HT Aliaver/Player Character Name Type Status/Notes Sex -- ----------------------------------------------------------------- R1.John Haight...........Arawn.............Druid .Normal/Alfar Ma ??.Chris Wells...........Ben'dar...........Warrior.Normal/Human Ma R4.Tom Corckett..........Caladan...........Wizard Normal/Human Ma W2.Marcel Liberty........Chion.............Sailor..Normal/Human Ma W3.Ryan Torres...........Farseeker.........Warrior.Normal/Human Ma --.Tobie Bonahoom........Fremea............Sidh....Normal/Faerry Fe R2.Mark Murtha...........Kell..............Trader..Normal/Human..Ma R1.David Sanders.........Kiet.Sunan........Acrobat Normal/Human Ma R4.J H Hooten............Raban.Usherwood...Bard....Normal/Human..Ma W2.Robert Maxwell........Strie'bog.........Bard....Normal/Human..Ma W4.Wout Broere...........Unali.............Ninja...Normal/Human Fe R1 John.Stowman..........Will..............Hunter..Normal/Human..Ma R4.Alex Koponen..........Z'leyra...........Healer..Normal/Human Fe R1 NPC...................Zhou Kiwat........Noble...Normal/Human..Ma NPC...................Captain.Lin.......Warrior.Normal/Human..Ma Animals: Corona [Eagle] Z'leyra, Tef'wo (Horse) Ben'dar, Game Web Site - http:/nrgcomputers.com/pbem/ Public posts/actions to pnpgm@abroere.xs4all.nl (mailing list) Private emails (not public actions) to pnpgm@comcast.net Game Update #226 in sequence (file #1408) ---------------------------------------------------------------- Admin Notes: None. ----------------------------------------------------------------- [Recap] From Fremea: [Re: Actions] Fremea has been quiet for a while. Just enough to others.... (after they all get back to where everyone else is) "I am glad that I made sure the rest of the Vong did not.... GM: Ack. From Arawn: [Re: Actions] Arawn's brow furrowed at Fremea's words, wondering why.... "It reeks of the magic of the Eldest Serpent, though ... --------------------------------------------------------- (When back with the others) Arawn listened to Fremea's rundown in silence, only.... "I have a talisman that holds additional magical energies... ----------- Healing Once the group is gathered together Arawn will tend to those wounded his Healer skills are best adapted for (I assume Fremea, Kell and himself), assisting Z'leyra where needed as he continues to learn how to properly treat humans. When it comes time to discuss magical healing he speaks up. "I can conjure a healing mist to restore all within it .... He cast an eye towards those that had previously been healed before turning an eye towards Lin. "Healing magics can take a toll on the body, the energies... Katai Girl Unali's Speech/World Brain Arawn would ask the others what they've discovered and appreciate hearing Unali's description. This could take place during the healing process though. Portal Once back with the group Arawn will explain his discovery of the Portal, describing it and hoping that some of the others might have some additional insight to share. GM: Ack. From Z'leyra: [Re: Healing] Z'leyra says "We MUST find some way of closing that.... ----- Z'leyra will patch those needing it and teach as she does. She seconds Arawn's mention of the dangers of multiple magical healings within 24 hours of each other, mentioning that she had heard of a royal dying because of insisting on a second magical healing. She concurs that his healing mist would be the best way to heal those wanting magical healing, but that the others must be prepared to stand watch and protect them while the healing proceeded. [If she has more than 10 points damage and hasn't been magically healed in the last 24 hours she will join those being healed. Otherwise she will stand guard.] Arawn will suggest moving elsewhere for the healing, someplace with cover. GM: Ack. Didn't read the mana report? I listed the folks who have been healed there for weeks. -------------------------------------------------------------- [New Stuff] [Augado 10th, 1634TH] [Location: Middle Katai Plains] [ Mountains west of Pamau] [Time: 2:31:10 pm] Before the group gathers Fremea is now visible and feels more vulnerable. But now that her big teddy bear the giant is near nothing can harm her. Unless its a giant snake that grabs and tries to eat him like once before. Fremea has been quiet for a while. Just enough to others to know about what she saw or heard and just having fun flying and shooting. Just too long without her wings free. Now, being with Raban and Arawn again, she begins to remember that they are here for something very important. Something that if not taken care of, she will lose all her chances to find her real family and take revenge on her 'master.' As Raban leads the group, Arawn and Fremea speak quietly on the portal. No need to scare some like the Captain that a hole in his plane of existence would not be good to announce without some further info. The Alfar asks Fremea to explore the portal the best she can. When asked to fly around some portal, she looks the way that the horrific feeling comes from. "Arawn, I did not see anything you just said. I can sense something, but I do not know where and can not tell where the threat is really coming from. If you wish me to look at it, take me to the point and give me a more accurate placement." Arawn's brow furrowed at Fremea's words, wondering why the fairy was unable to see the portal. Perhaps it was lack of use and the age of the portal, or something unique in his blood or even something related to his own entrapment in the Middle-World. Whatever the case he hoped to discover something of the portal before leaving the Mount behind. As Raban and the others walk eastward, Arawn and Fremea separate a bit south toward the Portal's general position. Moving to a position directly under the portal he called to Fremea, guiding her around and over it, but making sure to keep her from accidentally touching or flying through it. "It reeks of the magic of the Eldest Serpent, though whether it leads to one of his realms or somewhere else I do not know. But it seems to be a transportation portal. But it is faded, reality seeming to crack at the edges, and it is huge. It is unlike any portal I have seen, even in the Upper Realms." Fremea cautious takes to the perimeter of the portal. Actually, as she nears abou5 50 feet to it she can sense the vile sting of the portal in the pit of her stomach. It reminds her of the time some foul humans tortured some beggar in front of her just because they were bored. As a slave she could not stop that from happening and it was humiliating and disastrous for the beggar who begged for death but was never given it. Fremea can feel bile rise up from her stomach as she nears the portal. Now she can sense the foul stench of Kotothi or his minions. She is amazed she couldn't sense it earlier. But now that she is closer maybe her senses are not as strong. But then again it would be too distracting to sense this thing from a distance. She remains about 20 feet from it not wanting or daring to get closer. She hovers and tries to concentrate on the portal itself while Arawn is talking. The Druid is a bit distracting to her mental process but she sees the portal invisible. She can only see the far south wall. Then she begins to concentrate on teh portal. Her breathing becomes a faint whisper in her ears as she begins to block the world out. She begins to scratch something on her left shoulder vigorously. Then her vision seems to change. She blinks and blinks again. Moments later the portal breaks from the invisible to a blackness. Below Arawn can't see the change himself but can only sense that Fremea's emotions are a turmoil of confusion and reluctance. Fremea can see a very dark gray and black area form in her vision within the portal. This must be the other side itself. She notices a rocky surface of walls and clefts or cliffs. At the bottom of this large expanse maybe as large as this cavern itself - 1000 feet - she notices a object at the base of the cave or wall. It looks like a pile of bones. As her vision clears more she notice it is skulls. She realizes most seem to be human skulls. But some are various other species like Elf, Faerry and even Dwarf among many others. She estimates thousands of skulls. The pile of skulls seem as high as 15-20 feet and as wide as 75-100 feet. It is very difficult to tell scale from her view. She can see then wisps of leather on various sections of the bones. No. She has seen that before - skin. More specifically it looks like snake scales. Fremea shivers at the site of this throne. It has to be some altar or throne or just burial site. She begins to back away feeling more sick by the second. The emotion of the pain and death seems to overwhelm her and brings her down. She waves for Arawn to hurry up. Arawn tries to run after the fast moving Faerry. He is not sure what she has seen but it seems bad. He glances over his shoulder to see but sees nothing. Maybe being so far above ground he can't see it unless right there? Fremea does something that humans like to do. Spit on the ground. A custom she finds a bit unseedy. But it seems to clear the bile from her tongue. She reaches for her water skin and cleans her mouth with water. As she slows down she describes the scene. Arawn listens with keen interest and then realizes it doesn't take long to recognize it. The Skull Mountain. Named for the skulls of the dead not for the earth it self. The Alfar knows the story well. When the war broke out with the supernatural forces and gods many came here. Many were forces back to the upper world after the war. Many took advantage of the young races like that of humans. Kototh himself was one such that sought to end the humans out of spite. In doing so he crossed over easily to the middle world by allowing his minions to kill 10,000 in a region once called Musra. Musra was a ancient land of peaceful humans who only worked to live with nature. Entire towns were killed when the humans did not resist. This great dead - or foul deed depending your view - allowed the portal to appear. This very place must have been the portal or at least one of them? The Skull Mountain allowed the Jealous Spirit to capture and kill many thousands more humans in his goal to eradicate them. If Fremea saw it then this was one of his ancient favorite homes. The Druid thanks his parents for grace that the great serpent is not there now. But it does concern him that if there are minions will they sense the sudden presence of Sidh at the portal? Does the Agreement for the gods to not enter the middle world prevent lower minions? He doesn't scare the fae in this regard as one threat is enough to worry about. But this seems to add to the idea that if the Vong came here from another world that maybe the vile god was behind it or at least helped it? Maybe when the portal opened in ancient times it allowed a space fragment to the worlds to open. A crack if you will to the Vong World. This makes Arawn even more upset that Kototh himself may be the reason why the Vong came here. Z'leyra walks close to the girl as she seems to trust the shaman. She notices she is weary of Ben'dar and Lin. But for some reason Raban's presence makes her a bit giddy. Z'leyra does admit the Bard is quite handsome. To a girl like her it must be quite a change from evil to good things. Z'leyra notices the girl stealing quick glances at the giant. As they walk Z'leyra becomes visible to the others. The girl was touched so is not shocked by the sudden invisible to visible state of the healer. Arawn studies the girl walking by Z'leyra. He is glad to free yet another prisoner. He doesn't know her story but from the look of Z'leyra's face in quick glances it seems she hasn't been on vacation. Arawn moves carefully around the girl, taking advantage of his natural empathy and gentleness to avoid further upsetting her, comforting her if she give indication that she is open to such. Realizing that the girl seems somewhat trusting of Z'leyra he speaks quietly with her. "There may be other prisoners or Vong Outcasts here. They should be rescued and the latter could also be the means to succeeding not just here but in there homeworld as well. Do you think you could ask the girl if she knows where either group might be kept or if she's seen the upper floors?" Z'leyra grabs the giddy girl from Raban's large arm. The shaman notices her shame and plight seems to change around the bard. While she is scared of the other men the Bards seems to draw her to him. Z'leyra then quietly begins to ask about other prisoners. The girl looks down and shakes her head. "My mother, father and little brother. I don't know where they are." She shuffles her feet on the dirt ground as she walks. It seems she becomes some small preteen girl being scolded rather than a young woman. "I saw my mother being beat by one of those things...my brother kicked. But that was the last time." She looks hopeful at the Healer. "Do you know where they are?" Z'leyra shakes her head as it is best to tell the truth. Though she knows they are probably dead in the pit below. "As to other groups or up there. No. I was taken to that ..place...a day ago. I was held there.. and ..." She wipes her tears but looks eastward to the other group of humans coming closer. "They are your friends?" -------------- [Time: 2:31:52 pm - 2:34:15pm ] Back at the flying field the group are now whole once again. Fremea lands on the ground and smiles a bit with glee after she spots the dead Vong. "I am glad that I made sure the rest of the Vong did not get down the stairs, or more of you would be lying on the ground. Just one was almost too destructive." Kiet glances up to the stairs and listens to Fremea. More? How many were coming down? A small being like her couldn't take more than what? Two or three by herself? Hovering in the air, so she is just about eye level with most everyone (except Raban), she notices Unali. Thinking to herself, where has she been? "Before we go to kill more Vong, I could use something to help with my ability to cast a few more spells." Looking at Lin to see him cringe at even the mention of magic. She smirks. "It seems that I have used almost all my reserves in taking out many of the Vong creatures. The stairs were much fun though." Lin stands with arms folded looking at the downed warriors. He doesn't seem to even respond to the words Fremea speaks. Maybe he is getting too used to this "evil" stuff. He stares in concentration as to what may lie ahead. Lin looks to Arawn and considers it. Then he nods. "We are in the service to the Emperor. We die on his whim. I am prepared to do that. My wounds are severe. I will do what I can till I am killed. I rather be killed in a fight honorably than after the battle form infection. I will take your ...healing." Arawn listened to Fremea's rundown in silence, only speaking up when she mentioned her magical depletion. "I have a talisman that holds additional magical energies that might be of use, though I had been holding it for Chion in case we need to retreat quickly. But if he does not think he'll need it you're welcome to it. If, instead, you wish to replenish your innate energies I can do something about that." Chion shrugs at the offer for a battery. He knows he has plenty as long as he doesn't have to teleport 100 Raban sized people away. Now that the group is back together Unali decides it is time to cover the details again for those who were gone. During the speech Unali takes a brief pause so others can sink in the news. During such times others mention need for healing and the like. Arawn speaks out, "I can conjure a healing mist to restore all within it to full health. I imagine it to be the quickest and most efficient method at hand. However, it could take up to two or three minutes to fully heal the most badly wounded and during the healing those within the mist will be comatose and helpless until they are completely healed." Arawn casts eye towards those that had previously been healed before turning an eye towards Lin. "Healing magics can take a toll on the body, the energies potentially overwhelming a person if they attempt to contain such magics beyond their ability to handle," he cautioned Lin. "Another healing can be attempted but it is potentially fatal for any who've already been healed. More so the more healings they've been through in day. I would caution against taking the risk but it is your call to make. If you should pass then your other skills may come in handy and we have missile weapons to lend, a wise choice if we are to engage something like this World Brain." The Alfar then looked to Raban. "If any do wish to risk additional healing perhaps you might wish to Bless them, asking for greater resilience and constitution. It might prove useful in allowing them a chance to survive the magic." Finally Unali ends her tale. Even Will seems to be a bit drawn in among the details. For a few long moments the group remains quiet. Z'leyra says, "we MUST find some way of closing that portal. I could try a spell, but I don't know if it will work. We also have to kill that brain thing and check that no other dangers are around. The Portal might not be the only mystic problem." Now talks becomes divided up into quick plans and healing. Arawn also takes a quick chance to explain what Fremea found out about the portal to the west. But the Druid seems unsure if she should tell about the possible danger from it. [Time: 2:34:15pm - Current] Actions? Comments? Next Update....Friday... GM: Now everyone knows the details. Now the game is over. :) Well maybe not. But Diablo 3 comes out in 2 hours as I type this. Waited a decade. So I may seem to have partial effect of a Forgotten spell and fail to do the updates at some time. But we shall see. I've decided to take the last of the week off so will give me 4 days off. Will there be a update Friday? We shall see. :) Some late (very last minute) posts came in so couldn't include those. Why its always good to be in early. :) GM: There is really no cover in the area. I suppose one could climb into a flyer and be there. Or climb up to the tower. But otherwise its pretty open. One could use the slight cover of the stairs. But none are perfect places. Arawn - Based on comments will do Healer skill only. No magic it seems? Ben'dar will not magically heal. Chion will not heal magically. Kell hasn't posted in awhile but with his light wound I assume no healing. Will/Unali - Will assume with light wounds no need to magically heal. Z'leyra - Based on above will be healed magically. Caladan, Farseeker and Raban will heal magically. Lin will heal magically. So this is the plan. I assume ZL will do her top Healer skill, Raban will bless to help the treatment and Arawn will do a Mist. I will do this for next update. If not let me know if you wish to take the healing if I not listed it above. GM: Spells active Z'leyra - Orient Self Will - Armor Transmutation * = Soon to end (next update?]. I may NOT post this info unless I remember to do so. :) GM: Maps ---------------------------- Mount Side View - Scale - 1 Column = 15 feet 1 Row = 50 feet North=wall facing screen [Looking from one wall to the other wall. Toward North wall with back to south wall. Looking east/west.] 1 2 3 4 5 12345678901234567890123456789012345678901234567890 ____________________________________________________ I### Fake Vong ceiling ###IA I# #IB I# #IC I# #ID I# #IE I# #IFCave Cave 1-> `# #`G<-#4 I# #IH Cave 2-> `# #`I<-#5 I# #IJ Cave 3-> `# World Brain--> #`K<-#6 I# #IL I# #IM I# @ <-Portal #IN Mount I#T T#IO Ground --?I#]A_A_A_A_A_A_A_A__________________V__V__V__V__V[#IP I Y