/// it's on the calendar. ;-)
What a weird question!
Iri taps her lips with a finger and squints at nothing in the distance, and her face shows a range of emotions as she pauses and dwells on specific words.
How do I feel?
How do I feel about hurrying...
... to Bydell Castle...
... to let them know What. Happened...
... and request help...
She puts her fists on her hips and nods a little.
I feel pretty normal about this. It seems like part of the natural way of things, so I guess maybe "content" is a good summary. I am content! How do you feel about it?
Without waiting for an answer, she looks at a nearby soldier and continues talking, as if he were part of the conversation all along.
What if she says something weird like "disillusioned" or "precocious?" OH! Or "smarmy!" Can you feel smarmy, or is that just something you are? What would that mean, anyway? She throws up her hands. If she just had regular emotions we wouldn't be in this situation!
Her fists go back to her hips and she looks at Tyrra as if waiting for her to explain herself.
Tyrra rubs her temples. "Great, I'm glad you feel content about my suggestion. Would you, please, just go to Bydell Castle and report back as well as request help? I need to focus on taking care of the people."
She looks over to Armand and Lia. "Are we certain that portal won't cause any more trouble?"
Her eyes widened. "Alright, you heard the man!" she said, turning toward the troops. "Let's move away as far from here as possible. This tunnel extends to the shaft, so let's move and assemble there."
She looks to one of the remaining officers and asks, "Where we most of the men when you were first transported? Topside? In the shaft? Have any idea how far this thing can reach?"
Iri seems glad to be moving and trots off down the passage without another word, seeming to melt away into the darkness sooner than expected.
As Tyrra orders everyone to move out, Lia moves near Tyrra and begins to speak, “Smart mov for now”, she glances behind at the portal descending beneath her, “Hit was meant teh beh one way hand what Jenna haccomplished was hunorthodox. While Hyi doubt hit would beh hyused hin such ha wahy hagain, weh should still beh careful. Hyi suggest weh find ha way teh disable hit without physicalleh destroyin hit. Hyi would like teh study hit further, hespecially teh find the henchantment portion hof it. Hif Hyi learn teh disable that heffect, hit might beh heasier teh seh how hit functions hand remove hit.”
“Hyi would halso suggest gaurds beh posted with regular relief hand muster teh hensure hall hare haccounted for. This would halso hensure that hif hanythin does come from the hother side, yo harn’t caught by surprise. Hif hany fall hin hagain, weh could send supplies the sam wahy so they don’t suffer the sam hissues the first group did.”
"Might halso beh ha good hidea teh hav Jenna record how she reversed the heffect, soh hit can beh replicated without her hif nehd beh."
*Even as the people move, Armand remains beside the barrier, awaiting to see if Jenna moves or needs help, he continues on the study of the patterns and how to help out to diminush the effect , he takes special atention to Jenna's state, and tries his best to help anyway he can, if he has to stop the concentration to do so.*
Several of the men explain that after discussion among themselves following the effect of the magical device, it seems like anything below the first level of the mine was/is summoned away by the magical device.
"It will certainly cause more trouble until we find a way to dismantle or move this device, for that is what it is.." Jenna muses, "it traps people, but its not a trap in and of itself, but programmed device. I'm trying to figure out how to disable or perhaps move it away."
*with some amusement she shrugs* "If I find a way to move it I could just put it in my attic, and it wouldn't bother anyone while I study it until I find a way to turn it off. "
*glancing away from the stone briefly around at the various too-weak to climb soldiers... then gives the metal-armed man in the group a smile* "Armand, I believe you can solve Tyrra's immediate problem... a construct should be able to easily carry several of them out at a time. Just rig a few slings or straps for them to lie or sit in as it goes, and shuttle them out. The helmed ones float, after all.. it would just follow you up and down as you make the climb. It would take a few trips, but not that long, all told."
*noting to Tyrra and the others,* "Just be sure, first, that everyone is out of this little cavern when timer runs down again."
*with that, she turns her attention back to the patterns and flows of the al'noth within the device..*
*She snaps her fingers* You can teleport.. if you went to the castle and recreated the summoning circles there.. perhaps I could set this device to target them instead of the ones below? Then getting everyone where they can receive aid would be as simple as letting them be "summoned" there. After they've had a month or two to recover, then we could end all the summons again. They'd be back here, but strong and healthy once more. *she gives that idea some thought*
Tyrra considers Jenna for a few moments. "Retarget the summoning location? Is that even possible?"
Coupled with hus breakin the circle hin the hotehr location, hit might work. Weh might not heven have teh mak hanother circle hif there his no focus for hit teh lead teh.
Iri stands at Tyrra's elbow, slightly behind, with her hands clasped behind her back. She nods occasionally as she surveys the situation.
Tyrra flinches when she notices Iri standing behind her. Now I know what it feels like, she thinks to herself. "So are back already or did you never leave?"
(( am I mis-remembering? Though at the beginning we were teleported into a dungeon map, I thought the description we were given was that we were teleported outside a cave, and then made our way in..? I didn't think we were trapped, just a long way from civilization... ))
"Sorry Armand, I've always sought to draw more and concentrate more of the Al'noth from within and through me. I haven't practiced any kind of effect that destroys or disperses it."
Iri smiles up at Tyrra.
Hey! Both!
Remember the magic door at Dydul Castle that the majesty showed us? The one we went through to get to the mine! It closed! There's no knocker, so I can get out, but not through the magic door! Just through the regular mine door! It'll probably be a long walk back to the castle! Maybe I can hitch a ride on a wagon! Maybe I'll be back in a month or two! Where is this mine, anyway? Do you have enough food? She waggles her eyebrows. I've got half a hard biscuit to spare!
/// you are remembering correctly. It was a one way portal that lead you to the land just outside the cavern. The "trapped" bit is the fact that you are nearly a mile down into the earth, and therefore it will take you more than an hour to climb out, but the barrier's summoning effect, from everything you've observed, is set to happen again within the hour. ///
Tyrra sighs and rubs the back of her neck. "I didn't think you'd make it out that fast. However, if you think you can climb out of here before this thing sends us all back to ... where ever we were, you're our best hope of getting a message to Bydell Castle. I can show you where the mine is and how to get back." Tyrra then sits somewhere near a light source and takes out her map of Taur'en to show Iri where they are.
Afterward, she instructs the soldiers to keep all supplies on hand. With the potential of being teleported back, she makes it clear that if they aren't holding it, it may stay on this side, and getting back again may take a while.
// I thought we had also established (one of the first things we figured out about it) that the summoning effect was limited to the cavern where the barrier was, and going into the tunnel around a corner or two was sufficient not to be affected by it?
As the discussions continue Lia directs her attention to Armand and Jenna, “Hyi’m mor then willin teh studeh this magic further. Hyi’m particularilleh hinterested hin the henchantment hif yo can direct meh teh hits workins. The prioriteh his hof course teh disable hit, but hit does not mean weh can’t learn ha bit from hit has well right?”
/// The soldiers had expressed that they encountered the effect near the top levels of the mine as well as down below. So, the effect is limited to the mine, and therefore doesn't go outside the caverns (the caverns actually being above-and below- the mine). The PCs are standing at the bottom of the mine. So the effect reaches reaches at least a half mile up, if not further. My apologies for the confusion on that. ///
She shakes her head, "Noh Hyi deh not. The honleh thin Hyi can think hof doin his yo get teleported hon the hother sid, then physicalleh break hor disrupt the circle hon the hother side then yo teleport yorself hout. Com back hehr hand test teh seh hif that worked, since yo can teleport hout hagain hif hit didn't. Hyi honleh suggest that because the circle hon the hother side sehmed mediocre hand should beh heasier teh disrupt hin comparison teh this portal. Hif there his no focus teh teleport hus teh, then this portal his rendered hyuseless."
*As he keeps walking into towards the barrier he replies to Lia*
- The problem is that we are facing something diferent here, this is not a portal, its more like a summoning spell, its indeed conjuration but not a teleportation in the full sense of it, what the barrier actually do is to pull you from here to there, once we got there i found that we still had the aura of conjuration about us, it bound us in the way a Summoning spell do, Jenna was able to "convince" the barrier to undo the summon that is why it brought us back, alongside all those gnolls that were brought with us. - *he leaves a moment in silcence , for this to be understood then continues* -
- The main problem would be that there is no end point where we are sucked in, we are summoned to that specific point but the magical trace remains in us, not in a circle or a portal per se, so there is nothing to destroy on the other end, Again i could try to transfer my matter away,i've done in the past, but to get to bydell it might requiere a day ,.. or so .. which its what i think i'll do if things go south with this plan -
*As he approcahes to the barrier, he is looking for a particular page of the small book he is examinating*
Well, no it definitely summoned us to the summoning circles.. they were the anchors, the destination. That's why I suggested re-creating them somewhere more useful to us. *she shrugs* You could make them right here next to the portal, or up on the surface too. The ones below would probably need to be scuttled... though I'm still trying to figure out if that's necessary.. i.e. if the summoning array here 'looks' in a programmed area for the focus points to 'summon' creatures to.. or if it just 'summons' us out into the ether and then the circles 'catch' us. Could be dangerous if its the latter, and we haven't made new ones yet when it goes off... if we destroyed the ones down there.
*She shrugs, still peering into the energies, flicking her fingers now and then, and holding a glowing opal in onehand* Though if I can manage what I'm thinking of here.. it should defuse the problem....
////Are we at a dead end here?
// Its been holidays and after-holidys work catch-up and so on. I imagine Lance has just been busy, and will get back to us when he can. :)
*Armand is already passing pages thru the book he is holding it, his eyes narrowed gathering the concentration for the effort he is about to do, the very same page on his hand now had way more power contained that his body would be able to stand at the moment, It was certainly fortunate that he had this formulaes saved for when he would be able to actually able to manage it on its own, he finally observing the area in the portal speaks with potent voice the words of power *
- Ragha, Aeromitar, Rille'h Dragoos - *The voice gaining more volume as each sylabe being pronounced*
*There is a small flash as the formulae on the book started to vanish, with each sentence read ... a purple light. .. or . maybe violet, ( it actually could be the discussion of some gnomish sorcerers and schoolars for hours about the specific shade of color of the light ) spur out of the fingers of the gnuman, fizzling at the barrier.......
//// **casts raise dead** Refresh my memory. Lance, Armand is casting from a scroll, correct?////
// yes he is !
The magic of the scroll engulfs the barrier, and for a moment, the barrier blinks, winks, even, as though it is a candle about to go out. But then the image steadies, a solid translucent barrier still there, for those examing the magic of it, note that the aura is now almost nonexistent.
//// SC check for those who have the skill. ///
// SC Check : 55
// SC check: 33 XD rolled real bad on that one, haha
// SC check: 17 + 26 = 43 (roll + skill)
//The desiccated skeleton that was Tyrra raises it's head. "Are we done yet?" Glad to see this underway again!
Jenna's study is interupted by Armand's spell, as she realizes it is Moraken's Dysjunction he has used on the magical effect. The mages are all quick to realize, however, that even an abjuration as powerful as Moraken's Dysjunction won't completely dispel the magic from permanent magical effects in an area. The magic is simply supressed for short time, likely 15-20 minutes.
And with that, the magical barrier disappears, allowing passage deeper into the earth.
Tyrra quickly asks the soldiers for volunteers to venture deeper. "If the beholder is behind this, we may well run into him. Either way, this only leads further into the Deep. There is a Dark Elf city down here as well. So there is no telling exactly what we will encounter, but it definitely won't be friendly."
Tyrra quickly asks the soldiers for volunteers to venture deeper. "If the beholder is behind this, we may well run into him. Either way, this only leads further into the Deep. There is a Dark Elf city down here as well. So there is no telling exactly what we will encounter, but it definitely won't be friendly."
*Armand drops to his knees for a moment with a small groan, laying one hand on the ground to keep his balance, as the power of the scroll crosses from his body as a channel, the moment last for just few seconds, he looks up, a hint of hunger or ambition glint on his eyes, yet it last for a moment, he slowly starts to stand up, his next reaction is to look where the page of the formulae was, sighing a bit*
- Well, it is interesting indeed, so much energy and just to be turned off momentarly, it appears that the magical circuitry of the contraption finds a way to bypass in itself, so returning to the existance within few minutes, this is indeed a state of the art pattern *he says unable to hide his admitation*
*Maybe without even realizing the gnuman is seen walking thru the now accesible space, he does some small gestures with one hand,a simple incantation* to help him to discenrn magical patterns easily*
*He stops in the middle of a step, turning around for a moment just to say * - This will be open for about 20 minutes so, if plan to come now its the time. .. Money is the fruit *he says as if that had any sense at all, while continuing forward *
// *Detect magic
"Less friendleh then gnolls Hyi'm sure. Should beh han hinterestin learnin hexperience."
Lia presses forward, making sure to stay in close proximity to Tyrra.
/// I'm thinking of running this next part of the adventure IG, during one of my Layo Dayz Saturdays. I'm looking at my best option for a Saturday in April and May, but they should be up on the Calendar soon. ///
//// I'm looking at either March 25th or April 15 as my next Layo Dayz. Any preference toward one of those dates? ////
//March 25 because I won't be near the internet on April 15
//March 25th is perfect. Any time after the first week in April is up in the air until I get comfirmation on some career things.
//Actually, March 25 may not be good for me, depending on when we'd start. I have a family dinner that night for my mother's birthday, so it depends on when and if I get back to my computer on time.
Well, I'll be on pretty much all day (like, from the early afternoon until midnight-ish), so we may find a time yet/people may come and go.
Because it looks like the 25th will be the next Layo Dayz after all.
March 25 I'll be away from home for the day, unable to play (or at least not until quite late eastern time.. 10 or 11 ish) so its not a good day for me. The friday evening before (the 24th) would be fine for me if that worked for people?
//// What days this month are we looking at being a good time to go exploring in the Deep? ////
//Not this weekend, or next, but otherwise I'm able. But I need some serious help getting my NWN to work right
//With a bit of notice I'm good every day this month as far as I know (Easter weekend will be a tad difficult, but not impossible as long as I have notice), Weekdays I will only be able to start after 5pm PST. Weekends are good all day.//
// Weekdays after 6 pm CDT would make it good. Saturday depends on the day, Sunday the same mate. But same with enough time i can make arrangements.
//// What about some time May 13th?
That day seems doable as long as its not very late, I usually get out of home about 7-8 pm CDT on Saturdays, but if we aim to maybe 2-3 pm Central time seems doable.
//at this time the day is too far ahead for me to say if I can make it or not. There are a lot of uncertaintees right now for that month in general for me.
// May 13th is tomorrow, We up to do this? TK?
// Won't make it for the 13th, but Lia can always turn around and decide not to to go if everyone else wants to get it done.
/// We'll see who's around today to see if we have enough to do some more stuff with this. =)