shilsen
Adventurer
As is usually the case, I really have no idea, but I'd say the chances were very slim.
Good description.
And now...
* * * * *
“What?!” says Luna, simultaneously confused and disappointed. “I thought the Flame did something to me since I slept next to it … where it was!”
Nameless shakes his head. “No. I believe, however, that the Flame does have something to do with the changes. When part of it flowed into us upon the Flame’s destruction, it changed us. The change took time to manifest, and the process of doing so was what exhausted us. Otherwise,” he glances at Six, “I can’t see why you would actually have slept.
“True,” says the warforged, calmly as ever, though with a faint undertone of disquiet to his mechanical tone. “That is not supposed to happen. And I have no wish to repeat the sensation. Sleep is … odd.”
Ignoring him, Luna continues, “Wait – so you guys have got more powerful too? You can cast spells of …”
“…the ninth valence*,” completes Korm, with a broad smile.
“And, speaking of which …,” says Nameless, “Just a minute, Luna. There’s something of vital importance I have to do first.”
“But …”
“No, Luna,” says the alienist firmly, “I have been waiting to do this since I first arrived in Sharn. Ah, here’s that coffee I ordered.” He waves at the pair of scared-looking orderlies making their way into the chamber, motioning for them to deposit the trays they carry on a nearby table. The two men do so and swiftly rush off.
When they do, Nameless smiles in anticipation and speaks a word of power, before striking his staff on the ground. “I compel,” he says loudly, “That snotty kid who sells them near Trillia Lelleir’s home to come here and bring me the morning edition of the Sharn Inquirer.”
An instant later, a fiery ring appears before the alienist, framing what appears to be a young boy carrying a rolled newspaper. As the ring disappears, he looks around carefully and then, seeming remarkably unfazed, walks up to Nameless. Extending the paper, he says, “That’ll be 2 silvers, sir.”
The mage flips him a gold piece, which the newsboy snatches out of the air with a broad smile, and then says, “Return!” The ring of flame reappears around the boy and contracts into nothingness, taking him with it.
Whereupon Nameless sits down, flips open the paper, and takes a sip from his coffee. Before looking up at his companions with a tiny smirk. “Continue.”
“You,” Gareth says quietly, “Just … gated in a newspaper?”
“I always said that when I can personally obtain a Sharn newspaper in utter safety, I’d know we’d become truly powerful,” says Nameless, his expression deadpan. “I wasn’t joking.”
Korm chuckles at the little show and then addresses Luna again. “See! And we can do a few other things too.” The Gatekeeper draws his meteoric sword with a flourish. Though the blade remains as dark as ever, there is just the faintest tinge of red to it, with an additional gleam along the edge. “Some of our belongings have been affected as well.”
Luna sadly paws at herself, before recalling that most of her possessions melded with her when she changed shape. “Aww – I don’t think anything of mine changed!” She gazes at Korm jealously and grunts, “So what does that little sword of yours do now?”
“It mostly works even better against aberrations now,” replies the Gatekeeper, but then a mischievous look appears in his eyes. “But,” he begins, walking towards Luna, “It also lets me do this….”
The giant bear eyes him suspiciously. “What? What does it let you … hey, what are you doing?!” Korm reaches out, eyes beginning to gleam with combined amusement and energy, and wraps his arms (one hand still holding the sword) around Luna’s left foreleg. The Gatekeeper grunts and the already large muscles on his arms leap out at the strain.
“You’re crazy,” scoffs Gareth, watching the display from across the room. “Power or no power, you can’t move …”
And then the paladin falls silent as Korm slowly, but inexorably, begins to move forward, pulling the huge bear across the floor of the chamber behind him.**
“Flame protect us!” the paladin swears, “That’s amazing! She must weigh close to ten thousand pounds!”
“More,” opines Nameless. “A normal dire bear would weigh about eight thousand, and Luna is substantially fatt…”***
“Shut it – or die!” snaps Luna before the alienist can complete the sentence. “And you,” she growls, looking down at the Gatekeeper who is still slowly moving her, “Quit showing off!” Having said which, without giving poor Korm a chance to respond, Luna simply rolls over, causing him to disappear under her.
Six, unable to roll his mechanical eyes, settles for shaking his head. “That might damage him, you know.”
“Nah!” grumbles Luna, “He’ll be fine. And that was rude!” Ignoring the muffled sounds emanating from under her, she continues, her tone turns more positive and enthusiastic, “But he’s not the only one with spiffy abilities. My ability to wildshape has become much better. And to turn into elementals too! See?”
There is a faint whooshing sound and the dire bear disappears, its shape warping and folding in on itself in a stomach-churning display, which momentarily reveals a supine Korm on the floor of the chamber below her. Who is instantly hidden from view again by a huge, very roughly humanoid and brightly flaming shape.
There is a loud scream of surprise and pain from beneath the huge fire elemental that Luna has transformed into, causing her to shift sideways. Korm springs to his feet, still yelling, “Aaaaah! Hot, hot, HOT!” The Gatekeeper takes a hurried step backwards and away from Luna, looking down at himself, and then pauses. “Wait a sec – I’m not actually burned!”
“Yeah … whiner!” mutters the elemental, before ejaculating “Hey!” as Korm reaches out and gingerly prods her with a finger. And then keeps it pressed against her for a second, before pulling it away and stepping out of the way of a peevish swat from Luna. Ignoring it, he shows his finger to the others, “See? No burns, though I was just beginning to get scorched. We’re fireproof – a little.”
“Bah! I’m fireproof too – a lot!” says Luna, waving what looks like a thick plume of flame at herself, before continuing excitedly, “And that’s the coolest thing – I’m totally an elemental! I mean, I could be an elemental earlier too, but when I changed into one it wasn’t complete. Like I had a fiery shell, but inside I had organs and things. Now,” she again waves excitedly at herself, “I don’t have any! No weak points where an enemy can hit me. And I’m not breathing either! This is so cool!”**** Luna chortles excitedly and then looks at the other three members of the Guardian Angels. “So – what happened to you guys?”
Gareth, who has been grinning at the byplay between the two druids, replies, “I can’t show you exactly what’s changed in my case without an evil creature here to fight. To put it simply, I can do a few special things when I’m in battle against evil foes.” He smiles in anticipation. “Especially when I’m smiting them. And as for my sword ….” He activates his magical metal hand and the Endless Blade appears instantly.
And crows loudly, “I’m a f*cking holy avenger, baby!”
The paladin rolls his eyes at the sword’s speech, but that clearly has no effect, as it continues, speaking rapidly and with growing excitement, “When I fell asleep or whatever it is that happened, I was like – what the f*ck? I mean, I’m a sword! A sentient magic sword! That is not supposed to happen! But then when I woke up, I could feel that something had changed. Big-time! I’m a holy avenger! I mean, I’m a unique holy avenger! If you’re evil, I will f*ck your shi….”
The voice disappears in mid-word as Gareth mentally commands it back into his hand. The paladin sighs and shakes his head, before shrugging. “Well, it’s mostly me and the sword having changed.” *****
“Yeah, okay – cool,” says Luna, and though her elemental form has no expression to show her thoughts, the druid’s expressive voice indicates that she’s a little disappointed and underwhelmed with the explanation and lack of display. Turning to Six, she asks hopefully, “What about you? Did your spiked chain change?”
The warforged shakes his head mechanically from where he sits. “No. Probably because it is not a unique weapon like Korm’s or Gareth’s. The main change is in here,” he taps the magical harness that is set into his artificial form. “And what I can do with it.”
The warforged makes no motion to move, even when Luna says, “And ….?” Nameless smiles slightly and rasps, “Just show her, Six – or you’ll never hear the end of it.”
“Very well.” Six rises smoothly to his feet, knees straightening to raise him without any other part of his mechanical body moving at all. Then he stands and gazes at Luna for a moment … and changes. Rivulets of thick shadow flow swiftly out of the harness, seemingly thicker and more tangible than those which the other Angels have seen emerge on earlier occasions when Six used it. They spread swiftly across the surface of his entire body, till he seems to be covered in an umbral liquid. Which then appears to harden in an instant, causing Six’s form to seemingly be sheathed from head to toe in a dark grayish-black metal covering.
“Cool!” says Luna, “What does it do?”
This time, Six’s mechanical voice does sound faintly amused as he responds by turning to Korm, his movements apparently not incommoded in any way by this new layer of protection, and saying, “Hit me with a horrid wilting, please.”
The Gatekeeper eyes Six dubiously. “You sure?”
“Yes,” the warforged responds, causing Korm to shrug and cast his spell. There is, as far as those around can see, absolutely no effect. Korm whistles softly and says, “Very nice!”
“It seems so,” Six says. “I believe this form, in which I am completely a construct, allows me to ignore certain things. Such as mind-affecting effects, just like your mind blank does, and many things which affect my form. And when I am affected….” The warforged turns his attention to Nameless. “Can you use a magic missile spell on me? At full power please.”
The alienist lifts a quizzical eyebrow. “This will hurt a bit, you know? The spell does affect constructs.”
“I know. But I’ll be safe. Go ahead.” Nameless shrugs and complies, and when the bolts of magic strike Six in the side, a little portion of his mechanical body does buckle, revealing internal components and causing drops of gray fluid to drip from the wound.
The warforged takes the effect stoically and then visibly concentrates. Immediately, the newly formed armoring on his body transforms back into the fluid shadows, which flow into the wound. In an instant, they are gone, leaving behind Six’s normal form, only now completely undamaged.******
“Beautiful!” says Luna, clapping her giant fiery hands loudly.
Six bows and sinks back down against the wall again, causing Gareth to chuckle and say, “You’re showing off!”
“Marginally,” replies the warforged calmly, albeit with an amused undertone to his voice.
“So,” says Luna, focusing now on Nameless, who is studying Six with a thoughtful expression, “What about you? You’ve got to have something new too. Xoriat-flavored underwear?”
As the druid guffaws at her own witticism, Nameless says dryly, “Not quite. But Xoriat-flavored, yes.” He doesn’t bother to rise, simply sitting where he is and calling forth the power of his Aspect, which causes Nameless’ body and features to warp as usual. And then he speaks a single long word, one which none of the others have heard him use earlier or recognize. Nor could any of them replicate its tongue-twisting accents, but even so each of them can feel the power with which it is imbued.
There is a faint tearing sound from the alienist’s vicinity, and those nearby feel a momentary, faint breeze flowing towards him from all directions, as if a small portion of the air surrounding him had been displaced. The source of this displacement is instantly evident, as a shimmering field of energy appears around his chest and upper arms, extending only an inch or two from him like a thick vestment made of pure magic. The arcane vestment constantly shifts and changes, patches of multifarious colors flowing back and forth across the eldritch field, shifting in size and shade as they constantly move, meet, merge and disintegrate.
Korm studies the magical armor curiously and then hazards a guess. “You can summon a prismatic sphere as a form of armor?”
“No,” Nameless corrects, “I can summon Xoriat as armor.******* A prismatic sphere is a dweomer of the ninth valence, the pinnacle of mortal spellcasting, what one of you, if you were an arcanist, could potentially do. This,” he smirks, “Is beyond that. Beyond what any arcanist on Khorvaire can accomplish.”
And then, seeing Luna move, he hurriedly adds, “No – you may not touch it! I can’t control what it will do to you, and some of it would not be pretty.”
The giant fire elemental stops and mutters, “Spoilsport!” Then, mercurially shifting focus and attitude, she looks around at her friends and asks hopefully, “Well, all that is fun and all, but is there anything else we can do? Did anyone get a dragonmark so we can pilot an airship?”
“No,” says Gareth, rolling his eyes, “When the Silver Flame died and its remnants entered us, it did not consider it important to make us better at flying airships.” Ignoring the rude gesture this elicits from the elemental, he continues, “But we were just discussing this before you barged in. It seems we are linked in some ways due to the energy within us. For example, we can sense each other’s presence and….”
“Really?” Before the paladin can finish, the fire elemental interrupts excitedly and then closes its flaming eyes, hunching slightly in concentration. To Luna’s delight, she quickly realizes that Gareth is correct. Even with her eyes closed, she can feel the presence of the others, sensing them as one might the warmth of a fireplace in the same room. It is, she thinks, as if each of them is full of energy, radiating a form of heat which one notices as soon as one concentrates on it.
As she opens her eyes, Nameless comments, “And here’s the fascinating part – I cast a mind blank on myself as soon as I awoke. You can sense me through it. So this … link actually supersedes that protection. Normally,” he continues, his tone now indicating that he’s mostly just talking aloud to himself, “That spell protects against any information-gathering magic including that by actual divinity. That might explain what’s going on here, since the link between us is presumably comprised of elements of the Silver Flame, which was theoretically divine.”
“What do you mean theoretically divine? It…,” begins Gareth, frowning, but he is once more interrupted.
Six, whose mechanical eyes have dimmed slightly as he too was concentrating on the link, says, “Everyone – can you detect something besides us? Because I can.”
The others quickly turn their attention to the link, each focusing on it, and within a few moments they realize what Six is talking about. Concentration on the link initially reveals only the five sources of energy nearby, namely the five members of the Guardian Angels. As one concentrates longer, one becomes aware of the precise positioning of each of the others, including direction and distance. And then, finally, after nearly a minute, a sixth source of energy becomes evident. Once aware of it the Angels realize that it is far stronger than the energy in each of them—or all of them combined, for that matter—as it burns brightly, far from where they stand in Flamekeep, like a tiny beacon seen flaming on a distant mountain-top which betokens a huge fire.
“Is that what I think it is?” queries Six, when all of the Angels have noticed what he first had.
“Yes,” says Nameless, with certainty, “It is Mual-Tar. And,” he calculates swiftly, noting the distance and the direction, “It is definitely within the Mournland. Which is also a place from which we could not gain information. This will require further … investigation.”
“Cool!” says Luna, having a drastically different response to the information than her companions. Gareth, conversely, says, “I don’t know about that. Especially since I’m now wondering whether the Serpent can sense us.”
“If we can sense it, I’m quite certain it can sense us,” says Nameless. “But we’ll have to confirm that. Destroying it is definitely next on the agenda. Especially since it now seems to be full of energy from the Silver Flame.”
“Cool!” Luna repeats, before querying, “But maybe we should find a way to bottle these souls? Because if we can store them, once we kill the snake maybe we can grab all the souls it took and … I dunno, do something with them?”
Nameless opens his mouth, rethinks what he was going to say, and settles for a vague, “I’ll see what I can do about that.” Then, at least partly to forestall what Luna might ask next, he says, “But now I think we need to learn a little more about this link between us. And then we can go tell Jaela what occurred. First, let’s try …”
* The PCs went to 19th level at this point. They also had the following permanent enhancements: +4 enhancement bonus to all stats (with +6 to two stats), +4 enhancement bonus with any weapon, +4 enhancement bonus to any worn armor, +5 resistance bonus to saves, +6 deflection bonus to AC, +5 enhancement bonus to natural armor, fast healing 3 (activates 1 minute after injury), resistance 10 to all energy types, maximum hit points possible on all hit dice.
** Every PC also got some special ability of their own. In Korm’s case, it was focused around his sword. Korm’s sword now is a Keen Binding Bloodstone Aberration-Fiercebane Jovar +1, which also allows use of Whirling Blade 2/day. The sword also has three unique abilities now: (1) As long as Korm is wielding it, when he rages he gains the Mighty Rage ability (+8 to Str & Con when raging, and +4 morale bonus to saves); (2) When Korm strikes an aberration or outsider with it, 2/day (as a swift action) he can affect it with Nature’s Grasp, causing roots to appear beneath it (the target must be on the ground) and wind around its feet. The target must make a DC 25 Will save or be unable to move from the spot for 1d6 rounds. If it has magical transportation abilities, it must make a save (whether it succeeded on the first one or not) for each ability or lose access to it for 1d6 rds; (3) When Korm strikes an aberration or outsider with it, 2/day (as a swift action) he can affect it with Nature’s Wrath, causing it to take 10d6 damage and be dazed for 1 round (a DC 25 Fort save halves the damage and negates the daze).
*** Korm, at this point, is at 34 Str when raging and wielding his sword, so he can drag 12,000 lbs around.
**** When wildshaping, Luna takes on not only the offensive abilities but also the defensive traits of the form attained. She also automatically gains all the benefits of her shifting ability (+2 increase to Con, scent ability, natural weapons are one size larger and critical on 19-20) too, which last as long as she is wildshaped.
***** Gareth’s special ability is focused on the Endless Blade, which is now a unique Holy Avenger. Like other Holy Avengers, it has a +5 enhancement bonus to hit and damage and allows Gareth to cast a greater dispel magic at will (CL 20, only area dispel). It also retains its earlier abilities, being an intelligent Ghost-Touch Holy Lucky weapon (able to, on command, cast Cure Critical 2/day and Swift Fly 2/day, and to assume the form of any weapon at will). But it has three other unique abilities when used against evil creatures: (1) It ignores DR of all types (including epic and untyped DR); (2) It does +4d6 damage, instead of the +2d6 that holy weapons normally do; (3) When used to smite evil, the paladin applies twice the amount he would apply for his class levels.
****** Six’s harness became a little more effective and also gave him the Perfect Construct form. This is a list of all the things that the harness can do now:
The harness cannot be removed. His swordsage abilities are accessed through the harness. It increases the composite plating’s armor bonus to +4. It provides immunity to criticals and nonlethal damage. It also makes Six immune to ability damage, ability drain, death effects, necromancy effects and stunning. Six also has a number of abilities he can access at choice through the harness:
(1) Mask of Flesh – 1/day (full-round); Six can grow a covering of flesh for a disguise, which functions as a disguise self spell, except that his height does not change. It lasts one hour and then falls off in rotting lumps. The effect is dismissible.
(2) Enlarge Construct – 1/day (standard); Six can enlarge himself, with the same effects as the enlarge person spell, for 5 minutes. The effect is dismissible.
(3) Shroud of Shadows – 1/day (standard); The streams of shadow which generally emerge from the harness thicken, blanketing Six’s form and making him difficult to target with precision. It provides a 50% miss chance against attacks. The effect lasts for 2 minutes or until dismissed.
(4) Perfect Construct Form – 1/day (standard); Six loses the living construct subtype for the duration of the effect. He becomes immune to mind-affecting spells and abilities and to any effect that requires a Fortitude save. Six is also no longer affected by spells that affect living creatures and spells from the healing subschool provide him no benefit. He has no Constitution score for the duration of the spell but his hit points remain the same. If dropped to 0 hit points or lower, the effect ends. The effect lasts for 2 minutes or until dismissed. Once, while the Perfect Construct Form is in effect, as a standard action, Six can heal his wounds (to a maximum of 150 hit pts). Using this ability ends the Perfect Construct Form immediately.
******* While activating his aspect, Nameless gains access to one epic spell slot, which is ooccupied by the unique epic spell – Armor of Xoriat. The spell can be cast as a standard action and affects Nameless for as long as his aspect is in effect. It provides him with an untyped +4 bonus to armor and on saves. If attacked physically or with a spell (which must be targeted in some way and not an area spell), each attack may come in contact with one of the layers of the Armor of Xoriat. If the attack is made by a targeted or effect spell, the layer provides a benefit which might affect the spell. If the attack is made by a melee or natural weapon, the attacker takes some effect from the layer. Roll on the following table:
1 – 20 points of fire damage (Ref half); vs. a spell, reduces damage to half (no effect vs. spells that do not do damage)
2 – 40 points of acid damage (Ref half); vs. a spell, reduces damage by 40 points (no effect vs. spells that do not do damage)
3 – 80 points of electricity damage (Ref half); vs. a spell, reduces effect by half (applies to damage or any other numerical effect)
4 – Poison. Die instantly or take 1d6 Con damage on a Fort save; vs. a spell, allows spell to occur first and then triggers a maximized cure serious wounds (40 hp healed) on Nameless
5 – Turned to stone (Fort negates); vs. a spell, changes its target randomly to someone else within fifty feet
6 – Become insane as insanity spell (Will negates); vs. a spell, causes it to target caster in addition to Nameless
7 – Creature sent to another plane (Will negates); vs. a spell, negates its effects completely
8 – Attacker or spell ignores the Armor of Xoriat
9 – The attacker or spell is affected by two layers (roll twice on list above)
The DC for the saves is 20 + Int. If the attack is by a creature of 8HD or less, besides whatever effect the layer has, it is automatically blinded for 2d4 rounds.
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