“There was no way to know beforehand. And besides, we know what we're up against. There certainly wasn't any way to determine the value without checking.” Pasas interjects. The handsome sorcerer is the newest, having only been working with you for four... You guess it would be almost five months. He's quiet, but often speaks up to defuse things. Beyond that, the silver-haired half-elf is a competent mage, and overall, a pretty decent person. You're not sure you trust him as an ally, but you certainly trust him as a good man.

“Granted. And our employer desires the specifics of his breed.” you reiterate, pausing for a moment's consideration. “Or her.”. The lady of Mza is as sinister a figure as the lord. Lord Prestor seems to take a more prominent role, but you've encountered plenty of puppet-masters and manipulators in your time. For all you know they could both be cultists, or equivalent minions, though if that's the case, you suspect you may be outmatched. The both have very solid reputations as powerful individuals. Enough so that you would be worried about what could use /them/ as puppets or minions.

Ah, but if you'd wanted a safer profession you'd have been an alchemist. Or a spy.

Speaking of which.... “Where has that damn-”

“Right here, as it happens.” the bard says, sauntering out of the darkness. His bizarre goggles are pushed up into his hair, evidently confident he's found all the traps in the vicinity. “About thirty five yards, then the tunnel splits. A sort-of-straight, descending slightly, a hard right, and straight up.”

“Up?”

“Don't know what the cave-term would be.” he shrugs. “Vault?” he guesses, glancing at Kotri. The dwarf gives a non-committal nod, and looks back to you. “Anyway, rises up near straight, about fifty feet. Might have been branches off farther, or might have turned out of my sight. Couldn't see far."

He's back, I'm so happy

You are cut off by a twitch from the sorcerer.“Apologies for the interruption, but one of my wards spells just triggered.”

“That would mean...?” Valerius asks mildly.

“Someone's turning down this tunnel. Four... four hundred plus feet back. Heading our way. Patrol, it looks like. A dozen.”

“We should get moving, then.” Kotri says, starting off. Out of habit, you move forward in front of her. Valerius moves forward but doesn't take point yet, apparently with more to say. Reva falls back to take her tailing position.

“You know... They all seem to be carrying a small fortune in adamantium. We could take out that patrol none the wiser- 'd be real easy to tack on a few thousand gold onto whatever we'll get paid anyway.” he says hopefully. Of course.

“ 'd also be real easy to bungle, alert the- various reptiles to our presence, and get pushed into flight. Stupid as hell to piss of kings we don’t' have to, isn’t' it?” you growl back. “Pelor's eyes, sometimes I'd swear you wear actively tryin' to die horribly.”

“I don't think we make a living bungling things. A little risk accompanies any gain. Besides, it would reduce opposition if we did have to make a fast escape.” the bard reasons. You fix him with a steady glare, which he returns with an aura of saintly patience and reason about him. That might work on someone else, but you quite simply don't give a damn.

“Seeing as my sole interest is getting the job done, and getting your sorry asses out alive, I'm going to act in your best interest here, and tell you to shut up. Now get back on point, unless you'd like to stumble across another disjunction trap.” you reply dryly. He frowns slightly, and gives a slight shrug as if to say 'I tried to reason with you.', but pushes his goggles down and separates from you, returning to point.

HOLY FUCKING SHIT SERIOUSLY?!

WD, GET ON THE FUCKING CHATROOM RIGHT NOW!!!

The branch is as Valerius described, and which to take is the question. Inward and downward you worry will get uncomfortably warm. A natural worry, seeing as these warrens happen to be dug in a live volcano. Of course, you came prepared, but if it isn't necessary to risk it, you'd far prefer not to.

“The castle is above. I would assume that the primary portion of the fortress would be upward. And towards the center, granted, but ascent seems to be the scarcer option.” Kotri comments. Analyzing it from a dwarven perspective, no doubt. You wonder how much would carry over to a fortress built by lizardfolk and a dragon. (Dragons? Unsettling thoughts.)

“I, for one, do not want to get closer to the... caldera, did you call it, than I have to.” Valerius replies. “I would judge the established- and /lower/ caves to be far less likely to...”He trails off, at loss for words, but recovers quickly. “I have no desire to encounter molten rock.”

“Oh? Wouldn't it make a great story, though?” Kotri taunts. “I thought that was what you wanted.”

“A great story requires someone alive to tell it.” Valerius replies. He pauses to glance at the remaining two, but Pasa and Reva decline to weigh in. Reva usually does only to be bloodthirsty, Pasa does more rarely, but is often worth listening to. Oh, this group you've assembled... You sigh inwardly as they both look to you for your verdict.


###############

Bit of a gauging interest thread. I'm back again, and with reason to hope for reliability. (At least more than in the past.) And yes, this is playing a bunch of a adventurers. We'll see how well they do. Chat is #dragonquest on IRCHighway, if I recall.

Alriiiight, lets get this party started!

First, what's our objective? Scouting out a path, theivery or, as the title suggests, assassination?

Well, it seems our employer just wants some info for now- no need to probe the caverns too intensely. What we need to do is figure out his bree- wait, won't that be obvious due to his daughter's colorings?

>>16109731
Determine whether the ruler of Mza is a dragon. (Basically confirmed, though still vague on the specifics.)

Determine what kind of dragon (s)he is. (Requiring further exploration.)

Ideally, don't get caught and leave no sign of your presence. (Not necessarily possible, but you'd like to delay an alert as long as possible.

Slay if it merits such treatment and you meet an opportunity. Primary objective is to see what can be learned and judge from that. You have been promised payment equitable to whatever service you perform by a relatively decent source. You trust them not to default, at least.

>>16109825
It was felt that the princess' colors might be entirely legitimate fluke of sorcerous heritage, or a deliberate attempt to suggest the most powerful of Chromatics. Finally, simply the power of the individual behind this all, and whether the Lord and Lady Prestor are puppets for another are questions that might be answered by what you learn here.

Oh god yes! :D

How I have missed thee Writer Dude

Fuck yeah, Dragon Quest.

WD?

You're... back?

Am I dreaming? Do I need to go deeper?

(Also, we're adventurers rather than Azaladon now?)

Tss. Trying to enter through the oft-patrolled caverns was a rookie error. We should've mounted a frontal sneak-in through the palace. We'd have learned plenty from overhearing just getting to the place.

Still, we're here. Where can we go that'll avoid the patrol?

>>16109912
I'm pretty sure that trying to go through the palace would be an even WORSE idea, if I'm recalling what we did to the palace correctly.

>>16109935

Less overtly patrolling guards, and certainly less SUSPICION in that no-one expects us to come from that direction.

But that's all said and done now. Come on chaps, enough sentimentality, it's time to get our game-heads on! We've ourselves to slay!!

>>16109989
So, then what do you propose?

>>16110031

That's...well you see, we should ALL propose something, and then agree on it. But all right, lemme think...

Lets go left and descend. If I were a bad-guy, I'd put entrances into my lair deep. That and if we hit a dead-end we can dig our way out.

If lizards become a problem, perhaps we can illusion a wall to hide behind and simply wait for the patrol to go past.

>>16110031
let's kill a red dragon

>>16110070

If this place is Prestor's he's a very, very crafty bugger.

>>16110072

Shhhhh we don't know if he's red or not yet....

>>16110070
Actually, if I were an evil genius with a lair, I'd have designed my lair entrance to be deep underground, at the bottom, but also very hard to find, with frequent patrols in the area, so if people say, like us, decided to try to break in, I might have a chance of backing them up against a wall and slaughtering them.

>>16110106

SHHHHH WE DON'T KNOW- Oh wait we do know it's Prestor's place.

To be honest I'm more scared of his wife. She's mean.

>>16110173

The place with the most patrols is likely to be the place where such an entrance is.

>>16110202

Oh! And I vote go down too.

>>16110173

Well if I were an evil genius, I'd have built it so that the roads that seem most promising to lead to my palace- those going up, were infact horrible deathtraps filled with acid, sword spiders and god-knows what else, and that never actually led to where you'd want to go.

So what now?!

>>16110208
Agreed. We have to go deeper.

>>16110176
I heard she's rather pretty. And that she's a demon of the Abyss bound to his service, of course.

>>16110509

I also hear she's quite the slavedriver.

Literally.

Holy shit, VQ disappears and DQ pops back up.
I don't even.

Adventurers now, are we? I'm game.

>>16109529
(Please be waifu(slayer) quest so this isn't balls anymore)

>>16110566

Man it sure didn't take long for the poopers to turn up to this party, did it?

Hiding behind the 'NO FUN' sign for these past coupla months, were you?

HOLY SHIT I THOUGHT WRITER-DUDE STOPPED

Waiting on Writer Dude

*pokes with a stick, checks vitals*

For the moment, let's head down.” you reply. “At the very least, we ought to see what kind of limits there are on these warrens.”

“You know, I'm pretty sure only kobolds have warrens.” Valerius observes, moving to take point again. He pauses just long enough for you to open your mouth to retort, then continues. His timing is flawless, despite the fact that he isn't even looking at you. “Of course, some of these traps look more ingenious than I'd have expected from lizardfolk.”

“No kobolds. Not smelly enough.” Kotri says with an air of observation. “Maybe they used consultants.” You give the barest of grins in the darkness at what passes for a joke from the dwarf.

“Just keep it quiet. Pasa, you've got the sound-warding up?” you reply, trying to bring them back to the matter at hand.

“Yes. Nobody fifteen feet from us should be able to hear anything from us.” the sorcerer replies.

“Good enough. Let's not risk it anyway.”

“Yes, mother.” Valerius replies from in front of you. Your murderous glare hits him in the back, and he declines to notice.

“Pelor's- I'll break your arm if I hear that again.” you snap out. You dislike the nickname, something Valerius knows full well. You'll also follow up on the threat, something else he knows full well. Which makes up for the fact that he's made it more than fifteen feet away now, and can't have heard you. You scowl and determine to hand him as unpleasant duties as you can.

********

The route winds downward slowly, and perhaps slightly inward. Part of a massive spiral, perhaps. Eventually, though, you reach a T-intersection. Or what was one- The left is collapsed, and then the rock seems to have been fused. A point in favor of a genuine Red dragon. On the other hand, a halfbreed of another race that happened to have retained a fiery breath weapon... Or even just a regular mage. You have to remind yourself that you haven't reached certainty yet...

“I'd say this next section is trapped with something, maybe to collapse.” Valerius speaks from your side. To his credit, he is reasonably competent. “Kotri, might I ask your professional opinion?”

“Because all dwarves specialize in mining.” Kotri answers with a touch of sarcasm. Rare for her. She performs a few apparently-random tests, including rapping her knuckles on the side of the chamber, and taking a few small steps forward. Enough that you notice Val holding his breath. She returns to you safely, though, and with her verdict.

“I'd say yes. Collapse. Hmm... The floor only. If we don't but weight on it- Or if we put light enough weight on it- it ought to be fine.” Kotri says at last.

“Hmm. I like our opponent!” Valerius replies, “A half dozen mechancial traps, the kind of things to punish separation and encourage teamwork.. And then there you go! Something to take us all out at once!”

“I'd hardly consider that something to rejo- You damn /fool!/ Stop!” you shout as Valerius begins to walk down the corridor. He's slow and distributing his weight as he can, but walking down the hallway without a care in the world. And, to your great disappointment, not disappearing under a few tons of rock.

He continues another dozen feet. “I think I see the end of this section. Only about twenty five feet are tra-” he says, before clamping shut as he attempts to back up carefully. Seeing as he's suddenly standing on nothing, it's a bit harder than he can manage. There's the clatter of a few falling rocks, and you see his fingers gripping the nearest edge, and all goes silent.

“This is going to be a bit embarrassing...” Valerius begins, sounding uninjured.

“Fool.” Reva spits. In all fairness, she's absolutely right.

“Yeah, yeah, I might be. Anyway, as I believe I demonstrated, I don't think it will collapse under one person's weight. A lizardman is heavier than us- Well, heavier, than Reva, Pasa, or I, at any rate.”

“Want me to come over there and step on your fingers?” Kotri asks conversationally.

“Sure, sure, that would answer that question, at any rate. But I was going to say, this pit opens over another passage below us. So I'd guess that this second half the floor collapses, the first half the room. I'd like to think the pit is the dividing factor.”

“He certainly likes to be at the center of things.” Pasa observes quietly from behind you. You allow a small smile.

“Further, it's both uncomfortably warm and quite difficult to hold on here. I think I can make it back up, but I'd rather not. It's too predictable. If one of you can throw me a rope, I'd really appreciate it. Maybe one with a grappling hook?”

“Catch.” Reva says almost immediately, having figured out what he was working towards. The coils of rope she throws hit on the first time, sinking down and out of sight.

“I'll actually be coming back up as rapidly as I can.” Velarius replies amiably, but with an air of panic. His hands disappear, and there's sudden tension on the rope. It starts to slide, but you stop it by putting your booted foot on it, then reaching down to start hauling it in.

“About half a dozen chokers. I think. Surprised to see me drop -ow- in. Just beginning to start looking into how to get at me.” Velarius says as you drag him over the edge. He quickly lets go, standing up.

“Presumably why they want to drop us down there.” Kotri guesses.

“I doubt it. Seems more like that was an actual section of passages down there. Dunno about you, but I wouldn't want to live near those.” Velarius corrects.

“So you think that downward isn't progress.”

“Couldn't say. Not that time, at any rate. On the other hand, if you want to go bleed them, it seemed to go somewhere. Also was hotter below.”

“And the passage ahead?”

“Turning inward. Widening. Signs of more frequent use than we've seen so far.” Velarius answers.

“I see..” you grate out. You want to throttle the bard, but he's staying carefully out of your reach.

“Hmm. The tails we were worried about have take the other passage.” the half-elf reports from your side.

Hmm. More travelled is both good and bad- we'll need travelled to get where we're going. And that the patrol is heading in the other direction is good for us, we don't have them on our tails anymore- our enemies, as they are, will be infront of us.

Lets go, then! But more cautiously. And with the Bard out front. He seems lucky/foolhardy enough.

>>16111033

I concur.

Also - is the sorcerer capable of scying? Might be handy

>>16111033
Works for me.

>>16111033
Concur with this.

a possible image for our paladin perhaps?

Writer dude still there?

>>16111982
It's only been a bit over half an hour. Start worrying when he's been gone for more than 3.

>>16111982
Kids these days.

Back in my day we waited for WD to update for hours on end. Uphill. In the snow. Both ways.

>The steady beam of the shielded lantern illuminates a bare thirty feet of corridor, a meandering passage showing either an originally natural lava-tube, or incredibly lazy mining. It curves off into the distance in either direction, not to mention occasionally zigging back and forth slowly for no particular reason. And there seemed to be no reason for it's existence... That, more than anything, makes you suspicious of a trap.

These are the laziest, most haphazard, meandering sentences I've read in a while. And I read R.R. Martin this morning. The fuck is wrong with you?

>>16112084

No fun allowed, if you don't like it don't read it, fuck yourself with a cactus, etc etc.

>>16111982
Please, the only one to beat WD in slowness is Vedibere.
The updates will come, just bugger off on something else until they do.

>That, more than anything,
Nope
>Which, at this point, you
Nope
>says inanely after another twenty seconds.
Nope.
>“And what led you to this particular revelation?” you grind out, managing to reign in most of your sarcasm. Which still leaves enough to kill trees at thirty paces.
Jesus Christ nope.

/tg/ deserves a better class of writer

Although, I kinda have to agree with the grammar nazis, what's up WD?

You're usually grade A stuff.

>>16112113
Probably does. If you can't stand it, don't read it. Cheers.
>>16112140
Practice. Out of.

#####

You prepare to begin crossing the trapped tunnel. Valerius first, and this time you find yourself wondering whether you could trigger the trap from here while he's crossing.... There's an unsettling groan of the rock as the bard leaps the pit, but it doesn't shift, and he makes it to the other end without incident. You're egging yourself up to go when Pasa comments from beside you.

“I can conjure a bridge.”

“And you didn't say that to begin with because...?” you growl, but he only gives a small smile.

“He seemed to have his heart set on it.”

Further conversation is interrupted by his spellcasting, but when he is finished over a minute later, there is an invisible platform a few inches above the cavern floor. Presumably extending down the tunnel. The half-elf takes the lead temporarily to demonstrate, and the rest of you follow him down the trapped corridor.

“I... What? Oh, that's hardly fair!” Valerius whines. Pasa veers to one side, allowing you to pass him. The bard sees you making gains, and quickly returns to his duties as point.

“Right. Looking for traps.... Shit.” he says, probably swearing more at the fact that it will delay him and allow you to close than at their actual presence. He's fast, though, and finishes before you've made it. Only to stop another five feet down the tunnel.

“I've changed my mind. I don't like whoever did this.” Valerius says morosely as you approach, careful to give him a half-dozen feet clearance-zone.

“Take your time.” you say sweetly. He actually shivers.

“Please, never do that to me again.” he says, standing up from the most recent trap- Something magical, judging by the glyph he was busy defacing. “It is utterly terrifying.” You don't respond and merely close with him. “Right! Right! Moving."

>>16112154
It's cool. Just wondered what the deal was.

The corridor winds on, until even you can notice the tracks on the floor. You slow, allowing Valerian to gain thirty more feet on you, stretching his lead. It pays off-- You almost run into him, finding him returning as you advance around a sharp twist. He gestures for silence, and back the way you came. You retrace your steps for a few feet, and he speaks.

“Gallery. This ends up overlooking it, ladders up and down on the side. Looks like a living area and mess hall, though it would only hold fifty or so-”

“Only?!” Kotri hisses indignantly.

“We've bypassed more lizards than that so far.” Reva points chillily. You take the opportunity while Reva and Kotri stare daggers at each other to question Valerius further.

“So a lower guard post?”

“Seems like it. Think it might be a sort of luxury posting? Retirement post?” he says, wiping sweat from his forehead. “Lizards like it hot, don't they?”

“Could be. How many there at the moment?”

“Two dozen. Mostly sleeping. About eight eating... something. At least it's dead. And I think maybe cooked.”

“Your faith in them is astonishing.” you reply dryly.

“If it's in this heat, it can't help but be cooked.” Reva says. Hehe. Can't say you totally disagree.

“So where from here?”

“As I said, I think this path curves down to enter that room. Ladders make it less likely, but who knows. Then... Oh, well, I bet you'll find one of the walls interesting. But yeah, we're getting /somewhere/- among other things, the carvings on the wall have taken on a more religious tone, and there are more of them. Scenes, even-”

“What of?” Kotri asks intently. Pointlessly.

“Damned if I know. Anyway, seems to curve up. Looks like a sort of... Well, extremely steep staircase leaves from one side- I do mean /really/ steep. Goes up, though. Has a rail, and seems not to be too busy. 'side from that, there's a few extra rooms. Probably a kitchen or larder.”

>>16112154

I think I'll just critique you instead. You need it. Don't be so lazy with your writing. If you can't take a few mean comments, then you're trying in the entirely wrong medium.

“Routes, man.”

“Seem to have hit-” he stumbles over the word, then pauses. “Rock bottom, I suppose. All of them seem to lead up. Makes sense, I think there's supposed to be a dwarven mine somewhere near the base of the mountain, so it couldn't go much farther down-”

“Because we all know you have a fantastic sense of direction.”

“Hey. I'm indo- Well, I'm not out in a forest, okay, I keep track of how far we've come.” You roll your eyes, but let him continue.

“Anyway, there was actually a very steep shaft towards the back of the chamber, even more than the staircase. It's a v-cut, seems to be the steepest river I've ever seen. Disappears into the distance upward, and is inaccessible going down.”

“How do you know this is the bottom, then?” Kotri asks skeptically.

“They've got it set up to sweep a latrine before it leaves. I assume that while there are probably dungeons, they won't be near what we want. Nor would we want to follow it.”

“So up...”

“Yeah. Three different paths that lead 'up' to varying degrees, the staircases, and that river- Seriously, it's an impressive setup.”

“I can conceal us.” Pasa answers before you ask.

“Of course. Let's take a look, then.”

*******
The urge to throttle Valerius returns, this time less strong. No wonder he described the next room as 'impressive'. Your desire for violence is somewhat dwarfed by the titanic wall of apparently pure crystal that shows the glow of magma behind it. Far behind it. If it's as thick as it looks then it is almost certainly a titanic amount of quartz. It doesn't particularly look like quartz, of course, but you can't imagine a more precious crystal that large. Or that Valerius would refrain from urging to steal some, if it was. It certainly draws attention away from the other features and inhabitants of the room, and exlains why this gallery exists. Perfect view. It has to be an illusion.

As if reading your mind, Valerius whispers aloud. “Gotta be conjured. There's no other way to get that much crystal that pure.”

“It's real?” you ask incredulously.

“Yeah. Turn to dust, or back to whatever it was if anyone broke it or moved it. Can't really fabricate gemstones or crystals. But something with natural control over earth can sort of convince it to change for a while.” Ah. That would explain it. “Found that out the hard way, once. When a hundred thousand gold worth of precious rocks turns to not-precious rock, it motivates you to figure ou-”

“Alright...” Kotri whispers behind you, and you both turn hear the dwarf straightening. “I'm pretty sure our dragon is a fire-drake of some kind. Almost certainly red, of course. The horns, for instance,” Kotri says, followed by a pause. You get the distinct impression that she is gesturing at the horns in question before she seems to recall that you are all currently invisible. “Uh, are very clearly those of a Red dragon. Among other indicators. Of course, I'm not certain whether the dragon /is/ Lord Prestor- Or Lady Prestor- Or perhaps their god-father or patron or something. At any rate, there's sadly-little that can be learned from the carvings here. Too much of a religious... haze. Quite the ego this reptile has.”

“Don't they all?” you whisper back dryly, being prominently reminded of the dragon you occasionally work for. Despite being one of the metallics and technically 'good', a titanic arrogance seems to be a natural quality in dragons. All of them.” Pausing, you re-survey your options. Your path continues ahead, but it would be easy to descend to the floor. From there, there would be the stairs, a near-level path to the right, an upward path to the left, or one directly underneath you that Valerius assures you leads up slowly. At the very least, any action you take should be covered by the rushing of the water.

>>16112189

Stairs sound good

>>16112233
I was just about to comment about not really feeling the part of the characters here. But this is rather interesting.
Looks like the search party finally arrived.

I partly don't want them to find anything, but more so want to see Azaladon from his business end.

>groan of the rock
>egging yourself up to go

These don't make sense.

>“And you didn't say that to begin with because...?
>Valerius first, and this time you find yourself wondering whether you could trigger the trap from here while he's crossing....
>“Right. Looking for traps.... Shit.”

You use ellipses too often. And since when does a narrator end a sentence by fading out?

>says morosely
>hisses indignantly.
>points chillily
Calm your adverbs. Seriously:
>points chillily
What the fuck is this? This is more than being out of practice, son.

>You take the opportunity while Reva and Kotri stare daggers at each other to question Valerius further.
Poor sentence flow.
>You take the opportunity to question Valerius further while Reva and Kotri stare daggers at eachother.

>Hehe.

What kind of narrator is this? Jesus.

>Pointlessly.

I know you think this sounds good in a narrator's voice. But it just looks amateur unless the narrator is a character actually involved.

>dryly
HOW MANY TIMES ARE YOU GOING TO USE THIS ADVERB.

>>16112276

seconded. looks like we're in the guardhouse

Hey WD, welcome back.
Little late here, and I don't really understand what's going on.
Can we get a little OOC briefing beyond >>16109829, like who we are, who we're traveling with. What kind of capabilities we're packing. What kind of intel we're working with? And just a bit of fluff?

Also, is this a permanent shift, or is the answer spoilers?

I'm pretty sure this caverns are rather well trapped and patrolled, but overall only lead up in one way to our other holdings. This seems more like a long narrative than anything we'd really need to input on.

In other words, details, details!

>>16112325

I'm sure you mean well, but we're not here to bum-out and get rid of the flow, we're here to slay a dragon, so kindly stop for the moment. He didn't put this up for crit & comment.

Now, to the matter at hand. Stairwell seems liable to be entrapped, but we've been good at that so far. Still seems reckless. Going along level-wise seems to just invite us to find more guard posts. The other two...ehhhh harder to say. The river seems like it wouldn't be conventionally entrapped, but I can't say I TRUST it- that's exactly where I'd expect adventurers to go.

I think it's either the stairs or the slower incline for me.

>>16112325
Seriously. If you don't like it, you can leave.

You aren't being helpful. You're just being an ass.

>>16112325
Ellipses, and spelling errors are nothing new to DQ.

The dialogue used to really be the selling point, though. And now its, well a little rough. Hopefully it all settles out, and he gets back into the groove of things.
Save the heavy critiquing until the next thread, give him a chance to wake up from his slumber and let the activation runes do their thing.

>>16112441
>>16112453

Question from a part timer.

Is this quest still ran by the IRC?
If so I won't waste my time here.

>>16112504
If we ever get into an indepth discussion, most of the plotting and arguing is done via the IRC, but we all seem to be laid back for this quest. So, posting in the thread will have an effect on the quest.

>>16112504
IRC is for silliness, fleshing out hypothetical stuff, and taking votes when the thread gets bogged down. The thread itself is still important.

>>16112535
>>16112541
Alright, cool.

>>16112416
watch, we are secretly Azaladon, the Great and powerful red dragon, in disguise! a plot twist worthy of M.Knight Shamalan!

>Glad you are back WD, missed your threads terribly, thought you got testicular cancer or something you were gone for so long.....

>>16112504

The IRC is really only important when the thread goes to shit and we actually need a way of voting. Anything important that gets brought up in the channel will pretty much always get posted in the thread anyway.

>>16112575

Ya coulda e-mailed him, ya know.

>Captcha: AOL Time

NO CAPTCHA NO!!

>>16112575
YOU HEAR THAT WD?

WE WERE WORRIED ABOUT YOUR PENIS!

DON'T LEAVE US LIKE THAT AGAIN!

>>16112597
>>16112591
i fucking love you guys

Up ze stairs! machen schnell!

So we going gradual path or stairs?

I reckon...we could maybe brave some stairs, if we're careful. Lizardmen famously don't use stairs.

>>16112691
Azaladon is fucking genre savvy. No matter what we do we're walking into traps.

Stairs will likely spare us a patrol though.

>VQ disappears
Not gonna hijack WD's triumphant return but: No. Still alive, just school. Mentioned this before I think.

>>16112752
Ah, carry on then. Though you meant yesterday when you said Sunday.


Sorry WD, we did the same thing to him though.

>>16112774
Did, actually, but things came up. Still trying to get a solid schedule nailed down.

If think playing as our daughter would've worked better to breath new life into this than a bunch of faceless adventurers. If that's what the intent was anyway.

It did feel like a lot of the charm was lost when we became unkillable and acted mostly through timeskips. But I don't think this was the answer.

None the less, I'll shut my fucking mouth and gladly take whatever it is you provide WD. Good to see you back.

>>16112946
That's actually kinda fucking awesome.

>>16112703
Azaladon is more than genre savvy. He has the collected minds of more than a dozen experienced D&D players in his head.

If there's a big loophole we forgot, I'll be surprised that we missed it on us-as-Azaladon's end.

>>16113035
Even IC he seemed pretty aware.

Prediction:

We're doing this to move the plot forward. By outing Lord Preston we force his hand in acting on the world stage. As the only adventurers who managed to get so far into our uber castle it would be pretty cool if we did the adventure ourselves like Adventure mode in DF.

Wait, this isn't Golem Quest.

The fuck am I doing on 4chan?

SUDDENLY GREY KNIGHTS

ya'know i don't think our mission, as the adventurers, is to kill "prestor", merely to find out what kind of dragon he is.....

>azaladon as a Character could be saved, simply do fewer time skips, a bit more rolling for actions, and something to humble his arrogant ass from his "unkillable" status, like, say, a not very friendly visit from a certain Binder. if i remember correctly, she has the ability to inflict serious injury and harm upon him.

>>16113141

I miss the rolls, but as we, collectively, are his character, his other traits are fairly irrepressable. Fewer timeskips is nice, but sometimes they're necessary. What we need to do is get out of the castle more and get our claws stuck into some mysteries- espionage, etc. Meeting other kings and queens and even just going around being a dragon. Push the big stuff to the autopilot.

“Alright, I'm dry.” you state. “And I wouldn't heal you if I could, Val. Your own damn fault.”

“Point of order, I'd like to remind you that I still have a success rate well over ninety percent.”

“One failure in ten will still kill us.” Reva says.

“Yeah, yeah, I'll see what I can do...”

The stairs are, in fact, trapped. A pair of fireballs, and a set of three lightning bolts, as well as some mechanical stuff. Painful stuff, but you definitely dislike the physical traps more- Your powers, and Valerians, can heal flesh. They don't do the same to damaged equipment. Then again, Valerius seems to have more trouble with the magical ones. And they are most likely to knock you down the /stupidly/ steep stairs. Which can do more damage than anything else, to be honest. You've been quite lucky so far, and you know it, but

“So.” Valerius says after a few more minutes ascent. You decline to give him the prompting he wants, and continue in silence. Sure enough, he speaks anyway.

“Enough lizards seem to live here, but unless we've found a dragon that- well, that likes to live in human form, we haven't found any sort of place that could be his.”

“I'm sure it would say that the entire mountain belongs to it.” your reply.

“Probably right, probably right.” he says, “I'm wondering though... We've all heard the rumors about our dear overlord, right? Or at least Mza's?” You actually consider answering, but you're pretty sure he'd know tavern rumors better than you do. He makes his living off them, after all.

“There seems to be recorded incident of his wife crushing a Rhasverian fleet. Like, effortlessly, or so they say.” Valerius begins. “And he's supposed to be a master of air and water- Some claim he's half genie or marid. Or has some ancient artifact that allows him to twist the princes of air and water's arms up behind their back and tell them what to do.”

Deafening silence. It's true enough- Mza has far nicer weather year round than it should... ever, really. Valerius seems to give time to digest that, and is forced to pause for longer as you bypass another guardpost. A little larger than the previous. Hmm. They seem to be getting larger as you ascend. Valerius doesn't seem to notice, continuing the conversation as soon as you are safely out of earshot. To his meager credit, he's cautious. Occasionally.

“Anyway. And he's certainly supposed to be a stupidly powerful sorcerer. Legendarily powerful. His wife too. And she's- Well, along with being rumored to be a dragon, be part dragon, be a devil, be an angel, be the mortal incarnation of beauty, and so on... I mean, he's supposed to appear to be in charge, but we don't know who's actually in charge, right? And almost all of those attribute untold age and wisdom to her?”

“I've never heard devils described as 'wise'.” you are finally goaded to answer. “Anyway, the truth of such rumors is what we're supposed to figure out.”

“Sure.... Just thinking. I mean, if they really are as powerful as they say, aren't they really the type that we wouldn't want to piss off?” Valerius asks innocently. You raise an invisible eyebrow, forced to pause again as a lizardfolk passes you. You all stop moving as it descends, until it's a good forty steps below you. Then you resume your so-long ascent, legs beginning to feel like jelly.

“I'm amazed you'd even consider such things. Isn't that the kind of thing you'd want for the stories you collect?” you respond as the lizard disappears around the slow curve below.

“Ach. He's just trying to scare up some drama.” Kotri says with audible contempt. “Drama for his /stories/. What's the matter, this one doesn't have enough for you?”

"It would be a bit dull to have to tell it at the moment. If we start worrying now, my embellishments will be more truthful.” Valerius answers with wounded dignity.

“All so you can earn a few gold and screw some tavern wench silly.” Kotri replies. Ah. This argument again.

“Oh? And writing dusty tomes that no one will ever read is a better use of my time? Maybe yours, but you've got more of it, so it's not worth as much.” Valerius retorts. You tune out as they begin arguing over the merits of story verse history, bard and scholar. As do your other comrades, though Pasa at least maintains an expression of polite interest.

****

“That's a good point... Hmm. What do you think? … Eh? Mora?”

“What?” you ask, replaying the last words in your mind a bit. You repeat yourself unintentionally. “/What?!/” They're agreeing with each other?

“Well, I was just thinking that a dragon probably has plenty in the way of escape routes, right?” Valerius begins, “And Kostri confirmed that they generally have dozens. So I pointed out that- especially if this was a fire dragon of whatever type, it can swim through lava. Meaning that even the barest curtain of it will keep anyone from entering, and conceal it's exits. So it really can have loads. And none of them should be, well, down here, since there wasn't lava or something even more dangerous blocking our entrance.” You turn the reasoning over in your mind. A few stretches or guesses, but it doesn't sound completely implausible.

“Anyway, it just seemed like, given all that, there should only be only one real, non-camouflaged entrance.” He continues, “Now, personally, I don't see the point to be horrifically wealthy without being able to spend it.”

“Judging by your spending, you don't see the point in being wealthy at all.” Kotri says under her breath. Valerius gives her a wounded glance but continues.

“Well, it just seems that since he'd want servants and minions and what not as much as possible, these tunnels probably /are/ connected to his lair. Almost certainly. But probably not a lot- After all, these are more likely to be entered, scouted, plundered, what have y-”

“Get to the point.” you say with audible exasperation. He, for once, obeys.

“Sure. I'm just thinking that if I was worried about people attempting to infiltrate and steal stuff, I wouldn't put the access near the center, but only near the exterior. Those who were too eager would press forward and pass it without realizing it- could walk all around it without finding any entrance.” you grunt in response. Seems plausible.

“Point taken.” you say, almost neutrally. “We'll adjust course when we can.”

********
“Alright, I realize there's some popular sentiment against me at the moment-” Valerius begins showing up from ahead. Understatement. The last two traps he missed were both unpleasant and one of them was painful. They did not, however, sound the alarm, and you were still undetected. “But I really think we've found what we're looking for and can turn around now.” You raise an eyebrow. “I mean it. I think we should stop...” He is visibly uncomfortable and reluctant. You continue to walk, waiting for him to say something to give you actual pause. He doesn't, looking almost embarassed, and you finally come to a much larger passage. You step out into the huge hallway and are dwarfed by its size. A hundred feet tall... Two hundred? Tall enough you lose perspective, at any rate. And well lit, probably by magic, you suspect. And to the right....

Two gargantuan statues of Red dragons, more than five times your own height. Solid ruby. Lifting their forelegs, facing the entrance, and leaving you with the feeling that dragons /really/ have ego problems.

“There's a fairly powerful enchantment for fear and awe here.” Pasa says quietly from your right. “That's what you were just feeling, I think.” he adds with a nod to Valerian. Valerian, who no longer looks terrified or confused, merely a little sheepish, nods back in wordless thanks. Unimpressed, you start forward. Not fast, but enough to remind the bard to take his position on point again. You'd like to get out of the hallway as fast as possible, though come to think of it, you really do have the information you need- you could leave at this point. Anything more would be over and above the minimum... Though your employers tend to pay honestly and well for such effort. And you've seen some of the carvings here... Not to mention the city of Mza. This dragon is not in any sense a benevolent one.

“Alright. Side passage up ahead... worked stone. With doors and everything. I think we may be where we were heading.” the bard reports, returning from point. “The main passage continues onward, though... well, to be quite honest, I'm not terribly interested in finding out if anyone's home over there...”

“I concur.” Kotri says. “Either let's deal with the... the guest wing, or let's leave. I feel like a rat in a mess hall.” You can't help but give the dwarf a glance, but that's obviously one of her dwarven sayings that doesn't translate well.

“Well? Forward, off to the side, or turn tail?” Valerius asks. “I'll be honest. I'm worried enough that I wouldn't argue with flight.”

I have an inexplicable urge to boot the main gate open and ask "WHO WANTS SOME?!"

...But for nowwwwwww I think a retreat might be in order. We're undetected and we know our way back- and we've more-or-less confirmed the Red Dragonage of one (maybe two, if two statues) of the leaders, short of them transforming infront of us. The longer we linger, the worse for us, and if we're not the first our employer has sent here, but ARE the first to return with news, a plan, an idea of the trappings etc., then we'll be most highly rewarded for our efforts.

Straight ahead. If we're not leaving immediately, then we may as well go all the way.

Fuck that shit, nobody's died yet.
Check out the main hall here.

I'm sure there's something valuable you could take with you for all your trouble.

I think we might want to beat a hasty retreat before the owners come calling.

>>16113547

I know these characters are against us, but really, do you WANT to die? Not I.

Shoot and scoot, without the shoot for me.

I think now's a good time to book it. We've accomplished all of our objectives and we aren't in any shape, it appears to tackle the dragon (Or dragons?) head on.

>>16113444
We're a bunch of pretty competent adventurers. And we've infiltrated this far.

And one of our main objectives is determining what kind of dragon he is and if Prestor/Lady Prestor is the dragon. We probably know he's red now. We don't know age or which one it is.

Plus, do you fucking /see/ those statues? The hoard, man... jesus. I assume we timed our escapades so that the Prestors will likely be busy. I suggest we at least check out the hoard. It will both give us an idea of how old the dragon is and maybe a bit of a mission bonus. Because face it, at this point we're not going to get forgiven ANYWAY and this is all looking way more dangerous than we'll likely get paid for normally. I say we make some real profit out of this. After all, why did we become an adventurer? Profit, I say.

>>16113605
We made it this far, though. And none of us died. I don't see the harm in pushing further in. Once death starts hitting the others (more than once, anyway), then yeah, we should probably seriously think about retreating. But it hasn't hit us yet. So I say push a bit further.

Plus, adventurers. This is what we do.

>>16113590

Other than, you know, those giant SOLID RUBY statues. That's a fucking king's ransom right there. Hell, just the head of one would be enough to live happily for the rest of your days in luxury. Adding in the rest of it plus the fact that it's cut in such a fashion? The term "priceless" is going to start popping up.

Now if we could just find a way to get the things out of here. Suggestions?

>>16113635
That's not a very paladin like way of thinking!

Wait until the meat shields die?

No. That's something a cowardly rogue would think.

We have to remember that, as much as we want to, if we were to become involved in a fracas, most, if not all, of our party would die, including most likely ourselves, if the power of this dragon is anything to go by or the number of its thralls.

The horde is probably trapped to the eyeballs, so take care with it

>>16113654
... are we playing a paladin or a rogue?

Because I'm pretty sure only a rogue would say that.

>>16113661
The paladin way of thinking would be:

1) Dragon.
2) RED Dragon.
3) Haven't died yet. Party still at more or less full strength.
4) Red Dragons are evil.
5) Free Mza from tyranny.
6) Continue onward. If it becomes too hot, then discretion is the better part of valour.

>>16113684
The other Anon was saying there must be something valuable around.

The two giant statues currently in the same room as us? Valid targets.

>>16113687
I don't know. Maybe a stupid Pally... but I think that while the urge to smite evil is strong, the ability to differentiate between a winnable battle and a potential suicide run is essential.

At least, for those that live longer

>>16113706
Yes, but if those are out here in the tunnel just imagine what is in the actual hoard.

That's my thinking at least.

>>16113706
Probably the same enchantment we saw earlier.
But I'm sure there are more tangible things elsewhere, maybe things that are more portable too!

I do hope someone has this thread already archived

>>16114249
i hope they mention WD's recovery from testicular Cancer, which obviously prevented him from starting up new threads.

rolled 39 = 39

Is WD talking in the IRC?

He doesn't seem very sociable for us plebes on the ground.

>>16114325
Yeah I know, right?

>>16114325
A little bit. Not all that much. The conversation is mostly just killing time until the next update.

>>16114325

He's talked a litttttlle but not much. He goes into stealth-mode when he's writing.

rolled 88 = 88

>>16114333
>>16114335
Leak the details!
Is his penis alright?

>>16114344
Mostly he's just talking about the general direction of the quest. A bit about the trend toward time skips, nation building, and just throwing minions at problems until they go away. We might be seeing a move back toward more personal interaction in the future.

>>16114344

I'm on the phone to his mother right now to check!

You approach the door in the side of the corridor. You definitely want to get out of the main corridor, whatever happens. “Is the door trapped?” you ask. Seems unlikely- It's elaborate and decorated enough that any damage to it would be costly to replace. Not a problem to a dragon, but the kind of thing you think they'd try to avoid.

“Nope.” Valerian answers readily.

“And do you still have the sound wards active?” you ask the sorcerer. The half elf pushes some of his recently-singed but otherwise silver hair out of his eyes, but nods. You glance through the the ruby panel in the center of the door. Elaborate and showy. And transparent- you can see the hall beyond, and it is empty, doors shut. You can also feel the nervousness of your party behind you.

“Who wants some?!” you demand loudly as you shove the door open. Safe enough- Nobody more than fifteen feet away can hear you. And enough to raise your comrade's spirits. It isn't a good jest, but it's enough to remind them to relax some.

The problem, then, is the fact that there's a dozen lizardmen standing at attention in the first twenty feet of the hallway. Your team reacts well, though- the sorcerer silences the area on reflex, and Reva has two arrows downrange by the time they're all reacting, a third whistling over your shoulder. Picking off the ones in the back first, those closest to the edge of the silence effect. Valerian rolls past you, bringing his saber out in a smooth motion, and you bring your mace down on the blade of the first lizardman to charge you. Adamantium or not, he doesn't have the leverage to slow your own weapon, and it crushes his skull, killing it instantly.

rolled 5 = 5

>>16114362
Fucking yes!
That's pretty much exactly what I was hoping for.

Wish he'd chat with us here, but such is life at the bottom.

A sphere of white fire whisks over your shoulder, but fails to do any damage. They're obviously protected against fire just as you are. Pasa specializes in fire, though. A second blast, less a fireball than a column of silent fire that scorches the ceiling and sears those caught in it's blast, despite their protection.

You catch a blow on you shield, wincing as you hear shearing metal, and wrench your shield in hopes of removing the weapon from the lizard's hands. No luck- I twists with you just long enough to slide the blade out, and thrusts again. It skitters off your abdomen plating, and you slam it to one side with the flat of your shield as bludgeon the reptiles' chest, listening to ribs audibly snap, despite the excellent armor. Not quite a match for you.

To your left, Valerius takes his second down a moment after you, thin blade reaching out exactly as much as it need to to cut the creature's throat. You move forward, spreading out slightly to take on the last four of the creatures, and an arrow streaks down the middle, slaying one of the creatures that was approaching the edge of the silenced zone. You trade several blows with the one before you, but it's shield and armor serve to ward off or mitigate those it can't dodge. A strangled scream from behind you necessitates action, though, and you bull forward, getting well withing the lizard's reach, to where she can't effectively swing the sword. There, your weapon's weight proves the deciding factor- you bring your pommel down on his helmet, poleaxing her.

A quick kill later, as Valerius and you team up on, and finish, the final combatant, you can break off to see who was injured. Reva. Pasa crouches over her, desperately trying to tie a tourniquet over her leg, the wash of blood spurting from her wound obviously causing some trouble. Reva isn't screaming, but looks as pale as her nickname would suggest, and her mouth is clamped shut against the pain. The last lizard got a luck throw between Valerius and you, and the blade he'd thrown had scored a deep wound, then fallen out, ripping it open futher. If it wasn't for magic, Reva would not be able to make it any more. Luckily, you had lied when you said you were out earlier. Drawing on the power of the sacred sun, your prayers are answered, and the wound mends itself. Partially. You seal the exterior, a temporary solution at best- Direct blood-loss won't kill her, but hemorrhaging and infection damn well might.

You suppose it could have been worse. Outnumbered two to one, and with decent equipment. You grimace looking down at the crippled elf. Valerius is also sporting a cut on his shoulder, though to his credit, he does seem more concerned over your companion. The hallway is suddenly as empty as you thought it was, with eight doors arrayed down the hall, four on each side. Nobody seems to be aware of the combat out here, though anyone who even looks down the hall won't be able to help but notice.

"She can't-" Pasa begins, but evidently Reva takes that as a challenge, gritting her teeth and standing despite her horribly injured leg. You healing holds, barely, but she looks even paler, and has a pronounced sway.

"-shouldn't move." Pasa finishes. "Though it obviously may be necessary." He's not judging or advising, just informing you. In terms of actual physical healing, his knowledge exceeds your own.

>>16114404
FFFF- picture. Forgot. Not that it's important or relevant, just forgot.

>>16114378
Happy to chat with you, and generally, I only do things that show up in the quest, but the chat is often easier for, well, chatting. (or random off-topic shenanigans.) You're welcome there, but if you want to talk here, I'll respond here too.

>>16114404
>>16114375
Now can we leave?

Please?

>>16114443
Only if we at least grab some of that kit.
We didn't walk into this for nothing.

Grab delicious adamantium and...book it!

If we've any spells to negate Reva's weight so we can carry her easily, then use 'em!

>>16114443
Not yet. I don't know what D&D games you play, but in ours we don't run away until we need to. Explore a bit more, avoid any further confrontation though. For all we know these might have been the final guards.

If not? Well, hasty retreat probably. But exploring a bit more can't hurt.

Also, maybe we should go down the huge wide corridor. That's a dragon-passage if I've ever seen one. That means it will lead to the heart of the place. Obviously explore the humanoid-sized areas first though.

>>16114475
Second! We have a pretty wounded party member who won't be of much use in a stand up fight. Now we take what we can and make our way out before the lizardmen come down on us like an angry hornets nest.

Scout the immediate area.
Take anything valuable that we can get our hands on.
Then leg it.

At least check the nearby rooms. We can loot those without risking Reva too much, and they're RIGHT THERE. 'twould be a shame to avoid them.

Scout around and make sure we aren't on the verge of a major discovery before we split at least. See if the sorcerer can teleport us out.

(I know he can't, but it would be a reasonable thing to try.)

>>16114520
>>16114508

Oh god-damn...FINE. If we can, peep through the door windows, if we don't see anything super-valuable, THEN we run.

Our employer wants specifics. That means we need to find out at least the age category of the dragon and if it's male or female. "Red." is nice but won't get us paid very well. This was dangerous as crap and I want to get paid, plus as a paladin honor demands we find out as much as we can so that the foul wyrm's clutches can be removed from the people of Mza.

>>16114545
Stop being a coward. We're adventurers, not pussies. Risk is a part of the job.

>>16114553

We're getting free adamantium!

And come on, we faced only twenty guards and already one of our party members is out of the runnings, if we get caught and we've already gone past 50+ adamantium-clad lizzies, how do you think everyone else is going to fare? Not to mention we're out of healing spells and have no healing potions!

There's bravery and there's recklessness. I think we'll get paid well enough.

>>16114344
On a random note, it was not my penis, but my soulmate, my laptop, who's peril kept me away over the summer. Luckily she is returned to me, literally as good as new. (Except for the hard drive, but replacing that would mean that I lost everything. As opposed to just losing my my text file for DQ so far. I'm up to twelve pages by now.)

>>16114579
Alright, just... grab as much as we can without weighing us down when we leg it.

HI what was the channel id again?

>>16114579
I don't know if I'd call it free.

But mainly I just want to see if we can find ANY more information by exploring this area and maybe sending one or two people who can deal with the traps down the main corridor to scout. Complete stealth is the name of the game from here on out, regardless.

And if we don't find anything before we run into more guards and heavy traps? Well, then we book it. But we should at least continue up until the next "wall" to our progression.

Why not compromise? Send our stealthiest member back with our injured lass to begin an escape, whilst everyone else stays behind for a quick scout around?

>>16114404
>Drawing on the power of the sacred sun

All hail Pelor, The Burning Hate.

Okay, we've taken hits (although we did slaughter our way through quite a few lizardmen just now). I suppose we can find whatever's valuable (including the armour, if possible), scout the immediate area for any additional information we can take with us (age of dragon, name of dragon, that sort of thing), then leg it.

Take at least the head from one of those ruby statues, too. Both if we can carry them, but I doubt it.

>>16114585
Losing your computer?
That's even worse! Did you come out of it alright? No lasting lasting damage?

Also disregard the haters, your cult is waking up!

>>16114613
Well I honestly didn't want to break up the group. Strength in numbers and all that.

But here's an idea. Have Reva stay here as a rearguard and invisible while the rest of us scout as far as we are able. When we reach the end of what we can probe we do an about-face and pick her up on the way out.

>>16114633

If it's the best we can do, do it.

writing's almost done apparently

“Just about time to leave, it seems.” you decide, watching Reva with a frown.

“You /must/ be joking.” Valerius says flatly. “We did not get to the doors of the treasure chambers to... to... You can't be serious.”

“And if it was you who could barely stand, let alone walk?” you ask blandly.

“That would be different. She just fights, if I couldn't keep up, there wouldn't be anyone to tell the tale of the adventure.” Valerius says earnestly. Not hypocrisy. He genuinely believes that's the most important thing. You sigh.

“Fine. Look, Reva, sit /down./” you insist, literally putting her down. You aren't certain she could have made it down under her own control. “Give us a scream or if you see someone.” you say, stepping forward with Valerius. The first door has a small window that shows an empty room. A massive, extravagant, even, empty room. Princely appointments, certainly beyond anything you've ever seen. You open the door, and step in, ready just in case the viewing pane neglects to show living people.

This time your safe, and you move around the room, carefully searching it. Very little in the way of actual information- Not much seems to have been left in here, and for all it's luxury, it doesn't seem to be well used. The massive crest, a painstaking mosaic of a Red dragon rampant, at the head of the bed, while elaborate, does not tell you the gender of the dragon nor, unless it is entirely accurate, the age. Huh. You'd hate to be the dragon's spouse, either gender, you decide. Looking up at that any time you were in here would be an omnipresent reminder of the imbalanced relationship. Who owned who.

“A few things. Not much.” Valerius reports from the other side of the room. “Let's go to the next”

Again, a similar room, not quite as spacious but just as extravagant as the other one. Again, the same crest, and again, the same lack of progress. You consider cutting it off at those two rooms, but you know the bard will start citing stories or sayings at you if you dare stop before three. One more.

This panel shows a library- Or a study of some kind. Either way, lit by an elaborate brazier in the corner, and shelves of scrolls and books standing a healthy distance away from the fire. Nobody appears to be inside, so you open the door once more.

You snarl a quiet curse as the view again betrays you as it did with the . You open the dooor, and instead of the empty library, you find a young woman standing beside the brazier, staring intently at the … extravagant flames. They curl and lick, flitting around and over the womans skin, almost like she's dancing with the fire itself, though it is reacting far more to her subtle movements than she is to it, jumping and sputtering as the woman moves her hands or fingers. 'Woman'. Red, feathered wings are folded on her back, and scales in patches on her skin, and pronounced claws visible on her hand. It is abundantly clear that you face Azyra, daughter of Lord and Lady Prestor, and princess of Mza. Any hope of backing out quietly is stifled as she notices the doors' opening.

“Took you long enough, Cygni-” she says sharply, cutting off sharply as she realizes that you are not whoever she was expecting.

“Hellfire and souls...” Valesius mutters under his breath from beside you, stopping himself quickly. “My apologies. Princess Azyra, I presume? I've heard so much about you.” He says, lowering his blade, and offering a bow. You don't quite agree with him, but good or evil, you see little benefit in threatening an unarmed girl. Well, mostly-girl. And she probably has plenty of magic in her, but you doubt she can take the two of you.. You reflexively move to the side to make room for Pasa, and immediately regret it, as he takes up position between the two of you. The fire almost instantly dies, returning to that of an ordinary brazier beside her as her attention shifts entirely to you.

“I'm afraid you have the advantage of me.” she says coldly, drawing herself. She isn't that intimidating, seeing as any of you are at least half a foot taller than her. In fact, you'd bet your life that she's, if not terrified, at least quite afraid of you- you did after all, just break into her damn home.

>>16114922
Okay. We found someone who knows about this stuff. If Prestor and Lady Prestor are just pawns she might not have a problem telling us some information. And even if she does, well, we're the ones with sharp pointy bits here.

First we move into the room. Don't be threatening or anything, have the bard talk to her and try to keep her from screaming bloody murder or anything. Tell her we're not going to hurt her if she doesn't do anything rash.

Then the questions. Ask who Cygnis is and how long before he or she gets back. Ask about her mother and father. Ask about, hell, I don't know the general layout? Ask who the dragon is by name, obviously. If she seems like she'll clam up point out that we are already here, heavily armed, and a lot of what she knows can probably be found without her help.

>>16114976

Agreed. It's quiz-time. Then a quick K.O. and off we go!

Ah god this is bad. What do we say?

"Where here because we heard you had a nasty rust monster infestation."

"Hey kid! We're hear looking to murder a dragon, don't mind us."

"Oh, do you know where the gold vault is, where here for auditing."

"Those lizardmen corpses? Yeah, ah... horrible accident, you wouldn't believe the unsafe working environment they have here."

>>16115003
Detect evil on her, but I have to agree that slaughtering an unarmed girl who hasn't tried to kill us is not very paladin-like at all. If we can knock her out or put her to sleep with a spell after questioning and before we leave though, we should most assuredly do so. Do NOT need her alerting anybody. I would almost say bring her with us but, well, that's not our mission and I seriously doubt whoever we work for will want a political incident on that level to happen.

Ask about the treasure room. Delicious loots.

>“I'm afraid you have the advantage of me.”
Introduce ourselves!

Don't use our real names or anything. Something thematically appropriate.

>>16114922
"Ah..listen kid, I'm sorry. We weren't expecting to bump into anyone down here. Um. You aren't, by any chance being imprisoned against your will are you? "cause if you are we'll be happy to help. If not we'll just likely pack in and move out."

"Relax. We aren't going to hurt you if we don't have to. We'd rather not cause trouble for you and yours if we can help it - but I can assure you we are more than capable of doing so.

Now then - who is Cygnis?"

>>16115042
"I'm Larry, this is Moe, and that's Curly. We're here to rob the place."

Jokingly offer to bring her with us. See the world, met interesting people, and rob them. It'll be fun!

Hey. We're a paladin. She's a princess. In a castle. Ruled by a giant lizard. We should totally try to rescue her. Or failing that, try to seduce her. What's the worst that could happen?

>>16115065
Terrifyingly, this could work.

"We're adventurers! We heard you were the most amazing princess in the world, so we decided to bust in and take you to see the world! Pack your bags! IT'S GOING TO BE SO MUCH FUN!"

>>16115075
Wrong gender. Maybe have one of the guys do it? Bards are supposed to specialize in this kind of thing. Sorcerers too, sometimes.

>>16115081

Then if she's all 'You can't be serious' lets look all glum and kick the dirty floor sadly.

'Well if you don't want to....'

>>16115091
This. This. Do this.

>>16115091
>>16115081

Don't ACTUALLY do this. It's too silly. But, do try to convince her that we're going to do it.

If it works, she'll actually cover for us.

>>16115116

Well if she wants to, we should totally add her to our adventuring group. She seems a dab hand with flame magic; her and Pasa must have SOOOO much in common!

Infact, we should use that as a selling point!

She also probably knows where all the good loot is.

>>16115137
And also possibly in league with the dragons. let's not put our faith in her directions, okay?

>>16115116
> it's too silly

ADVENTURERS

>>16115157
tarrasque.jpg

ITT: People unable to separate IC and OOC knowledge.

Seriously, offering to bring her with us? Don't be stupid. There's no way any adventuring party would do ANY SUCH THING. There are no signs she would be amicable and we just broke into her home with swords drawn, killed her guards, and are asking her how to rob her father.

Seriously you guys, get some perspective.

>>16115188
>There's no way any adventuring party would do ANY SUCH THING

You've never actually played D&D, have you?

>>16115188
Concur. Try and get her to let us go, maybe, but don't be stupid about it. For all we know, Azyra has a magical means of instantly speaking to her father.

And we don't want him anywhere in the vicinity. Ever.

>>16115188

You're right, you're right, lets look at this objectively.

She's very young, we know, and she's been brought up in a bubble, we know.

...

What better ruse to use that to offer her ADVENTURE!!!!

>>16115196
Still ignoring his first point.

>>16115196
I have, and I have never once broken into an evil wizard's tower and upon finding him said, "Hey you want to come with us? I know you have this plot and all that we're here to foil but come on it will be fun!"

>>16115212
IC knowledge:
She is a princess. Princesses are sheltered by necessity.
She is almost definitely the daughter of a Red Dragon. She would be even further sheltered.

Sheltered people long for adventure. As adventurers, we know this.

Thus we can conclude that she will be more likely to take up this offer than not.

>>16115206
>and she's been brought up in a bubble, we know.
No, we don't. And young or not, why in the name of all the gods would such an offer be made? It's pure OOC metagaming and you know it, entirely to try and create some sort of 'lulz so random! XD" situation.

>>16115215

When you say it like that, I'm amazed if no-one's tried it before. Surely they must have; Monkey D. Luffy did it all the time with his early crewmates.

Better believe that'll be my next character.

>>16115229
see
>>16115226

>>16115215
Not to the evil wizard himself, but to his pretty daughter? Come on.

>>16115233
Hell, my party actually hired a dragon rather than fighting it once. Had to pay a ridiculous amount, but hand to pelor they fucking did it.

>>16115229

And charging them in there completely brainlessly was something every D&D party does when told to find info in a potential king-dragon's lair, right?

Let them eat cake!!

>>16115226
That is the worst, most twisted into convenience logic I have ever seen. You might as well say:

>Street urchin
>As we all know they are all master pickpockets
>master pickpocket means rogue
>rogues become parts of adventures
>recruit him into party

It's just so pants-on-head retarded. We don't know she's sheltered in the first place, there are many many examples of royalty who are brought up extremely harshly to prepare them for the world. For all we know being a daughter of a red dragon will make her LESS sheltered because, hey, red dragons just lay eggs and leave them without giving a fuck rather than raise their children. And then there's the wrongness of assuming a princess will FOR SOME REASON long to go out on adventures when in reality adventuring sucks balls and living a pampered lifestyle not so much.

>>16115244
Didn't Azaladon do this to Scinnari?

We've got all kinds of precedent here.

>>16115254
I actually got a

>We know this character likes adventurers, stories of them, and enjoys getting out every once and a while
>Should make an offer for her to join us, since she is likely to seriously consider it
>Even though the characters we are controlling have no knowledge of this we should still act upon it

Can we have this debate at not Six AM?

>>16115268
We shouldn't ACTUALLY make the offer in earnest. But - it is a brilliant last ditch bluff since it's pretty obvious we're fucked no matter what we do now.

It's either that or try to put her down. And we can still put her down if she doesn't go for it.

>>16115282
>it is a brilliant last ditch bluff
Yeah, on the same level as, "Oh, my bad, I was just looking for the restroom and seem to have gotten lost. I'll just be going now."

Heh, we are so double fucked.

Just run, just up and leave, fucking now!

>>16115291
I would be willing to try that one too.

>>16115255
Not at all, actually. Totally different situations, not in the least because she was a captive.

>>16115291

Let's go one step further and just soil ourselves, shall we?

We are so boned.

>>16115319
Might as well be completely irreverent on the way out.

>>16115310

And now the princess is a captive too.

*Our* captive.

>>16115337
Being who she is, do you really think there is no way she may have raised an alarm?

>>16115342
Then it's already too late and we're fucked no matter what we do.

>>16114922

>>16115342

She might wait to see what we offer her first.

And we offer her ADVENTURE!!

>>16115337
Unless someone is interested in taking her off the groups hands for cash, or the party could live through a hostage situation once Azaladon catches wind of it, that is a BAD idea. The best option so far would be questioning then subduing her. Or just subduing. Was one of the first things suggested also.

>>16115342
Of course she did. We know she's as of this very second in contact with both mommy and daddy telepathically.

This is OOC knowledge.

In character we didn't see her cast any spells or make any threatening action. There is no alarm sounding or guards closing in. There is no reason to assume an alarm has yet been raised.

>>16115353
Great, ever since this got brought up I can't stop picturing us as that group that comes by your keep towards the end of NWN2.

>>16115359

Yes, but then we had a better idea.

So now we bluff, then maybe question her and subdue her.

>>16115337

For WD:

raperaperaperaperaperape

>>16115370
>>16115353
No.

>>16115389
Yes.

>>16115364
Oh wow, I remember them. They were so good. And I loved Shandra's comment about them.

And yeah, looking back through all of the interactions. They kind of are like that.

>>16115364
Can't unsee it.

>>16115364
Fuck.

You give a subtle nod to Valerius and step back slightly, putting your back to the door frame, observing both the hall and the room.

“Sorry, your... highness? I am-” you momentarily fear Val's pride will get the best of him, but he does not use his real name. Luckily, his common sense (or experience with such situations) overcomes his pride. “known as Kyrinov, bard extraordinaire. My comrade here is Tamiel, Sorcerer of the far east, and the old valkyrie there is Hera. We'd just like to ask you a few questions.” Valerius says diplomatically. He sheathes his sword- you'd say it's terribly incautious of him, especially since you are certain the girl is as evil as anything. In an oblivious and ignorant manner, though... Never taught there was a difference, not actively cruel or vile, but... was never taught better, and you can only assume has never stopped to examine things herself. Possibly your least favorite of such things- If you had to, you'd kill her, but you would regret it.

“Well, we're... investigating. Looking for information, if you will. Among other things- I apologize, but I must ask, your heritage looks positively unique. May I inquire as to your bloodline?” Valerius asks politely.

“I... my parents were sorcerers of significant power.” she says. A rehearsed line, you're almost certain. Valerius seems to agree.

“Aww, come on. I don't mean to press, but I- Well, I'm pretty sure that's just the official line, isn't it? 'pon my honor, I do not give a damn if your demon from the deepest pit or an angel from on high, I simply must know. You're the most beautiful princess I've ever laid eyes on.” You have to look away, out into the hall, to keep from letting the princess see you laugh. Not only is the the boldest lie you've ever heard from him (yet one of the most common,) but he uses it on anyone from captain's daughters, to barmaids. To princesses, apparently. It seems to thaw her out a little.

“You ask much for someone breaking into my very study. What do you want?” you glance back to see her groping blindly on the desk behind her, not taking her eyes off of Pasa and Valerius. You see a small dagger on the desk behind her, no doubt the target of her search. You're about to speak up, but Pasa evidently spotted the same thing.

“I apologize, your highness, but I must ask that you do not take the dagger.” he says with half-bow. “I pray you will understand.” She seems to notice Pasa for the first time, giving him an incredulous stare, but after a half second, snatches her hand back to her side.

“Thank you, your highness. If I may inquire, who is 'Cygni-'?” Pasa continues, the epitome of politeness.

“Cygnis is... my servant.” Azyra replies, and evidently guesses the obvious question. “I sent her to bring me- spell components for the spell I was studying. Practicing.” she corrects quickly.

“It was a most exquisite skill you were practicing. You are truly gifted.” Pasa replies “Thank you for the information, your highness.” She's gone somewhat pale, and it's easy to see her blush at the half-elf's compliment. You almost feel sorry for her- Those two have gone to town on woman far more experienced than the poor princess could be. Still, nothing can really happen under these circumstances, so it's not like they'll be taking actual advantage over her. Small favors.

“Now, if you could do me a favor, miss,” Valerius says, “We came here in search of a dragon. Could you tell us about it? I believe it's a Red.” That certainly gets a response. The blood drains from her face completely, and she stiffens at the question.

“No, I cannot.” she says sharply.

“Please, miss, I really must know.” Valerius says, taking a step forward, “It's vitally important.” His hand falls to his saber, and though he remains in 'friendly' mode, she couldn't possibly miss the threat. You are distracted from the next exchange by Reva's week shout. You spin, block an in-expert blow with your hands, knock your assailant down, and twist her arm up behind her back. She goes completely limp, and you almost fear you've knocked her out, somehow.

“I'm sorry, mistress.” she gasps beneath you. Not to you. Out of the corner of your eye, you see the princess give a sharp nod.

“Do not provoke them.”

“Of course, Mistress.” the servant replies beneath you. You release your grip on her arm slightly, and step to one side.

“I'll just go question her down the hall, shall I?” you say mildly.

“Do not... damage her.” Azyra orders. A bold demand for someone in her position. You don't respond, but hear Valeruis assuring her that you won't. True. You pull her down the hall, but almost let her go as your hand brushes the band on her wrist. Pure, unmitigated bliss washes over you, a feeling so alien to you that you reflexively twitch away. Of course, you immediately move to touch it again, but stop yourself in time, merely watching your hand shivering an inch above the metal band. As you do, you notice the dress she's wearing... the golden slave's-dress is made from dragonscale. Gold dragonscale. Sheer revulsion to outweigh the bliss you just felt rises in you. The master of this particular slave is just... sick.

Between the two of them, the truth comes out within fifteen minutes. Kotri can read the runes on the bands. Azaladon. Red dragon. Scinnari. Erinyes. Azyra doesn't know what Cygnis ever did to provoke such wrath from Azaladon. Cygnis is unwilling to tell you herself, and you can't bring yourself to push the poor creature- she's obviously in more... 'pain' than you can imagine. You want to kill the damn princess, but she literally doesn't seem to have a clue what you're upset about. Disgusting.

You return to hear Valeruis requesting information on valuables- Worthwhile tomes or jewels. They seem to have discovered a fair amount, Valerius having pulled out his magic sack and begun stuffing what he can inside it. You hand Cygnis off to Pasa, since the shackles don't seem to affect him, and you don't want to be any nearer them than you have to. Valerius takes your return as an opportunity to step out into the hallway and pack up what remains of the lizardfolks' adamantine armor and weapons. Normally you'd object to him leaving the stripped and mutilated bodies there, but you're too shaken to do so, and suspect they'll get dealt with by their master anyway. Things seem to have relaxed between Pasa, Valerius, and Azyra, or at least wound down enough that they aren't on full alert, and she no longer seems quite as scared.

“I am thinking it would be time to go at this point.” Valerius says from behind you, evidently done looting. "Do you concur, oh glorious leader?"

>>16115676
Time to beat a hasty retreat.

sage

>>16115676
As this paladin, I feel content with the current happenings.

As a long time lurker of this thread, I feel bad.

This is confusing.

>>16115676
Yes. Time to seriously GTFO.

Knock the girl out and bring the servant with us. She's a high level servant and probably knows a lot plus looks like she's being held against her will.

>>16115676
>>16115641
Yes Leave now. Bring Cygnis. Explain to the princess that she is apparently enchanted, and in great great great great pain, at the very least if we can't.

>>16115364
I smell the blood of an englishmen.


That said, time to GTFO.

Lets vamoose! We taking the servant with us or we knocking her out too?

>>16115720
Taking her with the group would be the right thing to do and might net some juicy information eventually.

>>16115704

I'm not sure 'pain' would be the word I'd use to describe what she must be feeling with those bands on her, but...yes, indeed. We can't leave her behind in such a state. But can we trust her not to alert anyone?

in game we should free the salve.

out of game our kindness has doomed us.

>>16115739
Well the only way to ensure she won't tip her master off in her ensorcled state is to knock her out. And even then it's not a sure bet. The bastard could have scrying crystals in the collar or something.

>>16115754

Judging from the pic of her there aren't any noticeable seams either. That, plus enchantment likely means we'll need a disjunct and a blacksmith to get them off- and we have neither.

So...wait. Think we could get Azyra to order her not to give us away?

>>16115740
Well... we don't have to take her per se. We'd feel like a complete heel but, there's evidence that she's under major enchantments. We already have a party member who's down. There's only minutes before we get the full wrath. I... think in this case, we would swear to come back one day to help the poor woman, but recognize that at the moment the best we can do is to survive to ensure that day occurs.

>>16115754
She doesn't seem ensorceled. And our sorcerer can look at the bands and cast some sort of anti-scrying magic if they are. But we can't leave her here, that would just be wrong.

>>16115773
We can just take her back to the disjunction traps. Fucked up our equipment.

>>16115777
>There's only minutes before we get the full wrath.
Why do you say that? No alarms raised or anything like that. Knock out the evil princess and we'll be out before anyone knows we were here.

>>16115793
The guy has magic up the wazoo, it's probably reasonable to assume he put wards around his offspring to ensure that if she had unplanned visitors, he would know

>>16115779

Come now, she swung a punch at us without provocation and immediately followed her 'Mistress' orders. If she's not ensorcelled then she's...well. I hate to think what they've done to her to get her like this.

Time to start running.

Although I'm also pretty sure that we're fucked now, since Azaladon undoubtedly knows and is on his way.

>>16115803
That's silly. If he did that then we never would have made it this far. Or be caught while questioning them.

>>16115782

The physical ones fucked up our equipment.

Still...if we did come across such traps, it might be a way to get the scrying thing off...if there is a scrying thing.

>>16115818
I for one am rather curious on what's keeping him.
This IS his lair, and he IS a sorcerer of some power.

Just what is it that would draw his attention at a time like this?

>>16115836
We were just that good. Sorcerer or not, everyone has limits.

Grab the slave, knock out the princess, then make like a tree and leaf.

>>16115836

Well, presuming he merely has some kind of 'locator' spell, he'd still see his daughter and slave where they *should* be...

...

...Ah shit. >>16115777 is right. We can't take Cygnis with us. As soon as she goes out into the barracks where she's not supposed to be, if there's a locator on her it'll just give us right away. We have to leave her and come back some other time.

>>16115777

Sounds accurate. As un-paladiny as it might sound, I think getting away to report that there's a red dragon ruling this place is more important. We can come back to get Cygnis. She seems to be at least a relatively trusted servant, and fought to protect Azyra, so ensorcelled or not I don't think she would be overly punished. Even evil creatures don't usually kill trusted servants out of hand.

>>16115809
Whoever thought up the sort of torture you'd need is extremely twisted indeed.

How's the servant taking all of this anyway? She didn't seem particularly moved by anything. Of course if she's ensorcelled then that's to be expected.

>>16115809
Well she did mention an Erinyes.

>>16115836
Terrifying thought: He knows, he's there, and he is currently invisible, waiting for the moment to strike.

>>16115857
Stop being so meta.

>>16115890

It's a logical hypothetical. That and I can't remember if we put that one on her; I guess we did given your reaction.

>>16115890
A clever person could reason that up themselves, I'd imagine. It wouldn't be too far-fetched to have some kind of locater on a prized slave, of a crazy sorcerer. Slightly paranoid, maybe, but reasonable.

>>16115914
She is wearing a dress made out of gold dragonscale.
That means she's gotta be significant.

>>16115914
It's a lot easier to reason up when you already know the answer.

The contingency you had planned seems the best bet. You do not want to leave anyone behind, or risk anyone further, and it requires the least actual movement of Reva. Injured as she is she certainly isn't walking out, and you don't think the Valerius got the princess to the point where you could ask her for a healing potion or two. That princess... It takes significant willpower to keep from shouting at the dumb girl.

“Your... slave... is being held in what I can only assume has amounted to literally mind-shattering agony. I can only assume your.. great father kidnapped her for some imagined slight. Probably intending to hold her in such torment the rest of her natural life. On my honor and oath as a paladin of Pelor, I will not allow this.”

“My father does not allow thieves.” She replies. The 'theft' of her servant is obviously causing her more upset than even your original appearance. “He will kill you.”

“He may try. He may succeed. But I'll die doing what's right, by the Sun above.” you answer, turning your back on her. Though you can't see her, you can sense that you've just offended her. Well, good. Maybe she can learn to live with it. “Valerius. Pasa. Time to go.”

“And I beg pardon, but must take my leave.” Valerius says, tipping his battered and scorched hat. “Adventurer's life, and all that. Nothing but travel. Do hope I'll see you around, though.”

>>16115914
Given that we now have some fairly conclusive evidence that there's a red dragon here (whether or not it is Lord Prestor directly, an ancestor, or Prestor is just a pawn), and that dragons can be quite paranoid about their lair, it's probably a reasonable assumption.

Pasa merely offers a bow. “I am afraid I must subdue you, so that we may make our escape. I am sorry for the necessity, and hope you do not mind, or at least, understand.” Pasa says. Perhaps she nods, or perhaps not. You aren't in the room. Regardless, after the short pause, he continues. “I wish you well, your highness. May we meet again someday under more pleasant circumstances.” A few words of spell, and Pasa follows out,

“Val. Your bag.” you demand, pulling something out of your boot. He looks at you quizzically, but offers you the magic bag. “Grab Reva. Get her near the center of this... mess.” you say, regarding the stripped and bloodied bodies on the floor. Aside from the blood, the missing guards, and Azyra's memories, no one will know you were here. That will be more than enough, of course... “Alright, everyone, hold on to everyone else. Val, you might want to grab part of the bag. Pasa, make sure you hold on to Cygnis.” you say after a moment. Valerius still doesn't seem to understand, but obeys, obviously interested in what the hell you're doing. Giving a final glance to everyone, you hold out your hand, and drop the rolled-up portable hole into the bag of holding. There is a sudden wrenching, a gust of wind as everything around is drawn into the astral plane. The wards that can prevent teleportation cannot prevent the cataclysmic reaction from occurring, and you are suddenly one planeshift and a teleportation spell away from safety.

>>16115933
SO it's agreed. We leave cygnis behind.

>>16115938
That's not agreed at all. No, we have to save her. We can't just leave her here to who knows what fate.

>>16115936
>portable hole
>bag of holding
WE ARE THE BEST ADVENTURERS

>>16115938
>>16115936
Oh never mind.

>>16115938
A bit late.

>>16115947
... Seconded. We are the best adventurers.

>>16115957
Thirded.

But who the fuck were we?

>>16115936
Not to go too heavily D&D, WD, but back when we put up our lair wards, I seem to recall that we included a Forbiddance.

"Forbiddance seals an area against all planar travel into or within it. This includes all teleportation spells (such as dimension door and teleport), plane shifting, astral travel, ethereal travel, and all summoning spells. Such effects simply fail automatically. "

http://www.d20srd.org/srd/spells/forbiddance.htm

It isn't just teleportation. Plane shift doesn't work either, unless you're authorised.

>>16115952
Aye I noticed.

>>16115961
The best adventurers.

>>16115962
oh spoilsport. It was in a bag of holding which is technically in another dimension. I think that it works.

>>16115962
Portable hole into a bag of holding is impossible. It is an extradimensional space within an extradimensional space.

IT LITERALLY RIPS A HOLE INTO REALITY.

Azaladon is going to be really, really pissed off at this.

>>16115976
Good. From the looks of things, he's been doing very well being an evil bastard. It's about time someone shook things up.

>>16115976
I was kind of hoping the group would run into him on the way out. Suppose that isn't happening now.

>>16115974
I feel cheated by this too.

Not to mention I thought our traps and wardings were at least vaguely useful. Or that maybe we'd teleport in at some point during all this.

>>16115984
From the sounds of it, I don't think he was home anyway

>>16115985
I thought we were the adventurers though...

shouldn't we be rooting for them at this point?

>>16115976
Actually, it's something a dragon would probably never consider. Hell, it's something most adventurers wouldn't ever consider.

You're destroying/scattering loot and valuable magic items by using it as an escape tactic. To a dragon, that would be destroying your hoard. To an adventurers, that would be destroying the loot.

Unexpected? Yes. Annoying? Yes. Creative? Yes.

>>16115995
I don't even know who I am any more.

I don't even know who THEY were!

I don't understand anything!

Getting rid of namefag. Next thread likely to be on sunday or monday.

>>16115998
Whatever you may say, you have to admit that it has style...
and balls.

WD was very absent in all this.

I feel like I'm the victim of some elaborate troll.

>>16116024
I liked it.

>>16116024
You want an elaborate troll? Read tauquest.

>>16116024
I just hope his penis is alright.

Honestly? I thought when we sacrificed so much to conjure an EPIC WARDING AGAINST PLANER TRAVEL AND TELEPORTATION it would protect against Gates.

Because that's what this does. According to the DMG it creates a Gate to the astral plane that sucks things in. It sort of seems like the sort of thing on the main list to prevent when you create a warding against, you know, planar travel.

>>16116068
Agreed.

I wonder what else we have that's faulty.

>>16116068
Oh quit your bellyaching. Adventurers found a loophole. it's what adventureres do.

>>16115974
>IT LITERALLY RIPS A HOLE INTO REALITY.
You know that is exactly how the spell Gate works too right? And we're protected against that.

>>16116076
But they didn't find a loophole.

This is more like casting an epic spell you worked on for years called Protection Against Weapons and then the DM having a peasant stabbing you to death with a ptichfork. "Oh see, it's a farm tool not a weapon lololol!"

>>16116077
Maybe we can at lest hope for the handwavium explanation next thread.

At least we know not to waste money on more of that shit.

>>16116096
That would be a perfectly valid loophole in my book.
Technically speaking it is not a weapon, ergo it shouldn't apply. It plays hob a little with the definition, but I think I like it more then being just super invulnerable

>>16116096
Also, you crafted a master spell against weapons, but didn't even bother to wear some armor?

Hubris demands you get smacked down in that case

>>16116107
It's inane and ridiculous. What's the point? "Protection against Fire" fails when a dragon breathes on you because "Well see, it's his breath not fire technically."

Epic magic is supposed to be a supreme power that stops gods cold. It is the final arbiter that allows you to say "Nope." to a specific thing. And it took us decades of constant work to be able to eventually cast this particular protection. And then someone can do the thing it's specifically designed to protect against? Like, the EXACT thing it protects against? Just because they use a slightly alternative way of casting it?

I call bullshit.

I'm sure Azaladon can create some wardings that deactivate extradimensional spaces (not all magic or the like, just things like Rope Trick, bags of holding, portable holes and so on) after he hunts down and exterminates the insects who dared to steal what is HIS.

Wait wait wait. Isn't Azaladon able to communicate with his daughter at all times? Shouldn't he have been alerted by all this? I mean, the princess was threatened, or felt threatened at the very least. He should have noticed that.

>>16116112
Hubris here doesn't apply.

We should have ported in the second they they came around, or if all else absolutely failed Azyra would have at least gotten off her ass and told us when they started asking about red dragons. If we weren't around Scinnari could've popped in at least.

I guess everyone else was just in stasis or something.

Right then, first order of business- get our Gold back.

Knowing these guiz' resourcefulness, they might well Planeshift into a scry-shielded area, so we can't totally rely on being able to use our 'locator' in her bands when they Planeshift back to our plane (not that we know that they were going to do that anyway)

Luckily, we DO know that the only way she could have ropped off the radar like that would be from a planeshift, so that gives us a clue- and I imagine there can't be more than 3 ways to Planeshift in an area of an enchantment like we put down, so that really narrows down the list of Planes they could have gone to. Perhaps this is the ONLY way to do it without appropriately powerful counter-epic-magic.

So, our course for the next game is simple enough. Planeshift, locate before a disjunct gets cast (god help us if that happens in the immediate future), then teleport to them and proceed to rape face. We should be able to guess from their looks which plane they belong to as well, if they attempt another shift.

>>16116124
>>16116096
By your own definition the reason why epic magic is so.. epic is because it concentrates on such specifics.

Anyway, I'm sure the OP will be more then capable of explaining whatever doubts you have in the next thread... and I am out of this one, seeing as it has devolved into butt hurt.

>>16116137
You know we could be playing as the adventurer team for a while right?

You may have to get used to think of the red dragon as the antagonist rather then protagonist

>>16116142

Perhaps, but I think WD's going to switch us back after this. It's the perfect time to do so, too.

>>16116137
>(god help us if that happens in the immediate future)

Why? Assuming we did everything right, Cygnis should in fact already be well-trained (she's now in the position of a semi-trusted servant, after all). She's not so much ensorcelled as she is tortured and mindbroken into actually believing that she loves Azaladon and wants to be his property. The dress is just for reinforcement, the bands make a point of ownership, and the amulets etc. are to let us locate her instantaneously.

If anything, it's the paladin and his buddies who should be mindful of what will happen when they pull off the restrictions preventing Cygnis from transforming. Because if they do, they might have an angry gold who wants to kill THEM on their hands.

And I do think Azaladon would be immediately on his way.

>>16116144
>>16116137
Well, I honsetly hope that we stick with these guys for a while. They're a refreshing change of pace. Things were getting, I don't know.. too easy

>>16116142
Eh, a one shot gimmick is fine.
But if we're stuck as these people for a while I'll just do something else until things go back to normal. Not much of a big deal.

Though, I really wish we would have gotten some explanation. WD just kinda of showed up, raped us with this quest, and left lighting a cigarette with only a handle of words to us in between.

You could've called WD!

You could have called...

>>16116150

I don't think we got around to weaning her off her more 'mental' inhibitors. With a disjunct they would be removed, restoring her to full intelligence and, more worringly, wisdom. That may well be enough to make her see just how wrong the viewpoints we've instilled within her are.

Until such a point though, I'm not too worried.

>>16116127
>>16116135
Don't worry about it. There were so many things wrong with this thread I think it will just be quietly swept under the rug soon. Or at least there best be a damn good explanation, like us doing this to stress-test the defenses and purposefully taking down the portion of the epic spell that would protect against the means of exit they used there.

Because that was completely lame. Mind Blank doesn't fail just because the mental probe is psionic rather than arcane or divine and it's just a normal arcane spell. If I recall correctly we had finally gotten our epic wards against teleport and scry up and they should have stopped this cold. And if Azyra didn't contact us then I am going to have to reconsider the thought she might have been oxygen-deprived in the egg.

Also, this really seems to bring to point the fact that everyone that wanted Cygnis dead were completely right. She was taken from us way too easily, and with their seeming powers of plot advancement, there's a decent chance she'll be somehow used against us as well.

Seriosuly though, I was expecting Azaladon to port in at any second and RIP AND TEAR

>>16116151

Well, things aren't easy now! Our base has been infiltrated, our secrets, treasures AND most prized possession stolen, and to top it all off, they KNOCKED OUT our daughter!

Death will be too good for them.

I dont' mind them beating us.

But no matter how you look at this they cheated.
If we were cleverly outsmarted it'd be kind of neat, and we'd know what to shore up. But this?

I don't even know

>>16116158
yeah it sort of felt like he just came back to violate us and lol

we made our lair epic magic protected so it couldnt have this stuff done to it.... I am fine with wd throwing around gm fiat and all but this was just walking in and stomping on our balls while laughing with it

we protected against this and then get raped by it anyway, kinda makes me feel cheated

maybe he was just warming up and will be back to normal next thread..... or there was a good reason.....

I can accept it.

What I won't be able to accept is losing Cygnis, though. I don't care if we have to rope Nehmeska into this, we'll tell her half the story and get Cyg the fuck back.

She's OURS. MINE. MINE MINE MINE.

And what they thought we've done to her won't be half as bad as what we're going to do to them when we get a hold of them.

>>16116165
Yes.

Cygnis dies next game. We can't make ourselves immune to random acts of "lol plot" but at least we can start to contain them. I originally thought that when we had Cygnis deep in our lair under the best wards physically possible in the setting we would at least have some measure of ability to stop something like this.

Guess I was wrong and the only solution is to never have any sort of attachments at all. "I'm a mercenary with no family or friends." type backstory for a D&D games with a sadistic GM style protection.

>>16116203

Jeez, you're really going overboard now. Stop being silly.

We lost this round. Accept it and prepare for the next one.

>>16116203
Honestly? This works for me.
How do we manage this and still keep a horde though?
Not trying to argue, I'm looking for ideas gentlemen.

How can we stay mobile, kick ass, have no outside attachments, and carry all our loot?

>>16116214
Hmmm.

If I recall there was a prestige class that lets you eat your entire hoard and draw power from it. Dragon Ascendant or something like that.

Sure is samefag in here.

>>16116211
Even if we prepare for the next one, if the same shit happens, it won't really matter would it? We prepared to the best of our ability the wards in our lair and that didn't do shit.

>>16116218
I'm liking this. Are there any limits to that?
IS the hoard still retrievable if we want to roll around on some of it every now and then?

This would also helps us stack to other dragons if it makes us stronger.

>>16116227

Well, it was the best defence defence could supply.

But we all know what the BEST defence is: A good offence. And now we've got a nice and personal reason to go FUCK. THINGS. UP.

>>16116227
I guess. But I'm just seeing shades of a player/DM arms race. It's almost started up a couple times already in DQ, but this might be the final pebble on the avalanche.

Worst part is I'm not sure if it's a bad thing. There have been serious problems with keeping anything safe all quest long. Everything from the Binder to Magical Anti-Gate Bypassing Gates seems designed explicitly to have us never have a single thing that can be considered safe at any point in time. Not even our body, mind, or life.

>>16116228
>IS the hoard still retrievable if we want to roll around on some of it every now and then?
Sadly, I don't thing so. On the plus side I think it means we'll never die of old age.

>>16116271
>There have been serious problems with keeping anything safe all quest long.
True THAT.

I thought we were finally okay and a little secure when we got epic magic to prevent teleporting.
>Nope.jpg

Apparently epic magic is able to be bypassed in the area it is designed to be best at by everyday magical items any competent adventurers carry. Who knew?

You guys are over-reacting. This was just a defense stress test by Azaladon himself. That's how they managed to get out like that. WD wouldn't just come in and give us the finger like that for no reason.

>I want to believe ;_;

>>16116228
No, you have to eat the entire hoard and then rebuild from scratch.

On the plus side, when you finish the class (12 levels), you're a rank 0 demigod.

Yeah. Godhood is potentially within our grasp. Exactly the sort of thing we need. Once we have our divine spark, we can begin progressing up the ranks.

>>16116287
At least now we know that epic magic ain't shit and all it takes to defeat the Binder's influence on us is a couple of mid-level magic items.

>>16116353
If we could do this enough and surpass the Binder eventually, maybe we can take away her ability to LOLNOPE us? That'd be really nice. I don't believe we've found any countermeasures against her yet right?

wow, all that time and money spent on anti teleportation/planeshifting wards was completely useless.

I believe we need to eat our magical contractor.

So. Much. Win.

My memory might be hazy so correct me if I am wrong, but didn't we put like bajillion protective enchantments and whatnot on Azyra?
I am pretty damn sure that she has a mind-link or telepathy thingamajig that gives her direct connection to her father?

So why the hell didn't she alert him ... or her mother?

What the hell is this?

Please don't tell me she forgot or decided not to use any of her protections.

>>16117644
That's really my main issue too. The portable hole/bag thing? Meh. It honestly should have been covered by the EPIC warding. That's what epic magic is for, absolute dominion over something. But meh, okay, we'll just have to alter our epic spell a bit to accomodate for this. I guess every system will have at least one flaw.

But Azrya? That's just not making sense. Makes me think that yes, this was planned by Azaladon. Because otherwise she should have been sending out some massive alert signals to mom and dad.

Also,

>Your... slave... is being held in what I can only assume has amounted to literally mind-shattering agony. I can only assume your.. great father kidnapped her for some imagined slight. Probably intending to hold her in such torment the rest of her natural life.
> I can only assume your.. great father kidnapped her for some imagined slight.
>some imagined slight.


I love how WD used this perspective shift to make a jab at all those fucking assholes who made the unimaginable torturing of Cygnis possible. The whole thing was extremely uncomfortable and almost made me drop the fucking quest (even though reading it was one of the most favorite pastimes) and I suspect WD felt the same way too.
>Be helpful and generally nice lady
>LETS KIDNAP AND TORTURE HER FOREVER!


I only hope that we get to kill Scinnari next time so that all the useless waifu-fagging will be over.
(Note: I do not dislike Scinnari but the people who gave her too much attention she never deserved in the slightest)

>>16117724
>all those fucking assholes
We actually like Cygnis a lot and always have. It really is a terrible thing we did, but it's a very Evil Dragon thing too. It's very much within character.

>I suspect WD felt the same way too
Pretty sure you suspect wrong, bro.

>kill Scinnari
HAHA! Oh wow. Tell me another one.

So much asspain.