Three Goddesses - IC (Thread #2)

[Kalirren]

Melinda thinks it's a good idea for Kinitz and Talia to scope out their site together. As she leaves them, she'll give Talia contact information for when she's ready for help with the paperwork, and relaxes her mental control over Kinitz somewhat as the two of them leave, allowing him to slip back to his own nature. If he was going to be a latent problem for the girls, better that Talia catch a hint of it sooner than later. She would try to get a good idea of how well the two of them were cooperating by continuing to concentrate from time to time on her spell to see and hear through his eyes and ears.

"One thing I like about entrepreneurs is that they tend to have open minds, you know," the bardess complains as she returns to the group's table. "Always open to new ways of making money. That man was clearly an exception." She takes back her seat, and shakes her head with some measure of disgust. "How did he ever get so far being so unadaptable in his business? All I told him was that I wasn't interested in his owning me, but was still willing to do business with him. My talents, his connections. One night, split the take. Should have been a done deal," Melinda remarks with a snap of her fingers. Then she just shrugs. "But no, he just had to pull a blade on me after that goon Callahan lost it. Well, good riddance to the both of them. I regret nothing. Nothing at all."

[Vulaas]

"You can have regrets, you know. I'm a bard too, I know that every time something happens you're adding it into the stories you are telling of yourself in your head. It's ugly when things happen in the stories that you don't want to be there, but they are there. It doesn't make you less successful."

[PSinger]

Atareth is bored, and isn't really sure how to proceed with the whores.

On one hand, it's a Sabrina thing. On the other, it's a Single Goddess thing? Atareth shrugs and figures that those from Sabrina's group can worry about building brothels. Love, passion, lust, and sex may come from the same Goddess-to-Be, but that doesn't mean they are all the same, so Atareth really isn't going to offer any insight into plying new market strategies.

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And, honestly, I'm itching to get to "adventuring." I'm just not interested in fantasy SIM-cathouse/ Rollercoaster Tycoon.

[Kalirren]

"Ugh," laughs Melinda uneasily. "Believe me, I'm trying to find something to regret. Goddesses know I want to. Not having a way to blame yourself for things not going your way denies you even the illusion of power, hah," she jests, resigned. "Unfortunately, the only thing I'm coming up with is not having tried to dominate that pimp sooner. Aside from not even being sure that would have been better, that seems awfully uncharitable, don't you think?"

The bardess grabs a loose glass of ice water. "I know, he was a pimp, he had it coming. But I like believing in people, I really do. It's by far the harder spiritual road to believe in people than to believe in gods and goddesses. Ideas incarnate don't betray or disappoint. People can, and they do all the time. It makes the good surprises all the more encouraging." A despondent sigh. "You're right, Ireth. Sometimes people are just ugly." The ice clinks in her glass as she swirls it. "You try to show them beauty and they would rather not see. They blind and deafen themselves out of spite. And so you just don't sing to them. Or about them."

She raises her glass. "To good fellowship," she offers.

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I second moving on. Still have some things going on by PM, but none of those should be terribly consequential to the major development of Gehenna, I'd think.

[Toliudar]

Dot smiles at Melinda's words.

"I'm not so sure. The difficulty is that you can only dtermine which minds are irredeemably closed knocking on each of them. I may not care so very much about finding the good in folk, but I take heart in your own efforts. For myself, I am content in acting as, well, damage control.

"With enough forethought, small problems don't become big problems. For example."

She gestures to Clyde, who pulls out a large sack and begins picking up the identifiable pieces of Jonas.

"No remains means that, even if some friendly business associate wanted to bring him back from the dead - which seems unlikely, given the man's warm and welcoming manner - we can make it more difficult to do so.

"Again, then, adieu. Noon tomorrow."

Clyde straightens, licking the gore from his fingers with obvious pleasure. Dot takes hold of his belt, and the two vanish.

[Toliudar]

Dot

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Debbie will smack me down/correct any misinterpretations on my part, but here goes.

A final breakfast in Sigil is bittersweet. Sad for Dot to once again leave the mysteries and endless fascination of the place, but delightful to be getting on with the important business at hand. She is mostly quiet as she listens to the stories of those who followed up with this recalcitrant Crystal, and the formation of a new - hopefully, a kinder and gentler - business venture.

Once noon has arrived, and with it the stragglers, Dot leads the way to a busy intersection about five blocks away.

"It took five small bribes and a little trial and error to find a portal back to our world. Every portal in Sigil is a little different - where it is, how it's triggered. This one only seems to work when you're in motion. And it's about in the middle of that intersection. If you run diagonally through the intersection, while thinking about a wheel of cheese, it should safely deliver you to a riverbank about two miles from Esslin. A few people claim to understand how these portals appear and disappear, but the ones who I've talked to about it are mostly spouting cryptic nonsense.

"When you arrive, there's a road about three hundred yards away, and after my second trip back, I had a cheese shop built there. It doesn't make money, particularly, but it amused me to no end. And Bill makes a very, very good gruyere, as it turns out.

"Once we're all gathered, and perhaps had a little cheese, for those who didn't get enough at lunch, we can complete any last minute preparations and make the jump from there, if it's all right with all of you."

After answering any questions, Dot nods to her menagerie. During a brief lull in the street traffic, the four dart out into the road - and vanish.

--

The cheese shop and associated warehouse are a bit run-down and deserted, since a road not particularly close to any major centre is clearly not an ideal location, but the smells inside reassure that there is quality of product, even if there isn't much quantity. Dot ducks under the counter to hug a slender fiftysomething man in a full-length apron. She slides a pouch of coins onto a shelf behind the counter.

"Bill, these are my colleagues. Can you pull together a plate of your finest for them? And I'll want a wheel of your aged gruyere. Then we're going to need some privacy - mind if we use your aging room? I promise not to touch anything."

There is some posturing and a flurry of activity. A massive woman with strong hands and a booming voice is summoned, and the companions find themselves in a cool, dimly lit room, with racks of cheeses all around and an assortment of cheeses, dry breads and a pale wine set out on a low table. Only after the questers are alone again does Dot speak in earnest.

"This demi-plane is cosmologically close to Gehenna, but might be completely different. The creators of the place may have set it up to be any number of things.

"I can only take eight in total, so I'm sending my entourage back to the temple to wait for us. As a parting gift, Zippy can give any of you who want it the power of flight, but it will only last for about ten minutes. If all goes well, that might be all that we need.

I know that some of you have been studying and researching for the past week. This might be a good time to share what you've learned."

She waits for anyone who wishes to speak up, then continues.

"I have a few protections to offer - a bit of protection from some of the wild energies that might be flung about once we get there. Remember that the prophesy suggested that we will be finding two souls there, Cassiopeia and a figure identified with an H, and that one of them will live and one will die. I don't really know what that means yet, but it suggests that finding one soul held in this place will not be the end of our job."

When discussion wraps up, she casts a few spells in rapid succession, and Zippy goes around touching everyone who wants to fly (sort of like a perverted Tinkerbell). And then...everyone joins hands and clicks their heels together three times.

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Debbie, I'm not 100% sure how many of us there are right now. Can we assume that Dot is taking all of the PC's, then Lok, then Zippy, Clyde and Tasha, in order of priority?

Are any of our divine casters willing to make our final lunch a Heroes' Feast?

Once the talking is done, Dot activates her bead of Karma.
Dot can offer everyone a mass Resist Energy 30 against Cold and Electricity.
She will cast Heroics on Taleira, giving her a fighter feat of her choice (she needs to meet the prereqs) for a few hours.
She then casts Spiderskin, Freedom of Movement, Mirror Image (8 images), Shield, Greater Arcane Sight and True Seeing on herself. Zippy gives her Flying from his SLA.

Long-term buffs on Dot, for those who see such things:

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Anticipate Teleport, Greater
Dragonsight
Ectoplasmic Armour
Energy Immunity (Electricity)
Energy Immunity (Cold)
Endure Elements (from wand)
False Life
Heart of Air, Earth, Fire and Water
Mind Blank
Moment of Prescience
Superior Resistance

For future tactical considerations, Dot will be looking around at her colleagues using True Seeing and Greater Arcane Sight. If there are any magic auras/spell effects/etc on you, she'll want to know. The life you save may be your own.

[lostsole31]

Assuming Lil, Taleira, and Lok have returned from Crystal's ....

Lok gives a full debriefing on the overview of Gehenna...

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Since it's not on the d20 SRD, the following is from the DMG, p 162:

BLEAK ETERNITY OF GEHENNA

Gehenna's top layer borders Hades and the Nine Hells, so it is not a pleasant place. Floating in an impenetrable, infinite void are volcanic mountains seemingly without base or peak. They are only finite in the strictest sense of the word, measuring hundreds of thousands of miles in each direction. A single volcanic mountain dominates each of the four layers of Gehenna, though lesser volcanic earthbergs drift and sometimes smash into the greater mountains.

No naturally occurring level place exists in any of the layers; all the slopes are at least 45 degrees, and many are akin to sheer cliffs. Gehenna's fiendish inhabitants have carved artificial ledges, some large enough for entire cities, and switchback paths to connect them. But those edifices have a tendency to break apart, sending their builders on a long, sliding fall down the mountain.

Gehenna's four layers are Khalas, Chamada, Mungoth, and Krangath. Each layer is differentiated from the other by its degree of volcanic activity.

Gehenna has the following traits:

• Normal gravity. Gravity is similar to that of the Material Plane, but naturally occurring volcanic mountains seem to float free in an infinitely larger void. Gravity is normal on the steep slopes of a mountain, and a fall causes a creature to tumble until a chance ledge catches it, or until continued abrasions from the long fall completely shred the victim.
• Divinely morphic. Lesser deities can alter Gehenna's mountainous landscape. Ordinary creatures find that Gehenna is as alterable as the Material Plane.
• Mildly evil-aligned. Creatures who are good suffer a -2 penalty on all Charisma-related ability and skill checks, so Atareth, Sword, and Ireth will have a particularly tough time.
• The most common denizens of Gehenna are are barghests, pyroclastic dragons, xac-yel energons, canomorphs (a type of Shadurakul), hellwasp swarms, vaporighu, night hags on nightmares, and travelling devils. Gehenna is the home of an entire race of fiendish creatures known as the yugoloths. Not counting the realms of the gods themselves that live in Gehenna, the yugoloths are the undisputed masters of Gehenna.

[OOC]There may be other things that Lok discovered in his week of studies. His base roll was in the mid-40s, and he had access to an incredible library, so he is practically an armchair expert on Gehenna. I leave it to Debbie to insert "knowledge bubbles" or what-have-you to express what Lok may know about a given something in Gehenna.[/OOC]

Lildorrinene asks Atareth (and the others), "Is Sword to be joining us? If so, that brings another fly spell that is needed, and a host of logistical problems, especially if teleporting is needed."

[Debbie_D]

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8 covers everyone in the group...Atarath, Ireth, Dot, Melinda, Tallesin, Lil, Taleira and Sword. Sword, due to his size, might count for more, but by rule of Plot, he doesnt. In fact, for all other matters Sword related, consider him to be just another human sized group member. Rule of Plot.

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From what you understand of the prophecy, there will only be one soul there, that of Cassiopia. But then again, interpretations of the prophecy have turned out wrong before.

If you wish to Ret-Con before the transport, feel free. Otherwise....

The group gathers around in a circle, holding hands, completing the circle by touching Sword on his flank.

Aww, its just like a campfire. Are we going to sing kumbaya?

Despite the commentary of Talbot, the spell goes off exactly as planned. However, the results seem somewhat mixed. Instead of materializing in the demented plane of Gehenna, the group is suddenly standing in a very large, and very quiet library. Stacks and stacks of books are neatly arranged, row by row, and the entire room is dimly lit, enough to read by, and thats it. There are large stuffed chairs to sit and read in, each one has a small table beside it.

Sure you got those co-ordinates right, this doesnt look like Gehenna, or any other outer plane to me.

[Kalirren]

"But it does look right," comments Melinda as she looks around. "It would be fitting for the Lord of Old Dedara's pocket plane to be a library. Shall I try a divination?"

Melinda casts speculatively.
O Lady of Seven Veils, Lady of the Forbidden Quarter,
Forbidden are we from her, who loved you long.
Mistress of the Harem, Mistress of the High Hall,
Lead us to her, who has suffered such wrong.
Unwilling bride by ungrateful Lord slain and hidden,
Unveil her sepulchre, that place to us most forbidden.

[Find the path to "her sepulchre, that place to us most forbidden," with the necklaces as focus.]

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Melinda mentions to the group that she has developed SR. (SR 27, to be precise.) It's probably not strong enough that Dot would ever have to worry about it, but any not-quite-full casters probably do have to worry about it.

Melinda will cast fortunate fate once on herself and Tali, and once also on the other people who are capable of enacting an exit strategy for the rest of the party, and are likely to become priority targets. To my OOC knowledge these are Dot, Tallesin, and Atareth.

Sculpt sound on the entire party to prevent their sounds from propagating more than an arm's reach from their person. Everyone should still be able to communicate by necklace.

Wind walk on herself + Dot, Tallesin, Atareth, Ireth, and Sword.

Just in case the LZ is hot, she casts (1d4+3)[5] mirror images on herself, which will last just under 20 minutes.

[Toliudar]

Dot quickly refers back to her notes.

"Yes, this is the place. Remember, the demilplane was NEAR Gehenna, not IN it."

With a gesture, she conjures a vaguely humanoid cloud above them. She looks around, scrutinizing the room for what might be otherwise hidden.

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Dot is using Summon Elemental to bring in a large air elemental. Looking around with 120' blindsense, 120' true seeing and Greater Arcane Sight. If bookshelves block her view, she'll get the elemental to lift her up a bit. How large is the library, and where are the exits?

[Ason]

Before Leaving

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Tallesin casts the following on the party:
-Planar Tolerance, Extended (SpC 159 and 19)
-Resist Energy (Mass): Fire 30, Extended [assuming this doesn't conflict with Dot's spell; if there is conflict, then ignore Tallesin's spell]

He also mentions that he has one emergency Teleport (Greater) and Plane Shift prepared, just in case.

Other spells: active on Tallesin alone and not publicly cast

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Mage Armor (Greater), Extended
Familiar Pocket
Anticipate Teleportation, Extended
Overland Flight
Contingent Energy Resistance, Extended
Resistance, Superior, Extended
Mind Blank
Prying Eyes (True Sight always on)
Vampric Touch: channeled into weapon and waiting at the ready
Energy Immunity: Acid, Extended

OOC: It's good to be back! I'll post dialogue later, as I'm just running out the door now.

[Debbie_D]

"But it does look right," comments Melinda as she looks around. "It would be fitting for the Lord of Old Dedara's pocket plane to be a library. Shall I try a divination?"

Melinda casts speculatively.
O Lady of Seven Veils, Lady of the Forbidden Quarter,
Forbidden are we from her, who loved you long.
Mistress of the Harem, Mistress of the High Hall,
Lead us to her, who has suffered such wrong.
Unwilling bride by ungrateful Lord slain and hidden,
Unveil her sepulchre, that place to us most forbidden.

[Find the path to "her sepulchre, that place to us most forbidden," with the necklaces as focus.]

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Melinda mentions to the group that she has developed SR. (SR 27, to be precise.) It's probably not strong enough that Dot would ever have to worry about it, but any not-quite-full casters probably do have to worry about it.

Melinda will cast fortunate fate once on herself and Tali, and once also on the other people who are capable of enacting an exit strategy for the rest of the party, and are likely to become priority targets. To my OOC knowledge these are Dot, Tallesin, and Atareth.

Sculpt sound on the entire party to prevent their sounds from propagating more than an arm's reach from their person. Everyone should still be able to communicate by necklace.

Wind walk on herself + Dot, Tallesin, Atareth, Ireth, and Sword.

Just in case the LZ is hot, she casts [roll0] mirror images on herself, which will last just under 20 minutes.

As Melinda casts her spell, a ribbon of fire forms in her mind, setting a path that leads out of the door in front of the group.

Dot quickly refers back to her notes.

"Yes, this is the place. Remember, the demilplane was NEAR Gehenna, not IN it."

With a gesture, she conjures a vaguely humanoid cloud above them. She looks around, scrutinizing the room for what might be otherwise hidden.

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Dot is using Summon Elemental to bring in a large air elemental. Looking around with 120' blindsense, 120' true seeing and Greater Arcane Sight. If bookshelves block her view, she'll get the elemental to lift her up a bit. How large is the library, and where are the exits?

Dot can see that the library is quite large, there are 6 sets of stacks running the length of the room, and of course all the walls are lined with books as well. There is the door in front of the group, and there are also 3 other exits, to the right, left and behind where the group is standing now.

[PSinger]

Atareth has the following on herself:

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Aid, made constant at max for +18 temporary hit points.
See Invisibility
AW Concentrate, as time and opp permits: detect evil, discern lies.

On Sword:
Aid, made constant at max for +18 t-hp's.

On group, w/in 20':
* Protective Aura (Su): Against attacks made or effects created by evil creatures, this ability provides a +4 deflection bonus to AC and a +4 resistance bonus on saving throws to anyone within 20 feet of the angel. Otherwise, it functions as a magic circle against evil effect and a lesser globe of invulnerability, both with a radius of 20 feet (caster level equals angel’s HD [17th]). This aura can be dispelled, but the angel can create it again as a free action on its next turn.

[Kalirren]

"Lady, Thy reach is long," Melinda enunciates thankfully, clearly comforted by the success of her invocation. "Whether I am being deceived by our Adversary, or led truly, this is the place. Forwards through that door," indicates the bardess telepathically.

She takes a few steps forward, obviously apprehensive. Her face yet exhibits the fear, the very real fear that this day might be the last she would ever have enjoyed. This was only the third time in her life she had ever risked her life for her faith. Even the Cups carried a pretense of sportsmanship, Rohdan's sword notwithstanding, and the dwarven mines entertained the hope of escape. Here, in an angry god's place of power? Failure meant they would perish brutally. They would likely not even receive the mercy of death. And for someone who in her past victories had glimpsed the bliss of her promised afterlife in her time on earth, the bleakness of the prospect of failure was just that much more frightening.

The bardess mentally holds fast to the flaming cord of hope, balancing her psyche upon her faith like a tightrope walker traversing a yawning Abyss of doubt. Indeed, forwards she walks.

[Telasi]

Taleira Ulharvyth

Taleira looks around, blade at the ready. "Okay, this is a lot creepier than I expected. Too quiet, nobody here, nothing weird at all. Just books." She inspects a random volume, wondering just what Kotep's mage-priests kept around. Probably spellbooks, but she's curious.

[lostsole31]

Lildorrinene

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Sorry, but I've been crazy busy.

Lil has the following spells on herself.
Moment of Prescience
See Invisibility
Undetectable Alignment
Magic Aura on both Talbot and Wish-Killer to make them seem like masterwork items, but non-magical.

Anytime she has a chance to do so (and I doubt we're hustling through the hallways since we're not in combat), she'll use detect thoughts (DC 31). Please note usually we're looking at someone when we mentione this spell, but this spell is actually great for detecting lurkers and others that my vision (including see invisibility) can't notice normally. Also gives me the INT score, so I know what I'm up against regardless of whether or not I see them.

Lok-too-loo-baz

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Mirror image topped off at 8 images (At will ability, so he can do that.)
Inertial armor, max power, for +7 force armor.
Ring of disguise currently has him disguised as a type of yugoloth known as a nycaloth (MM3-202).
* Though large and obviously powerful, this winged green creature still evokes a sense of speed and agility. Its dog-shaped head turns quickly from side to side, like a bird's. The claws on the end of its powerful fingers look like more than a match for all but the best armor.
* Looks like a big gargoyle with powerful batwings and thick, green skin. His two 'remaining' arms have razor-sharp claws, but there are two ugly patches of burnt flesh on each side where his 'other' two arms must have been burnt away at the body. The head is vaguely canine, with small webbed ears and horns. He stands about 8' tall, and looks like he weighs 800 pounds or so.

[Debbie_D]

@Dot

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There are no definable auras in the room, however the "background radiation" of this demi plane makes it somewhat hard to get an accurate read on things. You are pretty sure there is nothing even human sized emitting an aura, but if there were something smaller than that, you think you might have a problem picking it up

@Taleria

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Your random volume is actually a history text, containing a detailed explanation of the invasion of Rennador during the rule of Daren Philisar in Erandol.

The door opens easily to Melinda's push, and reveals a hallway running parrallel to the library itself. Both ends of the corridor end in doors, judging by the distance, these doors would be level with the ends of the library. You can go left or right.
And, I need some sort of marching order, the hall is wide enough for two in each row.

[Toliudar]

Nine Dots are picked up by the elemental and level off at a height of about 5'. They float after Melinda to the door and peer out.

"Your magic warns you of traps and the like, doesn't it. Good thinking."

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I'm open to anything, but how about something like this as a marching order:

Atareth Taleira

Sword Melinda

Tallesin Lil

Ireth Dot/Elemental

I'm suggesting that Melinda be fairly far forward so that information from her Find the Path spell is received in time to do something about traps, barriers, etc.

[PSinger]

Atareth is happy to take the lead with Taleira. She has shield and warhammer in hand.

[Kalirren]

"Yes, it does," confirms Melinda. "Mentioning which, Tali, I would leave that book in the room, unless it's really worth filching," she additionally warns. "Maybe I'm just being paranoid, but it would be awfully foolish of us to get noticed by tripping an alarm against unauthorized withdrawals from the reading room."

Melinda casts a death ward on herself before passing through the door, and tests the portal herself. She will take a few presumably safe steps along the path outside for the others to follow directly in her footsteps.

"Everyone, stay close to me, and don't tread far from the path I walk myself."

[Telasi]

Taleira Ulharvyth

Just seeing what they come to Gehenna to read. It looks interesting, but not that interesting. Taleira returns the book to the shelf, then joins Atareth at the front. Hey, not rearguard for once. Nice.

[Debbie_D]

The ribbon of faith (which only Melinda can see) leads her to turn to her right as she exits the library. The hallway travels parrallel to the library and ends in a door.

[PSinger]

Atareth will listen at the door.
Listen (1d20+25)[37]

What type of door is it? Unless it is entirely sheeted in metal or a ridiculously thick door, Atareth (making sure Taleira and Lil are behind her) uses detect evil.

[lostsole31]

Lil tepes, "I'll check the door, and unlock it carefully, when she's done."

[Debbie_D]

Atareth hears some talking beyond the door, she cannot make out what is being said, but she thinks the language is giantish. When she detects evil, she realizes that this power is largely useless in this plane as the whole thing is evil. She also notes that the door is not locked

[Kalirren]

Melinda casts comprehend languages and puts her own ear to the door to understand what is being said in the room beyond.

Assuming they're not going to barge in on us imminently, she suggests, "Let's try to take a trick out of Lia's book. Can someone make a silent image of this door? I can silence the real one, and I'm sure one of us can turn it invisible. Then we can open it without them noticing. Lil, once you have sight to them, you might be able to charm them all before they realize anything."

[PSinger]

Atareth, in preparation, turns invisible.

[lostsole31]

Lil tepes, "Tell you what ... I'll make the illusion, and Taleira can charm something on the other side. Once the illusion is in place, I can charm another."

[Telasi]

Taleira Ulharvyth

Sure, I can try that.

[Debbie_D]

Understanding the giants language is not enough as Melinda discovers that hearing what they are saying is muffled by the closed door between them and the giants. She gets a few words, like ale and roast, but not enough to make out exactly what they are saying.
Deciding on the stealth approach, the party makes illusions of the door so that they can keep their approach totally silent. Once all the illusions are in place, the group opens the door, with the fire giant occupants none the wiser.
The group enters into what is obviously a dining room, and even given the fact that the party is used to traveling in Daystor's upper echelons of power, this room compares favourably with anything they have seen. The tables are covered with some of the finest tablecloths, the cutlery that is on the tables gleams in the light, and the chairs are clearly cut from some of the finest wood available, with generous cushions underneath.
All of this does not change the situation of 4 angry fire giants rising from their meal once the party becomes visible.

Duh, you not 'lowed to be here.
We smash you 'round good.
Take you to dah boss when we done.

Taleira's charm spell goes off however, and one of the giants gets a confused look on his face as she takes control of the beast.