" muttered The Guardian, "Perhaps they are referring to the High Clerist's library?"

Dr Taproot nodded, "My thoughts exactly. I'm guessing it'll take you some time to find what you're looking for. I'll contact you again in eight standard hours."

With that the transmission ended in a burst of static.

The Guardian led you through a maze of tunnels halls and corridors towards what was unmistakably a cathedral in the centre of the flying castle. Dedicated to Elodin with shrines to all the saints it had an air of quite watchfulness and reverence.

The Guardian didn't stop here, behind the main altar led you to a small and surprisingly Spartan lodging for the clergy. At the centre of this was a library set in a large airy room with oak panelled walls and green desk lamps. "There's a good number of physical book her, mostly covering theology as you might expect, although there's a selection of other texts ranging from historical to political science and medical texts. Still the vast bulk of the texts held here are virtual. Note the consoles in the booths, you can use those to access and search the catalogue."

Let me know if there are any specific things you'd like to search for. You have access to effectively the Wikipedia of an advanced technological society at your fingertips. There might be all sorts of neat things that could be made if you can find a suitable printing shop with the right printstock.

Knowledge Religion: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (19) + 6 = 25

Zendara explains to the others how to use the machine and, interestingly, recognizes something called the "Skyweir Project" and starts reading about that.

In terms of other requests, could we get some basic texts on ancient languages... thinking that could be the pretext for learning them if we level. Also maybe stories about the world before, what it was like, information on the cityminds, weapons, magic, how to unlock the skill modules that were hinted at before when a couple of us chose to get upgrades... but most importantly (at least for now), what is the staff of Jhistal, and anything to do with that?

Zendara spends several hours making various basic queries. In the distant past there where many regional languages with a surprising variety of syntax, sound, rhythm and written representation if any. These were by and large replaced by Marin a constructed language for The Interstellar Commonwealth considered to be superior to everything that had gone before. "Written" Marin is fundamentally a binary language. Each symbol or glyph is a representation of a binary number or byte created by arranging the bits within a multi dimensional container. Different strata of Marin use different byte sizes, with a commensurate increase in the number of possible unique glyphs. Byte size, and the number of dimensions a glyph may be constructed in, are limited only by computational resources. In practice, the more complex strata of Marin - using very long bytes and multi-dimensional glyphs - are only used by and comprehensible to machine intelligences like Minds.

Before the sundering Oberon was a glittering jewel of a world, with sixteen billion sentient inhabitants from roughly forty intelligent races. Oberon was one of the founding worlds of The Interstellar Commonwealth a collective of worlds spread across the delta arm of the Eurbius Galaxy, connected by a vast network of portals. The Eurbius Galaxy contains a large number of planets, most of which are unsuited for habitation but a surprising number of the marginal ones were used to house vast factory cities.

The Commonwealth power network was regarded to be a marvel, zero-width super-conducting portals provided bulk interconnects, with the majority of power generation coming from a myriad of solar wells floating in the upper mantles of various stars. The truly prodigious quantities of energy these provided powered an amazing array of technology including some truly fearsome sounding energy weapons capable of distorting space time and scorching planets.

She finds another report describing how the defense network was compromised and turned against those it was supposed to protect when several of the controlling minds were suborned by the enemy. This wasn't supposed to have been possible because there were many levels of filtering and firewalls but the enemy was able to locally alter some of the rules of physics allowing intimate access to the minds multi-dimensional processing substrates.

The simulationist faction took this as a sign that the known universe was indeed a simulation. Others rejected this idea as being entirely fanciful, pointing out that the holy texts of Elodian and several other gods hinted that physical reality was created by sufficiently strong will. Essentially the gods had willed the universe to work in a particular way and so it did, implying that the enemy was indeed a god opposed to the pantheon. They further speculated that with sufficient understanding and willpower using something called a time crystal, would be possible to ward an area (perhaps even a very large area with sufficient power), stabilizing reality and preventing the enemy's manipulation.

This leads Zendara onto the Staff of Jhistal. Records relating to this where frustrating, fragmentary, even contradictory. For the most part it was deemed to be nothing more than a quaint artifact of a bygone age, however there where persistent rumours (usually deemed unreliable) of it having some strange properties. The wielder, by tradition the high Clerist of Elodin, was granted glimpses of what was, what is and what might be. What was known for certain was it was surprisingly heavy and it couldn't be transported via portal, or via teleportation magic. Several sages at the Idromass Institute (a prestigious university) believed the head piece which looked like a large quartz crystal, to actually be a time crystal surrounding a tiny vial of neutronium or anti-matter which explained the unusual mass.

After a bit more searching Zendara brought up news report from an agency called Interstellar Network News, which detailed a scandal at The high house of Elodin, which only came to light after the death of the then High Clerist one Nigel Flatley. It turned out that at some unknown point before High Clerist Flatley's death, person or persons unknown had tampered with the Staff of Jhistal, replacing the head stone for a very realistic fake one. Curiously this happened about one month before The Interstellar Commonwealth became aware of the enemy.

Knowledge Engineering: 1d20 + 15 ⇒ (13) + 15 = 28

Any information about where the real head of the staff of Jhistal disappeared to... or any other time crystals I suppose? ... and good information about the implants. Is there a list of the options somewhere?

Zendara is overwhelmed with what the world used to be like, and explains all of what she has learned to her friends.

In principle everything from the technology guide up to 1/3 WBL is available.

Xindrya / Yukarii, you still here? :)

After a while Zedara realised she's ravenously hungry. The guardian remarks, "Ah yes I'm not surprised you're hungry, you've spent a. full day accessing the terminal, it's very easy to loose track of time. Anyway come with me we'll soon get you fed and watered."

He leads you a short distance to what turns out to be a cafeteria with comfortable bench seating set around an open plan kitchen with acres of brushed steel kitchen equipment. In some way this was familiar and others unlike anything you've seen before because despite there being no staff and no visible food The Guardian insisted it was still possible to get food, saying "Allow me to demonstrate." He walked over to the counter in front of the kitchen equipment where he took a plate and tray, and said, "A northern spiced chicken noodle soup please."

Suddenly an army of translucent disembodied chefs appeared, along with fresh ingredients on work tables where the meal was diligently and extremely quickly prepared. Likewise any meals you ask for are cooked to perfection.

After your meal you return back to the library where a communications console you hadn't noticed before chimed when you entered. As before it was a message from Dr Taproot biometrically keeyed for your eyes only.

The Doctor's holographic image flickered as he told you, "Hopefully you've had a chance to do some research. If you haven't already I'd encourage you to learn how to fly the ship. Anyway that's not what I called you for, rather I wanted to share the last thing Vesta told me. Its agents brought it a photograph of the Coronation of Emperor Marhatbarran III of Kez."

The holographic image shifts to show the young but commanding emperor being crowned inside a huge cathedral in front of the creme of the empire's aristocracy. It's a sitting propaganda image, designed to make the Emperor look like God's chosen.

"The interesting bit here is the Kez Imperial State Crown. See the glowing gem at the front? Vesta believes that's in fact the head of the Staff of Jhistal. All you need to do to save the world is steal it, and reassemble the staff. Any questions?"

Still here, not to worry.

The surreal troupe of chefs is quite amazing to see. Xindyra wonders how sophisticated that runs, and decides to ask Vesta about such things next.

She patiently listens to what Dr. Taproot tells them.
Sheesh, propaganda drama. What a bore.

"Any questions?"

"No pressure, right? It's only getting into Kez territory and steal from their emperor. They couldn't possibly get upset over that."