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Gfunk-JollyDoc Crossover Story Hour [Updated 4/30]
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<blockquote data-quote="gfunk" data-source="post: 527941" data-attributes="member: 1813"><p><span style="font-size: 12px">Session 9</span> </p><p><span style="font-size: 12px">“The ‘diplomatic’ approach”</span> </p><p></p><p></p><p>"Listen you guys, we're in for a tough time fighting the drow. We need all the allies we can get, so no more attacking without provocation," Noir lectured.</p><p></p><p>"But we were verbally assaulted! We had to respond," countered Entropy.</p><p></p><p>"And besides," continued Hor'ahun searching the Stone Giant corpses, "if we never defeated them we wouldn't have procured their treasure. Like this stone comb, big rock, and carved wooden thingy. Hmmm . . . I guess Noir is right, this fight really was worthless."</p><p></p><p>"All I'm asking is to give diplomacy a chance before you guys start killing things, okay?"</p><p></p><p><deep sighs from Entropy and Hor'ahun> "Very well."</p><p></p><p>As the party continued their philosophical musings, their Desmodu escorts began to scout the immediate area. Careful to fly well above the water to avoid attacks by any other inhabitants of the lake, they were able to examine a large area with their echo-location.</p><p></p><p>After some time, they landed in front of the party. "There is a large stone structure on an island over there. Do you wish to continue our journey over the lake?"</p><p></p><p>"Let's check it out, maybe we could find some 'allies' there," Entropy sarcastically remarked.</p><p></p><p>"I'll go see if there is anyone there," Noir suggested, "you guys can back me up if things get hairy." Noir flew towards the island while the other two party members and the Desmodu remained on shore. The structure was rather large, but more interestingly, it had various carvings on the side. The figures on the wall appeared to be fish-men of some sort. Noir remembered reading about these so-called Kuo-Toa once, but couldn't remember any details. She walked up to the solid stone doors that appeared to be the only entrance and loudly knocked.</p><p></p><p>After hearing some commotion inside, Noir saw the door open. Out stepped a Kuo-Toa armed with a pair of nunchaku. Its alien eyes examined the paladin, waiting.</p><p></p><p>"Greetings, we are travelers on our way to Tilverton. Could we perhaps speak to your leaders," Noir offered.</p><p></p><p>Without responding, the Kuo-toa sprang into action, flailing its nunchaku at Noir's leg. The weapon neatly wrapped around its target as intended and the Kuo-Toa gave a yank as the paladin went sprawling to the ground. Just as quickly as Noir fell, the Kuo-Toan swung again at her prone form, but missed.</p><p></p><p>"We've got problems guys, these Kuo-Toa don't seem very interested in conversation," Noir alerted her comrades as she stood up. Noticing that her foe was unarmored, she winded up to gain power before bringing her sword to bear. To her surprise, the bug-eyed Kuo-Toan deftly dodged the blow.</p><p></p><p>"You guys wait here, we'll take care of this," Hor'ahun recommended to the Desmodu as he flew to the roof of the building, pulling out his longbow as he did so.</p><p></p><p>"Wow, I don't really feel like getting into a long fight all over again. Let's get this over with quickly." Entropy began casting one of her trademark summoning spells.</p><p></p><p>The Kuo-Toa fought expertly against the paladin, feinting, dodging, and tumbling. He hit Noir a few times, while she countered with impressive ripostes of her own.</p><p></p><p>Uninterested, in the fight below him, Hor'ahun nocked an arrow, scanning the area for approaching forces.</p><p></p><p>As Entropy completed her spell, three large beings appeared behind the fighting paladin and Kuo-Toa. They had humanoid torsos, but instead of feet their lower bodies ended in a long, snake-like trunk. Their muscular black and red bodies radiated incredible heat that obviously conducted to their huge longspears, which were blazing red. They turned around to face their summoner, awaiting her command.</p><p></p><p>Pointing at the structure, she was succinct, "Enter that building. Kill everything."</p><p></p><p>Seeing that the odds were clearly no longer in his favor, the Kuo-Toa tumbled back inside the building and slammed the door. In response, the three salamanders elbowed their way past the paladin. Pulling their spears to strike, they struck the door with all their might, bursting it immediately.</p><p></p><p>They continued inside, noticing that the Kuo-toan monk waited for them inside. He stepped forward and smacked the lead salamander viscously across the face with his nunchaku, which only made his foe angrier. Rather than strike the monk with his spear, the salamander whipped his tail around, grabbing him. As the muscles in his tail flexed, he slowly began to crush his foe to death.</p><p></p><p>Laughing sadistically, the two remaining salamanders concentrated briefly, throwing two fireballs at the grappled monk. Being native to the Elemental Plane of Fire, they had nothing to fear from their evocations. To their surprise, the Kuo-Toan somehow manage to dodge them both, despite the extensive blast radius.</p><p></p><p>What proceeded over the course of the next minute was a virtual slaughter. Several Kuo-Toan warriors on the ground floor tried to overwhelm the intruders, but no matter how many times they struck the salamanders, they could not seem to damage them. The few Kuo-Toan priests in the area were somewhat familiar with summoning spells having fought sniveriblin who were able to summon huge beasts from the Elemental Plane of Earth. </p><p></p><p>They prepared a few abjuration spells to seal off the salamanders. From experience, they knew that the conjured creatures could not physically cross the barrier. Unfortunately, they assumed their foes were good and their abjuration reflected this. The salamanders, as it turned out, were as evil as the Kuo-toan, if not more so, and easily broke through the wards.</p><p></p><p>The few Kuo-toans who survived the bloodbath, managed to escape through holes in the floor leading to the lake. Satisfied that all Kuo-Toa on the ground floor had been exterminated, the salamanders began making their way up the stairs. When they reached the top, they saw an art gallery of sorts with several grotesque images and tapestries on the walls. One in particular seemed rather strange, the lead salamander looked at it intently.</p><p></p><p>All of sudden, he whirled around and struck his fellows coming up the stairs. Upon looking at the picture that their comrade saw, the other two salamanders responded in kind. </p><p></p><p>Waiting outside, Noir slowly walked into the structure, observing the carnage the salamanders had left behind. Hearing the sounds of combat upstairs, she carefully made her way to the gallery. For reasons she couldn't know, the salamanders seemed to be fighting each other! Making long, powerful thrusts with their longspears, two of the three were on the verge of death. At this point, Noir's eyes locked with the picture that had driven the salamanders insane.</p><p></p><p>A wave of magic washed through her, trying to corrupt her mind. With the greatest of effort, she managed to resist the enchantment and fled down the stairs. Eventually, the salamanders returned to their home plane, the duration of the summoning spell ended.</p><p></p><p>"Entropy! Your beasts are beating the hell out of each other, but they seem to have killed everything on the ground floor," Noir reported as she flew back to the shore. Noir also explained about the weird art gallery and the alien power she felt in her mind.</p><p></p><p>"Maybe they were struck with a domination or insanity spell. In any case, I think we've made our point. Shall we continue towards Tilverton," she turned around to face the Desmodu.</p><p></p><p>After a day full of carnage, the Desmodu were only too glad to leave it behind.</p><p></p><p>Although the party continued to fly over the lake for the remainder of the day they did not reach the other side, as the scouts had warned them. However, they were prepared for this contingency. Entropy pulled out a length of rope and began to cast a spell upon it. The rope immediately straightened and at its end was the entrance to a demiplane where the party members could rest, undetected and unseen, until the their next day of travels.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="gfunk, post: 527941, member: 1813"] [SIZE=3]Session 9[/SIZE] [SIZE=3]“The ‘diplomatic’ approach”[/SIZE] "Listen you guys, we're in for a tough time fighting the drow. We need all the allies we can get, so no more attacking without provocation," Noir lectured. "But we were verbally assaulted! We had to respond," countered Entropy. "And besides," continued Hor'ahun searching the Stone Giant corpses, "if we never defeated them we wouldn't have procured their treasure. Like this stone comb, big rock, and carved wooden thingy. Hmmm . . . I guess Noir is right, this fight really was worthless." "All I'm asking is to give diplomacy a chance before you guys start killing things, okay?" <deep sighs from Entropy and Hor'ahun> "Very well." As the party continued their philosophical musings, their Desmodu escorts began to scout the immediate area. Careful to fly well above the water to avoid attacks by any other inhabitants of the lake, they were able to examine a large area with their echo-location. After some time, they landed in front of the party. "There is a large stone structure on an island over there. Do you wish to continue our journey over the lake?" "Let's check it out, maybe we could find some 'allies' there," Entropy sarcastically remarked. "I'll go see if there is anyone there," Noir suggested, "you guys can back me up if things get hairy." Noir flew towards the island while the other two party members and the Desmodu remained on shore. The structure was rather large, but more interestingly, it had various carvings on the side. The figures on the wall appeared to be fish-men of some sort. Noir remembered reading about these so-called Kuo-Toa once, but couldn't remember any details. She walked up to the solid stone doors that appeared to be the only entrance and loudly knocked. After hearing some commotion inside, Noir saw the door open. Out stepped a Kuo-Toa armed with a pair of nunchaku. Its alien eyes examined the paladin, waiting. "Greetings, we are travelers on our way to Tilverton. Could we perhaps speak to your leaders," Noir offered. Without responding, the Kuo-toa sprang into action, flailing its nunchaku at Noir's leg. The weapon neatly wrapped around its target as intended and the Kuo-Toa gave a yank as the paladin went sprawling to the ground. Just as quickly as Noir fell, the Kuo-Toan swung again at her prone form, but missed. "We've got problems guys, these Kuo-Toa don't seem very interested in conversation," Noir alerted her comrades as she stood up. Noticing that her foe was unarmored, she winded up to gain power before bringing her sword to bear. To her surprise, the bug-eyed Kuo-Toan deftly dodged the blow. "You guys wait here, we'll take care of this," Hor'ahun recommended to the Desmodu as he flew to the roof of the building, pulling out his longbow as he did so. "Wow, I don't really feel like getting into a long fight all over again. Let's get this over with quickly." Entropy began casting one of her trademark summoning spells. The Kuo-Toa fought expertly against the paladin, feinting, dodging, and tumbling. He hit Noir a few times, while she countered with impressive ripostes of her own. Uninterested, in the fight below him, Hor'ahun nocked an arrow, scanning the area for approaching forces. As Entropy completed her spell, three large beings appeared behind the fighting paladin and Kuo-Toa. They had humanoid torsos, but instead of feet their lower bodies ended in a long, snake-like trunk. Their muscular black and red bodies radiated incredible heat that obviously conducted to their huge longspears, which were blazing red. They turned around to face their summoner, awaiting her command. Pointing at the structure, she was succinct, "Enter that building. Kill everything." Seeing that the odds were clearly no longer in his favor, the Kuo-Toa tumbled back inside the building and slammed the door. In response, the three salamanders elbowed their way past the paladin. Pulling their spears to strike, they struck the door with all their might, bursting it immediately. They continued inside, noticing that the Kuo-toan monk waited for them inside. He stepped forward and smacked the lead salamander viscously across the face with his nunchaku, which only made his foe angrier. Rather than strike the monk with his spear, the salamander whipped his tail around, grabbing him. As the muscles in his tail flexed, he slowly began to crush his foe to death. Laughing sadistically, the two remaining salamanders concentrated briefly, throwing two fireballs at the grappled monk. Being native to the Elemental Plane of Fire, they had nothing to fear from their evocations. To their surprise, the Kuo-Toan somehow manage to dodge them both, despite the extensive blast radius. What proceeded over the course of the next minute was a virtual slaughter. Several Kuo-Toan warriors on the ground floor tried to overwhelm the intruders, but no matter how many times they struck the salamanders, they could not seem to damage them. The few Kuo-Toan priests in the area were somewhat familiar with summoning spells having fought sniveriblin who were able to summon huge beasts from the Elemental Plane of Earth. They prepared a few abjuration spells to seal off the salamanders. From experience, they knew that the conjured creatures could not physically cross the barrier. Unfortunately, they assumed their foes were good and their abjuration reflected this. The salamanders, as it turned out, were as evil as the Kuo-toan, if not more so, and easily broke through the wards. The few Kuo-toans who survived the bloodbath, managed to escape through holes in the floor leading to the lake. Satisfied that all Kuo-Toa on the ground floor had been exterminated, the salamanders began making their way up the stairs. When they reached the top, they saw an art gallery of sorts with several grotesque images and tapestries on the walls. One in particular seemed rather strange, the lead salamander looked at it intently. All of sudden, he whirled around and struck his fellows coming up the stairs. Upon looking at the picture that their comrade saw, the other two salamanders responded in kind. Waiting outside, Noir slowly walked into the structure, observing the carnage the salamanders had left behind. Hearing the sounds of combat upstairs, she carefully made her way to the gallery. For reasons she couldn't know, the salamanders seemed to be fighting each other! Making long, powerful thrusts with their longspears, two of the three were on the verge of death. At this point, Noir's eyes locked with the picture that had driven the salamanders insane. A wave of magic washed through her, trying to corrupt her mind. With the greatest of effort, she managed to resist the enchantment and fled down the stairs. Eventually, the salamanders returned to their home plane, the duration of the summoning spell ended. "Entropy! Your beasts are beating the hell out of each other, but they seem to have killed everything on the ground floor," Noir reported as she flew back to the shore. Noir also explained about the weird art gallery and the alien power she felt in her mind. "Maybe they were struck with a domination or insanity spell. In any case, I think we've made our point. Shall we continue towards Tilverton," she turned around to face the Desmodu. After a day full of carnage, the Desmodu were only too glad to leave it behind. Although the party continued to fly over the lake for the remainder of the day they did not reach the other side, as the scouts had warned them. However, they were prepared for this contingency. Entropy pulled out a length of rope and began to cast a spell upon it. The rope immediately straightened and at its end was the entrance to a demiplane where the party members could rest, undetected and unseen, until the their next day of travels. [/QUOTE]
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