Homestar Runner Wiki Forum

{Hooray. Arguing about the spelling of the name of an object that doesn't actually exist is just the slightest bit pathetic, really. >.>}

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get LOST

(Meanwhile, back in the cave entrance)

Marcus said: "I think there's more coming. I can smell at least two female Drow coming this way. What should we do?"

(Inside the Airship) Tem said: "So, any idea where a good place to strike at the Ilithid would be?"

Jay said: "Yes, actually. The Illithid rely mostly on cow brains for food. Seems they need to eat brains... any brains... and lots of it.... to maintain their Psionic powers. If you could poison their stockpile of cow brains, you could probably make the whole lot of them sick... or dead. (I'm hoping for dead, myself). I've been saving up some special stuff that would do the trick, but their cow brain stockpile cavern is just too heavily guarded for any of my agents to consider making the attempt. They're not afraid to die, but if they failed it could potentially blow the cover off my whole operation, and that's a risk I'm not willing to take. However, if you people think you can find a way to do it, I can supply you with all the poison you'll need. I can even give you a map that shows how to get there and a rough idea of what the layout of that place is like."

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"A direct attack could alert other guards, so I suggest we solve this with stealth" said Andrew, "That includes the body of course, unless we are planning another ambush."

Andrew detected a notable amount of chi nearby, probably from one of the guards, however he ignored it due to the current situation at hand.

<OOC: Er, what happened to the party behind Andrew...>

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<GM's Reply: They're bringing up the rear.>

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Prosper grinned ear to ear. This was working out well.
"Great! We'll take it!" he said, enthusiastically. It hadn't occured to him to report to his superiors, of course.

<EDIT: Due to unforseen personal stuff, I'm going to be gone for a while. NPC me till then.>

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(THE ABOVE USER HAS BEEN BANNED)

<OOC> *knock knock knock* Ello? Is everyone gone? Where did everyone go?...
...
...
It's been two days since the last post, so there is only one logical explanation: all the role-players in the world other than me have been kidnapped by the government and taken to concentration camps designed to force all the geeks and nerds to do harsh intellectual labor! THEY WON'T TAKE ME ALIVE! </OOC>

<OOC: Or we are waiting for Sarge to respond...>

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<Sorry, but I was kidnapped by the government and taken to concentration camps designed to force all the geeks and nerds to do harsh intellectual labor! It was horrible. They made us do math all day. Thankfully, I was rescued by The Cheat. >

Tem said: "Ok, let's see this map of yours."
Jay showed the adventurers his map of the underground caves, and he pointed out the various features. "So, overe here is where we think the Cow Brain stockpile is. As I said, none of us have actually seen it, but all the evidence indicates that it must be there. Here's the main ore processing facility, and next to that are the slave pens. This corridor here leads to the actual mines themselves, but that's several miles down. From what I've been able to piece together, it seems the Drow and their Illithid allies tunneled up through the underdark into the mines, and then invaded the areas above from there. The Drow are always bragging about their exploits during the invasion. Anyways, over here in this large cavern is the main Drow underground encampment. I'd avoid that place right now if I were you: They have some powerful mages in there, and if my mage could see through your disguise, theirs probably can too. Anyways, I can put you in touch with one of the High Flayer resistance cells. They can help you get into the Cow Brain stockpile. The best way to get past all the guards is probably just to steal a key or two. If you have a key, I don't suppose you'd have much trouble getting in."

(Meanwhile back at the Secret Cave Entrance:)
Captain Sealem had just arrived. He said. "What's the situation?" he said.
Marcus said: "More Drow coming this way."
Captain Sealem replied: "Fall back to the next room. We'll set an ambush for them there."

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"Filching a key shouldn't be too difficult," Acedia mused, leaning forward to better see the map. "Getting one off a person is bound to be more difficult than getting one off of a wall or out of a box, though." She'd been stealing keys for the purpose of sneaking into inn rooms without paying for years; it should be a simple matter to get one in this situation, right? Right?

Meanwhile, Taryn was still conspicuously absent.

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get LOST

<OOC> I guess that's the thanks you get for loaning The Cheat a hundred bucks at TrogdorCon. </OOC>

Eruantian had been waiting for someone to say a word, any word related to setting traps. Ambush was about as close as it would get. "Captain" He addressed the Captain "Would it be at all helpful for me to ice part of the ground that the drow must cross? You know, give them slippery footing and all that."

The captain nodded and said: "Sure, but you know... that gives me an idea. Why don't you freeze their feet right to the ground. That would make them dead-easy targets... and as an extra added bonus they'll have a heck of a time trying to run away with their feet frozen to the ground."

Sealem was in a good mood. These pesky Drow patrols didn't stand much of chance if they keep coming at them in small groups like this. And so long as the main force wasn't alerted to their presence, they could stay hidden... and safe... untill the Prosper, Tem and Acedia got back. He wondered how Prosper was doing.

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"Why didn't I think of that?" Eruantian pondered "Well, Narluin, do you have any problem with doing that?"

The ring replied: "Freezing various objects to nearly any surface is one of the simpler functions available to user Eruantian through this ring. This unit does not foresee any problem in carrying out the described task."

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"Alright" Eruantian acknowledged "Just tell me when, Captain."

Meanwhile, back at the airship, Jay the Gnomish merchant said: "Are there more of you, or are you three it?"

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<OOC: Anyone wanna jump in here? >

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<OOC> I would, but Eruantian teleporting into the airship would be uncalled for. </OOC>

Marcus, Andrew, Drek, Captain Sealem, Horin and Eruantian did their best to hide in the room just beyond the now-broken iron gate. Maxwell, Farnham, Maria, and Quinn went to the room with the stairs that lead up to wait for Prosper, Tem and Acedia. Micheal went there too, but he astraly projected himself in order to try and monitor the Drow for magic and try to interfere with their spell casting if any of them are mages.

<GM's Note: Mages who have the Metamagical Ability to project themselves into Astral Space can, through experience and practice, learn how to disrupt the Mana Energy that powers all magic. However, at the present time Micheal has only recently discovered that he has this ability and as such he doesn't know much about how this works or what it's limitations are. It's not something that he was taught about at the academy. Right now, though, his skills are only sufficient to be able to disrupt Mana energy that has been formed into Thamutological forms.
-Thamutological Magic is one of five basic types of magic in the universe. It is what powers the magic of Mages, Sorcerers, Witches, Djinn, Dragons, Bards, Talismongers (and any magic items they create) as well as the illegal magic practiced by Alchemists. It draws it's Mana Energy from Astral space.
-There is also Divine Magic, which is a uninversal foce that powers the gods and flows through them their specially-empowered followers (Clerics, Druids, Paladins, etc.) It also draws it's energy from Astral space, but the kind of Mana Energy it draws upon is formated differently than the Mana Energy that Thamutological Magic utilities. It's the same Mana energy, but it behaves differently.
-The third form of magic is known in Mage circles as Demitological Magic, but in other circles it is sometimes called Black Magic, Infernal Magic, or Unholy Magic. It flows from the Lower Planes, the realm of Demons, Devils and the Undead. There are various ways to channel Demitological Magic, and the practice of it takes many forms. Often times, evil-aligned Clerics or Mages can become corrupted by this evil type of magic and end up turned into Necomacers, Litches, Vampires, and other walking horrors. The Mana that this kind of magic uses is the same kind of energy that Divine Magic uses, but instead of flowing from the Astral Plane it flows from one of the Lower planes. This means that this kind of magic can't function in the Prime Material plane unless a Portal to the Lower Planes is open on the Prime Material. Mana Energy that comes from the Lower planes is limited in how far it can propagate from any given portal. The larger the portal, the further the Mana Energy can travel. However, Undead creations such as Zombies or Ghouls do not require a Portal the the Lower Planes to be very close at all once they are created. It is only the process of their creation that requires such. Because the exact characteristics of this kind of Mana Energy varies slightly depending on exactly which of the lower planes it originated from, mixing Mana from various different lower planes can lead to unpredictable results if one is not very careful.
-The fourth kind of magic is Chi, also sometimes called "Qi" or "Ki". Chi is practiced primarily by Monks (both Eastern Monks and Western Monks). Chi is a personal form of Magic that flows from the personal life-energy of the practitioner. Unlike all the other forms of Magic, Chi does not manifest itself as energy on other planes. As such, the other forms of Magic disrupt anyone's Chi unless a direct attack upon the soul is made. Most Mages are of the (incorrect) view that Chi is not a class of Magical energy in it's own right. In reality, Chi is powered by the same Mana Energy that powers all Magic, but instead of drawing this energy from the Astral Plane, it draws it from the (potentially) limitless source of the practitioner's own life force. Trained monks (like Andrew) are aware of the true nature of Chi, but most other people, (even people who are otherwise well-educated) usually have no idea what Chi really is.
-There is much debate over the nature of the Fifth kind of magic. While there is general agreement amongst scholars that there is, in fact, one more kind of magic out there that nobody has managed to harness yet, what this 'Fifth Force' is, exactly... nobody can agree on. Some say that there is no such force, others say that it goes beyond mortal ken, and still others say that there is some sort of unknowable entity that wields this force to keep all the other forces in check. So far, this 'Fifth Force' remains a mystery to even the most learned and wise men. They can't even agree on if it is real or not.>

Goldwing quietly perched on Drek's shoulder, wondering why everyone was crouching down in the dark. Nobody noticed that Taryn had vanished.

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<OOC> The fact that alchemy is illegal is really going to suck when we inevitably confront lycanthropes and don't have any alchemical silver weapons. </OOC>



<OOC> Might this fifth force be... The Force?

[/OOC]

<might... might not>

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{You say that like the party's made up of good law-abiding citizens. xD Somebody's bound to have some kind of alchemical trinkets.}

[Pretending there wasn't a long, awkward silence in the Airship now..]

"There are more," Acedia replied with a shrug. "We were lucky enough to be picked to go risk life and limb on this reconnaissance mission. Quest. Thing."

Meanwhile, the faint sound of slow footfalls was heard in the room with the staircase - coming from the stairs but somehow sounding too far away for that to be so. Shortly enough Taryn appeared about halfway down the staircase and raised a brow at Maxwell, Farnham, Maria and Quinn, but said nothing - nothing about where she'd been, what she'd been doing, or why she was there of all places. So she's back. Mysterious.

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get LOST

Maxwell thought of asking Taryn where she'd been, but he thought better of it. She probably would give an evasive answer anyways. Besides, she was entitled to her privacy. So instead he just asked: "What's it look like out there, Taryn?"

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<OOC> Some of us are Lawful/Neutral Good and might object. When a type of magic becomes illegal, it's usually for a good reason. </OOC>

<GM's Note: In this case, the reason is that Alchemy can turn base metals into Gold, and that sort of thing could unbalance an entire economy.>

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<OOC: Now to answer many things in my point of view...
I'm quite suprised Qi/Chi/Ki was a form of magic in this world, I was thinking that it is still mysterious even to highly trained monks before this lore, I'm going to say the 5th form is ether-like and despite Andrew's neutral good alignment, Andrew would probably think banning alchemy an "easy way" to prevent misuse but not the best solution to the problem (he also sees weapon mastery as the "easy way" compared to mastery of unarmed combat, but he sees that they are both rewarding in different ways)
No IC...yet>

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"Dark," came the one-word reply. The tall woman shrugged. "But then what does one expect for a Drow stronghold...I wonder why they left anything aboveground at all, and bothered to expend the magical energy required to keep the sun at bay here..."

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Maria said: "Likely because they need to occupy the city above to maintain control of it. To conquer a place only to later abandon it is not tactically sound."

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Meanwhile, back in the area just beyond the "Secret" entrance (Which was proving to be not-so-secret after all) Marcus could hear footsteps approaching. One of the approaching feet was trying to be sneaky by staying on it's toes, but Marcus's keen hearing wasn't fooled that easily.

Andrew, too, could hear the approaching feet, as could Coren.

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"I suggest you draw your weapons out" said Andrew in a semi-quiet* voice, "I heard footsteps and they seem to be headed this way."

Meanwhile Michael astrally traveling with the second group thought to himself "It always feels a little wierd when I'm astrally projecting, I wonder how it feels for Andrew when he invokes his chi, although he already is a bit wierd...I shouldn't get sidetracked by trival thoughts, not now, I gotta keep a lookout for this group."

<OOC: *Is that even a word...ah well, best word I can use to describe the tone>

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<GM's Grammar Nazi Mode: One hears footsteps, not footprints. Footprints are seen rather than heard. >
<GM's querry: Which group is Micheal monitoring? Prosper's group or Marcus's group?>

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