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Re: The Misadventures of the Missed Adventurers
ooc:[there brothers? the plot thickens.]
Narp "so, we're stuck between the telepath checking the wizard, the wizard checking us and thus the telepath finding out and..." Narp mutters a bit, then "if we take our leave of the baron, head west, let the wizard check up on us, then at night, because the telepath has to sleep sometime, jack, can you teleport us all a short distance only make it look like we left the general area? then we sneak back in using any subtle cloaking spells you guys know and look for the telepath. hopefully, we find him before he finds us." D nods, Jack nods, then everyone but Jack goes to sleep. on the fort's wall, a soldier looks up as he hears what sounds like a roaring breeze, but there is nothing there and the sound is gone. looking troubled, he continues his patrol. ooc:[unless Jack thinks of something to say. short explanation: if Narp is deep in scholar or fighter mode, anything that might divert his attention tends to get ignored, which is why he has yet to babble. the muttering does take some of the place of that, though. like the library the baron probably has, or anything less than impending destruction.] [ July 04, 2003, 06:53: Message edited by: narf poit chez BOOM ] |
Re: The Misadventures of the Missed Adventurers
Quote:
As everyone is sleeping, Jack mutters quietly to himself while making the talismans. Jack (under breath, still buisily enchanting away) "Let's see, what kind of thoughts would Narp have? He is a very deep thinker. That's hard to convincingly emulate. Hmm, I suppose I will just have to limit it to bodygaurd thoughts. As long as he hasn't been peeked at while thinking as a scholar, it should be OK.... let's see ... lots of sensory details and threat assesments...." An hour later, Jack finishes Narp's talisman, and begins work on D's. Jack (under breath, still buisily enchanting away) "As for D, his is the hardest. Ah, I know - I'll have him quitly considering A Verbose Tereatesies on Thermodynamics. I can just copy my own memory of it into the amulet; that will give it thirty years of speech-speed thought without repeating. I'll also need build a consideration routine, but I can do that; it should also boost it up to a century without repetition...." Three hours later, Jack finishes D's talisman, and starts on his own. Jack (under breath, still buisily enchanting away) "As for mine, I know me quite well. This one is easy; I'll just have me worrying some trivial detail of a harmless spell ... ah, my favorite: how can I add flavor to those apprentice rations...." ooc:[Better?] [ July 04, 2003, 11:02: Message edited by: Jack Simth ] |
Re: The Misadventures of the Missed Adventurers
ooc:[i think you might have gotten in the way of krsqk's next post. much.]
[ July 05, 2003, 01:20: Message edited by: narf poit chez BOOM ] |
Re: The Misadventures of the Missed Adventurers
The wizard turns and sneers at Arthur.
Master Wizard "Well, well, if it isn't my little brother who tries to play magician. What a pleasant surprise. I'd have thought you'd be trying to reassemble that little hovel you called a house." Arthur "John, you know why I'm here. You have my ring, and I want it." Master Wizard "And so do I. What's more, I happen to have it right now, and that counts for more than your claim to it. In fact--" The master wizard suddenly stops short. His face seems to change for a moment, and he draws in a sharp breath. He quickly regains his composure and continues. Master Wizard "Now, what was I saying? Oh, yes, about your ring. Well, it's just too bad..." The conversation continues, but Arthur isn't paying much attention to his brother. Arthur (to self) "That's odd. The response from under those hills changed to two exactly as John lost control then. Now it's back to one again. I'm going to have to check that out sooner rather than later, it seems." [ooc: I would guess that our friend the telepath has been occupied elsewhere (his wife had some chores for him? http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon12.gif ), and rather than slowly catch up on the wizard's actions, he opted for a broadband download which required a brief but complete takeover of the wizard's mind, despite the risk that this would be noticed. This would seem to indicate that he prefers the shortest/easiest effective path rather than the stealthiest one, much like Arthur (why else would Arthur travel in a noisy tornado instead of something a little less noticeable?)] [ July 05, 2003, 01:12: Message edited by: Krsqk ] |
Re: The Misadventures of the Missed Adventurers
ooc:[krsqk, we still don't have anything new to post. the balls in your court until we have something to do.]
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Re: The Misadventures of the Missed Adventurers
[ooc: I thought Jack had come up with something to do, before he changed his Last post. I didn't actually get to see it, though. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon7.gif Did you want to end up in the wizard's tower, or were you going to head off elsewhere? Arthur and his brother were basically just going to bicker until either you showed up to interrupt them or headed off in another direction (toward the telepath or the bandits or wherever).]
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Re: The Misadventures of the Missed Adventurers
ooc:[Well, you stopped the post in the middle of an active conversation while Narp and Jack were committed to actions which would Last until morning. Narf and I were waiting for that conversation to be concluded before moving on, so that the time would align properly. However, if you are waiting for an interruption, I can manage that....]
Just after Jack puts the finishing touches on the Last talisman, he hears what sounds like bickering. Jack (quietly to himself) "That's curious. Well, I'm done here, so I suppose I'll go investigate. However, I can't leave Narp and D ungaurded...." Jack quietly puts several teleport traps up around the room. Anyone entering through the door, the window, the walls, the ceiling, the floor, or via teleportation will find themselves just outside the manor's main gate. As Jack designed them to prevent intrusion, they are all disabled by a loud knock at the door. Satisfied, Jack flies out the window (the traps only affect those entering, so nothing happens), closes the window behind him, and flies around the manor to the room the bickering is coming from. At which point, he knocks on the window. ooc:[Oops - he forgot to leave a note. Anyone coming back after a midnight trip to take care of something could have problems....] [ July 07, 2003, 04:15: Message edited by: Jack Simth ] |
Re: The Misadventures of the Missed Adventurers
ooc:[Narp will awake if there's any sounds of a fight. new proposal:no evil or good races, no supeirer or inferior races. in other words, no 'standard' elves or orcs, etc.]
[ July 07, 2003, 16:26: Message edited by: narf poit chez BOOM ] |
Re: The Misadventures of the Missed Adventurers
The bickering over the ring continues for hours. After logic, threats, begging, and persuasion (all steadily increasing in volume) fail, Arthur is about to resort to fisticuffs to retrieve the property in question. Before he can do so, the quarrel is interrupted by a knock on the window.
Arthur "Were you expecting anyone tonight..er, this morning?" Master Wizard "No, but they can't get in, anyway; that window is covered in traps. Quit stalling, and let's see you if you can fight half as well as you can talk." Arthur glances toward the window. Recognizing Jack, he decides to continue stalling for a bit. Arthur "Say, isn't that one of the Baron's guests? I don't think he looks too comfortable perched on that ledge; maybe you should let him in. And isn't he dismantling your traps?" Master Wizard (muttergrumblearggh) "It's that bLasted apprentice again. I'll just have to do this the old fashioned way." He strides toward the window, casting invisible and conceal enchantment on himself before working up a large fireball. [ooc: I apologize again for the delay. RL has been crazier than I ever could have imagined lately. Provided I can get the washing machine fixed tonight, though, I should be back in business (fingers crossed http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon12.gif )] [ July 07, 2003, 22:15: Message edited by: Krsqk ] |
Re: The Misadventures of the Missed Adventurers
After dismantling the traps for a while, Jack changes his mind.
Jack "Ah, I suppose I really just want to get in - I can do without disabling the traps. These are fairly standard ones anyway; there's not much I'll learn by taking them apart. Besides, they might actually serve a useful purpose." With that, Jack teleports a large section of the wall up onto the roof of the manor (window, traps, and all) using some levitation to keep everything from collapsing. Unfortunately, the Wizard of Lago, having wandered too close to the window, goes with.... Jack "Hey Arthur, how are you doing? By the way, where'd the Wizard go? You seemed to be having a bit of an argument with him. Something about a ring?" [ July 08, 2003, 06:11: Message edited by: Jack Simth ] |
Re: The Misadventures of the Missed Adventurers
ooc:[it's mmyyy preeecciouuusss. mmyyy preeecciouuusss.]
as the sound of some distant thumps echoed through the manor, the guards on duty looked up. 'what? he's renovating again?' ooc:[they'll start heading for the tower if they see or hear something dangerous. ] Narp, slowly awakening with all the argueing, decides to investigate and at least tell the people to quiet down. grabbing his sword just because it's automatic, he straps on the sword-belt and heads up to the tower. findign the bottom of the stairs, he proceeds cautiosly upwards, although he doesn't think the wizard has any traps where people would have to go to meet him. just to make sure, he thinks as peacefully as possible, which, considering the book on weather effects, means downright dull. keeping his hands away from his sword-belt, he proceeds up the stairs. cloaking himself in illusion, D heads out to the yard in front of the tower. ooc:[one of you'll have a better idea of when to pop him in. maybe D should do something.] [ July 08, 2003, 21:33: Message edited by: narf poit chez BOOM ] |
Re: The Misadventures of the Missed Adventurers
Arthur "Hello, Jack. I'm doing fine, I guess. Yes, we were arguing about a ring. I need it to further my training."
Jack "Your training?" Arthur "Mages from my family are bound by several odd rules. One of them requires an apprentice to secure three signet rings before he can officially begin his training. He can receive some education after receiving each ring, but is forbidden to seek training beyond a certain point. The rings are arbitrarily distributed by the master when a student applies for apprenticeship. The apprentice must then obtain the rings from their owners; this usually involves some sort of trial or quest before the owner will surrender the ring." Arthur "I obtained the first two rings fairly easily. My father, who held the third ring, died before I was able to return from the second quest. It passed to my older brother, who is now the master wizard here at Lago. He refuses to give me the ring under any circumstances, probably because we've feuded since childhood." Jack "Can't you take the ring from him?" Arthur "I could, although it wouldn't help me. In fact it's sitting on that table." Arthur gestures toward a table in the corner of the room. On it sits a ring. The signet appears to be one third of a shield. "According to our rules, the ring has to be willingly surrendered by the owner. I would forfeit any possibility of further training if I took it by force. In fact, he could accuse me before the Guild and have me put to death." Jack "Can the Guild intervene in a situation like this?" Arthur "The Guild is old and stuck in their ways. They have the authority to do anything they wish, but they never exercise it--they prefer to stay huddled up in their library, debating over the meaning of dusty old tomes full of rules and regulations. Even if I appealed to them, John could simply say that I was not yet ready for further training, and they would buy it. In fact, they would probably view my appeal as proof of my immaturity and impatience." Arthur pauses a minute before continuing. "The master is permitted to intervene if he feels a ring is being unjustly held. Unfortunately, my father was my master. After his death, my brother became executor of my apprenticeship as well as owner of my father's third ring. I would not have to study with him, but I am forbidden to seek apprenticeship with another until I can present the entire signet of my previous master as evidence of my ability and trustworthiness." Jack "How have you been able to study, then?" Arthur "After it became clear that my brother would not return the ring, I began to study on my own. I am forbidden to seek or accept training, but self-study is not prohibited. I visited libraries everywhere and I watched wizards and mages performing their various spells. I could not ask or answer questions; and if there's one thing mages and librarians hate, it's being ignored when they've spoken to you. My knowledge is broad, but limited, because I've been run off from nearly everywhere I've visited as an arrogant young upstart. I had to leave other places because the people I was studying caught on to what I was doing and started to try to teach me. Refusing help isn't looked kindly on, either, and I was back to being a know-it-all youth." He stands, streches, and walks over to the window by which he entered. "After about fifteen hundred years of self-study and being run out of town, I decided that it would be better to get the third ring and seek training. Not that finding training will be easy--most teachers don't appreciate students with broad, shallow knowledge. It's seen as a lack of commitment, or worse, an inability to study. I'll probably have to get a Guild board appointed to teach me, which hasn't been done in seventy-five thousand years or so--not since Rellath began his formal apprenticeship. Of course, that's not a bad sign--Rellath was the Last Grand High Master Wizard we had in our family." Arthur "Not to change the subject or anything, but what's your take on this?" Arthur relates to Jack the particulars of his readings from the northern underground. |
Re: The Misadventures of the Missed Adventurers
on the roof of the building, the wizard cancels his fireball and starts muttering to himself: 'what was i thinking? he wants the ring. he can't have the ring. he's not ready. he's reckless. he just wants to cause trouble. no, he's never caused trouble. maybe i should just teach him a bit myself.' and so on.
at the door of the wizard's tower, Narp knocks. in the yard, D uses a spell to make himself weigh about as much as a sack of flour and starts easily climbing up to where he can hear the wizard muttering. it looked like things where coming to a head and that shielding spell was needed. because he's still cloaked in illusion, no one can see him. the guards continue there rounds. ooc:[well, i think in a few minutes the telepath will be alerted.] |
Re: The Misadventures of the Missed Adventurers
ooc:[Precap (long post): Narp has both Narp's and D's talismans, but they aren't distinguishable by normal vision; three options for Arthur's observations, mostly already decided for option three: mind control; three as-yet undecided options for fixing Arthur's problem: get from thief (shady), ask dead Dad (lots of requirements), fix brother's mind control (possibility; still depends on brother); some background on Jack and his world.]
At that point, Narp knocks on the door, and Jack opens it for him Jack "Hey, I finished your talisman. Here." Jack hands Narp the thought-gaurding talisman designed for him. Jack "Oh, and if you see D, give him this one." Jack hands Narp another thought-gaurding talisman, not distinguishable from the first by normal vision.... Jack "As for the Northern underground, I see three possibilities. It could be that a travel agent does business there." Narp "Travel agent?" Jack "Sorry, a teleporational travel agent; most teleportation methods can only take someone where they have either been or can see. A travel agent is a mage of some level that has been to many different locals, and can thus teleport people to places they haven't been or seen. It's one of the things my Master back home does for money. This would explain the sudden changes in the numbers, as people keep popping in and out. Sure, the timing with your brother is suspicious, but coincidences do happen." Jack "Another possibility would be certain types of complex spells. I read an article a while back on life detection spells where it noted that the most complex 1% of golems often registered on such spells when they were active, as do some of the most complex data processing spells when processing a lot of data at once. However, those are the cream of the crop for complexity; the golems that registered as such could usually read and write quite well (and could always be taught to do so), as well as properly interperting most vauge orders, much as a human servant might. Again, this possibility makes for quite the coincidence on timing, but coincidinces do happen." Jack "The third possibility I can think of is a class of certain types of communication. Telepathy and some thought communication spells do that." Narp "Didn't we conlclude that the Wizard was being mind-controlled by a telepath earlier?" Jack "Yes, yes we did; I'd gotten so wrapped up in making the talismans that I had forgotten why I was making them. I suppose that makes it the most likely, doesn't it?" Jack "As for your problem with the ring, I'm only familiar with guild rules from my home. However, if the rules are similar here, I can see a few possibilities. Mind you, I already have heard enough to know that not all of them are - where I come from, a dead master is sufficient grounds for finding a new one, as he isn't fulfilling his obligations as your Master." Jack "The first possibility is the intervention of a third and fourth party. You can't steal it, but there may be the option of buying it off of the thief after the fact, or buying it off of the person who bought it from the thief. Mind you, this would be a very shady workaround, especially seeing as how it requires dealing with thieves. It would probably also require someone who isn't affiliated with the Guild." Jack "A second option would be to look very carefully at the guild rules; does the apprentice-Master relationship end with the Master's death, or with the obtaining of a new Master? If it is with the obtaining of a new Master, I have a spell that might help; it was a prerequisite for the intermediate eternity class I took back in prep school. Unfortunately, that particular spell would require your father's Name, as well as the time, place, and manner of death his most recent death." Narp "Most recent death?" Jack "Yes, my basic immortality class taught how to maintain onesself to prevent death from natural causes; that method is suffecient for five or six millenia. Virtually everyone in the society I come from learns the basic class. The intermediate class taught how to maintain life after the destruction of the body; that method usually tacks another ten to fifteen millenia on how long a person can hang on before moving on by extending a spirit-recall spell to continuous use on one's self. Roughly half the population knows the intermediate method. The advanced class taught how to maintain the intermediate stage indefinately, as well as how to rebuild a body to inhabit so that you can exercise the much simpler basic methods effectively, with the clock restarted. Roughly one percent of the population knows the advanced methods. They have come in pretty handy during my apprenticeship. There have been no recorded cases of someone who knows the advanced method becoming truly dead without their consent in the million years since the method was discovered, and it was one of the members of the current council who discovered the advanced method. However, for the spirit summoning, each time a body is destroyed counts as a death. If he still counts as your master, Arthur, and if you have all the info needed, we could summon him and ask. Likewise, it won't work if he is already back by some means, or just wants to stay dead. Necromancy is frowned on for good reason, but the non-compulsory spells and techniques are considered acceptable where I come from." Jack "A third possibility is that your brother wouldn't acutally mind giving you the ring, but he is prevented due to mind control. Alternately, he could be sufficiently grateful if the mind control gets removed to just give it to you." ooc:[Recap (long post): Narp has both Narp's and D's talismans, but they aren't distinguishable by normal vision; three options for Arthur's observations, mostly already decided for option three: mind control; three as-yet undecided options for fixing Arthur's problem: get from thief (shady), ask dead Dad (lots of requirements), fix brother's mind control (possibility; still depends on brother); some background on Jack and his world.] ooc:[It's a good thing I checked for other Posts before posting this....] [ July 08, 2003, 23:51: Message edited by: Jack Simth ] |
Re: The Misadventures of the Missed Adventurers
ooc:[krsqk, if you already have history planned that contradicts what i have down for the wizard's babbling, tell me.]
Narp quickly slips the second one onto his belt, before he forgets and puts the first one on his neck. "thanks." to Arther "may i presume that you've been caught in one of the 'object neccasary for apprenticeship' problems? now, there was one particular scholar who made a study of them..." before Narp can go on any further, arther cuts in "yes, yes it is." Narp "oh. where's the wizard?" to Jack "Last i saw D, he was sleeping." at that moment, D hoists himself up into the room. deciding not to drop his illusion yet, he instead makes sure there's no dangling loose ends to attract Jack. seeing that there's no apparent danger in the room, he decides to keep climbing. he had thought up an idea, if he cast a sufficiently complex mental illusion surounding the wizard's brain, he could confuse the telepath when he checked up on the wizard and make him think it was simple fatigue, although it wouldn't hold long it should be long enough. with this new complication, it seemed important to get the wizard out of the telepath's control fast. accordingly, he arranged all of the elements of the illusion in his mind. ooc:[everybody in jack's world knows life-extension techniques?] [ July 09, 2003, 03:51: Message edited by: narf poit chez BOOM ] |
Re: The Misadventures of the Missed Adventurers
Arthur "I tend to agree with the telepathy argument for the life detection responses. I suppose it would be possible for those sorts of coincidences, but I don't know how there would have suddenly been seventy of those complex golems or spells running around on my way here."
Arthur "As for the Guild rules, they are unfortunately clear and direct about both the terms of apprenticeship and necromancy. 11.1) Once application for apprenticeship, the apprentice is bound to secure all three signet rings. Until he does so, he is forbidden to seek or receive training from anyone, with limited exceptions upon gaining each of the first two rings. 11.2) The rings must be willingly surrendered by their owner. A third party may not be involved in the transaction. 11.3) Apprenticeship may only be terminated by the express desire of the master, or the master's death. The second condition is subject to rule 1) above. 27.3) Necromancy in any form is strictly prohibited by the Guild, and will be punished with death and/or banishment. There is actually precedent in the Guild case law which deals with this exact situation. In fact, it was Rellath himself who was the test case. Fortunately for him, pressure from the Guild as a whole (not the Guild board) caused the third ring holder to surrender it. Unfortunately for me, he had to wait about three thousand years before enough pressure mounted, and I'm only halfway there." Arthur "As for the possibility that John would actually surrender it to me willing after/because of being freed from mind control, there is a chance of it. My only questions then are, who is preventing him from delivering it to me and what is his interest? If I/we can find satisfactory answers to those questions, I'll buy the possibility." Arthur "Just so you know, I am opposed to taking any shortcuts or using any underhanded schemes to work this out. Just about any plan could be reverse-engineered, and there is no statue of limitations on violation Guild rules. The only way to have immunity is to rank either Grand Master Wizard or Grand High Master Wizard, and I'm about seventeen thousand years short of eligibility for that. I'll take shortcuts in just about anything else, but this has plenty of time to come back and bite me." [ July 09, 2003, 04:44: Message edited by: Krsqk ] |
Re: The Misadventures of the Missed Adventurers
Jack "Definately vastly different rules. I can understand not wanting to break the rules or take shady shortcuts. After all, the goal is to get people to teach you willingly, and that requires their co-operation."
Jack "Any form of necromancy's illegal? Does that mean if I have to rebuild myself a body, they will execute me? That's amusing. Also rather pointless. Banishment might work. I might even accept it willingly if they give me a route home in the process. Then again, if this plane's Guild signed the Interplanal Castaway treaty, they would be obligated to do so. I'm not sure what the chances of that are, however, as there is a very large number of planes that were missed, or didn't have a strong Guild at the time. You seem up on Guild history; would you know? It would have been around fifty thousand years ago." Jack "As for the why on the ring: at home, I've noticed that guild rules are seldom senseless, even when they seem to be so. It's possible that putting all three together restores an enchantment of some kind. However, there wouldn't be any way to tell what it does without all three. Of course, the only real way to track down the culprit and their motives would be to find the person controlling your brother. We might check those caves you keep getting the response from, especially with the timing. Can you cloak your thoughts, or do I need to make another talisman? Oh, and we should probably find D; with all the ruckus, I suspect the telepath suspects we're coming." |
Re: The Misadventures of the Missed Adventurers
Arthur "Oh, there is no single Guild organized on this plane. There are several, and your eligibility is primarily determined by family (or, in some instances, nationality). My family's Guild is one of the three oldest, which brings with it both prestige and strong tradition. My particular clan has controlled the ruling body of our Guild for dozens of millenia. At times, though, the way we pointlessly follow tradition seems to outweigh the benefits of belonging to such a prestigious guild."
Arthur "Each of the top three guilds have Banned necromancy for their members. By default, most of the lower guilds have as well, and those that have not are forced to practice it in secret. The rules would not technically apply to an outsider such as yourself, but practicing it would be socially distasteful and would taint your reputation if it were widely known. It hasn't been necessary for long lives here mostly because those naturally possessing magical talent tend to live for several thousand years anyway, and also because natural causes of death are so easily avoided. Even accidents may be provided against without much trouble. Death in battle is generally accepted as final and is viewed as a sign of your foe's superiority. That makes achieving the Grand Master Wizard and Grand High Master Wizard ranks such a feat--one must have truly mastered his skill to survive so long. Also, both medicinal and magical means of extending life before death have been a focus of research, and are one of the few areas of knowledge which are freely and widely shared here." Arthur "I do not believe that this plane signed the castaway treaty. In fact, few extra-planar visitors have ever stayed here for long, probably because there is little interest in changing the current power structure. Nearly everyone in content to leave things as they are, from the nobility to the peasantry to the wizards themselves. While there are few true conflicts, most are only interested in advancing their Guild or their own personal causes." Arthur "It is possible that the three rings together release or create some enchantment. The practice was once common, but all but died out in our Guild fifty or fifty-five thousand years ago. Rellath was the first to have such a signet in seven thousand years, and I can't think of a single apprentice in any of the twelve clans with a similar situation since then." Arthur "Perhaps we'll find out more after our explorations. By all means, let us find D and be off. If you have the time, I would appreciate your making me an amulet, probably with thoughts about the location of the rest of my home--it's useful enough to seem real, and not useful enough to possibly help anyone. I could do so, but it would take me quite a while (I'm rather weak in thought magic); and I need to dig through the Guild history to see if I can't find something to help me in there. Narp, I don't know much detail on the other Guilds; do you know of anything in their history that might be useful?" [ooc: I'm leaning toward the releasing of some enchantment or other, but I don't know yet what would be important enough for someone to prevent, but small enough to fit in with the low-level characters we're dealing with. It's not like Arthur can suddenly be Supreme Lord High Ruler of the plane or anything. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon7.gif ] |
Re: The Misadventures of the Missed Adventurers
ooc:[Krsqk, in your post you made a reference to relath. Jack is from another plane, so the only way you could know about him would be to be from the same plane.]
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Re: The Misadventures of the Missed Adventurers
[ooc: I thought I was the one to create Rellath. He was the Grand High Master Wizard on the current plane approximately forty thousand or so years ago. Did I re-use a name, and just not catch it? If so, point me to it, and I'll go back and change my Posts.]
[ooc: edit: If you're concerned about Jack not knowing about Rellath, Arthur mentioned him several Posts back, I think when referring to having a Guild panel appointed to train him.] [ July 09, 2003, 06:14: Message edited by: Krsqk ] |
Re: The Misadventures of the Missed Adventurers
ooc:[never mind. mistook one of krsqk's Posts for one of Jack's. i should still update the 'about' so we can all keep everything sort of straight. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/shock.gif i just saved all of the webpages just in case we loose any. i have another post partially done, but i'm gonna wait till our discussion has finalized a few things, like what the magical ability is like here. yeah, i know. i'm hurry up and wait.]
[ July 09, 2003, 07:13: Message edited by: narf poit chez BOOM ] |
Re: The Misadventures of the Missed Adventurers
Jack "Ahh, they wouldn't have dealt with multiple guilds presnt; too much work to make a deal with every guild on the plane when the same amount of time could be spent to get several other planes in on it."
Jack "Hmm, so one way to immortality was forbidden, so another was resarched more strongly? Very interesting. So I will need to avoid things that ought to be fatal while here though, to preserve appearences. I can probably do that." Jack "Didn't you say Rellath was in your family? And it was your father's signet ring? It could be an heirloom, passed down from him." Jack "Although, we must be gathering D and going. It would take an hour or so to make a talisman for you, but if you can take the reigns of a spell, I can record a few minutes' thoughts from you and use those as the cover, then hand it over to you to maintain. It should only take a short while. However, if you normally block, that would be better; it's likely that the telepath has tried to take a peek at you before; if he was stopped by a shield, he would be expecting another if he tried again." D reaches the roof, and places the mental illusion over the Wizard of Lago. Satisfied, he returns to the tower and climbs back down to the open wall. ooc:[It could be a complete guild library; the data is encrypted and divided between two of the rings; the third is the decryption and viewing mechanism. It would take much study in order to use it properly (and thus won't affect the thread very often - a new spell every now and then whenever Arthur takes time to study - probably while camping), and it would represent enough power that someone would want it supressed. The only danger would be if all three pieces were brought together, so you don't need to start paying any attention to it until one person has two, and is seeking the third ... like Arthur is now. It would also be useful for furthering one's education in magic, and thus make sense for being a criteria for graduation from an apprenticeship.] |
Re: The Misadventures of the Missed Adventurers
ooc:[i was going to do that with D. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon7.gif ok, guild stuff...]
Narp, after thinking a while... "well, there is precedent for moving the apprenticeship to the next master if the current one is proven mentally incompetent. given the eccentricies of some wizard's, that could be difficult, although the mind control should help. but, if we manage to get it transfered, 25.3 states that if there is no succeser to the current master, the apprentice is to appear before a special board to determine what happens next." "generally, the board appoints someone, so it can be somewhat random. also, you could appeal for a special board of inquiry with a claim of unfairness. although unlikely to convene, only one in seventy-nine are granted at Last count, they could overturn nearly any ruling and if they determine in your brother's favor, well, being locked in a pocket dimension for five hundred years, since your only an apprentice...and you probably don't want your brother to be locked away for twenty-five hundred years, as he is a wizard." "baring that, if you can come up with a will from your father that would give the ring to you or sets forth any conditions that would give you the ring, that would work." Narp begins to happily qoute precedent and custom, although after a few minutes Arther realizes that his head is starting to spin and even Jack's eyes are beginning to look glazed at this flood of random minutae from Narp's large, but extremly eclectic store of information, which only a dedecated lawyer would be happy sorting through to figure out how it all affects his case. and the lawyer would probably figure out: not much. Narp would say more but at that moment the wizard teleport's back into the room. "Arther?" he says "i feel like i've been dreaming." and a telekinetic bLast rips through the room as D hastily climbs down the wall. ooc:[guild library sounds ok to me. paragraph's. much better. the bLast is general, aimed at the whole room, starts at one side, ends at the other.] [ July 09, 2003, 19:47: Message edited by: narf poit chez BOOM ] |
Re: The Misadventures of the Missed Adventurers
[ooc: Okay, it's a guild library. I'll just go ahead and make it an artifact, since its effects are long-term (hundreds of years, at least, before they're really noticeable) and it won't have much effect on the story (besides altering background and providing for a quest or two). The first part of my post is overlapping the re-entry of the wizard and the bLast. I'm assuming the bLast is starting opposite the open wall and heading in that direction.]
Arthur had never thought that he'd be glad to see his brother, but any interruption in Narp's babbling was a welcome one. Arthur "John, how nice to see y--" He is interrupted by a massive bLast which knocks him off his feet and out the open wall. Before he goes far, he stops his flight with an opposing force to his body--which effectively breaks his fall in mid-air, but also stuns him. As he loses consciousness, his conjured support starts to fade away. As he slips from the support and blacks out, a massive wind gust suddenly catches his body and lifts it to the tower room from which he just fell. [ooc: I've assumed everyone's next post will want to cover their own actions/reactions after the bLast, so I went ahead and resolved my part. One of you can take the wizard, as well. He may have rigged his tower with safeguards in the event of an attack there. I suppose he could just be severely injured, linger, and die, but that's just boring. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon7.gif ] |
Re: The Misadventures of the Missed Adventurers
As Jack goes flying from the bLast....
Jack "Hmm, this isn't a magical bLast. It seems our telepath has telekenisis as well. I wonder whose eyes he is using?" With that, Jack uses a non-inertial teleport to move himself to a stationary position on the ground. Jack (looking up) "I suppose I ought to do something about Narp...." ooc:[Narf, if you can't come up with something to cover Narp, you can have Jack pull the same trick to get him down.] |
Re: The Misadventures of the Missed Adventurers
ooc:[well, actually, i was thinking of it going from the open wall. doesn't matter, though. as for targetting, i was thinking of it as non-targeted - more a result of rage than anything else , which was why it hit the whole room, although i was also thinking along the lines of low clauraudience. i think that and the two T's gives him enough skills to be a true danger without overload. Narp's closest to the door...i'm assuming the wizard's going to have protective spells on his stuff.]
Narp felt himself get flung forward and toward the window. desperatly, he grabbed onto one of the bookshelf, hard enough to stop himself and slammed against the wall. as the pain of the bLast roared down his body, he dimly thought 'maybe that wasn't such a good idea', then collapsed on the floor the wizard, already having some shields up, is only knocked of his feet and has his breath knocked out of him. but his shields are mostly gone. on the wall, a sentry, who had spun in startlement at the sounds, suddenly jerked, then mechanically lifted his bow and aimed at the wizard... ooc:[i'm assuming the bookshelf partially protected him. the telepath's trying to get rid of the one he percieves as the most danger, once he gets protected, now that he's thinking, he's thinking the wizard could protect himself. but those are just excuses, i thought it made a good plot point.] [ July 10, 2003, 06:39: Message edited by: narf poit chez BOOM ] |
Re: The Misadventures of the Missed Adventurers
ooc:[Let's see... D was climbing down the tower when the bLast hit; he is likely unaffected. Krsqk and Narp are uncouncious in the room, the Wizard of Lago (we have a name for him now, courtesy of Krsqk: John) has his breath knocked out of him, and Jack is standing on the ground outside the tower. That leaves D and Jack as being able to act.]
Jack, noticing that Narp isn't flying out the big hole in the wall, looks around a bit, and notices the gaurd drawing his arrow. Jack "Can't have that...." Jack "Arc" At that, the bow is teleported out of the gaurd's hands, and into Jack's. Jack "We do need to stop this..." Jack "Mur d'esprit" As Jack's spell is cast, a glowing green sphere encompasses the entire manor, temporarily preventing psionics from functioning. Jack "That won't hold up for too long. Need to go somewhere we won't be observed and make a smaller Version." Jack quickly flies up to the room, and teleports D, Narp, Arthur, and John off to the mountaintop, then follows and puts up another, much smaller and more stable Version around the group. The one at the manor quickly disintigrates. Once there, Jack begins the task of healing everyone up, starting with Narp and Krsqk. D "Why here?" Jack (while healing Narp) "It's the first place I thought of that fit; if our adversary scans the countryside looking for places he can't scan, he'll find us, but he won't be able to do much about it without a human agent to control." Jack finishes healing Narp, and moves on to Arthur. D wakes Narp up. Jack (while healing Arthur) "He'd be able to bring agents here, but that would take a bit of time, even if he finds us immediately." D "I see. We'll need to move soon." Jack finishes healing Arthur, and then wakes him. Meanwhile, John finishes catching his breath, and stares at Jack for a bit. Jack "Narp, need a new bow? I forgot to return a gaurd's when I took it from him to keep him from shooting the Wizard of Lago." Jack "Hmm, my cot's still in our room at the manor." Jack "Hamac Magique" With that, Jack's cot returns to him. ooc:[So now we are all back at the mountain, and nobody in the immediate vicinity is mind controlled. John's free for the moment.] ooc:[I hope I didn't ruin anybody's plans, but both your characters were unconscious, and I thought it a good idea to deal with that sooner rather than later. We'll still need to deal with the Psi, but it has been put off for a little while. I'm sure we'll be much more effective in person, as we'll be able to target him then. Arthur has the spell to track him down; just follow the life sense spell he's been using.] |
Re: The Misadventures of the Missed Adventurers
in the baron's room, the baron jerked upright. there had been some crashing sounds...
fifteen minuetes later, he had heard the reports of the sentry's. loud noises, what sounded like weather magic, a sentry forced to aim at the wizard and the strangers and his wizard disapeared. it all made sense. these strangers had been sent by the telepath to kill or kidnap one of his freinds and now, he was going to make them pay. he frowned a moment. he didn't like vengeance. no, he'd exact justice. he smiled and ignored the worry in one corner of his mind. another fifteen minutes later, nearly all of the baron's soldier's streamed out of the baron's gate's, scout's riding out in the general direction of the mountain - although he was certain he'd gave them orders to scout all around, despite a growing certainty that they where on a mountain to the east. and twenty minutes ago, one hundred well-armed bandits had moved out of a certain location and headed toward's the baron's castle. they would arrive well after the baron's soldier's where gone. and on the mountaintop, Narp sat up, said "thanks Jack", stood up and started testing his limbs. "good as new." ooc:[the telepath caught the baron when he was just waking up and confused. i upped the bandit problem to one hundred to make things interesting.] |
Re: The Misadventures of the Missed Adventurers
[ooc: Narf, did you get my note to check your PM? It's still listed as unread.]
Arthur (waking) "Thanks, Jack. Consciousness is definitely better than unconsciousness." Looking around, he notices John appears to be staring at Jack with a slightly dazed expression. "Hey, stop that. It's nothing you couldn't do if you practiced a bit." D "Well, it appears we could have used the thought-cloaking a bit sooner than we thought. Obviously, we will have to be more cautious going after this guy, whoever he is." Arthur "Speaking of which, what do we do next? The Baron mentioned the bandit problem, so that's one option. The telepath is a definite option as well. And, we might have some explaining to do to the Baron about why there's a hole in the wall and his Master Wizard, three guests, and a stranger who falls out of towers and conveniently is gusted up again are all missing. We could head back there to patch things up before deciding what else to do." Arthur sits down and works out the details of a spell which will restore his brother's tower to the proper condition. "Hopefully this works right. I may have some touch-up to do when we get back, though. Hey, Jack and D, could you two maybe look over this? Remember, don't teach me anything; just check it out and adjust it if you can think of anything else." Arthur touches a nearby flat rock. A network of golden lines spreads from his fingertips across the surface of the rock, which is then handed to D. (to self) "Of course, if I happen to get a glance at it before it's cast, that wouldn't hurt, either." Arthur (standing and stretching) "I'll check out the surrounding area; maybe that will give us a little insight as to our next move. This one will take a little longer to get off, so I can work in more detail about the direction, and possibly destination, of anyone out there. Sort of like a wide-area scrying spell, without most of the detail. Oh, and Jack, one of those food rations would do nicely once I'm done. A little toasted, perhaps?" Arthur sits back down and closes his eyes, trying to recall bits of spells from his travels. Eventually he stands and walks over to the edge of a nearby cliff before working over his spell's assembly. [ July 11, 2003, 22:50: Message edited by: Krsqk ] |
Re: The Misadventures of the Missed Adventurers
Jack looks at Krsqk's spell.
Jack "Don't be so hard on the Wizard; he's been under a lot of mind control, and I severed the connection; he could be in shock." John "Actually, I'm trying to figure out where he got the energy for that; it was leaking power like crazy." Jack reaches into his robes, and pulls out a palm-sized emerald, which is glowing very faintly. Jack "I used a capacitor; they are good for putting a lot of power out very quickly, but they don't have much stamina. This one is almost completely drained, but it should be back up in a day or so, unless I have to sustain some big spells. But yes, I was in a hurry with that one; I needed to end the telepath's tampering for a while so nobody would get killed. It's requirements were beyond my normal production capacity, so I needed the capacitor. Having used it, supporting it was beyond my means, so it collapsed. This one..." Jack gestures at the much smaller Version the group is currently resting in "... is well within my production capacity." Jack "Looks fine; you are doing a little more work than is necessary, but that's just because you had no real way of knowing where I stored the wall I removed so it would be easy to put it back later. It should still be floating there." Jack (to self) "Let's see, he didn't want to learn anything, so I suppose I ought to just use the runes used here. Ah, some telekenisis...." Jack alters the runes accordingly, making sure not to use any runes or techniques not already present. Jack "As for what to do next, I would suggest taking on the telepath. Explaining to the Baron won't be very useful until we can be sure nobody's messing with his head, and I suspect that the bandit problem is related. Large bands of bandits don't usually work well; disagreements arise and everyone wants to go their seperate ways; while under most circumstances people would stay and work things out, bandits tend to be less inclined to give other people their due (they do steal by force for a living, after all). We should have much less difficulty with the Psi in person, as we will be able to fight back." Jack glances at the moon. Jack "This spell ..." Jack again points out the barrier surrounding them "... will follow me if need be, but it would be better if everyone had their own protections, in case we get seperated. Speaking of which, Narp, do you still have both of those talismans I gave you? I need to change their mode." Narp does, and hands them over to Jack, who quickly passes his hand over them, then pulls out his own and does the same, then hands one each to Narp and D. Jack "There, I just changed their modes; now they will divert any psionics directed at the bearer a short distance to the left. I built it in becuase I figured the telepath would get suspicious if he could still read us when we wandered out of his range; this should make us well camoflauged. Hmm, I suppose I we will need two more...." Jack takes a few minutes to build two more talismans, these ones only diverting psionics, and hands one to John, saving one for Arthur. Afterwards, he conjours one of his rations for Arthur. Jack (to John) "You probably ought to get in the habit of blocking continuously, so that we don't have to go through this again." Jack walks over to where Arthur is sitting, and hands him his amulet and the ration. Jack "Sorry about not cooking it more, but it is probably a bad idea to start a fire. Arthur, you mentioned that you can tell where the telepath is; do you think you could lead us to him?" [ July 11, 2003, 08:22: Message edited by: Jack Simth ] |
Re: The Misadventures of the Missed Adventurers
Krsqk is about to cast the life-detection spell when he subconsciously hears Jack mention food rations. He quickly puts his spell on hold, storing it for the moment in another boulder, and takes the ration from Jack.
Arthur "Hmmm, so we shouldn't start a fire. Maybe this will do it, then. Fogo." Arthur's hands burst into flame for a moment, then return to normal. The ration is nicely toasted throughout. "Ah, much better. Toasted tasteless is an improvement even over regular tasteless." Arthur furtively glances at the rock with his first spell on it, noticing with mild disgust that Jack has only rearranged the existing elements. (to self) "He seems to be a little naive. Obviously, I'm going to have to give him a gentle push in the right direction." He passes the rock to D. (aside to D) "Okay, D, it's your turn. Jack must be one of those organized people--he's gotten this looking nice and efficient. Now, maybe you could think of anything I've left out? A silencing routine so it doesn't attract too much attention? Maybe a check of the ground and the roof so we don't have any missing pieces which would augment wind and weather damage? A minor scrying spell so we could visually inspect the results? Have at it--work in whatever you can think of." Arthur turns to Jack. "Jack, I'd like you to take another look at the spell if you could. You did a nice job organizing it, but that wasn't exactly what I had in mind. I wanted you to see if there was anything you could add to it. If you're worried about not training me, I just meant don't talk out loud so I don't hear what you're doing. I'm sure such an accomplished and well-trained apprentice as yourself could come up with something I've missed. There must be loads of things I haven't even considered, not having the training you've received. Actually, there's one thing I can think of to add. John is obligated to have the signet ring on his person at any time he leaves the tower. It's not tagged, and naturally resists teleport spells (that helps lessen the temptation to obtain it illicitly), but I'm sure it's nothing you couldn't overcome." John has a sudden coughing fit and has to walk away for a few seconds until he can regain his composure. "Think you could help us out here?" Arthur "Speaking of the telepath, if you and D will finish looking my repair spell over, I'll wrap up my detection spell. Narp, can you think of anything to add to it? I've got body count, speed/direction, probable destination (a non-invasive, passive telepathy), and a duration of thirty seconds. What else would be of use to a tactician?" [ooc: I'll try to be available to post again tonight, but I don't make any promises. My wife said, and I quote, "You make a list of what you want to accomplish tonight, and I'll make a list of what I want to accomplish, and then we'll split it." I'd already seen her list, and it involves about five hours of work rearranging our bedroom and spare bedroom so it's suitably arranged for her family coming in. I asked if I could put "Take a break" on my list, and she told me I could get a life. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/tongue.gif At least she can dish out the sarcasm as well as I can--it keeps me on my toes. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon7.gif Anyway, the moral is, I don't know if/when I'll have time to check in, so if you could pass enough time for D and Jack to check/recheck Arthur's spell and for Narp to advise Arthur and for whatever else you can think of, and I'll cast the repair spell, and the detection spell if appropriate, whenever I can get back here.] [ July 11, 2003, 22:54: Message edited by: Krsqk ] |
Re: The Misadventures of the Missed Adventurers
Jack "Ah, I get it; you want to learn, but you can't be taught. I think we can arrange that."
Meanwhile, D starts incorporating some invisibility and silence so that people won't notice the repairs until after they are completed, and includes a bit of scrying to monitor progress. Jack "John, you're supposed to have the ring on you? Hmm, I suppose I ought to retrieve it for you then, as I'm the one that teleported you away from it. Hmm, it doesn't like teleportation? Let's see...." Jack moves his hands around an imaginary sphere, and after a moment images begin to distort when seen through the intervening space. A moment later, the center of the area turns black for an instant, the ring falls through into Jack's waiting hand, and the visual distortion dissapears. Jack "The ring is still affected by gravity. I just had to reshape spacetime so that it would fall into my hands. I didn't actually touch the ring itself with a speck of magic." Jack looks closely at the ring. Jack "Wow. It's a good thing I didn't. This thing has about a zillion different alarms against tampering. Hmm, I've never seen that rune before ... ahh, that's what it does ... and this one ... hmm ... interesting ... all these gaurds on ... an information delevery system? Where's it getting the data from? Let's see ... Grr, it's not complete. The enchantment is dangling off to the side." D finishes his modifications, and Jack takes another look at it. Jack "Let's see ... you could save some time and energy here by reshaping space to move things past the wall, rather than around in the normal fashion ... a little timebending here will speed things up ... and the control structure from a golem can be adapted to automate the process and deal with any needed fine-tuning or touch-up on the spot ..." Jack quickly alters the spell, incorporating several new elements. Jack "Done. Now, I suppose I ought to give the ring back to the Wizard." Jack starts to hand the ring to John, but then stops. Jack "Hang on; you said John was obligated to have the ring with him whenever he left his tower; you didn't mention what the repercussions were when he didn't, nor if there were any loopholes for the method of his vacating the tower. What are they, and are there? I didn't exactly obtain John's permission when I moved him." |
Re: The Misadventures of the Missed Adventurers
Narp "well, i'm only an amatuer tacticain and except for a peek at his state of mind, you've thought of everything i could for the telepath. since the telepath was keeping john from finding the bandits, it might be a good idea to do that - and find out what the baron is doing. we need information, fast. we really know nothing about the situation and the books i found said information first, if you have time."
John "i thought i was shielding. excuse me a moment." "done. if you want, i could put some power into this shield. the spell is ingeneus, to, but if you put in a rune to moniter it and few more runes here and there to do self-repair..." John illustrates on a nearby rock..."it'll use more power, but it will leak less and won't collapse so fast." ooc:[your discription of it not Lasting long made me think of that.] |
Re: The Misadventures of the Missed Adventurers
Fortunately, Arthur is already busy contemplating his detection spell and doesn't hear Jack's sudden dawning of understanding. Of course, he does manage to keep track of D's and Jack's progress and to store it for review later.
John "Oh, he wasn't exaggerating about the need to retrieve it. As executor of his apprenticeship, I am obligated to protect the ring with my life. If you hadn't gotten it, I would have to immediately return to the castle myself. Doing so would have opened me back up to the telepath, and I would prefer a few hours to build my defenses up again first. The amulet would have helped with that, but it wasn't worth the risk when you were capable of saving so much time." John "And you're right, it is a good thing you didn't touch the ring itself. It has runes in there I've never seen anywhere else. There is even a mechanism to amplify and transform incoming magical energy before returning it to--more properly, redirecting it at--its source. I performed only the most basic of probes, and the backlash nearly put me out of commission. I haven't heard of a ring with this much protection since--well, I shouldn't say any more about it." John pauses for a moment. "Say, you happen to have any more of those food rations on you?" Arthur quickly incorporates specific mental snapshots for the baron and the telepath. "I won't put too much hope in these, since the telepath could easily redirect them or return false information. The hope is that he won't be expecting the probes, or at least will be too busy to pay them much attention." He puts the finishing touches on the spell, takes a deep breath, and casts it. A swirling cloud appears before the party, gradually coming into focus as a bird's eye view of the area. Five dark smudges appear on the map. Unsurprisingly, the town shows several hundred people. The manor only indicates thirty or forty, causing John to raise his eyebrows and look slightly concerned. The other three were far more interesting. A group of one hundred fifty was headed toward the mountain and would arrive within half an hour. Another group of one hundred, presumably the bandits, was headed from the manor to the woods, and would arrive in twenty minutes. And under the hills north of the manor, the response was over two hundred fifty. Arthur "I'll pass the reins over to you now, Jack; the telepathy responses should come back soon. You may have to actively probe if they give odd results, but given the plain responses from the destination probes, I don't think that's likely." Arthur takes a seat, obviously fatigued. "There was some sort of defense up which I've never encountered before. I had to push and prod, and finally force, to get the spell to take effect. All that talk about scrying not working well definitely has some truth behind it. If it shows anything, though, it's that the telepath's defenses can be breached if he's distracted." [ July 12, 2003, 06:48: Message edited by: Krsqk ] |
Re: The Misadventures of the Missed Adventurers
Jack quietly takes the reigns of the spell, still looking at the ring.
Jack "Let's see, how does that work ... okay, there's the capture ... there's the amplification ... there's the redirect. Hmm, how's it determining the direction ..." John "Hang on, how are you reading it without probing?" Jack "Well, every spell, enchantment or no, interrupts the natural flow of energy just a little. It's not much, and it goes back to its intended path immediately after the interruption. This highlights the runes behind any spell, if you can figure out what the natural flow of energy is supposed to look like. I can, so I can read it without any probes at all." Jack "Oh, you asked if I had any more of those? No, but I make them, so it's no problem...." Jack distractedly tosses John a ration. Jack "Ah, that's how ... hmm, I can use that ..." Jack reaches out his hand, and a very small green blip can be seen moving towards the ring. When it reaches, the ring immediately shoots out a blindingly bright flash of white light directly at Jack's hand. When it clears, blistered burns can be seen on the outstretched hand. Jack "Yep, just as I thought; a reflection." Glances at hand "It does pack quite a wallop, doesn't it? I probably ought to fix that..." Jack looks at his hand a moment, and the burns fade away. Jack "One more test; what if it's delayed..." This time, Jack forms a green band between his thumb and forefinger, and a little green blip forms in the middle. Jack drops his hand, and the blip heads towards the ring. When it gets there, the ring responds with an identical bLast of white light. However, rather than hitting Jack, it follows the path of the blip, and hits the ground, producing a steaming crater. Jack smiles widely. Jack "I have a new toy!" Jack's smile fades. "...Oh, wait, I'll need to give it back. It won't teleport with me anyway. Or do I need to give it back? John, you didn't answer my question about what happens if you don't have the ring on your person when you leave your tower. Does it qualify as official abandonment or something if someone else picks it up ... like I've done?" Jack quickly checks to make sure he is out of John's lunging range; he is. ooc:[Let's see, Jack wouldn't likely get a straight answer from John if that was the case (but he might if it weren't), but Arthur or Narp might speak up (especially Arthur, if there was something about the circumstances in his favor; he was the one who suggested Jack grab it, after all). If some guild rule forbade Arthur, it wouldn't be likely to bind Narp similarly, and Narp does seem to be up on guild rules. Just a thought.] |
Re: The Misadventures of the Missed Adventurers
[ooc: You're trying your best to make this awfully complicated, aren't you? http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon7.gif ]
John glares impatiently at Jack, while Arthur glances up from his seat. "The requirements are as follows. Ahem. 1) The ring's owner must not intentionally allow the ring to leave his care. Care is defined as on his person or within arm's reach. 2) The ring's owner must not intentionally allow anyone but himself to handle the ring, with the exception of the apprentice upon final transfer of the ring. 3) No third party may be involved in the transfer of the ring. 4) If any of these conditions exist without the will and/or intent of the owner, he is obligated to do his utmost to correct them, even at cost of his life. 5) If any of these conditions exist with the will and/or intent of the owner, or if he does not act to correct them, he shall be subject to such punishment as the ruling Guild board shall determine; ownership of the ring and any other related rights shall devolve on a party chosen by the board. It's pretty simple. If he abandons it on purpose, he's punished and someone else is appointed. If it wasn't under his control, he's obligated to regain possession of it." D (aside to Jack) "From what I've seen of the guild in question, they take the possession and handling of apprenticeship rings very seriously, even when there is no enchantment involved. For a ring like this, which is obviously very heavily guarded, it's probably a very touchy matter." Arthur "If you're thinking about any alternate means of getting the ring into my possession, remember that I'm forbidden to accept it and would have to return it to John. If you're thinking about further study on the ring, that's something that would have to be negotiated after I receive it, as John's forbidden to permit you to handle it. Frankly, I understand that the rules are quite blunt; but remember that our guild values its traditions very highly, and apprenticeship rings are among the oldest and most revered traditions we hold to. Besides, the sooner we resolve this, the sooner you can finish the detection spell and we can get on with our plans." |
Re: The Misadventures of the Missed Adventurers
Narp looks at the map for a few minutes.
"ok, we have the telepath alone and unprotected and what looks like a bunch more bandits. well, if your outnumbered, the recomendation is generally attack. i think... if this is ok with everyone, Jack, you teleport something big over there so it looks like where running. John, you teleport us quietly to near where the telepath is, i'm assuming you know the terrain, then we find the telepath. after that, we've only got a massive bandit problem. ah, well. one problem at a time. did i say thanks for the bow? anyway, thanks. this one is near to falling apart." ooc:[my writing hasn't been to good lately. need to do better.] |
Re: The Misadventures of the Missed Adventurers
ooc:[You don't like complications? All right then.]
Jack "Fair enough then - as long as you are both in agreement as to who the ring belongs to." Jack hands the ring over to John, then turns his attention to Arthur's spell. Jack "From the looks of it, the telepath is busy coordinating an attack. Hmm, is that this mountain they are converging on? No matter; we won't be here much longer. This is actually quite a spell. In making it a visual display you may have added a feature you weren't expecting. Remember how you kept saying that the number of people in the caves kept changing? Now that I'm maintaining the spell, I can feel the number changing, but the display fills in the critical detail: those twenty some returns are all coming from the exact same spot. He did successfully deflect the seeker looking for him, but the visual aspect of the spell makes him obvious. I can't distinguish the Baron though. It could be that the posessed register as being at the telepath's location as well as their own, and so that seeker got confused and headed towards the telepath, then got deflected." Jack "Oh, and Narp - you're welcome. I had to take it from the gaurd, but I didn't have any use for it myself." Jack "As for the teleporting ... would a large boulder teleported so that it is resting against the door in your tower, John, suffice? If the teleport gets traced, he'll get someone to try breaking in, and that someone will find the door resistant to opening, both causing it to take longer to open and convinicing him that we are actually in there. I'll also send the psionic block along with it, incorporating your wonderful suggestions, John; we've all got talismans for protection and camoflauge now, so the block is only serving to give away our location; if our adversary thinks we are still using it, the spot he can't see will become his target - not us." Jack glances at a sizeable boulder. Jack "All right - I'm set; John, if you would...." Jack and John simultaneously cast their teleports; the boulder and block end up in John's tower, with the rock leaning against the door. The group ends up next to a cave enterance. ooc:[Note for when battling the Psi: the talismans will prevent the Psi from acting directly on the party - if he tries to mind control, he'll hit nothing (psionics diverted to a spot with no mind); if he tries to move one of our characters, that one will feel a breeze off to their left as the Psi grabs air (if he corrects to the right, he targets an undefended location, and he hits the corrected spot - on the real target's right). However, if he uses telekenisis to throw a rock, the rock is undefended, and gets thrown properly. However, we're camoflauged, so he will need to be able to see us directly, or through an agent's eyes, in order to target. We've already established that there aren't any possible agents in the cave.] |
Re: The Misadventures of the Missed Adventurers
[ooc: I wasn't prepared for Jack's sudden possessiveness about "his" new toy. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon7.gif I didn't catch that you were setting up conflict between Arthur and John until after your Last post.]
Arthur quickly does another life detection spell, slightly altered to make it look like it was cast from the castle. Signs of life are shown, with the usualy delay, a few hundred yards inside the cave. A detect magic spell, however, does not detect anything. Arthur "That's odd. It's the same thing I encountered on the way to the manor. There seems to be some sort of selective filter which allows some spells to pass and blocks others. I don't know if it blocks on the inward path or the return path, though, or how it would affect spells cast inside it. It's almost like a semi-permeable membrane." Everyone takes a moment to check themselves over and make any Last-minute preparations for whatever they will find. |
Re: The Misadventures of the Missed Adventurers
ooc:[I was just setting up the possibility; your character, your decision. No matter.]
Jack looks at the cave thoughtfully. Jack "We could set up a probe ... let's see ... I need a spell detection stealth bubble to work in ..." Jack sets up a spell detection supression bubble, and pulls a small wooden disk out of his robes. Jack "Hmm, Last one; I'm going to need to find a decent carpenter soon. Ah well; they are for practicing enchantments, and that I have been doing. Anyway ... on the probe itself, I need a recall mechanism ... a scanning mechanism ... some spell detection stealth ... some psionic stealth ... and some memory ..." Jack takes a moment to write several glowing runes on it. Jack "There, that should do it. We'll know what's up in a minute." Jack rolls the disk into the cave. A moment later, the disk rolls back out of its own accord. Jack picks it up, looks at it for a bit, and puts it in a pocket of his robe. Jack "It took a quick look around from the inside, and came up with some interesting results. First off: John, that barrier is your spell. Nice work by the way, but I suspect you don't remember making it; there is a forced aspect to it, as though someone was searching memory for instructions rather than just doing it. As for what it does, it is a selectively permiable membrane. It traps any magic it finds on the way in and suppresses traces very effectively, but lets psionics and solid matter pass freely. I suspect it registers Arthur's detect life spell as psionics, but it takes a while to make that determination, hence the delay. The probe noticed several spells running on the inside, but didn't get enough of a look to tell what they do. We shouldn't have any trouble getting in." |
Re: The Misadventures of the Missed Adventurers
ooc:[only the baron's soldier's where converging on us. now, let's see...the telepath can't send the baron back to where he thinks we are because the bandits are nearing the baron's manor, so i guess he just keeps going.]
they had been riding for an hour now and they where getting nervious. the baron seemed almost obsessed on that mountain peak ahead and only thirty had been left to guard the manor with bandits about. but, he was the baron and maybe he knew something they didn't. the bandits could easily see the the baron's manor and the town if they climbed a tree, although it all looked like toy blocks. in two more hours, they would be there. the plan was simple, they couldn't take the town until reinforcements got here, so they would attack the back wall of the manor. with only thirty soldier's on guard, it would be easy. Narp, remembering the Last cave they went into, picked up a stick and said "D, can you cast silence on the stick? and Jack, could you cast a life-simulation spell on it?" "sure." "adapting the spell from a flat, regular cylindrical base to a long, irregular cylindrical base will provide a little practice." two short spells later, Narp rapped the stick around the cave walls, then stepped in. a short walk and many raps in, the cave diverged into three different paths. from the left, one up the cave wall and going up, the other low on the cave wall and going down, the other level with the floor and going right. the wizard's could see a pale and shifting spell over all three doors and the space between. so, everyone stopped short of the room. ooc:[hope you don't mind, but Jack's all out of disks and i didn't want to spend most of today, real-time, deciding how we're going to enter the cave.] [ July 15, 2003, 19:03: Message edited by: narf poit chez BOOM ] |
Re: The Misadventures of the Missed Adventurers
Jack looks closely at the door.
Jack "Someone spent a lot of time on this. Again, it has that forced look to it." John "Yes, yes it does. Hmm, I recognize every one of thse runes ... they seem to be in my style ... and have my signiture. That's odd; I don't remember making it." ooc:[We've never actually told him he was being possessed, have we? He could readily be in denial at this point (especially with the comment Narf gave him about thinking he had been blocking).] Jack's eye wanders over to the hinges. Jack "Hmm. It seems the focus was on protecting the door and lock. The hinges were ignored completely, and could be removed without difficulty. As we are in a hurry, I suppose we can do without disenchanting the door for now; the enchantment will still be here on the way out ... Narp, got a knife?" ooc:[Someone searching through another's memory for instructions on complex tasks would likely miss something of how they are supposed to be used; forgetting about the hinges, for example.] |
Re: The Misadventures of the Missed Adventurers
ooc:[oops. musta missed that.]
Narp "at least seven or eight." Narp sits down, pulls his pack out and rumages through it till he finds a knife about four inches long and an inch wide with a rounded tip. "this should do." "i must remember to get a screwdriver once where back in town. now, i suppose it's best i remove those screws." Narp sets to work on the screws. fortunatly, nothing blows up. after a few minutes work, the screws come off. Narp carefully pulls the door out and lays it aside. beyond lies a coridoor filled with heat. Narp's eyebrows are singed as he takes several steps backword. ooc:[uh-oh, his scholar's showing.] [ July 19, 2003, 09:03: Message edited by: narf poit chez BOOM ] |
Re: The Misadventures of the Missed Adventurers
Jack peers into the halway.
Jack "That's odd ... there isn't enough power being used to sustain the heat that seems to be there." D "You're right. That means one of three things: either the heat is an illusion, it isn't being generated by magic, or it isn't being added to and will cool off on its own after a while." Jack "Well, the first is easy enough to check..." Jack reaches into his robes and pulls out an empty cloth bag, and throws it down the corridor. Jack "Now, we wait a few moments." A few minutes later, the bag is still just sitting there. D "It seems the heat is an illusion. I can take care of that." D casts his trusty dispel on the corridor, and the heat dissapears. Jack walks in and picks up his bag. Jack "It seems to be safe." Jack checks the detect life spell. "The psi seems to be just beyond the door at the end of this hallway." The party moves catiously down the corridor. When they reach the door, Jack looks closely at it. Jack "This one isn't enchanted, but there are indications of traps of a mundane nature. Hmm, I wonder how the psi deals with them? I suppose there is probably a switch somewhere. Let's see...." Jack begins examining the walls, floor, and cieling. ooc:[Jack isn't used to dismantaling mudane stuff; he's likely to glance right past what he is looking for if it is concealed well.] ooc:[done with this one unless we don't get any new Posts for a day or two.] [ July 20, 2003, 07:58: Message edited by: Jack Simth ] |
Re: The Misadventures of the Missed Adventurers
After several moments waiting for Jack to find some sign of the traps he's looking for, Arthur becomes impatient and mutters something under his breath. The surface of the wall begins to glow as if it were red-hot, causing every crack and crevice to stand out clearly. A push switch to the upper left of the door, two dart traps on each side, and a trap door three inches to the left of Jack's foot are seen, besides numerous cracks and scratches in the wall which appear to be natural in origin.
Arthur "There, that's better. Narp, I think this is more your department than mine. Care to try your hand at the switch?" [ooc: I suppose the switch doesn't have to disarm the traps; it could be a little more complex than that. Either way, Arthur'll let Narp take the darts in the arm. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon12.gif ] [ July 21, 2003, 03:10: Message edited by: Krsqk ] |
Re: The Misadventures of the Missed Adventurers
ooc:[gee, thanks, but no thanks.]
Narp looks at them for a few seconds, then says "ok. everybody back." everybody shuffles off a few paces. Narp grabs a large knife out of his pack. a really large knife. almost a small sword or a machette. then, he throws it, nothing fance, just a solid throw, at the switch. *whack* *clack-ack-ack-ack-ack-ack-ack-ack-ack-ack-ack-ack-ack* *wham* *BAM* there was also a large block trap, which is now blocking the trap door. the door swings open and a large block with a really long spear on the end of it with really long blades, covering the whole corridor so that only a contortionist could pass through unharmed is seen at the end of the corridor. there is no telepath there. with startling speed, the block starts heading toward the party. in fact, it's moving fast. ooc:[can't be that easy. this wouldn't be much of a story if everything was easy.] |
Re: The Misadventures of the Missed Adventurers
Jack points at the block, and it is suddenly wrappen in a green glow, and starts moving slowly. The glow fades, but the slow motion remains.
Jack "That should buy us several minutes. Let's hope he doesn't have any mages within the shield capable of spell detection." John "That was noisy. I don't think stealth is going to be much use anymore; detecting the spell would just be icing on the cake. The psi knows we're here by now." Jack "You've got a point. I suppose I could just teleport the rock behind us, unless anyone else has a better idea." ooc:[edit - nevermind my previous edit; I'm getting tired, and my grammer checking skills are going down the drain.] [ July 22, 2003, 06:47: Message edited by: Jack Simth ] |
Re: The Misadventures of the Missed Adventurers
[ooc: hit reply instead of edit.]
[ July 22, 2003, 07:04: Message edited by: Krsqk ] |
Re: The Misadventures of the Missed Adventurers
Arthur casts a digging spell, and the block and spear drop nearly flush with the cave floor. Three figures are seen about one hundred yards down the tunnel, which appears to slope downward and to the right. All three are heavily armed with both melee and ranged weapons.
Arthur "Jack, any indications as to which of them is the psi?" Before Jack can respond, the strangers fire their first volley. Two are firing bolts at an incredibly rapid pace, while the third is lobbing some sort of ignited shell. The shells shatter in mid-air, leaving a dust which lingers and does not seem to settle. [ooc: The bows are chu ko nu or something of the sort--semi-auto crossbows fitted with exchangeable magazines. The shells just have a small combustible which burns down to the shell, causing it to burst. The dust is the damping dust Narp cooked up back on p.3 of the "shiny new RP thread" thread.] |
Re: The Misadventures of the Missed Adventurers
ooc:[note to self: get better traps. yeesh.]
Narp jumps to the side of the passegeway and yells "get some sort of blocking shield up, if you can!" Jack says something about an interesting challenge. then a green glowing shield pops up. unfortunatly, it's fluctuating. John adds some more energy and the shield stabalizes a little. Narp "ok, you think you could change it so i can shoot through? maybe make a little hole?" Jack says something else about an intersting challenge, then a little hole appears near the wall. Narp fires off some shots, getting one of the crossbowmen in the arm and chasing them back around a corner. Narp "we need to move and fast, now that we're detected." ooc:[i know that Jack likes teleport spells for weapons, but that wouldn't be very tense, so i'm having the powder be to destabiling for teleport, since it would probably be an intricate spell, and while Jack's very good at it, he would be slowed down. at least, that's my excuse.] [ July 22, 2003, 07:25: Message edited by: narf poit chez BOOM ] |
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