The Incomplete Domain [Ravenloft]

[Falon_Lin]

Fallon draws her shakujyou, looking around, her eyes narrowed.

[DarkHunter]

(( I think you want "Locate Creature", as "Locate Object" specifically disclaims being able to locte creatures. I'll post as if you did that. :smallsmile: ))

(( Hmm... and in this case, it really won't help much ))

There was something behind a large boulder up on the hillside. As of the casting of the spell, it was weaving among the boulders heading towards the rear of the party.

(( Spell change noted ))

The howls continue to come from various directions. The fact that the things are moving makes it difficult to count how many there are. They seem to be sizing the group up in preparation.

[Penguinizer]

((change spell))

((npc me for a bit, watching movie))

[Fenric]

Fenric draws his staff, Myobi pulls out her sai, and Krystal readies a spell.

The others draw into a defensive formation and look around cautiously.

[AmberVael]

Aesa realizes that she had gotten swallowed by plot, and somehow already joined the party. She mutters about manipulating fate and relaxes, looking around casually.

[DarkHunter]

A peppering of greenish-blue glowing sling-bullets flies out from the boulders. Fallon, Fenric, Myobi, Krystal, Aesa, Exachix, and George are all targeted by the magical stones. (( +6 to hit, 1d6 damage ))

With a shout, seven ugly, stunted elves with gaping mouths full of sharp, pointed teeth and wearing blood-red hats, weilding overlarge scythes jump out from the boulders and attack the party. Each one is accompanied by a dire wolf. They charge straight for the seven active players.

(( Grumble, grumble... These things only attack in odd-numbered groups due to some stupid superstition. I'm sure Exachix won't mind... ))

[AmberVael]

Aesa smirks and raises a hand, then shoots four Rays of Stupidity, two for each of her attackers.

[Falon_Lin]

Surprised, but not injured that badly, Fallon turns on the creatures and spins her shakujyou to attack.

[Fenric]

Krystal launches her Enhanced/Enhanced Magic Missiles, sending seven at the wolf and eight at the redcap.

Myobi shoots fire at the wolf and lightning at the redcap

Fenric activates his staff and swings twice at the redcap

George swings at the wolf

Exachix would have activated his magical quarterstaff, so he also swings twice at the redcap.

[Exachix]

Exachix, just before hitting the second time stops his staff and reverses the motion, hitting with the other side for surprise.

[DarkHunter]

The dire wolf and redcap attacking Aesa both become slightly more stupid (twice). Not being particularly bright to begin with, and not exactly relying on INT for their bloodthisty charge, it doesn't really accomplish much. The redcap swings it's scythe and the dire wolf bites.

Krystal's opponents squak and yelp, then swing and bite at her.

Myobi kills the redcap, but is attacked by the badly injured wolf

Fallon wounds both attackers, and gets slashed at and chomped at.

Fenric hits the wolf twice, killing it. The redcap swings at him.

George hits the wolf, and gets slashed at and chomped at.

(( cool, Forgot Exachix, and he showed up anyway :smallbiggrin: ))

Exachix mashes the redcap twice, hard. The redcap slashes at him and the wolf chomps.

[AmberVael]

((Actually, the wolf would be rendered unconcious due to having 0 intelligence. The Redcap would have taken a penalty of 7, or around there, but I do not know their intelligence score))
Aesa summons a hovering sword which blocks the scythe and then makes an attack of its own.

[Falon_Lin]

Fallon winces, but grins a feral grin as she strikes again.

[DarkHunter]

(( sorry, Int 2... yeah, the dire wolf would be out. Redcaps are 11, so he still attacks. ))

[Deadly]

Deadly wakes up with a start and blinks Huh... wow, battle for breakfast... he says and manifests a pair of dark claws before jumping at the nearest enemy with a yawn

[Fenric]

Krystal gets bit and tripped by the wolf, which causes the redcap's scythe to pass harmlessly over her. Krystal stabs at the wolf's neck with her dagger

Myobi is bit and tripped as well. She strikes at the wolf with both of her sai.

Fenric takes a nasty slice from the scythe, then slashes twice at the redcap.

George gets sliced and bit, but not tripped. He slashes at the wolf again.

[Exachix]

Exachix spins around and hits the redcap again, before quickly casting magic missle on the wolf. As the scythe swings he quickly holds his arm up and the blade hits his bracer, slicing into it near the edge and damaging his arm. I guess the wolf would get forced back slightly by the magic missle.

[DarkHunter]

Aesa's wolf is still unconscious. The redcap takes a nasty wound, but does not die, and it swings again.

Fallon fells the redcap and is bit at by the wolf

Krystal stabs the wolf through the throat, but gets brutally stabbed by the redcap swinging his scythe like a pick.

Myobi kills the wolf and stands up

Fenric kills the wolf

Exachix presumes a bit that he hit the redcap, so we take his damage away. The wolf yelps and snarls as the missiles pound home. The redcap swings again. The wolf snarls and jumps back to Exachix (but can't hit him this round)

Deadly attacks the redcap that is after George and claws it up. The redcap turns on deadly and slashes with its scythe.

The wolf attacking George snarls in pain and bites again.

[Falon_Lin]

Now that she's not ganged up on, Fallon seems to avoid the wolf easily. She stabs straight out with the moonblade of her weapon.

[AmberVael]

Aesa raises an arm and blocks the scythe blow, a number of enchantments protecting her arm from being severed. However, she pulls away and little blood drips from the scythe and a still painful cut on her arm. She pulls out Zchiz, and lets the Everdancing battleaxe lunge at the Redcap.

[Exachix]

Exachix apoligises briefly before swinging again at the redcap, this time towards the head.

[Deadly]

Deadly blocks the scythe with one claw and stabs at the redcap with the other.

[Kenyon]

((*Kenyon's player curses his his job's sudden schedule change, which will be forcing him away from the Town all day today. Some HR monkey's gonna get a few choice words about this...*))

[DarkHunter]

(( Aww... sorry, Kenyon. I won't start your part without you, though. Don't worry. ))

However-you-spell-it, the axe, is dissappointed at how little effort that last hit point took to remove from the redcap. It slyly chops the wolf to death, too, just in spite.

Fallon decapitates the wolf and gets blood sprayed all over herself.

Exachix dispatches the redcap at last, the wolf bites and tries to trip him

The redcap attacking Krystal fails to notice Myobi and takes two nasty hits in the kidneys. He spins around in a swing, trying to sever Myobi's head.

George fells his wolf at last

Deadly kills the redcap

[Deadly]

Deadly starts to chop up the dead redcap while whistling slightly to himself.

[Exachix]

Exachix growls at the wolf, and as he does trip, shifts to a fox and attempts to a bite into the hamstrings on the wolf.

[Fenric]

(( I cleverly posted this in the Town Hall thread... argh... This is last round's actions... ))

Krystal rolls away and avoids being skewered again, but can't do anything else.

Myobi grumbles about having to wait so long between uses of her enchanted sai, and attacks the redcap that is attacking Krystal.

Fenric runs over to help Exachix

George is bit again, but not tripped, and swings at the wolf

[hr]

(( This round ))

Myobi ducks, but gets a haircut and has the tips of her ears sheared off. She stabs out visciously with both sai.

Fenric slashes at the remaining wolf

[AmberVael]

Aesa sighs at the quick death of the wolf and snatches Zchiz back. You have no idea how uninteresting quick deaths are to me, do you? Zchiz cackles quietly.

[DarkHunter]

Exachix tears the wolf's tendons, and it throws its head back to howl in pain: just in time to get sliced by Fenric. The wolf topples over, dead.

The last redcap doubles over in pain from Myobi's sai-thrust to the abdomen.

[Exachix]

Exachix slows and turns around, before bounding over to Fenric and smiling up at him, before going over to Krystal to see how she is.

[Falon_Lin]

Fallon winces as she puts away her weapon, she keeps her claws ready just in case anything else jumps out, though.

[AmberVael]

Aesa places a hand on her arm and cauterizes it with searing fire in an instant. She hisses, but looks at her handy work with disgusted approval.

[Fenric]

Myobi ignores the incapacitated, retching redcap and drops down to heal Krystal

Fenric walks over to the nasty thing and kicks its scythe out of range.

What do we do with this?

George sheathes his sword and starts to apply salve to his wounds.

[Deadly]

Deadly stops playing with the dead redcap and looks around.

[Exachix]

Exachix nudges Krystal with his nose before looking over at the poor redcap.

"May seem harsh but tie him up and leave him."

[AmberVael]

Aesa smirks. Leave it? Why not kill it just to be safe?

[Fenric]

Krystal sits up and rubs her shoulder, then scratches fox-Exachix behind the ears with a grin. Myobi stands and goes over by Fenric to look at the redcap.

Nasty things, these: The absorb the strength of their victims by dipping their hats in the blood they spill.

Fenric nods

We can't just leave it. Either we kill it or we let it go.

[Exachix]

Exachix smile as Krystal scratches his ears.

((brb after food. Exachix will stay in fox form unless it inconveniences him alot,.))

[Fenric]

(( Actually... I second the "run off to eat" motion. back in a bit. ))

[Penguinizer]

Is it possible to interrogate a Red Hat? asks George.

[AmberVael]

Aesa grins and runs a thumb along Zchiz's blade. We can find out.

[Deadly]

Deadly sits down on a rock and shrugs while sipping a cup of coffee that he conjured from nowhere Or we could just pull everything he knows out of his head.

[AmberVael]

Aesa gives Deadly a scathing glance. How is that entertaining?

[Deadly]

He grins It might be... you don't know this things deep, dark secrets yet. Probing around can be lots of fun.

[AmberVael]

I prefer screaming to searching someone's mind.

[Deadly]

He shrugs and conjures a muffin I just think it's a waste of energy. This is clearly some random thing that barely knows about it's own existence from the time before we showed up. I say we forget about it and move on.

[AmberVael]

Aesa snickers. Well, Zchiz can do the honors, if we are so inclined.

[Deadly]

Deadly shakes his head and leans back, enjoying his muffin and coffee.

[Fenric]

(( back ))

Fenric shrugs

This isn't some poor, misguided creature we're discussing here: but a bloodthirsty maurauder. The hat's red for a reason: let Zchiz have him.

[Exachix]

((velcome back to ze domain incompleted.))

Exachix nods and then lays down, resting his head on his front paws.

[AmberVael]

Yes, yes, Zchiz is DEATH! He will show you all, yes? Aesa smirks and lets go of the axe, which quickly flings itself through the air at the Redcap.

[Fenric]

Myobi goes over to heal George, while Krystal scratches Exachix again. Fenric turns to look down the path and gets ready to get going again.

There is a wet smack followed by a dull thud as Zchiz lops the redcap's head off.

Let's move.

[Deadly]

Deadly swallows the last of his coffee and gets up Lot's more killing ahead, let's get going.

[AmberVael]

Aesa takes back the axe and waits for everyone else to lead.

[Fenric]

Fenric and Myobi head off again down the path. They are once again highly alert: looking, listening, and watching for any signs of trouble.

[Exachix]

Exachix smiles as Krystal scratches him, before looking over at her.

{Vulpine} "Thank you!"

He gets up and bounds off down the path to catch up with Fenric, stopping every so often to wait for Krystal.

[Penguinizer]

George casts Daylight on his sword ((the sword becomes sort of like a torch))

[Deadly]

Deadly floats behind, enjoying his muffin.

[Falon_Lin]

High Priest, how long do you think this mission will take?

[Fenric]

The road is nicer than trying to climb the bare mountainside, but it is still rough and steep. Soon, however, the crumbling battlements of a castle loom over the rocks and boulders.

Finally, cresting an outcrop, the castle itself is in full view, built on top of a rocky crag across a shallow gorge. The place has seen better days: large chunks of wall are missing, there are scortch marks and shattered stone everywhere, and the quiet dread of an old battlefield fills the area.

Fenric and Myobi pause to look at the castle.

Well, well, well... They certainly did a number on this place, didn't they?

Fenric turns to Fallon

If all goes well, about three more days.

(( OOC, I'm afraid we might end up paused due to holidays. Does Fallon need to be getting back? ))

[Penguinizer]

Seems like they did.

[Exachix]

Exachix trots over and stands by them.

"Ooh. Someone decided that blowing stuff up was a good idea."

((If needs be you'll have to NPC Exachix for monday, tuesday, and Wednesday. Or give him an excuse to stay at home. Plot related-broken leg maybe?))

[Wukei]

(Well...she was actually supposed to be here for our own little storyline...and she sorta skipped out on it...)

[AmberVael]

Aesa scans the castle with her intense, yellow eyes.

[Fenric]

Fenric looks at the gorge

Not happy... a big battle with lots of magic being thrown around is sure to have generated some nasty things. Anyone have a Dimension Door handy?

he looks at Krystal, specifically.

(( ah. We might need to come up with a way for her to go back early, then. ))

[Wukei]

(Well...she is in this time in two places at once...maybe a glitch in the time stream...)

[Deadly]

Deadly holds up a paw I should be able to get across.

[Exachix]

Exachix looks up at Krystal, before smiling.

"I don't. I think..."

[AmberVael]

Aesa nods. I have one. She traces three runes in the air and casts Greater Dimension Door.
((I forgot that I had that on her list of spells. Handy.))

[Fenric]

(( Krystal doesn't, so I'm glad Aesa does. ))

Fenric nods and steps through the door to the other side of the gorge, to the entrance of the castle. Myobi and Krystal follow quickly.

(( Thread-switch time... Castle (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=29604&page=2) ))

[Deadly]

Deadly shrugs and floats across the gorge

[Exachix]

Exachix follows, between Myobi and Krystal.

[Falon_Lin]

Fallon steps through as well, grimacing as she does so. It's obvious that she doesn't trust magic.

[AmberVael]

Aesa steps through the door. It does not close.

[Fenric]

[hr]
(( Later still... ))

Fenric leads the group out of the NorZilliar estates again. They head straight north, bearing a touch west, heading for a mist-shoruded pass high in the mountains.

[Kyrian]

A small rift opens up, and Conrad steps through.

Sorry I'm so late, Fenric.

[Penguinizer]

Dont worry, you didnt miss out on too many things. And I think the gravity at the liches castle is still reversed.

[Fenric]

Fenric chuckles at George

Well, anyone exploring that floor deserves a bit of an inconvenience.

Fenric turns to Conrad with a grin

No problem! Glad you could join us at all.

(( Although it's lunchtime... back shortly ))

[Penguinizer]

((That raises the question. Since it was at the stairways, how did we manage to explore the room correctly...))

[Atreyu the Masked LLama]

(The answer is "Evil Chicken Magic.")

[Fenric]

(( The "room" was an extra-dimensional space, so the reversed gravity outside [the golems came out to get us because Fenric didn't know the password] didn't affect the inside. ))

[Kyrian]

So...what did I miss?

[Penguinizer]

Golems, reverse gravity, and 4 insane stirges.

[Deadly]

Deadly floats behind You've missed a lot of sleep.

[Fenric]

Fenric chuckles

Very funny, Deadly. The big current news is a side-quest to go rescue Lorrian. She was kidnapped to ensure that I visit Strahd, whether I really like the idea or not. (I don't, by the way)

[Kyrian]

Well, you've got my help now.

[Fenric]

Fenric grins

Thanks! Right now, we've just got a bit of a walk through patrolled territory up to the border with Barovia. Things will get more interesting once we cross over.

[Penguinizer]

((might go to bed soon, npc me like usual :P))

[AmberVael]

Aesa twirls her magic rod and follows the others. She rubs the cauterized wound on her arm.

[Deadly]

Deadly follows behind, deeply focused on enacting a play with illusionary puppets

[AmberVael]

Aesa watches Deadly with amusement, then creates one illusion of her own to interact with his and throw off his play. Her illusion, however, seems to be very, very real.

[Deadly]

Deadly grins as one of his cute, furry puppets draw a tiny sword and decides to challenge Aesa's to a duel. Oooh, I love drama!

[AmberVael]

Aesa's puppet (which appears to be a classic red devil of some kind, but without scales) haughtily refuses to duel. Aesa grins as she watches.

[Deadly]

Deadly's puppet shrugs and, for whatever odd reason, decides to butcher his friends who just scream in terror before being chopped up.

[AmberVael]

The devil illusion laughs and acts like he persuaded the puppet to kill all his friends. He gloats and lets a little fire dance over him.

[Deadly]

The bloody puppet laughs evilly while kicking one of his dead friends. One of the dead puppets turn out to not be quite dead. With it's last strength it rises and screams as it drives a spear through the murderous puppet.

Deadly laughs while watching the strange play

[AmberVael]

The devil illusion shrugs and sets all the puppets on fire.

[Deadly]

The hero-puppet turns and charges the devil, spear raised. The flames soon consume it, leaving only the charred bones, yet still it continues it's attack.

[AmberVael]

The devil gets run through and goes into an elaborate fit while it 'dies.' After it finally finishes some silent monologue, it explodes. The explosion seems to be partially real, and the area around it gets scorched.

[Deadly]

The skeleton-puppet is blown to dust in it's victory. A moment later a Deadly-puppet appears in a circle of black flames and pick up the puppet souls before disappearing.

Deadly grins Aww, how sad.

[AmberVael]

Aesa laughs a little darkly. Ah yes, poor puppets.

[Deadly]

They'll be safe on the puppet ethereal plane. he chuckles

[AmberVael]

Aesa smirks and then looks up. Ah, visitors. Excuse me a moment.

[Deadly]

Deadly looks up and blinks Sure...

[AmberVael]

Aesa glows with red light. Her eyes are distant, and she opens her mouth and appears to speak, but no sound comes out.

[Deadly]

Deadly shrugs and fades a bit as the little color he has turns gray. He still floats behind the group, but doesn't seem to pay attention.

((I need to go. Back again tomorrow))

[AmberVael]

Aesa stops glowing and summons a small bowl. She empties the contents of a vial into it and looks into the bowl.

[Fenric]

Fenric waits while Aesa scrys things. Actually: that's an excuse. Fenric really waits while his player plays with Photoshop instead of the web browser.

[AmberVael]

Aesa moves from scrying to manipulating an illusion in the guild. She is distracted, but keeps going with the others.

[phoenixineohp]

Phoenixineohp and Phoenix stay quiet and alert. They watch the others as well as the environment around them.

[Fenric]

(( Oops... missed Pxp. :P ))

[Kyrian]

Conrad wakes up, and if needed, teleports over to the group.

[Fenric]

Fenric gets up and leads the group up to the guardpost before the pass. The guards bow formally to Fenric and wave the group through.

Nothing has been seen moving on the pass for nearly a week, sire. You should have no trouble on this side, at any rate.

Fenric nods

Very good. Keep up the watch, we should return shortly.

The guards nod and smile grimly in return

[hr][hr]
Fenric leads the way up the pass and high into the mountains

[hr][hr]
Eventually, the party comes to the top of the pass.

To the south: the path leads through the green fields of Balnaroth stretch into the distance.

To the north: the path plunges into dark, foul, mist-shrouded pine forests. Pools of dank, stagnant water stand on the road and the air is oppressively silent.

Fenric draws himself up with a closed-eye sigh. His ears fold down and his tail and whiskers droop at the thought of entering the haunted domain.

[DarkHunter]

The forces of evil are curious to know if you are going to stay perched up there all day, Fenric.

[Penguinizer]

George casts prismatic sphere to protect the party.

[Deadly]

Deadly wakes up and returns to his normal, non-faded self. He looks around with a yawn.

[Fenric]

Fenric looks around and grins.

Ready to take the plunge?

Myobi shakes her head

You are forgetting something very important, dear. We can't go there looking like this.

Fenric's eyes go wide as he realizes the mistake that he almost just made and grins sheepishly. Fenric, Myobi, Krystal, and Exachix all shapeshift into their elven forms.

http://i58.photobucket.com/albums/g265/ttstocks/ElfFenric.gifhttp://i58.photobucket.com/albums/g265/ttstocks/ElfMyobi.gifhttp://i58.photobucket.com/albums/g265/ttstocks/ElfKrystal.gif

[Deadly]

Deadly raises an eyebrow Something wrong with your other forms?

[AmberVael]

Aesa smirks. Does he have something against lycanthropes?

[Fenric]

Fenric winces

Not Strahd, no. But the entire country otherwise has quite a lot against lycanthropes, to be blunt. It's just as well we aren't werewolves, really. We would attract a tremendous amount of attention that we'd really rather not have if we went there in our hybrid forms.

[Deadly]

Deadly shrugs and summons a muffin.

[AmberVael]

I see. Her eyes stray to Deadly, and then over herself. Perhaps it would be wise for others of us to change form as well?

[Penguinizer]

George puts on the hood of his cloak, hiding his face.

[Fenric]

Fenric winces

Um... yeah. We'd do best to look as harmless as possible while travelling. Elf or human would be best, really.

[AmberVael]

Hm. Aesa snaps her fingers and in a shimmer of magic her wings melt into her back and her eyes turn brown. That should do.

[Deadly]

Deadly looks up What!? A raccoon doesn't look harmless enough?

[Kantur]

Do they have something against unicorns as well? :smalltongue:

[Fenric]

Fenric shrugs

It's probably ok... awakened animals won't cause too much trouble.

[Deadly]

Deadly frowns and lowers himself to the ground, instead of floating I can look very inconspicuous, but I am NOT changing form. he mutters something incomprehensible and waits for everyone to start walking.

[AmberVael]

Aesa snickers at him and follows the others.

[Kantur]

Let's get this dealt with.
He follows Aesa

[Fenric]

Fenric chuckles, then walks across the border

(( Barovia (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=29975) ))

[Deadly]

Deadly scowls at Aesa, but follows in silence

[Fenric]

Without warning, a freak invasion from Barovia pours into Balnaroth, in the form of dire fox-hounds.

The terrified foxes flee in panic, into the wilds of shadow. In mere hours, every fox has left the realm.

Standing high on the mountain, the Minister of the Hunt laughs himself into cramps.

[Fen3]

The Minister of the Hunt flees as the causality bomb goes off. The hostile thread of probability invades the ruptured plane, and the realm crumbles as if painted on a pane of glass that was subsequently shattered. The shards subdivide finer and finer until only the wilds of Shadow remain.