Adventure in Eberron: Beyond the Sea

[Philistine]

QB:

With the female Splicer tied, QB quickly checks to see if she's carrying anything valuable or noteworthy before moving to the corpse of the hammer-wielding splicer and searching it in turn. He finishes that just in time to see Vaasth lifting the Warforged's corpse up to the platform, and nods his thanks as he rifles through the belongings of the two bodies retrieved from the waters of the harbor.

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Search for these two as well, if it's needed: (1d20+18)[27]

[Karaswanton]

Kyrek

George, why did you jump in the brackish, foul water? You're going to smell terrible. You smell bad enough when you're wet with clean water. Ugh.

George rolls his eyes, and then comes back up.
You're welcome boss.

[Krimm_Blackleaf]

"Ah! Wwww..... I'gh.... That... felt..." He looks himself over, his statuesque, pristine self back to full health. "...pretty good, actually." He grins, showing his mostly somewhat-pointed teeth.
"You're a miracle worker." He holds out his tentacled arm to Irmaet, the tentacle writhing again. It's almost as if he's attempting to make every social and martial scenario as inhumanly eerie as possible.

[pingcode20]

Irmaet the Black
Irmaet reaches out and shakes Vaasth's hand warmly, too pleased with his dweomer for the half-daelkyr's appearance to bother him too much, even if he did feel a bit socially awkward.

Pausing for a moment, he shakes the tentacle too, for good measure.

"Thank you. But I'm afraid I'm far from that - spending a few hours on the positive will do the same thing. I'm glad to see that it worked, though. So, I suppose we had better get to the task of searching our erstwhile aggressors for supplies."

Irmaet produces what looks like a spellbook from his bag, and opens it, revealing pages and pages of notes. Licking the pen nib, he carefully writes in neat script 'Use of Karasz-Ilmare guiding function proved tremendously successful. Subject was suffering from multiple deep cuts and punctures, and post procedure was completely restored. Pain caused by mobile positive energy gates apparently negated by heretofore unconfirmed sedative effects of positive energy.'

[The Demented One]

By the time Quentin's searching of the splicers is complete, there is a small pile of assorted gear taken from them in the middle of the room. First, there are the weapons: the oversized greathammer the hulking warrior had carried, the shifter's rapier, and the warforged's greatsword. Next to that is a small pile of various armors: a suit of banded mail, a chainmail shirt, and a heavy steel shield. Then there are the sundry other trinkets: two rings pried from the warforged and the woman's finger, a potion of unknown sort, an amulet, a luminous crystal belonging to the woman, and finally a headband, also belonging to the subdued female splicer. In addition, there are a few dozen black coins, slightly smaller than a gold piece. Each coin has the letter "X" printed on one side, and a number printed on the other. The numbers on the coins total up to 500.

There is, one the far side of the room, a large door, much like the one you came in through. Engraved on it, in beautiful though alien-looking calligraphy, is the text "Port Xethia."

[Krimm_Blackleaf]

Vaasth holds back a little snort when Irmaet finishes his small speech and speaks up when he's finished, barely containing his laughter. One eyebrow's raised and there's an amused smile on his face and he speaks up, "You sure you don't want to buy Baai'Zo Kr'ull dinner first?" Then breaks out into laughter almost as if at his own tentacle's expense.

"Ah, hmm... I don't know, anyone else have use for the weapons? You all seem more like the 'I don't want to get hit by a sword' types." Vaasth scratches his chin as he speaks, the tentacle around it wrapped harmlessly around his neck and head as if to give retribution against Vaasth's comeback. "Hnng g'var!"

[dyslexicfaser]

Hector

Hector's robes are sodden and streaked with unpleasant fluids, and swishes when he walks up to join his fellows. He tries to wring it out a bit, without much success. He looks a bit like a partially-drowned rat. "That's it, I'm going to invest in pants," he announced, mostly to himself.

He takes a closer look at the slain .. creatures. "What are these things, anyway? They're humanoids, but... trepanation? That hasn't been popular in ages, and wasn't medically sound even back when it was practiced. And I don't know where to begin to make sense of our bleeding warforged friend and that.. hulk. Let alone that this is not an appropriate way to greet visitors."

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I have no idea what Knowledge checks, if any, would be appropriate to tell us anything about what happened to these fellows. Dungeoneering for aberrations? Local for humanoids? Arcana for magic experimentation? Did a wizard do it? I haven't the foggiest idea.

[pingcode20]

Irmaet the Black
"What can I say? I've always been a very forward person." laughs Irmaet with Vaasth. The years had mellowed the necromancer out, that was for sure.

Irmaet walked over to the unconscious trepanist and took a close look at the splicer.

"I don't believe I've ever seen anything like this - perhaps she was one of the Quori?"

[Krimm_Blackleaf]

He kneels down next to the girl with his hand still on his chin and his tentacle wrapped vengefully about his head and neck, examining the girl. "Mmm... I dunno, I've seen better looking girls. The holes just aren't... enough. Y'know? I mean, I knew a girl that had holes, but they were like... lined with silver, and she had this maw thing... now THAT was a woman."
He holds the girl's face with his other hand. "And this one's just a little young." He looks back up at the rest of the group, "Good time to wake her?"

[The Demented One]

OOC on Knowledge Checks

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Several Knowledge skills would apply; roll whatever you want and I'll tell you if anything relevant comes up.

[Philistine]

QB:

"Don't see why not," QB shrugs. "Hey, can anyone tell whether any of this stuff they were carrying is worth anything?"

[Krimm_Blackleaf]

"Let's ask her what they do." He begins to slap her face lightly, just to make her wake up. "Hey, hey wake up. X'aatze N'yathlett T'zuu? Wake up!" He sits perched just looking over her with a neutral expression.

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Knowledge (the planes): (1d20+16)[21]

[dyslexicfaser]

Hector

Hector shrugged at Quentin. "Sorry. What do I know about hunks of metal? And I didn't think to bring a bag of holding, so I'm certainly won't be able to carry that little armory."

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I know everything.

Know (Dungeoneering) for aberrations: (1d20+14)[20](34)
Know: (Local) for humanoids: (1d20+14)[20](34)
Know (Arcana) for magical effects: (1d20+19)[13](32)
Know (Planes) just because: (1d20+24)[19](43)

[pingcode20]

Irmaet the Black
"I wasn't expecting to conduct an appraisal, to be honest. I'm sure I have a couple of scrolls of identify if there's anything you must know about, but otherwise you will just have to wait until tomorrow. Well, if nobody wishes to discover the effects of these things by hand, I suppose Mr Bones will just have to carry them."

Irmaet quickly and efficiently dries off all the assorted loot (as well as putting the weapons back into their sheaths), before whistling for Mr Bones and piling them all into a large bag that wasn't there a second ago, before tightening the drawstring and patting his skeleton on the back.

"I generally find it convenient to carry a few such bags. It saves the trouble of recalling one's secret chest every time you wish to take something out."

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Arcana - (1d20+25)[29]
Religion - (1d20+13)[29]

And, er... Local - (1d20+13)[32] (maybe they come from Sharn?)

[The Demented One]

The well-trepaned girl awakes as Vaasth slaps her. She looks up at him, and then begins to scream, crawling away from him as best as she can with both of her arms tied. She moves to put Irmaet between her and the tentacled swordsman, and then stops, panting to the point of near hyperventilation and flitting her eyes from side to side frantically. From her trembling and agonizing spasms, it would seem she remains under the effects of Irmaet's necromantic dweomer.

OOC for Vaasth

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You recognize the girl as a Kalashtar. None of the others were outsiders or planar beings of any sort.

OOC for Hector

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You can tell conclusively that none of your foes were aberrations of any sort. While their bodies have been clearly altered in some way, it is not in the style of the Daelkyr, or of any other aberrant race you recognize.

You can also tell that whatever altered these people is not magical in nature. The telekinetic and lightning powers the girl displayed were likewise not magical, though very much similar.

You can tell that the trepaned girl is a Kalashtar, while the shifter and the warforged were...well, a shifter and a warforged. You're not sure, but you'd hazard a guess that the hulking warrior with the hammer was actually of a rare race of humanoids from Xen'drik called the Goliaths.

OOC for Irmaet

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You don't recognize any magical modifications to your foes, though you can tell they've clearly been altered in some way.

You can tell that the trepaned girl is a Kalashtar, while the shifter and the warforged were...well, a shifter and a warforged. You're not sure, but you'd hazard a guess that the hulking warrior with the hammer was actually of a rare race of humanoids from Xen'drik called the Goliaths.

[Krimm_Blackleaf]

Vaasth blinks, knowing she'd be scared, but not realizing he was that imposing. "Eh heh, s'pose I can't blame you. X'aatze N'yathlett T'zuu?" He says again...somehow. At this point he's not feeling too aggressive, but doesn't exactly feel like being gentle about it. "...Or do you just speak th'universal language?"
He then moves his one free eye up to realize his tentacle-whip is still strangling his head, and that is probably just a bit of a cause for alarm for anyone waking up to look upon him.
"Hey, stop. I'm talking to that girl..."
"Hnng..."
"Stop!"
"..."
"Now!"
After a moment, it loosens and wraps itself tightly around his arm like a pink, rubbery meat-sleeve. Vaasth looks like he's listening to silence for a second and then speaks, "Yes, you can continue futiley trying to choke me later. It's not like it was getting you anywhere-And learn to take a joke, would you?"

[The Demented One]

The girl, still in tremendous pain, might be bemused by Vaasth's comic display, were it not for his brutal attack on her, along with the aformentioned tremendous pain. In response to Vaasth's question, she chokes out the response.

"I...agh, I don't know what you mean with that burbling, monster, but I can speak." She winces, and buckles over. "You should all go away, all of you monsters. This is our house, where we lie...Xethia is not yet dead, not to be plundered by you Cannith ironmongers and half-breed parasites." She seems not to be addressing these slurs to any of you in particular, simply raving. "Xethia...is dreaming."

[Krimm_Blackleaf]

"Aah... she looks like she's in pain. Ought we do something about that?" He looks at Irmaet but then back to the girl, "...Half-breed... parasites...." He looks down at his tentacle whip. "Look, I don't want to hear your threats or whatever you have to spout in that weird zealous tone, what we want is some information. Like: What the hell is this place? Why is it here? Why are these large men pummeling me?" He gives her a less than comedic expression and continues speaking. "I can almost guarantee that the pain'll stop, spells only last so long, y'know? But I can certainly guarantee that without cooperation, I've got eight tentacles in wait, one of which thinks you're very pretty."

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Intimidate: (1d20+17)[20]

[Philistine]

QB:

Mildly, Quentin asks, "Do you really think that'll help, Vaasth?" Moving to a spot near the girl's feet, he squats and addresses her. "You do need to be smart here, though. It's just you and us, now, and we're not your friends. You can choose not to help us; in which case I can abso-damn-lutely guarantee that you'll end up just like your pals," he points toward the three corpses, "Or you can cooperate, in which case we can maybe work out something else.

"Now, the name of this place is Xethia, you said? Tell us more about it."

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Aid Another (Intimidate): (1d20-1)[16]

Also: "I've got eight tentacles in wait, one of which thinks you're very pretty."? Priceless.

[dyslexicfaser]

Hector

"Xethia is dreaming," Hector repeats aloud, his interest piqued. "'Where we lie'... but not yet dead, you say." He crowds in around the newly-awakened girl. He looks into her eyes. His own eyes, black with twinkling points of light like a starry sky, seem larger somehow, more alien. "Tell us more clearly, my girl. Tell us of the origin of your powers, of your companions. Tell us of Xethia."

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Nyarlathotep's Guile (suggestion): DC 21 will save
Aid Another (Intimidate): (1d20+18)[17](35)

[pingcode20]

Irmaet the Black
"I'm afraid... the spells will have to remain. As of only moments ago, I recall you were attacking us with blasts of magic."

Irmaet squats down and appraises the girl.

"But, of course, like my colleage explained, the spells will expire with time, and the worst of it is over. Your body will adjust. But I can assure you we are not plunderers, and we would absolutely love to do as you ask and leave, but unfortunately the bathysphere has broken down. So why not make life easier for yourself and tell us what has happened here. Tell me, why does New Xethia dream, and why does it not awaken?"

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...Yes. Really. The necromancer has a +21 Diplomacy mod.

Diplomacy - (1d20+21)[26]

[The Demented One]

Overwhelmed by the interrogation, the girl finally breaks down, telling her story in between pained gasps.

"He built New Xethia for us...for the people who were special, like me. Up above, the Cannith profiteers choked any true genius out of those who didn't kneel at the throne of their House...the parasites would cling onto true genius, stealing away what we had spent years, lives creating. Down here there was no Cannith monopoly, no parasitic notions of 'sharing' or 'socialism.' Up above, I was just a woman, expected to sit in temples and meditate for some theosophical nonsense. Down here, down here I am alive! I have built crystalline matrices crafted and designed on a level unseen by any mortal eyes, I have crafted constructs on a scale so small they can alter the very fundaments of life itself. You have seen what I can do with the power of my mind alone, and the plasmids that are spliced unto my flesh...imagine what it would be like for me to be in the center of a creation forge of plasmopathic crystal, shaping the course of life, altering flesh and soul with the touch of my mind! And then you come here, breaking through our doors and stealing our ADAM, bringing it all back up above so the parasites and ironwhores can come down and put our genius into their orderly systems...you bastards, why don't you just leave us all alone!?"

[Krimm_Blackleaf]

Vaasth gently puts his hands on the sides of her head, the moist tentacle on his right arm gently wrapping around her neck in a less-than-threatening-but-probably-still-really-unnerving kind of way. He stares right into the girl's eyes, less than an arm's length from her and wearing a serious expression. "You've a powerful mind, my skin was a testament to that. I'm not of Cannith or even Breland... I was raised in Karrn'ath. Last thing I want to do is end the works of science... dunno why but from as far back as I can remember I've wanted to make things, things I couldn't do with my hands and it was frustrating. This place is a gods-send for people like us." Suddenly his eyes widen as if trying to stare past her eyes and into her mind(not that that's hard with all the holes) and speaks in a slightly more intense tone, "Peer into my thought, unite them into one. Know what I know and see it for yourself..."

[Karaswanton]

Kyrek


Kyrek walks-about, commenting:
The lack of humility before nature that's being displayed here, uh... staggers me.

He comes back to the girl.
ADAM You say? What is ADAM?

George seems uneasy with the current situation.
Hey, wizard, could you maybe lay off the spell? She's just a little girl.. I got a soft spot for kids--and I'm not too keen on that black magic of yours either.

I can always smack her around a little if she acts up, that'll hurt her but it won't be as bad as that necroma...necro...voodoo.

Kyrek feels he should correct George on magic...
Necromancy's no blacker than any other magic, provided it's put to good use. Now Conjuration, specifically the calling spells are notorious for causing trouble. Summoning demons and the like.

She is more dangerous than she looks George.

What spell was that anyway Irmaet?
It seems very...useful.

[The Demented One]

The girl laughs at Kyrek, though choking back pain. "ADAM is the soul of New Xethia. ADAM is the flesh of Siberys as made by the hand of man, the elixer of immortality, the philosopher's stone in flesh. And I am no mere child, you foolish luddite. Were the necromancer to take this thrice-accursed spell from me, there is little you could do to keep me in your power."

However, as Vaasth speaks to her, she seems to sympathize. "You...you strange man, with your tentacles and your so changed body...you are not all unlike us. We are as the sunbeam refracted through the prism into rays diverse and yet akin. I would enter into your mind, see the truth of your words...were it not for this damned pain. You have nothing to fear from me...the fool and his ape could not keep me subdued, but you, altered and improved and made glorious, surely there is nothing I could do to resist you?"

[Krimm_Blackleaf]

"Surely not." His eyes dart up to Irmaet, "If you would undo the spell? I don't think she's a danger to us anymore." He looks back at the girl, locking eyes with an intense stare yet again. "In fact, I can see the makings of a beautiful friendship."

[dyslexicfaser]

"I'm not entirely certain that is a good idea, Vaasth," Hector pointed out. "Whatever powers she was using was not magic as we recognize it, though similar in effect. We know nothing of what she is capable of."

He mused, "Though I suppose our choices are either releasing her from the spell or killing her. I'm not sure I'm comfortable with either option, really."

[pingcode20]

Irmaet the Black
Irmaet turns back to George, cocking an eyebrow quizzically.

"Would you have rathered I incapacitated her with something more deadly, like another lightning bolt? It's of little use arguing now, though. The spell has run its course, and all that can be done now is to wait for her body to readjust. If it bothers you, next time I shall incapacitate her with disintegration instead. I hear it's completely painless."

Irmaet turns his attentions to Kyrek.

"As for the dweomer I used on her? I picked it up during the war from an old uni buddy of mine - he called it 'Wrack'. They tried to introduce it to special response wizards a while ago, but there was a lot of controversy about excessive force and it eventually got dropped. It's not particularly pleasant, as you can see, but it's better than killing people, which is what happens most of the time. I'd be happy to trade spells with you later, if you want. There are a few I'm not prepared to let circulate too much, though - had to get special authorisation for those, and part of the terms were that I was not to permit copies to be made for other people."

Finally, Irmaet turned his attentions back to the girl, picking up her chin, his face becoming the stern visage of a disapproving parent.

"I think my thrice-damned spell is all that saved your life, young lady. And if you haven't fried them with electricity too, I shall be having a word with them about how you treat strangers knocking on the door. Mr Bones, please carry this aggressive young lady. We will be taking her with us until we can find somebody responsible to take care of her. At least our orderly systems teach kids a little respect for their elders."

And with that, Mr Bones grabbed the girl by her collar and held her roughly ten centimetres above the ground, while Irmaet's disposition became somewhat more pleasant.

"Well, when we find a good place to sit down, who's up for a little wizard's swap meet?"

[Krimm_Blackleaf]

Vaasth clears his throat, his hands and tentacle still firmly attached to the girls face and neck respectively. "...If I may interlude, I would like to take responsibility for handling the girl, and... I'm still somewhat in the middle of conversing, at least I will be once the effects of the spell dwindle into nothingness." He says all but for the first few words while looking into the eyes of the girl. "Let's wait it out, shall we? Then she can do what the two of us wish with my mind."

[pingcode20]

Irmaet the Black
"Oh, yes, where are my manners. I must warn you, though, that the body usually takes anywhere from ten minutes to half an hour to recover. Let us know when you two're done, then."

Irmaet taps Mr Bones on the shoulder, and makes a little twirling motion. Mr Bones takes a step and turns the girl to realign her with Vaasth's eyes, before setting her down again.

"Now may be as good a time for a swap meet as any, while Vaasth is having his moment."

Irmaet produces his spellbook from his bag, and dries off a bit of the floor a few metres away and sits down.

"So, who's up to trade spells?"