The Lost (IC)

[Daryk]

Aaron

"I think you're right about the cave mouth, Kim. It's probably the best compromise between safety and comfort until we can hash some things out. And just for reference, it's going to be Aaron all the way for me. The Doc said 'no character background required', so it's just me rattling around in my head," Aaron said, tapping his temple. He looked thoughtful for a moment, then added, "I hope I can figure out this magic thing. I went bow-hunting once with my cousins, so I'm not totally clueless when it comes to archery, but I just don't know about the spell casting."

That said, Aaron briefly disappeared back into the cave and returned carrying a crate to sit on.

[dauphinous]

Hannah

A noise that sounds rather like a snort comes out of Hannah. "We're both just horse's arses, then. C'mon. Everyone has apparently decided to move as a pack, and the pack is moving out." Hannah holds a hand out to help Diedre stand up and chuckles. "God, you have no idea how great it is to be the one offering someone else a hand."

[Wiz]

Diedre

Diedre takes the proferred hand and smiles, standing. "There isn't anyone else who's hand I'd rather take." She abruptly hugs Hannah, then lets go and starts to wipe her eyes on her sleve, before she stops as if remembering something. She reaches into a pocket in her robe sleeve and pulls out a handkerchief, and wipes her eyes and blows her nose into it. "Oh well, one less invention we can bring to the backward natives." She chuckles, "Let's go see what everyone wants to do."

[Lochar]

Brandon

"I've got a rapier, so I'm fairly certain I have skill in it. No skills particularly, but damn I wish I'd taken Weapon finesse. I ran out of feats though."

He pulls the rapier at his side, twirling the weapon. "Competent, but no promise of mastery. The blade's supposed to be a +3 Keen, so it will probably help guide my blows."

[mdsoze]

Alastair

Noticing that people seem to be moving towards the cave entrance, Alastair will speak up, and project his voice loudly, so that everyone can hear. Yet at the same time, it sounds strangely cheery.

Excuse me.... I know this is a very confusing time, but I think we should gather and discuss priorities. So, if everyone would gather at the entrance to the cave soon, we can have a meeting. For those who care to envision such things, this will be our functional meeting at the tavern to start our adventure together. We have a good bit to decide, or at least, to organize. So let's circle up!

With that, Alastair will head towards the mouth of the cave, and wait to see if the others follow him.

[wxdruid]

Gwen

Gwen looks up from where she is with Rain. Once Alastair chooses a place to sit/stand, she'll playfully dump Rain off her lap and move to join him. She smiles up at him, Yes, probably. There are so many things we don't know about this place.

Rain bounds after her, tail twitching excitedly. She starts sniffing at Alastair's feet, very curious about him.

[Wiz]

Diedre

Diedre moves toward the entrance... the tension seems to have gone out of her, though her eyes are still a little red. "So. What are we planning... so far I've heard that most people don't really trust the Professor, which I tend to agree with."

[Lochar]

Brandon

"If we don't trust the Professor and don't want to bring him here, then the question is 'Do we want to go to the World Well still?'

[dauphinous]

Hannah

It was a dumb thing to argue about in the first place, which made it easy to just smooth right over. Good. Hannah looks down at Kate and grins. And doesn't offer her a hand up. Kate can get her own butt up off the ground without any help, and that thought is clear on Hannah's face.

She keeps grinning on the short walk to this 'meeting'. "I guess I'd like to plant a kiss right on his lips, but you all have some good points about this ultimate power issue. Still, I guess I can understand if some of you want to go home, at least. I sure don't, but I'll help anyone get there if who wants to. Besides, there's nothing that says the professor knows where the World Well is on the other side, or that he'd know when we activate it, however that works. I mean, do you really think he'll just be standing there waiting when we figure it out?"

[McSherrie]

"While I am certainly not in favor of handing this or any world over to the professor or any other dictator - benevolent or otherwise - I think that it would be in our best interest to at least learn more about the World Well. Perhaps those who want to go home will be able to do so, even without the Professor's help. Remember, time moves faster here so he will not be able to have more than a passing knowledge of our actions."

[Wiz]

Diedre

Diedre looks at Brandon and nods, "Good question. I suppose one way to answer it might be, is there anything that anyone still wants back in our world? Some people here might have friends and family they want to return to, and if that's so I think it is all our duties to help them get there. But a larger question is, considering the Professor or not, do we want to have access to our world? Imagine for a moment we all wanted to stay... then Brandon, you find a girl you want to settle down with. You have a child, and the child is dying of a disease that the cure spells won't work on, for whatever reason - maybe you pissed off the Gods. What would you do then for $20.00 worth of antibiotics?"

[TwoCents]

Kate/Emmerli

"Good. All friends again." Kate patted Deidra and Hannah's shoulders and watched them make peace. "Thank Hera that's dealt with, for now," she thought, as she watched the duo walk out.

Kate looked around the cave to see if there had been anything in it besides the crates. Now that the magic items were removed from the area, she cast Detect Magic and slowly turned to survey the cave with both magical and normal vision.

Finished, she realized she herself was positively glowing with magical items. The heavy metal rod stuck thorough her belt attracted her interest. Kate looked at her inventory list and muttered, "Rod of the Python... Hmm. I can't remember exactly what this does. Something about a stick that turns into a big snake." She hefted the rod. "A very big stick. I think I shall call you 'Teddy'. Activation code is ςκ...ςκεώ..." Kate struggled to understand the words running through Emmerli's brain as she twirled the rod. With a thump, she dropped it.

"Holy crap! Get away from me! Wait, no! Teddy, Teddy, get back here! A Stick, stick, I say, boy!" She dove after the giant python, and grabbed the rod at the cave mouth. She looked up at the others and added, "Well, that was interesting." She picked herself up and dusted herself off. Glaring at the rod, she stuffed it firmly back into the Haversack. "You and I will have to talk... later"

[wxdruid]

Gwen

Gwen listens to the discussions, not really saying anything.

Rain though, is a bit more active, she's going around sniffing everyone, getting acquainted with their smells.

[Alicorn]

Annika/Persis

Annika, stashing Ashlyn in the hood of her cloak, says, "I want to go home. This would be cool and all if I'd booked a vacation to freaking fantasyland through a reputable travel agency, but we have been effectively kidnapped, without, we have to presume, the benefit of ransom notes or a SWAT team to buy or fight us out. I for one would be missed after a while if I just never turned up on Earth ever again. I don't like the idea of bestowing upon our kidnapper-slash-benefactor phenomenal cosmic power either, but maybe we're giving his predictive power more credit than it deserves. How the hell does he know he could be the most powerful wizard this world has ever known? Isn't he giving himself a little too much credit? I'd put him at an Int of 20, tops, and that's when I count all of his inscrutable comments towards "smart" instead of "talking out of his ass". Maybe if we dump him here he wouldn't exactly be just a third-level expert with a lot of ranks in Knowledge: Transdimensional Travel, but I don't think we should assume he'd automatically be the local Elminster." This speech, a little odd coming from a person less than three feet tall, is delivered with a frenetic speed just short of hysteria; apparently Annika's either still unnerved by being surrounded by giants or by having been magically shunted into the body of her own D&D character.

[Daryk]

Aaron

As the huge snake stuck its nose out of the cave, Aaron cried, "Holy ---!"
and leaped out of his seat, straight up into the air. And hung there. Ten feet off the ground. Wondering what the hell was happening to him, and where the snake came fr- No, what snake? That stick. The stick Kate is yelling at. What the HELL is going on??

[Wiz]

Diedre

Diedre glances over at Aaron, and for the first time notices what he looks like. "Aaron... you're back to yourself! How did you do that? And... why are you floating in the air?"

[McSherrie]

Kim blinks at the floating Aaron for a moment, patting Rain distractedly on the head. "Perhaps we should try to remain on as close to the same level as possible during this discussion..." Her head tips to the right in a mannerism familiar to her friends, if a touch strange looking from Antiope.

[Daryk]

Aaron

"I have no idea Bi-, De-... Downer. To either question. Which is actually one of the points I wanted to bring up. Do any of us actually know how our gear actually works? Sure, we've been gaming for years, but we've never actually activated any of this stuff. I'm guessing my appearance is driven by that ring of Chameleon Power, but I didn't DO anything to make it happen. Same thing for these Boots of Levitation, I guess. I saw that monster snake, and reacted, and now here I am. Let's just say it's a good thing we're not in combat, eh?" Aaron said, with occasional glares at Kate. As he asked, "Anybody have any ideas on how I should get down?" he started to drift slowly to the ground, perhaps in time with his decreasing heart rate.

[mdsoze]

Alastair

Oh, great. I called a meeting. They're gonna expect me to speak. Well, try to do the right thing here.

Alastair begins speaking calmly and slowly, choosing his words with care.

We are all considering what we could do, but what do we know right now? Shouldn't we get some more information about this place before we make a decision on what to do?

I think we need to organize, learn more about this area in specific, and the world in general.

Did anyone receive a map with their possessions? If not, does anyone have the necessary knowledge to begin functioning as a cartographer.

Second, while we have two weeks of food, and I received a ring of sustenance, I think it would be good if we attempted to locate supplies in the area, potentially make contact with the locals, learn about this kingdom.

I propose we put a 2 day moratorium on discussing the question of the World Well. In that time, we learn what we can about this place, its dangers, its opportunities, and the like. First of all, if we do decide to go to the World Well, to return some of our members home if nothing else, it will be good to learn about what we might encounter on that journey. Second of all, since we are strangers in a strange land, finding out as much as we can about this place may help us blend in more, and attracting undue attention is always undesirable.

To achieve those goals, I propose that we spend what daylight there is left exploring the local area here, ensuring there are no immediate threats to our survival. If it is early morning, after we've checked this area, we should pack and make a 1 hour trip in each cardinal direction, unless someone has reason to believe we should pick one direction over the others.

Alastair looks around.

I apologize if I'm being presumptuous, and I don't mean to boss anyone around, but this seems like a logical way to proceed towards our goals. Last, if you're craving salt, I suggest the jerky like food in the rations. It's quite tasty.

[Wiz]

Diedre

She smiles at Aaron, "Just call me Diedre, as I said. Bill makes no sense and I can't abide Billie." She watches him as he floats down, "My guess is that your equipment is more or less operating mentally rather than by command word, and it might have to do with how little you fleshed out your character concept, even in your own mind." She glances around at everyone, "Just so we all feel clear on this point... I don't know how much time it took the professor, but he created these beings whom our minds currently inhabit, whether they have real backgrounds that fit into this world or not, and all of this gear. Also, he did it remotely... from the other side. I get a feeling if he gets over here he will be as powerful as he thinks... just as prone to the mistakes we've already seen, mind you, but essentially omnipotent."

[Daryk]

Aaron

As his feet returned to the ground, Aaron said, "Douglas, I like your idea of exploring, but not today. I think today needs to be spent figuring out exactly what we all can do, and making sure everyone knows it. If that snake, for example, is a trick Kate can do, that's something we all need to know so we don't react inappropriately when it hits the fan." Looking around at everyone, he asked, "Am I making sense?"

[wxdruid]

Gwen

I think I'd rather be out scouting, looking around. I'm anxious to find out what's around here.

Also...she gestures toward the tiger cub. This is Rain, she's my animal companion.

Rain looks up at Gwen at the sound of her name and Gwen can't help but grin back at her.

[TwoCents]

Kate/Emmerli

Kate folded her arms and bounced a little bit on her toes.

"First, call me Kate or Emmerli. I don't care which."

"Second, no, we should NOT go wandering around until, a) we know all of our own personal capabilities, b) all our equipment capabilities, and c) some basic idea of intraparty roles. The middle of a firefight is not the time to find out that the weapon doesn't work they way you thought it did."

"Third, I have no evidence as to what the good doctor may or may not have done. This may just be a mass hallucination; this may be some devious plan by an elder god; this may be the last lingering effects of a curse or ensorcelment whereby we thought we were living in some other world but have actually returned to our own. We may, in fact, be spirits possessing some poor schmucks who followed some quest that led them here. We don't know, and barring real evidence one way or the other, I am not prepared to argue one way or the other. I don't know about you, but I took one of Doc B's philosophy courses, and he loved the mind games. As a first approximation, I am going to assume that I am Kate Jones, somehow transported into the body of Emmerli al-Uruk, a priestess of Tyche, but I am allowing for the possibility that I am in fact tied up in a loony bin somewhere doped out of my mind."

"Fourthly, while I agree that nothing can be accomplished toward figuring what we should do about the World Well until we know something, a moratorium on talking about something so critically important is a waste of energy. Yes, we need to DO some things, but that doesn't preclude discussing others."

"Fifthly, we need to engage our brains. We need to sit down and think about what we know, what we think we know, what we may remember from our limited character backgrounds, etc. I am as guilty as the rest of you, and I say that it is time to start acting as if we had brains and the common sense to use them. We need to understand the reality of THIS world and learn the RULES of that reality before we interact with anyone who may potentially use their knowledge of that reality to smash our bodies into bloody gobbets of flesh."

[McSherrie]

"I also tend to believe that we should explore at least the immediate surroundings. No amount of practice or discussion will save us if there is a village of kobolds in the hills here that gets active after nightfall. I do think that there is some prudence in discussing any animal companions - or equipment - however, as they could become unintentional targets in a conflict. I, personally, do not have any additional creatures that I am aware of."

[wxdruid]

Gwen

Gwen gets a rather bored/stubborn look on her elfin face and she promptly sits down on the ground. Rain climbs into her lap and Gwen cuddles her close. She's listening but she really doesn't have anything to say and she doesn't really want to.

[Lochar]

Brandon

Concentrating on the rapier in his right hand, it shrinks down. Brandon smiles at his gloved hand, before looking at the other as the guitar reappears, and then shrinks to nothing again. "Well, the gloves work as intended. You'll have to excuse me if I don't try the rod of Wonder though. My luck, the random effect would be to permanently shrink myself."

[TwoCents]

Kate/Emmerli

Tired of talking about it, Kate knelt on the ground and opened her mind to the gods.

"Tyche, Lady Luck, lead me to wisdom. I need to know of this world, and my friends lie on the cusp of disaster. We need good fortune and wisdom, we need protection in our travels, and we need to know about this world wherein we find ourselves." Kate grasped her Holy Symbol and allowed herself to fall into Emmerli, searching within herself for the knowledge of this world.

Questions Emmerli is seeking to answer:

Spoiler

Show

1) what time of day is it?
2) what's the name of the world?
3) how many moons are there?
4) does the sun rise in the east?
5) what's the name of the main continents? countries? cities?
6) what are the main religions?
7) is there a war on?
8) if yes, between whom?
9) what is the level of personal freedom?
10) are there any races/religions/classes that are oppressed? if yes, who are they?
11) what's the favorite card game?
12) are there any laws regulating gambling?

Knowledge: History +5
Knowledge: Religion +8
Knowledge: Arcana +3
Knowledge: The Planes +3

[Lochar]

Hithos

Watching Kate sink to the ground in prayer, Brandon shakes his head. "The one time I really wish I'd put ranks into knowledge local."

Pulling an arrow, Brandon stabs it into the ground, marking where it's shadow currently is. "Give it twenty minutes, we'll at least know if it's before or after noon."

[Daryk]

Aaron

"Kim, let's say you find that kobold village. What then? How do you avoid their scouts? What do we do differently here with the knowledge that they're out there? Why not just assume they ARE there, and save ourselves the trip? Until we have a good grip on who can do what, I still think we shouldn't go anywhere, singly or in groups," Aaron said. Turning to look at Brandon experimenting with his rapier, he added, "Brandon's got the right idea. That's what we all should be doing. And once we figure out our own gear, let everyone know what it can do. And Kim's point about animal companions is good, too. We have to know who 'we' are. All of us. Theoretically, I have a raven familiar and an eagle animal companion, neither of which are present."

[mdsoze]

Douglas/Alastair

Alastair nods as Kate makes her counterpoints, and then waits as she beseeches her goddess.

Good. Dialog and discussion towards a purpose. This is a very positive sign.

That's a good point. We do need to discuss our capabilities. And I think, to better get along, everyone is going to need to know a bit about everyone else's character. Probably much more than we would actually share with each other if we were normally gaming.

I propose we briefly outline our character's backstories, capabilities, and anything particularly unusual that we have, and any particularly unusual pieces of equipment.

Since I am encouarging everyone to share, I shall oblige and share first. I, Douglas Fairchild, prepared the character of Alastair MacMillan. He is, in modern war parlance, heavy infantry. A straight fighter focused on strength, with a specialization in a two handed weapon, the mercurial greatsword, that does spectacular critical rolls. In combat, he's pretty much a straight up puncher, relying on his armor and some dexterity to protect him. He's intelligent enough to take the combat expertise tree of feats if he chooses at some point. In terms of skills, he is apt at the sort of athletic skills that fighters typically take.

In terms of equipment, Dr. Benson equipped me with +5 glamered mithral breastplate. So this clothing I'm appearing to wear is actually some very robust armor. I also have a ring of protection, and an amulet of natural armor. I'm not certain, but if I had to hazard a guess, my AC is somewhere in the low 30s. For a weapon, he gave me the Frost Brand unique greatsword, except he also made it mercurial. I forget it's exact number bonus, but I recall that it deals cold damage, absorbs some fire damage, and I think it can put out fires when it is drawn.

In terms of backstory, Alastair was a mercenary from a family where most of the males served as mercenaries. His father had trained him from a young age in the use of the greatsword, and then the mercurial greatsword. He began accompanying his father on missions at 15, and by 18, was inducted into the mercenary guild. Two years later, while on contract, he saw his brother captured by the enemies. He attempted to lead a charge to recover him, but was unsuccessful. Tensions grew between he and his father when his father mocked him for attempting to save his brother. Since then, Alastair has grown more of a conscience about what kinds of contracts he takes on, and is trying to make himself more than just a hired sword.


He looks around, and Aaron has the misfortune of making first eye contact.

Okay, Aaron, what can you tell us about your character?