Around Faerun in 80 Days

[Dave_the_quack]

*BUMP*

There's no way I'm letting this one go off the first page, and no way I'm letting Illumina forget about it....

[img]graemlins/Bump.gif[/img]

[Kyrvias]

Not letting Illumina forget about it? You horrible horrilbe person!

[Illumina Drathiran'ar]

Illumina has not forgotten about it, believe you me. Believe it or not, it's difficult when everyone doesn't have Fireball! What a concept!

My official excuse is that Lilith is in deep cover working for Mae'Var, and she's having severe problems infiltrating a room filled with mephits and then golems. It seems that whenever she's about to die, she creates a ripple in the time-space continuum and ends up right outside the door.. Naturally this fascinates her and she ends up back in the Temple of Oghma, researching, before she remembers she's on a quest. It's the flightiest I've ever seen her, quite frankly. I would expect that from Esmerelda, but not from Lilith. Oh well.

[Dave_the_quack]

Shall we rename her 'flighty Lilith', then?

Hang on, did I mention LOL yet? If not, then LOL. Oh, why not. Here's another for good measure. LOL.

Skull trap those mephits to oblivion, love.

[Illumina Drathiran'ar]

That was the original plan, but I have been having the HUGEST problems with Skull Trap lately! It floats and refuses to deploy... I suspect this might have something to do with patching issues, but as my bandwith is shot to hell lately I haven't had the patience to attempt to download it (watch it's like 50 kilobytes).

[Dave_the_quack]

Update?

[Illumina Drathiran'ar]

Lilith was the first to hear the call, and the first to arrive. She ducked into the Sea's Bounty Tavern, wind whipping around her cloak, yet remaining unmolested by the pouring rain. Practical magic had its benefits. Mara arrived next, appropriate, Lilith noted with a sniff, as she had been the one who had sent the call. Glancing around the tavern, she noticed that Esmerelda was descending the staircase, deep in conversation with one of the many courtesans that frequented the Docks in general, and the tavern in particular. Raven and Sandra arrived together, also in conversation. They took a corner table and ordered drinks... Evermead for Lilith and Mara, bitter black ale for Raven, and wine for the others. After some idle chatter, the discussion died down to allow Mara to speak.

"You all heard the call, then?" Nods all around. They were aware that Lilith had been teaching her a bit about the workings of psionics, specifically telepathy. Handy, considering the nature of the work they were all doing.
"Well, I was wondering what you all have been up to lately... I wanted an update before I embark on my journey."
"To the hells with journeys, girl. There's enough to occupy the lot of us here and now," Raven said.
"That's true," Mara began, "Which is why I will be taking it alone. After all, it's sort of my fault the mage captured us all, and I figured I should be the one to continue tracking him. There should be more than enough in this area to keep you busy. Which brings me to my next order of business... I need fifteen thousand gold pieces." She shot Esmerelda a look. "Care to tell us how we got such a discount?"
Esmerelda gave a smile that would make a sailor blush. "It's not a discount in the traditional sense. Let's just say that our dear Gaylan has run up quite a tab with me, and he sees this as a good way to settle."
Lilith shook her head. "There's more than that. There must be. The stink of the undead permeates the city, even lingering over things some of you carry now."
"I noticed that, too," Raven said. "It was odd. I eliminated a slaver cell in the Copper Coronet. I can't say that I found anything to tie them to a powerful cabal of liches and necromancers, but I just get this funny feeling that there's a connection."
Mara looked shocked. "I noticed something similar! I brought a serial killer to justice. In doing so, I got an uncanny feeling that the serial killer had the backing of a powerful cabal of liches and necromancers, but I have no idea how it might be connected with the slavers. I did notice that there was a man there called a 'Rune Assasin.'"
Lilith looked at Mara sharply. "Rune assassin? Are you certain?"
"Yes, why? What does that mean?"
"Rune Assassin. Powerful cabal of liches and necromancers. Surely someone other than me can do the math?"
"I can't," interrupted Sandra, "And stop calling me Shirley."
Lilith blinked, confused, as Esmerelda chuckled, and continued. "The Twisted Rune is a powerful cabal of liches and necromancers. I assumed they had a presence in this city, but had hoped we could finish our business here without crossing them." She muttered a curse under her breath, which few understood but sounded venomous. Raven was at her feet in an instant, shaking with rage.
"You will NOT use that language in my presence! Not again!"
"You are offended by swear words?" Esmerelda tilted her head inquisitively, like a cat."
"No, the language itself offends me!" Raven pointed a quivering fingertip at Lilith. "The bitch used the dark language, the language of the drow!" She spit on the ground, as though speaking the name of the race left a bad taste in her mouth."
Lilith held up her hands in a blocking gesture. For a moment, the three other women surveyed the scene. They were well-educated enough to know that, given the exact placement of their hands, all Raven had to do was speak a syllable to fire a barrage of Magic Missiles or something far worse at the other woman, while Lilith could point her hands and make a single motion to cast either Minor Globe of Invulnerablity on herself, or Hold Person on Raven. The three idly wondered what spells the women had learned.
Lilith stared Raven down. "I will not apologize. It is a language. Furthermore, I will not have you malign a people, you uneducated prig."
"The drow are evil. All of them."
"No, they are not. I thought you would know more about theology."
"Don't tell me you believe that nonsense! Eilistraee is a myth!"
"You know nothing about me!"
"I know this much! You are a spy, a traitor to the elves!"

At that moment, thre three other women were grateful that Mara had selected a dive for this meeting. As Raven twitched her hand and began chanting, a Minor Globe of Invulnerability had sprung up around Lilith impossibly quickly. The Magic Missiles came a breath later, dissipating harmlessly on the pale blue barrier. Raven, realizing she had no spells powerful enough to get through, lept at Lilith, and the two tumbled to the ground. Raven, being the strongest of the five, emerged to the top and began choking the smaller woman. Lilith, with the creative use of a spell, Knocked Raven off of her with a wall of force.
"Enough, from the both of you!" Mara was livid.
"Mara, this woman cannot be trusted. I don't know where you found her or why you think you can believe what she says. Hell, she's been acting strangely since she entered the tavern!"
"I'm working a deep cover assignment, you idiot. It's bad enough that I had to meet with all of you tonight!"
"That doesn't explain why you felt the need to defend the dark elves," Esmerelda pointed out, "Or, for that matter, why you know about cabals of liches."
"I recieved a better education that you all... These matters are close to my heart."
"Not good enough," spat Raven."
"You want my life story? You have the nerve to ask me such things? Have I once asked you why you left the druid grove, Raven? Or are you going to pretend that you never counted yourself among those folk?"
"This isn't about me, it's about you."
"Fine!" She tilted her head proudly. "The blood in my veins is of a powerful and noble family. The Matron of our line founded The Academy, you idiot."
A brief but respectful silence followed the mention of the great Dancing Mage.
"I always assumed you were descended from a lich," Sandra said. "You have that knack for subduing them and a unique bedside manner."
"No. My parents were killed by those monstrosities. After they saw to it I was educated and my abilities were nurtured. Now, is this inquisition over?" Lilith stood to leave. "I have to get back to my assignment or they'll get suspicious."
"You can leave when you hand over your share of the gold," Mara said."
Lilith tossed her a small bag. "That's everything I have on me. I'll be getting more soon enough. Now listen, all of you." She lowered her voice to a hush. "The Twisted Rune is undoubtably aware of our movements. None of you will cross them. If anybody deals with them, it will be me." With that, she left, wrapping the Robe of Vecna tightly around her. When the time was right and her power was great, she would dispatch the cell herself. In her studies, learning of the powerful Wish spells, the texts had cautioned on specificity when wording a Wish. 'If you wish for a Staff of the Magi, you may find yourself transported to the staff's current owner,' the text warned. Cross-referencing indicated that one such Staff was last seen in the presence of a southern branch of the Twisted Rune. As she stepped back into Mae'Var's Guildhall, she made a silent vow that the item would be hers soon enough.

"The rest of you, where will you be during my absence?" Mara was focused again on the subject which assembled the group originally."
Raven was the first with a definitive plan. "I will head east, to the town of Trademeet. The town is plagued with a variety of issues, and I feel I can help restore order to the town."
Mara nodded. "The rest of you?"
"East as well. Lilith and I were thinking about taking the trip together," said Sandra. "There's plenty for us to do in the hills."
"Esmerelda?"
"So much intrigue in such a small town... I will stay here for the time being, unless a whim strikes me."
"Very good. Very well then, ladies, go work your magic." Mara glanced about, grateful that they had all bolted out the door before hearing her bad pun.

[Lord Michael]

These babes are HOT!
Fun reading!!!!!!!
I see a TV show: "Gorion's Angels" [img]smile.gif[/img]

[ 11-26-2006, 06:23 PM: Message edited by: Lord Michael ]

[Dave_the_quack]

So I take it Lilith is going to be your powerhouse? Especially seeing as she is weilding Vecna and you're setting her up for the SOTM. I want to hear more about Lilith's heritage and about this 'Academy'... [img]tongue.gif[/img]

Good story telling love. Can't wait for some more psychotic Sandra action.

[Illumina Drathiran'ar]

I actually didn't plan on Lilith being the powerhouse. She just sort of took over. It happened when she spoke of the traditional undead vulnerability to fire... She went ahead and learned MMM and Sunfire. "Sun is in the name," she said to me. "It is an important spell to clear out musty crypts." As for the Robe of Vecna, I still don't remember how she ended up with that. Oh well, what can you do?

Also, I resolved Esmerelda's lack of having offensive spells... I let her learn Cone of Cold. She said that when she gave someone the cold shoulder, she wanted to mean it.