The stone continues

[AzRaeL StoRmBlaDe]

Ghzarbanan was upset. Here he was running errands on another plane while the slayer of his fellow nights was still alive. It wasn't like him to daddle. But he had faith in his companions, and he trusted their judgement. By the watching what happened to those ghouls when they were exposed to light, Ghzarbanan was confident that these light swords, would be put to good use against the armies of the dark knight. But there was a part of him that felt that he just charge in there, weapons flashing, and take him out. He would have, but he knew that that road would only lead to hid death. Now it is not that Ghzarbanan feared death, far from it, its just that if he died, than his fellow knights deaths would be unavenged, and he could not die, knowing that. No he knew he would have to bide his time, and thats just what he intended to do.
************************************
Meanwhile a cowled figure watched the companions from a throne of bone, deep in the bowels of the earth. A sneer of utmost hatred etched upon his nearly skeletal face. he traced a few runes in the air, and these glowed dark purple for a breif moment and then disappeared. he came into mental contact with his minions. "Kill them" is the message he sent. "Kill them now" The sneer turned into a hdeous smile as he sat back in his hideous throne to watch the coming battle.

OOC> Azrael, you should edit the Demon Post. Morgeruat told us not to post what the enemy does so the party will be surprised, and not know.

[K T Ong]

(ooc: Maybe we can hold the demons back for a while. No problem, huh, Azrael? )

"But... But we can't reach them, my lord..." muttered the minions.

"What do you mean you can't reach them?" rasped the cowled figure with extreme annoyance.

"We... We can't locate them anywhere on this plane of existence..." (ooc: We'll assume the cowled figure didn't know the party had travelled to another plane yet, okay, Azrael? )

"Can't you?" cried the cowled figure in surprise. The expression on his face changed to a puzzled frown. Could the meddlesome adventurers have travelled to another plane? If so, then that scene revealed to him in the scrying pool would actually have to be located on that other plane to which they had travelled. But which plane might it be? And is it possible that the amazingly fast movement of the adventurers of late as seen in the scrying-pool -- almost a blur -- may not be due to a malfunction in the pool, but to differences in the flow of time between the other plane and this one?...

********************************

The Astral Plane was a truly amazing place. Oceans of pastel clouds and large islands of rock drifted in an endless void of gray, which seemed suffused with a soft glow throughout. There were no sun, no moon and no stars. Situated upon an immense body of rock in particular was an immaculately built temple with tall, fair columns, the whole structure so finely sculpted one would have thought it was all made of light -- though in truth it was built with the whitest marble. And a band of travellers from another plane had just arrived...

Fenric rolled about on the cool, smooth marble. It was so comfortable! Then he rolled too far and went right off the edge...

"Fenric! No!" screamed Rufus, thinking Fenric would plunge into the endless void and be lost to them forever... Instead, the playful werewolf floated in space as if in some invisible ocean. At first Fenric yelped loudly and flayed his limbs about frantically with panic as well upon finding nothing at all beneath him to hold him up, but seeing that he did not fall, he quickly became tremendously excited and moved around in the void, effectively swimming in air.

"Hey, Fenric didn't fall!" exclaimed Rufus.

"Gravity has no meaning in the Astral Plane," explained Magnus. "You can literally swim in the air, and swim anywhere you wish!"

"Neither does time exist on this plane," added Khadgar. "In fact you can never grow old here, or get hungry, thirsty, or tired. Even if you spent what seemed like years to you on this plane, upon returning to your home plane you would still find that only a few moments had passed since the last time you left it and entered this plane."

"Wow! All this sounds fun!" said Rufus excitedly. "I think I'm joining Fenric!" And Rufus jumped beyond the temple's edge and swam towards Fenric, the two frolicking in the void.

"And presumably that would mean that I could hone my skills by staying here and training for the equivalent of a few months," said Sir Jorlon, "without worrying that I would spend so much time that the Dark Knight would have destroyed everything by the time I'm done!"

"Yes, that's right!" confirmed Magnus.

Just then a strange-looking figure approached. "Ho, astral travellers, I'm Jah`zuer. I sell many things which can be extremely useful for you in your travels. Plus souvenirs, too! All at absolutely the cheapest rates on this plane. Would you like to come in and take a look at Jah`zuer's Bargain Shopping Mall?"

(ooc: If you folks don't like the idea of differences in time flow between the Astral Plane and the home plane of our heroes, please ignore it, okay? )

[ 07-27-2002, 08:25 AM: Message edited by: K T Ong ]

[Morgeruat]

OOC: the timeflow idea sounds good, it's OK to post villain stuff here, but Like Azreal did, keep it vague, we won't know what's really coming until it gets there, misdirection can be a really fun tool if the villains give us just enough of a glimpse to make us really nervous.

on another note the Villains thread will be called darkness falls, and in that thread you don't have to pull any punches about what your villain does, you can even kill off other villains (altho if it's a PC villain please get permission first)

IC: Sir Morguerat watched the playing Rufus and Fenric for a few moments, before looking at himself and realizing he'd shrunk back to his normal size, "Kadgar, is it true what I've heard, that magic doesn't work as well on the astral plane; that magical weapons and items are less powerful? It would greatly explain this change back from what the belt did for me." as he pondered it he walked near the edge, adn pictured himself floating in the ether, and he did, he pictured himself flying upside down and it was also so...
"Friends, travel here appears to be more based on thought than anything else, or any rules that we're familiar with, we should tie ourselves together however so that we don't accidentally driftf apartt and get lost here."

He pulled a length of rope from his pack and tied it around himself and the rest of the party.

Khadgar- "That is correct Morgeruat. This is the Astral plane, built on strong magic. But the magic here is powerful, powerful enough to have a weakening effect on other Magical Items. But, many storekeepers have Magic Items, its a great abundance here. Jah`zuer has some strenght belts that you can use. It will be stronger then the one I have, but it is very costly."

[K T Ong]

"So that is why the Girdle's power is not manifested on this plane," nodded Sir Morguerat. "Is the same true of the Seven Heavens, Khadgar?"

"Only with magicks of an evil nature," replied Khadgar. "In fact on that plane the effects of all beneficient spells are actually greatly enhanced, whereas evil spells will be severely dampened. The Seven Heavens is utterly hostile to all forms of evil. Any evil being short of a deity who is audacious enough to enter the Seven Heavens risks instant death by virtue of the utter goodness of that plane. Nor will any malevolent sorcery from outside be able to probe into the Seven Heavens. (ooc: Keep this in mind, Azrael! ) Here in the Astral Plane, though, absolutely all kinds of magic suffer the dampening effect."

Just then a strange-looking figure approached. "Ho, astral travellers, I'm Jah`zuer. I sell many things which can be extremely useful for you in your travels. Plus souvenirs, too! All at absolutely the cheapest rates on this plane. Would you like to come in and take a look?"

"Hey, Jah`zuer, remember me?" asked Khadgar with a grin.

"I remember you as plain as day, Khadgar!" replied Jah`zuer. "Are you here to purchase more super strength mana potions? I've got plenty in stock! And I presume these are your friends?"

"They are indeed," nodded Khadgar, "and my friends and I are going to be interested in many more other things in addition to your mana potions! You're about to get some good business, Jah`zuer!"

"Excellent!" exclaimed Jah`zuer. "Come on in!" The strange man led the party through the temple's doors into an enormous and magnificently built interior. Columns reached up towards a vaulted ceiling of colored crystal almost too high to be seen, and large sculptures of gods and heroes lined the great hallways. As the party gasped in awe at the breathtaking grandeur of the temple's interior, Jah`zuer led them to a large door and opened it. Inside was a considerably smaller though still very large hall with dozens of large shelves arranged round the circumference, all kinds of merchandise imaginable neatly decked on them. A large sign could be seen: Jah`zuer's Bargain Shopping Mall -- we buy, sell, identify, repair, enchant, recharge and custom-make weapons, armor, magical items and other sundry items.

[AzRaeL StoRmBlaDe]

OOC:what plane are we on right now. I want to fight some baddies, if we are on the light plane, maybe there is something else I can think of. I have something fiendish planed for us there, just to let you guys as players know, prepare for a something special.

IC:Ghzarbanan quickly scanned the shelves for something that might be of use to him. He picked up a few healing potions when something in the back caught his eye. The stone was about the size of a fist, and appeared to be an exact copy of 'he eye of god'. Ghzarbanan pulled out the stone, and blew the dust off of it. He took it over to the shop keeper, and he smiled.
"Aye ye've found something ye likes?" the shopkeeper asked.
"Well yes I was possibly interested in this jewel, could you tell me a little about it and its powers?" Ghzarbanan asked.
"Aye well the rock reeks of magic, and it appears to be a relic of some power, the only ding's, I have ne'er found a damn ding dat I can make it do. I haven't been able to figure out how to activate it. I'll give ye a good price on it, how about 200 GP." the shopkeeper said.
"Well that is a little steep for me all I have is 150 GP the rest I gave to rebuild our temple and pay for the burial of my lost brethren." Ghzarbanan responded dejectidly.
"Well I suppose I could let ye have it for 150 GP. I mean it aint doing me any good sitting dere collecting dust. Here you go."
The shopkeeper and Ghzarbanan exchange goods. Ghzarbanan put the item on the mithril chain around his neck, with the other 'eye of god.' He knew that it would come in handy later.

[K T Ong]

Originally posted by AzRaeL StoRmBlaDe: OOC:what plane are we on right now. I want to fight some baddies, if we are on the light plane, maybe there is something else I can think of. I have something fiendish planed for us there, just to let you guys as players know, prepare for a something special.

(ooc: We're on the Astral Plane right now. As for anything fiendish you're planning for the party when they reach the Seven Heavens, just don't forget what I wrote about what happens to evil beings there (plus the spells they attempt to cast) and make adjustments accordingly. Hey, it's supposed to be a plane of good, right?)

[Morgeruat]

Morguerat walks over to the storekeeper, Jah`zuer and asked if he had any shields

"ahh, yes, magical shields, I have one or two tucked away," he uuncovers a shining steel tower shield with a mirror finish on the front, "this one is a very powerful shield, it was used by many heroes to defeat the dreaded monster Medusa"

"sounds good to me," said the knight bartering arguing a better price frorm the merchant he also purchased several healing potions, and a silver dagger (similar to a silver sword, it can sever the silver cord tethering beings from their astral forms to their bodies in the prime material plane"

[K T Ong]

Chun-Li approached the shopkeeper. "Have you any items of magic resistance, sir?" she inquired. "Perhaps rings, amulets or the like?"

Jah'zuer showed Chun-Li to a shelf displaying an array of exquisite, sparkling rings. "Indeed we have many rings of magic resistance here, my lady. Which type do you desire, though -- regular strength, medium strength or super strength? The regular strength ones cost 100 gp apiece, the medium strength ones 250 gp, and the super strength ones 500gp."

"I see," nodded Chun-Li. "What about items of regeneration? Including mana regeneration? Have you any, sir? I would be very interested in those, too!"

[ 07-29-2002, 06:42 AM: Message edited by: K T Ong ]