handforged
First Post
These are the best updates ever, when everything goes very well until the very end and then the suspense just starts to boil inside me. I truly cannot wait until the next episode!
~hf
~hf
"Out of the Frying Pan"- Book IV - Into the Fire [STORY HOUR COMPLETED - 12/25/06]
- Thread starter el-remmen
- Start date
el-remmen
Moderator Emeritus
6 sessions to go. . .
Session #97 (part ii)
“Hello, Martin!” Ora-Amira-El smiled, showing her pointed teeth behind her full red lips. She tore the curtain aside and stepped towards the watch-mage. “Come here, sweetie, and give us a kiss.” She opened her arms, and Martin the Green felt magic wash over him, but he was able to shake it off and stepped away a thin shriek of fear issuing from his lips.
“I do not like the sound of that voice. Let me drown it out!” Sergio said, from under the platform. He lifted his voice in an encouraging song to boost the band’s morale.
Bastian, rectangular duodrone in hand, hurried up the steps to the platform to toss it into the machine, while Ratchis ran past him at full speed. The half-orc ducked his head and tried to push the demoness back through the portal, but she knocked him aside with a claw as he approached, drawing blood. And as he struggled to move back and get in a defensive position, she stepped up and clawed him twice more. Ratchis was barely able to leap back to avoid all four of her blows and get grabbed up into her arms as he had been once before. (1) Kazrack rushed forward to stand by his friend, bringing his halberd to bear.
Roland called to Bast to bless his companions, as Sergio’s song rang out and filled their hearts with courage, and Bastian tossed the duodrone into the machine and began to look around for more modrons to grab before the demoness could stop them.
“Martin! The cube!” Ratchis said, but the watch-mage was way ahead of him, having the Wurfel Kraft in his hands.
“Recovered nicely…” Ora-Amira-El began. “But let’s see how you recover from this!” She snarled as the cube of force surrounded the three Keepers of the Gate before her claws could reach them.
“Strike her through the cube!” Martin suggested, (2) as Gunthar came around the corner of the machine, swords drawn, from where he had been poking about thinking there might be treasure around to be had.
“Martin, ya dumb bastard!” Gunthar swore. “We aren’t all in there!”
The demoness easily blocked the mighty blows of Ratchis’ dragon-hilted great sword, and flapping her wings, took to the air, landing atop the Modron Station machine. It groaned in protest of her weight atop it, and for a second some of its vents squelched sharply.
Kazrack side-stepped and cast shield of faith on himself.
“Light shine a bit of your essence to blind this fiend to the beauty of our world,” Bastian chanted, casting his flare spell in his strange dwarven dialect. But the spell dissipated like a winter breath. Martin deactivated the cube and quickly cast his spell of greater invisibility on Ratchis. As Gunthar shifted from foot to foot, watching the demoness unsure of which way to go, Roland joined Bastian on the platform, and Sergio continued his song, Ratchis grabbed hold of the sphinctered end of the living machine and began to climb atop it.
The Friar of Nephthys looked up in time to see the demoness take flight again, landing beside Kazrack. The sound of her blows against the breast of his platemail echoed over the sound of the still churning machine. The dwarf grunted and swung his weapon with such abandon that he left himself open to the succubus. Luckily, however, the demoness was so eager to deal a killing blow, she also overextended herself and had to draw back her hands to keep her balance. (3)
Martin stepped over to the dwarf and cast another improved invisibility and Kazrack disappeared.
“Hey you nasty whore from the lower depths!” Gunthar taunted her even as he withdrew close to the corner of the machine. “Come sit on this c*ck!” He shook his long sword in front of him suggestively. Sweat plastered his golden locks to the side of his stubble strewn face.
Ora-Amira-El took a step in the direction of the Neergaardian, but cocked her head and turned around as she heard someone approach. She swung out with a claw, and though invisible, Ratchis felt the sharp pain across his chest where it struck him. He moved to one side, but right into her next blow and his grunt was echoed by her laugh. Kazrack thrust his halberd at her, but she side-stepped and barely managed to block it. She spun with great speed and reached out in both directions. Ratchis cried out again, but Kazrack ducked and got within her reach, and she could not stop two hard thrusts to her chest and stomach.
Steaming blood splattered down one the dwarf from the two deep wounds, and for a second it floated there where it had landed on him.
Martin the Green dove past the melee and hid behind the torn curtain near the portal. Gunthar ran over and stood in front of the watch-mage, watching the demoness struggle against her two invisible foes. Another set of magic words from Martin, and there were three invisible foes, as Gunthar was also enchanted by the dweomer.
“It’s about time you did something to help me out,” Gunthar complained. “I’m the best fighter in the group and always have to carry everyone else’s weight in a fight.”
“Shut up, Gunthar and get in there,” Martin tried to push him, but could no longer see where the Neergaardian was.
Sergio continued to sing and Roland and Bastian hung back, unsure of what to do.
The demoness screamed in pain and frustration as she felt repeated heavy blows from Ratchis and Kazrack, her wounds sizzling where the dwarf’s fiendbane halberd struck her. Gunthar got into the fight in time to stab deep into her calf as she took to the air again, unable to fend off the unseen attacks. Ratchis and Kazrack also drew more fiendish blood as she fled. (4)
“After her!” Kazrack yelled, hurrying up the stairs to the platform for an easier climb onto the machine, for this was where Ora-Amira-El had fled to. Gunthar, did not hesitate and began to climb up onto the Modron Station machine. But Ratchis walked over carefully, quietly casting cure serious wounds upon himself.
“I think we will have to finish this another time,” the demoness said and she took to the air again, diving through the far portal.
Kazrack leapt back down and took off in that direction. Gunthar followed, but Ratchis ran across the top of the machine. Sergio hearing them go by, stopped his song and cast haste.
“Now go finish her!” the bard said, gesturing to the portal.
Satisfied that the others had the demoness well in hand, Bastian scooped up another duodrone and fed it to the machine.
Roland changed to panther form and took off for the portal with Martin close behind him. The Bastitie, stopped at the portal and moved aside. Ratchis leapt deftly off the machine over Martin’s head and through the portal. The watch-mage stepped through right behind him.
This chamber was not much a chamber at all. Instead it was a stained wood paneled hallway ten feet wide that ran perpendicular to the portal. There were no apparent doors into the center section. And the hall was lit by dim ambient light, like many of the chambers in Hurgun’s Maze.
Martin the Green barely avoided the claws of the demoness as he came through the other side. She was looming to his left, so he stepped to the right. She snarled as she raised an arm to block the invisible blow of Ratchis, and then took off down the hall to the left, as Gunthar and Sergio appeared through the portal.
Gunthar and Ratchis took off after her, their spell-induced speed keeping them on her heels. Martin the Green was not that far behind either, though Sergio took his time. As they sped around the corner, they noticed that the wood panels gave way to a short angled inner hallway wall that was decorated with a tall stone archway that did not seem to lead anywhere. Within it was a plain wall of dressed stone marked with the rune of Hurgun of the Stone. (5) (6)
There was a trail of slick gore on the hardwood floor left behind by the fleeing fiend.
Ora-Amira-El spun around as she reached another portal, leaping back and forth to avoid more blows from Ratchis and Gunthar. The Neergaardian invisibly stepped between the demoness and the adjacent portal.
“You know you cannot defeat me!” she said to Gunthar, her voice becoming a sweet and enticing thing. “Just delay your friends so they won’t get hurt…”
Gunthar spat and drove his sword forward. Noticing it at the last moment, she turned away right into the point of Ratchis’ greatsword, and in a flash of green steaming blood a great wound appeared in her back where the invisible sword came out the other end. The succubus fell to her knees. “This isn’t how it was supposed to happen,” she croaked, and Gunthar brought his sword across with all his might, nearly cleaving the head from her body as she had already began to transform and shrink down to the battered and bloodied body of a naked girl of about thirteen years of age.
Kazrack came rushing around the corner, accompanied by Roland. Sergio peeked around as well.
“It may be a trick! Do not be fooled!” Ratchis warned and brought his sword down to cut the corpse’s head off.
Roland padded over and cast detect magic, but the only thing that radiated on the body were the three studs still piercing the girl’s tongue. (7) Gunthar cut them free with a dagger, and Kazrack collected them into an empty glass vial.
The Keepers of the Gate took a moment to collect their breath.
“We actually did it,” Martin sighed, disbelief in his voice.
“Of course, we did,” Gunthar retorted as he and Ratchis and Kazrack became visible again.
“Teamwork and planning,” Kazrack said. “It was good use of your spells of invisibility, as much as I hate to admit that arcane magics are what won us the day.”
Ratchis wrapped the corpse and head in a blanket and tying it up, toss it over his shoulder. “We need to find a place to burn this, just to be safe.”
“I wonder if that really killed her,” Martin speculated.
“Whatever do you mean?” Kazrack asked.
“Some powerful fiends can only be killed permanently on their home plane. She might have long ago possessed this girl’s body…” Martin explained. “It might be that one day she will find her way back to Aquerra, though if my study of such things is correct she must wait 99 year before she can leave it again.”
“I’ll be dead by then,” Ratchis said. “It will be someone else’s problem.”
”If my Lords and Lady will that I should live to my middle age, I will yet be among the living,” Kazrack said. “And if I must slay her again, I shall.”
“You didn’t slay her, Snuffles did…” Gunthar smiled.
“We all did it together,” Ratchis replied.
“Uh, where’s Bastian?” Roland asked.
A quick casting of [I[analyze portal[/I] showed Martin that the rooms had moved since they came into this strange square-shaped hall. The portal adjacent to where they slew Ora-Amira-El led to the Earth Room, the portal they had come through no longer led to the Modron Station, but to the Dining Room. The other two portals led to Hell and the Dark Room.
“Bastian could be lost in the Maze!” Roland exclaimed.
“Relax… He’s probably still feeding modrons to the machine,” Ratchis said. “Which we need him to do… Let’s hurry and go into the Dining Room before Martin’s spell expires. It is the most innocuous of rooms, and from there we might be able to reach the Modron Station.”
“Now that I have cast the spell from the Book of Black Circles, I need to go to the Dark Room…” Martin said dejectedly. (8)
“I know,” Ratchis replied. “But not yet…”
The Keepers of the Gate went through the portal into the Dining Room, and as they hoped, one of the portals from there led back to the Modron Station, so they hurried that way, where they found Bastian doing exactly what Ratchis had guessed.
They finished feeding the non-functioning modrons to the machine, and soon some more were squeezed out and began to spread out through the Maze.
“Perhaps there will be a cascading effect,” Roland speculated. “As they go out and tell others to come here for repairs, more and more will be fixed and the Maze will begin to function properly again… Whatever that means…”
“It means the decaton will be able to move the Maze through the planes and deep into the Plane of Time for us,” Martin the Green explained. “Well, for you… I am going to the Dark Room.”
“Not yet…” Ratchis said again.
“Then when?” Martin whined. “The longer I wait the more opportunities the Book of Black Circles has to corrupt me and take me over, and then what? Not only will I be damned, but it might keep you from freeing Hurgun, and would be putting this place and its secrets in the hands of the most nefarious wizard of the Age.”
“He makes a very good point,” Bastian said. Ratchis glowered at him.
The party began to debate once more. Ratchis and Kazrack did not want Martin the go to the negative material plane until they could figure out some form of protection for him. Martin insisted it was pointless to fight against his fate.
In that time the Modron Station machine shuddered and squeeze out the largest modron yet, one of the winged cube-shaped quadrones.
Roland padded over to it as it looked around. “Please report fiend intruder has been neutralized,” the Bastite said to it.
The cube turned and then lowered his body to the floor and turned back again, and strangely said, “Yes, decaton…”
“It must be communicating with the decaton by some remote means,” Martin the Green said, with awe in his voice as he walked over, leaving the argument. A duodrone that had come of the machine a few moments earlier, walked over and said “Report Fire Chamber. Follow.”
“I guess we should follow it,” Martin said to the others.
“Perhaps the decaton has some idea of how to protect Martin while in the Negative Material Plane,” Roland suggested. Martin shrugged.
The Keepers of the Gate followed the duodrone out the portal on the far side of the Modron Station. Martin was in the front with Ratchis and Kazrack right behind him. The chamber beyond was made of white polished marble, with a high vaulted ceiling supported by faux-columns that protruded in rows along the walls. In the center of the chamber was a square pool of calm blue-green water of indeterminable depth. Huge leaves and lillypads floated about on its surface. (9)
The duodrone led them around the pool to the right and went through the portal there. Martin was about to pass through as well, as Roland roared in alarm from the rear of the marching order. A huge pseudopod seemingly made of the water of the pool itself slammed at him, like a rogue wave. The panther leapt to the side to avoid the blow.
“It’s a water elemental! Let’s get out of here!” Martin called, stepped out of the way of the portal to gesture the others through.
Roland did not hesitate and darted past everyone through the portal. “I’ll take the rear!” Ratchis roared, drawing his sword and stepping towards the pool. “Everyone through the portal!”
The water elemental slammed its pseudopod towards Ratchis, but the limb sliced over the half-orc’s raised sword, and he only got wet. Sergio whistled a quick little tune, and in a half-moment he was diving out of the room expeditiously, right on the Bastite’s tail. Kazrack followed.
Bastian moved to follow, but grunted as the thing slammed him in the face. For a moment his lungs burned as he aspirated water, but he managed to stagger through the portal, pushed by Gunthar who followed. Ratchis stepped out of the chamber as well, leaving the elemental guardian behind.
They were now in another expansive chamber, this one outfitted as a kitchen. (10) Bastian crawled to a wall and sat there, spitting up water and taking deep ragged breaths. Roland walked over and cast two curative spells to help the bearded warrior’s recovery.
There were several modrons in the kitchen. The duodrone they had been following, joined a group of monodrones who were collecting strewn implements, ordering two to begin clearing out a small room set into the larger chamber, that seemed to act as a form of larder.
“This kitchen must be the Fire Room,” Martin said. “And the room we just passed through was obviously the Water Room…”
The Keepers of the Gate began to explore the kitchen a bit. There was the inset room that acted as dry storage, a large brick oven with cut logs stacked beside it. There were two large chopping blocks and an empty chicken coop. Countless pots, pans and utensils of various kinds hung from a pole suspended over a long metal tub. On the other side of the room was a sloped cleft in the floor over which hung a nasty looking hook on a chain. It looked like this was used to clean and butcher great sides of meat.
There were two heavy iron cauldrons on the other side of the dry storage room, and a monodrone was setting a fire beneath one as another chopped vegetables into it.
Ratchis put down the wrapped corpse he was carrying and walked over to the thick metal door of the closed off area in the top right-hand corner. A blast of cold air came at him from within when he pulled them open. Beyond was a cold storage room, with hanging sides of beef, a few pigs and several pheasants and other game birds. There were also stacked barrels of various perishable goods. In the back of the cold storage locker was a crystalline figure made of ice, that seemed frozen to the wall and ceiling. It turned its head and struggled for a moment against its bonds with a silent roar. The half-orc closed the doors back up.
He explained to the others what he saw.
“Does it not anger you to see any creature in bondage?” Roland asked.
Ratchis shrugged. “I never learned anything about the freewill of elementals. Anyway, I am not about to free that thing when it will likely be angry and reasoning with it is unlikely. When this is all over, it is one of the many things I am sure Hurgun will have to explain to us.” He looked pointedly at Kazrack. “Sometimes it is best to wait for more information before acting.”
“Speaking of more information…” Martin cast his last prepared analyze portal spell and looked around clockwise at the portal leaving the Fire Room, saying their names aloud, “Dark Room, Entrance Room, Laboratory and Water Room.”
The watch-mage concentrated a moment to look through the portal to the laboratory, and beyond he saw a many floating platforms connected by narrows steps and catwalks. The platforms were covered with tables and counters which had a great number of papers and tools strewn on them.
“Why did the modrons bring us here?” Kazrack asked.
Ratchis shrugged, “Who knows? But why not rest here while we can?”
It was agreed.
End of Session #97
----------------------------------------------------
Notes:
(1) See Session #93
(2) Martin had activated the sundial side of the cube which kept out all living things, but allowed minerals and dead matter through, allowing weapons to be wielded through it.
(3) DM’s Note: Kazrack’s player rolled a critical fumble, allowing his opponent an immediate attack of opportunity. However, I rolled a fumble for the demoness as well, call for Reflex save or fall (which she made). See this page of the Aquerra wiki to read more about fumble results.
(4) DM’s Note: Kazrack, Ratchis and Gunthar all got attacks of opportunity on the fleeing demoness, and all hit, including a critical hit from Ratchis.
(5) You can see the layout of this “unnamed room” behind the sblock: [sblock]
[/sblock]
(6) Hurgun’s Rune:
(7) The tongue studs detected as conjuration magic.
(8) The speculates that the portal to the Negative Material Plane, where the book can be destroyed can be found in the Dark Room.
(9) You can see the layout of the “Water Room” behind the sblock: [sblock]
[/sblock]
(10) You can see the layout of the Fire Room/Kitchen behind the sblock: [sblock]
[/sblock]
Session #97 (part ii)
“Hello, Martin!” Ora-Amira-El smiled, showing her pointed teeth behind her full red lips. She tore the curtain aside and stepped towards the watch-mage. “Come here, sweetie, and give us a kiss.” She opened her arms, and Martin the Green felt magic wash over him, but he was able to shake it off and stepped away a thin shriek of fear issuing from his lips.
“I do not like the sound of that voice. Let me drown it out!” Sergio said, from under the platform. He lifted his voice in an encouraging song to boost the band’s morale.
Bastian, rectangular duodrone in hand, hurried up the steps to the platform to toss it into the machine, while Ratchis ran past him at full speed. The half-orc ducked his head and tried to push the demoness back through the portal, but she knocked him aside with a claw as he approached, drawing blood. And as he struggled to move back and get in a defensive position, she stepped up and clawed him twice more. Ratchis was barely able to leap back to avoid all four of her blows and get grabbed up into her arms as he had been once before. (1) Kazrack rushed forward to stand by his friend, bringing his halberd to bear.
Roland called to Bast to bless his companions, as Sergio’s song rang out and filled their hearts with courage, and Bastian tossed the duodrone into the machine and began to look around for more modrons to grab before the demoness could stop them.
“Martin! The cube!” Ratchis said, but the watch-mage was way ahead of him, having the Wurfel Kraft in his hands.
“Recovered nicely…” Ora-Amira-El began. “But let’s see how you recover from this!” She snarled as the cube of force surrounded the three Keepers of the Gate before her claws could reach them.
“Strike her through the cube!” Martin suggested, (2) as Gunthar came around the corner of the machine, swords drawn, from where he had been poking about thinking there might be treasure around to be had.
“Martin, ya dumb bastard!” Gunthar swore. “We aren’t all in there!”
The demoness easily blocked the mighty blows of Ratchis’ dragon-hilted great sword, and flapping her wings, took to the air, landing atop the Modron Station machine. It groaned in protest of her weight atop it, and for a second some of its vents squelched sharply.
Kazrack side-stepped and cast shield of faith on himself.
“Light shine a bit of your essence to blind this fiend to the beauty of our world,” Bastian chanted, casting his flare spell in his strange dwarven dialect. But the spell dissipated like a winter breath. Martin deactivated the cube and quickly cast his spell of greater invisibility on Ratchis. As Gunthar shifted from foot to foot, watching the demoness unsure of which way to go, Roland joined Bastian on the platform, and Sergio continued his song, Ratchis grabbed hold of the sphinctered end of the living machine and began to climb atop it.
The Friar of Nephthys looked up in time to see the demoness take flight again, landing beside Kazrack. The sound of her blows against the breast of his platemail echoed over the sound of the still churning machine. The dwarf grunted and swung his weapon with such abandon that he left himself open to the succubus. Luckily, however, the demoness was so eager to deal a killing blow, she also overextended herself and had to draw back her hands to keep her balance. (3)
Martin stepped over to the dwarf and cast another improved invisibility and Kazrack disappeared.
“Hey you nasty whore from the lower depths!” Gunthar taunted her even as he withdrew close to the corner of the machine. “Come sit on this c*ck!” He shook his long sword in front of him suggestively. Sweat plastered his golden locks to the side of his stubble strewn face.
Ora-Amira-El took a step in the direction of the Neergaardian, but cocked her head and turned around as she heard someone approach. She swung out with a claw, and though invisible, Ratchis felt the sharp pain across his chest where it struck him. He moved to one side, but right into her next blow and his grunt was echoed by her laugh. Kazrack thrust his halberd at her, but she side-stepped and barely managed to block it. She spun with great speed and reached out in both directions. Ratchis cried out again, but Kazrack ducked and got within her reach, and she could not stop two hard thrusts to her chest and stomach.
Steaming blood splattered down one the dwarf from the two deep wounds, and for a second it floated there where it had landed on him.
Martin the Green dove past the melee and hid behind the torn curtain near the portal. Gunthar ran over and stood in front of the watch-mage, watching the demoness struggle against her two invisible foes. Another set of magic words from Martin, and there were three invisible foes, as Gunthar was also enchanted by the dweomer.
“It’s about time you did something to help me out,” Gunthar complained. “I’m the best fighter in the group and always have to carry everyone else’s weight in a fight.”
“Shut up, Gunthar and get in there,” Martin tried to push him, but could no longer see where the Neergaardian was.
Sergio continued to sing and Roland and Bastian hung back, unsure of what to do.
The demoness screamed in pain and frustration as she felt repeated heavy blows from Ratchis and Kazrack, her wounds sizzling where the dwarf’s fiendbane halberd struck her. Gunthar got into the fight in time to stab deep into her calf as she took to the air again, unable to fend off the unseen attacks. Ratchis and Kazrack also drew more fiendish blood as she fled. (4)
“After her!” Kazrack yelled, hurrying up the stairs to the platform for an easier climb onto the machine, for this was where Ora-Amira-El had fled to. Gunthar, did not hesitate and began to climb up onto the Modron Station machine. But Ratchis walked over carefully, quietly casting cure serious wounds upon himself.
“I think we will have to finish this another time,” the demoness said and she took to the air again, diving through the far portal.
Kazrack leapt back down and took off in that direction. Gunthar followed, but Ratchis ran across the top of the machine. Sergio hearing them go by, stopped his song and cast haste.
“Now go finish her!” the bard said, gesturing to the portal.
Satisfied that the others had the demoness well in hand, Bastian scooped up another duodrone and fed it to the machine.
Roland changed to panther form and took off for the portal with Martin close behind him. The Bastitie, stopped at the portal and moved aside. Ratchis leapt deftly off the machine over Martin’s head and through the portal. The watch-mage stepped through right behind him.
This chamber was not much a chamber at all. Instead it was a stained wood paneled hallway ten feet wide that ran perpendicular to the portal. There were no apparent doors into the center section. And the hall was lit by dim ambient light, like many of the chambers in Hurgun’s Maze.
Martin the Green barely avoided the claws of the demoness as he came through the other side. She was looming to his left, so he stepped to the right. She snarled as she raised an arm to block the invisible blow of Ratchis, and then took off down the hall to the left, as Gunthar and Sergio appeared through the portal.
Gunthar and Ratchis took off after her, their spell-induced speed keeping them on her heels. Martin the Green was not that far behind either, though Sergio took his time. As they sped around the corner, they noticed that the wood panels gave way to a short angled inner hallway wall that was decorated with a tall stone archway that did not seem to lead anywhere. Within it was a plain wall of dressed stone marked with the rune of Hurgun of the Stone. (5) (6)
There was a trail of slick gore on the hardwood floor left behind by the fleeing fiend.
Ora-Amira-El spun around as she reached another portal, leaping back and forth to avoid more blows from Ratchis and Gunthar. The Neergaardian invisibly stepped between the demoness and the adjacent portal.
“You know you cannot defeat me!” she said to Gunthar, her voice becoming a sweet and enticing thing. “Just delay your friends so they won’t get hurt…”
Gunthar spat and drove his sword forward. Noticing it at the last moment, she turned away right into the point of Ratchis’ greatsword, and in a flash of green steaming blood a great wound appeared in her back where the invisible sword came out the other end. The succubus fell to her knees. “This isn’t how it was supposed to happen,” she croaked, and Gunthar brought his sword across with all his might, nearly cleaving the head from her body as she had already began to transform and shrink down to the battered and bloodied body of a naked girl of about thirteen years of age.
Kazrack came rushing around the corner, accompanied by Roland. Sergio peeked around as well.
“It may be a trick! Do not be fooled!” Ratchis warned and brought his sword down to cut the corpse’s head off.
Roland padded over and cast detect magic, but the only thing that radiated on the body were the three studs still piercing the girl’s tongue. (7) Gunthar cut them free with a dagger, and Kazrack collected them into an empty glass vial.
The Keepers of the Gate took a moment to collect their breath.
“We actually did it,” Martin sighed, disbelief in his voice.
“Of course, we did,” Gunthar retorted as he and Ratchis and Kazrack became visible again.
“Teamwork and planning,” Kazrack said. “It was good use of your spells of invisibility, as much as I hate to admit that arcane magics are what won us the day.”
Ratchis wrapped the corpse and head in a blanket and tying it up, toss it over his shoulder. “We need to find a place to burn this, just to be safe.”
“I wonder if that really killed her,” Martin speculated.
“Whatever do you mean?” Kazrack asked.
“Some powerful fiends can only be killed permanently on their home plane. She might have long ago possessed this girl’s body…” Martin explained. “It might be that one day she will find her way back to Aquerra, though if my study of such things is correct she must wait 99 year before she can leave it again.”
“I’ll be dead by then,” Ratchis said. “It will be someone else’s problem.”
”If my Lords and Lady will that I should live to my middle age, I will yet be among the living,” Kazrack said. “And if I must slay her again, I shall.”
“You didn’t slay her, Snuffles did…” Gunthar smiled.
“We all did it together,” Ratchis replied.
“Uh, where’s Bastian?” Roland asked.
A quick casting of [I[analyze portal[/I] showed Martin that the rooms had moved since they came into this strange square-shaped hall. The portal adjacent to where they slew Ora-Amira-El led to the Earth Room, the portal they had come through no longer led to the Modron Station, but to the Dining Room. The other two portals led to Hell and the Dark Room.
“Bastian could be lost in the Maze!” Roland exclaimed.
“Relax… He’s probably still feeding modrons to the machine,” Ratchis said. “Which we need him to do… Let’s hurry and go into the Dining Room before Martin’s spell expires. It is the most innocuous of rooms, and from there we might be able to reach the Modron Station.”
“Now that I have cast the spell from the Book of Black Circles, I need to go to the Dark Room…” Martin said dejectedly. (8)
“I know,” Ratchis replied. “But not yet…”
The Keepers of the Gate went through the portal into the Dining Room, and as they hoped, one of the portals from there led back to the Modron Station, so they hurried that way, where they found Bastian doing exactly what Ratchis had guessed.
They finished feeding the non-functioning modrons to the machine, and soon some more were squeezed out and began to spread out through the Maze.
“Perhaps there will be a cascading effect,” Roland speculated. “As they go out and tell others to come here for repairs, more and more will be fixed and the Maze will begin to function properly again… Whatever that means…”
“It means the decaton will be able to move the Maze through the planes and deep into the Plane of Time for us,” Martin the Green explained. “Well, for you… I am going to the Dark Room.”
“Not yet…” Ratchis said again.
“Then when?” Martin whined. “The longer I wait the more opportunities the Book of Black Circles has to corrupt me and take me over, and then what? Not only will I be damned, but it might keep you from freeing Hurgun, and would be putting this place and its secrets in the hands of the most nefarious wizard of the Age.”
“He makes a very good point,” Bastian said. Ratchis glowered at him.
The party began to debate once more. Ratchis and Kazrack did not want Martin the go to the negative material plane until they could figure out some form of protection for him. Martin insisted it was pointless to fight against his fate.
In that time the Modron Station machine shuddered and squeeze out the largest modron yet, one of the winged cube-shaped quadrones.
Roland padded over to it as it looked around. “Please report fiend intruder has been neutralized,” the Bastite said to it.
The cube turned and then lowered his body to the floor and turned back again, and strangely said, “Yes, decaton…”
“It must be communicating with the decaton by some remote means,” Martin the Green said, with awe in his voice as he walked over, leaving the argument. A duodrone that had come of the machine a few moments earlier, walked over and said “Report Fire Chamber. Follow.”
“I guess we should follow it,” Martin said to the others.
“Perhaps the decaton has some idea of how to protect Martin while in the Negative Material Plane,” Roland suggested. Martin shrugged.
The Keepers of the Gate followed the duodrone out the portal on the far side of the Modron Station. Martin was in the front with Ratchis and Kazrack right behind him. The chamber beyond was made of white polished marble, with a high vaulted ceiling supported by faux-columns that protruded in rows along the walls. In the center of the chamber was a square pool of calm blue-green water of indeterminable depth. Huge leaves and lillypads floated about on its surface. (9)
The duodrone led them around the pool to the right and went through the portal there. Martin was about to pass through as well, as Roland roared in alarm from the rear of the marching order. A huge pseudopod seemingly made of the water of the pool itself slammed at him, like a rogue wave. The panther leapt to the side to avoid the blow.
“It’s a water elemental! Let’s get out of here!” Martin called, stepped out of the way of the portal to gesture the others through.
Roland did not hesitate and darted past everyone through the portal. “I’ll take the rear!” Ratchis roared, drawing his sword and stepping towards the pool. “Everyone through the portal!”
The water elemental slammed its pseudopod towards Ratchis, but the limb sliced over the half-orc’s raised sword, and he only got wet. Sergio whistled a quick little tune, and in a half-moment he was diving out of the room expeditiously, right on the Bastite’s tail. Kazrack followed.
Bastian moved to follow, but grunted as the thing slammed him in the face. For a moment his lungs burned as he aspirated water, but he managed to stagger through the portal, pushed by Gunthar who followed. Ratchis stepped out of the chamber as well, leaving the elemental guardian behind.
They were now in another expansive chamber, this one outfitted as a kitchen. (10) Bastian crawled to a wall and sat there, spitting up water and taking deep ragged breaths. Roland walked over and cast two curative spells to help the bearded warrior’s recovery.
There were several modrons in the kitchen. The duodrone they had been following, joined a group of monodrones who were collecting strewn implements, ordering two to begin clearing out a small room set into the larger chamber, that seemed to act as a form of larder.
“This kitchen must be the Fire Room,” Martin said. “And the room we just passed through was obviously the Water Room…”
The Keepers of the Gate began to explore the kitchen a bit. There was the inset room that acted as dry storage, a large brick oven with cut logs stacked beside it. There were two large chopping blocks and an empty chicken coop. Countless pots, pans and utensils of various kinds hung from a pole suspended over a long metal tub. On the other side of the room was a sloped cleft in the floor over which hung a nasty looking hook on a chain. It looked like this was used to clean and butcher great sides of meat.
There were two heavy iron cauldrons on the other side of the dry storage room, and a monodrone was setting a fire beneath one as another chopped vegetables into it.
Ratchis put down the wrapped corpse he was carrying and walked over to the thick metal door of the closed off area in the top right-hand corner. A blast of cold air came at him from within when he pulled them open. Beyond was a cold storage room, with hanging sides of beef, a few pigs and several pheasants and other game birds. There were also stacked barrels of various perishable goods. In the back of the cold storage locker was a crystalline figure made of ice, that seemed frozen to the wall and ceiling. It turned its head and struggled for a moment against its bonds with a silent roar. The half-orc closed the doors back up.
He explained to the others what he saw.
“Does it not anger you to see any creature in bondage?” Roland asked.
Ratchis shrugged. “I never learned anything about the freewill of elementals. Anyway, I am not about to free that thing when it will likely be angry and reasoning with it is unlikely. When this is all over, it is one of the many things I am sure Hurgun will have to explain to us.” He looked pointedly at Kazrack. “Sometimes it is best to wait for more information before acting.”
“Speaking of more information…” Martin cast his last prepared analyze portal spell and looked around clockwise at the portal leaving the Fire Room, saying their names aloud, “Dark Room, Entrance Room, Laboratory and Water Room.”
The watch-mage concentrated a moment to look through the portal to the laboratory, and beyond he saw a many floating platforms connected by narrows steps and catwalks. The platforms were covered with tables and counters which had a great number of papers and tools strewn on them.
“Why did the modrons bring us here?” Kazrack asked.
Ratchis shrugged, “Who knows? But why not rest here while we can?”
It was agreed.
End of Session #97
----------------------------------------------------
Notes:
(1) See Session #93
(2) Martin had activated the sundial side of the cube which kept out all living things, but allowed minerals and dead matter through, allowing weapons to be wielded through it.
(3) DM’s Note: Kazrack’s player rolled a critical fumble, allowing his opponent an immediate attack of opportunity. However, I rolled a fumble for the demoness as well, call for Reflex save or fall (which she made). See this page of the Aquerra wiki to read more about fumble results.
(4) DM’s Note: Kazrack, Ratchis and Gunthar all got attacks of opportunity on the fleeing demoness, and all hit, including a critical hit from Ratchis.
(5) You can see the layout of this “unnamed room” behind the sblock: [sblock]
(6) Hurgun’s Rune:
(7) The tongue studs detected as conjuration magic.
(8) The speculates that the portal to the Negative Material Plane, where the book can be destroyed can be found in the Dark Room.
(9) You can see the layout of the “Water Room” behind the sblock: [sblock]
(10) You can see the layout of the Fire Room/Kitchen behind the sblock: [sblock]
handforged
First Post
Well, that was quite exciting. I was waiting the entire time for the demoness to pull out some secret trick and once again thwart the KotG, but I am quite excited about her defeat.
Defeat Mozek... Check!
Enter Hurgun's Maze... Check!
Cast Spell from BoBC... Check!
Repair Modron Station... Check!
Defeat Demoness... Check!
Destroy BoBC...
Defeat Richard the Red...
Plunge Hurgun's Maze into the Plane of Time and Save the World!.......
~hf
Defeat Mozek... Check!
Enter Hurgun's Maze... Check!
Cast Spell from BoBC... Check!
Repair Modron Station... Check!
Defeat Demoness... Check!
Destroy BoBC...
Defeat Richard the Red...
Plunge Hurgun's Maze into the Plane of Time and Save the World!.......
~hf
Gold Roger
First Post
Now that's a nice little touch-she goes out just like her son.
Thanks, hf! That checklist is nifty!handforged said:
Believe you me, we were ALL excited about that win! We got so thoroughly creamed during our last fight that I had been seriously dreading that confrontation. I'm not talking your regular "uh oh...we're about to enter a fight...this is an opportunity for some random crit to kill me or one of my friends" dread but like a "I'm going to perhaps wet myself" dread!
I'm not going to say anything else except that we accomplish a great deal of what's on your nifty little checklist, though not necessarily in the order you have there. How, do you ask? Well, read on...or it's just 'cuz we are that SUPER COOL!
Richard Rawen
First Post
Only good thing about an absence from the boards is to return to several great posts...
Ding-Dong the &itch is dead, the &itch is dead Huzzah!
Sorry... that demoness had to go and I'm surely glad that particular check mark is done!
Oh, and the usual kudos for a kick@ss story el-remmen =-)
Ding-Dong the &itch is dead, the &itch is dead Huzzah!
Sorry... that demoness had to go and I'm surely glad that particular check mark is done!
Oh, and the usual kudos for a kick@ss story el-remmen =-)
Angel Tarragon
Dawn Dragon
long installment.....all or nothing baby!el-remmen said:
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