Volcano's Land - Mercury Morn

Game Master Miner Cotren

It is eighth candle.

Abnaki, would you speak food into the world for the others? or do you all have human rations to consume?

do you humans need a light source? I'm pretty sure Samen only has low-light vision. Serv will provide. just setting the scene in my mind.

I have access to the light cantrip, so I figured Samen would use that in a way that made sense.

Abnaki eats rocks and dreams. Everyone else can eat those too, right?

Gabe has darkvision. I have trail rations on my sheet but that would be Ifrit rations I assume.

Stale ashbread and dried pogona jerky will do just fine for humans, although you don't find the ashbread quite as tasty as an ifrit would

You all hear undine-styled whalesong choir music swimming through the tunnels. It surrounds you, then fades. The whalesong ebbs and flows, but seems to have no effect on you. Bright, silvery light shines from the end of the corridor, inviting you to the third level of the Branch Library.

Serv is weeping. "I used to remember this whole song, when I was whole." The tears are oily, glistening in Samen's were-light.

"Come, then. It's time to learn it again. We must descend further."

The music broadens, but becomes no louder. It envelopes you, nourishes you like mulled wine. Inquisitor Ky La sits in a chair made of pinprick flares of light. The entire scene is oddly flat due to the monochromatic lighting; Ky La seems more a painting than a person.

"In this place, I can answer questions as well as ask them. Will you sit with me?"

"Of course!" Abnaki states, casting a spell. Stoneshape, to shape the ground into chairs for himself and companions. I'm also pretty sure this might be Abnaki's first face to face with Ky La? If not I'm not remembering the previous encounter.

Abnaki, in at least one of his incarnations/lives, has met Ky La, but it was in the middle of a battle. He almost killed Gabe with a "reverse damage" spell that reflected his own sneak attacks back at him. (That was with Gabriel's previous player though)

Link!

The gentle sound of pouring water;
Glacial, moon-kissed, free of any taste.

water in translucent cups, if you care to partake. Ky La sips.

"Only a fool turns down the offer of information. Of course we will sit. No doubt we will come to blows eventually, but we might as well be civil about it. What wisdom do you care to impart to us today?"

He gestures to the whalesong that permeates the air. "I wish it could be like that again. All of us in Harmony." He sighs.

"But every time the gods break, and reform, they get weaker. So after whatever broke Harmony apart...well, a few millenia pass, and Lord Moon makes a deal. Volcano will kill Sky, and Moon will kill Sun. Reap the benefits while there's still some godly power to be had, you see?""

He sips, swishes, tastes the cold nothing of the water, and approves. "Well. Introduce too much Chaos, too much Entropy, and bad things happen." The old, familiar sardonic smile. "Even gods make mistakes, eh?"

Gabe isn't inclined to take anything this reflection of a past enemy says at face value. He sits and listens none the less.

"Mistakes? Mistakes like what exactly?" Gabe lets the question hang in the air for a moment before giving a dismissive chuff.

Samen nods in contemplation. "Weaker, but not dead. At least not forever. It's oddly comforting that the gods themselves are mortal.
Divine energy doesn't simply vanish, though. It will leak from the greater avatars and make more smaller ones, or imbue other existing creatures." He looks at Abanki pointedly.

"What, then, was the end game of Volcano and Moon? Be the last to die in a homogenous dead world? I can blame many faults on the gods, but shortsightedness wouldn't be among them."

"Forces that lurked between all the shining energies of creation --chaos, decay, entropy-- made their own play. We ended up with no sun, no moon, no sky, surrounded by darkness, and worst of all a foul-tempered fire demon as the only source of light in the land." He looks over your shoulder, and even though you are deep in Uluru, you somehow know he is looking directly at Volcano.

"Their mistake, I suppose, was that old 'prisoner's dilemma' I've heard sylphan philosphers ramble about. If their plan had won out, we would have a beautiful twilit world, a sky always full of stars, and every benevolent warmth you could ever imagine. It might come at the cost of unthinking obedience, but isn't that the perfect cost for paradise?"

He sighs, and you realize he is speaking from his heart. Everything he has said is true, to him.

"Hmmm. I see. Of course, it's truly horrible for anyone who values independence, but this is what you were attempting to recreate in Light, isn't it? Harmony without will is simply unity. Valid in its own right, but lacking vibrancy and beauty."

"Bah!" He waves his hand dismissively, as if to shoo away the philosophical discussion that could follow, and asks what he's truly interested in. "What are you, Ky La? And what are you doing here?"

Abnaki for his part, whistles pleasantly, seemingly uncaring about the barbs being thrown his way. "I always wanted to explore into Volcano itself," he says conversationally. "Since I can dig through the ground, the only issue now is that of becoming immune to being dipped in lava. I don't mind sharing that with you Ky La. Most things die when you dip them in lava. It's a pretty safe bet. I'm working on that though!"

Still with that air of satisfaction, Ky La replies, "You ask the best questions, Samen of the Cleansed Mind. I am the race of Moon. Volcano has His ifrits, and all the rest of you scurrying about for the other gods..." he waves his hand vaguely, the other cradles his water, "and Moon has His one worshipper, cut into a million slices of time, duplicated and reflected again...and again...and again."

He looks intently at the small, invisible cup containing the see-through water. "I think I'm also the aspect of Reflection now. Or close to it."

"Moon's true mistake, by the by, was giving into so many desperate ideas--like me, for instance-- that He took Madness as another aspect. The Smiler was impulsive and wreckless, and that is why we lost at Hearth." Again, he takes a long moment of reflection.

Abnaki for his part, whistles pleasantly, seemingly uncaring about the barbs being thrown his way. "I always wanted to explore into Volcano itself," he says conversationally. "Since I can dig through the ground, the only issue now is that of becoming immune to being dipped in lava. I don't mind sharing that with you Ky La. Most things die when you dip them in lava. It's a pretty safe bet. I'm working on that though!"

As Abnaki breaks his contemplation, Ky La only smiles paternally.

Turning once again to Samen, he continues smoothly, "What am I doing here, at this very moment, with all of you? Hmm." He pauses for effect, just a heartbeat, "I want to break the cycle of breaking things." He laughs at his own repetition. "Anything from this point on is pointless destruction. Worse - malicious destruction. But, I can choose healing." He laughs, the same grating ha, ha, ha sound that has presided over so much death and pain.

"Perhaps Moon's final mistake was giving me a drop of free will. I can choose. Ha."

"I wore your skin, Moonling. Literally. It taught me much about elemental blessings and how to steal them. I went a bit crazy with it, truth be told, and I may have created a monster in the process. But I've been cleansed. I'm on a different path now.

Likewise, Reflection must axiomatically be more mutable than other aspects, but at the cost of originality. Your choice is what to be pointed at. What do you wish to reflect?"

"If I had access to it, I'd reflect back all the knowledge we've been hoarding, try to spread it far enough to drive back the darkness. Ha."

His water seems to be done; at any rate, he sets the glass down. "Which brings me to the point, I suppose. None of Moon's forces can access the fourth level and beyond. I don't think you have the resources, either. However, I'm going to give you the means to do so. At least, I hope you can do something." A half-smile.

He stands up, a great weariness suddenly sagging his shoulders, aging his movements. "Well. I'm one of the oldest ones. When I'm gone, there will only be a few of the nasty ones left. I'm not going to give up and cease being, like the Observer did. I think I can do more good this way."

He takes off his glasses, and sets them on the stoneware table. "I think you have the stubborness and solidity of mind, Mr. Cleansed Mind. These will be a considerable upgrade from your current glasses, finely made though they are. Just always keep you own counsel, eh?"

Ky La looks oddly vulnerable without his thick lenses. "This silvery room will end soon. There is at least one of the awful ones around here, so protect your minds."

doom die, 1 is very bad: 1d12 ⇒ 1

ok, you are all refreshed from your time in this place. Restore HP, etc. Thanks to Ky La's warning, you have 1 round to cast a buff / protection if you wish to do so.

putting it out there - you beat this Ky La, his power will be broken. This is going to be a nasty fight.

**
Suddenly, like the snuffing of a candle, the silver light winks out. Ky La is gone. Serv has collapsed on the ground. You are on the third level on Branch, in a field of stone trees: limestone maples, granite oaks, slate elms and marble birches. No two trees seems to share the same rock or tree type. Their branches are all bare.

The inquisitor's glasses rest upon Abnaki's stoneshaped table, near Samen's right hand. There is no other evidence of that particular Ky La.

initiative roll, Ky La, the will of many: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (9) + 6 = 15
initiative roll, Ky La, the will of many: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (11) + 6 = 17

initiative of 17 for Ky La. According to discussion, you are all spending your prep round (Round 0) on drinking the Mind Blank potions. Everyone roll init and we'll see who acts first in Round 1.

It starts as an eerie feeling up your spine at the sudden disappearance of the surreal scene with Ky La. There's a smell in the air, of decay and rancid sweat.

A lump of yellow matter, roughly elenoid in shape, mucks its way out of a nearby tree and settles before you, looking like a failed wax figure. A melting, oozing smile (that smile, no, showing fever-white teeth and eyes amidst the gaps of dripping yellow).

A bubbling voice emerges, lisping and rounded and amused, "Not an arcane bone in your bodies these days? All of you, mind-magickers and declaratives?" It glares at you with a single blue eye above its clay-dripping mouth.

Init: 1d20 + 1 ⇒ (15) + 1 = 16

"Well your powers of observation are at least better than your breath."

initiative: 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (14) + 8 = 22

Gabe simply glares at the oozy being a he quaffs his potion.

Gabriel, that was "Round zero" with the potion, and since you won init you can go first. Want to stab the inquisitor?

Gabriel slips around behind the... thing, forces down his disgust, and lines up a kick intended to incapacitate the gooey inquisitor.

Move behind inquisitor, use 'stunning fist' attack

attack: 1d20 + 16 ⇒ (14) + 16 = 30
damage: 1d10 + 6 + 2 + 2d6 ⇒ (9) + 6 + 2 + (3, 6) = 26

DC 17 fort save if it can be stunned. If sneak applies, apply 'hampered' to reduce speed by half

Init: 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (4) + 2 = 6

Abnaki is lost in thought about several other versions of himself running around. So lost in thought in fact, that he fails to notice any sort of bad combat stuff going on. I'll need to consolidate, he thinks to himself as the yellow gunk begins talking, Maybe eat the doubles? Or find out what point in time the refraction is originating from, and stop that instead.

Let's see if this guy kills me before I take my turn!

Ky La, goopy fortitude: 1d20 + 5 + 4 ⇒ (20) + 5 + 4 = 29
saved, so no stun. he takes full damage, and part of his form will allow him to move in response to this hit

With a grunt of surprise, the inquisitor takes Gabriel's punch full-on. As it hurtles through the air, you see a large bruise is left on its stomach. It lands with another sharp exhalation, this one close to a laugh. The stench of the thing is eye-watering to Abnaki and Samen.

Inq. turn

"No magic for my eye to dispel? And your minds are shielded from my fear? Let's try something 'of the flesh' then, what do you say?"

It burps and froths and vomits a liquid so thick and vile it overpowers your senses for a terrible second. The mind mage and the storyteller are slathered in stink.

Abnaki and Samen, please give me a fortitude save at DISADVANTAGE (so roll twice, take the worse roll). DC 18 or be nauseated this round (for exactly 1 turn, you can only take a move action). If you succeed, take your turn as normal (we are still in round 1)

Fort: 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (18) + 8 = 26
Fort: 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (8) + 8 = 16

Samen was not prepared for this vector of attack, and spends exactly six seconds wretching himself.

Gabriels that look like negative images of Gabriel spring forth, one from each mirror. One copy has to move carefully to reach a flanking position, but the other copy is able to launch a single attack-

flank, copy attack: 1d20 + 16 + 2 ⇒ (20) + 16 + 2 = 38
copy damage, sneak: 1d10 + 6 + 2 + 2d6 ⇒ (1) + 6 + 2 + (3, 6) = 18

flank, copy attack (crit confirm?): 1d20 + 16 + 2 ⇒ (20) + 16 + 2 = 38
copy damage, sneak: 1d10 + 6 + 2 + 2d6 ⇒ (10) + 6 + 2 + (4, 4) = 26

These are pretty absurd rolls! I'm definitely NOT going to do an auto-kill with 2 nat 20s, we're just going to roll with it. I respect you guys enough to roll my rolls out in the open, so you'll be taking be taking 44 damage.

Fort Save: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (14) + 4 = 18
Fort Save: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (1) + 4 = 5

Abnaki is rudely brought back to reality by throwing up. Fortunately for him, it only takes a move action to activate his performance. I'm gonna need everyone to take their usual +6 to hit and damage, -2 to enemy AC's, and DC 20 reflex save or fall prone.

"Blughhhhh. Kill them all, my stomach hurts."

ref save gabe copy 1: 1d20 + 10 ⇒ (16) + 10 = 26

ref save gabe copy 2: 1d20 + 10 ⇒ (14) + 10 = 24

ref save, goop: 1d20 - 2 ⇒ (1) - 2 = -1

The inquisitor falls prone, though his amoprhous body seems little affected by something as mundane or orientation.

The two clone Gabes (with vague faces, like unfinished wax statues) move with most of Gabriel's grace, and manage to stay upright through the tremors created by Abnaki's disgust.

Round 2 Begins!

Gabriel, you are up first!
you can tell from interacting with these copies thus far --- their AC will be slightly lower, and their HP will be much lower. They are only made of quasi-real stuff, so damaging them should rip them apart pretty well.

Samen knowledge (arcane, etc): 1d20 + 22 ⇒ (16) + 22 = 38

Gabe doesn't appreciate being surrounded by ambiguous copies of himself. Especially when one of them manages to land a blow on his ribs. Bolstered by the declarative's performance and looking to give back in kind, he throws a series of blows himself.

Focus one until down, then turn to the other

attack 1: 1d20 + 16 + 6 ⇒ (6) + 16 + 6 = 28
damage 1: 1d10 + 6 + 2 + 6 ⇒ (3) + 6 + 2 + 6 = 17

attack 2: 1d20 + 16 + 6 ⇒ (20) + 16 + 6 = 42
damage 2: 1d10 + 6 + 2 + 6 ⇒ (8) + 6 + 2 + 6 = 22

attack 3: 1d20 + 11 + 6 ⇒ (7) + 11 + 6 = 24 Use spin kick to attack vs flat footed
damage 3: 1d10 + 6 + 2 + 6 + 2d6 ⇒ (3) + 6 + 2 + 6 + (4, 4) = 25

confirm: 1d20 + 16 + 6 ⇒ (1) + 16 + 6 = 23 Not with a 1...
crit?: 1d10 + 6 + 2 + 6 ⇒ (8) + 6 + 2 + 6 = 22

Hoping his companions can take care of themselves for a moment, Gabe vanishes to avoid further attacks.

Swift action to use vanish at the end of attacks

"Don't walk in front of the mirrors, they'll make more foes. You should be able to smash them."

I kind of have an idea of what I want to do, but it depends on what Ky La does, to be sure.

Funny, I feel the same way!

17 dmg + 22 dmg takes cares of the first one (deleted), and the second clone takes 25 (very damaged)

Ky La bubbles and froths, laughing at the digust on Abnaki's and Samen's faces. It secrets acid from its pores, squeezing the bitter laughter onto you.

Abnaki and Samen:
you are no longer nauseated
ref save DC 15 to take half damage (all acid)
vile acid: 8d6 + 4 ⇒ (5, 1, 3, 4, 6, 2, 5, 1) + 4 = 31 acid

that was standard action, now move action

Not bothering to get up from his prone position, Smiling Ky La oozes his body across the stone table, reaching toward the glasses left by the other Ky La.

Reflex: 1d20 + 9 ⇒ (9) + 9 = 18

Abnaki remains seated in his chair. After all, his stomach was giving him some troubles. The chair scoots back 5ft though.

"Foolish Ky-La, you have revealed your hand too soon. Now that we see your talents, they become ours. I have unmade the Observer, subsumed the Declarative; how could you hope to compare to their abilities? Become undone, and leave us in peace."

Standard Action to feign curse, DC 30 sense motive or spellcraft check, if he fails he gets disadvantage on the next two rolls. If it's a move action to grab the glasses first, he'll do that, otherwise that's his turn.

Ky La spellcraft: 1d20 + 10 + 5 + 3 ⇒ (6) + 10 + 5 + 3 = 24

Something about your choice of words--or perhaps the truth of so many allies slain?-- rattles the inquisitor. He is thrown off from his wanton mirth for the moment.

disadvantage against whatever Samen is going to throw his way. I know that's not strictly init order, but its more advantageous this way, and you have been fighting together for a long time and know each other's ways.

Abnaki, you can be adjacent to the glasses too, but I want to see what Samen does before we resolve it. Depending on what Samen does, you may have to fight the inq for it.

Reflex: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (18) + 6 = 24

I wish my action was as creative as Abnaki's.

"No! Stop it! Those were left by one better than you! STOP!"

Samen shouts at the puddle of goo in rage and disgust. He thought he had grown so much since the last time he had encountered Ky La, but it turns out the other one had just been less smug and repulsive than he remembered.

Dazing sonic scream, means he needs to do two DC 18 reflex saves to not be dazed for two rounds and take half damage. I can use a phrenic point if it's necessary, but neither the spell nor the metamagic are mind affecting, so I'm not sure it's necessary.

Scream!: 4d4 ⇒ (1, 2, 3, 1) = 7

Samen spends his move action grasping for the glasses as well. If he wants them, they must be important.

ref save goop: 1d20 - 2 ⇒ (11) - 2 = 9

ref save goop: 1d20 - 2 ⇒ (13) - 2 = 11

The inquisitor's form quivers in helpless turmoil at the onslaught of sound. Its oozing pseudopods fail to reach the glasses before Abnaki snatches them away.

(Abnaki edges you out with high init, and I imagine the daze-laden screaming took longer than a fake curse)

Ky La stunned for 2 rounds

Round 3!

the last Gabe-copy failed to hit Gabriel
inquisitor is stunned

Take Actions all!

Now let your mind disintegrate as your body!

Mind Thrust III: 9d8 ⇒ (6, 1, 4, 5, 2, 8, 1, 5, 2) = 34

Will save DC 19 for half, I think it still has disadvantage from the false curse, using a phrenic point on this one.

Well, I was gonna use my disadvantage to try and tag him with nauseated, but I think accelerating Gabe will probably be better.

"Go fast Gabriel, go fast and smite hard." Abnaki waves a lazy finger in Gabe's direction, causing him to get an extra move action every round. Then he'll slip the glasses onto his face, curious about what all the fuss is about.