Upgrade your account to a Community Supporter account and remove most of the site ads.

Reply to thread

Message: <blockquote data-quote="the Jester" data-source="post: 2293472" data-attributes="member: 1210">7/29/371 O.L.G., 10 a.m., the Halls of Healing, VarHorbin the MFKG Holy strokes his chin.  The priestly vestments adorning him give him comfort.  Recently, he atoned to Kevanen, a planetar of Galador.  He begged forgiveness for allowing his love of freedom to overcome his desire to do good.  Eagerly, he accepted a quest from the celestial.  Now it is time to follow up on that quest.”There is a demon,” Kevanen had said those few days before, “that has caused much pain through deception.  Even now it continues to do so.”“Deceiving who?  My party?” Horbin asked.“Among others.  Even Dexter Himself.  In fact, this demon was responsible for the second coming of Farenth.  A group of adventurers had come to the ruins of the Halls of Light on Forinthia, not long after the fall of the tarrasques.  They were led by dreams that they received from what appeared to be two angels, one male and one female, but each claimed that the other was a demon in disguise.  Their advice led the heroes to a rod of resurrection hidden in the ruined halls, which they used to restore both the Son of the Light and the Son of Bleak to life.“You must stop her deceptions, Horbin.”Now Horbin ponders how to find this demon.  He knows the tale of the Second Coming of Dexter, of course, and of Farenth; and he knows the tale of Desgren and Tharron, the heroes that raised Dex from beyond the veil with the rod.  The fact that the demon still exists, and is tampering with his own party, is relatively new to him.  Regardless, he shakes his head, bemused.  If he needs to find something, the fastest way is probably to ask Orbius.***1 p.m., the Temple of Elemental GoodVeil has begged, pleaded and cajoled for so long that Orbius gives in with a sigh.  The Eye of Boccob has put off Veil’s ambition for too long, in truth; it is time that they tried to reach the Isle of Vuivui for her.  To this end, Orbius casts a pair of contact other planes.What is the mace of St. John up to? UnknownWhat are the teleportation coordinates for the Isle of Vuivui? Extremely far.How many teleport circles do I need to cast to get there? Four.What type of opposition should we expect on our trip? Aberrations.Where should the first teleport circle lead? Belurnus.The second? The Icy Drifts.The third? Mixel’s Tear.The fourth? Vuivui.Can we expect active opposition when we arrive in Belurnus? No.At the second landing? Perhaps.What kind of opposition, if any, will we face at the second landing? Cold.Should we expect opposition at the third landing? Unlikely.What type of opposition are we likely to face on the Isle of Vuivui? Aberrations.Specifically, what is the most powerful type? Orb.Orbius thinks about that for a moment.  Beholders are known as ‘orbs of many eyes,’ he thinks, and there are legends of even worse creatures- the supposed forefathers of beholders and gibbering mouthers both, the gibbering orbs.  He licks his lips.What is our best tactic in approaching this orb, i.e., combat, diplomacy, bribery, etc? Diplomacy.What will the orb want? Unpredictable.What is the name of this orb? Caercolli.What’s his alignment? Don’t know.What is his interest in the Isle of Vuivui? Guard.Does he guard the Cave of Vuivui? No.Can we get to the cave and avoid the orb? No.What is Caercolli’s greatest physical weakness? Don’t know.What is the best diplomatic gesture we can make? Food.What is the orb’s favorite food? Salmon.Exhausted from sending his mind so far out twice so quickly, he rests for a few moments with a goblet of water.  His meditations are interrupted by the arrival of Horbin.  “Orbius,” he says, “I’m on a quest and I’d like to see if you might be willing to do some divinations for me to help me out.”Orbius nods.  “Certainly, I can do that a little later.  But first, I’ve promised Veil a trip to a strange distant location- the Isle of Vuivui.””Vuivui!” exclaims Horbin.“Yes, would you like to come along?”Horbin hesitates.  “Isn’t Vuivui a Chaos place?  I’m trying to distance myself from all that...”“Well, otherwise, I’ll be gone for several days, so I can do it when I return.”“I guess I can just commune anyway... oh, hell, how long is this Vuivui thing going to take?”“A couple of days,” Orbius assures the cleric.Horbin sighs.  “Count me in.”***5 p.m., Mixel’s TearIn the end, the entire party accompanies Orbius and Veil.  “Wiser to stay together,” nods Chakar.  Soon our heroes have reached a ragged blotch of jagged stone thrusting out of a choppy sea.  They easily reshape the rugged Mixel’s Tear into a shape suitable for sleeping on, rather than one requiring considerable work to find a comfortable seat.   After they make camp, Orbius does another contact other plane.  This time his questions are guided by Horbin’s tale.What is the name of the demon Horbin is quested to stop? Unknown.What is the location of Desgren’s rod of resurrection? Broken.Who broke the rod? Desgren.Orbius ponders that for a while.  To the best of his knowledge, the rod of resurrection in question was the first example of someone returning from the dead in all of Cydran history.  It was an historic artifact.  Yet- Desgren, whoever he was, broke it himself.  Why?*Are the angels that Desgren encountered in his dreams embroiled in Horbin’s quest? Yes.What is the name of the real angel? Fillestrea.What is the name of the angel who is really a demon? Unknown.Which of the two are we likely to encounter first if we follow Horbin’s quest? Unknown.What is the nature of the deception that Dexter was under? Evil.Does this demon keep close to Dexter? Unknown.Is Dexter aware of the demon? Yes.Show me the most common guise of this demon? Unknown.Will a pierce mind blank help me locate her? Unknown.“She’s inscrutable,” he says afterwards, full of admiration.  He relates what he has learned- which is to say, very little, really.  Still, the religious training of Horbin is enough to fill in some of the blanks. “Desgren and Tharron were the two adventurers who brought Dexter- and Farenth- back from the grave,” he states gravely.  “They journeyed with him and Malford for several years, from Forinthia to Dorhaus.  That was a century and a half ago, of course, so they are both gone back to the dust from whence they came now.  Tharron is buried in the cemetery in Var; Desgren died elsewhere.”  Horbin creases his forehead.  Alcar interjects, “My brother, Cyrax, traveled with them.”“What!” exclaims Horbin. “I was an elf,” explains the Angel of Food. “Do you think he’d know anything about this demon?” “He might.”“Where’s he at?”We had to hang him, Lester projects over the telepathic bond.  He went bad.  He betrayed us to Farenth.“Just ‘cause he had the face of a pit fiend,” gripes Alcar. No, just because he backstabbed us, Lester retorts.  He sighs.  Cyrax was not all sweetness and light, he adds.The party enjoys another good sunset as they make camp.  “Tomorrow,” Orbius observes, “we will reach the Isle of Vuivui.  We should be prepared.”“For what?” asks Sybele.“For orbs,” Orbius replies, his voice a harsh rasp.Next Time: Aberrant orbs on the Isle of Vuivui!*There’s a great story there, as Desgren was a pc, and it involves Dzaram the Lich, whom we just saw at the spellcasters’ conference. <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f609.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=";)" title="Wink    ;)"  data-smilie="2"data-shortname=";)" /></blockquote>

Verification