Kid Charlemagne
I am the Very Model of a Modern Moderator
Sagiro said:
It had much the same effect here...
-
The VOIDRUNNER'S CODEX is coming! Explore new worlds, fight oppressive empires, fend off fearsome aliens, and wield deadly psionics with this comprehensive boxed set expansion for 5E and A5E!
Sagiro's Story Hour Returns (new thread started on 5/18/08)
- Thread starter Sagiro
- Start date
It had much the same effect here...
Jackylhunter
First Post
Sneaky Lizard dude. Great Update!
RangerWickett
Legend
A thought I had, maybe too secretive for the PCs to know about it.
I know, as a GM, that I love revisting cool old dungeons if I can make them fit into the new, higher-level adventure. I wonder if that is what Sagiro has done.
What happens when a powerful artifact is created and recovered in one timeline, but then only created in the alternate one? What if this powerful artifact has to do with interdimensional travel? Was the Crosser's Maze built in this alternate timeline, and if so, where is it? Is the dude inside still crazy? A few lines from this last update hint toward that possiblity.
I know, as a GM, that I love revisting cool old dungeons if I can make them fit into the new, higher-level adventure. I wonder if that is what Sagiro has done.
Knightfall
World of Kulan DM
I have this *gut* feeling I know who the Lord of Roses is. But I'm not telling. 
Sagiro
Rodent of Uncertain Parentage
Sagiro’s Story Hour, Part 217
Chase
Dranko and Srapa just stare at each other for second. Dranko is sharing this conversation with some of the others over a telepathic bond. Most of the party is still upstairs (having just finished the morning application of buffing spells). Only Snokas is downstairs with him.
“You ssssee,” says Srapa matter-of-factly, “I will now go into the Demon Slices. And you will follow, to make sure your friend is ssssafe."
“No,” repeats Dranko simply. “And now you’re going to leave without Kibilhathur Bimson, because of what you just did. What kind of idiots do you think we are? That is not how civilized people do business. I’m ashamed of you.”
“I am ssssorry that you feel that way. You know where the Way is. I exssspect that you will follow me.”
Srapa’s voice is perfectly calm, his reptilian face still expressionless.
“You’re wrong,” growls Dranko. “You see, the person that you took is not as important as master Bimson.”
Srapa flicks his tongue. “I have watched your interactions. The persssson I have is very important, to all of you. You will not risk his ssssafety, even for Kibilhathur Bimson’s ssssake. You will follow me. If you harm me, you will not be able to find him.”
“That’s possible,” grumbles Dranko.
“Yessss. I believe have found the easiest way to carry out the Lord of the Rosssses’ wishessss. I will ssssee you beyond the Way to the Demon Sssslices.”
Dranko nods subtly at Snokas, who takes the hint. In a flash both of Snokas’s picks are in his hand, and he swings them hard at Srapa. Blood spills out of two holes in the lizard-man’s robe. Srapa stumbles back out of his chair, casts a spell, and vanishes. Dranko stares helplessly at the empty chair, as most of the rest of the Company come crashing down the stairs.
“God damn it!” yells Dranko. He smashes his fists down on a table, then picks up Srapa’s chair and flings it across the bar, shattering glass and chair both.
“Dranko!” Ernie shouts at him, as the other guests stare. “I know you’re angry. I’m angry. But that doesn’t you mean you should smash up someone else’s bar.”
“Do we have some way of finding Flicker now?” asks Kibi. “Srapa’s probably still on this Slice.”
As a result of their spell-casting, Kibi now looks like Aravis, and Aravis looks like Kibi, as a precautionary measure. Kibi has also cast nondetection on himself.
Dranko growls, “but Flicker’s probably not on this Slice. Srapa probably already has him stashed in the next Slice. And our Lizard friend has probably teleported next to the gate. I bet he’s going through right now.”
“Then lets go after him!” exhorts Aravis. And wasting no time, he does so. Over the past weeks, he and Kibi have both made a point of studying the ground right in front of every Way out of the Slice, just in case of this sort of emergency. He teleports with confidence, and finds himself a split second later standing beneath the heavy netting and hanging chimes before a glowing blue Way. Srapa is not in evidence, but the thirty or so guards who watch the Way are already talking excitedly on the other side of the moat. There’s no time to listen; he steps through.
There are two seconds of cold blackness as he is pulled through the Way into the next Slice. Then there is light, a reddish light, as he steps out. He’s standing on rough ground and there’s a sulfurous smell in the air. Moreover, the place feels wrong, permeated as it is by evil and chaos. It’s faint but unmistakable. The Abyss.
A few feet away stands Srapa. There is no sign of Flicker. Aravis is desperately hoping that Srapa doesn’t teleport away again; his hope is that Srapa won’t flee in a way that is impossible to follow.
Kibi, Morningstar and Step are still on the stairs. Kibi reaches out and does like Aravis, teleporting the three of them to the Way to the Demon Slices. Morningstar and Step charge through the Way and are soon standing next to Aravis (who looks like Kibi) and getting their bearings in this lifeless scrubland. Srapa hisses at them.
Ernie, with no way to teleport, activates his shield and flies out the door. “I’m coming, Flick!”
Srapa blinks at the disguised Aravis. “Ah, Kibilhathur Bimssssson!”
Aravis smiles inwardly.
“I ssssee you have made the wise choice,” says the lizard-man. “Are your friendssss coming?”
“No one is going anywhere,” says Aravis.
“Ah, I ssssee. Either way, I will be on the other side of the next Way, with your friend. You will ssssurvive, This Sssslice is not dangeroussss.”
Srapa points across the rocky terrain, and without another word teleports away again.
* *
Horny comes stomping out of a storeroom and surveys the damage. Dranko tosses him a small bag of coins.
“What happened here?” demands the minotaur.
“The lizard-man just kidnapped our friend and fled to the Demon Slices!” says Dranko angrily.
“Are you serious?” asks Horny, incredulous. “That f***er! Keep the money. It’s just a table. And a chair. And some glasses. We’ll get some guests to make new ones.
The rest of the Company regroups back at the Inn, and starts talking about ways to track Srapa, and what (if any) immediate actions they should take.
>> During a lull in this discussion, there is the following small exchange:
DM: “So, what’s your plan now?”
Dranko’s player (Piratecat): “To kill you”
Into a brief silence, Morningstar unexpectedly says, “I don’t think we should follow him.”
Everyone turns to stare.
“Then we abandon Flicker,” says Aravis.
“Yes,” says Morningstar. Her expression is grim.
“No!” says Ernie angrily. “That is unacceptable! Yondalla put him in my care. I’m not leaving him in the Demon Slices.”
“And what will he do to Flicker if he figures out we’re not following him?” asks Kibi.
“We should assume that he’ll kill Flicker,” says Aravis.
“We have a mission that’s more important,” Morningstar. “I would hope that if I were the one who were captured, you wouldn’t waste your time coming after me, but instead stayed focused on the major problem – finding the Eye of Moirel.”
“But…” says Dranko.
“He’s got us set up.,” says Morningstar. “We’re going to get to the next Slice, and Flicker’s not going to be there. We’ll have to follow him. And if we keep following him, he'll lead us right to the Lord of the Roses, which we already decided wasn’t where we wanted to go.”
“Yup,” says Dranko.
“Yup,” says Kibi.
“Yup,” says Grey Wolf.
Morningstar sighs. “I understand I’m the only one who feels that way, so if we’re going after him, let’s just go.”
“Where is he then?” asks Ernie, his face full of worry. Aravis explains that Srapa pointed in the direction of the next Way, and that the lizard-man would be waiting on the other side. He puts his hand on the halfling’s shoulder.
“Flicker is safe, as long as Srapa thinks we’re still following him.”
Grey Wolf grimaces and grips Bostock’s hilt. “As long as we get to lop the lizard’s head off, I don’t care what else we do. Kill the lizard, get Flicker back.”
Ernie glances nervously at One Certain Step.
“How do you feel about… killing Srapa,” he asks. The paladin frowns and thinks for a minute.
“I feel we should pursue him,” he says at last. “As for Flicker, I don’t consider abandoning a friend and companion to be an option. But the lizard has not physically injured Flicker, as far as we know…”
“Then if he surrenders, we won’t kill him,” says Ernie.
“Acceptable,” says Step.
Aravis clears his throat. “I have to point out that drastic force may be required to disable him, before he has a chance to surrender. He may not survive.”
Step nods. “I said he has not physically attacked Flicker, but abduction is still a violation of his person. The giants did nothing to us before we attacked them. With Srapa, that’s not the case. He has already invited our wrath, in a very direct way. If he dies in the rescue, so be it.”
Ernie bristles. “We can’t let him get away with it. If we do, everyone who wants Kibi will start grabbing party members, and we can’t set that sort of precedent.”
Grey Wolf glances at Step but his mind is made up. “The lizard dies.”
* *
Before long the entire Company has gone through the first Way and is standing in the first of the Demon Slices. The sky is still an angry red, and the atmosphere vibrates with evil and chaos. Step subconsciously clenches his fists.
“Welcome to the Abyss,’ says Aravis.
They cannot teleport effectively, not knowing where it is they’re going. They have only Srapa’s pointing to give them a direction.
“No rush though,” says Dranko. “Srapa’s not likely to do anything except wait for us.”
“But he can only teleport so many times in a day,” points out Snokas. “It would be good to get him before he prepares a new day’s worth.”
They walk briskly as they discuss plans. The sharp rocks chafe their boots, and every few hundred feet so a geyser goes off nearby. The air reeks of sulfur.
“This place stinks… literally,” says Ernie.
“I like the smell of sulfur,” says Aravis.
“You’re an alchemist,” Grey Wolf says. “It’s a survival trait.”
An hour into their march they spy movement on a far-off hilltop valley.
“I hope whatever that is comes and tries to kill us,” growls Dranko. “I’m in that kind of mood.”
Whatever they are, they’re getting closer. Soon they're near enough for Dranko to see them more clearly; there are about a dozen short green-skinned creatures, their overlong arms dragging on the ground. They are babbling and gibbering in a strange tongue, and moving to intercept. The wizards get ready to blast away, but when the pack of demons gets within a hundred feet, one of them starts wailing more loudly and points at the Company. A second later the whole pack turns tail and flees, raising a crazy ruckus.
Soon after that the rocky ground slowly gives way to a muddy swamp. Ernie flies ahead and figures it will be faster for him to ferry his friends across one at a time. Twenty minutes later the bog is behind them and they continue onward. For four more hours they march, and though they occasionally spot what they assume are demons in the distance, nothing comes to mess with them. The only vegetation they’ve seen in all this time is a field of tough thorn bushes, and the only animals are black birds wheeling high overhead. Finally they spy a speck of blue in the distance, and half an hour later are ready to move through the next Way.
Consensus is that Srapa’s probably not right on the other side, so Aravis shouldn’t mass haste everyone beforehand. Tense and anxious they go through, and upon arrival immediately sink a foot into a revolting reddish-brown mud. The air here is thick and acrid, and the pervading chaos and evil are just a tad more unsettling.. A hundred yards away, though a thick haze, is another glowing blue Way. There’s no sign of anyone or anything else in this place.
Nothing else for it; they slog through the sucking mud. Soon all of them are stained from the knees down (except for Ernie, who’s smeared up to his waist). As they near the far Way, something like a black snake briefly surfaces before diving back into the mud. A moment later Grey Wolf feels something wrap around his ankle.
“Aaaaaahhhhhh!” He lift his foot slowly out of the mud so the rest of the party can see the snake-like creature twined around his lower leg. Dranko lashes it with his whip and the creature pops like a pustule, spraying green ichor. The rest of the snake-thing slithers back into the mud and isn’t seen again.
“Grab it, it’s good eatin’!” exclaims Dranko. No one laughs, but he gets a few “eww!” looks.
Before going through the Way out of the mud, Morningstar and Kibi decide to fill up some empty spell slots, just in case. Morningstar adds dimensional anchor to her repertoire, and Kibi prepares a Mordenkainen’s lucubration.
The next Demon Slice is dark. The ground is a featureless shiny black, a flat field of dark glassy rock. The only light comes from a large red moon overhead. There is no wind, and a piece of parchment sits on the ground not far away. Kibi cast comprehend languages, to read the single word thereon: “wait.”
Morningstar blankets the area around the note with thought captures, and is surprised to pick up no thoughts at all. This makes the wizards suspect that the lizard-man is protected by a mind blank spell. Heavy stuff! Morningstar then (hoping to get lucky) casts locate object on “Flicker’s boots.” Nothing. Dranko casts detect magic and moves out in a spiral pattern, thinking he may detect a nearby rope trick. Nothing.
So, waiting it is.
Aravis casts a pair of rope tricks above and behind the Way, and the Company rests inside them, taking turns peeking out and dangling the divination sink out of one. All the rest of the “day” they spend there, before falling asleep for another eight hours.
While eating a cold breakfast inside his extra-dimensional space, Kibi receives a sending.
Turn left thirty degrees, go twenty miles, go through the middle Way. Beware demons. Dress warmly beyond. If trouble strikes, I will aid you.
He doesn’t respond. Outside the rope tricks it is still night, and the red moon has moved only slightly in the sky. Kibi renews his nondetection and Morningstar gets the whole Company with a pair of wind walks. Off they fly, following Srapa’s most recent instructions.
It’s a short flight, moving as they are at sixty miles per hour. A hundred feet below them the smooth black ground spreads in all directions as far as any of them can see, unblemished by hill, valley or any other feature. There are packs of demons roaming the plain, all (fortunately) seen at a great distance. They pass over one blue Way that comes too soon to be the one Srapa indicated; a gang of half a dozen demons, led by a towering 12’-tall red beast with huge bat wings, is headed for it. They leave it be. Later they pass almost directly over a huge demonic melee in which about twenty demons of varying sorts are casting spells and tearing each other to pieces.
The leave that, too.
“You know,” says Dranko as they continue to fly, “when Califax told me that if I didn’t behave, that when I died I’d go to hell and demons would devour my soul… I thought he was kidding!”
Aravis decides this isn’t the time to explain the difference between Hell and the Abyss. Half an hour later they spot a cluster of five Ways, arranged in a ragged line. The second from the left is gray, the others a familiar blue.
This seems like their big chance to catch Srapa, since if he’s in a position close enough to help them fight off demons, he may be near enough by to spot and attack. Everyone gets an endure elements to ward off the cold, various other buffing spells are applied, and Aravis and Ernie cast true seeing. They all step through…
* *
Srapa came from a hot country his people called Sthist, and his fame there as a skilled wizard was well known. He was a great reader of books (unusual among the lizard-folk) and his intellect was keen, but his spiritual well-being was of paramount importance to him. To this end, six times in a year he would go on walkabout through the pleasant swamps and marshes of the southlands. An immersion in nature provided him a balance to his weeks of magical study (and incidentally was a fine source of spell components). It was on such a walkabout that a piece of Sthist approximately three quarters of a mile on a side was torn away from the rest, leaving Srapa isolated with only swamp otters and mosquitoes for company.
It didn’t occur to Srapa to panic, or think that his prison had anything to do with him personally. He had no enemies among his people, and among the foreign peoples that might bear him ill-will, none had the means to create such a place. For several days he explored the boundaries of his Slice, cast divinations on the bright blue Way, and asked the otters what they thought was happening. His attempts to escape with plane shift and teleport met with failure. He gave it a week more, to see if it would pass. The otters cared little as long as there were fish to eat. At last he shouldered his pack and stepped through the Way, having decided it would probably take him somewhere interesting and maybe closer to home.
Srapa was lucky that day. He found himself in a tiny nondescript Slice with two other Ways out, standing side by side. The one on the left led to a para-elemental plane filled with magma, but he chose the one on the right, which merely took him to one of the outer Demon Slices. He could hide from demons.
For months he moved about through the Slices, dodging (and occasionally fighting) the Abyssal denizens. By staying invisible, undetectable and mind blanked, we was able to listen to the demons converse, and he learned where the Ways were that led out of these pieces of the Abyss. So it was that he found more hospitable lands, and soon after, the magnificent castle of the Lord of the Roses.
Ah, the Lord of the Roses! From the moment Srapa stood before him, he knew he had found his savior. The Lord could not be seen, surrounded as he was by a blinding light, but his majestic thoughts and wishes resounded in Srapa’s mind like trumpets of glory. Srapa humbled himself before the Lord of the Roses, and the Lord was kind to him, and fed him, and gave him lodging and happiness and a new purpose. After some time had passed, the Lord of the Roses called the lizard-man before him, and set for him a quest of vital import.
“There is a way we can be free of this strange prison,” said the Lord. “But I need someone, someone who has recently arrived in a far-off cell. He is a dwarf, named Kibilhathur Bimson. Bring him to me, unharmed. If he wishes to bring his companions, bring them as well, also unharmed. I will put in your mind how to reach him. You are powerful and clever. Find a way to get him here, willingly if possible, but that is not necessary. Do not cast spells upon the dwarf himself, or upon his familiar, who is an earth elemental. Bring Kibilhathur Bimson to me, as soon as you can.”
“But massster,” said Srapa. “How will I know what Kibilhathur Bimsssson looks like?”
“Put out your hand.”
Srapa did so, and in it appeared a small wooden statuette of a dwarf, cunningly carved.
“That is his likeness. There must be no mistake. You will not fail me.”
So, back through the Demon Slices went Srapa of Sthist, hiding from the natives as well as he could. It was weeks of slow travel, but his path led through Slices sparsely populated, and ever in his mind was the route to take through the maze of Ways. At last he arrived into the Slice containing the Eye of the Storm, and there he found his quarry, as the Lord of the Roses said he would.
Srapa was surprised when Kibilhathur Bimson didn’t assent to the summons right away, but he reminded himself that the dwarf had not experienced the Lord of the Roses’ glory firsthand. Furthermore, it seemed that he had competition for Kibilhathur – there were others who wanted the dwarf to go elsewhere. So Srapa observed him and his friends for two weeks and decided he could take no chances. After all, the Lord of the Roses said he would not fail. He kidnapped the easiest prey from among Kibilhathur’s companions, knowing that his friends would not abandon him. After that, there were only the logistics of sendings and teleports and such to work out, and he could lead them back through safely, one Slice at a time, to the castle. Then he would let Flicker Proudfoot go, and deliver Kibilhathur Bimson to the Lord of the Roses as promised.
There was only one potential trouble spot. A necessary Way opened into an icy Demon Slice that was thick with dangerous frost-demons. They would need to travel down a narrow mountain path in a strong, cold wind; their tactical position would be poor if the frost-demons attacked. Srapa knew that he would have to keep close, ready to assist Kibilhathur and his friends if there was an attack. But he also need to be prepared to escape, should his charges turn on him. The Lord of the Roses had made it clear that Kibilhathur Bimson, at the very least, must not come to harm.
* *
Thus it was that when the Company came through the Way onto the icy mountain, Srapa was high above them, invisible, mind blanked, flying and (in case of emergency) levitating. He had true seeing activated and was staying at the edge of its range, a hundred feet off the ground, just low enough that he could see the Company even if they were invisible. He had an arsenal of empowered fireballs at the ready, in case the frost-demons attacked. (He had seen a pack of them a few hundred feet down the mountain path – combat seemed inevitable). And he had escape plans. Teleports. Dimension door. Even a limited wish if things got really hairy. He was as ready as he could be…
* *
A strong wind greets the Company as they emerge, though they are shielded from the cold by their spells. Beneath their feet is hard, crunchy ice. They are standing on a ledge-track on a frozen mountainside – on their left the mountain rises steeply , and on their right is a precipitous drop of unknown length. A few feet in front of them is an arrow made of black liquid poured onto the snow. It indicates downward. Morningstar realizes that the strong wind and swirling snow may make wind walking as tough a proposition as just hiking down the icy track.
Ernie and Aravis spend a moment looking around in all directions with true seeing. Aravis sees nothing in such limited visibility, but…
“Guys, guys! shouts Ernie. “Magic! Up there!”
They all look upward. Most of the party sees nothing, but Aravis sees what Ernie has already noticed: a vague humanoid form barely visible through the blowing snow. It glows with enchantment. High up, Srapa sees right away that he’s been spotted, and decides he should fly upward out of range. He knows he won’t be able to see the party if he gets much higher, but he’ll hear the sounds of battle should it come to that.
Ernie sees the magical form start to rise upward, but before it vanishes from his (true) sight, he raises his hand and casts a spell. A green ray springs from his finger and strikes true. Srapa is dimensionally anchored, and now glowing a bright emerald-green.
“Target,” whispers Grey Wolf to himself.
Morningstar, keeping her priorities in mind, casts locate object on Flicker’s boots, but again she detects nothing. Everyone else who can takes a shot at the lizard-man. Dranko slings magical bullets and hits twice, once critically. Kibi peppers him with magic missiles. Grey Wolf nails him with enervation. (Good bye limited wish and spell turning). Snokas pegs him with an arrow. And Aravis, taking a guess at the spells on Srapa, casts a greater dispelling targeting the fly spell on the lizard man. He wins the contested battle of magical power, and the fly spell is gone.
Left with only his levitate keeping him up, Srapa is blown downward by the gusting winds, slightly closer to the Company. He recognizes the green glow of the dimensional anchor and knows he cannot teleport away until he gets rid of it. Seriously wounded, his thoughts are now only of escape. If only the cursed winds had blown him upward and out of sight of his attackers’ true seeing spells…
He dispels the anchor, and prepares to teleport away. He knows this will give the Company a few more seconds to launch attacks, but the only spell that could have saved him in one round, limited wish, is now drained from his mind. His only hope is that Kibi and his friends won’t want to kill him while he still has Flicker captive.
Ernie casts flame strike. The natural effects of the plane dim its effects somewhat but Srapa still finds it painful. If he can only survive a few more seconds…
“Got him!” yells Ernie. “Morningstar, did you see where I targeted? He’s still right there!”
Morningstar squints up into the bright white sky. Any other sister of Ell would be blinded, but Morningstar’s vision is clear. She can even make out a small wisp of smoke rising from the hovering creature.
And Ellish flame strikes, delivering cold damage instead of fire, turn out to magnified by the plane.
Whoomph!
There’s a terrible cry on the wind. Srapa’s body appears and instantly plummets. It bounces off the mountain side and falls away downward and out of sight. Dranko gets a fly spell from one of the party wizards and flies downward to retrieve the body. The wind is still strong and makes the going difficult. There are jagged stalagmites of ice and shattered, stubby evergreens jutting up at angles from the rocky face of the mountain. Dranko does his best to avoid getting blown into them.
He only spots Srapa’s body because of the blood. The lizard-man is impaled on a snapped-off pine tree that’s poking up through the ice, having fallen over two hundred feet. Dranko picks up Srapa’s staff, searches briefly for other belongings, and then sets about prizing the body off its stake. It’s a chore, since the body has slid past downward-pointing branches, and the blood is already starting to freeze. Finally the corpse wrenches free with a gruesome tearing sound; fresh blood gouts out, spilling onto Dranko.
“Flicker, I’m doing this for you. There’s no treasure worth this, that’s for sure.”
Despite his anger, Dranko gives the body a post-mortem shriving and says brief last rites, then hauls the body back up to the others. Once he has dropped off the corpse, he flies Morningstar up to where Srapa had been hovering so she can cast more thought captures. Again, nothing, except a stray though or two from Dranko. Not wishing to stay here longer, they return through the Way to the Slice of black glass before searching the body for clues to Flicker’s whereabouts.
There are numerous magic items on the body of the lizard-man wizard. His staff is magical, as is an amulet, a headband, a golden ring, some scrolls in tubes, and two large sapphires. One of these last two is glowing conspicuously, and has something written on it in foreign characters. Kibi casts comprehend languages and announces it’s Flicker’s name scratched into the gem. Aravis peers closely at the sapphire with his true seeing and sees a tiny indistinct form in its center.
“Break it!” yells Ernie. “Get him out! Get him out! Is he dead? Is he hurt?”
“He’s inside a giant sapphire,” says Dranko. “He probably thinks he’s died and gone to heaven.”
…to be continued…
Chase
Dranko and Srapa just stare at each other for second. Dranko is sharing this conversation with some of the others over a telepathic bond. Most of the party is still upstairs (having just finished the morning application of buffing spells). Only Snokas is downstairs with him.
“You ssssee,” says Srapa matter-of-factly, “I will now go into the Demon Slices. And you will follow, to make sure your friend is ssssafe."
“No,” repeats Dranko simply. “And now you’re going to leave without Kibilhathur Bimson, because of what you just did. What kind of idiots do you think we are? That is not how civilized people do business. I’m ashamed of you.”
“I am ssssorry that you feel that way. You know where the Way is. I exssspect that you will follow me.”
Srapa’s voice is perfectly calm, his reptilian face still expressionless.
“You’re wrong,” growls Dranko. “You see, the person that you took is not as important as master Bimson.”
Srapa flicks his tongue. “I have watched your interactions. The persssson I have is very important, to all of you. You will not risk his ssssafety, even for Kibilhathur Bimson’s ssssake. You will follow me. If you harm me, you will not be able to find him.”
“That’s possible,” grumbles Dranko.
“Yessss. I believe have found the easiest way to carry out the Lord of the Rosssses’ wishessss. I will ssssee you beyond the Way to the Demon Sssslices.”
Dranko nods subtly at Snokas, who takes the hint. In a flash both of Snokas’s picks are in his hand, and he swings them hard at Srapa. Blood spills out of two holes in the lizard-man’s robe. Srapa stumbles back out of his chair, casts a spell, and vanishes. Dranko stares helplessly at the empty chair, as most of the rest of the Company come crashing down the stairs.
“God damn it!” yells Dranko. He smashes his fists down on a table, then picks up Srapa’s chair and flings it across the bar, shattering glass and chair both.
“Dranko!” Ernie shouts at him, as the other guests stare. “I know you’re angry. I’m angry. But that doesn’t you mean you should smash up someone else’s bar.”
“Do we have some way of finding Flicker now?” asks Kibi. “Srapa’s probably still on this Slice.”
As a result of their spell-casting, Kibi now looks like Aravis, and Aravis looks like Kibi, as a precautionary measure. Kibi has also cast nondetection on himself.
Dranko growls, “but Flicker’s probably not on this Slice. Srapa probably already has him stashed in the next Slice. And our Lizard friend has probably teleported next to the gate. I bet he’s going through right now.”
“Then lets go after him!” exhorts Aravis. And wasting no time, he does so. Over the past weeks, he and Kibi have both made a point of studying the ground right in front of every Way out of the Slice, just in case of this sort of emergency. He teleports with confidence, and finds himself a split second later standing beneath the heavy netting and hanging chimes before a glowing blue Way. Srapa is not in evidence, but the thirty or so guards who watch the Way are already talking excitedly on the other side of the moat. There’s no time to listen; he steps through.
There are two seconds of cold blackness as he is pulled through the Way into the next Slice. Then there is light, a reddish light, as he steps out. He’s standing on rough ground and there’s a sulfurous smell in the air. Moreover, the place feels wrong, permeated as it is by evil and chaos. It’s faint but unmistakable. The Abyss.
A few feet away stands Srapa. There is no sign of Flicker. Aravis is desperately hoping that Srapa doesn’t teleport away again; his hope is that Srapa won’t flee in a way that is impossible to follow.
Kibi, Morningstar and Step are still on the stairs. Kibi reaches out and does like Aravis, teleporting the three of them to the Way to the Demon Slices. Morningstar and Step charge through the Way and are soon standing next to Aravis (who looks like Kibi) and getting their bearings in this lifeless scrubland. Srapa hisses at them.
Ernie, with no way to teleport, activates his shield and flies out the door. “I’m coming, Flick!”
Srapa blinks at the disguised Aravis. “Ah, Kibilhathur Bimssssson!”
Aravis smiles inwardly.
“I ssssee you have made the wise choice,” says the lizard-man. “Are your friendssss coming?”
“No one is going anywhere,” says Aravis.
“Ah, I ssssee. Either way, I will be on the other side of the next Way, with your friend. You will ssssurvive, This Sssslice is not dangeroussss.”
Srapa points across the rocky terrain, and without another word teleports away again.
* *
Horny comes stomping out of a storeroom and surveys the damage. Dranko tosses him a small bag of coins.
“What happened here?” demands the minotaur.
“The lizard-man just kidnapped our friend and fled to the Demon Slices!” says Dranko angrily.
“Are you serious?” asks Horny, incredulous. “That f***er! Keep the money. It’s just a table. And a chair. And some glasses. We’ll get some guests to make new ones.
The rest of the Company regroups back at the Inn, and starts talking about ways to track Srapa, and what (if any) immediate actions they should take.
>> During a lull in this discussion, there is the following small exchange:
DM: “So, what’s your plan now?”
Dranko’s player (Piratecat): “To kill you”
Into a brief silence, Morningstar unexpectedly says, “I don’t think we should follow him.”
Everyone turns to stare.
“Then we abandon Flicker,” says Aravis.
“Yes,” says Morningstar. Her expression is grim.
“No!” says Ernie angrily. “That is unacceptable! Yondalla put him in my care. I’m not leaving him in the Demon Slices.”
“And what will he do to Flicker if he figures out we’re not following him?” asks Kibi.
“We should assume that he’ll kill Flicker,” says Aravis.
“We have a mission that’s more important,” Morningstar. “I would hope that if I were the one who were captured, you wouldn’t waste your time coming after me, but instead stayed focused on the major problem – finding the Eye of Moirel.”
“But…” says Dranko.
“He’s got us set up.,” says Morningstar. “We’re going to get to the next Slice, and Flicker’s not going to be there. We’ll have to follow him. And if we keep following him, he'll lead us right to the Lord of the Roses, which we already decided wasn’t where we wanted to go.”
“Yup,” says Dranko.
“Yup,” says Kibi.
“Yup,” says Grey Wolf.
Morningstar sighs. “I understand I’m the only one who feels that way, so if we’re going after him, let’s just go.”
“Where is he then?” asks Ernie, his face full of worry. Aravis explains that Srapa pointed in the direction of the next Way, and that the lizard-man would be waiting on the other side. He puts his hand on the halfling’s shoulder.
“Flicker is safe, as long as Srapa thinks we’re still following him.”
Grey Wolf grimaces and grips Bostock’s hilt. “As long as we get to lop the lizard’s head off, I don’t care what else we do. Kill the lizard, get Flicker back.”
Ernie glances nervously at One Certain Step.
“How do you feel about… killing Srapa,” he asks. The paladin frowns and thinks for a minute.
“I feel we should pursue him,” he says at last. “As for Flicker, I don’t consider abandoning a friend and companion to be an option. But the lizard has not physically injured Flicker, as far as we know…”
“Then if he surrenders, we won’t kill him,” says Ernie.
“Acceptable,” says Step.
Aravis clears his throat. “I have to point out that drastic force may be required to disable him, before he has a chance to surrender. He may not survive.”
Step nods. “I said he has not physically attacked Flicker, but abduction is still a violation of his person. The giants did nothing to us before we attacked them. With Srapa, that’s not the case. He has already invited our wrath, in a very direct way. If he dies in the rescue, so be it.”
Ernie bristles. “We can’t let him get away with it. If we do, everyone who wants Kibi will start grabbing party members, and we can’t set that sort of precedent.”
Grey Wolf glances at Step but his mind is made up. “The lizard dies.”
* *
Before long the entire Company has gone through the first Way and is standing in the first of the Demon Slices. The sky is still an angry red, and the atmosphere vibrates with evil and chaos. Step subconsciously clenches his fists.
“Welcome to the Abyss,’ says Aravis.
They cannot teleport effectively, not knowing where it is they’re going. They have only Srapa’s pointing to give them a direction.
“No rush though,” says Dranko. “Srapa’s not likely to do anything except wait for us.”
“But he can only teleport so many times in a day,” points out Snokas. “It would be good to get him before he prepares a new day’s worth.”
They walk briskly as they discuss plans. The sharp rocks chafe their boots, and every few hundred feet so a geyser goes off nearby. The air reeks of sulfur.
“This place stinks… literally,” says Ernie.
“I like the smell of sulfur,” says Aravis.
“You’re an alchemist,” Grey Wolf says. “It’s a survival trait.”
An hour into their march they spy movement on a far-off hilltop valley.
“I hope whatever that is comes and tries to kill us,” growls Dranko. “I’m in that kind of mood.”
Whatever they are, they’re getting closer. Soon they're near enough for Dranko to see them more clearly; there are about a dozen short green-skinned creatures, their overlong arms dragging on the ground. They are babbling and gibbering in a strange tongue, and moving to intercept. The wizards get ready to blast away, but when the pack of demons gets within a hundred feet, one of them starts wailing more loudly and points at the Company. A second later the whole pack turns tail and flees, raising a crazy ruckus.
Soon after that the rocky ground slowly gives way to a muddy swamp. Ernie flies ahead and figures it will be faster for him to ferry his friends across one at a time. Twenty minutes later the bog is behind them and they continue onward. For four more hours they march, and though they occasionally spot what they assume are demons in the distance, nothing comes to mess with them. The only vegetation they’ve seen in all this time is a field of tough thorn bushes, and the only animals are black birds wheeling high overhead. Finally they spy a speck of blue in the distance, and half an hour later are ready to move through the next Way.
Consensus is that Srapa’s probably not right on the other side, so Aravis shouldn’t mass haste everyone beforehand. Tense and anxious they go through, and upon arrival immediately sink a foot into a revolting reddish-brown mud. The air here is thick and acrid, and the pervading chaos and evil are just a tad more unsettling.. A hundred yards away, though a thick haze, is another glowing blue Way. There’s no sign of anyone or anything else in this place.
Nothing else for it; they slog through the sucking mud. Soon all of them are stained from the knees down (except for Ernie, who’s smeared up to his waist). As they near the far Way, something like a black snake briefly surfaces before diving back into the mud. A moment later Grey Wolf feels something wrap around his ankle.
“Aaaaaahhhhhh!” He lift his foot slowly out of the mud so the rest of the party can see the snake-like creature twined around his lower leg. Dranko lashes it with his whip and the creature pops like a pustule, spraying green ichor. The rest of the snake-thing slithers back into the mud and isn’t seen again.
“Grab it, it’s good eatin’!” exclaims Dranko. No one laughs, but he gets a few “eww!” looks.
Before going through the Way out of the mud, Morningstar and Kibi decide to fill up some empty spell slots, just in case. Morningstar adds dimensional anchor to her repertoire, and Kibi prepares a Mordenkainen’s lucubration.
The next Demon Slice is dark. The ground is a featureless shiny black, a flat field of dark glassy rock. The only light comes from a large red moon overhead. There is no wind, and a piece of parchment sits on the ground not far away. Kibi cast comprehend languages, to read the single word thereon: “wait.”
Morningstar blankets the area around the note with thought captures, and is surprised to pick up no thoughts at all. This makes the wizards suspect that the lizard-man is protected by a mind blank spell. Heavy stuff! Morningstar then (hoping to get lucky) casts locate object on “Flicker’s boots.” Nothing. Dranko casts detect magic and moves out in a spiral pattern, thinking he may detect a nearby rope trick. Nothing.
So, waiting it is.
Aravis casts a pair of rope tricks above and behind the Way, and the Company rests inside them, taking turns peeking out and dangling the divination sink out of one. All the rest of the “day” they spend there, before falling asleep for another eight hours.
While eating a cold breakfast inside his extra-dimensional space, Kibi receives a sending.
Turn left thirty degrees, go twenty miles, go through the middle Way. Beware demons. Dress warmly beyond. If trouble strikes, I will aid you.
He doesn’t respond. Outside the rope tricks it is still night, and the red moon has moved only slightly in the sky. Kibi renews his nondetection and Morningstar gets the whole Company with a pair of wind walks. Off they fly, following Srapa’s most recent instructions.
It’s a short flight, moving as they are at sixty miles per hour. A hundred feet below them the smooth black ground spreads in all directions as far as any of them can see, unblemished by hill, valley or any other feature. There are packs of demons roaming the plain, all (fortunately) seen at a great distance. They pass over one blue Way that comes too soon to be the one Srapa indicated; a gang of half a dozen demons, led by a towering 12’-tall red beast with huge bat wings, is headed for it. They leave it be. Later they pass almost directly over a huge demonic melee in which about twenty demons of varying sorts are casting spells and tearing each other to pieces.
The leave that, too.
“You know,” says Dranko as they continue to fly, “when Califax told me that if I didn’t behave, that when I died I’d go to hell and demons would devour my soul… I thought he was kidding!”
Aravis decides this isn’t the time to explain the difference between Hell and the Abyss. Half an hour later they spot a cluster of five Ways, arranged in a ragged line. The second from the left is gray, the others a familiar blue.
This seems like their big chance to catch Srapa, since if he’s in a position close enough to help them fight off demons, he may be near enough by to spot and attack. Everyone gets an endure elements to ward off the cold, various other buffing spells are applied, and Aravis and Ernie cast true seeing. They all step through…
* *
Srapa came from a hot country his people called Sthist, and his fame there as a skilled wizard was well known. He was a great reader of books (unusual among the lizard-folk) and his intellect was keen, but his spiritual well-being was of paramount importance to him. To this end, six times in a year he would go on walkabout through the pleasant swamps and marshes of the southlands. An immersion in nature provided him a balance to his weeks of magical study (and incidentally was a fine source of spell components). It was on such a walkabout that a piece of Sthist approximately three quarters of a mile on a side was torn away from the rest, leaving Srapa isolated with only swamp otters and mosquitoes for company.
It didn’t occur to Srapa to panic, or think that his prison had anything to do with him personally. He had no enemies among his people, and among the foreign peoples that might bear him ill-will, none had the means to create such a place. For several days he explored the boundaries of his Slice, cast divinations on the bright blue Way, and asked the otters what they thought was happening. His attempts to escape with plane shift and teleport met with failure. He gave it a week more, to see if it would pass. The otters cared little as long as there were fish to eat. At last he shouldered his pack and stepped through the Way, having decided it would probably take him somewhere interesting and maybe closer to home.
Srapa was lucky that day. He found himself in a tiny nondescript Slice with two other Ways out, standing side by side. The one on the left led to a para-elemental plane filled with magma, but he chose the one on the right, which merely took him to one of the outer Demon Slices. He could hide from demons.
For months he moved about through the Slices, dodging (and occasionally fighting) the Abyssal denizens. By staying invisible, undetectable and mind blanked, we was able to listen to the demons converse, and he learned where the Ways were that led out of these pieces of the Abyss. So it was that he found more hospitable lands, and soon after, the magnificent castle of the Lord of the Roses.
Ah, the Lord of the Roses! From the moment Srapa stood before him, he knew he had found his savior. The Lord could not be seen, surrounded as he was by a blinding light, but his majestic thoughts and wishes resounded in Srapa’s mind like trumpets of glory. Srapa humbled himself before the Lord of the Roses, and the Lord was kind to him, and fed him, and gave him lodging and happiness and a new purpose. After some time had passed, the Lord of the Roses called the lizard-man before him, and set for him a quest of vital import.
“There is a way we can be free of this strange prison,” said the Lord. “But I need someone, someone who has recently arrived in a far-off cell. He is a dwarf, named Kibilhathur Bimson. Bring him to me, unharmed. If he wishes to bring his companions, bring them as well, also unharmed. I will put in your mind how to reach him. You are powerful and clever. Find a way to get him here, willingly if possible, but that is not necessary. Do not cast spells upon the dwarf himself, or upon his familiar, who is an earth elemental. Bring Kibilhathur Bimson to me, as soon as you can.”
“But massster,” said Srapa. “How will I know what Kibilhathur Bimsssson looks like?”
“Put out your hand.”
Srapa did so, and in it appeared a small wooden statuette of a dwarf, cunningly carved.
“That is his likeness. There must be no mistake. You will not fail me.”
So, back through the Demon Slices went Srapa of Sthist, hiding from the natives as well as he could. It was weeks of slow travel, but his path led through Slices sparsely populated, and ever in his mind was the route to take through the maze of Ways. At last he arrived into the Slice containing the Eye of the Storm, and there he found his quarry, as the Lord of the Roses said he would.
Srapa was surprised when Kibilhathur Bimson didn’t assent to the summons right away, but he reminded himself that the dwarf had not experienced the Lord of the Roses’ glory firsthand. Furthermore, it seemed that he had competition for Kibilhathur – there were others who wanted the dwarf to go elsewhere. So Srapa observed him and his friends for two weeks and decided he could take no chances. After all, the Lord of the Roses said he would not fail. He kidnapped the easiest prey from among Kibilhathur’s companions, knowing that his friends would not abandon him. After that, there were only the logistics of sendings and teleports and such to work out, and he could lead them back through safely, one Slice at a time, to the castle. Then he would let Flicker Proudfoot go, and deliver Kibilhathur Bimson to the Lord of the Roses as promised.
There was only one potential trouble spot. A necessary Way opened into an icy Demon Slice that was thick with dangerous frost-demons. They would need to travel down a narrow mountain path in a strong, cold wind; their tactical position would be poor if the frost-demons attacked. Srapa knew that he would have to keep close, ready to assist Kibilhathur and his friends if there was an attack. But he also need to be prepared to escape, should his charges turn on him. The Lord of the Roses had made it clear that Kibilhathur Bimson, at the very least, must not come to harm.
* *
Thus it was that when the Company came through the Way onto the icy mountain, Srapa was high above them, invisible, mind blanked, flying and (in case of emergency) levitating. He had true seeing activated and was staying at the edge of its range, a hundred feet off the ground, just low enough that he could see the Company even if they were invisible. He had an arsenal of empowered fireballs at the ready, in case the frost-demons attacked. (He had seen a pack of them a few hundred feet down the mountain path – combat seemed inevitable). And he had escape plans. Teleports. Dimension door. Even a limited wish if things got really hairy. He was as ready as he could be…
* *
A strong wind greets the Company as they emerge, though they are shielded from the cold by their spells. Beneath their feet is hard, crunchy ice. They are standing on a ledge-track on a frozen mountainside – on their left the mountain rises steeply , and on their right is a precipitous drop of unknown length. A few feet in front of them is an arrow made of black liquid poured onto the snow. It indicates downward. Morningstar realizes that the strong wind and swirling snow may make wind walking as tough a proposition as just hiking down the icy track.
Ernie and Aravis spend a moment looking around in all directions with true seeing. Aravis sees nothing in such limited visibility, but…
“Guys, guys! shouts Ernie. “Magic! Up there!”
They all look upward. Most of the party sees nothing, but Aravis sees what Ernie has already noticed: a vague humanoid form barely visible through the blowing snow. It glows with enchantment. High up, Srapa sees right away that he’s been spotted, and decides he should fly upward out of range. He knows he won’t be able to see the party if he gets much higher, but he’ll hear the sounds of battle should it come to that.
Ernie sees the magical form start to rise upward, but before it vanishes from his (true) sight, he raises his hand and casts a spell. A green ray springs from his finger and strikes true. Srapa is dimensionally anchored, and now glowing a bright emerald-green.
“Target,” whispers Grey Wolf to himself.
Morningstar, keeping her priorities in mind, casts locate object on Flicker’s boots, but again she detects nothing. Everyone else who can takes a shot at the lizard-man. Dranko slings magical bullets and hits twice, once critically. Kibi peppers him with magic missiles. Grey Wolf nails him with enervation. (Good bye limited wish and spell turning). Snokas pegs him with an arrow. And Aravis, taking a guess at the spells on Srapa, casts a greater dispelling targeting the fly spell on the lizard man. He wins the contested battle of magical power, and the fly spell is gone.
Left with only his levitate keeping him up, Srapa is blown downward by the gusting winds, slightly closer to the Company. He recognizes the green glow of the dimensional anchor and knows he cannot teleport away until he gets rid of it. Seriously wounded, his thoughts are now only of escape. If only the cursed winds had blown him upward and out of sight of his attackers’ true seeing spells…
He dispels the anchor, and prepares to teleport away. He knows this will give the Company a few more seconds to launch attacks, but the only spell that could have saved him in one round, limited wish, is now drained from his mind. His only hope is that Kibi and his friends won’t want to kill him while he still has Flicker captive.
Ernie casts flame strike. The natural effects of the plane dim its effects somewhat but Srapa still finds it painful. If he can only survive a few more seconds…
“Got him!” yells Ernie. “Morningstar, did you see where I targeted? He’s still right there!”
Morningstar squints up into the bright white sky. Any other sister of Ell would be blinded, but Morningstar’s vision is clear. She can even make out a small wisp of smoke rising from the hovering creature.
And Ellish flame strikes, delivering cold damage instead of fire, turn out to magnified by the plane.
Whoomph!
There’s a terrible cry on the wind. Srapa’s body appears and instantly plummets. It bounces off the mountain side and falls away downward and out of sight. Dranko gets a fly spell from one of the party wizards and flies downward to retrieve the body. The wind is still strong and makes the going difficult. There are jagged stalagmites of ice and shattered, stubby evergreens jutting up at angles from the rocky face of the mountain. Dranko does his best to avoid getting blown into them.
He only spots Srapa’s body because of the blood. The lizard-man is impaled on a snapped-off pine tree that’s poking up through the ice, having fallen over two hundred feet. Dranko picks up Srapa’s staff, searches briefly for other belongings, and then sets about prizing the body off its stake. It’s a chore, since the body has slid past downward-pointing branches, and the blood is already starting to freeze. Finally the corpse wrenches free with a gruesome tearing sound; fresh blood gouts out, spilling onto Dranko.
“Flicker, I’m doing this for you. There’s no treasure worth this, that’s for sure.”
Despite his anger, Dranko gives the body a post-mortem shriving and says brief last rites, then hauls the body back up to the others. Once he has dropped off the corpse, he flies Morningstar up to where Srapa had been hovering so she can cast more thought captures. Again, nothing, except a stray though or two from Dranko. Not wishing to stay here longer, they return through the Way to the Slice of black glass before searching the body for clues to Flicker’s whereabouts.
There are numerous magic items on the body of the lizard-man wizard. His staff is magical, as is an amulet, a headband, a golden ring, some scrolls in tubes, and two large sapphires. One of these last two is glowing conspicuously, and has something written on it in foreign characters. Kibi casts comprehend languages and announces it’s Flicker’s name scratched into the gem. Aravis peers closely at the sapphire with his true seeing and sees a tiny indistinct form in its center.
“Break it!” yells Ernie. “Get him out! Get him out! Is he dead? Is he hurt?”
“He’s inside a giant sapphire,” says Dranko. “He probably thinks he’s died and gone to heaven.”
…to be continued…
Last edited:
thatdarncat
Overlord of Chat
uh oh...
they just killed their guide AND the only help they had. Not good
they just killed their guide AND the only help they had. Not good
Fimmtiu
First Post
thatdarncat said:uh oh...
they just killed their guide AND the only help they had. Not good
Actually, it seems pretty good to me. Magical loot, one fewer name on the asskicking list, they have Flicker back, they can probably retrace their steps to the Inn, and they've given those frost-demons the laugh entirely. Not bad at all!
Man, if Srapa had only used see invisibility instead of true seeing, he might have made it. Tsk, tsk.
Jackylhunter
First Post
Hmmm, good stuff, but they haven't actually gotten Flicker out yet. BTW, what was Flickers player doing during that game?
Similar Threads
