>>18155557
"A terrible mistake, Mr. Starr..."

Think of the highest level force spell we can, start it around our ship, and then push outward.

>>18155557
Is Ringo staying in one place?
Let's see how he fares against a Disintegrate spell.

We're fighting .. Ringo Starr?

Yeah. Blast him.

"Oh for a quick solution ..."

And if a good solid blasting doesn't do the trick -

>>18155631

Let's Jet!

And if that doesn't work just start tossing grenades and sail out of there.

Slipping out of one battle right into another? We need some breathing room and time to get our bearings.

>mfw other people have taken interest in Kobold Sorcerer Quest

>>18156668
It's more or less this thread's fault:
>>18153270

>>18155746
>>18155631

"A terrible mistake, Mr. Starr." You say, with a flick of your wrist blowing back one side of the horde advancing on you, the second spell you cast in the following seconds filling in the gaps in the wall, save the sky, where the miniature foes that are driven back by the wind swirl upwards, into a thick black cloud of countless glass wings. Just before it descends, you see a crimson orb lobbed into the mass, igniting into a violent blast of flame that melts the glass creatures on impact.

"Oh drat. Suppose I'll have to make some more then." Ringo says, pulling out a few needles. He moves his hand across the top of them, and you see a handful of glass insects made at the end of the pins, though these with a variety of bright yellows, greens and pinks. Each sports a wicked stinger at the end of its body in addition to the exposed metal pin in their midsection.

<<Alright, wind wall keeps the swarm out, but now we can't fire out except upwards.>> Turen's mental message reaches you via the small yellow stone implanted just beneath your skin by magic. You and Tayn look at one another, the tattooed kobold's expression telling you that he too received the message.

<<I'm trained to take down casters, and this guy certainly acts like one.>> Tayn's thoughts answer Turen after a few moments, Ringo casting out the glass wasps with an open hand. <<But if he can just make more, I can't afford to leave. Our defenses need reinforcement. If the crew stays safe, if we can get them a chance to shoot at him, they'll do just as well as I would with so many weapons.>>

The wasps appear to buzz separately around the edges of the shield of wind, each one separate enough that out of the six or seven of them, each one is separate. They hover near enough to the edge of the wind wall that it gives you pause.


"I'm afraid I'm no one-trick horse, contrary to popular thought." Ringo continues, moving his hand in a wide, rapid arc away from a large, engraved pin with a rounded black top. You see violet glass weave itself together out of nothing, almost like muscle and sinew. You watch as the violet glass grows to become a long, flexible tube roughly as large around as one of Starr's arms. With a flick of his wrist, one end of the tube grows and terminates in a box-shaped, rounded head with tiny, red eyes. Starr casts the glass serpent down to the deck the moment it is finished, the creature landing with a loud plunk on the deck and slithering towards your group.

I am interested but hold mother of Hendrix there's a lot of ground to cover. I don't have a handle on the main character yet. I don't even know what we're doing here. We're war, I think I got that. Gonna need a day or three to get my head around all this.

Observations:
a) Drow are the finest form of entertainment known. That's if you approach it unit 731 style. Dudes, we've got some issues. Somebody light a candle, yo.
b) Politics a go-go.
c) Text heavy, slow paced. Not a problem just *very* different for this poster. Takes some getting used to. And it give me an idea but not for this thread, this evening.

>the creature landing with a loud plunk on the deck

"ALL HANDS STAND TO REPEL BOARDING PARTY!"

Let the crew deal with this .. thing.

You know what? Let's play his game. Cast something nasty out there to grapple with him? ( Do we do creature summoning? ) He doesn't have a crew so get him bogged down with a play toy / tar pit then maybe take another shot at the wasps.

( Someone wanna fill in the finer details for that, now's a good time. )

>>18156816
>>18156823
"A creation or a summon; let us see..."

Attempt to cast a creature displacement spell. If it doesn't work, then it obviously isn't something like an Extraplanar Ally or anything. If that fails, message back to Tayn and Turen.

<"He appears to love watching these glass concoctions do the work; I'll try to keep him occupied. I want one of you to find an opening. Disable his hands, if anything.">

Then, raise our prosthetic arm to defend against any attacks by the glass serpent.

>>18156889

Or displace the damn thing back into his lap - he might not be able to fully control it.

( In b4 a displacement fugue of zapping this thing back and forth all over. )

"No one-trick pony show sure - you're quite the professional glass menageriest. Can you do balloon sculpture too?"

( Get him talking, distractions may help here if he's exerting control. )

>>18156845

Here! I will outline some recent important events for you:

1. Searching for the henge was originally a bid for draconic power. Instead, you seem to have found some kind of magical information storage item.

2. During your travel above world for the henge, you encountered a strange moss and trees that seem to have some link to ioun ore, the material that is the cornerstone of the Crystal Cavern's magic technology.

3. Contact with the moss caused your prosthetic right arm, the muscles of which are made of ioun ore, to gain some life of its own.

>to gain some life of its own.

I'll take that to mean we're healing up a bit, rather than pulling a Doctor Strangelove.

Ioun ore's our staple resource, got that.

The magic thumbdrive thing's what we need to concentrate on, after we ditch Mr. Menagerie.

I still think we should get him talking.

>>18156889
>>18156884

"ALL HANDS STAND TO REPEL BOARDING PARTY!" You shout, watching Ringo as he begins creating another creature out of green glass, the creature beginning to take on a humanoid shape, though hunched and with a larger upper body. You begin casting a summoning spell, the extended time the magic takes one of the few reasons you don't do so more often. You target a place behind Ringo's head, where you can feel the walls of reality start to fold as you complete the magic.

Tayn rushes forwards, quickly cutting off the serpent's movement at the edge of the wind wall. The violet creature raises up, a rattling hiss escaping from it as it opens its mouth wide, revealing rows of tiny, needle-sized crimson teeth. Tayn squares off with it for a moment, stepping to either side as the creature begins to close, slowly but surely slithering sideways towards him with its body arched for a strike. He makes a sudden burst of movement, and the snake moves as well in a violet blur for him. You see the kobold move bodily to the right, a full two-step in the time it takes to blink, and the serpent's head plunges towards his left arm, still just within its range as it strikes.

But then, it stops.

Just short of Tayn's left hand, you see the serpent's head, pressed forwards, its glass body almost frozen in the striking motion it made not moments ago. You see Tayn remain almost motionless for a moment as well, the two combatants seeming to pause for a second. Then, you hear a scraping, cracking sound, and see bits of crimson glass begin to crack away against a rippling field in the air. As the serpent presses forwards, Tayn steps back, his left arm moving back as the serpent's head slowly angles itself towards his forearm, the broken fangs growing closer with each passing moment.

Tayn moves backwards a bit more, suddenly moving his left arm backwards as he steps forwards with his right foot, twisting his body away from the serpent's strike as he brings his fist down into the back of the glass creature's head, slamming it solidly into the deck.

Moments later, your spell is completed.

OK, the flow of time here is iffy. Or our conjuration spell is going funky pear shaped with this area somehow. Drawing magic is flattening the battery a bit for everything and everyone here?

Let's see what we hit Ringo with and go from there.

>>18157129

"No one-trick pony show sure - you're quite the professional glass menageriest. Can you do balloon sculpture too?" You say, the summoning spell completing as the air behind him swirls into a partially humanoid form, its body shaped by dust and grit in the air. As the air elemental finishes forming, you note that against the nearby human's size, the elemental looms at nearly three times his size, as the gargoyle-like statue he works on is completed.

"Always with you critics. I'll show you how I deal with critics." Ringo says, as the air elemental's arm raises. It slams down, and you feel unable to hide your grin as the unaware Starr fails to move out of the way.

A second later, as the elemental's arm connects, your smile disappears. It doesn't connect with Starr, but with something behind him. Something invisible.

"Oh, was that what you thought was going to work?" Ringo taunts, gesturing behind himself as the air elemental is restained by some unseen force, the summoned creature's mutable form shifting wildly in its invisible assailant's grasp.

>>18157514
"Not bad..."

If he wants to have a force grapple with the elemental so close, then we'll give him something to worry about. Dismiss the elemental in the most brilliant display possible; basically, make it into a bomb.

OK, lack of familiarity with the system ( Pathfinder? ) means I can't give us a crunch based solution. Continuing to wing it ...

Some ideas:

a) Send the elemental after the glass wasps. Ball's in his court now, maybe he'll drop the wall.

b) Can we drop our field temporarily? Let only a few of the blighters in. If he commits his forces piecemeal we could wear him down grinding his creatures. Combine with "a" would be good.

c) Um, why isn't the crew shooting him? That would give the elemental time to swat flies.

"Grasping at air's all well and good but it lacks a certain art."

>>18157682

a) The elemental is currently being held, so it may have a harder time following orders.

b) It's either active or inactive unless you can find a way to suppress it or un-suppress it with various effects, including anti-magic fields.

c) The wind wall blocks normal projectiles, like arrows and bullets, in addition to fending off the swarm. It's both ways, naturally.

>>18157578

You ready a spell, the energy hissing between your fingertips as lightning pours from your palm, stray arcs connecting with the deck as you hold the spell long enough to finish aiming. "Grasping at air's all well and good, but it lacks a certain art." You punctuate your sentence with a blast of lightning straight into your own elemental, the creature exploding in a mass of wandering fingers of bright blue electricity, Ringo nearly dropping his current work as he ducks, the electricity wrapping around the invisible assailant that remains, attempting to pass through it with only moderate results. As it does, the creature's form becomes visible, almost as though the lightning is stripping away the illusion. You see a floating humanoid slightly larger than Ringo, its body coated in glistening transparent glass, and the featureless head turns, exposing a pair of compound red eyes and a series of gas vents where the creature's mouth should be.

"What is that?" Turen says, shouting over the thunderous sounds of the last bit of energy in your chain lightning spell.

"Oh, yes." Ringo says, looking down at you. "I forgot to mention. My Stand." He gestures behind him, and the floating figure turns, waves of color fluctuating beneath its clear armored skin, shimmering against the creature's taut glass muscle. "A Day in the Life."

"Your what?" You ask, caught off guard for a moment.

"Well, not sure why I mentioned it honestly." Ringo says, straightening his shirt as he stands and pulling another needle from beneath his collar, this one small and red, much like the glass serpent's teeth. "Not as though you'll be keen enough to figure it out before you're ended."

Well, thank you reading public. I'll be on for a time longer, but I shall be running all tomorrow as per usual. It's a different format from other quests, I agree, but it lets me accomplish things in the day aside from entertaining you folks. And I should still be on for Friday as well.

>>18158289
If only we could cast Time Stop...

"Marvelous; though, from the looks of it, it is just a glorified familiar." Taunt him a bit. "His form is rather....pale, however."

Start preparing a shatter spell for whatever he would happen to throw in our way, whether it's another glass construct or his stand.

>>18158357

"Marvelous. Though, from the looks of it, it's just a glorified familiar, right?" You see Starr's jaw clench. "His form is rather... How should I put this..." You tap a finger on your chin a few times, pretending to be thoughtfully considering. "Ah, yes. Transparent."

"Bloody lizards never appreciate art." Ringo Starr says, turning and plunging the needle into his stand. The pin disappears into its body, finally emerging from its back. Its bod begins to twist and writhe, and it seems to cringe in pain as its transparent skin boils and melts. You see the glass bake before your eyes, in seconds, almost all of the smooth glass on the creature's body replaced by coils of glass muscle that still steam with heat, its upper torso, pelvis, and face remaining largely unaffected, except that the glass in those areas is now a stark white. Its nearly featureless face is punctuated by bright blue eyes.

On the ground, Tayn smashes the snake's head against the deck, shattering it and causing the creature's movement to cease as the top-heavy gargoyle waddles forwards, a massive arm swiping just above his head as he steps back, ducking. You toss a bolt of lightning Ringo's way, but the stand is quite suddenly in front of him, its body absorbing and redistributing the brunt of the attack.

"You're none too bright, are you? Glass doesn't conduct electricity!" Starr laughs, his stand slowly unclenching its fists as it begins moving once more, now lower to the ground, towards you.

"Watch it!" Tayn shouts, dodging the sculpted gargoyle's dogged, rapid attacks as it attacks in a scrambling fury of smashes into the deck, its thick glass arms sending splinters flying as it splits the wood.


"I just had that clean, you sonuva drider!" The normally quiet captain shouts, opening fire on the gargoyle as its pursuit brings it fully past your wall of wind. The bullets slam into its glass hide, sending cracks down its arm. It pauses for a moment, looking over at the captain, and then springs.

You curse, feeling the energy of the normally simple spell fluctuate as you pour more power into it, and send it into the gargoyle, a loud crack sounding as angled lines appear through its semi-transparent body, and it crumbles into large chunks of glass not a moment later.

As you suspected, when you turn your attention back to it a minute later, the Stand is directly in front of you, its almost blank face menacing with unfeeling cold glass eyes.

Morning bump

>>18160255
Someone bumped before me.

>>18158581
>>18158610
"Oh dear...."

If we can't dodge, then punch it with our prosthetic. If we can't punch it, brace ourselves for the incoming rape.

>>18161318
Bump once more!

Soon.jpg

>>18161318

You slam your fist into it, the attack connecting with little effect. The stand's fist goes to its back, where you see it pull the crimson needle that Ringo was using. Its red surface is dotted with engravings and symbols, and the end of it on one side has a simple black stone. You see the stone glow a virulent green as the stand readies the spiked end of the huge needle, and you feel an unbearable dread come over you as the stand's hand suddenly descends.

But instead, when you hear metal impact, it isn't on your body, but on the stand's. It drifts backwards slightly as a great metal blade crosses its face, the force of the impact causing it to turn off to one side. The head of the great axe drifts in the air for a moment, before Goraskok raises it to rest on one shoulder for a moment. "Hey, get ahold of yourself." The big kobold says, his muscles tensing as he prepares for another strike at the stand. The stand turns, its mask-like face now sporting a thick diagonal scar clean across the middle. Goraskok strikes twice more, quickly, as you take a hurried step back, but the stand seems not to feel any pain as its muscle-like glass is torn into by the weapon. The stand backhands Goraskok, catching him by the upper arm and the face as he makes for a third strike. The blow sends him spinning through the air, the burly kobold landing with a crash as his axe spins from his hands across the deck. He does not appear to be conscious.

"Fire! Fire!" Irkas shouts, and you keep your head down low as sparks begin to fly from bullet after bullet impacting Ringo's stand. You hear the soft tapping of the spent bullets hitting the deck after striking, and you note that despite a few scratches, the stand is virtually unharmed.

"Well, looks like your plan was a bust. Why not accept defeat gracefully!" Ringo growls, clenching a fist. You see the wasp constructs, all but forgotten, begin moving up over your screen of wind.

>>18164142
>>18164156
"I don't surrender to hacks!"

If the stand is distracted, press our hand against it and give a sonic blast straight to wherever the cracks are the greatest.

"And I sure as hell won't surrender to some pieces of junk!"

>>18164492

"I don't surrender to hacks!" You say, using the time your words buy you to complete a spell. Your hand shakes as energy resonates through it. "And I sure as hell won't surrender to some pieces of junk!" You slam your fist into the stand's body, where a number of small marks have been made by your allies' bullets, and the stand's body vibrates like a tuning fork when struck, and spider-webbed cracks form around where your punch impacted, the stand reeling backwards in pain.

"Hack? I've heard worse, to be honest." Ringo responds, motioning downwards as his glass hornets descend. "But, shouldn't you be watching your own back as well?" The glass insects twist in their flight with Ringo's hand, all barreling down towards you.

"Watch it!" Tayn shouts, half a second before barreling into you with a tackle that carries you away from where several of the hornets strike down into the wood of the ship's deck, sticking up by the needles in the bottom of their bodies. The rest of the crew continues firing on both the stand and the glass insects, though a few of the bullets whiz past them into the screen, being blown straight upwards by the force of the wind.

Tayn is back on his feet a moment later, and helps you up with a heft of his arm under yours. "Come on, old timer."

>>18164873
"Thanks Tayn, though I have a plan..."

Tell him to fight the stand with its newly fresh wounds as we pretend to be injured. Ringo will hopefully be distracted as we try firing another spell at him this time without a stand to protect him.

>>18164951

"Thanks Tayn, though I have a plan..." You say, messaging him the rest.

"Gotcha." Tayn responds, rushing at the stand. It makes a remarkably quick swipe at Tayn, who blocks the attack with one arm, the tattoes on his arm shining a bright white as he moves just as quickly to slam his fist into the cracks in its midsection where you struck the stand. You hear cracking come from the stand once again as shards of glass from its body drop to the ground, and the stand's retribution is a kick powerful enough to lift Tayn off the ground. However, he remains stuck to its leg, his arms wrapped around his floating opponent's limb. As the stand whips its leg downwards in an attempt to shake Tayn off, he releases his grip, and the force of the stand's motion causes it to lean forwards just enough that Tayn's arm wraps around its neck. Despite being carried by the creature, Tayn whips his body around its head as it struggles to take him off of it, and twists, bringing the stand down into the deck headfirst while still in a headlock with a mighty crash.

"Holy hell. That's never happened before." Ringo speaks in surprise, only now seeming to notice your absence from the group on the ground. He looks around from on top of the large glass bird, leaning over the side for a moment.

"Wait'll you see this." You say, fading into view from atop the back of the bird. Starr turns around, shocked. A blast of flames erupt from your hand, engulfing Starr, the bird, and yourself in a red-hot ball of fire.

>>18165862
Burn, baby, burn.

You cough, the scent of scorched glass in the air. It has been a while since you did something so reckless. Your fireball did manage to penetrate your defensive spells, and from the feel of things, you may have broken the creature you were standing on and fallen to the deck. To be honest, you can't remember. But the look on that bastard's face...

The rest of the world comes swirling back in a mass of flame and the feeling of something sticking to your back. You go to push yourself up, realizing as your hand sticks to the floor that your are laying in a pile of molten glass. You see the others at the edge of the pile of glass, looking down at you awkwardly as none of them are quite capable of reaching you. Your spell still protects you from the heat as you get up, the glass sticking to you as you stumble out of the pile.

"You alright?" Tayn asks, handing you the red pin that was in Ringo's stand. Looking around, Ringo is nowhere to be seen, and none of the broken glass creatures on the deck seem to be animate.

>>18166526
Grasp the needle in our hand. "Tayn, we're going to do some more on-the-job research..."

Turn to the captain. "Account for the wounded and prepare to set sail; we can't stay here for much longer."

Usher Tayn to our cabin and remove the scrying pool, using Ringo's pin as the focal item of our search. "Tayn, as I'm sure you know, I don't take too kindly to people who attack me; if we can't find him immediately, we will definitively invest finding him. Be quick to forgive but not forget..."

>>18166640

"Tayn, we're going to do some more on-the-job research." You pat him on the shoulder before turning to the captain. "Account for the wounded and prepare to set sail; we can't stay here for much longer."

"Right." The captain says, looking over at the pile of molten glass. "Repair boys will have a hell of a handful with that, I can tell." He looks over at Van Skewer, who grins at him uncomfortably, shakes his head and walks up to the helm.

Using Ringo's pin as the focal item of your search, you begin preparing a scrying spell. "Tayn, as I'm sure you know, I don't take too kindly to people who attack me; if we can't find him immediately, we will definitively invest finding him. Be quick to forgive but not forget."

"Right." Tayn responds, observing the swirling gray gas that seems to hover behind the mirror's reflection. "This is a good time to do that then. I have no idea how he got out of your fireball. I was busy getting hit." He rotates his right arm, wincing a bit. "I wish it had been made of something softer. Why can't we fight something made out of pillows once in a while?"

The mirror shifts to show a somewhat scorched Ringo, suspended in a crystalline field of force in a gray-brick room, the surroundings past a certain distance cut off by the boundaries of the mirror. After a few moments, a dark-haired man in a black suit walks up to Ringo, and you only catch sight of the back of his head. He takes out a small book and a pencil, and begins making notes.

"I hate bad angles on scrying." Tayn says.

>>18167115
"We'll have to make due; commit enough of this scene to memory. We may need to reference it one day..."

>>18167272

"We'll have to make due; commit enough of this scene to memory. We may need to reference it one day."

The man turns a moment later, and you can see that his appearance is superficially similar to Ringo's but his face is clean shaved and his hair shorter. He wears a white shirt beneath with a black tie. He replaces the book in his jacket, looking somewhere away from the suspended Ringo. "Got him just as he got dealt with." He says, and you hear someone further away from the two respond.

"Well, keep him under for a while. I don't even want to look at him right now."

The man laughs, leaning back against the barrier suspending Ringo in the air and putting his hands in his pockets. "Well, maybe we should have sent you along with him then."

"Funny." The other voice responds, causing the man to laugh quietly to himself.

"You know," The man speaks after a few moments, "John's been in Sacrasmar for a while now. Shouldn't he be here helping with-"

"And what?" The other voice interrupts. "Leave the operations there to who? That Prodigy nitwit?"

"Well if you need something burned, I suppose." The man responds, tapping on the field around Ringo. "So what did you replace him with?"

"One of those ghastly glass sculpts of himself he left about. Considering what he got hit with, it didn't even leave anything unusual behind."

The man sighs, grinning as he pats the suspended Ringo once for good measure. "Well he's out of our hair for a while until your stand does its thing. What shall we do till then?"

"Anything besides stand in this dull room. Maybe hit the beach."

The man shakes his head. "You're such a kidder, George."

>>18168858
Begin scrawling down notes about their conversation for later use. Then, cancel the scrying.

"Sacrasmar....does that ring any bells with you, Tayn?"

Will be back in an hour. But got most of post done.

>>18169494
OP, my OP; where art thou!

Hiking back from Denny's.

>>18169335

"Sacrasmar... Does that ring any bells with you, Tayn?" You ask as the man on the scrying monitor leaves, and you end the spell. Tayn puts a tattooed hand to his chin.

"Hmm... I believe that's the name of the continent the Tengu come from. Its existence isn't widely known." Tayn points out one window of the boat, towards the bay not far off from the marshland and river. "South is that way up here. Also that way is a place called the Sea of Storms. It's so fierce that no ship has made it through to explore in that direction. It can be reached by underworld passages, however." He nods to himself. "I guess that's one more to thank the drow for. They hired a few tengu assassins, they called themselves ninja. I got to talk with them for a while, so I know quite a bit on the topic." Tayn's finger rises from his chin to point to the ceiling. "If we find some tengu, they'll know the passage. But their clans force them to keep it a secret."

"Why's that?" You respond. Tayn shrugs.

"Something about not wanting to have to fight a war on even more fronts. Sacrasmar is currently being warred over by a large number of tengu clans, and it's a very chaotic time." Tayn continues, looking over at the now normally reflective mirror as his eyes make their way around the room. "It has a number of island chains dotted around its coast where humans live, and a few lesser known races as well, like the kenku. Apparently, the human kingdoms are as powerful as any of the clans, just less numerous."

>>18171555
"Most interesting...a war here in the Crystal Caverns and a tumultuous period in Sacrasmar. On top of that, some bowl-headed glass wielding tout assaults us on our own ship. Most peculiar, wouldn't you say, Tayn?"

Give a quick check of how much of that root we managed to keep a hold of during all that fighting. Hopefully we have enough to begin replanting.

"Tayn, would you check with our resident herbalist to make sure that she has recorded sample soils from this region. And be quick about it; no telling exactly how much longer we'll be staying here."

Start cleaning up the cabin.

"Oh, and Tayn; you did good today. Very good."

>>18171667

"Most interesting... A war coming here in the Crystal Caverns and a tumultuous period in Sacrasmar. On top of that, some bowl-headed glass wielding tout assaults us on our own ship. Most peculiar, wouldn't you say, Tayn?" You ask, prestidigitating some of the glass remaining from your landing spot off of your clothes. You reach into your pocket and pull out some of the moss. Practically unharmed. You feel your hand gently close around it, not so much controlling as urging.

"You think there's some sort of connection?" Tayn responds, crossing his arms. "Yeah, me too."

You share a look of frustration with him. Even with all you know, it's still not enough. "Tayn, would you check with our resident herbalist to make sure that she has recorded sample soils from this region. And be quick about it; no telling exactly how much longer we'll be staying here." You set an unseen servant to begin cleaning up the cabin as Tayn heads for the door. "Oh, and Tayn; You did good today. Very good."

Tayn looks back, a bit caught off-guard. "Thanks. You... Uh... You did well too."

"Except the part where I knocked myself out." You say.

Tayn grins. "Yeah. That was pretty cool though." He laughs as he heads out the door.

>>18173046
Well, if we're not under attack and the cabin is looking cleaned up and ready for departure, head outside to speak with the formerly stranded doctor Van Skewer and present him with a deal. You helped us, so we'll help you; we can't do much for you crew, but what we can do is get you to safety so that you can begin finding a way to return to your home plane.

"Well, Dr. Skewer, you are at a cross-roads; thankfully, it can be shared with allies, no?"

As for the captain, overlook whatever repairs are required for the ship. Use our remaining allotment of spells to make the process as seamless and tidy as possible.

"The ship looks like it's taken quite the thrashing; still, she's quite sturdy, even after all that abuse."

Finally, speak with Turen and the rest of the crew and congratulate on keeping the line in the face of such adversity.

"Men, I am proud to call you all comrades; now, our work is not done as we're hardly out of the woods yes. Come on; double time! I'm a little tired of this swamp...too wet."

I'm heading to bed, OP. See you tomorrow.

Morning...er, afternoon bump.

>>18173164

As your legion of invisible servants finishes the work on the room about a half hour later, it finally looks something like the state it was in when you boarded nearly a week ago- If you ignore all the scratches on the windows and the outside of the door from those swarms of glass creatures. You head up to the upper floor, where Van Skewer sits in one of the larger cabins originally intended for four people on a single huge hammock. You note that it actually looks too big for him, and he appears nearly rolled into a ball in the center of the canvas.

"I say," He begins as you head in the open door, "This has to be the largest hammock I have ever had the- urmph!" Van Skewer attempts to rise, his sitting up motion swaying the hammock just slightly. "Pleasure of- erp! Staying in." He gives up after a fruitless second attempt, swaying about. "I think I will keep staying in it, then. Just so comfy, wot."

""Well, Dr. Skewer, you are at a cross-roads; Thankfully, it can be shared with allies, no?" You ask, and the swaying dynavik grimaces slightly, although you're still figuring out whether that's a grimace or a smile.

"Actually... I'm afraid 'Doctor' is just a title. One that I may have exaggerated slightly." The raptor-like humanoid rolls backwards out of the hammock, landing on his feet on the ground in much the same ball shape he occupied the hammock in. He rises, pushing up the hammock with one hand. "Never did care much for school. Bunch of talking heads who never do more than talk."

"I don't care about titles." You respond. "It's more important to evaluate a person based on their merits, not some word meant to make them sound important."

Van Skewer appears surprised. "But aren't you the... Erm... Chancellor of where you come from?"

"My title of head magistrate is more like a job position." You say to Van Skewer. "I doubt any other nation would respect it except out of politeness. At least, as things are right now."

Van Skewer points over at his gun, where it stays leaning on the wall. "Well, I suppose gaining respect is what those are for, eh?" He smiles, a bit unnervingly. You can tell he doesn't get what you were talking about at all.

"Anyway, what about going back home? Aren't you a bit worried that you might not be able to get back?" You ask Van Skewer. He makes a dismissive gesture.

"Oh, well that Alkari gent with the glass creatures was here as well, so it can't be too far off!" Van Skewer points out the window in the room across from his. "The topography's off, but no creatures made of tentacles or whatever rot about other worlds. I may still even be on the same plane!" He seems to temper his confidence slightly. "Far off, I'd expect."


"You recognized where the man who attacked us was from?" You ask Van Skewer quickly.

"Oh, of course! Can't you hear the similarity in accent?" He asks you. Now that he mentions it, the two do have similar speech patterns, (Though Van Skewer's incessant colloquialisms threw you off at first) which means they may well both be speaking the same language, just through a magical translation like tongues.

really sorry to just randomly ask this, but... how do lineguns work? as in the science behind them. I was thinking about using them in an upcoming campaign.

>>18176856
>>18176872
"Really? Does the name "Sacrasmar" mean anything to you?"

"Perhaps you would mind telling me more about your home-territory? Exactly /what/ is your place of origin?"

>>18176909

Lesse if I can pull up what I have on them:

"Lineguns are advanced weaponry that utilize the properties of electricity to fire a long tube of hard metal at a foe. The creation of these weapons requires magical batteries that can hold and release electricity. The electricity runs along a line of iron down either side of the chamber and simultaneously vaporizes the icy propellant inside the bullet. The gas propels the bullet forward into the electrical field, which amplifies the speed at which the projectile is traveling. While not incredibly aerodynamic, the speed at which the bullet flies makes it travel a decent distance despite its unusual shape."

>>18177019

"Really? Does the name "Sacrasmar" mean anything to you?" You ask Van Skewer.

"No. Why?" He responds, his face blank of emotion.

"Well, I suppose that would have been too easy." You mutter. "Perhaps you would mind telling me more about your home territory then? Exactly what is your place of origin?"

Van Skewer sighs. "Oh, it's beautiful! A huge city, covered in smokestacks, the people tripping over one another trying to get to work, and the wilderness for miles around." A veil of nostalgia falls over the saurian explorer's face. "But downtown Luntan was truly what stole my heart, just before a pickpocket stole my wallet. The people, the pubs, the atmosphere pleasantly drifting through the street."

"Name of the territory, please." You say, before Van Skewer gets any more caught up in his own memory.

"Oh, yes. It's Alkarion." Van Skewer shrugs. "Though as the Alkar are keen to remind us, my people originally come from one of the territories now controlled by the Glaszeer Empire, called Irkamk."

>>18177465
>>18177581
"And what was the state of your world? Tumultuous? Stable?"

We're trying to see if there would be any known organizations or countries that would fit our attacker's description. If it doesn't ring any bells, we know enough that we're practically dealing with some sort of Illuminati organization....who enjoy signing silly songs.

>>18177651

"And what was the state of your world? Tumultuous? Stable?"

Van Skewer thinks to himself for a minute, studying the ceiling. "A bit of both, I suppose. The Norgs have their hands full with the Trathskan League at the moment, and the threat of Murnath invasion ceased years ago when the Korians gave them a proper thrashing at the Battle of the Skulls." He nods. "So I'd say it's fairly stable."

"I'd say the opposite. Sounds like everyone is fighting with each other." You respond.

Van Skewer raises a finger sagely. "Well, as an old Alkari saying goes, 'Things will be much calmer once everyone's dead.'"

I really need to catch up on this quest

>>18177876
"I suppose; still, did that Ringo fellow ring any bells? Perhaps you've seen similar magic in your travels? None of us on this ship have ever seen arcane power in quite that form..."

>>18178096

"I suppose; Still, did that Ringo fellow ring any bells? Perhaps you've seen similar magic in your travels? None of us on this ship have ever seen arcane power in quite that form." You ask, and Van Skewer immediately begins studying the ceiling. You feel a tinge of excitement. Has he actually seen something of that kind before?

"What was it he did again? Blowing... Glass... Balloon animals?" Van Skewer slams a fist into his palm, grinning. "He was a clown, right?"

"HOW DO YOU NOT REMEMBER?! IT WAS LESS THAN AN HOUR AGO!" You shout, causing one of the crew passing by to jump in surprise. You sigh, the sailor casting you a surprised glance as he hurries away, avoiding further eye contact with you. "I mean, that magic he was using-"

"Oh, that." Van Skewer shakes his head. "Well it wasn't some sort of spell or something. My arcanograph would have picked that up straight away, and then I would have begun blowing the spell to tiny, tiny pie-" Van Skewer begins saying, indicating that his monocle is the "arcanograph" before looking off in the direction of his gun and coiling his hands together, grinning devilishly.

"Wait. How was that not a spell? Animate object!" You say, pointing in his direction. "If that can identify spells, that was an easy one."

Van Skewer seems to snap out of his personal thoughts. "Oh, certainly not. He was capable of animating enough sculptures to create swarms of them. You'd need thousands, maybe tens of them, to make just one. Even for a master artisan, or someone with magical construction capabilities, that could take days or weeks." He clenches a fist. "But, when you destroyed them, the blighter barely batted an eyelash." You think on what an eyelash is for a moment, as Van Skewer walks over to the window. "Having known a few artists, a surefire way to upset them would be to smash their art. And at the speed at which he created those glass sculptures, even the best spell I can think of, major creation, takes far longer." He looks back at you, tilting his head to one side. "That flying window with him seemed to respond to his commands as well, though much better than those simple sculpts."

"You really don't remember what they looked like, do you?" You mutter as much to Van Skewer as to yourself.

>>18178540
>>18178550
"Very well; did you detect any bends in space during the fight with your instrument? Perhaps he had those creatures of his pre-made and stored away? A bag of holding, a portable pocket dimension, or anything, really."

>>18178577

You are honestly a bit taken aback at Van Skewer's insight. "Very well. Did you detect any bends in space during the fight with your instrument? Perhaps he had those creatures of his pre-made and stored away? A bag of holding, a portable pocket dimension, or anything, really."

"No, those would have been obvious portals, extradimensional spaces and whatnot, which I would have collapsed with this," Van Skewer reaches into his pocket, pulling out a pulsating green musket ball. Light emanating from it illuminates the room in sickly green light.

"What the hell is that?" You ask Van Skewer.

"Oh, it's a radioactive isotope brought to a specific vibration that co-ordinates with that of an extradimensional portal." Van Skewer says, his eyes seeming to glaze over in the vibrant green light as he turns the bullet over in his clawed hands, grinning ever so slightly as his pupils begin to dilate. "The resulting explosion rending and tearing flesh and bone, the screams horrendous and wondrous all at once, yes..." He brings the bullet closer to his face, his smile growing as the bullet nears his blunted nose. You think you see his eyes flash green for an instant.

>>18178698
Squint cautiously. "Professor Skewer?"

>>18178774

"Professor Skewer?" You say, cautiously.

"Yes, but there was no such portal so I didn't." Van Skewer says in a normal tone, unceremoniously dropping the glowing musket ball back into his coat pocket. The light vanishes from the room. "And with that wall of wind in the way, the sweet little orb of death wouldn't have reached its target. A pity."

>>18179112
Cross our arms behind our back. "Yes; his defenses were most troubling. Anyway, I appreciate your knowledge on the subject. You are free to return to your hammock, if you desire. I trust you don't have regrets leaving this area for safety?"

>>18179307

"Yes; his defenses were most troubling. Anyway, I appreciate your knowledge on the subject. You are free to return to your hammock, if you desire. I trust you don't have regrets leaving this area for safety?" You ask the now more lucid Van Skewer.

"Oh, no, I'm fine with leaving. The chaps seem to be able to handle themselves quite well in their new forms, and given time I shall certainly be able to find them again with the aid of a powerful magician such as yourself- If it wouldn't be too much trouble, of course." Van Skewer catches himself as he stumbles over to the canvas bed. "Stupid mutation! I shall have to find a polymorphing solution for it, I suppose. Nothing more to do about it."

>>18179509
"Indeed; rest well, doctor."

Now, let's go speak with the captain about the repairs on deck.

"Captain! How fares our fair lady of the waters?"

>>18173164

You join the men up top and use repairing spells to mend parts of the ship back together. You smirk. A wizard could never do this. That smug bastard...

You drop the rope you were mending on the deck. You just thought of him. Is he here?

You look around the deck, silently evaluating the area. You were a scout, after all. Your senses are pretty good. They're even better after you've quickened a see invisibility spell, looking around quickly. Nothing. You sigh. Maybe even thirty is old. You're already jumping at shadows.

You sit down on a barrel, leaning back and putting your hands behind your head. It has been a long day, hiking, trials, and being attacked by all sorts of crazy things and people. For now, just a quick rest.

You close your eyes, feeling your muscles relax. You don't like to lean on office, but you doubt anyone will say something because of your position. You hear a couple of laughs, and smile. You can stand being laughed at, as long as it's something good-intended like this. You feel your spirits rising, and rising, and rising...

But the rising feeling feels... Odd.

You open your eyes, seeing the night sky above you. The sail seem awfully... Close.

You sit up, looking down to see the deck, and the ship, twenty feet beneath you. The barrel floats, wavering for a moment before sharply tipping you backwards, and you fall, breathless as your knee hits your solar plexus. It feels propelled by some sort of force. You coil up into a stunned ball, falling back into the icy cold pond, falling headfirst into the depths. You float for a short time, your body shocked at the cold for a moment, before you feel the cold increase sharply, and feel your movement restricted. Your right arm struggles, thrashing about the little that it can under the circumstances, and you feel its panic at the sudden entrapment. Your eyes open, nictitating membranes protecting your eyes from the ice that surrounds you. You can see nothing out of the aerated water around your position, can't move, and don't have a breath to cast your spells.

You feel the icy cage surrounding you rise for a moment, then fall. It shatters, sending you headfirst into the deck, huge chunks of ice shattering off of you. You gasp for air, prone, coughing up some of the frozen water in your lungs.

"Mynthar, Mynthar, how disappointing. You were so easy to find this time you might as well have been the sun." You hear a mocking voice, that of a kobold you know very well. You look up, seeing a ruddy-skinned kobold with a silver crown and an emerald colored jacket appear in front of you. His body is covered in a black, pinstriped robe, and his hands covered in simple silver rings. Between the metal-covered fingers in his left hand, he holds a black ivory staff topped with a lapis lazuli gem, about four feet tall in all, compared to his rather average height of 3'6".

You know because you've checked. You've made sure everyone knows what he looks like.

The smug, brick colored eyes have a few more wrinkles framing them now, but he hardly looks older.

"Jurik." You growl, the ice in your lungs causing your breath to rattle.

The kobold strides forwards, calmly leaning on his staff. "Come now, admit your defeat. This was as simple as penetrating your mental defenses while you were still chatting with that otherplanar creature." He gestures out to the crew. "And none of them could tell who I was disguised as, either."

"Because you lied to them." You hack up some of the water, and feel your breath returning.

"Now, now." The kobold kneels down next to you, patting you on the arm. "I will disguise my appearance, but I will never lie. I said where I got on board. I told them I was a jack of all trades. Both are true." He puts a hand on your arm.

"More like," You cough, swatting his hand away. "Jack of ill trades."

"Cute." The tone switches for a moment, the snappier, sharp tongue you remember. "Now admit defeat."

"Never." You say, sticking your tongue out at him.

The kobold crouches down, his knee pressed atop your left shoulder as he punches you solidly across the face, and you feel the world swim once again as a sharp pain in your jaw flares up. Again, and again, and again.

You hear some of the crew shouting, rushing over.

"No! Stay back!" You shout, wasting your breath on a warning instead of a spell.

Jurik punches you, speaking as he does so. "Ah, Mynthar." His fist grinds across your forehead. "Ever the people's," A fist to the end of your nose crushes cartilage, "Shield." A cross to your left temple.

You lay there, battered and beaten, as the kobold gets back off of you. He stands there for exactly ten seconds.

"There. Now it is done." Jurik calmly takes up his staff, which had remained in perfect standing even as he attacked you.

"Fuck off." You spit, feeling warm blood trickle down the front of your face.

"Now, now. You have your duties, I have mine. What say we put all that aside now that I've proven my superiority once again." The kobold's eyes light up, a sadistic grin on his face. "After all, we have so much to catch up on. It's been a long time, little brother."

End Chapter 9

>>18180687
Promotions! Thanks for the thread, OP.