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Message: <blockquote data-quote="shilsen" data-source="post: 4603180" data-attributes="member: 198">Here's a quick and short example of why my group is mental...* * * * *With their enemies having either fled or been destroyed by the magical storm, which still rages around them, the Angels enter the structure which the twin former devas had occupied. The inside is almost completely empty, except for the vinelike tendrils which grow across the walls. The only other thing in the hemisphere, pushed up against one side, is a rough, uncarved grey stone about two feet across.“What’s this?” asks Luna, studying the stone with a distasteful expression. “Looks like it has some weird liquid on it.” “Warpstone*,” says Nameless instantly, realizing as he does so that he has never seen it before. His voice takes on the pedantic tone which it does when he shares information gained not via experience but through his connection with Xoriat, the daelkyr and the Great Old One, Cyäegha – “That ‘sweat’ on it is characteristic and constant. It is a material normally only found on Xoriat, which can affect creatures and terrain in the area in strange ways. Usually it has to be in the same place to affect things around it, and the longer it stays in one area the greater the effect (in intensity and in distance). Where creatures are concerned, it needs to be in close proximity with them for long periods of time to have an effect. Daelkyr and other aberrations specialized in fleshwarping can control the effects, using it to mold creatures as they wish. Warpstone can also affect magical locations and items, though the effect is weaker than on non-magical terrain and on creatures. Some aberrations use it as a component in creating some of their magical items, and especially symbionts (which are often fed/infused with warpstone as part of the process).” He stops and chuckles harshly, “Don’t anyone tell Mordain about this. I think he’d kill us all to get his hands on it.”“Thank you, professor Nameless,” says Luna sarcastically. “Maybe we can have some fun with it.” “It sounds like something we should destroy,” says Gareth instantly, but Luna ignores him. She picks up the warpstone in her huge tentacles with minimal effort, and then says, “Hey – check this out!” Lying beneath the warpstone in a hollow is what seems to be an oblong bowl made of blue crystal.As she reaches for the bowl, Nameless snaps, “Wait!” The alienist steps forward, ignoring what passes for a scowl on the druid’s now-tendriculos face. “It’s highly magical, with strong divination and abjuration auras.” After having ascertained that they do not mark a magical trap but are simply signs of the object’s inherent power, Nameless carefully picks it up. As soon as he touches it, he feels a faint – and inimical – pressure, as if contact with the object had caused it to make some sort of assault on his mind, but Nameless’ mind blank renders him immune to it. “We need to study this later,” he says. “Put it and the stone away.”“I still saw we should destroy it,” insists Gareth. “Maybe later,” says Korm, chuckling grimly as he waves a hand to indicate the entire group. “Seriously – what could it do to us that hasn’t already been done?”Gareth gives in with a poor grace and the Angels step outside. Once Luna has dispelled the storm, the Angels look at what it leaves behind. Hundreds of bodies, torn, burned and battered, now litter the landscape around them, and they stand in the center of a giant circle of blood, flesh and gore. Korm whistles slowly. “Damn – we are nasty!”The Angels proceed to quickly scan the area for valuables and other interesting items, but little of note shows up among the bodies. Having picked up whatever few things they wish to take, they then head off to clean up the mess, as Luna puts it. This takes a fair amount of time, since the survivors have fled in terror every which way, and the Angels chase down and destroy as many of them as they can. The fleeing fugitives range from members of the two human clans to the giant aberrations which resemble malformed gelatinous cubes. The latter are found singly or in small clumps fleeing slowly and blindly away from the scene of the one-sided battle, and are blasted with spells and arrows from a distance until they fall apart. The clan-members put up more of a defense, but it is a hopeless one, and the Angels dispose of them brutally and clinically.The only captive they take is an unlucky dolgaunt, whom Six simply knocks down and out while the others are carving up its allies. When they have revived it, the creature first struggles and then, seeing that it is futile, refuses to respond in any way to the Angels’ questions.After a quick discussion with the others, Korm suddenly turns to face it, his visage very different than it was a few moments ago. His chin has elongated greatly and has grown into four short tentacles, while his mouth seems to have descended below them, as evidenced by his slightly muffled tones. “I am a mindflayer and your boss!” he says confidently.“What?!” says the dolgaunt, confusion clear on its eyeless face.“Oh, wait!” Korm concentrates and then winks at the creature, calling on his druidic powers to focus magical energy through his eyes, beguiling the dolgaunt into considering him its best friend. The aberration fails to resist the Gatekeeper’s power and is even more confused now. “My … master,” it finally says, looking first at Korm and then at the others, “Why have you captured me? Why are you with these creatures from Khorvaire?”“Khorvaire?” asks Nameless, speaking impeccable daelkyr, as he steps into view. He has manifested his aspect and dropped his habitual disguise, and the myriad eyes which cover his face, body and arms stare at the dolgaunt. The alienist reaches up with his tentacle to scratch his chin. “Is that what you think of us – fool?”As the dolgaunt stares back and forth, Korm says, “Tell me – why did you survive? Didn’t you know the real plan?”“Plan? What plan?” asks the dolgaunt, almost whimpering with its lack of comprehension.Korm cuffs it lightly across the face, a blow which snaps its head back and almost dislocates its head. “Fool! Answer me!”“Please – master!” This time the dolgaunt is actually whimpering. “I knew of no plan. I am a faithful servant of the masters. I hear and obey.”Korm exchanges a glance with Gareth, sitting behind the dolgaunt. The paladin’s eyes glow silver, the argent light indicating that he is detecting the hapless aberrations’s thoughts. He nods to indicate that it is telling the truth.“All right. You are a fool, but a loyal one. Tell me of … um, the twins.”The dolgaunt looks blank for a moment and then says, “The lords Baran and Narab? Do you not know them?”“Fool!” roars Korm to hide the fact that he has little idea what he’s saying. “That’s part of the plan! Which you don’t know about! Clearly! So just tell me what you know about them!”“Where did they come from?” adds Six helpfully. “And how long ago?”“Yes!” says Korm quickly. “What the metal monster said!”Still thoroughly confused, the dolgaunt hurriedly complies, “I know little of them, master. I only saw them days ago, before we came up to the surface. The other masters said that they had the favor of the high lord Kyrzin.” Korm and Nameless note the reference to the daelkyr lord – and supposed creator – of oozes, whose realm supposedly lies beneath the Shadow Marches. The dolgaunt continues, “I was told that they can travel between the worlds. They were sent here when the gates to Xoriat were opened. Truly, master, I know nothing more!”Korm nods, attempting to keep a stern expression on his face even though the creature’s responses are making him laugh inwardly. “Do you know why this army was formed? Huh?” “To raid the upper world?” asks the dolgaunt in return.Korm exchanges another glance with Gareth, who says, “He really doesn’t know anything else.”“All right,” says Korm, before turning back to the dolgaunt. He leans forward and places a hand on its shoulders. “You have done well. Thank you.”And then, as the dolgaunt begins to smile, Korm’s head snaps forward and the tentacles burrow into the dolgaunt’s skull. It screams in agony, thrashes around for a few seconds, and then goes limp in the Gatekeeper’s grasp, as Korm continues to dig deeper. There is a cracking sound, followed by a nauseating squishing and then an even worse slurping, as Korm reaches into and begins to devour the creature’s brain.“Ahem!”Korm looks up at the faces around him, his tentacles still buried in the creature’s skull and his face attached to its head, gray matter trickling slowly from under his tentacles where his mouth is. “What? We were done with him. And I’m hungry. Don’t look at me like that! It’s just a snack! I can quit eating aberrations anytime. Really!”Despite his lack of breath, Six manages to sigh and turns away. “I’m never quite sure,” he says quietly, mostly to himself, “Why I travel with you people.”* Thank you, Warhammer!</blockquote>

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