Curator's Office 

Ulrich stares at Elan, disquieted by his nervousness. His glance toward the curator adds nothing. He takes a breath and then nods. "Best to get going as soon as possible, I suppose."

He steps over to Elan, a final nod to the curator. "Will you be able to tell me even half of what you know, I wonder." He whispers more to himself than expecting an answer.

Initiative: 14

Rafon's Run: Road to Glanyrafon:

"Well, that's a bit better! I'll just try to get this thing and we're ready to go, ok?" Tsahil says, before carefully trying to reach the talisman.

Athletics: 10

Sleight of hand: 17

Riverport - Twilight:

Voldred is momentarily distracted by the boiling water around him, expecting some kind of attack, but he quickly regains his composure once it becomes clear it's not a threat.

"What am I?!" Voldred snarls as he prepares to strike with Magic Missile "I am a teacher of humility, and your lesson has only just begun!"

Voldred chases after the fleeing foe and unleashes his spell, which looks bizarre even to him in this iteration - instead of simple force darts, the spell produced nasty, jagged spikes radiating green energy. Almost dripping with it, as if covered in venom. Voldred winces himself as he imagines how painful being impaled by them would be, and his enemy just received 4 in her back.

Magic Missile, 2nd level damage: 36 Poison.

((Assuming Voldred and Barracuda have the same speed, Voldred would end his turn the same distance away as he started, which is to say melee range. So if Barracuda wants to escape she would need to disengage again to avoid an attack of opportunity.))

Posting the beginnings of my new character -

Ability scores: 13 15 7 13 11 14

Korixx Vythmolik is a long way from home.  The grey-scaled lizardfolk had always been particularly swift and cunning for his kind.  Too much so, in fact.  When his tribe's 'king' felt Korixx was a threat to his power, he killed the younger, less experienced lizardfolk.  Sensing the squandered potential, an obscure patron snatched up his wayward soul.  The Aspect of Iron Dragons returned him to the Material Plane and bestowed him with an egg to protect and nurture.

Korixx's ward has been growing larger every day, and soon will be able to protect itself.  Until Korixx outlives his usefulness, though, he will stand by charge, traveling the world and collecting memories and wealth.

Race: Lizardfolk

Class: Ranger (Drakewarden)

Starting Location: Corvidae

Corvidae Castle District- Estate

Iam casts Mending on the scratched circles cut in the floor, restoring the floor and breaking the circles. "No, I do not truly need sleep. I do grow weary of individuals who set forth to do evil simply to sate thier own boredom when the could easily turn thier mind and hand to work. You are Liadon's fiance? Why do you not remove that silly mask?"

Investigation 21

Orina (Bunny Knight) | Cordivae Castle District

"Danger?  Are the people in danger here?!" Orina says, growing worried and looking at the houses nervously.  She nods at Hainsley as the hare observes what appears to be plentiful activity in the deserted neighborhood.  "Be careful, Hainsley... whatever it might be, if it's enough to make these people nervous, then it's nothing good at all.  If you can hide yourself somehow while you follow me, maybe you should," she advises.  "Can you tell me what they're talking about? Ci ty-people things, like about the shopping and the weather and who's charging what for taxes this year?  Or is it something different, like magic or cries for help or other weird sounds?"

She turns back to the kenku.  "Have you guys informed the Caretakers about your concerns yet?  Maybe one of you should find them and let them no something strange is afoot around here."

Turning back towards the street, she casts another guidance on herself, praying to the Light for help, a little spooked by the observations of both the Kenku and Hainsley.

Curator's Office -> Somewhere:

Ulrich:  You turn around and follow Elan, as you are suddenly back through the winding corridors of The Shelf.  After a short moment of walking, the shelves slowly become smaller and smaller, and the ground beneath you begins to incline, turning into steps.  Soon, it is just steps upward into the void, slowly but surely, you notice a sparkle light up in the sky, as more and more bright stars pepper your surroundings, even beneath you.  "You see that light over there?" Elan says, and in the faint light, he points to a corona of grey light in the distance, forming an almost smoky halo.  "That's Death, the one you worship.  She's closer then most, and if you had the winds divinity to hold you aloft you could reach her.  Well, if you survived the trip anyway, and things out here don't exactly-ah, I'll hold my tounge on that one.  Perhaps too compromising...Here we are."  You turn gaze back toward the peak of the stairs, and see a simple white door with a black trim, handle, and hinges.  "You've literally moved quite a bit up in the world, haven't you Ulrich? Quite literally it would seem, though our actual spatial position isn't fixed nor finite; this is "Somewhere".  I'm afraid that's really I can tell you, but one day I'm sure you'll end up here on accident, or somehow, and you'll learn more.  Also, try not too think about the fact your not breathing.  Take it in for as long as you need."

As soon as you turn your head back to the door, Elan takes out the golden key, and inserts it into the door.  "Alright, here we go."  He turns the key. 47

((This continues in a seperate post ))

Rafon's Run, Road to Glanyrafon:

Tsahil:   ((Well, I said acrobatics, that wasn't high enough.))  15

 You get a cut, a real nasty one.  It burns really bad, really really bad, and immediatley being to swell.  You take 4 points of damage.  However, you reach out with a careful hand after words, and slowly, slowly but surely unwrap the talisman from the-suddenly a spider crawls up onto your arm and you stop moving.

Riverport - Twilight:

Voldred?:  Glowing streaks of virulent green ignite the air, and cause the form of Barracuda to crack and writhe.  "This power is not!  Not of any mortal!  This power is not of any Aspect!"  You need only walk a few paces before reaching her.  She makes a feeble attempt at your leg Attack: 21 Damage: 22

The loathsome form writhes and groans "The Devil?  The Devil here to take me?  To stitch a single bloody thread through my still beating heart...no, that's right...my heart is gone isn't it?  Given away like leftovers or spare change.  I am already dead...and for what?"

She looks up at you.  "Are you here to teach me what comes next?"

Corvidae:

Korixx:  It bit you again.  It has been doing that a lot lately, but you have a strange sense of pride; the wound is not as deep this time.  The iron dragonborn Hao is mending it, scales mottled with rust and her head shaking with disaproval.  "I keep telling you to wear the gauntlet, you're lucky you still have all of your fingers."    You nod, but you know better; the gauntlet is unecessary, even detrimental to trust, and when you are bitten you simply bite back harder.

"So, you mind telling me what brings you around?  Here to compete, I imagine you could put a good showing at beast taming.  Your ward is almost fully grown, perhaps the two of you could compete in the Tournament.  Perhaps...you've been around for quite some time, are you waiting for someone? A message perhaps?"

Corvidae Castle District - Estate:

Iam:  "Pah, I care not for who I was- and I'll have you know that creating a new vessel and being evil is hard work, but is something I have quite a lot of fun doing.  Do you not like the mask?  It is silly, I'll admit, but it serves it's purpose...which is hiding my face with the proper aethestic.  Anyway, nice talking to you, but I was very busy being evil, and your sort of ruining my hard work."   You hear a snapping noise, and suddenly the cultist is gone.  "Bon voyage!"  A heavy shove is given to your back side as she attempts to push you into the portal.  Roll an Athletics or Acrobatics saving throw against this 3 and then roll for initiative.

Corvidae Castle District:

Orina:  "Oh, all sorts of things"  says Hainsley   "They're talking about...oh, falling and flying, and about famous people, having their teeth fall out.  Sounds like one of them is recalling being at school in nothing but their underwear.  Very odd conversations, I'll say."  (You might already understand what he's getting at, but if not, roll an insight check).  "Oh, and a few of them are about that stuff you mentioned...but also things are melting and there are clowns there etc. etc.  Very abnormal."

The Kenku shakes it's head.  "We have done what we could, we cannot abandon our homes, our families!  We are obligated to stay by their side.  We are Caretakers too." 

You turn to the street, and look for Guidance.  The streets are empty, but every now and then you think you glimpse a figure running around the corner, you think your head is playing tricks on you.  Suddenly you squint...a beam of light hits you in the eye.  You look up to the upper window of a nearby house, and notice a hand holding up a mirror, as if it is trying to signal someone, or perhaps using it to look outside from below the sill.  You were clutching your necklace in nervousness, and you notice it is now unusally warm to the touch.

Tengoku - ???

Ulrich: You can't feel the ground beneath your feet, and you are almost certainly falling-or you have been flung in some direction with an undetermined velocity.  Your not sure which is worse and you might not have the chance to find out.  Wait a minute, oh, fantastic!  It's up!  That or you are upside down.  Wait, no that's the moon over there!  Seems unusually big tonight.  Seems to be getting unusually bigger very very quickly.  Wait a minute...that's no moon!

By some miraculous circumstance, you don't crash into the moon?  There was some small opening, and you are heading through some kind of bad smelling tunnel, and you're sideways?  You suddenly are flung out into an open dining room, smashing headfirst into a set dinner table, tumbling and skidding on polished marble tile before slumping to halt.  You only take 2 points of bludgeoning damage, the dessert must have broken your fall.

You look around.  Hundreds of well dressed owl people who (whoo whoo) are all staring at you, with very, very wide eyes.  The entire room is decorated in white, and a large window seems to overlook the lights from the city below.   Someone shouts something in a language you (probably, it's Aarakocra) don't understand, and you see a plethora armed guards who (whoo whoo) are  scrambling to pick up their weapons.  17  Luckily, you have the advantage of surprise, unsurprisingly, so you can go ahead and take your turn.

Corvidae Castle District- Estate 

((Iam has Sanctuary on, shove is an attack, shouldn't the cultists have needed a Wisdom 13 to have shoved him?))

Iam feels the shove at his back attempting roll to his left around his attackers body.

Acrobatics 9

Initiative 23

Riverport - Twilight:

Voldred ignores the pain in his leg, once again igniting his hand in deadly flames of Inflict Wounds.

"I won't allow anyone to stand in my way. If I have to become a monster to kill other monsters, so be it." Voldred says in tranquil fury as he reaches for Barracuda's throat to finish this.

Inflict Wounds: 24 + 3 Favored by the Gods if needed.

Damage: 36 Posion

Rafon's Run, Road to Glanyrafon:

"Shit" Tsahil says to himself. He then proceeds his movement slowly; if he can make one of the wires go through the spider, that would be great.

OOC: Sorry, I think I missread it. It would be just +1 though...

Tengoku 

Ulrich can't help but stop and stare in the direction Elan pointed out. He tries to sense something from the faint light, but Elan's word's draw his attention to the stairs. In time to be stunned by 'not breathing'. As the key is inserted into the door, he tries to take a breath.

Then next minutes are madness and the air is expelled from his lungs as he slams onto the table.

Ulrich looks around, trying to look for Elan and figure out where he is. Seeing the guards lunging for their weapons, he struggles to his feet.

He casts Thaumaturgy on himself, making his voice boom out. "Stop! We  mean no harm! Let us leave!" 

He scans the room for the door. He readies Inflict Wounds for the first to attack.

Korixx - Corvidae

"Not ready for combat, yet," Korixx responds to Hao.  While a tournament would be a fine way to get it some valuable combat exercise, it was still too small.  "We were taking in the sights, I think.  Looking for coin too.  What is this 'beast taming' thing you mention?"

Corvidae Castle District - Estate:

Iam:  ((Hey, nice catch there, that's totally true.  Also, I said saving throw when I meant check,))

Cultist Wisdom Save:  15

Cultist intiative: 2

Riverport: Twilight

Voldred:  With a final explosion of poison, virulent cracks spread through Barracuda's form, chromatic light gushing forth from them, as Barracuda howls.  A high pitched tone rings out from the shattering form before an eruption of light consumes her.  +2000 XP.

All that remains is a knotted mass of seemingly unending ropes.  You throw it over your shoulder and use it as a cloak of sorts.  The haze in your vision is beginning to fade, you feel very tired.  You manage to get your bearings...you are standing in the half destroyed town, and looking over the horizon, the sun begins to peak out.  You can see that as the light crawls it's way over the land, the realm of Twilight is swiftly dissappearing.  Before you know it, sunlight envolpes you and-

You wake up, right back in the Inn you feel asleep in.  You look around, Twill is nowhere to be seen.  Was it all a dream?  Something doesn't feel quite right...in your dream, where you remember crushing the stone in your hand, there is a sigil burned through your armor and into your flesh that feels familiar.  This cloak you are wearing...when did you get it?  You open the curtains aside, and see that standing in the sunlight is...you?  No, it's that monster you became, still as a statue basking in the light of dawn, right in the middle of town.  You should probably do something about that.

Rafon's Run: Road to Glanyrafon

Tsahil:  You have the talisman clutched in your hand, astride it is the spider.  You slowly raise it up to a nearby thread...slowly...slowly.  The spider suddenly lifts it's leg and begins hanging onto the thread. It suddenly climbs up and clambors away, you can see it walking around in the air, tending to it's webs, watching.  Suddenly losing a limb might be the least of your worries if you end up strumming one of it's cords again.  Make another acrobatics check and roll for initiative, just in case.    Spider initiative: 7

??? - Palace:

Ulrich:  You shout desperately to get them to hesitate, make an intimidation check.  You scan the room for a good exit.  There's a grand staircase across from you , if you manage to get by the guards that block the way. to your left is the window, to your right is the entrance to a kitchen, and right behind you there is some kind of parlor.  Elan is nowhere to be seen, but your gut tells you he can't be far...hopefully.

Corvidae

Korixx:  "Well, there are many sights to see...ah, that would beast taming competition, as a part of the Winter's End festival.  About 4 or 5 days from now, but there are trails and fees required in order to even compete.  You would be judged on distance, then speed, then performance for each beast, and the mightier the beast you tame the better.  I hear this year they have managed to bring forth quite a mighty creature for the finalists, whispers that it is an actual dragon, even.  If that's the case, I'm sure you would certainly have an advantage."

Orina (Bunny Knight) | Cordivae Castle District

"It... sounds like people are being trapped in their dreams," Orina explains to Hainsley.  "When we shut our minds down to sleep, our subconscious comes up with strange things for us to imagine while we rest.  It sounds weird, I know, but it helps relax and focus us for when we wake up again.  Normally people don't remember what happens in their dreams, though, much less get up and talk to each other about it during waking hours.  It's more than a little weird that everyone here is doing it at the same time!"  She doesn't speak particularly quietly, for the benefit of the Kenku listening in on their conversation.

As the beam of light hits her in the eye, Orina looks up.  "There," she says, moving towards the house with the figure in the window.  "There's someone up there using a mirror!  Let's try that out."   She pauses, and then looks back towards the Kenku.  "If you're a Caretaker... please understand, I need to find out what's going on here.  And, umm... if no one lets me into that house, I have to let myself in, okay?  You can arrest me afterwards," she pleads, before turning around and rushing towards the door.

Pounding on the door, Orina calls out, "Hello?  Is anybody home?  Please, open the door!  You might be in danger!"  Stepping back, she closes her eyes, and when she opens them again, the world is in oddly familiar multicolored shades that it always falls to when she tries to detect magic.  She takes another close look at both the door, and the house, trying to look for shifts or tears in the usual patterns, where the weave might be knotted or ripped.

Corvidae Castle District- Estate

Failing to roll with the shove, stumbling towards the portal, Iam does what is in his base programming or nature. Having already pushed the buttons on the badge give to him by the Caretaker, Iam drops it on the floor. Desperately reaching out with his other arm to seemingly strike the cultist.

Touch attack to touch the cultist. 10

(But probably fails to do so. Was going to use the Emperor symbol on them.)

Rafon's Run: Road to Glanyrafon

Tsahil regrets his decision, but it's too late to change anything. His intentions now are just to get out safely.

Acrobatics: 17

Initiative: 18

Palace: 

(Intimidation: 21)

 Ulrich starts to inch toward the window, keeping his eyes on the guards.  "Elan?" he calls in his regular voice.

Riverport:

Voldred's eyes go wide in surprise as he sees his own twisted giant form standing in the middle of town.

"Bloody hell, give me a break! Don't just stand there like an idiot, go back where you came from!" Voldred exclaims in frustration, with a small hope that it will help, but nothing happens. So now his only option is to quickly gather his possessions and go to where the giant is standing. Voldred has a vague intuitive understanding of what that thing is and how it works, and it's telling him that he needs to get close to it.

As he prepares to leave, many questions race through his mind:

Where is Twill? And that thief for that matter? What's that cloak on his back? Is it somehow connected to that endless rope Twill was looking for, or is it just coincidence? Does it do anything, or is it just a bunch of rope Voldred decided to use as a cloak for some reason? Or was it even him that made that decision, or the thing now standing in the middle of town? It was trying to fight him for control earlier, so it clearly has a mind of its own. Why is it dormant now? Out of power, so to speak? It was pretty damn strong to kill an Aspect like that. But does it work the same in the real world? And what was that Twilight anyway?

So many questions, and no time to deal with any of them until Voldred finds a way to dismiss the giant and make sure he himself doesn't gain too much undue attention. Now is not a good time for scrutiny.

Kinda busy this week, finals coming up soon so lot's of studying to be done.  I should be able to get a reply in soon though.