The World of Skara Brae

Drawing on all of his skill and experience, Micheal took Aaron's healing energy, transformed it, and used it form a complex magical creation of mind-boggling complexity. The forms and patterns he was using were shifting rapidly. Micheal said: "Ok, thanks Aaron. Now, just got to find the right resonance factor... should only take a second..." But as he did so, the string jumped off Edvin and began sliding over towards Micheal! Micheal had a surprised look on his face. Eruantian immediately used his ring to blast at the string, but once again his ring could not affect the string. Drek lunged forward and deftly swung his sword at the string, spinning and twirling it as he did so. Thus, he was able to spool up most of the string around his sword, preventing most of it from wraping around Micheal. However, the string that was touching Micheal seemed to cling to him. Micheal said: "Whatever this string is, it seems impervious to magic. Must be from another universe. At least non-magical objects can affect it."

Eruantian said: "Blast it! When I was chasing Lloth through all those other dimensions, she was searching form something, some technology she said would give her an edge. I never found out what exactly it was, but I thought I'd prevented her from obtaining it. Looks like she tricked me."

Micheal said: "Keep that string off me... I can already feel what it's trying to do. It's trying to sever my link to the mana-flow. I've got the correct form, but I need more time to finish undoing the process and restoring Edvin. I'm not used to these forms... I hardly ever do restorative magic.

Now, however, Drek was fighting with the string, and the string was fighting back. It was pulling on his sword, yanking his arms around and spiralling down towards his arms, struggling to break free. Drek said, with just a hint of worry in his voice: "Um, guys? Little help here?"

Edvin held up his arms and headed over to examine the drow's body, examining the cuts on the body. "Not to sound too, ah, callous, but I really wouldn't be particularly inconvenienced if I did lose all my magic and phasing ability. If anything it'd be a boon."

Drek was loosing the battle with the animated string. He called to James and Sam and said: "Give me a hand with this thing!"

James put his hands closer to the blade of his glaive for precision and tried to cut the string off of Drek without scratching the elf.

edited 28th Nov '11 6:52:32 AM by JustaUsername

James was able to neatly cut the string in two. When he did so, it fell to the floor and crumbled into dust. Drek said: "Thanks."

Micheal said: "Almost got it... almost... Now, cut off the Drow's head!"

edited 29th Nov '11 7:28:06 AM by TheSarge

Even if it was the practical thing to do, Aaron couldn't help but slip an objection out of his throat about killing.

However, whatever sound he made was pointless, as James quickly went to decapitating the Drow!

The Drow's head fell to the floor, making a sound like a dull thud followed by an uneven rolling sound. As it fell, Edvin felt light-headed, and then he passed out.

The rest of the party watched in wonder as Edvin's usually semi-transparant form solidified and became normal human flesh.... and then quickly resumed it's normal appearance. (Normal for Edvin, that is.) Edvin came too, his head spinning and his every extremity tingling.

Micheal fell to his knees gasping for air. He collected his breath and said: "Phew... that was close. I just about lost the forms for a moment there. You alright, Edvin?"

Meanwhile, the head of the Drow had rolled over to Aaron's feet.

"I don't know. I felt very... not dead. For a moment." Edvin shook his head. "But there's no time for that. No doubt Lolth is on her way to wreck our shit, kill Drek and Michael, and take over Skara Brae. It—it's just how stories like this work. Now, let's take the Drow's corpse and examine it some more. Maybe he left some other clues in him."

Drek said: "No time for that now, Edvin. We have to get back upstairs. If what the Drow said about Marley is true, he's not Marley at all but rather some sort of doppelganger. And we left Orren, Peter and Claire up there."

Eruantian said: "I'll just put the Drow's body on ice then. We can examine it later, at our leisure." Eruantian pointed his ring at the remains of the dead Drow. A pale blue ray of light shone out from the ring at the Drow's remains, and the dead body and the decapitated head froze into two blocks of ice.

Micheal said: "Fine, let's go see if Marley is really Marley. Guards, nobody touches this body until I get back."

The guard in charge said: "Aye, m'lord."

Micheal headed back out of the dungeon and into the white, featureless room with the hidden doors.

edited 30th Nov '11 11:10:54 AM by TheSarge

Ugh cursed complicated towers!

Upon hearing that Claire might be in danger from a doppleganger Sam turned to retrace her steps to her side... but she couldn't make it there on her own. But at the very least she hurried as much as possible until she needed magical help to keep on her path.

The head caused Aaron to fall from the ground in shock and he backed up a bit before getting back on his two feet.

With what gore he had just seen, Aaron was breathing very deeply. He was freaked out again when the two pieces of the drow's corpse was frozen although this time he did not fall.

Dammit...why do people keep on having to get killed. Suddenly, a name appeared in Aaron's mind. Lloth...this is her fault...she sent her followers to their deaths...

Noticing Aaron was in his typical trance due to a seen death, James clicked his fingers into his ears. "Focus, right now we have more important things to worry about!"

Edvin slapped Aaron on the back of the head as he headed for the exit. "There will be time for angst and moral debate later. For now we have to get out of here!"

After everyone had piled into the room, Micheal shut the door, crossed the room, and opened the exit door. He ran through into the main lobby... whereupon all present could see a scene of chaos. A colossal, humanoid, one-eyed monster was wreaking havoc. Furniture and people had been tossed around like so many twigs, tables were smashed into toothpicks, and there was a crater in the centre of the once-pristine marble floor. There were scores of dead and wounded people strewn about, mostly civilians, but some were also town-watchmen and tower guards among the casualties. The monster was some thirty feet tall, was standing in the middle of the lobby, and it was now attempting to knock over one of the massive marble support columns that supported the roof.... it was battering the middle of the column with it's head, ramming it again and again. Several of the tower's mages were hitting the monster with various spells... fireballs, lightning bolts, magic darts, etc., but the monster seemed to just be able to shrug these off. The monster was bare-chested and barefooted, but it was wearing an impossibly large bearskin around it's waist like crude skirt. The impossibly large bearskin was secured to it's waist by an equally impossibly large leather belt. Standing on the left shoulder of the monster, and hanging onto the monster's earlobe, was Marley's doppelganger, gleefully cheering on the monster. Also, the monster was holding Claire captive in right hand. Claire was screaming and kicking, but it was no use: She simply wasn't strong enough to break free. In fact, only her head and the tips of her feet were sticking out from either side of the monster's hand.

Eruantian looked up and said: "A Giant Cyclops?! How in the nine hells did that thing get in here?" Micheal said: "Marley's doppelganger must have used a summoning spell... and apparently an enlargement spell, too... Cyclopes grow to maybe ten or twelve feet tall, so this one's obviously been magically enlarged. This means the doppelganger is a mage or a cleric of some considerable skill. No mere novice, this one." Eruantian raised his ring and said: "No matter. I'll freeze him and his monster in a solid block of ice. Let's see him shrug that off." Drek said: "No, wait! He's got Claire! He's got my daughter!" Eruantian squinted and said: "Crap, you're right. I must need glasses, I didn't see that before." Micheal griped his staff tightly and said "Well, plan "B" it is, then. Just like old times. I'll take care of the doppelganger. The rest of you concentrate on freeing the girl." With that, Micheal raised his staff above his head and levitated off the ground. Eruantian said: "Right." He then used his ring to make a set of stairs out of solid ice. The stairs arched up towards the back of the monster's head. Meanwhile, Drek readied his bow and said to the group: "Brute force obviously won't win the day here, but all cyclopes have three weaknesses: They're stupid, they react rather slowly, and they only have one eye. So we blind it, we outmanoeuvre it, and we trick it any way we can. So go for the eye, keep moving, and use every trick you know to keep from getting hit."

edited 2nd Dec '11 5:45:12 PM by TheSarge

"Okay. So they don't have depth perception." Edvin said as he slipped on his knuckledusters. Then, he picked up a rock off the floor and flung it at the Cyclops. "I've just got to pull off a Colossus Climb and we can win this!"

Eruantian steeped onto the ice stairs and said: "It's a bit slippery. Watch your step." He then srambled up the stairs. Gerard, Deimos, the two Orc brothers, and Drek ran up behind him.

James was only focusing on defeating his foe and was quick to get up on the stairs.

Aaron on the other hand took notice of the scene. There were several wounded and the only natural course of action was trying to treat as many as he can!

"Claire!"

Normally such a formidable monster would have made Sam act with great caution to avoid the creature's attention. Not so this time.

Throwing all caution to the wind, Sam grabbed her bow and immediately notched an arrow upon it's string aiming at the brute's chest as she started running. The huntress let fly her arrow as she circle the monster, yelling threats at it "Hey you big ugly! Huge brute over here! Can't find me with that one eye of yours?"

The girl's strategy was simple, keep out of its reach as much as possible... and make it look for her. That would not only give time to her allies but would surely expose his vulnerable eyes to her deadly arrows.

edited 6th Dec '11 1:09:06 PM by daltar

"Good, Sam!" yelled Edvin as he rushed back to her. "Draw its aggression so I can get close without my ass getting stomped!"

The Cyclops, hearing Sam's taunts, turned it's attention towards her with a puzzled look on it's face. The doppelganger, however, yelled in the ear of the Cyclops, redirected it's attention towards wrecking the lobby. Just then, Micheal blasted the doppelganger with a blast of lightning, knocking of doppelganger off the shoulder of the Cyclops. The doppelganger quickly recovered in a display of magic ability, stopping in mid air about three feet off the floor, and flying back up to shoot fireballs at Micheal. Micheal protected himself with a magic shield, and continued to duel with the doppelganger.

Drek, standing mid-way up the stairs, shot an arrow at the eye of the Cyclops, but the cyclops turned it's head away and shielded it's face with it's arms. Drek said: "Taunt it again, Sam."

Meanwhile, James and the rest of the fighters had reached the top of the stairs. There was about a three foot gap between the edge of the stairs and the head of the cyclops. Eruantian wasn't quite as fast as the rest of the party, as he was quite a bit older then them, so he was bringing up the rear.

Aaron had found that most of the wounded civilians had minor wounds like abrasions, cuts, scrapes, and bruises. They were trying to help the others get up and leave. However, two had a pair of broken legs, and thus could not walk. Also, a gnome was trapped under a large overturned desk, his torso pinned by the weight of the heavy oak desk. The gnome said: "Help! I canna feel me legs! Get this blasted thing off me." Two of the tower guards rushed over to try and lift the desk up.

Just then, Orren entered the room from a door on the upper balcony. He was battered and bruised, and his right arm was missing. In a cry of pure rage, he charged off the balcony with a spear in his remaining arm, launching himself like a projectile at the head of the cyclops. The cyclops reached up and swatted Orren away with the back of his left hand, sending Orren careening off a pair of walls like a billiard ball. Amazingly, Orren survived the fall, but he didn't get up. Arron could see that Orren was about to pass out, for he had lost a lot of blood. He needed immediate medical attention if he was to survive.

"Hey! Cyclops!" yelled Edvin, "I'd give you this castle's hoard in jewels, but I think I left them with YOUR MOTHER THIS MORNING!"

Aaron was quick to respond the damage the cyclops had inflicted on Orren. Rushing to the centaur, the medic used his Healing Light.

Using the spell all over Orren, Aaron didn't realise that his magic was causing the stump where the centaur's right arm used to be was starting to grow flesh and bone. His magic might give a replacement when he was finished.

James didn't pay attention to the crazy spectre's remarks, his usual focus surfaced causing him to only pay attention to the cyclops.

"Cyclops! Over here! You big ugly one eyed monster, come for me!" Sam yelled at the top of her lungs as she retreated from where her friends stood, trying to step onto something to give her a bit more of elevation as she aimed and let fly arrow after arrow at the giant menace. Those where only diversionary shots thought. Once the monster looked at her she would aim and shoot for his eye once again.

Without the doppelganger to tell the cyclops what to do, the Cyclops ;lost it's single-minded focus, and became distractable. Hearin Sam and Edvin taunt it, it stopped bashing it's had against the support column. It looked down at Sam and Edvin and said: "I don't like what you say, tiny men!!" With that it lifted up it's left leg and prepared to drop it down onto Sam. Claire screamed: "No, don't hurt them!" The cyclops stopped, looked confused, gently put down it's leg, and lifted up it's hands. It said: "Who you? Why I have small girl in hand? You pixie?" Claire said: "Eh.. yeah. I'm a magic pixie. I'm here to tell you what's good and what's bad." As she said this, Claire was sparkling and glowing pink and purple, like she does when she's healing someone. The Cyclops laughed and said: "Auh—-huh-huh. That tickles. Me like tickles. Where your pixie-wings, Pixie?" Clair stood up in the palm of the Cyclops's hand and said: "I.. erm.. I lost them. That bad man stole them." Claire pointed at the doppelganger.

The doppelganger said: "No, don't listen to her! I'm you're master! Smash the column! Destroy this place!" The Cyclops held a hand up to his head and said "Arg! Head hurt when bad man talk. Why head hurt, Pixie?" Claire said: "He's so bad, it hurts when he talks." The cyclops pointed at the doppelganger and said: "Bad man, shut up. Give pixie wings back, or I smash-smash you."

The doppelganger said: "But I don't have..."

The cyclops screamed in pain and said: "I SAID SHUT UP!" and it lifted up a leg again and stomped at the doppelganger several times saying SHUYTUPSHUTUPSHUTUPSHUTUP!" However, lacking depth-perception due it it only having one eye, it missed every time. The doppelganger was able to roll out of the way of the huge leg smashing down near it, but shock-waves from the impact with the floor was making it impossible for the doppelganger to regain it's equilibrium long enough to stand up.

Meanwhile, for some reason Aaron was able to heal Orren much faster than was usual for him. Aaron was feeling a surge of power, and he didn't know why.

Okay. So the cyclops wasn't even really a threat. Edvin could adapt.

"Stop stomping so I can deal with him, mister Cyclops! Sorry about the mean things I said!"

He sprinted after the Doppelganger, launching into a leaping punch down onto it.

Claire said: "Mister cyclops, let my friends fight the bad man." The cyclops stopped stomping and said: "Okies." Edvin caught the doppelganger off guard, and caught him full-on in the jaw. The doppelganger punched back, and the blow sent Edvin flying backwards.