[Epic] Scions of the Endless Falls

[Wrahn]

Rahveon's eyes lock with the druids briefly as he considers her words. When he speaks his normally booming voice is kept to merely conversational level, "Violence here is a dangerous move, but not unexpected. The Queen must either think we are weak or she is testing our strength. In either case it is a mistake."

He places a comforting hand on her shoulder, suprisingly gentle for someone of his strength, "I am not sure of the exact capabilities of the others, but I know that they are extremely powerful. The Githyanki are most likely in far over their heads."

"Do you have a way to contact the others? Any method I could use, I am afraid would reveal my presence."

 

[Kelleris]

OOC - Once Arion notices you lot, he'll be able to get in touch. Do any of you have some kind of trademark move or something? Maybe the druid always uses a certain animal for the animal messenger spell or something? Something I could bardic knowledge easily but that githyanki likely wouldn't know.

 

[Isida Kep'Tukari]

"I have a way," Fairweather says softly, and makes a faint whistle. A small brown thrush flies to her hand. Taking a small bit of green cloth, she ties it to his leg. Whispering something a touching the bird on the head, he flies off out of the cave.

*Arion, while conversing with the githyanki, you notice a thrush land on a bush near you. The thrush has a piece of green leather tied to his leg. Fairweather must have sent him, the others must be back.*

*The Architect's sense suddenly thrill with danger as his powers alert him to the hostile intent of the githyanki. They've just gone from wary to agressive.*

 

[Ferrix]

Sigrún (ac59, hp271/271, tHP 175/175, pp679/837)

Suddenly alerted to the shift in the Gith's reaction, Sigrún lets out a mental call to Arion, "Drop the act, they've gone angry." He then manifests a power to protect him from offensive powers, and then another where he accelerates in time to manifest a flurry of defensive powers and then ascend out of the ground into the air to survey the situation before manifesting a set of six gargantuan constructs in key points around the githyanki party, his temporal-spacio form shuddering with a thousand possible futures as he rejoins the current time-frame.

OOC: A rough map would really help here Isida Depending upon how things are set up, I might still use those Hustle Move actions to get around or hide back underground once I get a better picture of things. Round 1: (820pp); Standard Action: Power Resistance (9-4=5pp), PR 43 (31min.), Swift Action: Temporal Acceleration (19-4=15pp) 3 rounds Hustle Move: free still Temporal Acceleration Actions: Round 1.1: (800pp); Standard Action: Defensive Precognition (34-4=30pp), +12 Insight to AC (31 min), Move Action: Move up to surface, Swift Action: Quickened True Metabolism (15-4+2=13pp), fast healing 10 (31 min), Free Action: Refocus, Hustle Move: free still Round 1.2: (757pp); Standard Action: Vigor (31pp), +175 hp (31min), Swift Action: Quickened Twinned Augmented 15th Level Astral Construct (31pp), 6 constructs (31min), Move Action: Refocus, Hustle Move: free still Round 1.3: (695pp); Standard Action: Probability Mantle (11-4=7pp), Swift Action: Quickened Schism (11-4+2=9pp), Move Action: Refocus (end temporal acceleration), Hustle Move: free still Final Active Powers: Inertial Armor (31 hours), Overland Flight (31 hours), Mind Blank (1 day), Energy Conversion (310 min.), Detect Hostile Intent (310 min.), Etherealness (31 min.), Power Resistance (31 min.), Vigor (31 min.), True Metabolism (31 min.), Defensive Precognition (31 min.), Probability Mantle (31 rnd), Schism (31 rnd) Innate Powers: Detect Psionics, Psionic Darkvision, Detect Remote Viewing, Psionic Tongues Item Effects: Touchsight, True Seeing, Deathward, Freedom of Movement, Hustle, Adaptation Construct Stat Block: [sblock] 15th-level Astral Construct (29pp) +4 augment (33pp) +2 Twin (35pp) -4 power preservation (31pp), 6 constructs Gargantuan Construct Hit Dice: 36d10+60 (420hp) Initiative: +0 Speed: 60 ft. Armor Class: 65 (+39 natural, +20 Deflection, -4 size), touch 26, flat-footed 25 Base Attack/Grapple: +28/+74 Attack: Slam +54 melee (4d8+30) Full Attack: 2 slams +54 melee (4d8+30), 2 slams +52 melee (4d8+30) Space/Reach: 20 ft./20 ft. Special Attacks: - Special Qualities: One ability from Menu F, construct traits, damage reduction 15/-, darkvision 60 ft., low-light vision Saves: Fort +12, Refl +12, Will +12 Abilities: Str 71, Dex 11, Con -, Int -, Wis 11, Cha 10 Skills: - Feats: - Abilities: B -Improved Grab -Extra Arms C -Blindsight (60 ft.) -Constrict (deals slam damage on a successful grapple check) D -Vampiric Attack (heals 1/2 back) -Toughest (10 hp/HD) E -Energy Adaptation (Energy Res. 30) -Superior Fast Healing (fh 10) F's -Draining Strike (1d4 negative levels) -Reddopsi (constant) -True Deflection (+20 deflection bonus)[/sblock]

 

[Zack2216]

Whats going on here? Standing quickly, reaching for her axe, she waits for the Gith to act, while performing a sense motive check on the gith leader.

OOC: Sense motive roll of 42.

 

[Kelleris]

OOC - Gee, someone's itching for a fight...

Ah, I see you're determined not to trust the designated diplomats, Arion replies, with scathing sarcasm.

Isida, have I got time to say anything, or is this fight inevitable? If it is, what set the githyanki off? Did the druid forget the all-important "but that githyanki likely wouldn't know" clause? I certainly intended to respond - my waiting was metagame waiting, not Arion-standing-there-slackjawed waiting.

In any case, I'm readying an action to Hide if a fight breaks out. Judging from Sigrun's "first round", I doubt my meager combat prowess will be necessary here.

 

[Isida Kep'Tukari]

*The githyanki seem upset that this hitherto unknown "Melavarn the Resplendent" has popped up out of nowhere and altered the tenuous terms of the deal they had made with Su'ryuu.*

 

[Wrahn]

Rahveon reaches to his pack, "Fetish of teleport" he speaks quietly but firmly. He draws forth a small reed figure.

In his other hand he pulls the oddly shaped great sword, whose length is almost ten feet. The dark metal is discolored, forming runes down the length of it: RETRIBUTION. It is enchanted so heavily, the very fabric of reality seems to groan from the weight of it's presence.

Rahveon smiles reassuringly to Fairweather, "This is more of my element anyway."

His smile fades as he girds himself for the coming conflict. "If you can communicate with them, tell them if this come to blows to make sure none get away, further we need to make sure we aren't being scryed upon. If we have any hope at all of not making an enemy of the Lich Queen we are going to need deniability."

(Rahveon:
HP: 638 AC: 56 (33 touch) Init: +9 Saves: +48 Fort, +41 Relf, +46 Will
Immunity: Fire, Sleep, and Paralysis, DR 3/Evil or 2/-, Blendsense 60ft
Melee Atk: +61/+61/+56/+51/+46, 3d6 +46 +2d6 versus Evil, 15-20/x2 + 1d6 + Fort Save (DC49) or die )

Combat Action: Initiative 21, Move equivilant action, draw weapon, get teleportation object, delay action for sounds of combat or word from Fairweather, then teleport in the air 40 feet above the ground.

 

[Kelleris]

After only a moment's silence Melavarn perks up again, seemingly agitated at the sudden aggressiveness of the githyanki warriors.

"Erm, well, I was told only that you expected us to kill some Power or other, I forget who. This business about wanting a hunk of this lovely former plane is new to me, you know. I suppose maybe we could work something out. Still, it does seem terribly rude of Vlakeith to... Well, no matter." Melavarn smiles ingratiatingly.

"What are we looking at for the division? You help me, and I turn over, oh, I don't know, 20 percent of the protomatter? That seems eminently reasonable, I think. I'd hate for us to get into a scrape so soon after meeting, especially since I have a pretty good idea as to how it would turn out."

Reaching out to Su'ryuu, Sigrun, and the newcomers, Akumunaga apprises them of the situation. They are becoming hostile. Prepare to annihilate them. Begin with the gith-queen's eyes - the psions she is using to watch this affair. [OOC - IIRC, from an earlier bardic knowledge check.] If one of you could blank the area from divination, that would be... ideal.

Akumunaga readies an action (if necessary) to warn his allies as soon as Arion judges them to be committed and before Qu'var can regain control of them. If his ruse works, that is.

Isida: I'm changing my goal a little here. I want to provoke the rank-and-file (everyone except Qu'var, the leader) into attacking us, while ensuring that Quvar himself does not consent to the attack, and is therefore losing control. Arion plans to let his allies trounce most of the githyanki; afterwards he plans to have a talk with Qu'var, from a much stronger position, regarding how the diplomat can save himself and salvage his mission as much as possible.

So. Based on what I know of Qu'var's personality (here's hoping!), I want him to read things like the mispronunciation of Vlaakith's name and the bit of swagger at the end as typical (and therefore inoffensive) diplomatic posturing, while his posse takes it to be blasphemy and an insolent slight on their skills.

Rolls:
Diplomacy 1 (to convince the githyanki to let me get through my speech, and then attack): 50
Diplomacy 2 (to convince [only] Qu'var that further dialogue is a good idea): 69
Bluff 1 (to mollify Qu'var): 84
Bluff 2 (to incite the others): 84
Bardic Knowledge (to remember as much as possible about Qu'var's personality): 53
Perform (Oratory) (just in case): 59

I've gone ahead and expended my improvisation to improve those Diplomacies.

 

[Isida Kep'Tukari]

After only a moment's silence Melavarn perks up again, seemingly agitated at the sudden aggressiveness of the githyanki warriors.

"Erm, well, I was told only that you expected us to kill some Power or other, I forget who. This business about wanting a hunk of this lovely former plane is new to me, you know. I suppose maybe we could work something out. Still, it does seem terribly rude of Vlakeith to... Well, no matter." Melavarn smiles ingratiatingly.

"What are we looking at for the division? You help me, and I turn over, oh, I don't know, 20 percent of the protomatter? That seems eminently reasonable, I think. I'd hate for us to get into a scrape so soon after meeting, especially since I have a pretty good idea as to how it would turn out."

*Qu'var raises an elegant eyebrow, seeming unconcerned by Melavarn's subtle threats.*

"We contracted you to kill no power. You bodyguard Su'ryuu, who called herself 'Red,' to us, wanted an alliance. These things do not come without a price. The powers of the Queen are vast and far-reaching, and an alliance with her is surely worth more than a tiny island and a slim twenty percent of this protomater. Eighty percent would be far more fitting," Qu'var says pleasently. Then his face twists in a mask of hate. "But for your blasphemy and insult to our Queen, we claim a blood-price. Slay your bodyguard, or we will do it for you. If you resist, it will be your own blood that is spilled."

*Qu'var is presenting a great deal of anger, far more than a diplomat necessarily would. Arion and the Architect think that the Queen is likely speaking through him. The four warrior, the ranger and the monk are all tensed and ready, though no one has moved yet. Arion and Su'ryuu notice faint glows spring up on the arcanists' staves and in the psion's eyes.*

OOC - Attached is a crappy map! It is very vague, but essentially the githyanki party are 30 ft. above and 10 ft. in front of Su'ryuu and Arion. The Architect is about six feet below them. The cave is about 80 ft. from Arion. The githyanki are in that approximate formation. Whee! If you're going to attack, I know you have a surprise round, but give me your Initiative rolls anyway for next round. Remember to put all of your attack, hp, ac, saves, current magical effects and what they do (if relavant to combat) and any conditional things to any of the above in each combat-post. Because I'm not sifting through multiple 30th level character sheets to find them.