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"A magical menace you say? I'm on it, don't wait up for me, but do wash your hands before you thank me when I return." The Elven Arcanist flies off to unravel whatever pathetic magics await. Probably conjured in by some idiot Gnome. Wouldn't know the difference between Arcane Theory and Theory of a Dead man.
"Ya, I'm still working on the training part for the dog. Its best used as a night watch type of spell I guess." Mr Peppers holds up a single finger to correct his newly sober friend "Remove disease is a divine spell to be fair. But as you know I have learned to 'circumvent' that traditional convention when it comes to scrolls and wands. Regardless, I'd be honored to finally remove that stink of stale ale from your breath." He pulls out his original spellbook, the cover still stained from that chance meeting four years prior.
As one would expect, once the threat of an alien invasion calms down so does Mr Peppers. He is happy to stick around and assist with the cleanup and celebration of the town. As one would expect though his modes of assistance are all purely in an advisory role, as well as with thorough arcane support. His unseen servant picks up large amounts of trash that has blown in. He makes things whole if they've been broken, unless of course they are trivial like goat water pails. If I see another goat I'm going to freak. "Well, it looks like all that remains is physical labor. You'll be able to find me working in peace and quiet outside the inn. I've got a spell book to study and Arcane mysteries to unravel. Not to mention this fabulous Orrery." He spends the last week or so in his Secure Shelter, sipping wine or tea and reading up on many of the books they recovered from the ship. All these books and NOT ONE even BROACHING the subject of advanced Arcane Theory! I think I need another trip down South. Seeing how Gallix wishes to take the long route home, and Sirettis floats away with her thrall and Isa, Mr Peppers takes the remaining Red Arm members back to Absalom before he too heads on his own personal trip. "If you need me I'll be back in a few weeks. I've got an appointment at the Mage Academy that I wouldn't miss for much of anything." With a word and a wave Tall, dark and magical teleports far across the world of Golarion, back to the steamy jungles of the south. --------- Gallix does indeed find his Elven friend tucked away in a quaint cottage on the Caperina Family grounds. His social and magical support has been quite the boon to the family. They gain support in the city and a greater voice in its operation. Mr Peppers has an impeccable reputation and he is rewarded with all the amenities he could ask for on the grounds. Gallix walks in to a room of complete silence, almost as if he walks through a bubble. The outside noises don't follow him inside. The air is still and pleasant, at least until he approaches a preoccupied Mr Peppers.
Gallix feels the snap of jaws and teeth off his knee and the sound of barking begins to ring in his ears, yet no dog can be found. "Down boy." He points a finger towards Gallix and the barking and biting stop at once. "Gallix my friend. Sorry about that. A new protection spell, quite the little hound, doesn't always listen though." He listens as Gallix fesses up to what's been troubling him, a look of concern mixed with happiness crosses the Elf's youthful face. "So you've decided to be sober? After all this time? I applaud your decision, you'll make a fine upstanding member of society!" He slides his own glass of wine away from the brawler and offers him some cool water. "Lucky for a man of your wealth and standing you can remove the disease from your system with a simple spell. Even your church may provide you the means, otherwise I can read a scroll of it on your behalf. This may or maybe not work. Regardless, the hard part is convincing your mind you don't wish to drink, the body follows the mind."
Mr Peppers would like to give a very personal and heartfelt thank you to each and every one of his meat shields. He wouldn't be here today without your blood sacrifice. He did his best to protect you from the dangers of both Arcane and divine magic. (Even though its VERY obvious the Arcane magic is far more dangerous).
No day job for Mr Peppers.
I've got to agree with you Red. Things have slowed down and the drag of high level play makes it worse. As much as I enjoyed it, and his growing power, Mr Peppers will at least take a break, if not retire. He does now finally get into the higher level exploits. Thanks very much for the fun and excitement, everyone.
Mr Peppers starts to relax, at least down from OMFG high alert mode, after the Emissary appears to have fallen "Uesugi, you know what to do.. make sure that thing never rises again." He gives the thumbs down and nod. When it comes to the transformed townies, Mr Peppers keeps his distance, not quite sure yet if they'll return to normal. Not until Dalviss starts to speak, sorta, does tall, dark and victorious truly start to relax. "I must reassemble the Orrery. We'll know for sure if this Emissary is dead with its help." He pulls it from his pack and reloads all of the spheres, seeing if his mind connects once more. And to think they wanted to destroy this... just crazy talk.
Mr Peppers steps over closer to Gallix and tries to protect his soul from the Emissary as well. His domination of all schools of magic are apparent as he bends the sphere of Eox to his will. He pockets the sphere back into his haversack, its power now spent. "Finish that thing off so we can fix these villagers."
The smallest smile crosses Mr Peppers thin lips as his spell proves effective against the 'creature from away'. He isn't a blind fool though. If they are going to beat this thing and live to tell the tale he needs to protect his allies not revel in his own arcane superiority. He commands, flying towards Uesugi and the flailing monster that's stuck in his head. He reaches into his haversack and a small black sphere... the planet Eox ends up in his hand. "Sirettis! Use this to protect Gallix with your long reach! It can only be used twice, but someone with your training can use it easily!" He holds it out for her to take after attempting to use it on Uesugi.
Death Ward: Death Ward Source PRPG Core Rulebook pg. 264 School necromancy; Level alchemist 4, cleric 4, druid 5, hunter 5, inquisitor 4, investigator 4, medium 4, occultist 4, oracle 4, paladin 4, spiritualist 4, warpriest 4, witch 4 Casting Casting Time 1 standard action Components V, S, DF Effect Range touch Target living creature touched Duration 1 min./level Saving Throw Will negates (harmless); Spell Resistance yes (harmless) Description The subject gains a +4 morale bonus on saves against all death spells and magical death effects. The subject is granted a save to negate such effects even if one is not normally allowed. The subject is immune to energy drain and any negative energy effects, including channeled negative energy. This spell does not remove negative levels that the subject has already gained, but it does remove the penalties from negative levels for the duration of its effect. Death ward does not protect against other sorts of attacks, even if those attacks might be lethal.
Beyond the darkness Mr Peppers can see a bright, welcoming light coming from Kai. The light cancels the darkness in a perfect sphere around the newcomer. "Good work Kai, we've got a shot now!" Mr Peppers drops in elevation, getting himself within the sphere of light and into a shorter range for a spell. He traces three sigils in the air with his left hand, speaks the words of Elven power, then shoots out three blasts of flame with his right hand. "Begone Emissary, we've got enough tyrants on this planet already!"
"Deeper Darkness" The sound of his voice rings out to the group as everything goes dark. "I'm not sure there is much I can do against it in my present state.. but here is the speed I promised." He holds up the Aballon sphere and activates it. Everyone nearby is sped up with Haste. Then he flies straight up 80'. Boon: Timelost Chronicler: (+1 Knowledge History, Also, once per scenario you can get +1 to a single D20 roll, declare preroll.)
"Someone with stronger arms than I should give Dalviss a good knock over the head so he sleeps for a longer period of time.. things look like they're about to get messy." He watches the creature land and does his best to recall what he may know if it... exactly nothing.
Mr Peppers looks up from his spellbook for just a moment as Dalviss's halbard crashes to the ground. He doesn't say a word, merely looks back into his book. "I'll give you melee types some protect against physical attacks. May as well put that diamond dust to use if we're going to save the world." He slips his Caperina signet ring from his finger and pops out three diamonds, wraps them in his cloak and crushes them under a rock, then proceeds to sprinkle Uesugi, Gallix, and Kai each with powdered diamond as he speaks Elven words of Arcana.
Said Boon:
Noble Heir (Sovereign Court): You rallied several of Absalom’s noble houses, all of which distinguished themselves during the siege. All four are eager to recruit new talent into their hierarchy, and they have each invited you to become a lord or lady bearing their respective family name. Choose the al-Hadir, Arpador, Caperina, or Tullian family. You are a lord or lady of that family whose noble status is recognized in most realms. You also gain a signet ring and one bejeweled bauble for each character level you have (9). You can pry the gem out of a bauble to use in place of an expensive material component requiring gemstone dust, and each bauble’s gem is worth 100 gp. He then buffs himself against the coming apocolypse.
Mr Peppers looks to the sky and knows its almost time. If he doesn't prepare them now he'll be too late once the Emissary arrives. All is not lost... yet. I can still help my friends survive... He pulls out his spellbook and quickly turns to the necessary page and quickly puts it to memory at the expense of another.
With a twitching eye and a nearly blank facial expression, the man of few words moves swiftly to follow Sir D and Sirettis outside. He strides in front of the pair and draws his katana, issuing a challenge to the oversized, yet still undersized Godzilla. "Stop this foolishness and return to your bed!" Challenge: Challenge (4/day) (Ex) As a swift action, the samurai chooses one target within sight to challenge. The samurai's melee attacks deal extra damage when made against the target of his challenge. This extra damage is equal to the samurai's level. The samurai can use this ability once per day at 1st level, plus one additional time per day for every three levels beyond 1st, to a maximum of seven times per day at 19th level. Challenging a foe requires much of the samurai's concentration. The samurai takes a –2 penalty to his Armor Class, except against attacks made by the target of his challenge. The challenge remains in effect until the target is dead or unconscious, or until the combat ends. Each samurai's challenge also includes another effect, which is listed in the section describing the samurai's order. Challenge: Whenever a ronin is the target of a challenge, a smite, a quarry, or similar effect, and he issues a challenge against that character in return, the ronin receives a +1 morale bonus on attack rolls made against the target of his challenge and a +1 dodge bonus to his AC against attacks made by the target of his challenge. These bonuses increase by +1 for every four class levels the samurai possesses (to a maximum of +6 at 20th level).
In a very deliberately measured tone, Kai appeals to Mr Peppers. "Yes, this is a most marvellous creation. But can any artifact, no matter its value, be worth the life of even one innocent?" In a bid to find a compromise, he continues to propose, "How about we use the limited time we have left to study this item, and only when the Emissary is near arrival do we destroy it?" Mr Peppers eyes the newcomer with a level of slight suspicion, but doesn't disagree with his suggested course of action. "If it comes down to that then yes, but only as a last resort." I finally find something worth studying and MAYBE publishing a paper about and we're going to need to destroy it? Ironic? No. Tragic. His mind races to come up with some possibilities as he flies back towards town, unsure on just how much time they'll have to figure this out. Maybe there's a way to DELAY its arrival to get a better sense of this Orrery? This thought quickly gets snuffed once he sees the state of the bartender. "Is there a jail or some such in town? I hate to say it, but we should lock up those that seem infected before the creature arrives, for everyone's safety." He looks mostly at Sirettis's thralls, but also the bartender. "Are there reports of others in the town in similar condition? We can't fight an army of these things AND this emissary."
Mr Peppers wakes up in the fetal position on the floor of the Captain's bridge. His hand still rests on the orrery where he inserted the last sphere.. before all hell broke loose. Nethys help us, we don't have much time Mr Peppers drags himself from the floor and wipes the drool from his face, looking around confusedly to get his bearings. "We need to move, and quickly. This is coming to a head, and in only 2 hours. I must warn you, I have expended much of my arcane power for the day."
"HA! Found it." Screams tall, dark and focused as he locates the spellbook and proceeds to carefully check it for all manner of traps and protections before finally popping it open to the back end of the book and smiling as he reads. "Oh excellent. A shame he has only transcribed sixth sphere spells, but no matter. I'll work on borrowing them this evening!" With great reluctance he closes the book and stows it away for safe keeping in his haversack, turning his attention to the Orrery. "Well, THIS is no ordinary bit of magic. Quite the contrary really, and something the Society's factions will be sure to fight over for some time... at least if the Concordance ever parts ways with it..." He says to no one in particular. "Let's get those planets we recovered out and slot them as they should be so we can take this with us." As he starts reducing the Orrery down in size he explains its function to those of lesser Arcane training in the room. "The question is, now that we've gotten the most important piece of the puzzle on this ship, what's next? Are there more of these crazy cultists hiding around to deal with? Should be even 'think' to attempt to use this thing and risk contacting that which started this mess?" Again he is mostly just speaking aloud to no one in particular.
Mr Peppers quickly converges on the fallen Captain, eager to see if his spellcasting ability was innate or studied. If he has a spellbook it will be on his person! He helps to secure the man by removing anything that seems to be tied to spellcasting from him, as well as binding his mouth to prevent speaking.
**GALLIX BOT INITIATED**
Knock Out: Knockout (Ex): At 4th level, once per day a brawler can unleash a devastating attack that can instantly knock a target unconscious. She must announce this intent before making her attack roll. If the brawler hits and the target takes damage from the blow, the target must succeed at a Fortitude saving throw (DC19 = 10 + 1/2 the brawler's level + the higher of the brawler's Strength or Dexterity modifier) or fall unconscious for 1d6 rounds. Each round on its turn, the unconscious target may attempt a new saving throw to end the effect as a full-round action that does not provoke attacks of opportunity. Creatures immune to critical hits or nonlethal damage are immune to this ability.
Mr Peppers watches with practiced eyes as the man weaves his magic. Those eyes grow large as he realizes the level of skill the man's magic possesses. "He is a very powerful caster indeed! Be wary, but I will do what I can to protect us from harm."
Instead he launches a barrage of magical missiles at the man, hoping it won't be enough to do any major damage.
"We are indeed still on Golarion..." Mutters Mr Peppers as he anticipates things going poorly. He reaches into his pouch and tosses some glitter in the man's eyes, hoping they can resolve this as nonlethally as possible. "Try not to kill the Captain, he's as addled as the rest of them!" Calls out the Elf as he backs away, eyes on the man in case he starts slinging spells.
"Captain. We need time to gather our personal belongings and supplies before we can disembark on this journey. The ship's library is far too important to leave behind to vandals and thieves!" He eyeballs the orrey "We should take the orrery as well, just in case we need it for the return trip home and navigation." Mr Peppers begins to cast detect magic to see if it, or anything else around the room tickles his magical senses.
Mr Peppers looks at the quick destruction of would have made promising guardians "A shame, they would have been quite nice to watch over my own library. Or maybe your estate Sir D." He also laments the casting of his haste spell "I'm starting to think I should just hold my water as you fine Ladies and Gentlemen take care of this light work. These spells are not infinite I'm afraid." As the potions are pulled from the ruined desk his eyes flare blue with the casting of detect magic, he reaches in to snag the bottled magic, giving them a quick once over "Curative magic to the third tier. We should put them to use now before the Society reclaims them on our return." He drinks one down immediately, feeling restored completely. Then he reapplies his magical defenses.
Mr Peppers stands in surprise as the once beautiful bed and desk are SHREDDED, including a gouge across his cheek. He snaps out of his slow motion horror picture in time to at least dodge some of the second volley of splinters. Luckily his magic protects him from some of the pricks. "I guess all options are now on the table..." He declares in a bitter tone. He steps back into the corner and draws out his well used root, waves it around and again bends time in the group's favor.
Mr Peppers peeks in at the announcement of wood golems, eager to see for himself as they are frequently mentioned in his studies. "I've heard of their resistances as well but typically my studies focus more on the other golems." He winces as Gallix's enunciation of Stand Down is slightly off. He's the same way with his spellcasting. He'll learn someday. Perhaps the booze has damaged his vocal cords? If the golems don't stand down then tall, dark and handsome bends time in the party's favor.
"Well, suppose they might indeed want to buy them. Though we could, technically, make it our own private collection, and have them pay for lending them out." "Not in MY private collection mind you, the content is far too drab to warrant the amount of space they would take up in my own library.. at least once I get around to building one." He taps his foot impatiently as he waits for Gallix and the unusually quiet Uesugi to come around.
Mr Peppers looks at the book stack and then back at Sirettis then back at the stack of books "Rare they are, but numerous and heavy. Perhaps you can ask your thralls to help carry them back once we're done. 800lbs of books but 4,000 gold pieces. I'm sure the Society would buy many of them, if not the entire lot."
"Regardless, let's leave the gathering of books to once we're ready to go. Nothing there is very helpful right now." He bows and waves the meat shields towards the next room.
Once the coast seems clear, Mr Peppers eagerly makes his way into the bunk room. "Give me a few moments, these books may be important." He casts detect magic and looks around, especially through the books hoping for anything useful, but more importantly for perhaps some strange, otherworldly arcane magic....
Once completed he stuffs anything useful into his haversack and follows the others to the adjacent room.
Sirettis casts Heroism upon Sir Uesugi. The last time she closed in on a ghost it sucked her soul away.
Considering the seriousness that is ghostly combatants, Mr Peppers immediately fires off another round of magic missiles. "Bring it down quickly!"
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