The Misadventures of the Missed Adventurers

[narf poit chez BOOM]

ooc:[post comming...]

Narp "well, yes i did say one for the wizard. one for the baron would be good as well. now that i think of it, we couldn't chase after him with the baron's soldier's. i need to read a few more books on tactics. we would be detected fast because of the soldier's. instead, we're going to have to sneak into his camp ourselves and take him out. then we can signal the baron, who could bring in his soldiers. and jack could make some of those golems if we have to much trouble. of course, some of the bandits are bound to have mithril or adamantium weapons or something, but that should do quite nicely. any suggestions?"

ooc:[if there's none, then put everyone else to sleep. we still need to figure out what to do with krsqk. perhaps the wizard took something of his that he found out in the woods, not realizing it was krsqk's? we could then have krsqk retreive it and wander off. the villagers could put all the strange weather down to the changes, and we go merrily on.

[ July 03, 2003, 07:23: Message edited by: narf poit chez BOOM ]

[Jack Simth]

Jack (still buisily enchanting away) "The reason I asked is because the telepath seems to be controling the wizard on a regular basis - he will know something is seriously up if the wizard is suddenly defended, and so will be on gaurd. However, if we find and stop the telepath first, that won't cause a problem, and we have a better chance of catching whoever it is by surprise."

D "But then couldn't the telepath use the wizard's abilities?"

Jack (still buisily enchanting away) "Yes, he could. However, he would likely still be back at the castle, and so the telepath wouldn't be able to use much of the wizard's offensive capabilities."

D "He could still scry, spying on us."

Jack (still buisily enchanting away) "Yes, and if he has the wizard watch us while we travel, and compares that to the cloak, he will figure things out. Nothing is totally foolproof. I can deal with either."

D "So, if we cloak the Wizard and the Baron, the telepath will know the next time he tries to control the Wizard. If we don't, the Wizard might scry on us as we leave, blowing our cover. Well Narp, you are the tactition of the group, what are your thoughts on the matter? We'll go with whatever you think best."

ooc:[I think that's the Last of my comments on the planning stage.]

[ July 03, 2003, 08:24: Message edited by: Jack Simth ]

[Krsqk]

[ooc: I'm mostly back, as I indicated in the "shiny new RP thread" thread. Hopefully you won't have to continue the dummy-stuffing process. ]

The swirling funnel continued in the direction of the manor, its passenger periodically checking and rechecking for signs of life. The signals from town, manor, and wood seem fairly consistent--approximately 800 people in the town; a little over 100 in the manor house proper, with a few hundred more in the immediate vicinity; and forty to fifty in the forest. The real enigma was from underground. First, there was the delay--that could be explained by several things, most likely a magic detection/filtering spell. Second, the exact number of responses varied drastically with each check. The first check revealed only a single human, but after that, it showed anywhere from one to nearly seventy.

Arthur "It's almost like there's a cloak on that area. Odd, though--there don't seem to be any magic defenses put up, other than the filter spell. And I don't know why someone would bother to let the spell in, only to alter it on the way out--the effects would be immediately obvious, not to mention giving a good reason for a closer look. Maybe I'll have to look into it after having my chat with our friend the Master Wizard of Lago."

The vortex heads directly for a window on the top floor of a tower in the manor house. Arthur steps out of the funnel, dismissing it as he greets the tower's occupant, who had not yet noticed the entrance.

Arthur "Hello, John. And exactly what is my older brother up to these days?"

[ooc: Maybe the telepath returns as many signals as the number of minds he is looking into at the moment. Even if he is only controlling the wizard, it's likely he would be periodically checking on other people as a means of staying current.]

[ July 04, 2003, 05:44: Message edited by: Krsqk ]

[narf poit chez BOOM]

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 ]

[Jack Simth]

Originally posted by narf poit chez BOOM:
ooc:[i think you might have gotten in the way of krsqk's next post.]

ooc:[Oh, I'll shorten it then; perhaps have Jack mutter a bit at night while producing the amulets.]

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 ]

[narf poit chez BOOM]

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 ]

[Krsqk]

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? ), 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 ]