Magic Kingdom For Sale* (*Some Assembly Required)

[Sephiroth no Miko]

“This establishment looks very positively druidic to me,” Allyra remarks, while examining the place with her Arcane Sight to find a proof for her suspicions and maybe any other interesting traces of magic.

"Not druidic..." Phaeder refutes quietly. "Illithidic... ehr, I mean, illithid-like." *He frowns, a deep furrow appearing between his brows.* "I'm not absolutely certain that it is but I recall reading a very, very old tome that spoke of a subrace of them that once lived on the surface world. The pictures of their edifices looked very much like this... with these eerie organic lines." *He can't help but shudder a little, having no love whatsoever for those foul brain-sucking abominations. A little part of him wonders, however, at the rest of the place. Fruit orchards and rose gardens and blasksmithies? That didn't seem very illithid-like.*

*He looks at the oak tree with renewed interest.* "Abjuration, you say? Allyra, would you mind coming with me to have a closer look? You know I've no head whatsoever for magic, but I'm curious about it anyway."

 

[Thanee]

Allyra

“Illithid you say? Hmm... Sure, I can help you out there; should be able to discern most of those auras, if I take a closer look. Let's start with that tree.”

With that, Allyra fetches a tiny golden loop with a sapphire lens attached to it from her belt and follows Phaeder, slowly drifting a few inches above the ground.

She will then move within 50 feet of the tree and also close enough to the blacksmith's shop to have it within her sight and cast Analyze Dweomer to take a closer look at all those auras (tree first, then the aura covering the whole place and finally the individual auras in the blacksmith's shop).

 

[Sephiroth no Miko]

*Phaeder will approach the tree with Allyra (also within 50 feet), looking around carefully while she does her magic detecting thing to see if there's anything unusual and hoping it doesn't have to bite him on the arse before he notices it. Vaguely, he speculates if the burn mark is from an old fireball.*

[Spot +0, Search +2 ]

 

[Emperor Valerian]

"Illithids? You mean octopus squish heads!" Drakkon will grunt. "I remember the time when I wrestled down an Illithid, and wrapped its tentacles into a knot before I punched it senseless!"

*While he's bragging, Drakkon will approach said tree as well, looking about for danger.*

[Spot +8, Listen +8]

 

[Sephiroth no Miko]

*Phaeder smiles at the happy image of Drakkon decking an illithid right in its squishy head. He shrugs lightly.* "Well, the architecture seems illithid-like, but other things may have taken up residence here since. The text I read was a copy from an even more ancient source... if such a subrace ever existed, I'm not sure it's still around. I haven't encountered mention of them elsewhere anyhow."

 

[Isida Kep'Tukari]

*As Allyra and Phaeder draw closer to the tree, they can see that the large, water-filled pumpkin-like plants quiver inside with every step they take. Coming closer, they look up in time to see a woman step out from behind the tree. She was obviously once beautiful, but now is badly disfigured by burn scars on the left side of her face and arm. She wears green robes, and her long brown hair is unbound. Brown eyes flash with anger in her weathered face as she lifts up a hand to halt both of them.*

"Leave this place at once! You're not welcome here," she demands.

 

[Nac Mac Feegle]

Shal steps up towards Phaeder and Allyra.

"Who's domain is this that we are not welcome. Please, we are but travelers."

OOC: Diplomacy +47 to get information from her.

 

[Thanee]

Allyra

Saying nothing, but concentrating on her running spell, Allyra looks at the woman and scrutinzes her with her Arcane Sight.

OOC: Full round action to find out about her spellcasting abilities. And the standard check for active auras, of course.

 

[Sephiroth no Miko]

*Phaeder will immediately stop advancing and hold out his hands in a nonthreatening manner. Since Shal spoke out first, he will remain silent and let the priest speak for them. Besides, his bonded spirit had inexplicably chosen this very moment to distract torment him.*

"Trust it to you to head straight for anything pretty and female in the vicinity," comments Anshul dryly.

"Very funny, brawn, but that wasn't the case and you know it," *growls Phaeder under his breath, while trying to keep what he hoped was a friendly and peaceable expression towards the tree-woman on his face. It wouldn't do for her to think he was irritated by her. After all, she wasn't the one with a mouth on her the size of a rast's maw....*

"Oh? I dare you to deny that you were thinking that this might have been a dryad's tree," the ghost retorts.

"Well, I was wondering about that--" *he starts to murmur.*

"Ha! I knew it!" Anshul crows triumphantly.

"--but I was going to say, before you so rudely interrupted me, that I was hoping that if it was, perhaps she would know more about this place and about the woods in this area. It certainly wasn't my intention to go looking for female companionship! Besides, you know I--" *he continues stiffly in his head, deciding that it was best to try to carry out this little exchange mentally, before anyone could overhear his ferocious mutterings.*

"Then why did the gnolls have to specifically stipulate you don't 'steal their females'? As I recall, your taste in 'women' has always been a little... eclectic," Anshul interrupts again, all cheeky innocence.

"Oh, for Milil's sake, Anshul! I have no idea why the gnolls said that! And I cannot believe you're accusing me approaching this whole expedition like I'm on some kind of... of sex adventure!" *Phaeder protests hotly. The sudden bright flare of his own anger surprises him, for this was no worse than any of Anshul's usual bantering, and he struggles to rein it in before he says something he might regret later.*

"You know, you could blow off all that excess emotion if you'd just get laid once in a while...." the ghost observes cheerfully.

"Arg!! You... you're impossible!" *Phaeder resists the urge to smack himself in the forehead.*

 

[Isida Kep'Tukari]

*The woman looks at Shal carefully, her face losing some of its anger.*

"These lands belong to no one but the woods. They once belonged to a cruel lord... and now this is all that remains of them. If they could be said to be anyone's... I am the one that tends to them, O man. I am Aya," she says warily. Her way of speaking is strange and archaic.

Allyra -

Spoiler

It seems this woman has both spells and spell-like abilities available to her. Her spell-like abilities are divine in nature, but her spells are arcane. She currently has 6th level spells available to her.