Author Topic: Action Thread - Part 2!! Rock, Hard Place, and You (a Love Triangle)  (Read 15465 times)

Offline MetroMagic

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Re: Action Thread - Part 2!! Rock, Hard Place, and You (a Love Triangle)
« Reply #40 on: December 04, 2012, 11:15:06 AM »
Meanwhile…

In the auction area AA: Groups34 are toward the west end, awaiting the arrival of 30 Goblins incoming from the east end of the auction area; the Goblins will arrive in about 10 or 15 seconds as they run full tilt at you with brown sticky swords waving defiance into the air.

In the open bar cages area BB: Group 5 was a little scattered in a very exposed space, and hampered by the bars; they were near-instantly overrun in the initial surprise flood of Goblins. Group5 popped off the Link almost immediately one by one; damage from their deaths was felt and Healed.

In the southeast end of the warrens: Group7 is being harried by Goblins in the tunnels. Stand and fight? Continue flight to Location6? Their original charge, to find out what happened to Group6, seems to have gone by the wayside since the answer seems obvious now, so they are awaiting further instructions while holding off the Goblins easily, who can’t get a good swarm attack going in the relatively narrow tunnels.

In storage area EE, Group8 is in much the same situation, done with their search instructions and penned into the northwest corner of EE after the search was complete, but easily holding off the Goblins trying to get at them.

Around Groups 7 and 8 the pile of Goblin bodies is mounting, hindering further efforts by either side to attack. The tunnels on either side of Group7, especially, are nearly clogged floor to ceiling with dead Goblins.

Defunct: Groups 1,2,5,6,9.

Offline Debatra

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Re: Action Thread - Part 2!! Rock, Hard Place, and You (a Love Triangle)
« Reply #41 on: December 04, 2012, 03:17:48 PM »
Halts 34 unleash another volley at the incoming group.
 
Rolled 8d20 : 2, 19, 12, 6, 18, 3, 11, 18, total 89
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Offline Sneaky_Sable

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Re: Action Thread - Part 2!! Rock, Hard Place, and You (a Love Triangle)
« Reply #42 on: December 04, 2012, 03:41:12 PM »
Sable, while all that lovely chaos is going on, sneakily makes his way towards his objective: Thrash and the Uruk-Hai Portal. As he slid through the earth and stone, he felt around his hip pack for the Null Magic stick of incense. He didn't have too many, so he'd have to make each of them count.

"This is Sable." he 'said' through the Link, "I'm on my way to the Orc-Gate now. I'll let you know once I'm there."
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Offline MetroMagic

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Re: Action Thread - Part 2!! Rock, Hard Place, and You (a Love Triangle)
« Reply #43 on: December 04, 2012, 10:00:11 PM »
Another flurry of arrow shafts rip through the ranks of the Goblins, felling eight, courtesy of Halt3 and 4. Twenty-two keep coming. Tanatou3 and 4 fire as well.

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Offline GuyFawkes

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Re: Action Thread - Part 2!! Rock, Hard Place, and You (a Love Triangle)
« Reply #44 on: December 04, 2012, 11:16:26 PM »
Ptolemaeus headed for the open are where the orcs were, gliding through the walls. As he did so, he began to cast his mana manipulation techniques.

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« Last Edit: December 05, 2012, 04:29:58 AM by GuyFawkes »

Offline FireInTheSky

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Re: Action Thread - Part 2!! Rock, Hard Place, and You (a Love Triangle)
« Reply #45 on: December 05, 2012, 01:37:18 AM »
{RorO} Groups 3, 4, 7, and 8, come meet us at the portal.  Groups 7 & 8, just Earth Glide out of your current positions and come directly here.  Groups 3 & 4, use the river!  Polymorph into Water Elementals (or somesuch) and swim with the current.

As for prep:
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Offline Scout89

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Re: Action Thread - Part 2!! Rock, Hard Place, and You (a Love Triangle)
« Reply #46 on: December 05, 2012, 07:57:37 AM »
Halfaz3 and 4 step forth to attack the remaining goblins.

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Halfaz3 says out of the link, "Go meet the originals. We'll finish them off and catch up in two seconds."
Sneaky_Sable: "Keep the Omega Whatever, I'll take that Dagger. Nice to meet you *sneak attack* I hope everything's alright *sneak attack* how's your liver been *sneak attack*..."

Offline MetroMagic

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Re: Action Thread - Part 2!! Rock, Hard Place, and You (a Love Triangle)
« Reply #47 on: December 08, 2012, 02:56:33 AM »
Eighteen Goblins are still alive after the rain of arrows from Halt34 and Tanatou34.

Shoulder to shoulder, Halfaz3 and 4 meet the eighteen onrushing Goblins, Shimnack3 and 4 slashing mighty gashes right and left. Bits of Goblin fly in all directions as the Goblins try to stream past them, stabbing at the twin Halfazes with sticky brown, rough-edged blades as they go by. Part way through Halfaz34’s attacks, with 14 swings between them, 5 of the 18 Goblins somehow managed to duck away from the duo’s deadly strokes, 1 of the 18 took two swings to dispatch, 1 of the 18 is mostly dead and will likely collapse from wind damage, 5 of the 18 are very dead, and 1 was shredded so thoroughly there is no body to be found – and the two Halfazes are not yet done, the blinding speed of their twinned attacks still unwinding as they swing again at the 5 who ducked, and slash at 2 fresh Goblins who are taking their chance to rush in.
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Offline MetroMagic

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Re: Action Thread - Part 2!! Rock, Hard Place, and You (a Love Triangle)
« Reply #48 on: December 08, 2012, 03:09:36 AM »
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Offline Scout89

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Re: Action Thread - Part 2!! Rock, Hard Place, and You (a Love Triangle)
« Reply #49 on: December 10, 2012, 07:02:34 AM »
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Sneaky_Sable: "Keep the Omega Whatever, I'll take that Dagger. Nice to meet you *sneak attack* I hope everything's alright *sneak attack* how's your liver been *sneak attack*..."

Offline MetroMagic

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Re: Action Thread - Part 2!! Rock, Hard Place, and You (a Love Triangle)
« Reply #50 on: December 10, 2012, 11:39:31 PM »
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Offline Scout89

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Re: Action Thread - Part 2!! Rock, Hard Place, and You (a Love Triangle)
« Reply #51 on: December 11, 2012, 07:11:16 AM »
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Sneaky_Sable: "Keep the Omega Whatever, I'll take that Dagger. Nice to meet you *sneak attack* I hope everything's alright *sneak attack* how's your liver been *sneak attack*..."

Offline MetroMagic

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Re: Action Thread - Part 2!! Rock, Hard Place, and You (a Love Triangle)
« Reply #52 on: December 12, 2012, 02:48:33 AM »
Halfaz3 and 4 continue with their roundhouse swings, right through one Goblin and into the next, and the next, and the next…

The Goblins, in their mad scramble to attack, leave themselves open to the Halfaz twins’ whirling, sweeping moves that scythe through the rabid pack like a Firewheat harvest on the burnt plains outside the City of Brass, and like stalks in the harvest the four remaining Goblins rapidly topple one by one until none are left standing.

Three of the 18 Goblins had not yet spent their sticky brown blades and do succeed in swinging back at Halfaz3 and 4, wildly, in a desperate last attempt to bring the twins down as the Goblins’ final effort.

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Offline MetroMagic

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Re: Action Thread - Part 2!! Rock, Hard Place, and You (a Love Triangle)
« Reply #53 on: December 12, 2012, 03:17:26 AM »
Only one of the dying Goblins comes even close to hitting Halfaz4, and so Halfaz3 and 4 are free to dive into the river as the last of the Goblins falls, and get downstream in a hurry with everyone else. Since Polymorphing to a Water Elemental is not exactly in their stye, they have a small problem to solve. Halfaz planned on sailing in bejeweled style as the Captain of his own fantastical ship, but Halfaz3 and 4 don’t even have non-Magical copies of it.

Advance reports back to Halfaz34 from the river on the Link give some interesting information: Ror34 and Halt34 easily notice with their excellent Spellcraft that the river is also a crazy-quilt patchwork of Forbiddances, but these are tuned for auras Neutral in nature instead of Lawful Evil and don’t seem to be bothering the sharks... and conveniently, the choice of Neutral aura Water Elementals was perfect to slide right through.

Offline Scout89

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Re: Action Thread - Part 2!! Rock, Hard Place, and You (a Love Triangle)
« Reply #54 on: December 12, 2012, 06:40:29 AM »
The simple contact with water is enough to irritate Halfaz, let alone dive into it. Halfaz34 use their years of experience in the City of Brass' arenas to fight the aversion of turning themselves into water-based beings and to dive into the river to follow the others.
Sneaky_Sable: "Keep the Omega Whatever, I'll take that Dagger. Nice to meet you *sneak attack* I hope everything's alright *sneak attack* how's your liver been *sneak attack*..."

Offline MetroMagic

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Re: Action Thread - Part 2!! Rock, Hard Place, and You (a Love Triangle)
« Reply #55 on: December 13, 2012, 12:37:48 AM »
Halfaz34 are going to grit their teeth and deal with the unpleasantness of the water and change to a Water-based creature by sheer toughness, but they still have the problem of the Forbiddances which allow passage to Neutral creatures such as Water Elementals. Taking the form of a Water Elemental, like the others did, would provide a Neutral form, but a Water Elemental is so extreme, and such an alien idea, it’s almost impossible to conceive for a Harssaf, and if it is almost impossible to conceive then it is almost impossible to Polymorph into it.

But Halfaz34 don’t need a consultation with Star’s encyclopaedic knowledge of Planar creatures to know a Neutral creature that is itself comfortable with water as a native, but not nearly so alien for Halfaz. Halfaz himself is quite familiar with a strange creature that is well known in the City of Brass, though very rare.

It is kept by the finest hotels that serve off-Plane visitors who actually like to drink hot water beverages, a very strange notion indeed. One of the creatures is even in the royal zoo. The creature is called a Thork, and what makes it so valuable to the City of Brass hotels is its ability to heat and store scalding hot water! It can take in water without damaging itself, in fact it likes to do so, and can then breathe out steam at need. Heat and superheated steam are often wafting from its beak, due to its internal high temperature, even though its surface temperature is often not as high.

The Thork is a bird made of copper, with delicate copper-leaf feathers, and so it can easily survive the environs of the City of Brass. As Halfaz34 knows, in the Inner Planes these Thorks are much more frequently found in the Quasi-Elemental Plane of Steam, and are said to be native to that Plane, but there is a rare animals trade in the City of Brass just as there is in any large cosmopolitan trading city, and traders set out on hazardous expeditions to the Plane of Steam to capture Thorks and bring them back, or trade for them with denizens of the Plane of Smoke where Thorks are occasionally found by chance, wandering across the Plane of Air in between.

An adult Thork is an imposing-looking creature nearly nine feet tall. Its metallic beak is razor-sharp, and it will peck or blow steam if threatened, but is otherwise placid and good tempered, so it makes an excellent captive pet at the fanciest hotels and is well pleased as long as it is given shiny platinum coins or other bright platinum objects to hoard. It can tell platinum from other metals; perhaps it has such fine sensitivity because it is made of metal itself.

The Thork is not fast on land or water, but it survives quite comfortably in water as a native of the Plane of Steam and can swim slowly, and the river current speeding downstream would carry it along rapidly anyway.

Like most animals the Thork is Neutral, and is one of the few such creatures Halfaz knows that are comfortable in both Fire and Water. Most of the rest are Evil, and are natives of the Lower Planes; for some, Styxwater is their preference.

So, Halfaz34 know that they can Polymorph into Thorks – not the most effective of forms for a fight, but at least an effective form for a Magma creature to ride a river of Water laced with Forbiddances attuned to Neutrality – a challenging set of constraints to meet!! At least there IS one such creature known in the City of Brass.

And Halfaz34 will have to change back anyway, to Efreet form, when they exit the river and re-enter the Forbiddances in the complex, if the same Lawful Evil Forbiddance defenses are set throughout, as they have been everywhere else the GroupXs have searched.

A steaming Thork at the Royal Zoo in the City of Brass
Standing in an actual Pool of Water!! (maintained by Magic)



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Offline MetroMagic

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Re: Action Thread - Part 2!! Rock, Hard Place, and You (a Love Triangle)
« Reply #56 on: December 14, 2012, 05:06:29 AM »
As Halfaz3 and 4 fight a heroic delaying action to keep the remaining Goblins at bay, the rest of Group3 and 4 are free to change to Water Elementals as they dive into the river. With the speed of their new forms and the river’s flow, Halt34, Ror34, Sheerak34, Tanatou34, and Vir34 race downstream toward the landing near the portal cavern and Thrash. Following their progress on the combat map, it seems that they will arrive in minutes, or less.

All of Groups 7 and 8 are underway too, though with slow Earthglide, it will be some Time before they arrive.

Meanwhile, Sable arrives at last in the rock floor of the huge dais directly beneath the portal, incense stick in paw. The rest of GroupO/10 waits nearby, after swinging down under the river and coming up just below the level of the cavern floor and just to the northwest, on the shortest line between there and Location10 where they began.

On the way, there is a disorientation twice, as GroupO/10 passes through the gravity plane of Bral while sinking below – or is it then above? – the level of the river, and then back through it. Sable’s experience with a transit of the gravity plane prepares them for the disorientation, though, and none stray off course enough to matter.

Suddenly Arkesh is on the Link with a demand: Star! If my allies are to fight Thrash along with yours, I need them on your map. You are already tracking us to some extent; I’ll open them to you, and you put them there now, Empress, under the Truce of Lolth.

Star says I do not command, but I do bargain; you are free to choose to accept, or not. If I do this and give you full access to our Link and combat map, then we merge our links fully; you will not hold back to keep yours private even in part, nor use our links against us. I do not want conspiracy delving my own thoughts with such unequal footing. Do you so pledge, by Lolth’s own Truce and her claim on you after death?

Arkesh: So. You put the safety of my return from afterlife into the bargain. Clever witch… the one thing of value to me that you can trust. Yes, I pledge, only because the Truce must be kept… and I MUST have that map.

Star replies, Then… It is done.

Arkesh opens her link to Star, and there is a brief disorientation of double-vision as Star merges the flow on the map. Then she adds directly to the mind behind Sheerak2, I do not want to have to burn Arkesh’s allies further with my defenses, than I already have. No one deserves to be eaten by Illithids who are not Illithids themselves, not even ones who fight alongside them… not by my hand; I will not reduce myself to their level. If you survive this battle, I’ll remove Agra’s taint from you if it pleases you to do so.

This transaction has taken instants, at the speed of thought; the party can now see clearly into the cavern through another’s eyes as well as the parrots, where the glowing outlined creature of Force has just arrived.

A rush of events spills across the Link.

The portal is a silvery rippling surface, lit dimly by the wan, fitful glow of Dwarven runes in the floor that the orc has somehow cobbled together. In the dim light, the orderly flow of goblins driven by the Uruk-Hais’ whips through the silvery curtain suddenly cuts off, as the goblins coming through stumble, feet and legs slashed and bloody. They fall, and are trampled by goblins apparently fleeing from the other side, also with legs and feet slashed. Then small knots stagger through, badly slashed all over with whip marks, and collapse on the dais. Thrash whirls and pushes through the silver curtain for a look; his hand passes through the curtain, beginning a gesture. Then the orc whirls back and starts scanning the rear walls of the cavern where the entrance tunnels are, apparently looking for enemies. He hasn’t looked overhead yet to spot the Force creature, but some of the goblins have spotted a Symbol of Fear burning on its chest, and start falling to the floor, wailing in terror.

More Uruk-Hai come through the portal, whipping along goblins that look dazed and sick; the flow of fresh goblins drops to a trickle.

The creature of Force slams down a Wall of Force directly in front of the portal, and the flow through the portal stops.

An instant later the party receives a report from Sable on the link, that he has triggered the Null Zone incense stick in the floor directly underneath the portal.

A figure bursts through the silver curtain near the top of the portal arch, blazing with indigo light like a dark blue meteor, flying fast but out of control, and sails in a low, flat arc across the dais. The arc carries it out over the broad, grand staircase of ornate stone steps descending toward the cavern floor, and its momentum takes it as far as the last few steps before it crash-lands, tumbling head over heels down the last few steps to the bottom and out onto the cavern floor.

The figure finally comes to rest some 60 to 70 feet beyond the portal and down the grand stair in the midst of a crowd of astonished goblins who are all scrambling to get out of the way of the indigo meteor to avoid getting crushed on impact. They want no part of this strange sudden visitor, least of all to be his comfortable landing pad. Then the figure vanishes.

Then events become even stranger.

There is a bright flicker in a brief burst of colors repeated several times, and another thought bursts onto the link through Star’s awareness from a tiny creature of Light blazing in all colors, saying with delight, Vingilot! Vingilot! Vingilot! Creator! Summoner! Weaver!, over and over.

There is a brief flash of too-bright image from the elves’ fight with the Witchlight Marauders. There are only eight Witchlights left in motion, four around the Armada crew and four around Arkesh and Star; Star has just whipped another of the Witchlights, which is now struggling with Frakaggan, caught between its impulse to eat everything in its path and the knowledge that to eat the whip has meant death for two other Witchlights already. It tries to sever the whip with a bite, but can’t seem to get through it. Arkesh takes the opportunity to slash off all of its tentacles and one of its legs, and it falls.

Star calls to the whip, Frakaggan, would it please you to watch that side!?!

As the link between Star and the flashing creature stabilizes, she generates a momentary series of bright color flashes in a return greeting. Then Star speaks on the link directly to another creature, apparently now being joined to the link through the connection between the tiny creature of Light and herself. He appears on the combat map at the same time; it’s the creature who just sailed through the portal, blazing in indigo!

Without any context to make sense of it, the conversation is certainly very confusing to everyone else.

Darayat! What a pleasant surprise! And just in Time! That painted orc is Thrash, the one who brought these monsters, who ruined the Multiverse the last time they were unleashed, just as Evil’s webs broke the world you were to visit when last we met… the two events were one. The bigger versions of these creatures ate everything there was, in these worlds, beginning with the elves. But we are dealing with them here.

I see by its distinctive aura that you have brought the elf-sword Maegnas; it was made against all of Morgoth’s twisted spawn, including orcs! If it pleases you to deal with Thrash and the other orc-spawn, you may find Maegnas to be pleased greatly too!


Arkesh hisses at the name Maegnas, adding her voice on the link. WHAT??! That sword is Maegnas? The Spider’s Bane? What folly is this, to bring legendary doom from the First Age of Making into this battle? But… let Thrash taste its might as it tears out his throat. May it unravel his plans! Just keep it far from my Queen, you harbinger of destruction, Darayat, or I’ll have you in pieces, no matter Maegnas is with you!!

Then Arkesh snarls at Star over her shoulder, fighting back to back behind her, You! Witch, you know this late arrival! You drew him here! but Star cuts her off cooly, I did no such thing. It is just as Winston Wished at the Gods’ beckoning, when Dream twisted round and nearly wrecked the Second Age by dreaming The Nothing: Whenever imbalance arises that is so powerful as to destroy all things, a counterbalance shall arise. Arkesh, can you not feel it? You and I and the rest of us here are all caught up in the threads of Gods’ weaving against each other as the power of their desires goes out into the worlds and all places between, across Time, and if we do not find a way to keep the balance… Star cuts off as the Witchlights seize the momentary distraction as an opportunity to push their attacks and the two elves fight for their lives.

Meanwhile, the party has their own hands full, with a cavern full of thousands of goblins churning in weirdly flickering lighting from Corlin’s blasts making the rocks glow; nearly a dozen Uruk-Hai out of nightmares; and an orc shaman of still unknown powers who consorts with Witchlight Marauders. Good thing that none of those are here!

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((This thread ends here. See the OOC for The Big Reveal! And go to the battle action thread on another board prepared specially for the next adventure segment: Jewel Of A Quest!))
« Last Edit: December 14, 2012, 05:11:12 AM by MetroMagic »

Offline Scout89

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Re: Action Thread - Part 2!! Rock, Hard Place, and You (a Love Triangle)
« Reply #57 on: December 14, 2012, 07:17:55 AM »
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Sneaky_Sable: "Keep the Omega Whatever, I'll take that Dagger. Nice to meet you *sneak attack* I hope everything's alright *sneak attack* how's your liver been *sneak attack*..."

Offline MetroMagic

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Re: Action Thread - Part 2!! Rock, Hard Place, and You (a Love Triangle)
« Reply #58 on: December 14, 2012, 02:43:23 PM »
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Offline Debatra

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Re: Action Thread - Part 2!! Rock, Hard Place, and You (a Love Triangle)
« Reply #59 on: December 14, 2012, 03:23:16 PM »
Rolled 1d100+2 : 94 + 2, total 96
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