NOW LIVE! Today's the day you meet your new best friend. You don’t have to leave Wolfy behind... In 'Pets & Sidekicks' your companions level up with you!

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Message: <blockquote data-quote="the Jester" data-source="post: 845845" data-attributes="member: 1210">Into the Plane of Time!"Wait!" cries Zeebo.The party turns to regard him. "We should wait.  Marius is bound to come after us again soon- and he's likely to come through this curtain.  We can ambush him here."The group considers.  They're ready to go get some trouble and kill it; but they all know how important strategy will be in this.  After some discussion, they decide to let a couple of days pass, despite Sybele's urgency.  Unbeknownst to them, they thus push themselves into a trap.As they float amongst the protomatter of the ethereal plane, they watch the portal intently for signs of intrusion.  They're on edge, expecting attack at any moment.  But no attack comes, at least in the first few hours; and they relax a little.  When a full day has passed, Zeebo's sharp eyes spot something in the distance.  It's far off but closing.  Not sure what to expect, they ready themselves- only to find a tall blue humanoid in a strange, 20' long vessel.  He introduces himself as Gamorn, a mercane merchant.  An unexpected opportunity to buy a variety of magic items has come up, and our heroes avail themselves of it.  Sheva buys a pearl of power for 4th-level spells; Sybele gets a psionic necklace containing inertial barrier, duodimensional hand, and astral construct III gems set in it.  Angelfire purchases a ring of shocking grasp and a golembane scarab (Sybele and Sheva already have such scarabs, bought since the party's frightening encounter with the mithral golem).  And everyone chips in for the Mayor; he walks away with a headband of intellect +2 and a ring of shooting stars.  "Do you know where this leads?" Sybele asks, gesturing at the ethereal curtain.  "We're looking for my daughter, and we think she's been kidnapped by someone on the other side.""I've never seen that color of ethereal curtain before," the mercane replies with equanimity.  "But my best wishes."  He departs shortly, on the search for more customers.The group settles back in to watch the curtain, and most of another day passes.  Then a head pokes, briefly, through the curtain.  In the few seconds it's there, the party sees that it's a familiar face (at least to some)- but strangely changed.  It's Nigel, Angelfire's father.  He's got greying unkempt hair and a natty beard and moustache.  But now his head has swollen and his brain pulses visibly beneath the skin, grossly enlarged.Then he's gone, his head withdrawn, and the party's barrelling through the curtain.  On the other side it's a storm of wind and silvery particles, reminiscent of the sand left behind when the party fought the strange chronal repeater.*  The screaming winds are so violent that they push our heroes around even as they fly forward.  A fireball detonates around Sheva and Angelfire as Nigel casts back at them as he flees into the distance, and the party is off in hot pursuit.  Sheva tries to use her lenses of utter dominance to sieze his mind, but to no avail- his will is much stronger than it was when they did battle in Firestorm Peak.Nigel's fleeing towards some kind of opaque bubble, and as our heroes try to catch up he flies into it.  Without thinking twice the party flies in after him.Right into Marius' trap...*Back <a href="http://enworld.cyberstreet.com/showthread.php?s=&postid=645144#post645144" target="_blank">here.</a>Next Time: Time Trap!</blockquote>

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