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Message: <blockquote data-quote="LordVyreth" data-source="post: 1968131" data-attributes="member: 9626">Dragovigis' Destruction: How to Create Nuclear Annihilation Through PacifismThe party, with the obvious exceptions of Bath and Xalem, were shocked.  “It’s what?” they gasped.  TIE shrugged.  “Yes, they started a few hours ago, and things aren’t going well.”“But why would they attack…” Danae started to ask, before stopping as realization came to her.  And she simply stared at Tal.“They must have heard about it from Lancaster,” Tal finished.  “This is all my fault.  Facetous should have shown me no mercy.”“Oh, don’t be so melodramatic,” TIE said.  “There’s still plenty that you could do.  Just get in there and stop them.”“You don’t understand,” Tal shouted.  “I can’t do anything to help!  Facetous said that if I ever set foot in that city again, I’ll be killed instantly!”TIE sighed.  “So what?  He’s just a god.  Look, if you want to help, just ask.  I can prevent him from even noticing you until the attack is over, and you can try using your assistance to earn his good favor again.  And if you fail to stop the attack, well I doubt re-entering the city will be a big concern for anyone.”Tal thought about this, and though he didn’t exactly trust TIE, his need for redemption was too great.  “Use your power to protect me,” he said.  “I’m going in.  Can I count on the rest of your support?”Robin, Danae, and Wong easily pledged their support, but the new additions to the heroes were less reluctant.  “I’m not sure I want to get involved in this fight,” Bath said.  “I have to look for my assassination target,” she said sweetly.  “What could this have to do with it?”“Well, the Bas forces often use evil outsiders.  You might be able to…”“I’M IN!” Bath shouted, her crusading zeal at the idea of smiting fiends overruling her reluctance.  “What about me, though,” Xalem asked.  “I want to try and end conflicts, not take sides in massive warfare.”Tal shook his head.  “If we don’t help, hundreds of creatures will be slaughtered, an entire city will be destroyed, and wholes races of dragons will go extinct on this plane.  Even if you are unable to help us actually fight the monsters, can’t you help us prevent a tragedy of that magnitude?”Xalem pondered this, and then nodded.  “I’ll see what I can do.”So prepared, TIE returned to the party to their world, and very close to the border of Dragovigis.  Quickly they dashed into the city, only to find much of it in ruins.  Dragons were flying about, combating what appeared to be armies of the mechanical sheens, but there were far less than the party expected considering how many dragons they saw on their previous visits.  Either the dragons were elsewhere, or the casualties were already incomprehensible.  Desperate for answers, the group approached what looked like a medical camp, where injured dragons were healed for the next wave of attacks.  Not wanting to attract attention, Tal blended into the back of the group while Danae took over the questioning.  She approached what looked like the dragon in charged, and asked, “What’s going on here?”The dragon looked at them with alarm and panic at first, but quickly calmed once it recognized them.  “Oh, it was terrible!  The problems started a few hours ago, when a massive dragon was sighted near the city.  We first thought that the orc empire had finally found us, until scouts reported that it was one of the outsider dragons.”“Outsider dragons?” Danae asked.“Yes, the dragon races so powerful that they have transcended the planes.  This one is partially made of pure force, as is her breath weapon.  It was coming right at us, so our most powerful warriors left the city to intercept her, and they haven’t returned, at least not yet.  Meanwhile, swarms of sheens piled into the city from below.  They’ve just been overwhelming us.  And that’s not the worst news?”“What is the worst news?” Danae reluctantly asked.“That,” the dragon replied, as it pointed at the statue in the center of town.  “Their most powerful forces have converged there, including evil humanoids in red robes, demonic creatures, and their leader.  He’s a strange one, though.  He looks completely ordinary, even plain, and he’s not carrying anything magical or any equipment at all really, but the other attackers have deferred to him without question.  I believe the enemies know about the weapon we have stored in the statue, and are either trying to steal it or detonate it!”“We have no time!” Tal says, forgetting his plan to remain inconspicuous.  “We have to get to the top of that statue as quickly as possible.”“Er, that’s not such a good idea,” Danae replied.  She pointed up at the dragon’s head, where three giant creatures were circling it.  “It looks like they have guards around the head, and powerful ones too.  If we attack from that direction, the whole place will know we’re coming.  I suggest we enter the statue from the base, and work our way in.  Since they’ve been fighting dragons, they’ll never expect a land-based attack.”Tal sighed, but agreed.  “Oh, very well.  But we have to be quick!”The party agreed, and began to approach the statue’s base.  However, as they tried to leave the camp, the dragon officer called out, “Wait!”  When they returned, it explained, “If you are really going to try to stop them, you need this.”  It dug a strange device out of one of the bags dangling from its body.  “This machine can be used to disable the bomb if these monsters have decided to arm it for some reason.  Now, it’s not too complicated a piece of technology, but I don’t know if any of you can understand it without any training whatsoever.”  Nevertheless, he taught them all how to operate it.Danae, with her extensive knowledge of nearly any subject and incredible intellect, was the only one who really could understand the device, so the dragon officer gave it to her before sending the party on their way.As they got closer to the statue, Tal had an idea.  “Hey, what if we didn’t charge in from the front door?  I can disintegrate a small hole in the statue’s back, and we can sneak in that way and bypass any guards watching the door.”The group readily agreed, and Tal was able to easily make a hole at the literal foot of the statue that let them access what appeared to be a shaft leading right up the entirety of the statue, and which seemed to contain a strange machine used to help them ascend it.  However, from the “elevator” shaft, the party could see the guards at the front door, and overconfidence struck.“They don’t even know we’re here!” Tal said.  A desire for revenge and redemption rose in him, as he said, “I bet we could take them before they even have time to respond!”“I don’t know about this plan,” Wong said.  “I mean, that one guard’s legs are straddling the doorway we have to take!  We don’t even know how big, or what, it is!”Bath, however, was looking at the creatures at the far end of the room.  “What are those things?” she asked.Danae took a closer look.  “I think they’re called Yagnoloths, of the Yugoloth race,” she speculated.  “They hail from the evil plane of Gehenna mostly…”That was all Bath needed.  “Charge!” she yelled as she flew down the hallway at the creatures, entering the fray so quickly that whatever the large-legged creature was, it had no time to react before she slammed into the first of the fiendish creatures with such force that she nearly killed it with one swing!  The decision made for them, Tal, Danae and Robin moved to enter the fray, while Xalem remained behind to provide curative magic if needed, and Wong, who was never pleased with this attack in the first place.  “I’ll…just guard the elevator,” he said nervously.As it turns out, though, Wong was right on this one.  Though momentarily surprised by Bath’s charge, the enemy group recovered quickly, including a half dozen dogs that were surrounded by shadow and an obese demonic creature that they later learned was a demodand.  However, as Bath fought the group off, with the occasional assistance of Tal and Danae’s magic, the rest of the group had to confront the massive guardian, which apparently was a massive statue carved out of some strange black stone.  The real problem was that it was right at the end of the hallway, and after it was able to recover from the attack, it realized that there were more enemies in the corridor, and with its extremely long arms, it could attack the party if they got anywhere near the end of the hallway.  But if they didn’t get near the end of the hallway, they couldn’t see what was happening in the room.  Eventually, as the battle between Bath and the fiends got fiercer, Danae and Robin decided to risk getting a little closer.  However, no sooner did they choose to close the statue’s half dozen fists shot down the hallway, striking them both repeatedly.  The attacks were powerful, but the real danger of the attacks was revealed moments later, when to Danae and Robin’s shock, they felt their bodies slowly solidify, until both were nothing but stone statues!    Finally, Wong realized he had to get involved with the battle, and reluctantly closed with the statue.  This proved wise, as his training made his fists as strong as the strongest of metals, and more than powerful enough to cut through the thick skin of the statue.  However, the power of the statue was greater than even seen so far, for the statues that were Danae and Robin began to animate, apparently under the statue’s command, and attack Wong!    Xalem also decided to get involved at this point.  “I can’t directly harm them, but I have a way to stop them from attacking us!” he said.  “I have a spell that will cause anyone who makes an attack on another to suffer retribution.  They won’t dare attack you at that point.”    Tal, however, paused when he heard this plan, for he saw a noticeable flaw in this plan.  “Um, if the statues of Danae and Robin were to be commanded to still attack us, what would take the retributive damage?”    “Well, they would.”    “And this damage would destroy their statues, and therefore them, right?”    “I suppose, but…”    “And that includes all of their items?”    “Sure…”    “Including the device that we need to disable the potentially-armed ultimate weapon that could go off at any moment?”    Finally, Xalem realized this not the best idea.  “I see your point.  Never mind.”    Meanwhile, Wong finally destroyed the statue.  “At last,” Tal said, “we can finally help…Bath,” he finished lamely, after looking at the state of the room.    The entire room was covered with the remains of fiends and demonic hounds.  Only Bath stood, barely injured, around the carnage.  “Don’t worry, I’m okay,” she chirped.  “Now, can we move on?”    Xalem used his healing powers to restore Danae and Robin to flesh, healed everyone, and the group returned to the elevator, intent on suffering no more distractions in their quest to reach the top of the statue and save the city.    OOC Notes: In case you’re wondering, neither Wong nor Xalem were played by their regular players at the end there.  Wong’s player left halfway through the game, and though he told us his character was going to just guard the elevator the whole fight, when things got rough, I took some creative liberties with that decision.    More notably, Xalem was gone the whole game, and the player controlling him didn’t really know much about the Book of Exalted Deeds that he was based on, hence the near apocalyptic mistake that was almost made.</blockquote>

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