The Sea of Starry Night II [IC]

[Callos_DeTerran]

Callos

Once the two Elthan's had completed their search Callos took a step back and to the right so that Djital was mostly in front of him. Trying to stand in a position so that he could see all of them at once he said softly.

"I would greatly appriceate it if all of you could remain where you are standing and not to resist this spell."

At that the brown haired mage began to cast under his breath, hand motions subtle and discreet before his eyes took on a silverish tone.

((DR, going to cast detect thoughts then start readin' minds. Don't mean to make life harder for you DR))

[Dr._Bob]

OOC: I would like each player to secretly contact me by PM indicating whether your character chooses to open their mind to Callos' probe or whether they choose to keep their thoughts to themselves. If you choose to resist, please make a Will save and let me know the result secretly.

Did I mention that the decision and roll should be secret?

[HempRope]

Achkby, Halfling Sorcerer

When Fizahn, open his hand, Achkby's shoots to his pocket.
"Hey!" he exclaims in surprise. "That's the ring I grabbed when we were running from the spiders!"

He pauses a moment, glaring at the gnome.
Did he really steal it from me?

"How did you get that?" he asks coldly. "Last I remember, it was safe in my pocket."

[Muzzleflash]

Djital, disco-style meatshield

He nods back to Callos, drawing his short sword and looking toward the rest of the party with a raised eyebrow.

"Do not approach my friend unless you want me to think you are what harmed the gnome."

[HempRope]

Achkby, Halfling Sorcerer

Don't even start on them. They have no right to come in here and just... just, try to 'expose' whoever's been killing us when they themselves were out for our blood just a little while ago. Sounding like they're so concerned for Lissa because she's blind... they abducted her from us themselves!

Calm down, now. Leave it for someone else. Finish this first.

[Phasm]

Lissa

Lissa shrugs at Elthan's verdict, tucking the gem into her haversack. "Well, if it's valuable, then I can use it in Telflamm to help pay for a mage to unblind me."

She turns her head in the direction of Djital's voice; as with Sheyra, she's close but a bit off. Her expression is a bit annoyed. "I've got a name, human. I'm not even making you tall-folk remember the whole thing; just Lissa. It's not that hard." She leans back a bit against Achkby. "Is this okay, Achkby? It's a bit cold in here..."

[Frojoe21]

Aeroz

Aeroz cooly places his hand on the hilt of his rapier. He keeps an eye on Callos and Djital
"Buddy, you're not one to be probing us with spells. I really don't care if either of you were driders, when you did what you did but as far as I'm concerned, the both of you are both suspects as well. It may be the same thing that killed Sedryn, it may not, but I think that if you are gonna go casting divination or scrying or whatever kinds of spells, you should be scanned with the exact same thing."

Aeroz begins to slide the dagger from his cuff into his hand, making sure no one knows.

[OOC: Sleight of Hand result 20 (9+skill bonus (11))]

[The_King_of_Durf]

Darius

"You know, he's got a point there." Darius says as he looses him bow from his back with a sneer.

Hahahaha! Ahaha! Heh... hehe...

[Callos_DeTerran]

Callos

"Hmph. I'll be more then happy too...if someone else can cast that spell. Can any of you?"

[Muzzleflash]

Djital

An "I can't believe this is happening" look crosses his face, as he strokes the tip of his beard. He looks back and forth between Aeroz and Darius, shaking his head.

"Easy, men. The last thing we need to be doing is preparing to fight each other. This is out" - he punctuates his words with a small twist of the sword - "to protect Callos from retaliation. The.. Lissa was blinded, and I am sure that whatever did that will be just as fast to attack him. If any of you can divine the contents of my mind, I invite it freely."

He smiles, shrugging his shoulders in a gesture of acceptance. "If you have nothing to hide, why object? Something, or someone who has infiltrated your group would certainly not allow their mind to be looked in on, to the point of killing to prevent it. They would probably object, or ready their weapons.. just like two people in front of me."

After delivering that barb, his tone softens.

"Personally, I doubt that you two are behind anything. If Lissa can sense whether the evil is close or far, we could take a walk down the shore, then come back. Then we can approach this from more even ground."

[Dr._Bob]

Callos can only scan about half of the party at a time. Djital keeps the others at bay while the necromancer concentrates on his detect thoughts spell.

Aeroz, Darius, Trinark, Lumpy, and the lizardman frown as they close their minds to Callos' mental probing. Callos tests their psyches for weaknesses, but finds no means of entry. Hajih and Lissa, on the other hand, raise no defenses, and their surface thoughts flood into Callos' consciousness ...

I don't like this, some one's out there.
No … some one's with us and that some one happens to be completely evil.
Why are they toying with us?
And most of all, what happened to Hero?

Hmm, I wonder if you can feel it when somebody's detecting your thoughts? I hate being a burden ... bad enough everyone had to come rescue me, and I don't care what they say, it was my fault Thokk died. But now I can't even pull my own weight! Oh, I hope this gets lifted soon ... mmm, Achkby's warm. Maybe not too soon. Men can't resist a damsel in distress ...

[hr]
While waiting to be scanned, Fizahn shrugs and hands Achkby the silver ring. "You ought to be more careful with your stuff."

[HempRope]

Achkby, Halfling Sorcerer

Achkby take sthe ring, and with another cold look, stows it in a deeper pocket.

Then he turns to face the two new humans.
"'Ey. I'll agree with them. You two, albeit in a different 'form,' made more advances against Lissa than the rest of us put together. In fact, we made none. Now, you may be quite reformed, but the possibility remains that you're not. Then, besides that, I don't see how we can trust the verdict of two newcomers, anyway. Regardless of whether you gain any real knowledge, you could easily pinpoint any one of us as the 'culprit.' Perhaps to pass the blame from you, or perhaps for some other reason -- I certainly don't pretend to understand your motives. But if you do, I don't see how you can prove it. But I will not physically try to restrain you, because regardless of what you say afterwards, I put my trust in my friends to take my word over yours."
He is breathing hard, but makes no motion to stop the man from casting his spell.

They won't find anything. And they'd better not pretend they did.

[Callos_DeTerran]

Callos, Frustrated Mind Prober

As he tested the mental fortress's of Aeroz, Darius, Lumpy, and the lizard man a vein bulged out on Callos's forehead as he tried to pierce into and seek out a culprit. After being repulsed he turned his spell towards Hajih and Lissa, barely even hearing what was going on around him. A relieved smile came to his face when he entered freely and he did his best to make his probe unrobustive. After hearing them though the human could only begin to chuckle weakly. Opening his eyes he blinked and shook his head.

"Well so far its a complete waste. I could only establish two people as "not it" from what I've already heard. That leaves three people left. The halfing who is determined to prove that I'm evil, Ackby is it? The other gnome. I don't know your name yet. The two elves still need checked and so does the two taller women. And Djital. Sorry friend but its only fair that I scan you too. I remember that you didn't have any magical abilities before we were changed but...the brooch changed many things. I need to make sure."

Closing his eyes he turned towards the last three and began to concentrate on his spell once more though now other thoughts, his own, began to flit about in his head.

((OCC: Going to begin concentrating on the last 6. If I missed someone I'm sorry.))

[Dr._Bob]

Callos severs his mental link with Lissa when her thoughts about Achkby begin turning a bit more carnal. Shuddering a bit, he turns his attention to the remaining members of the party. Elthan and Linda are inscrutable, but Fizahn leaves his mind open and Callos manages to force his way into Achkby's and Elthan's minds despite their attempts to resist him ...

Stupid! Stupid! Stupid! It's not like I had any proof that Achkby was the one who murdered that priest. What did I think I was going to find in his pocket, Sethra's fire opal? I wonder what that ring does anyway? Lissa sure seems to have taken a liking to him. Good thing I'm not the jealous type. Heh heh. At least I don't think I'm jealous. I mean, I'm definitely not jealous. I mean she's cute and all, but ... well, and anyway, she's waaay too old for him ...

They won't find anything. And they'd better not pretend they did. The nerve of them! Trying to work with us after trying to kill us, saying they were 'transformed!' Hmph. They may well have been. But until they can prove themselves, I don't trust them.

And now they're getting all pretentious about how they're gonna expose the one of us who's committing all of these crimes. I think it ten thousand times more likely they blinded Lissa than any of us did! And even if they do find out ... what good will it do them? They can't prove what they hear. And I, for one, am not going to listen to a smidgen of their 'verdict,' once they're done.

Why in the nine hells do they think they have any authority? Umm. There are only nine hells, right? One, two, three, four ... right, nine.

Well, obviously someone cast a blindness spell on that poor gnome, but who? I didn't hear anything when she went blind, so the spell must have been silenced or produced from some sort of magic item. I suppose that it could have been this Callos person (I hope he isn't reading these thoughts right now), but there's no chance that Sethra possessed him, is there? He wasn't with us when that cleric died, at least not in human form ...

[King_of_GRiffins]

Elthan II

*Elthan II looks quite worried. His eyes are closed and his hand is on his head.*
Detection of magic and moral is one thing, but detection of ones thoughts is an invasion of privacy I cannot abide by. Our thoughts, our personal individualities, do these mean nothing?
If I speak up agianst it, I would be announced as the cause of these troubles and I lose the group. If I stay silent, I forever fear the invasion of my mind and lose myself.
Whoever invented this spell did not think much on its ramifications, did he?
"*Sigh*"
*Elthan now forces himself to become calmer, trying to distract his mind.*
One, ten, eleven, one-hundred, hundred one, hundred ten...

[runehawk]

Lizardkin Druid

The lizardkin had not understood what the new human mage meant to do but immediately recognised the mental probing fro what it was. Determined to not let his mind be touched by something alien, he concentrates and closes it. To his own surprse he did not grow angry at the attempt, the possibility of flushing Sethra out was probably important enough to allow the pinkskin his temerity

He studied the others, looking for signs of discomfort. Was it Sethra or was it something else? Fond as he had grown of the others, if there was a chance to kill Sethra here, in the middle of nowhere, sacrificing all for the sake of the tribe, should he not take it?

The lizardman frowned at the disturbing probability and stares at the dark waters n the shoreline deep in thought.

[Callos_DeTerran]

Callos

Once the thoughts from Lissa's mind turned carnal he severed the link as fast as he could and turned to remaining people. When two more people once again turned out to be strong enough to resist him he sighed in a half-hearted way before turning to Ackby, Fizahn, and the Elthans. Surprised at the magnitude of thoughts there he took a long moment or two shifting through them for any hints, once more trying to make the probe unrobustive. Well there were the accusations he knew would be there...questions if they thought he did it...and then the thoughts of the other gnome who he had no name to yet.

"I feel like I'm in a play in Waterdeep. Figured that spell might have a chance of gleaning out who blinded Lissa but I got nothing! But I've got a good question...whos Hero and Sethra?"

[Elmorwen]

Sheyra

Sheyra slumps down against a rock, making no attempt to resist the mental probing. She glares at Callos anyway, not liking that he's doing this but not seeing any better way.

Gods, we've all turned against each other, she thinks, Not that that's anything new. I really hope we get out of here soon, before anyone else dies. Heh, that was really pessimistic. Not like me at all. Wow, I am really bored. Not that I'd rather be attacked again. I just wish the damned ferry would show up already.

[bhdrake]

Lumpy

Lumpy growls softly as Callos attempts to probe his mind, brow furrowing as he tries to beat off the magic. Though he is honestly unsure of his success or failure, he offers the mage a confident sneer, one lip curling up to reveal yellowed fangs.

"Ya didn't honestly expect that ta work, did ya? Someone's thoughts are their own, and no one wants someone else mucking around in them."

The surly orc shrugs, "We just do it like we did before. Split up inta big shifts when we sleep, so no one gets an easy shot, mebbe three people per shift. That would'a worked just fine.." He glares at Callos and Djital, "if it weren't fer ya and yer spider buddies."

Lumpy's little tirade draws to an anticlimactic end as his stomach begins to growl audibly. He glances down, grumbling, turning to shuffle back towards his pack and other things.

[Dr._Bob]

More hours pass in darkness (as light would only attract unwanted attention) as the party hides behind the rocks. The atmosphere is tense and no one is in a good mood after being probed and scanned by the Elthans and Callos. Each party member eyes the others suspiciously. Is he the one? Is she the one? ... Am I the one? No one can be sure.

Few of you are willing to close your eyes even for a moment, knowing that evil may be lurking nearby, perhaps only feet away. Lissa remains blind. Every minute that passes diminishes her small hope that the blindness might wear off on its own.

[hr]
After what seems like an eternity, Lumpy hisses and points out a distant light source. A boat is moving toward the shore from across the Glimmersea. It will probably arrive within a half hour ...

[Zeal]

Hajih, Human Ranger

"Hero...wow, you really can read my thoughts! Hero is my hawk."
Hajih sits down cross-legged with his eyes closed and waits for the ferry.

[The_King_of_Durf]

Darius

"Splendid! Let's head down and wait by the dock, we don't want them to pass us by!"

[HempRope]

Achkby, Halfling Sorcerer

Achkby stands and peers around their rock. "Er... maybe we should wait and see if someone gets off first. Wouldn't want to rush out onto the jetty and find a host of Drow, now, would we? Maybe just one person should go hold the boat..."

[The_King_of_Durf]

Darius

"Well that's why we should all go down there. Whatever is sailing a boat through the Underdark is probably not good at all, but together we can take out a score or so of Drow!"

[runehawk]

Lizardkin Druid

The reptilian scratches the sand with his tail as his face takes on an expression of marked annoyance. Faced with a situation, the pinkskins again resorted to their usual arguing instead of decisive action. Normally, he'd have been used to their bickering, on occasion even impressed with some of the things they had come up with but the hunger in his belly was dimming his usual patience.
His on instincts told him to stay hidden and watch the boat further.

He glanced lazily at Sheyra who was awake and listening to the discussion and again peered warily at the others for any signs of hostility. Linda was leaning on the same rock beside him and was dozing fitfully. She had been waking and dozing off, the fatigue and lack of rest of the last few hours wearing her down.

[Yoric_Steele]

Trinark, Drow Cleric

Trinark finally breaks his silence and whispers from the darkness, "At least one of us should investigate the ferry. I think it should be whomever can move the most quietly. For all of us to approach at once would be foolish, there are may things in the Underdark that could be provoked by the approach of a group this size."

He then moves over to examine Lissa, whispering her name as he approaches so as not to alarm her.

[Elmorwen]

Sheyra

"In that case, I nominate Fizahn. He's good at that sort of thing, and he can see better than I can down here," Sheyra says, playing with a rock she found by her foot.

[Phasm]

Lissa

Lissa has been dozing lightly, curled up with her back against one of the rocks of the quay. At Trinark's approach, her blind eyes open and her head comes up. She tenses for a moment, then relaxes a bit as the drow identifies himself. "Oh, hi Trinark." The gnome yawns, covering her mouth with a hand. "What is it? Is the boat here yet?"

[Erikkin]

Fizahn:

"Sure, the short person is ALWAYS sneaky and has PERFECT eyesight, stupid stereotyping humans. Anyway, I hope you know that I can't actually see in the dark. That's Lumpy's job. I'm sure he could get a good look at whoever's on that boat if he would just take off his armor. Stupid stereotypical half-orcs. However, I will go and check if I can see anything." Fizahn takes off towards the docks moving slowly and treading so lightly that he is barely audible.

OOC: Move silently 25 (15+10) Make any other rolls you need to DR. Move silently +10 Spot -1 Listen +1 Hide +13

[The_King_of_Durf]

Darius

"I'm watching your back, holler if you need any help." Darius says. He will grab an everburning torch and follow Fizahn, staying about 65 feet away. When Fizahn reaches the dock he will wait about 65 feet away, ready to come running to aid the short little humanoid.