The Union of The Serpent, The Second Generation.

[The Great Skenardo]

Gloria Blackblade
Gloria bites her lip.
"Yeah, okay. So...what you're saying is we've got our work cut out for us, huh?"
She clasps her hands behind her back, looking around.
"What's so scary about this place anyways? It's just...boring."

[TheMeanDM]

"I wouldn't call it a suicide mission, but..." he shrugs again.

He looks around the town. "There is just..something..I don't like about this place." he says.

He murmers the words to a spell, then one more, for good measure.

"Perhaps we should try an inn or tavern." he mentions.

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Protection from Chaos (120 minutes)
Sign (120 minutes)

[The Great Skenardo]

Gloria Blackblade
Gloria glances over at Ozzariam as he makes his incantations. Almost mimicing his motions, she performs a short incantation of her own, although the gestures are different.
"O-kay. But We're just taking a short look, then; we're not staying the night, all right?"

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Cast Protection from Evil.

[TheMeanDM]

"I am perfectly happy to not spend the night here." Oz agrees.

He ponders a moment, looking around. "If this is Carpathia, I recall that his highness would be interested in any news about it." he sighs. "Like I said, though, spending the night would not be my first choice."

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from our original meeting:

First, and about three days travel from here, is Carpathia. A small town, that we have no jurisdiction over. Some time in the last decade some lawul twit blows in there on his pale horse, and the town practically drops off the map.
If you are able to bring any news of what has happened there, I would be more than grateful.

[The Necroswanso]

So, does this mean I will be receiving gather information checks?

[TheMeanDM]

(I thought it meant that you'd point out an inn/tavern to us )

Ozzariem walks up to one of the locals.

"Excuse me, is there a tavern or inn about where we might rest for a bit." he asks.

Gather - (1d20+1)[18]

[The Great Skenardo]

Gloria Blackblade
Gloria sighs, and begins making her own inquiries.

Gather Info - (1d20+8)[26]

[WhiteKnight777]

Alamandias

Alamandias sigs, looks to the heavens with his hands outspread once more, as if imploring, mouthing the words "Why Me?" He then chuckles, shrugs it off and moves around. He decides against trying to gather any additional information, however - he's not terribly good at it, and he tends to evoke a negative reaction in people - so he stays put, leaning up against a wall and waiting for the others to return.

[The Necroswanso]

You're able to locate an Inn and tavern located in to the west.

We'll assume you go there...wink.

As you enter you can see the place is rather busy, however as busy as it is, everyone seems to be keeping their attention as far away from the booth in the back corner as possible.
You spot a rather, questionable looking woman siting there (Cue: The Snark), speaking with an all familiar character, however, something is much different about Necrom this time.
He has absolutely no traces of being undead, he wears a set of travellars pants and boots, however where there would normally be a shirt, there are instead mummy wraps. His hair surrounds his head in several tight braids, and he seemed to be wearing some sort of newfound crown.
They seemed to be engaged in some sort of conversation, that Necrom rather seemed to enjoy.

[TheMeanDM]

(visiting my mom today/monday/tuesday)

[TheMeanDM]

(visiting my mom today/monday/tuesday)

[The Great Skenardo]

Gloria Blackblade
For a moment, Gloria's expression is as black as her blade.
What the HELL?! Why can't he leave us alone?
She quickly recovers from the sight of yet another manifestation of Necron, and gazes about the inn commons as if nothing were amiss.

One might well suppose that the inn's denizens glanced towards her and her companions as well. Although relatively short, Gloria's presence is a commanding one. hair like beaten gold frames a face enchanting and angelic, but with an edge of flint about her brilliant blue eyes; an edge of mischief, if not cruelty.
And yet the angelic motif is reinforced by the strange metallic armor she wears; patterned like armor, but seamless and liquid, as if a steel statue of a beautiful woman were given life and an angel's face.
...a face which is now maintaining an easy smile, but about Gloria hangs a faint scent of burning paper, and on a nearby table, a pewter mug cracks.

Casually, she approaches the booth containing both the dread necromancer and the strange woman.
"Room for one more?" she asks, her head tilted to one side.

[The Necroswanso]

As Gloria's silent rage shatters the mug a gruff bartender's voice can be heard shouting.
"OH ****! NOT AGAIN!"
As quick panic takes over the tavern section of the inn as the bartender ducks below the bar and the patrons vacate the room.
Necrom looks up at Gloria, obviously annoyed that she had decided to draw attention to herself in such a place.
"Well now there is. Gloria, sweety, this is Elida. She has been searching for some very interesting information.
How can I be of service?"
As he spoke he moved towards the wall, granting her a place to sit.


for Gloria:

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Although, Necrom's voice rang out in you head, pure malice that fealt all too much like home.
"What are YOU doing here?"

[The_Snark]

Elida

The woman looks up, smiling brightly. A few stray wisps of brown hair hang in front of her face, where they have escaped the captivity of a segmented headband. In fact, the headband does not seem to be doing a very good job at all of restraining her hair, which is wavy and a little disheveled. She has fair skin and freckles, with eyes that are a difficult-to-place greenish hazel. "Oh, hullo Gloria!" she says, apparently taking Gloria's easy smile at face value. "Nice to met you and your friend. You've met Necrom already, then?"

[The Great Skenardo]

Gloria Blackblade
Once more, behind the easy smile is some other emotion; something buried deep beneath the shining surface.
"a-ha." Gloria sits, her courage buoyed up by a raging magma torrent of anger.
Completely ignoring Elida's question, she places her hands on the table.
"Information, huh? That's good; I won't ask what. But we were just passing through town, and we were wondering about this little town here. It seems so... What's the word..." She taps her metallic fingers on the table in a faint staccato rhythm.
"Washed-out. Like someone put it through the laundry too much. Yeah. Got any idea why, Elida?"

For the DM:

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For once, Umbra is the quieter and more reasonable internal voice in Gloria's head at the moment.
Just passing through, O gardener of souls.

[The Necroswanso]

Necrom smiled.
"Oh yes, we know each other quite well, far more than she cares to comprehend however.
And Gloria my dear, whatever do you mean about the town? Don't you like grey? It's perfectly normal."
He returned his attention to Elida.
"So, it has come to my attention, that you have been doing some, rather exstensive research on the planes. Or rather, 'a' plane. What can you tell me, about the Far Realm?"
He leaned forward, elbows resting on the table, templing his fingers infront of him.


And a little gift, for everyone's favorite schitzophrenic.

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But the voice in Gloria's head returned, only now it was pure rage.
"You should not be here! There are no maps in the known WORLD with this city on them. If Erdrik asked you to come then you need to leave, before the sun sets."

[The_Snark]

Elida

"No," she replies thoughtfully, "I don't. I might be wrong of course, but I don't think I've ever been here before yesterday night." Her attention snaps back to Necrom as he asks his question, and she seems about to pounce on the question before she rolls her eyes. "Plane? No no, we've been over this, you know better than that. Boundary zone, if you insist on a formal designation."

[The Necroswanso]

Necrom smiled.
"Now I've told you, it may as well be considered a plane because it has limits, boundaries, and can be travelled to. Calling it just some kind of boundary is definitely more phillisophical than it is science, or even truth.
But, we'll leave that for another conversation."

[The_Snark]

Elida

"But it doesn't—we will?" She looks surprised, then seems to get the hint. "Well, if you like. What are we leaving for this conversation, then?"

[The Necroswanso]

Necrom looked around the room, then outside, it was growing dark already. (at about noon)
"I wish we could have continued this covnersation but extenuating circumstances are changing what I would like, and what is possible."
His attention returned to the window, it faced North, and the church was visible through the streets.
"Now, unfortunately I need your help, rather, we, this here woman and I, need your help. You see, this young lady is working for my brother, the current king of the realm. And they have agreed to do some work for me. But before that can be finished, they have seem to have been asked to come here by my brother for some reason.
I can easily find the information they seek, if her and her friends do some work for me.
So, at this point I'll need to ask you to help them on my brother's quests and with a small task here."
He began talking more to Alamandias at this point.
"I need you all to go into the graveyard, and retirieve someone for me. And I can then give you any information you need from this place."

[TheMeanDM]

"How is it that every time you need something done or we need information about something...we manage to find each other? Fate must be fickle indeed these days." Ozzariam says.

"By the by, m'lord, might I ask...what do wumpus' eat, and what's the difference between an 'ancient' and an 'elder'?"

[The Necroswanso]

Necrom raised an eyebrow.
"I'm not sure what you're talking about my illuminated friend, I've been here, going on seven month's now."
As Ozzariem began asking about the wumpus and the differences in terminology, Necrom narrowed his eyes to the neckless figure.
"Oh you're in some trouble now my friend.
First off, a wumpus doesn't eat, atleast not to survive. Second, the only difference between and elder and an ancient is in the terminology ittself. Elder refers to someone older then you, station through seniority. Ancient just means old. However since you are asking than that means Mr.Pinchly recognises you for who you truly are, even though you may not know it.
The Wumpus don't speak common as their first language, and only develop a cryptic smatteing of it when they need to communicate with someone who doesn't speak their language. And because their grasp on the common language is so tenuous, their word for ancient, and elder are the same."

[The Great Skenardo]

Gloria Blackblade
Gloria sits pretty much still, ignoring Necrom and Ozzariem to look at Elida across the way.
"So," she asks, a little quietly, "what's your story?"

[The_Snark]

Elida

"Story?" Elida blinks twice. "Which one? I've got rather a lot of them, I think. Was there one in particular you wanted to hear?"

[The Great Skenardo]

Gloria Blackblade
Gloria smiles, studiously avoiding acknowledging the presence of Necrom.
"How about your own story? Why are you here in boringtown?"

[The_Snark]

Elida

"Oh, that. It's not too interesting, I'm afraid; I ended up on a road and decided to follow it, and that eventually led here. I don't know if I would have stayed, really," she says, leaning forward to confide, "Temples, don't you know, and also, well—er." She coughs slightly and leans back, looking embarassed. "But anyway, then I found him, and I don't get to meet other people who know much about my field of study very often. Travelling is so hit-or-miss like that. So we've been talking. It's been very nice, although," she leans forward again to whisper, "he does have some very silly ideas about some things." Her whisper is not, alas, quiet enough that the others can't hear if they're bothering to listen to her.

[The Great Skenardo]

Gloria Blackblade
Gloria keeps smiling, but faintly detectable is a crack in the bone-china angelic expression; some flaw in the whole like a brilliant golden medallion sharpened to a razor's edge.
"Interesting," she comments, lacing her fingers together and leaning forward.
"Do you know much about the graveyard in town?"

[The Necroswanso]

Knowledge Religeon check if you choose to want to know anything Snark.
Or: Knowledge Aracana at -4
Or: Knowledge Forbidden Lore at +5 with a will save.

[The_Snark]

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Let's go with Arcana. (1d20+22)[23]

[The Necroswanso]

Sorry about your poor roll. I can totally relate. Anyway:

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All you can determine is that it was a graveyard used by the Inquisition a couple decades ago. It was contested ground for them and a group of necromancers. However you also heard from another source at one point that the Necromancers had won and cast quite a few spells on the ground.
However you also heard that before the Inquisition had been disbanned they consecrated the grounds and surrendered the plot of land.