The Misadventures of the Missed Adventurers

[Krsqk]

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. At least she can dish out the sarcasm as well as I can--it keeps me on my toes. 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 ]

[Jack Simth]

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."

[narf poit chez BOOM]

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.]

[Krsqk]

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 ]

[Jack Simth]

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.]

[Krsqk]

[ooc: You're trying your best to make this awfully complicated, aren't you? ]

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."

[narf poit chez BOOM]

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.]

[Jack Simth]

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.]

[Krsqk]

[ooc: I wasn't prepared for Jack's sudden possessiveness about "his" new toy. 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.

[Jack Simth]

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."