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

Reply to thread

Message: <blockquote data-quote="Jon Potter" data-source="post: 4892701" data-attributes="member: 2323">[PLAIN][Realms #482] Along Came a Spider[/PLAIN]"You are welcome to join us, Grandfather Plaque," Ayremac told him."Not that we know where we're going," Ixin added and the construct raised a stony eyebrow."Oh?" he quipped. "At loose ends are we?""Something like that," Maleko nodded. "Do you know anything about the astral plane?" The wizened face pondered that question for a moment."No. My field of knowledge is actually limited more or less to doors," he admitted at last, adding, "But I can speak Terran!""I'll remember that if we meet any earth elementals," the mage-priest replied glumly."Well we can't just drift around without a heading," Del said. "That much is clear.""Right," Maleko said with a firm nod. "And from what you've told us, Morier, we need to find the God Islands. That's the only thing that I can think of that comes close to what you're describing.""So where's that, fancy pants?" Cerrakean asked and Maleko shrugged."I have no idea," he said. "I've read little on the astral plane and even less on the subject of dead gods. But if we're going to find Dridana's body, the God Islands is the logical place to start." Cerrakean snorted."Yeah!" she groused. "If we knew where that was!""I could pray for some guidance," Maleko suggested, indicating the holy symbol he wore. "Nethlar is all-knowing..." Cerrakean threw up her red hands."All we do is sit around and fret and pray and get nowhere!" the hobgoblin cursed. "We need to act!""Cerrakean, your attitude is not helping the situation," Del interceded. "If you have nothing constructive to add-""What about J'inn and J'ann?" Ixin interrupted."What about 'em?" Cerrakean snapped, but Ayremac smiled broadly at the sorcerer."Ixin, you're a genius!" he beamed. "That's a fantastic idea." The mage blushed and for a moment, her red face was visible even through her ceremonial face-paint."Who or what are J'inn and J'ann?" Morier asked."They're natives of the astral plane," Ayremac told him. "If anyone can act as guides for us, it's them.""Fine," Morier nodded. "But let's not divulge too much to them or anyone else regarding what we're up to. The success of our quest might depend on our discretion."The group conferred, using Ayremac's touchstone to establish the direction that lead to Avik-tchai, and determining through consensus the route by which they'd approached the citadel from the deathspider. Once they had that fixed in their minds, they estimated the proper vector that would take them back there from their present location.It was at best a rough estimate, but it was better than nothing.The astral plane was barren.They all knew that, of course, but it was truly hammered home after they'd been flying for what seemed like a long time without any change in their surroundings. They saw twinkling motes of color flickering in the distance and enormous clouds of far off luminescence that billowed up and swirled through the action of unfelt currents. But they saw nothing solid or living in all the time they travelled... how ever long that actually was.Eventually, they saw a shadow in the distance ahead of them and a bit below, and as they approached it resolved itself into a vast cloud of stones and rocks that stretched off into the silver twilight, growing denser as it went. Most of the stones were small, the size of a thumb or fist. But some were as big as heads or whole torsos, and at the limits of visibility they could see ones that were larger still."The Chain of Tears," Ayremac said, gesturing to the drifting mass of stones. "J'inn and J'ann live somewhere in there.""Somewhere?" Cerrakean scoffed. "And just how are we supposed to find 'em in there? There isn't a door to knock on!""Last time, Ixin and I just waited," Ayremac explained. "Eventually, they found us.""Eventually?" the hobgoblin sneered and Ayremac nodded sagely."Crap," she spat and grabbed one of the drifting rocks, hurling it into the cloud. It struck one of its fellows and ricocheted setting off a satisfying chain reaction of clattering stones. The hobgoblin grinned and grabbed another.They passed the time like that for a while, but eventually they tired of the game and contented themselves with other tasks as they waited, swapping stories, resting and keeping watch. Eventually, Del pointed at a shape coming toward them from the expanse of the astral sea bordering the Chain of Tears."What's that?" he asked warily as he squinted at the shape. Ayremac looked where the half-elf was pointing and his face grew pale."It's a retriever," he said grimly and immediately set about readying himself for combat."A what?" Morier asked, squinting at the shape as it drew inexorably closer."A sort of demonic golem," Maleko explained. "They're created through foul sorceries to serve powerful demons as warriors and servants. Most texts speculate that their overall design emulates the corporeal appearance of the bebelith in-""Maleko!" Ixin snapped, drawing the elf out of his recitation. "Can you tell us anything useful?" Maleko nodded, his eyes fixed on the retriever. It looked like an enormous spider, and while it was difficult to tell for sure at this distance, it seemed to be big - twice the size of a man, maybe more. Its four front limbs ended in wicked black cleavers, each like the blade of a massive scythe. A cluster of multi-colord eyes glowed atop its small head."It's a construct, not a demon, so it won't be hurt by any magic that targets a living creature. Necromantic effects, and the like will be useless. As will mind-effecting spells," he said. "It's very singular in its purpose; it was sent for a reason and it won't stop until it's dead or it's retrieved what it's after." The elf looked from the approaching thing to Morier's chest and realization flooded his features."Oh!" he said and met the albino's eyes."Oh," Morier agreed.</blockquote>

Verification