Ra’iik balls a fist and steps infromt of the group. (Of course I know who this is, but he doesn’t hehe)

“Stop. Who are you and how do you know who we are.” He says, in a stern voice, looking her dead in the eyes. 

Insight: 23

OU812 calls up various recognition subroutines, searching through large databases of facial features, trying to identify who this newcomer is.  "Miss Stella, is that you?"

"Well, that's insulting. Astrid and I programmed you, you tin can. Who the **** is Stella?" the woman says to OU812, slightly offended. "You must of been bashed up pretty bad."

She turns to Ra'iik. "I am Cora." she says. "I was paid a LOT of money by a benefactor to see if you guys would be here at this certain place and time." she makes a face as if she just heard something unbelievable. "Looks like you are. Well, I just lost a bet. Anyways, since you're here, you'll notice that Waterdeep, and..well, the rest of the planet, has been annihilated."

She walks over to Nim and with a mighty heft, lifts up the debris that smashed him, kneels down, and begins repairs on him.

"Don't worry, though." she says casually. "I work for..a group..of people, you could say, that don't particularly appreciate the fate that this particular world has suffered. So, I was the lucky one chosen to return here and to deliver a message to people of your description - I was actually pleased for a moment to know I know two of you - and hand you something very special to try and..correct..this possible future."

She turns to look at you all, not really caring one way or another.

"Interested?"

"How can we trust you? How do we know you're not one of Halester's tricks?" 

Alessandra repressed a growl from the back of her throat as soon as she heard the alien noise from behind her. What now--? She reluctantly takes her eyes off the egg and turns to the woman who seemingly popped out of thin air. The aasimar's face falls stoic, the aura about her obviously not welcoming this woman any where near her or the others, even if she had known OU812 and Evrik. How irritating... She slips the burnt journal in her dress pocket and folds her arms in front of her chest and let's Raii'k do most of the speaking, her eyes glancing every now and again on her hatching egg.

((just in case im using my passive insight 17 when cora speeks))

"Ha!" Cora snorts, still working on Nim, "You sound like me, now." she says, standing. "I am not one of Halaster's tricks. Even though I was born here, I no longer live on this planet. But I was sent to find you. There are higher ups who are very interested in your behavior, and your..success. So, you don't have to trust me, no. But..if there really WAS a way you could undo all of this..wouldn't you take that chance, tough guy?"

She casts a quick glance to Alessandra, giving you a quick once over. "Nice shoes." she says. You can't tell if she's being flirty, sarcastic, or genuine.

She turns to OU812, holding out her arm with a heavy sigh. "You have my blood in your personnel medical database. Astrid and I did that on purpose as a fail safe, among other reasons. You can draw some and verify I am who I am."

OU812 takes out his greataxe and pretends like he's going to lop off the stranger's entire arm to get a blood sample, but merely makes a microscopic pin prick using the tip of one of the blades.  He then rubs his finger across the drop of blood, allowing his sensors to scan the blood and confirm whether or not this sexy stranger is who she says she is.

Clack-clack -- clack-clack-clack-clack-clack -- clock-clock-clukk -- clink. Wung-wung, wung-wung -- tsooo-tsooo-tsooo -- tschaak -- tsew-tsew-tsweeeeew -- eeewwwww -- tchood -- tchood -- wung-wung, wung-wung -- clack, clack-clack.

Confirmed.

To the rest of the group: "She is who she says she is.  My databanks contain information on her."

"Crispy? How the..." Evrik searches his thoughts, could this really be her? "But in my visions, you were stranded there, and reaching out in anger.  How did you get here?" He looks at the others, and nods at 0U812. "It sure looks like her Tin Man. Can you confirm?" He turns back towards her, "I'd like to hear what you have to say.  If he says you are who you are."

Evrik pays close attention to her actions and words, thinking back through to that time far away... could it be her? Could she be trusted? (Insight: 18)

Cora gives you no indication that her intentions are hostile. She exhibits the same crass and sarcastic attitude that she's always had, but centuries of time have passed, and while she is the same person you knew 1000 years ago in the Underdark, she is the same. Yet different. 

"Told ya." she says as OU812 reveals the diagnosis.

She turns to Evrik. "Now then. The visions you were having were manifestations of The Weave. It's been a while, and the memories are fuzzy, as you'd imagine. During the battle where you last appeared - you, Biggs, and Immo disppeared. We were left..alone..to fight the rest of the gnolls. We eventually fled and had to use subtle tactic to finally dispatch the remaining gnolls. Luckily, the drow priestess - whatever her name was - we found along the way who I slept with proved to be a VERY powerful ally. We eventually managed to escape with our lives. We were down there for another two years before we finally saw the light again."

She lets you digest. "It's good to finally see you again. You've been holding up well I assume? We thought you betrayed us, we were angry and confused, lost. The Weave probably took advantage of that. Where did you go?"

"There have been some dark times, but it's good to hear you and Chubby safe. That weighed heavily on my mind," Evrik says with relief as he pats Crispy on the shoulder. "If you recall, a bit of darkness took me when we encountered the Demogorgon. That seems to have affected me deeper than I first thought. I believe that encounter connected me to the weave in some odd way. There were visions then, and then the jump through the weave which landed me here. And since that jump, I have had occasional dreams and visions that are all too real. I saw my father, or at least I think so, when we fell. During that resurrection some truths that were unknown to me were revealed and the darkness has abated... well, until I saw this..." and Evrik motions over the landscape. "This, I cannot understand," he adds as his head hangs down.

Evrik walks towards Grianne and Ra'iik with Crispy as he explains to her all that transpired, his jump through the weave with Biggs and Immo, or so he thought. The recollection of her and Immo fighting and the revelation that Immo never landed in this place. The battles and the final stand where they all fell. And the resurrection by the hooded priest who he found to be his father. And as the tale unwound, he found it hard to believe himself. Just a short while ago, yet possibly thousands of years, he was a priest in a small village. And now this.

He looks at Grianne and up to Ra'iik with a nod, "Are you feeling better?" he asks her. Evrik explains to the others how he came to know Crispy in the jails of the underdark as they were held by the Drow, how they escaped, and their adventures until he was suddenly dropped here in the under mountain with them. "I knew that was another time and place. I didn't know just how far apart those were." Looking back towards Crispy and Alessandra, he asks "So what's this all mean? Crispy, can you make any sense of Nim's journal?"

Grianne has calmed a bit. She nods in response to Evrik. A little wobbly, Grianne stands and approaches Cora You said we can fix this. How? I must know.

Crispy nods as Evrik tells his story. She knows what it's like to be gone for so long, and to have concerns and doubts. Most of all, visions. She smiles gently at the dwarf and returns the friendly gesture, putting her hand on her shoulder. While a bit fuzzy, the specific details of their Underdark journey together remained hazy, but Crispy liked Evrik, and took the time to at least crack one joke. "Well," she said, "That's the last time Chubby and I went looking for mushrooms in caves. I'm glad you're ok, but this isn't the life we both expected to live, is it?"

Crispy looks at Grianne. "Hells, did you have a fight with a thicket and lose?" she shakes her head in pity but continues with Evrik, and gathers up the rest of you.

"A long time ago I made a deal with the powers of Hell for personal reasons. Since then, i've been their ***** doing their dirty work in exchange for power, knowledge, and favors. While I was working, Hell knew about Halaster and the threat he posed, but did nothing about it. Well, there's powers out there that don't like this outcome, so, like I said, i've been given a huge amount of money from said powers to meet you all here and give you another chance, if you will."

"Halaster is an god entity from another time and space. He is not human, or anything close to what we consider mortal in the slightest. No one is truly sure what exactly he is, but one thing is for certain, he is extremely powerful, and not native to this universe. At one point during my employment with Hell, I came across information about where he is, and the technology to get to him. Let me tell you, it's NOT going to be easy." She extends her arm again, and a large magical arcane celestial map appears above her forearm. "This is a map of the stars about a thousand years ago." She points to a planet. "This is Toril in the Prime Material." Her finger moves all the way up to the other end of the map. "This is a moon that's circling a massive star named Umbra that astronomers started tracking back then. It's the same moon that crashed into Toril recently. I learned from my sources that Halaster's true home is in the center of that star that the moon was orbiting, and he's found a way to create planetoids and aim for worlds to destroy them using powers untold."

"But that's not the worst part. The moons contain..a microscopic organism called Spores than house genetic material called The Primer. The moons hit the world, the spores are released, and any life that still exists on said world gets infected with The Primer, altering the genetic code of life into something..horrible." Crispy shivers. Then takes out a small card key. "Here. Take this with you. I built a secret warehouse underground containing lots of cool toys. It's my home away from home. It cost a fortune and took an eternity..luckily I had both." she smirks. She inserts the key into OU812.

You now have access to "Crispy's Secret Warehouse."

"You're going to need more experience and more gear in order to travel to Umbra, so in the meantime, go into my warehouse, upgrade your gear, and take the time travelling portal there. I've been instructed to give you another chance. This future CANNOT come to pass. Don't ask any questions, or **** things up in there, I know exactly what i've got and what'll be missing. I'd help you, but I have problems of my own i'm trying to get a handle on."

She gives Evrik, and OU812, a brief affectionate look. "Take care you two. It was good to see you again." She looks at the others. "Good luck."

Wait, please tell me more. Who are the 16 ? What have they done? I have so many questions. Can not answer some more ? Grianne please with Cora to stay longer and try to answer some of her visions.

Cora stares at you for a moment. You can't tell if it's pity or annoyance.

"I wouldn't be able to interpret your visions just like you wouldn't be able to interpret the ones I used to have. Or maybe you could, I dunno, but then all you'd see in my mind are the horrific nightmares of my father beating me broken as a little girl each time. Our visions are our own, it's something deeply personal, something we have to deal with on our own. I couldn't, nor would I, want to interpret whatever you're seeing when you sleep at night. Something tells me the way you were curled up into a fetal position there a few moments ago, they're probably as terrible as mine. I had to give up everything to get rid of them. Everything. The questions is..can you?"

Grianne looks crestfallen. She cant answer Cora's question.

"812, take em to the warehouse when you're ready." Crispy says. "Not very often you get a second chance. Looks like the world is in your hands. So much for the days killing goblins, eh?" She snorts. She slaps her wrist and in bright loud arcane pop, Cora Perkins returns from whence she came.

If ra'iik has time to ask, he says "So we've to kill a God. What of the pantheons and Gods of good of our own?"

Otherwise he sits in contemplation. "Show us the warehouse."

Accessing his new directions, OU812 whirs and clanks for a few seconds, and then turns on his heels and literally starts sprinting away.  Off to the warehouse we go!  Keep up, soldiers.

The Gods have forsaken you all. It's time to take matters into your own hands.

Updating soon.

Next: The Warehouse.

As Cora had been talking, the aasimar turned around and kneels before her hatchling, her hands gently caressing at crimson scales while she listened in on the woman's words. Evrik trusted her, Aless trusted him and, Hells, she helped program OU812, so surely that should be enough for her to trust Cora, right? The blood hunter told herself to just continue following along, even if it meant slaying a God of some sort. Could they even do such a thing? Not now, but... They were going back into the Undermountain, and there were many things that could help them reach their full potential and most importantly, they had each other.

When the woman left Aless had nothing to say, her eyes focusing on her wyrmling now more than anything, but before she could even think up of a name for him, she hears the warforged take off. Her upper lip twitched in annoyance, but she picks up her new responsibility and follows suit.