Tentacled horrors feast on the remains of the soldiers and wizards that attempted to stop her from entering their castle, the blast marks of fireballs and acid marks scattered liberally all over the ruins.
Oblivious to the destruction all around her, Lucinda approaches the stone circle in the basement in the inner keep and - to her frustration - bounces out of it, as if there were an air-bubble within that she cannot penetrate.
She tries several more times, then sits down, bored.
Aaaaaahhhhhhhhh!!!!!! Not the tentacled horrors!!!!!
Serafina grabs Rio's hand and enters
Soon Rio and Serafina are in the air, heading toward the Sanctum
....a bowl of scrummy potato salad.
No, Potato Slaad. Slaad! Come on, say it with me....
The omniportal flashes and Kaelar steps out into the field. Minutes later, a woman steps through the omniportal and smiles warmly at him.
"It's been a long time hasn't Kae?"
"Longer than you know, for me anyway."
"Are you refering to your little vacation in the Time Stream? I know a lot Kae, I did receive a scrying crystal as a wedding present. From you parents. But you didn't ask to meet me here to discuss memories did you? You called to ask for my help."
"You always could read me like a book. Yes, I'm asking for your help. There are several places that need an extra guardian against the Black. Including the Oasis Rio and I call home."
"You brought Rio into this?!? You had right! Send him home right now! Of all the people you could have called on for help, why him?"
"Because his talents had not yet been seen in this world. He cannot back out now anyway, even if he wanted too. He shares my title as the Champion of the Sea. You'll have to be the one to tell him to leave this war, and you know how stubborn he is. Will you help or not?"
"I'll never forgive you if anything happens to him. Where am I needed most?"
"I think the Eyrie most needs some one with your talents. I wish you well."
"After all we've been through? I know you wish well, but sometimes your wishes aren't enough... Thank you." She enters the portal and is gone. Kaelar stares at the portal for a moment before he enters it as well, heading for the Oasis.
No, Potato Slaad. Slaad! Come on, say it with me........a bowl of scrummy potato salad.
Slathers some more mayonnaise on, and fetches herself a baguette.
A beautiful woman in a coral dress and with a hermit crab in her hair is arguing with an apparently imaginary friend as the Giggler and Kytania arrive.
A beautiful woman in a coral dress and with a hermit crab in her hair is arguing with an apparently imaginary friend as the Giggler and Kytania arrive.
The Giggler looks at the woman, as does Kytania
Greetings fair maid!
We seek your aid!
Perhaps you know,
which way to go,
If Evil we seek,
and havok we wish to wreak!
She looks up, at the Giggler.
Oh, what a dear little puppy dog!
She runs forward, apparently intending to scoop the Giggler up as if he were a puppy, hits the 'bubble' at the edge of the circle, and bounces back to land on the floor, giggling. She sits up, on her knees and slaps her lap.
Here boy, here boy. There's a good dog.
The Giggler looks at the woman appraisingly
Now here's a lass of chaos,
A true scion of the mad!
She seethes with madness' power,
She is the chime that will strike the hour!
The Giggler gets on all fours and barks quite convincingly.
Kytania looks a bit aggreived at this interruption
Come my love, we have much to do, and little time to do it. Leave the madwoman to her own ends.
Ohh, there's a good dog. Have you been away a long time? Did you know that those good little boys and girls at the Grove of Ancients were trying to put Lynora-Jill back together after she fell apart like the egg from the wall?
The Giggler straightens
ARF ARF!
This dog once bit a divine Jill
And sent her tumbling down Death's Hill
'Tis not good form to raise the dead
I think we'll stop the fools instead...
They may be good boys and girls, but they're not nice boys and girls. They're trying to steal back the mantle from the poor little girl, who was meant to have it.
Such silly people, thinking a little girl can't be trusted with all that power.
She pats about herself, flourishes, and produces a biscuit from out of thin air, and moves away a little from the circle, so that the Giggler will have to leave it to get it.
Does Mr. Puppy want a biscuit?
A small shocker lizard observes the three, grinning ear to ear. It approaches.
"A dying leaf against the luster,
A bit of ore against the sun,
A lute string against the jester,
And a shadow against the dawn."
It cocks its head quizzically.
"Shadow shall meet, the light will greet, and darkness shall fight its brother. The lines will fade, a new shape will be laid, and daughter shall meet mother."
It grins again.
Does Mr. Puppy want a biscuit?
The Gigggler prances over and grabs the biscuit, Kytania following
Dog I may be,
But Coyote was my sire
I have come to the threads
To start their funeral pyre..
Looks over at the small lizard
Wisdom comes from unexpected places
Sometimes from small scaly faces!
She pops the biscuit in his mouth, and does her best to fondle him as if he were a large dog, flopping his jester's cap as if it were his ears.
Ohh, there's a good boy. Now you must be very careful of the calamari on the way out. Some men who had fierce and hungry expressions on their faces were not very nice to me, when I knocked on the front door, so I gave them some calamari to try and cheer them up, only they seem to have got mixed up and tried to be kept down by the seafood, rather than trying to keep it down themselves.
So there's calamari all over the place.
And there was a sad and grumpy halfling woman who dropped into the Ranger and Dryad at the Bazaar a while back, who might need some of your cheering up.
So you must be a good dog, and be very careful.
Okay then. She releases him. I suppose you have to go now.
The Giggler barks
Indeed my sweet,
Your hound must go.
To chase some rabbits,
to and fro.
The Giggler prances off, Kytania following after.
For a little while longer, Lucinda tries to enter the circle, then gets bored and wanders off somewhere else.
Rûmlin is out checking on a possible witness for the defense case, which will be opening soon, when the explosion rocks the dwarvenhold.
He is one of only a handful of survivors.
Rûmlin hastily heads for parts unknown.
Somewhere on the abyssal plain of an ocean floor there is located a bank run by and mostly for aboleths.
The average aboleth not being short of a brain cell or two firing synapses, and ones working in the aboleth equivalent of the financial sector being well above the modal aboleth in terms of intelligence, the aboleths running this particular bank realise that they are in trouble when what appears to be a normal woman in a coral dress and with a hermit crab nestling in her hair strolls into the bank without any apparent magic functioning, and in despite of the fact that the water pressure down here should be sufficient crush her to bloody paste.
She is very upset, they learn, and looking for a tank of limpets which she placed on deposit a while ago in a bank in Sandreef.
The news that the limpets are not being held on deposit here, but have been relocated elsewhere does not please her either.
At which point, a junior aboleth, on work-experience placement, makes the mistake of calling security.
In defiance of most natural and arcane laws, the bank is suddenly full of air, and certain legendary creatures.
Oh, how wonderful. You have some pet common-or-garden-snarks! Lucinda exclaims. Oh, oops, no, her hand goes to her mouth. My bad. They seem to be boojums.
She leaves the aboleths to deal with the sudden catastrophic incursion of snarks of the genus boojum and goes to look elsewhere for her limpets.
Meanwhile, at the headquarters of the Servants of the Board...
Kobold Cleaver sits reading an ancient tome. The lich is wearing clean brown robes, and looks better than he ever looked when he served the Protectors.
Joe walks into Kobold Cleaver's study.
"How is it going, Kobold Cleaver? Have you determined the cause of the danger?"
Joe walks into Kobold Cleaver's study.
"How is it going, Kobold Cleaver? Have you determined the cause of the danger?"
"Unfortunately not. My abilities are limited by the destruction of the Cleaver. Without it, my magical powers are sadly diminish."
"Unfortunately not. My abilities are limited by the destruction of the Cleaver. Without it, my magical powers are sadly diminish."Joe walks into Kobold Cleaver's study.
"How is it going, Kobold Cleaver? Have you determined the cause of the danger?"
"Well, try harder. This is serious business, and our numbers are still far too small to combat it without knowing more."
"Do not worry, I understand the threat." Kobold Cleaver sighs and goes back to his book.
"Do not worry, I understand the threat." Kobold Cleaver sighs and goes back to his book.
Joe nods and leaves, leaving Kobold Cleaver to his work.
As Kobold Cleaver works, two figures enter the room.
"Did you miss the sign? I don't wish to be disturbed." The lich snaps.
As Kobold Cleaver works, two figures enter the room."Did you miss the sign? I don't wish to be disturbed." The lich snaps.
The figures remove their hoods, revealing themselves to be Esmerelda and Meepo.
"Not even by your own kin?"
Kobold Cleaver leaps up in anger.
"Get out of here! How did you get in?"
Kobold Cleaver leaps up in anger.
"Get out of here! How did you get in?"
"We remembered its location. It'll take more than a few wards to keep us out."
Esmerelda sighs."Kobold Cleaver, what are you doing? You were supposed to be the Champion of the Board, a protector of justice. Instead, you become a true lich and join the Blackguards."
Kobold Cleaver leaps up in anger.
"Get out of here! How did you get in?""We remembered its location. It'll take more than a few wards to keep us out."
Esmerelda sighs.
"Kobold Cleaver, what are you doing? You were supposed to be the Champion of the Board, a protector of justice. Instead, you become a true lich and join the Blackguards."
"I'm not joking, Esmerelda. Get out of here."
"My nephew, it's not too late. You can still turn back from this path. You can still renounce the Blackguards. You know this is wrong."
"My nephew, it's not too late. You can still turn back from this path. You can still renounce the Blackguards. You know this is wrong."
"Get. Out. I don't want to have to kill you."
"My nephew, it's not too late. You can still turn back from this path. You can still renounce the Blackguards. You know this is wrong.""Get. Out. I don't want to have to kill you."
Esmerelda sighs.
"I remember when our tribe was destroyed. You were just a youngling then. Too young for that."
"My nephew, it's not too late. You can still turn back from this path. You can still renounce the Blackguards. You know this is wrong.""Get. Out. I don't want to have to kill you."Esmerelda sighs.
"I remember when our tribe was destroyed. You were just a youngling then. Too young for that."
Kobold Cleaver hesitates. "Stop it!"
"You nearly died then. We were barely able to save you. We never dreamed of how important you would be. Kobold Cleaver, come back to the side of light."
Kobold Cleaver looks down. "I--"
Suddenly, Esmerelda and Meepo collapse. They try to rise, but cannot.
Joe smiles grimly. "Sorry,Mom and Dad. You talk too much."
The bodies vanish.
Joe turns to Kobold Cleaver.
"Get back to work."
A small marble rolls across the floor to KC's feet. If he picks it up he can see stars swirling inside it, and hears a voice in his mind.
"There is always a choice."
A small marble rolls across the floor to KC's feet. If he picks it up he can see stars swirling inside it, and hears a voice in his mind.
"There is always a choice."
Kobold Cleaver stands still for a moment, staring at the marble, and the spot where his aunt and uncle used to be. He picks up the marble, and looks at it for a moment. Then he throws it into the fire.
"Not for me."He sits down, and goes back to his book.
Overhearing the narrator's voice, she glances down. "What, what's wrong with this blouse? It's scarlet silk with delicate lace and I look quite fetching in it. Oh wait, you said red... why does this seems somehow famil-"
Her last words end abruptly under several tons of castle rubble launched by palace guards during trebuchet practice.
Meanwhile, outside the city walls, Ambrosia Slaad enjoys a small picnic lunch on a hill under the shade of a large oak tree. She watches mere yards away, two oddly dressed humans and what appears to be a half-elf with funky eyebrows. The 'half-elf' studies a small black square satchel that makes funny unearthly sounds. Ambrosia, pre-occupied with the visitors and her new disturbing trend to talk in the third-person, fails to notice that she is wearing her nicest red blouse.
Overhearing the narrator's voice, she glances down. "What, what's wrong with this blouse? It's scarlet silk with delicate lace and I look quite fetching in it. Oh wait, you said red... why does this seems somehow famil-"
Her last words end abruptly under several tons of castle rubble launched by palace guards during trebuchet practice.
An Efreeti steps forth from the ether above the fire with a puff of smoke and smell of brimestone yet looks very dapper, apparently sacrificing a marble in the fire summons efreetis...
"my my; lookit all these tasty mortal women; sundry beauties I say..how do Lasses; in need of a refreshment or tasty vittle or perhaps a nice fire to warm your toes?"
snaps his fingers and good food and beverage appear in brass plates bowls cups and pichers.