The Selgaunt Campaign

[glincaelin]

Marduke

Recovering from the stun of seeing the bevested Arweil running away in the wrong direction, Marduke readies Grock-Thu and again speaks quickly to the priest of Torm in an odd dialect of Celestial.

“It’s to my ‘sperience that whate’er a Player wants to do is th’ opposite of what’s good fer me! If they be yer friends best get ‘em out a’ that hole – don’t look safe in there!”

OOC: Marduke will ready an action to attack if Tal attacks, jump into the portal if Tal jumps into the portal – basically to do whatever Tal suggests.

 

[haiiro]

Owlbear Path

Showing no sign of slowing -- or that he heard Tal's call for reason -- Arweil continues to run full-tilt towards the shrinking portal. Closing to about twenty feet, he scrunches up his already pinched features in concentration, and winds up to throw the glowing object on the run.

It's pretty clear that he's aiming for the portal, and intends to make his throw without coming into greatsword range.

Tal and Marduke can both take a standard action before Arweil has a chance to toss the glowing stone. He's 20' away, running straight towards you, and is about to make his throw.

glincaelin, make a Knowledge (the planes) check for Marduke. If you succeed vs. DC 17, go ahead and read the blacked-out text below; if not, leave it be.

Tal only:

Spoiler

You're not sure why Father Gedrik ever mentioned this little tidbit -- the old priest certainly knew how to ramble, Father "No Segue" Gedrik was what some of the acolytes called him -- but you're pretty sure the glowing stone is a planar beacon. With the right spell or item, one could home in on its "signal" from anywhere on the same plane. The more powerful versions have the same function, but allow homing from any plane.

 

[Xen]

Tal

"Get ready to jump through - was looking for them anyway." Tal barks out as a whisper, hoping that Marduke will follow. Showing no outward sign, Tal readies himself, hoping he can at least block the stone before it enters the portal - and then grab his pack and enter the portal himself.

OOC: Tal is waiting for Arweil's throw. He'll try to put his body, hand, face, whatever, in the way so as to keep the stone from going through the portal. I believe this is his full standard action - but if I'm wrong and he can still move, he'll pick up his pack and make for the portal.

 

[glincaelin]

Marduke

“Hrhm? ‘Jump’ you say?” Caught between a stone and an extra-planar space Marduke chooses the latter at the urging of his comrade Tal, leaping into the damaged portal. This better not be the fricken’ Abyss – I don’t think they’d be happy to see me again!

He stops just on the other side, coming to halt next to a Gnome. Marduke gives him a quick sidelong look – another vest, was there a sale somewhere? – and then turns back to look into the portal.

OOC: Knowledge (TP) = 20 (10+10) on the secret Tal message.

 

[haiiro]

Owlbear Path

Tal stands his ground, his whole body tense as he tries to anticipate the stone's path.

Marduke leaps through the shrinking portal.

Arweil throws the brightly glowing stone, and then veers off so he doesn't run into Tal.

From just behind Tal, there is a startlingly bright flash of blue light. For a split second, the edges of every leaf in sight are limned in its glow.

Arweil's stone flies towards the portal in a low, flat arc.

Tal needs to make a Reflex check to try and block the stone. Arweil doesn't look like he's going to hang around, so if Tal blocks it he'll be able to do as he pleases -- until the portal disappears, that is.

-----

The Tower

As the Follies all turn their attention to the shrinking portal, the shimmering man winks out of existence behind them. Now the only light comes from the portal itself -- a pale glow brightened by occasional sparks of energy -- and from Tuggle's everburning torch.

Olo, Milo and Jaehn disappear at nearly the same time, and the three views of Evermeet's slender towers blink out as well. There's a sense that a very strange chain of events is about to wind to a close, and the moment has weight: it feels as though history has just been made.

Then an old, wiry dwarf comes barrelling through the portal in a flurry of sand-colored robes, his urgrosh scraping a line of sparks on the stone floor as he lands in the tower. As he dusts off his knees and stands up, his gaze lingers for a moment on Tuggle's vest -- and then he turns and looks back into the portal.

Which is now about five feet wide, and shrinking fast. On the other side, a bright ball of purple light is flying towards the portal -- and Tal is trying to put as much of himself between it and the portal as he can.

 

[Artemis Blade]

"If it comes through, I'll try to knock it back to the other side." Artemis moves in close to the portal where the object is coming through, drawing his rapier and holding it back over his shoulder, ready to swing.

OOC: Artemis swings at the Lemon of Death if it flies through the portal. He is trying to bat it back onto the other side. Roll for me if needed.

 

[Xen]

Tal

Tal leaps out to block the small stone as it flies through the air...

Reflex check is 21 ([20] +1), as rolled by my d20 of natural 20's. Take that! - purple lemon of death!

 

[haiiro]

Arweil veers away, not looking to see if his stone finds its target.

It doesn't -- Tal winds up and bats it aside deftly with his greatsword. A sharp clang! echoes down the path, and the stone flies off into the trees.

Even focused on the stone, Tal can tell that the portal is closing fast behind him, the glow it sheds onto the path dimming perceptibly every second. Tal grabs his pack, reverses his greatsword and tucks it under one arm, and steps through the portal. It's small enough at this point that it contracts behind him -- from about three feet wide when his foot touches it, to less than a foot when he's on the other side.

All of the Follies see a bright flash shoot out of the now tiny portal, lighting up the path Tal came from like a flare. Then it narrows to a point of light and disappears, leaving a small shower of blue sparks behind. After a moment, this too disappears.

In the flickering light of the everburning torch, Marduke and Tal face Artemis, Cupric and Tuggle, and for a second it is eerily quiet.

OOC: Arweil rolled a 6 for his throw.

All in one place at last! What would everyone like to do?

 

[Xen]

Tal

"So, anyone want to tell me where in Torm's Mighty Realm we are - and how you found us?" Says Tal, with a broad smile to his firends. "It's good to see you all again. Follies, this is Marduke - Marduke, meet the Follies." Tal procedes to introduce Marduke to the Follies one by one, by name. "Marduke and I met on what was to be the journey to Selgaunt - he's a friend." Tal straightens up his belongings, checks his sword for dings, and waits to hear more about where they are and what has happened in his absence.


OOC: Assuming we don't want to go through all the events in online time, can we do stuff like say "OOC: We fill them in."?

 

[haiiro]

OOC: Assuming we don't want to go through all the events in online time, can we do stuff like say "OOC: We fill them in."?

OOC: Sure thing. The blacked-out text stuff, however, I would relate in character -- unlike what's in the journals, it's not public knowledge.

Also, as I have yet to write the journal for session 10 -- the most recent tabletop one -- there are things about the current situation that Tal and Marduke have no way of knowing.

My suggestion there would be to do a bit of that in character, and handwave the other stuff. Keeping the tower in mind, how long you want to spend filling each other in may be a factor. Certainly if the Follies want to take an hour or two to rest and digest recent events, all parties can be brought completely up to date.

Hope this helps.