The Misadventures of the Missed Adventurers

[Krsqk]

Arthur, who has ruefully been surveying the damage to the baron's residence, quickly checks for signs of life from the great hall.

Arthur "Not sure what you caught, Jack, but that's a negative from my readings. I can't find anything down there." He goes back to his damage assessment. "I know one thing for sure, though--I don't want to be here if the baron returns to this mess. We have some major renovations to do here, not to mention fixing the little problem you dumped in John's workroom." At this, John glares in Jack's direction, while Jack completely misses the act.

Jack "I know what I'm saying. There was a teleport, and there are people in the hall."

Arthur "There can't be. If they were there, I'd know. I'm not getting any return from there or anywhere near there. It's not like there are two dozen armed bandits marching up here to get us. Do you need me to go and check for you?"

Arthur walks over to the door and yanks it open to reveal the first of the bandits, who was reaching for the handle himself. The enemy are well-armed and well-armored, each equipped with full plate armor, solid-looking bucklers, and a mix of halberds and one- and two-handed swords. They appear to be operating under some form of speed and strength enhancement, judging by the ease with which they carry their equipment. Arthur is greatly surprised, but still manages to get off a fireball and spring back before the bandit can react. The fireball hits the armor and disappears. It appears to have been absorbed by the armor. Two similar spells quickly dispatched by John meet a similar fate. The bandits, twenty in all, pour through the doorway into a staggered double line before advancing on the party.

[ooc: I'm envisioning some sort of amulet which absorbs incoming magical energy and redirects it, possibly using it to heal the wearer or to power some other artifact. I'm also assuming the plate armor is of good enough quality to stop anything sort of a very-short-range hit from a crossbow or a gravity-assisted hit by a longbow, similar to the late era French and English plate armor.]

[ October 16, 2003, 03:56: Message edited by: Krsqk ]

[narf poit chez BOOM]

ooc:[tired...oh well.]

Narp "Jack, enhancement spell! Then get us to a room somewhere in the castle!"

Narp charges towards the bandits. With a couple of seconds, his movement becomes a blur as he shield-rushes the middle bandit. The flour on his sheild hisses as Narp slams into him. Unfortunatly, the bandit's strength and speed is unafected. Fortunatly, Narp is stronger and faster. In the background, as he shoves his sword up underneath the bandits helmet, he can hear Jack.

"The spell on the bandits appears to attract and absorb any spells not in enchanted items. If there enhancement is alchemical, it would allow them to make more powerfull amulets than usual, since no discriminatory routines need to be added."

Arther, Narp and John "Just teleport us!"

Narp whirles and blocks a strike from the right with his sword, blocks on the left with his shield and kicks at the one in front of him, knocking the bandit back. And keeps backing up so they don't suround him.

ooc:[Better enhancements, better training. But still outnumbered.]

[ October 17, 2003, 04:44: Message edited by: narf poit chez BOOM ]

[Jack Simth]

Jack "Right."

Jack blinks, and the party finds itself in an inner courtyard, hidden from view of the tower by an intervening building.

Jack "We need a small army of our own, don't we?"

Jack begins forming golems, their bodies sized and shaped like Narp's, and teleporting swords and shields in from the fallen on the battlefield to equip them with.

Jack "Now, I don't know any swordsmanship, and can't program them with it. However, if you could show them the basics, Narp, they can memorize the motions instantly. Their skills will never be a match for even briefly trained troops - they can only repeat motions and adjust aim; they can't improvise - but their durability, tirelessness, and strength should make up for much of it."

Jack pauses for a moment.

Jack "Let's see... is there anything else I should be doing with these?"

ooc:[Such as cloaking them with an illusions of our appearence, or having D make them invisible, or having Aurthur/John equip them with fireball spells, or ....]

[ October 18, 2003, 00:26: Message edited by: Jack Simth ]

[Krsqk]

[ooc: You could always just teleport the golems over the bandits and have them "drop in" for a visit *snerk* ]

Arthur "Well, it isn't much good to equip them with offensive spells. Perhaps a regeneration effect? We could add some armor to them. Oh, and the enhancement spell couldn't hurt, either."

John "Judging by what Jack said just before teleport, no spell is going to Last long if it isn't actually embedded in an object. Anything we do will probably dispel on first contact with a bandit. I don't know if a golem actually counts as an object, but we could embed the spells in a rock and incorporate that into a golem."

Narp is already busily swinging his sword. Five golems are attempting to imitate him. The lack of originality is amusing, but the strength behind the blows is staggering. Once they pass muster, D casts invisibility and silence on them.

Arthur "The only other thing I can think of would be some communication, but they seem almost too simple for that. I guess quantity will have to make up for quality this time." Not finding anything immediately requiring his services, Arthur sits on a large rock and begins patching up a portion of the wall which he can see from his seat.

John "When you're done, Jack, you could probably send a few illusions of ourselves around to the other side of the tower. Come to think of it, you could just tack the illusions to golems. Give one a real bow, and he may even get lucky and pick off a bandit or two. At least it will divert attention from where we are." John inhales the vanguard of a visiting swarm of gnats, causing him to cough quietly.

[ October 18, 2003, 05:03: Message edited by: Krsqk ]

[narf poit chez BOOM]

OOC:[posting.]

Narp "OK, i got a plan. If one of you can increase the amount of sunlight up on top of the tower. Like a magnifying glass? Make them sweat alot?"

D "Illusion magic deals with light. I can cast such a spell. The heat won't kill them, but in about a half an hour, they will start looking for a drink. You have come up with a way to keep them on the tower?"

Narp "Yeah. Arther, you close and bar the door on the inside and then, Jack, you teleport all the golems to the inside. give them instructions to push against the door until they can fight somone. Maybe add a few every time we get low on golems. In the meantime, maybe we could finish fixing the castle. Not to mention healing the defenders. I should have read that book on architecture." His gaze wander's for a minute.

Which is less than it takes for Arther to close the door, lift the bar onto the brackets to lock it, Jack to modify the instructions on the golems a little then teleport the golems into the room and D to cast a magical magnifying glass over the tower.

OOC:[um, need practice.]

[ October 21, 2003, 07:06: Message edited by: narf poit chez BOOM ]

[Jack Simth]

Jack "Yes, we ought to do something for our allies. Let's see...."

Jack thinks for a minute, and then starts forming a half-dozen more golems, these ones with giant red crosses on their chests and backs.

Jack (to newest batch of golems) "Go heal our allies."

Jack scatters the golems around the battlefield, so that there is no clear origin point for them, and they begin their work. One is in view of the party - it finds a combatent in the Baron's colors on the ground, bends over, raises it's arm, and a beam of green light jumps from the golem's arm to the injured man. A moment later, the golem moves on to another, and repeats the procedure. The man gets up, looking a little confused, and heads back to the manor to report in.

Jack "Those should be good for thirty or forty healings each. As for the castle, it's not too bad - just a minor patch job. I've seen worse."

Jack forms another half-dozen golems, these ones with giant hammers imprinted on their chests and backs.

Jack (to hammer-golems) "Fix the damage to the manor."

As the golems start to move off, Jack teleports them over to the most damaged section of wall, where the golems immediately start replacing fallen stones, and tracing glowing bands of energy on them, which appears to seal them in place. They seem to be working quite quickly.

Jack "I included a memory of how the place used to look; they will keep replacing stones until the manor itself is close to that image again."

Jack "As to the fighting golems - they are partway between a spell and an enchantment. The bandits' defense against magic will be partly effective, and act as a slow drain on the golems' energy. I built them with that in mind, giving them extra energy stores. They should have enough energy to hold out for about an hour once they engage in combat before they start slowing down and weakening."

Up in the tower, the bandits are looking around, wondering where their prey went. One of them stands apart slightly, apparently supervising the rest.

Bandit 1 "Well, they don't appear to be coming back."

Bandit Commander "Let's go loot the place then, and get out of the sun."

The other bandits chime in with a chorus of general consent, and they head over to the door, which is already barred.

Bandit 2 (to his commander) "Umm, the door won't open."

Bandit Commander "Well then, knock it down."

The bandit obligingly hits the door, and it is apparent their alchemical enhancements are still in effect, as the punch pokes a hole in the heavy wooden door.

Bandit 2 "Commander, there is something on the other side!"

[ October 21, 2003, 18:21: Message edited by: Jack Simth ]

[Krsqk]

John is still struggling to remove the inhaled insects from his throat and swatting ineffectively at the remainder of the swarm. Arthur pounds on his back two or three times, dislodging the offending invaders. John then takes a small globe from his robes, suspending it about three feet off the air. The globe begins to glow softly, attracting most of the nearby bugs and shocking them when they attempt to land on its surface. [ooc: Bug zappers--great entertainment! ]

Despite the bandits' illusion of heat and bright sunlight, the sky is cloudy and dusk is near. As the outlaws attempt to break down the tower door, the clouds part momentarily near the horizon, allowing a dull, red light to illuminate the castle. Crushed bodies and broken stone litter the hillside, which is only beginning to dry. Thick mud cakes the courtyard and the walls, showing the inroads made by the attackers. Weapons protrude from the earth at odd angles, flung away by their retreating owners and left to the grasp of the sloppy terrain. The large tree which trampled many of the bandits is still smoldering, a light haze moving skywards and slightly to the northwest. Dazed and injured guards stare numbly at something beyond the ken of this plane, while the few who remain unscathed huddle in a small knot around an attempt at a fire. The air suddenly seems cold, although the light breeze is barely detectable. The golems stealthily and silently go about their work of repairing both buildings and bodies, remaining unrecognized with the aid of illusion and silence spells from D.

The party hears a splintering sound, followed by the surprised pejoratives of the bandits above. Again, the splintering sound, followed by two thuds in rapid succession. A head is briefly seen above the wall; then his lifeless frame sinks out of sight. The shouts grow louder but quickly subside under the verbal bludgeoning of the commander.

John "Well, this battle is as good as over for us. I might as well give you the rest of your ring, Arthur." He digs into his robe for the pouch containing the signet. Pulling it out, he utters a brief spell altering the protection runes to recognize Arthur's ownership. Arthur likewise retrieves his segments of the ring and prepares to receive his long-awaited prize.

[ October 31, 2003, 04:35: Message edited by: Krsqk ]