Sagiro's Story Hour: The FINAL Adventures of Abernathy's Company (FINISHED 7/3/14)
- Thread starter Sagiro
- Start date
LightPhoenix
First Post
Another One Comes Home to Roost (part 339) starts on page 88, not sure offhand where it ends in relation to the PDF.
Chronikoce
First Post
Thanks a bunch! Now I can read some more, hooray!
LightPhoenix
First Post
Piratecat
Sesquipedalian
I enthusiastically encouraged Sagiro when I saw him this weekend. He's hip-deep in Card Hunter right now, but is hopefully planning an update. Good stuff coming.
Sagiro
Rodent of Uncertain Parentage
Only a short update, but I wanted to give you guys something. Sorry for the delay, but as Piratecat said, I've been devoting extra hours to Card Hunter recently as we approach our first round of public Beta testing. (And if you'd like to sign up for that Beta, go to www.cardhunter.com and add your name to the list!)
Sagiro’s Story Hour, Part 349
Triple Play
Given the strong ambient Earth Magic, Kibi thinks perhaps the solution is as simple as him merely willing local time back into alignment. He tries this, but with no success; such an endeavor would require far more power than he possesses. But the attempt does give him a clear sense of a massive object, only minutes removed from normal time. He has no idea how to bring it any closer.
“Can’t we just wait a few minutes?” asks Dranko. Kibi sighs.
Time for another approach. Morningstar drops into Ava Dormo and observes the local dreamscape. She definitely senses the same large object as Kibi, though it’s out of focus and she can’t conclude anything about it.
Morningstar closes her eyes. She filters out all distractions from her mind and concentrates with single-minded purpose. I want to see…
She opens her eyes, and is looking at the hulking outline of a stone castle. The only parts she can see are the walls and exterior towers – the parts adjacent to normal space-time. She estimates it to be over four hundred feet long, and at least half that in width, and the spot where Kibi and Dranko are concentrating is the main arched entrance into the castle. Morningstar walks her waking body to that spot, and hears a faint sound, like many overlapping whispers.
Next up: thought captures. Morningstar exits Ava Dormo, stands at the invisible entrance to the time-shifted castle and casts four consecutive spells to discern what’s been thought there.
The first thought is Dranko’s – alien, tentacle-ish thoughts that make her shudder. She quickly forgets them.
The second though it Kibi’s, as he concentrates furiously on channeling Earth Magic.
The third thought is Dranko again. “Ah, that’s better.”
The fourth thought – ah, that’s the one. Someone is concentrating very, very hard on thinking the words “My life for Naloric.”
Is it a pass phrase that gains entrance to the castle? Perhaps. But no one is keen to speak it right then, because for one thing, they’re all quite resource-depleted after the battle with the arachnid Seki, and for another, there might be some sort of binding power or compulsion in speaking such an inauspicious phrase.
“I have one more thing to try,” says Aravis. “I’m going to cast time stop and see what this so-called castle looks like.”
His friends freeze in mid-motion, the sound of the breeze is quieted… and there’s a huge castle. Right there, right in front of him, clear as day. Its wooden front doors are right where they expected, thick and iron-banded, and set into a large stone archway. Fortunately there are no people up on the thirty-foot walls waiting to repel invaders.
There is one particularly strange feature, though. Rising up from behind the wall, at least a hundred feet distant, is what looks like a detached chunk of outer space. Aravis guesses that it’s a volume of the Astral Plane, hovering inside the castle, and large enough that the top of it is higher than the walls. He can’t see most of it, but Aravis figures it’s a vaguely spherical blob of Astral-stuff, some forty feet in diameter. But what is its purpose…?
Time kicks in, and the castle, with its orphaned splotch of Astral Plane, vanishes.
Just to be safe, Aravis casts a mind blank on himself, and then he and the other wizards teleport the entire group back to the Greenhouse. They’ve learned enough for one day.
/*/
Around the living room table, Aravis shares with the others what he saw. Ernie wonders aloud if they should tell Ozilinsh, but that only brings about an awkward silence, a silence broken when Kibi suddenly grins and says, “It’s too dangerous for him to know!” Soon enough the whole Company is laughing, thinking back to the way Abernathy was so reticent with information, at the start of their adventuring careers.
“That may have been petty,” Ernie admits, “but it felt good to hear.”
Soon, though, they get down to the business of figuring out how they can gain access to a time-shifted castle. As is typical when they try to crack this sort of nut, they start throwing out ideas, most of which are quickly ascertained to be untenable. These include finding a way to stabilize the mysterious chunk of the Astral Plane and plane shifting into it; inking enough time stop scrolls to allow everyone to gain egress; casting time stop on just a few people, who will be carrying the others on their backs; and even just having Aravis cast dimension door while frozen in time, with the hope that once inside they’ll get caught up in the castle’s local time-stream.
In the end, though, they work out a solution to their problem. It’s a solution that makes most of the party quite nervous, but it should work.
The next morning Morningstar makes a quick teleport journey to Kallor, to make a report to the High Priestess Rhiavonne. Rhiavonne has independently learned that it is Octesian who is murdering citizens in their sleep, but is happy to have corroborating evidence through Morningstar’s commune. When Morningstar tells her what their plans are for the day, Rhiavonne looks aghast, and then shakes her head.
“This is why you are the field agent, and I, thank the Goddess, am merely the High Priestess. If things go wrong, and you need… recovery… how will anyone recognize you?”
Morningstar laughs. “I’ll be the black one.”
/*/
Back in the Greatwood, they find that the Seki bodies have not been cleared away. The corpses stink and swarm with flies.
At the patch of grass where the castle entrance lurks several shifted minutes away, Morningstar applies mind blank to Dranko, Aravis and Kibi as a precautionary measure. Grey Wolf makes them invisible. Kibi casts see invisibility on himself, lacking the permanent divinatory enchantments of the other two. There’s not much point in buffing up anyone else, as they soon will no longer technically be among the living.
“Are you ready?” asks Aravis.
Everyone nods.
“Cheer up!” says Kibi, to Grey Wolf, Flicker, Morningstar and Ernie. “Most people never get such a wonderful opportunity.”
Before they can answer, Aravis begins to cast his prepared battery of polymorph any object spells, and one by one, he turns four of his friends into small pebbles. He clenches these securely in his fist. To Kibi and Dranko, he says, “I’ll go first.”
He casts time stop.
There’s the castle, same as before, its walls still undefended. Before him is the large wooden door; he peremptorily casts knock, and is satisfied to hear the clanking sound of a large metal bar falling on the door’s far side. Then he frowns; so much for secrecy. Aravis puts his shoulder into the door and heaves it open far enough to squeeze inside.
He’s looking into what, for the most part, is an ordinary castle interior. A long wall runs through a scraggly yard, partitioning the grounds. Numerous buildings crowd against the walls, including a squat stone keep in the center, and some 150’ away to the left is a smaller wooden door leading to some other parts of the castle. No, the only odd thing is that hovering mass of Astral Plane peeking over the partitioning wall. He quickly scoots into the shadows of one of the nearby outbuildings, just before normal time resumes for him. He holds his breath, hoping that he has merged with the local flow of time. Morningstar, Flicker, Ernie and Grey Wolf are still tightly gripped in his left hand.
From Kibi and Dranko’s point of view, Aravis has just vanished.
“I hope it worked,” says Kibi, worriedly.
“Let’s find out,” says Dranko. The half-orc reaches into that spot of black madness deep within his psyche, calling upon the tentacular powers to stop time. They assent, and Kibi is standing motionless, while all around Dranko sees so many things, so many…
He shakes his head and tries to focus. What he mostly sees is a large castle with its door slightly ajar. He slips inside, takes stock of his surroundings, and notes Aravis, also motionless, lurking in a corner. He moves to join his friend, and time returns, though not his full sanity.
Kibi is now alone in the empty wood.
“I wish I got to be a pebble,” he mutters, and then he casts his own time stop. The castle leaps out from nowhere to loom over him, its door swung open. He hurries inside, pushes the door closed, and replaces the bar. He has enough time to join the others, currently still as statues, before time returns.
It’s quiet. Aravis, Dranko and Kibi look around the yard, each of them feeling an odd chill of transformation as the local time-stream accepts them. Kibi finds it particularly thrilling; Earth Magic is its source.
He grins at the other two. “Looks like we’re in!”
…to be continued…
Sagiro’s Story Hour, Part 349
Triple Play
Given the strong ambient Earth Magic, Kibi thinks perhaps the solution is as simple as him merely willing local time back into alignment. He tries this, but with no success; such an endeavor would require far more power than he possesses. But the attempt does give him a clear sense of a massive object, only minutes removed from normal time. He has no idea how to bring it any closer.
“Can’t we just wait a few minutes?” asks Dranko. Kibi sighs.
Time for another approach. Morningstar drops into Ava Dormo and observes the local dreamscape. She definitely senses the same large object as Kibi, though it’s out of focus and she can’t conclude anything about it.
Morningstar closes her eyes. She filters out all distractions from her mind and concentrates with single-minded purpose. I want to see…
She opens her eyes, and is looking at the hulking outline of a stone castle. The only parts she can see are the walls and exterior towers – the parts adjacent to normal space-time. She estimates it to be over four hundred feet long, and at least half that in width, and the spot where Kibi and Dranko are concentrating is the main arched entrance into the castle. Morningstar walks her waking body to that spot, and hears a faint sound, like many overlapping whispers.
Next up: thought captures. Morningstar exits Ava Dormo, stands at the invisible entrance to the time-shifted castle and casts four consecutive spells to discern what’s been thought there.
The first thought is Dranko’s – alien, tentacle-ish thoughts that make her shudder. She quickly forgets them.
The second though it Kibi’s, as he concentrates furiously on channeling Earth Magic.
The third thought is Dranko again. “Ah, that’s better.”
The fourth thought – ah, that’s the one. Someone is concentrating very, very hard on thinking the words “My life for Naloric.”
Is it a pass phrase that gains entrance to the castle? Perhaps. But no one is keen to speak it right then, because for one thing, they’re all quite resource-depleted after the battle with the arachnid Seki, and for another, there might be some sort of binding power or compulsion in speaking such an inauspicious phrase.
“I have one more thing to try,” says Aravis. “I’m going to cast time stop and see what this so-called castle looks like.”
His friends freeze in mid-motion, the sound of the breeze is quieted… and there’s a huge castle. Right there, right in front of him, clear as day. Its wooden front doors are right where they expected, thick and iron-banded, and set into a large stone archway. Fortunately there are no people up on the thirty-foot walls waiting to repel invaders.
There is one particularly strange feature, though. Rising up from behind the wall, at least a hundred feet distant, is what looks like a detached chunk of outer space. Aravis guesses that it’s a volume of the Astral Plane, hovering inside the castle, and large enough that the top of it is higher than the walls. He can’t see most of it, but Aravis figures it’s a vaguely spherical blob of Astral-stuff, some forty feet in diameter. But what is its purpose…?
Time kicks in, and the castle, with its orphaned splotch of Astral Plane, vanishes.
Just to be safe, Aravis casts a mind blank on himself, and then he and the other wizards teleport the entire group back to the Greenhouse. They’ve learned enough for one day.
/*/
Around the living room table, Aravis shares with the others what he saw. Ernie wonders aloud if they should tell Ozilinsh, but that only brings about an awkward silence, a silence broken when Kibi suddenly grins and says, “It’s too dangerous for him to know!” Soon enough the whole Company is laughing, thinking back to the way Abernathy was so reticent with information, at the start of their adventuring careers.
“That may have been petty,” Ernie admits, “but it felt good to hear.”
Soon, though, they get down to the business of figuring out how they can gain access to a time-shifted castle. As is typical when they try to crack this sort of nut, they start throwing out ideas, most of which are quickly ascertained to be untenable. These include finding a way to stabilize the mysterious chunk of the Astral Plane and plane shifting into it; inking enough time stop scrolls to allow everyone to gain egress; casting time stop on just a few people, who will be carrying the others on their backs; and even just having Aravis cast dimension door while frozen in time, with the hope that once inside they’ll get caught up in the castle’s local time-stream.
In the end, though, they work out a solution to their problem. It’s a solution that makes most of the party quite nervous, but it should work.
The next morning Morningstar makes a quick teleport journey to Kallor, to make a report to the High Priestess Rhiavonne. Rhiavonne has independently learned that it is Octesian who is murdering citizens in their sleep, but is happy to have corroborating evidence through Morningstar’s commune. When Morningstar tells her what their plans are for the day, Rhiavonne looks aghast, and then shakes her head.
“This is why you are the field agent, and I, thank the Goddess, am merely the High Priestess. If things go wrong, and you need… recovery… how will anyone recognize you?”
Morningstar laughs. “I’ll be the black one.”
/*/
Back in the Greatwood, they find that the Seki bodies have not been cleared away. The corpses stink and swarm with flies.
At the patch of grass where the castle entrance lurks several shifted minutes away, Morningstar applies mind blank to Dranko, Aravis and Kibi as a precautionary measure. Grey Wolf makes them invisible. Kibi casts see invisibility on himself, lacking the permanent divinatory enchantments of the other two. There’s not much point in buffing up anyone else, as they soon will no longer technically be among the living.
“Are you ready?” asks Aravis.
Everyone nods.
“Cheer up!” says Kibi, to Grey Wolf, Flicker, Morningstar and Ernie. “Most people never get such a wonderful opportunity.”
Before they can answer, Aravis begins to cast his prepared battery of polymorph any object spells, and one by one, he turns four of his friends into small pebbles. He clenches these securely in his fist. To Kibi and Dranko, he says, “I’ll go first.”
He casts time stop.
There’s the castle, same as before, its walls still undefended. Before him is the large wooden door; he peremptorily casts knock, and is satisfied to hear the clanking sound of a large metal bar falling on the door’s far side. Then he frowns; so much for secrecy. Aravis puts his shoulder into the door and heaves it open far enough to squeeze inside.
He’s looking into what, for the most part, is an ordinary castle interior. A long wall runs through a scraggly yard, partitioning the grounds. Numerous buildings crowd against the walls, including a squat stone keep in the center, and some 150’ away to the left is a smaller wooden door leading to some other parts of the castle. No, the only odd thing is that hovering mass of Astral Plane peeking over the partitioning wall. He quickly scoots into the shadows of one of the nearby outbuildings, just before normal time resumes for him. He holds his breath, hoping that he has merged with the local flow of time. Morningstar, Flicker, Ernie and Grey Wolf are still tightly gripped in his left hand.
From Kibi and Dranko’s point of view, Aravis has just vanished.
“I hope it worked,” says Kibi, worriedly.
“Let’s find out,” says Dranko. The half-orc reaches into that spot of black madness deep within his psyche, calling upon the tentacular powers to stop time. They assent, and Kibi is standing motionless, while all around Dranko sees so many things, so many…
He shakes his head and tries to focus. What he mostly sees is a large castle with its door slightly ajar. He slips inside, takes stock of his surroundings, and notes Aravis, also motionless, lurking in a corner. He moves to join his friend, and time returns, though not his full sanity.
Kibi is now alone in the empty wood.
“I wish I got to be a pebble,” he mutters, and then he casts his own time stop. The castle leaps out from nowhere to loom over him, its door swung open. He hurries inside, pushes the door closed, and replaces the bar. He has enough time to join the others, currently still as statues, before time returns.
It’s quiet. Aravis, Dranko and Kibi look around the yard, each of them feeling an odd chill of transformation as the local time-stream accepts them. Kibi finds it particularly thrilling; Earth Magic is its source.
He grins at the other two. “Looks like we’re in!”
…to be continued…
blargney the second
blargney the minute's son
Thanks for the update, Sagiro! I like seeing the way you present significant obstacles to your players with no apparent solution.
Mathew_Freeman
Adventurer
That's a real example (in two different ways) of how the party has come on.
Firstly, not telling Ozilinsh something because it's "too dangerous for him to know". Brilliant and I can see why the whole group collapsed in giggles.
And the other thing - having them cast multiple time stops to overcome the protection. Wow. That's some high level stuff right there!
Firstly, not telling Ozilinsh something because it's "too dangerous for him to know". Brilliant and I can see why the whole group collapsed in giggles.
And the other thing - having them cast multiple time stops to overcome the protection. Wow. That's some high level stuff right there!
carborundum
Adventurer
Don't have a fixed solution, just a fixed problem. Brilliant! I've had great fun doing this in my own campaign - thanks for the idea, Sagiro 
/subscribes to enWorld to help read more Sagiro's Story Hour
/subscribes to enWorld to help read more Sagiro's Story Hour
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