Player DS Character Name Type Status/Notes Sex -- ----------------------------------------------------------------- FH.John Haight.......HY..Arawn.............Druid .Normal/Al.. Ma ...Kevin Newark..........Dorhak............Warrior.Normal/Dwarf....Ma --.Tobie Bonahoom....YY..Fremea............Sidh....Normal/Faerry.. Fe W3.Mark Murtha.......HN..Kell..............Trader..Normal/Human....Ma W2.David Sanders.....HN..Kiet.Sunan........Acrobat Normal/Human ..Ma R4.Wout Broere.......YY..Unali.............Ninja...Normal/Human ..Fe ...Don.Kerr..............Maelorna..........Dancer..Normal/Human....Fe ...Gilbert.Isla..........Mournath..........Sailor..Normal/Human....Ma R3 Panthera..............Pyandalgor........Hunter..Normal/Human....Ma R4.Alex Koponen......YY..Z'leyra...........Healer..Normal/Human ..Fe R3.Fukishtu.Newsome......Npc...............Chief...Normal/Human....Ma R3.Lucria.Cegra..........Npc...............Hunter..Normal/Human....Ma Fake-Kell/Raki........Npc...............Normal..Normal/Shaper...?? Z'leyha ..............Npc...............Normal..Normal/Shaman...Fe Animals: Corona [Eagle] Z'leyra Game Web Site - http:/nrgcomputers.com/pbem/ Public posts/actions to pnpgm@list.powersandperils.org (mailing list) Private emails (not public actions) to pnpgm@comcast.net Game Update #128 sequence (file #904) ---------------------------------------------------------------- Admin Notes: None ---------------------------------------------------------------- [Recap] From Z'leyra: [Re: Actions] Stopping her attempts at patching up Fuk Z'leyra tightens the strap of her helmet and readies her greatsword whilst saying "As best armored I will guard the rear. Sister,... Triggering her weapon's sheath she readies to battle the Zin. (If lav  released she will run for it.) GM: Ack. Based on words that is 4-5 phases so will be covered over to next update. Zin was a single being the shifters race isn't Zin but just Shifters or Face Dancers or such. Many names. Post from Z'leyra: [Re: Actions] Having the sheath cast 'Clairvoyance' on her she then will use her helmet to cast Fire Darts at the Zin while they close. Just before they reach her she proclaims "You shall not pass!" and strikes with her greatsword. GM: Ack. From Arawn: [Re: Actions] Noting the low ceiling and narrow width of the slope it... As the projection asked the alfar to present himself... [OOC: If the axe is made of kameran metal or if the baton in Arawn's hands is of sufficient mass to make a pick he'll use the Cryx to shape it into a pick-axe. If not, he'll see if he can create a crystal pick-axe using the Cryx and hand it to someone strong/skilled enough to use it. I imagine this would be Dorhak or Raki.] GM: Ack. The solution is crystal clue but it breaks your attention to the wards. If the lava fails then all will die. So I assume you'd prefer to save the party and hope others would deal with the lava? :) From Fremea: [Re: Actions] Fremea is tired of this place. Arawn is busy with... GM: Ack. From Mae: [Re: Actions] Maelorna stands up with Fuk helping her and a momentary... GM: Ack. As a general rule no need to post every update unless you need to. These posts of yours are good but it might be hard to come up with material for long combats. So unless its just a action change no need but I'm just letting you know. So no urge to post every update - to anyone out there. Looks like this was in 2 different scenes the lava area and the present. So divided it up. Also the speech during the combat would have taken more than 3 phases (1 phase = 3 sec) so I divided it up as well. Why it looks half. In future when you speak and cast magic that also takes time. Magic would take a phase in itself. So if you say "prepare to die!" and then cast X spell that would take 2 phases. From Arawn: [Re: Actions] OOC: If Fremea's magic (or someone else's action) manages to create a lava flow then Arawn will change his action to sealing the top of the sloping passage so the lava doesn't threaten the party. He'll then take advantage of the time bought to begin the challenge. Arawn gave Mae a quiet smile before glancing at the dagger presented, scanning it with a master armorer's eye. OOC: If it's made of kameran/shifter metal and no one else has yet managed to open a hole to allow the lava to flow he'll try and shift it along with his own kameran metal into a miners pick if someone is willing to use it. At any time it appears that the oncoming shifters have been slowed he'll start the challenge. GM: Ack. You can't be in two places at once. So must hunker down on one action. Raki will show. :) Mae's dagger is likely normal metal from Marentia. ------------------------------------------------------------ [New Stuff] [Febris 9th, 1635TH] [Time: 5:01 pm] [Back at the lava tube cave...] Fuk extends a hand to help Mae up after she helps him. Maelorna stands up with Fuk helping her and a momentary lapse of control her face changes, looking at him with hunger filled eyes and a knowing smile that borders upon on the predatory "Would you like to know the desire of pure ecstasy?" she asks before she blinks and slaps his hand back and tries to back away from him, while panic fills her face, all the while the voice pleads with her, it would be so easy to feed upon him, even from this distance. "By the Court, it's not an addiction like a drug you humans use to escape. It's a hunger, and if it's not kept constantly satiated I wind up becoming the very monster you believe I am. I'm just hopeful we can get out of here, get to a city or a town that," as she doesn't finish, she knows what will happen if and when she can find someone to feed upon. Fuk nods, "understood." The dagger on the belt Mae pulls out and with a shrug holds it out for Arawn, "If you can make use of this, feel free," as she holds it out for him to take, "Just know, that it has been used more to take the lives of innocents than I have ever needed to defend myself with Arawn gave Mae a quiet smile before glancing at the dagger presented, scanning it with a master armorer's eye. [Ward Hallway area...] Arawn considers the scene around him. So many things to do but can't be in both places at once. Noting the low ceiling and narrow width of the slope it made sense to release the lava flow immediately. Too long and the shifters would be upon them. And even if they shifted to smaller, flying or crawling forms the heat would do much, not only in the form of damage but putting their cohesion at risk as mentioned by Raki earlier. The chances that they would simply plummet into the lava would be at its greatest if the lava could begin its flow immediately. Arawn cursed his luck at not having a pick or other mining tool on him, wondering if another possessed one or if his battle axe might prove sufficient. His own meager supply of 'Kameran' metal, the shifters frozen form, in the form of a baton would likely be insufficient but he tried to recall if anyone in the party was still carrying a weapon large enough to transform into a pick. Or could the Cryx craft a crystal pick? If not then he hoped that Raki and Dorhak could combine their talents at piercing the glowing hot rock wall - dwarven mine-craft alongside Raki's malleable form. [Phase 1] Fremea is tired of this place. Arawn is busy with asking more questions as always. He doesn't seem to realize the hot issue that has presented itself and instead wants to understand more than is needed right now. She sighs and hovers above the lip from where the shifters will be coming up. She quickly discovers that there are a lot of loose rocks here. One thing her mother always wanted her to remember, well that is what she told her after she found her parents, is that she should never leave anything lying around that can be useful. She quickly casts Marbles on the rocks, so they will roll down the ramp and hinder the shifters as they reach the bottom of the ramp. Speaking in her sacred tongue she leans down and grabs a slew of pebbles. She then casts the spells and tosses the pebbles to the air. As the stones tumble in the air they are magically transformed to solid marble spheres. They land on the slope and being their few seconds descent. Mae softly muses, "To think I thought my escaping from Master Gniled all those times was due to my..." she stepped over to the ledge to watch the shifters approaching. Mae flies toward the tip of the slope holding her dagger ready for action. Unali pulls both of her daggers from their sheaths and moves toward the slope to guard the high ground. Raki notices Arawn turn and is torn between both area the wards and the slope. Raki grabs him and turns him toward the wards. "No time. Go!" He nods toward the wards. Raki then runs toward the slope and watches. At that instant two of the shifters charge up the slope. The third does not and runs out of view down the passage away from the slope. As the two shifters climb the slope the 12 marbles begin to move toward the shape changers. Two of the marbles roll past but 10 of them collect under the shifter's feet. Six at Shifter #2 and 4 on Shifter #1. Shifter #1 handles one marble with agile feet but two of them cause him to lose his balance. The last one is enough to make him lose balance and he tumbles backwards down the slope. For Shifter #2 half of the marbles cause him to trip and tumble backwards as well. Both land back onto the ground on their sides or back. As the projection asked the alfar to present himself for the first challenge Arawn's head spun about, darting between the path ahead and the path behind. He realized that unless the challenge pulled him outside of time then he'd likely be unable to drop the ward in time for the group to escape. And it could leave him vulnerable as well. True, they could push ahead, past the line where the disintegration beams would destroy the shifters but that left Raki vulnerable and there was still no guarantee that the group would be safe from being targeted as well. Deciding that what was needed was time Arawn held off walking to face the challenge immediately. He caught Dorhak's attention with a tap on the dwarf's shoulder and pointed to the red-hot stone that capped the lava flow. It was perfectly placed to allow lave to flow straight down the slope. He didn't know if anyone had a pick-axe but he offered his own battle axe for now, hoping it might help. Then Raki almost pushed him toward the wards. Arawn realized that he is their only hope. If he or Z'leyra couldn't stop the wards there is no hope for escape. So Arawn raises the Cryx and boldly moves down the passage. As he does he stares at diamond crystals on the ceiling of the passage but there is no indication of activation. The glowing runes are at a constant stream of colors. When he reaches 20 feet from the ward the projection appears this time smiling and pointing at the wards. "Simply end the ward and pass." The projection then shifts to the right to allow Arawn to pass. Arawn hesitates wondering if it could just be that simple? Mournath moves almost to the slop with weapon in hand read to help out. Z'leyra draws her great sword and in between the others at the top of the slope. With feet firmly placed apart she watches as the shifters tumble. She readies her greatsword whilst saying "As best armored I will guard the rear. Sister, Arawn,..." Fuk moves behind Z'leyra ready for a guard action in case needed. His wounds are still bad but he can try to help. Pyan draws his bow and moves to the slope if he can help out. The area is a bit snug with folks at the top but maybe he can at least use his bow if needed. Kiet draws his tulwar and moves forward as well to the slope edge. Dorhak raises his shield and mace and watches the shifters tumble and grunts. That was a bit funny. Good trick though. He wonders if he should rush or wait but he does have the high ground. [Phase 2] With the shifters distracted for now Fremea moves down the slope 10 feet toward the hot spot on the left wall. She can feel the intense pressure and heat. She feels the heat coming from the wall and instead of waiting to see how the marbles do, she transmutes the rock that is thin, so that it funnels the lava straight down the ramp toward the shifters, and makes it so that the lava will not spray out onto the party. Fremea hopes this will work as she has seen Arawn use it a few times. She allocates the mana for the spell. Edging to the side of the party Pyan raises his bow and loads an arrow. He fires down the slope as there is plenty of room and no big risk of hitting Fremea. But the arrow impacts between the two shifters in the sand. Fremea raises her hands at the wall ten feet away and speaks the words. A brown haze forms around the section of wall about the size of 5 feet wide and 5 feet tall. Suddenly this section of hard stone changes into a soft glass. Staring through the glass Fremea is a bit taken aback by the expanse of the lava that is under the feet of the passage above. Under the feet of Arawn and the others. The flicker of the yellow-orange lava shines brightly in the slope area creating fiery shadows. The lava splashes up against the soft glass. There must be thousands if not millions of gallons of lava in that chamber. Mae watches the flicker of fire on the walls around the sloping decline and it seems almost home like. The two shifters at the bottom stand and stare at the marbles. Leaping over the marbles they rush up to the top again. At that same instant Raki descends, "Mae follow!" Raki changes into a large bull on all fours and charges toward the other shifters. But his intent is not to topple them it seems but to get past them. As the three shifters get to the same spot the bull that is Raki shoves one toward the wall and passes him. That is when the party realizes the 3rd shifter has escaped. Maybe to get friends. It seems Raki is off in pursuit and needs help from another fast flier like Mae? The two shifters try to swing at Raki but his unexpected actions forces the wild wings to fail. Both shifters end up 30 feet from the lava-glass wall and Fremea. But Raki ends up about 20 feet from the bottom of the slope. Arawn moves down the passage. As he approaches he can read the runes a bit better. It seems to be many various runes form various alignments. If the gods were here to place their mark this is it. Arawn pinpoints the Sidh runes. These are a set of green hues of half a dozen small runes. The Alfar tries to read the runes as quickly as he can but it may take a few seconds. But at first glance it just seems to end the ward that is blocking passage. Could it be that easy? Z'leyra prepares her helmet to fire a dart to try to at least take one out. She continues to speak, "..Arawn, lead the others to safety. If someone is going to release..." Dorhak is amazed at the change in the wall below. If the dwarves could harness that mining technique there could be no stopping them! But he realizes the plan. Based on what Fremea has in mind he moves 8 feet down the slope. He raises shield and mace. Then with a grunt he slams the mace at the soft glass. Then he leaps back up the slope moving upwards a few feet. The soft glass begins to crisses cross in shambles and breaks. Cracks and slants form. Then with a large crack the glass implodes half inward and half outward. The glass instantly is lost in the lava and that part that falls down the slope sprinkles onto the shifters below. Now the section of wall that was glass is no more and lava begins to bubble out as it tries to find the least resistance. [Phase 3] Actions? Comments? Next Update....Wednesday... GM: A short update. Sorry about Wednesday things got a bit compressed due to car issues. So consider this the Saturday update. I'll do next one Wednesday afternoon for phase 3 and 4. I hope all have a good Memorial day and remember. At least for those in the USA. Do you guys need any kind of hex map or is the visuals below enough? It seems some got the subtle hints and used things wisely. As you can see dialogue is cut in half. So will add more in the next phases to complete the long speeches. I figure if I can see the words in 3 seconds then I'll post that for that phase. :) GM: Arawn - If any questions on this let me know I'll try to answer stuff in email as fast I can. How long do you want to read the runes in depth? Before casting a dispel spell? Give as much details as can. Dorhak - I figure with the nice pointy mace it would be good to help. Plus your not really scared of lava as some might be. But above the open wall/top of slope you are fine unless its some weird magical lava that goes against physics and rolls up? :) Fremea - Do you want to go and help Raki as he chases the fleeing Shifter? If so what kind of actions. If the lava flows it should not cover the entire slope wall to wall so should have room to fly over it. In theory. Kiet - Been quiet hope all is well. Mae - Attack Shifters here or go help Raki chase one? Or none of above? Z'leyra - Should be able to fire next phase a fire dark before they move. GM: Maps/Data Passage leading to Slope - 60 feet Slope (40 degrees) - 80 feet Corridor to Stairs at Slope - 120 feet Party stands away from slope- 40 feet Image/Wards from party - 60 feet Height of Ward Hall Passage - 8 feet Width of Ward Hall Passage - 6 feet Height of Slope - 7 feet Width of Slope - 5 feet Ward Hall [-120'----] A_B_______C ..........D\ \__ 80 feet ............\E \ .............\F______?>- [--60'---] A= Stairs? B- Arawn's position C Main group of party D Lava 'window' E Shifter's position (2) F Raki's position ? Fleeing Shifter?