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Message: <blockquote data-quote="the Jester" data-source="post: 849441" data-attributes="member: 1210">Escape from the Time Loop!The party emerges from a scintillating wall of silvery light. There's no sign of Nigel; who there is sign of, oddly enough, is their old enemy, Cluma, the Guardian of Order! He's dressed in full plate armor with some sort of rod composed of segments of different diameter thrust through his belt.Horbin and Sheva feel a profound sense of deja vu.There's also a pile of snow, about 6' long, on the ground, and Sheva and Horbin eye it.  Angelfire and Sybele manifest defensive powers; Horbin turns from the snow to cast lower resistance on the enemy. Then a volley of magic missiles blaze from Orbius- only to be deflected by what the Eye recognizes as a shield spell. Horbin's celestial storm giant ally gestures and a blast of violet electricity zaps Cluma as he invokes a chain lightning, inflicting incredible amounts of damage. Lester charges with a battle cry and Sheva tumbles in to flank after reading a scroll of magic circle vs. law. "You!" The Guardian of Order seems surprised to see them here, and he whips out the rod at his side and smites Lester with a terrific blow to the head. "Foul servants of Chaos!" he cries.Zeebo hastes Lester, and Sybele darts in, disarming Cluma with a snap of her whip! Horbin steps in, swinging his holy mace into the small of Cluma's back. As he staggers, Hank steps in and swings his massive sword- cutting Cluma completely in half!"Hmph," Lester grumbles, rubbing his throbbing head.  Blood is trickling and a large knot is forming, but his fast healing will make the pain go away soon.  He throws Cluma's body in his box of many holdings for later dealing with."Where are we?  And haven't we been here before?" Sheva asks, looking around. They're indoors somewhere.  The room is round, large and bare, except for the glimmering wall behind them that cuts off one corner.  A single heavy wood door leads out; and when they open it, our heroes find themselves staring out at what appears to be a nice summer day.  Sheva says, "Hold on a second."  She kneels to examine the snow.  "What do you all make of this?"Orbius and Zeebo study it for a moment, then say in unison, "A simulacrum.""What's that?" Sybele asks."A magical construct that imitates someone.  Like Nigel."  Sheva's frowning.  "This is weird.  Maybe we can go back through that wall."  She casts a few spells to look for magic and such, then touches it.  The silvery wall blazes and darkens, then a blast of lethal black energy shoots out.  It blows most of the party to bits.  Sheva dodges it and Lester manages to absorb the damage, but to her horror the rest of the group is blown apart in a shower of burnt flesh!  The wall roils again, and another blast fires out even as Lester and Sheva scream and flee- but too late.  They're both killed as well, destroyed by the deep violet blast.The party emerges from a scintillating wall of silvery light. There's no sign of Nigel; who there is sign of, oddly enough, is their old enemy, Cluma, the Guardian of Order! He's dressed in full plate armor with some sort of rod composed of segments of different diameter thrust through his belt.Orbius, Angelfire and Sheva feel a profound sense of deja vu.There's also a pile of snow, about 6' long, on the ground, and Sheva and Orbius eye it.  Sybele manifests defensive powers; Horbin casts lower resistance on the enemy.  Horbin's celestial storm giant ally gestures and a blast of violet electricity zaps Cluma as he invokes a chain lightning, inflicting incredible amounts of damage. Lester charges with a battle cry, and then Angelfire darts in, suffering a slash from the Guardian of Order, and grapples him!  "We should take him alive!" the red-skinned Coilite yells, and with a thump both he and Cluma fall to the ground."You!" The Guardian of Order struggles with Angelfire. "Foul servants of Chaos!" he cries.The party jumps on him, and it's soon apparent that there is no way he's going to break free.  He glares up at them."Now then, what are you doing here?" Sheva asks, looking around. They're indoors somewhere.  The room is round, large and bare, except for the glimmering wall behind them that cuts off one corner.  A single heavy wood door leads out.Cluma stares at them for a moment is disbelief.  Then he says, "You mean you aren't here to stop me.""You mean you aren't here to stop us?" Lester asks dubiously.  "Yeah, right.  You Law guys are all in it together!""I am an agent of Law, Chaos-spawn," Cluma snarls venomously, "but on my oath: my business here has nothing to with you- at least directly."Orbius, meanwhile, has knelt to examine the snow.  "A simulacrum," he says thoughtfully.  He calls Zeebo over and points it out.  "Something funny's going on," he says.  "I keep getting this feeling of deja vu, Marius... there's something to do with time going on, I'm sure of it!""What's a simulacrum?" Sybele asks."It's a construct that looks like the creator," Orbius answers."So what are you doing here?" Lester asks Cluma.  The Guardian of Order holds his tongue.  "Look," the L urges, "we clearly have the upper hand.  You can tell us, or we can kill you.""I'll just be brought back," Cluma sneers."So we'll kill you again, and go after all your friends and whatever.  But either way, you might as well just tell us what we want to know and everything can be cool.""Hah!  Get off of me and perhaps we'll talk!  As it is, I've no wish to talk to you at all.""Hey, you're a Law guy.  Give your word you won't try to attack or hinder us and we'll let you up."Cluma still doesn't seem to believe that the party isn't just going to kill him, but he says, "Very well, you have my word."  Angelfire gives him one last squeeze and then gets off of Cluma, as do Lester, Horbin and Sheva.  The Guardian of Order stands up and dusts himself off warily.  His hand falls to the multisegmented rod at his belt and caresses it briefly."Well, what are you doing here?" Lester insists."We may even help you," Sheva adds."Tell you what- you can even just tell me," says Sybele.Cluma hesitates, looks each of the party members hard in the eyes, and reluctantly accedes.  He and Sybele go aside to the edge of the room furthest from the crackling silver wall and he says softly, "I am seeking a piece of an artifact- and I believe it is here."Sybele returns to the rest of the party and tells them what he's doing.  "I think we have no choice but to help him," Orbius says.  "We have to break the time loop we're in by finishing something that got interrupted.""All right," Sybele tells Cluma, "we'll help you."  They help Cluma search, and soon they turn up a secret compartment, which the Guardian of Order eagerly opens.  A short, fat rod of some sort of exotic material is in the secret chamber, and as the party watches Cluma grasps it with trembling hands and screws it onto the end of the multisegmented rod at his belt.Hey, wait a second, Zeebo thinks, Is that what I think it is?  One, two, three, four, five, six... ah, crap, seven.  As Cluma looks up from the fully-assembled rod, the silvery wall flares and darkens to a strange metallic violet.  A lashing tendril shoots out, and in the blink of an eye the party vanishes.Why did they help me? the Guardian of Order wonders, then smiles grimly as he hefts the rod.  No matter.  Now the forces of Law have a great weapon on their side, and I may be elevated to become one of the Great Generals.Time traps, they said... I wonder if Marius was involved, some roundabout scheme of his?  If so, I hope he achieved his goal.Only for a time, Cluma, only for a time.  Now they're back in the Plane of Time, and hope to soon rescue Sybele's daughter!Next Time:  Our heroes, free of the time trap, attempt Marius' lair- the Citadel of Eternity!</blockquote>

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