[IC] Wok: Science Ascended

[ArcturusV]

"Come on... little more flash, a little more substance. Put some effort into it!" Walker called out as he saw the further attacks, and the aftermath of his daring. He had a cocksure smile on his face, and an Idea that was forming in his head that might not top the last stunt, but would definitely be a good follow up. He reached into his pack, taking out the length of rope, and his Kama. Without further word, he started tying off the end of the rope to his Kama, only moving far enough away that he would be out of the immediate path of the Golem and unlikely to catch any collateral damage from it's blind rampage.

(Insane Plan, part two. I don't think I'd need to make a roll for this.)

[Conor77]

Spoiler

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A Strength check:
(1d20)[7]

Kurt, as well as one other man, climb up the body of the golem. The other man is on the front, Kurt being closest to the back. Kurt finds it harder to climb up than Walker did, due to the ruble having fallen more, but he still manages to clutch the creature's shoulders and haul himself up. The others keep swinging.

Walker, meanwhile, goes in front of the golem, underneath the overhang and next to the gate, and starts doing something with his weapon and a length of rope.

August goes in front and shoves his body up against the golem's. It does not stray any further from its course, but appears to stop just in front of the wall, straining forwards against August's weight, and the soldiers helping him. You hear a loud crack and bits of granite shower from its head on the climbers: The Doruk took her shot.

Xander runs sideways along the wall, not pausing to glance at the archers on the wall next to him. He can see the targeting spires of the nearest gramarie cannon. That cannon, he knows, could easily obliterate a golem of that size, its just a matter of convincing the gunners to fire it.

Spoiler

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EDIT: There were going to be more checks until I realized that Walker was preparing to trip the golem with the kama. He hadn't actually done so yet. I wondered what the rope was for

---

* post roll count doesn't match database

[Dark_Stalion]

Kurt keeps looking for this scroll while clinging on for dear life.

Spoiler

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climb check, If necessary (1d20+2)[5]
Search check (1d20+1)[14]

[Quellian-dyrae]

"Keep at it all!" August called in encouragement to the soldiers, continuing to push with all his strength.

Spoiler

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Standard: Bull Rush at (1d20-1)[4]

[ArcturusV]

"Who dares, wins," Walker whispered to himself as a form of focusing as he finished up his prep work. He held his "weapon" by the rope, swinging the Kama end in a circle to build up some momentum to it. "Might want to stand clear..." Walker warned the soldiers pushing at it. He then whipped the Kama out on it's length of rope so that it would wrap around one of the Golem's legs, using the weight and blade of the Kama to hook onto the Golem and secure the line. With that done, he ducked under the golem's legs, carrying the rope with him, around the outside of the other leg, and back under his legs again.

(So... rolls I likely need? Ranged Attack roll I imagine, so:

(1d20)[13] +1 BAB, +2 Dex Mod.

And a Tumble Check for moving around the Golem as I need to:

(1d20)[13] +4 Skill Ranks +2 Dex Mod.

Here's hopin'.)

[Failed Phantasm]

Xander continued to rush down the wall towards the cannon. He'd never seen a weapon of that kind being used before - privately, he wished that never would in his life - and had no idea whatsoever about the kind of power it had. Common sense, however, told him certain things. "Ok," he breathed as he ran, 'It's a siege weapon. That probably means firing it into a crowd of people is the last thing these gunners will be willing to do.' Xander nearly stopped dead as he wondered how this was going to work. 'How am I going to convince them?' he asked himself. He rubbed his chin thoughtfully and one of his spells sprang to mind immediately.

Holding the index finger of his right hand up to the level of his eyes, Xander stared for a moment until the tip of his finger ignited with a spark of indigo light. He held out his hand and began to sketch an image in the air before him; it was no work of art, but it was unmistakably a rose: petals, stem, and thorns all illuminated in indigo light as it hung suspended in the air. Xander bowed slightly, and the rose floated into his chest. He felt the subtle magic work its way through him, enhancing his features to make him seem more personable, inspiring new words and thoughts to express with his silver tongue. There also came to mind, totally unbidden, the thoughts of fiery horrors and infernal contracts, terrifyingly imposing and possessed of unearthly charm all at once, and he felt himself take on some aspect of them. He looked up and resumed his run towards the gramarie cannon. 'Time to improvise.'

-----
Actions taken:

Spoiler

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Invoke beguiling influence as a standard action (+6 untyped bonus to Bluff, Diplomacy, and Intimidate checks)

[Conor77]

The golem tries to lurch forward, but is kept in place by the valiant efforts of three soldiers, August, and the Commander (essentially, being bull-rushed 20 feet back, and moving 20 feet forward). It seems engulfed in consternation, or at least as consternated as a golem can be.

Taking advantage of the golem's non-movement, Walker throws his kama, dipping in between the golem's legs to tie its legs up with a rope. Unfortunately, as the golem moves its huge legs, the kama clatters to the ground, skittering as the rope is moved by the twisting mass of soldiers and rock.

Kurt only barely hangs on to the golem, but searches its back until he is sure there is no scroll on it. The soldier from the front of the golem has dropped down and started to help pushing it aside.

Walker runs at top speed towards the large cannon, buffeted by tons of humanoids crushing in exactly the opposite direction. As he cast his spell, he realized that that was perhaps a clue he could have taken into account. He sees a black column of smoke, slowly rising from some distance away. He hopes it is not the cannon, but given the way everything else has gone today...

[Quellian-dyrae]

August gritted his teeth and kept at it, while casing about for the dislodged gem in the press, or this scroll.

Spoiler

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Standard: Bull Rush at (1d20-1)[11].
Move: Spot at (1d20+1)[9].

[Dark_Stalion]

Finding nothing, Kurt grunts in frustration and effort as he attempts to make his way to the creature's head. Maybe this soulless thing was commanded through something there.

Spoiler

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climb check (1d20+2)[19]
Spot check (1d20+1)[3]

[ArcturusV]

"Well.... so much for thinking..." Walker muttered to himself as he saw the failure. He took a moment to brace himself, ball up his fists, and grit his teeth as he faced the Golem again. Disheartened, and thus without a better idea for the moment, Walker threw himself at the golem alongside August, throwing his shoulder into the rock monster and helping push it back.

(Aid Another on August's Bull Rush:

(1d20)[11] +3 Strength bonus)

[Conor77]

With Walker's help, the golem is slowly pushed away from the wall, until it is 10 feet away from the gates, and enraged that it cannot reach them. Shouts and cheers go up from the soldiers around, as more crowd around, some throwing ropes around the thing to bring it down while others pull from both sides. The smell of sweat is evident in the air now, like the twang of bowstrings on the walls.

The old man is closer now, having produced a scroll of parchment from his odd, sagging robes. Though he keeps his distance, he gets within a somewhat close distance of the now weirdly fidgeting golem. He holds it up and begins to pronounce words. From the pavement beneath the soldiers' feet, and from the mouth slit of the golem, a red glow appears. An Aaran non-combatant bends over and picks up a small glowing black eye gem from where it lay in the half-cobbled muck, now identified by the spell. The man looks at Kurt, hanging off the shoulder and a rope, and nods.

Xander continues down the wall, running faster this time, butting past the fleeing men and women. Until suddenly everything is clear in front of him. Another golem, much the same as the other one, but with a few more chunks of concrete left on it. The smoke is issuing forth from something it has in its hands, some kind of reddish clear cylinder with all kinds of bits of metal and wood sticking off of it. It apparently ripped the cannon off its post, and then pulled this thing from the wall beneath it.

Xander sees the magic of the wall fade where he is, and a few of the smaller bolts and bits skitter through. the golem, meanwhile, is using its massive hands to tear the thing in its hands apart. It does this wildly, smashing bits of the clear encasement off, some of which land close to you. Their break pattern and the way they skid reminds you of ice. Eventually, the golem seems to get through and pulls out the inner core, that had been glowing red.

The temperature feels like it increases 40 degrees Fahrenheit the moment the core touches air. Heat ripples from it, actually making the air curve around the golem. The core glows red like iron in a fire, but it must be made of something else because it is simply too hot to be iron. You see all the "ice" melt right away, bits of wood lying on the ground near the thing burst into flames, and metal pieces of cannon and wire start to melt around it. Even the stone of the wall begins to smoke. Naturally the golem is unaffected, but Xander's face feels like he stuck it in an oven.

The onyx eye of the golem, darting back and forth, spots him. The Golem begins to shamble in his direction, each step bringing the inferno closer.

[Quellian-dyrae]

"That's the way all!" August extolled, driving on. He had a singular goal in mind now - keep pushing the golem back, give the old man and the brave priest as much time as they could to disable it. He kept a lookout for anything that might prove useful to the cause, though.

Spoiler

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Standard: Bull Rush at (1d20-1)[0].
Move: Spot at (1d20+1)[4].

...Except he tripped over the golem's foot and face-planted in the dirt.

[Failed Phantasm]

Xander watched the golem dismantle the thing in its hands with a curious mix of terror, indignation, fury, and a tiny hint of amusement. "Oh, come on!," he groaned to no one in particular. "You had a cannon and you couldn't stop this thing? No wonder you people are losing your civil war!" His patience, however, was evaporating faster than the ambient moisture. "I try to blast these things to bits and nothing happens. I run off to get help for the people at the gate and there's already a golem here that's ruined the damned thing. All right." He cracked his knuckles. "Now I'm mad."

As the golem turned to face him, Xander was already getting ready to sprint back the way he came. 'I know I can outrun this thing,' he thought as the stone monster slowly lumbered in his direction, 'and while it might be immune to my magic, that core it's holding looks unstable enough to blow. I've just got to score a good hit.

"Come and get me, then!" he shouted as he turned and ran back towards the gate. Xander could hear the golem's thudding footsteps behind him, to say nothing of the oppressive heat that the core was emitting. He stopped once he felt like he had a good lead and then turned around to face the golem once more. "I've got another finger I'm going to show you, you gods-damned golem!" he roared as he fired a bolt of magic at the fiery core.

'And I can keep this going all day.'

-----
Actions taken:

Spoiler

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Xander's move action is to go 30 feet back the way he came. He then invokes an eldritch blast as a ranged touch attack at the core the golem is holding:
Attack: (1d20+1)[13]
Critical confirmation, if necessary: (1d20+1)[13]
Damage: (1d6)[5]

[Dark_Stalion]

The old man had a scroll. The MAN HAD THE SCROLL! Kurt almost leapt from the golem's back to attack him, but then he saw the light of the gem and the light from the construct's mouth. That meant it was in there, inside the mouth. He shuddered, dreading even contemplating what he was about to do, but do it he must. This was truly life and death, and however worthless his life was, there were far too many innocent souls at risk to give up now.

Gathering his courage, Kurt slides his hand into the slit.

[Conor77]

Kurt's hand reaches inside the gap, just barely scraping his hand through the gap... and across razor-blades hidden in the maw of the thing, dealing 1 point of damage to his off-hand. However, shoving his hand through brought it down on a tiny piece of rolled paper inside the cavity. And paper is really the way to describe it. It is not a long piece of paper, only 8 inches long at most, rolled once and tied loosely with a piece of string. The fragile crisp of parchment nearly disintegrates when Kurt's hand falls on it, and for a moment, Kurt can feel Wok.

In a single instant (or was it a century?), Kurt feels unnaturally heavy, the gravity of his body dragging him deep into the stones of the world. At the same time, he feels the depth of the golem's stone, the weight of it, and then outwards, through the golem's feet, to the cobbles and mud and soil and bedrock of the area. And then further, reaching out beyond everything, getting faster and faster until it feels like his mind encompasses the entire world. All of Wok's immensity fills his thoughts, and he sees himself in perspective to the whole, truly, for the first time.

He is very, very small. A tick on a mammoth.

And then everything comes rushing back, and Kurt is clinging to a motionless statue in the shape of a man, all malice, intelligence, and animation gone from it. His hand is stuck inside its mouth, hand and wrist bleeding, fingers curled around papery dust.

Cheers go up from the soldiers, who with nothing to push against, promptly tip the thing over and put it on the ground, where it crashes with finality. Walker and August take deep breaths, and everyone stands around the now-cracked granite for a moment.

The old man says, "This... scroll and eye golem. Its not a kind I've seen outside of some...very...very old books. But, why?"


The Onyx eye tracks the bolt of magical energy right to where it impacts the red-hot metal, leaving a fist-sized dent and bending the bar into sort of a "checkmark" shape. The golem pauses briefly, and whoever is controlling it looks back and forth from the bar to Xander, and appears to get an idea. The golem raises its arm behind its back, placing the core out of view for a moment, but unmistakably in the stance of a javelineer about to throw...

[Dark_Stalion]

Kurt gradually becomes aware of the pounding of his heart, the shrarp pain in his hand and the cheers of the men around, but it all seems so insignificant, dulled and muted by the divine revelation. What did it matter, life or death, one or a hundred or a thousand or more? In the grand scheme of things, what did it matter? Staring blankly into space, the world seems to tip around him as he rides the golem to the ground.

The hard impact brings him back to his senses, his ears flooding with the noise of the crowd and the other battles raging in the distance brought into sharp focus and immediacy. Gingerly he extracts his hand from the mouth, glad that the fall hadn't lacerated his wrist and severed a major artery.

Standing, he brushes himself down and looks to the old man who had held the scroll.

"Thanks," he grunts, holding out his non-wounded hand.

[Quellian-dyrae]

August picks himself up off the ground, "Good play, man!" he calls to Kurt.

[Dark_Stalion]

Kurt turns at the call and notices that it's aimed at him. He nods in recognition while still holding his hand out to the old man.

"I believe you were one of those holding it back. Well done yourself." The response is gruff, but not insincere.

[Conor77]

Golems aren't built for throwing. They are much better at smashing. Apparently the mastermind of this one decides that he can make the shot, because they have the golem curl back its arm and prepare to throw. Xander's eyes crack wide, and his brain sort of shuts down... but his legs, having thousands of years of surviving all sorts of nasty crap thrown at his ancestors, immediately turn him around and start him running.

About 6 seconds later, he feels sharp, searing pain on his right arm; the golem's throw went wide to the right and landed far behind him, but got close enough set his sleeve aflame. Meanwhile, the sturdy oak constructed buildings near the wall burst into fire. As he runs, Xander notices (an odd time to notice this) smoke coming from other parts of the wall. It becomes evident that this wasn't a one-time happenstance. They knew to smash the siege cannons first.



The old man shakes Kurt's hand, and then speaks a strange word. The single hit point of damage is cured, along with the lacerations on Kurt's hand. "If all the lore about this type of golem is true, though I'm not sure it is, you don't want to let their wounds sit, for soon they decay and rot. Best to keep up with magical healing too I think, rather than letting wounds go on their own."

Kenten climbs the ladder to the top of the wall, takes a quick look in every direction, and then blows his horn. "Fall-back, everyone. Everyone, fall-back. They have more golems outside the walls, they have more inside the walls, and it looks like the other gates didn't quite have our tenacity. If we stay here, they'll cut us off by circling around from one of the other gates. Sorry to say, but lets move now or never" Taking his own advice, not waiting for a response, he starts moving off.

[Quellian-dyrae]

"Stinkin' blinkin' golems!" August growled. He'd help get folks organized and moving, and follow after in position as a rear guard.

[Dark_Stalion]

Kurt frowns down at his now cured hand. Yes the old man was right, best not to let wounds sit, even the non magical kind. He considers the healing for a moment. Yes, the old man probably was a fellow priest. The recent drinking must have affected him more than he realised. His thoughts are far too slow. He absent mindedly follows the short man who had been helping to push the golem back and now was urging others toward the rising columns of smoke.

"Hey, short man, what is your name?" he asks bluntly.

[Quellian-dyrae]

"August, yourself?"

[Failed Phantasm]

Xander grimaced as he felt his sleeve burst into flame, but he had the strange feeling that being on fire should hurt more than it did. Disregarding all else for a few brief moments, he dropped to the hard stone of the wall beneath him and rolled over again and again until the flame had been smothered. Flopping on to his back, Xander turned his head to face the golem again and then lay motionless for a moment. He could see where the core had landed, as the building it crashed into was quickly disintegrating into so much ash and charred wood. The golem itself was so far away that even with this short respite, there was no chance of the stone monstrosity catching him. 'Change of plan, then. Again.'

Without an impromptu explosive to disable the golem and without a weapon of some kind - 'Where did I lose that shortspear, anyway?' - Xander knew he had little chance of defeating the golem on his own. He hauled himself into a sitting position and started to struggle back to his feet. He would have to regroup with the main body of the defense force in the city, even though there'd be little for him to do unless more... mundane... soldiers marched into the city.

[Conor77]

As you march back up the street, you see others running up to join you from side-streets and alleyways. According to them, they hadn't even known about any kind of scroll, though some had other methods of taking the golems down. By listening to the chatter of those around you, you determine there to be easily over a hundred golems in this assault, only a handful of which were tossed over the walls. Evidently the idea was for them to break the gates, the cavalry to sweep into the city, and infantry with more golems following. Only a few gates remain, and most of them were on main streets with easy access to the horsemen, so right now this minor boulevard is the safest place in the half-circle of the city (minus the citadel).

Xander runs up behind you, and the entire gaggle of troops moves towards the city, protected by the still intact gates (the golem that attacked Xander is right now trying to retrieve his core, presumably he will destroy the gate once he does that).

The group moves slowly, if surely, and you might have time to do other things before getting to the citadel.

What do you do?

[Quellian-dyrae]

August looked around as they moved, trying to come up with something, anything, that they could use to improve their standing.

Not much. Still and all, as they went, he hustled his way down side streets, running quick patrols to scan for approaching enemies, and other troops or people. If he encountered allied forces, he'd either report their presence to the captain (if they were large and organized), or guide them to the column (if they were individuals or small groups). In either case, he'd make it a point to quickly discuss the key points of their encounter with the golem - specifically, the method the others had pieced together for defeating it. If there were more of those things here, he figured, the more people who knew how to destroy them, the better.

[Dark_Stalion]

Kurt looks at the chaos around him and the doomful mutterings of those joining. The city was breached, the major thoroughfares were being assaulted, or were going to be, by horsemen. Running was not an option, fighting in the open would get everyone killed. The only option was to use the local's knowledge to evade and attack in the small streets. Maybe they could barricade themselves off, create new walls. Maybe they could take down more of those golems. But as he thinks of the golems his heart sinks. More than one hundred.One almost killed me. A hundred would certainly do the trick, and no amount of make-shift barricades could survive their onslaught. Still. A plan was better than none. A glorious last stand for survival.

"Barricade the entrances," he starts calling out. "Use furniture, tables, chairs, doors. We can hold them in small spaces, throw stuff down on them from above. We can fight this! Make this alley ours, defend it with our lives."

He tries to rally the people, but without much hope.

[Conor77]

The Commander leads the group, still getting information from runners and Sendings. His face just keeps getting grayer and grayer, and he looks like he's about 10 years older than when the battle began.

"Keep up" he says to everyone, "we're going to go to the Citadel and see if we can't hold them off from the garrison there".

Sure enough, within minutes you are passing through the Citadel's fabled gates. If anything could hold against those golems, it would be the fabled Doors of Bastion. They were almost always wide open and de-activated, until today, when their maximum-activation hum fills the air. In fact, it almost seems to shake the pavement. You know that to merely tap one of these doors without also touching the handles on the inside will destroy you entirely. They are legend, and right now they are on full-shield defense

No time to gawk though. As each person comes through, the guards at the Doors open them enough for the person to slip by, and then close them back up again. The surge of soldiers moves inside, and even though you see almost all of the civilians within, the up and ready-to-fight soldiers are very, very few. Soldiers move among those standing, most of them have papers in their hands and are looking through the standing men for something specific.

They are apparently looking for you. Several persons, including you, the woman with the firearm, and the man who identified the golem, are asked to accompany certain officers upwards, towards the Citadel.

Everything about it is grand, but you are being rushed, very quickly, through many hallways, vault-doors, magical traps, and other security devices until you reach the vast Throne Room, where the Lord of Salor, Carl Yosaff, paces back and forth in front of his throne. He gives a brief nod of the head in your direction, before slowing down and pouring himself a glass of water from a nearby table. The officers depart, leaving about a dozen people behind.

In front of you is the Lord of the City, trying to choke down a glass of water, a strange old (old here means reeeeeaaaaalllllyyyy old) Aaran man (large bushy beard tips the sex) scrawling a huge circle on the floor behind the throne in chalk, and Kolum Salor.

The Senub who named himself Kolum Salor is one of the oldest Senub in the world, perhaps one of the oldest hominids, and he has stayed the Regent King of Salor the entire time. He bows to the lords and ladies of the city, but only by choice. No one really knows how powerful he is, but some say his axe could cleave a house in twain. He is a legend, and right now he is staring silently at the throne.

[Failed Phantasm]

As Xander entered the courtyard of the Citadel, he couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief once they had passed through the great doors. Having seen how easily the walls had been bypassed and the cannons disabled, however, also made him feel somewhat as though it were only a false sense of security. The diminished number of soldiers, too, did little to engender confidence. 'Why did I ever come to this blasted city in the first place?' he thought forlornly, though he said nothing. He tried to scan through the throng of civilians for his associates from Treth, but he had little time to do so before his group were being led into the Citadel itself.

While they were being rushed along by the attendant guards through the halls, Xander tried to take in the sights as best he could, but they were being hurried along past so many side passages, doors, and vaults, and they were taking so many turns that he quickly lost his bearings. Finally, they arrived at the throne room, which was an impressive and grand affair that Xander would otherwise have never had the opportunity to see - even at home in Treth, being invited into the house of a lesser noble or rich merchant was an extreme rarity - though he would have much preferred to see it during more peaceful circumstances. However, he felt much more in his element here than he had on the battlefield.

Xander sketched a deep and respectful bow towards the Lord of Salor and the statuesque Senub standing nearby, knowing very well not to speak unless spoken to. He managed a glance at the Aaran who had been sketching what could very well be a summoning or (hopefully) teleportation circle behind the throne itself, though he could not get close enough to attempt to decipher the runes and script that were being drawn in chalk.

---

* post roll count doesn't match database

[Quellian-dyrae]

August followed the officers without a word. He'd had few occasions in his life to walk the halls of the Citadel, but taking in the sights of the grand structure was the last thing on his mind. When they arrived in the throne room, he bowed deeply to the Lord, and gave a formal salute to Kolum Salor. He stood silent at attention, awaiting orders.

[Conor77]

The Lord clears his throat, and speaks even now with a voice that oozes authority and purpose. "I, am not your lord. Well, not the lord of most of you. I cannot order you, and all orders so far have simply been a matter of necessity, to somehow prevent the city from falling." Here, he seems to lose his train of thought. You can hear vague mutterings from the Aaran behind you, and a couple of curses. Kolum is motionless, a living statue.

The Lord picks up, "The worst that can be said to happen in the reign of a ruler has occurred: The city given to me in trust has fallen. I have no doubt, that the invaders will take the city and murder everyone in it. Quarter has been given in every major battle we have fought against them, and never has it been taken. They have killed everyone, all people that stand in their path, for one purpose."

He nods to the Senub, who picks up his axe and cleaves the throne into two pieces. After sorting through the halves, he pulls out a sphere of dull metal, perhaps 8 inches in diameter. Kolum Salor, the oldest (somewhat-)living man in the city, walks over and gives it to August. Carl now addresses him:

"You once guarded the city-gates, and I thank you for that service. Because you stood out against the unknown, my city slept safe. You once guarded them because you believed that cities should be safe, from those that wish ill of mankind. You guarded those gates because you had honor, dignity, and compassion. And now I would ask too much of that honor, to take this piece of platinum, and flee with it, leaving us here to die. Salor is gone now, a dream of the past. They will wreck it and turn everything in it to ash. But they must not have this. Do you hear me, August Winters? This is what I order you to do, and it is my last order: Take this away from here, and keep it from those that would take it from you."

Now he addresses the others: "I cannot order you. You signed no contract, agreed to nothing but to defend your own lives at the best point for trying, which is the noblest thing one can truly ask of someone. The best I can hope for is that when times look low, you will do the right thing. I am sending all of you outside the city, right now. High up into the mountains, from which you may take a road downwards, into Lakar. I request that you accompany Mr. Winters, and keep him safe. For if he is not, the entire world is not. That is all I have time to explain, and all the time we have. Do as you will. I go now to certain death." He then walks out of the room, briskly.

The Aaran gestures, and everyone gathers around his chalk circle, where he has marked out many, many runes. He says "This is a teleportation circle that can break the containment on our fair city. Obviously you can't just pop in or out of here as you will, so there are encoded instructions you have to put in your spells. This circle will carry everyone within this line (he taps it), into the mountains. And I come with you, of course. The only problem I think we have...", he says, counting heads, "...is size. We have one too few spots, which means I'm gonna need to redraw the damned thing"

Kolum Salor speaks for the first time. "No. I have lived too long, and seen too much. Now is my time to perish.". And he, too, walks out of the room.

The Aaran just stands there, looking astonished.