The Misadventures of the Missed Adventurers

[narf poit chez BOOM]

ooc:[post coming. ok, not much for Narp to do...]

Narp "Yeah, the top of the slope is good. You just have to remember to release it low to the ground and with some momentium so it keeps going and doesn't make a hole."

at that moment, one of the item-weilder's among the bandits took aim at the tower with something. Then Narp hits him with an arrow. That gives one of the braver bandits a chance, and he takes up the abandoned sextant-like instrument and releases a ball of fire at the tower.

Narp *retaliating at the bandit* "Could one of you take care of that, please?"

ooc:[so i invented something.]

[ August 30, 2003, 06:37: Message edited by: narf poit chez BOOM ]

[Jack Simth]

Jack pulls his capacitor out of his robes, taps his index finger to it, and a glowing green band can be seen trailing to the gem as he pulls his hand away. Jack then flicks his finger at the fireball, and the loop connects with the glowing ball of orange flame. Jack releases the green line from his finger, and it snaps back at the fireball. An instant after it impacts, the return path to the capacitor grows thick and bright as the fireball shrinks down to nothing. Once the fireball is gone, the green band is yanked back into the capacitor, and its glow increases slightly.

Jack "Hmm, not much was recoverable from that fireball. Ah well, it's something."

Jack tucks his capacitor back into his robe, and watches the golems head his way, still carrying the tree.

Jack "As for the lead - I suppose it might not have happened here; lead became the medium of exchange after an alchemist discovered a method to get enormous amounts of energy out of it. Unfortunately, the alchemist didn't live to enjoy the fruits of his labor, as he wasn't prepared for the discharge. The city didn't fare too well either."

The golems arrive, Jack directs them, and they head off to drop the tree.

Jack "It took four specialists to figure out what happened - a psychometrist, an alchemist, a minisculist, and an animatronist - but after a month they were able to recover his work. As an alchemist, he couldn't directly manipulate the forces he needed to, so his method was rather roundabout. However, he managed to convert roughly five percent of the mass of the lead to energy - three protons, three electrons, and seven neutrons per atom - leaving the rest of the material undisturbed. The pound of lead he had used released more energy than he was prepared to handle. After the investigation, it was found that the method lent itself surprisingly easily to magic, with the benefit that a mage could capture the energy to power spells. The result is a rather worthless yellow metal, useful for its conductive properties, low melting point, and color, but little else. Unfortunately, only natural lead works. There are a handful of transmutation spells that can produce lead well enough to be used for the conVersion, but they all require an energy input in excess of the amount gained from burning the lead."

At this point, the golems throw the tree down the hill, and the poor bandits that can't get out of the way in time are left lying flat in the mud.

Jack "My fee is just double my costs; it takes a little over a terawatthour to produce one of these gems, which can be obtained from burning two pounds of lead. Normally, I just get that out of my capacitor; unfortunately, it's drained at the moment, so I'd need the lead in advance."

ooc:[A unit conVersion can be gotten here; beyond the conVersion to English units and some rounding, the numbers come off of E=mc^2 and the relative masses of the two elements (to get the element left behind as ash, find lead on a periodic chart, subtract three from the atomic number, and check the matching element.]

[ August 30, 2003, 07:38: Message edited by: Jack Simth ]

[Krsqk]

Having finished the spell assembly while listening to Jack, Arthur erects the force shield, which rises fifteen feet above the castle wall and extends a forty-five degree sweep each side of center, giving off an eerie golden glow.

Arthur "That should knock back any arrows, although a ballista could probably get through. A projectile with a small sack of damping flour could, too. Other than that, the buildings are probably safe. I'll have a light drizzle coat the buildings, just in case something flaming gets through." A pattering of raindrops is heard on the nearby structures. "So I can't transmute, then? I can probably get four pounds of lead from a metalsmith without too much trouble." A sudden thought strikes Arthur, and he does some quick calculations in his head, stopping to confer with Narp, John, and D.

John "Jack, you said that burning the lead would leave about four pounds of waste? Do you think the four of us could each take a fourth of it? It might be interesting to study, and I'm sure the guilds and metalsmiths would be glad to take a stab at finding a use for it."

A loud crack comes from behind, followed by four or five in a row. Several large lightning bolts strike the central tower from a group of twenty bandits gathered below, sending sharp stone and debris flying. Three guards, apparently unconscious and lying on the ground, are quickly stabbed by the intruders, who advance toward the tower on the run. A nearby sentinel attempts to halt their assault with a glowing net, which dissolves on contact with the bandits with a familiar series of flashes; the guard is rewarded for his vigilance with a half-dozen bolts through his chain mail. A warning whistle sounds, and a purple flare bursts overhead as four dozen more bandits scramble over the back wall and race to join their companions.

[ooc: This could be a pre-arranged attack, although the scrying spell should have detected them. It could also be the group from the psi's cave, attacking either on standing orders or a captain's/lieutenant's orders. Didn't they have some wizards with them? And how long have we been fighting, since ISTR the baron was around 30 min. away.]

[ September 03, 2003, 05:32: Message edited by: Krsqk ]

[narf poit chez BOOM]

ooc:[seems to me Arther is good at npc control, to. Narp wouldn't try to rip somebody off. Arther's just going to have to lump it.]

Narp "Oh, he means gold. That's pretty valueable here, " shoots "because it's pretty rare. If this get's out that'll " shoots "change. But a fifty-fifty split with the rest " shoots " of us would be fair."

Narp hit's a fouth bandit, then a fifth. And ropes hit the top of the tower and are followed by some assorted spells, including a fireball, two lightning bolts and a green something that cracks through the air, as horsemen enter the other end of the town at a reletivily silent charge.

And in the cavern's under the mountain, five wizard's stand around a pile of magical items, using up their power to create another teleport spell for twenty more bandits.

ooc:[another short post.]

[ September 05, 2003, 06:49: Message edited by: narf poit chez BOOM ]

[Jack Simth]

Jack teleports the spells onto different paths before they can impact anything; the fireball is diverted to a few of the bandits throwing ropes on the tower, who scream momentarily before becoming silent. One lightning bolt hits another, who screams, falls, and twitches on the ground for a second before lying still. The other lightning bolt hits a bandit coated in chainmail, and grounds out. The green spell impacts the chain covered bandit, and he screams as his armor turns to acid, burning his skin off.

A moment later, the smell of burnt flesh reaches the tower.

Jack "Well, I wouldn't be burning all four pounds at once anyway; I'd burn two to get the energy for the gem, and pocket the rest for later. There's no sense wasting good lead; it's dangerous if you don't have anywhere to put the energy. Normally I shape the ash into a mount for the gem - which reminds me, Arthur, what kind of mount do you prefer: ring, necklace, torc, armlet, bracelet, button, brooch, no mount, or something else? Normally I'd throw the unused ash away, but as you believe it has some value, I suppose I can save it. As far as I'm concerned, it's your purchase, Arthur, so it is up to you to determine the distribution. Four even sized chunks with the remainder for experimentation? Works for me. There isn't any residue on them, however. The spell that triggers the burning is destroyed in the process of the burning. The ash is a perfectly normal metal."

Seeing a head poke over the edge of the tower, Jack starts teleporting bandits away, starting with those climing the tower. Most end up well over the battlefield, but he tosses a few back into the forest.

Jack "Also - I'll need to be directed to a lake, preferably a large one, that people don't fish for a living. It's needed to safely burn the lead."

Due to Jack's having forgotten to renew the self-preservation orders on his golems, they are easy prey for the bandits, get dusted, and crumble to dust.

John "I know of one - only the Baron and his guests are permitted to fish there, and they never catch anything anyway. They won't likely notice."

Jack "Oh, and don't worry too much about backfire; I build a safety mechanism into the gems - they examine the energy channel you provide and determine how much the channel can safely take. They then back off of that figure a bit and limit the energy they will provide to the lesser of that amount and the gems' production capacity. If your spells can backfire without one, yeah, it could make backfire worse. However, one of my gems won't increase the chance of backfire."

[ September 06, 2003, 05:24: Message edited by: Jack Simth ]

[Krsqk]

[ooc: After a month-long hiatus, I'm finally trying again, and my RPer's broken. Here goes...]

The horsemen, about fifty in number, ride in a wedge directly at the knot of bandits, who scatter to avoid being trodden on. Jack assists their escape by teleporting several more back over the battlefield. With the few remaining bandits disposed of, the horsemen vanish.

Arthur "Obviously someone's picked up a new illusion since Last time I was here."

John simply smirks and serves up another fireball to the Last bandit climbing the tower.

A shout is heard from the front wall, and the party spins around. Guards and bandits alike are running from the shield wall, on which a large bag of flour is resting. The shield is swaying and buckling in an alarming manner, and the green glow is swirling angrily. Arthur turns pale.

Arthur "The container for the wall is dissolving, which will release all that force magic! Most of it should be directed out toward the bandits, but enough will come back this way that the baron won't like what he finds."

John "Container? What are you doing messing with force containers?"

Arthur "I saw it used once when a mage wanted to reinforce his force wall. I thought it might help reflect larger projectiles. Of course, I only saw it once, and it wasn't exactly a large-scale operation..."

John smacks his forehead in frustration. Before he can speak again, a large gash rips across the shield.

[ooc: Not that good, but the best this rusty old codger can come up with. And Arthur gives a big to Narp for trying to give away his gold. ]

[ October 11, 2003, 20:55: Message edited by: Krsqk ]

[narf poit chez BOOM]

ooc:[well, i forgot about this for today and am doing this kinda late at night. um, if it looks stupid, tell me. Jack is the obvious choice to do something.]

A large green hemisphere appears around the explosion, directing the bLast outward. unfortunatly, it also directs a large section of wall outward. a large number of top stones fly off the wall and begin rolling down the hill.

The remaining bandits decide this battle is not going the way they where told it would and that it is time to leave.

Unfortunatly, the furiously chanting wizard's in the cave do not know what has happened and transport the twenty soldier's, the best, brightest and most well-equiped. Right into the castle's great hall, where they immiediatly head upward to deal with the Last reported major resistance.

ooc:[one Last fight.]