"Or why the discussion needs happen in person.  I'm sure they could find a way to talk through you as easily as I talk through my own familiar... Or are they not that skilled?" Fianna asks, setting the book she was reading on an end table.

     "You came with an invitation.  We are countering with having discussions at a distance.  If they believe a truce can be attained, even for a little while, then surely they understand the concept of give and take.  We are willing to give them a conversation, they can take it at a distance or not at all," Fianna suggests.

Nuzej slowly approaches the room where Fianna was reading after he hears her call out for Toc. He casts mage armor. As he approaches the door, he casts detect thoughts and searches for the presence of thinking creatures he can't see (that secondary function of the spell I always forget about).

If he notices anyone else unseen, he'll message Toc and the party to tell them. If it's just the new speaker conversing with the party, he will read the surface thoughts of them as they speak with the party. He stays just out of the room, looking through the doorway, leaning agains the frame.

The mans face looks unimpressed, but somehow looks as if he's scored a point, because the edges of his mouth twitch up.  "Oh, so...you wish to speak to Verdant Cloud...just not within her home. I understand."  He closes his eyes and is quiet for a moment. 

Nuzej casts his spell.....searching for other minds...but finds none. In fact...he can't even find this man's mind. It is either shielded by magic, or he's not really here.

The man's eyes open a moment later. "Verdant Cloud forgives you your fear. It is understandable. However negotiations must begin with trust. She says to me, if you can not trust her to keep her word on your safe passage to her home, why would you trust any deal, and thus, what is the point of meeting at all. She has magnanimously ignored the implied slight that she would not keep her word, and again extends her invite." 

     “One does not exactly n good faith ask for trust without extending it.  One does not in good faith offer to negotiate without being willing to compromise.  One does not, unless a fool, trust a wyrm not to turn...” Fianna replies.

     “Oh, Toc, you had something to say?”

     And with that distraction Fianna casts Dispel Magic upon their guest.

(Roll your dispel check)

Toc reaches for a chair, and pulls it over....and sits down in it, facing the man.  He surreptitiously casts a spell, messaging Mirica, "We are negotiating now." 

He looks to the man, his words spoken carefully and thoughtfully, "So, were we to come to Verdant Clouds domain to discuss a truce. What can she offer us besides a refrain from threatening us or the city? And what could she want from us, besides a refrain from threatening her?" 

Nuzej messages to Toc: “no thoughts detected. No mind there, illusion? Projection? Or shielded. Could be both. Instructions?”

Toc looks thoughtfully for a moment.  Toc Arcana : 18.   He replies in Nuzej's head, "Project Image. Remotely produces an illusion of yourself. You can see and hear and talk through it, but it's an illusion. He's not here." 

Nuzej speaks up. “Did you send your image as soon as you realized we were here? Or did you get bored?”

12

Before Nuzej's question can be answered, the man vanishes in silence.....as Fianna's spell makes him or his illusion vanish.

Toc raises a finger, his mouth pops open as if to say something.....then....shuts his mouth. After a moment he drops his hand and shrugs.  He stands up, sliding the chair back against the wall.  He turns to the group, "Well...that happened. Now what?"

When the drow suddenly pops out of existence, Chen realises that it was just a magical representation. He looks to the others and asks Chen with a growl and a firmer grip of his hammer: Can anyone else cast that spell? Perhaps we can do the same - send an illusion to the dragon's den to represent us. Not in earnest though - I don't propose we negotiate with that vile beast. But it might be a convincing diversion while the rest of us attempt to sneak in.

"I only wish the illusion disappeared after it explained how to get into the lair. Would save some time. I would also like to know how the dragon or her minion knew where to project that image. She had to be a frequent guest here." Mirica's tone did not soften one degree, she was practically spitting the words. "Anyway, we do not have much time here - the beast is going to strike the city. Time to check that "back door" or find the main entrance. And probably be prepared to face all three remaining dragons."

     “I’m not necessarily  opposed to communicating.  Even negotiating.  But if we choose that route we cannot start by letting them walk in and dictate terms,” Fianna suggests.  “We should also be of a mind before we start.”

     “And would you have truly trusted the dragon’s directions?  Even if the right locale, would they have not sent us on the most perilous route?”

"Possible and likely - "trustworthy green dragon" is an oxymoron. The more reasons to get moving, unless the beast is waiting right outside, we have a lot of ground to cover." She glanced at the others avoiding Toc's direction "How do we leave this place?"

     Fianna mentally short goals the invisible Fi’Finella to go fly out the front and to some surveillance.  
     “Ready to move out whenever we’re ready,” Fianna tells Mirica.  

If the group decide to prepare to depart, Chen will examine the magic bag that Fianna kindly loaned him, and toss a fuzzy ball to the ground... 3

 Chen isn't surprised to see his totem animal materialise before his eyes... a Brown Bear! He gives the bear a big bear hug, then stands nose-to-nose and forehead-to-forehead with the bear, attuning himself to the bear's senses. He then experiments with his [Tooltip Not Found] magic hammer, trying to determine whether he can continue to maintain concentration on the bear's senses while simultaneously or interchangeably seeing through the eye of the hammer.

(OOC: Can't get rid of error message. It started when I tried to add a [ magicItem ] tag to the Maul of Eyes, then deleted the tag because it didn't recognise the item. Replacing it didn't fix it. Didn't change the roll either though)

Toc nods to Chen, "Indeed, I have that magic ready and can do something similar if we wish. Regarding your comment about them being here....that's quite likely, but...the image can move through solid objects, so it could have also just been created outside, and come in through the rock way...assuming of course that it knew where the entrance was. If that bird we saw watching us before was one of their servants, that could be as well. Both options, but, I don't think it matters either way."   Even though Mirica doesn't address the question to him, Toc says, "If we're ready to leave I'll create a passage through the rubble for us to get through. And, as I said before, I'll be leaving Tic here to keep an eye on the Mythallar. He will message me if anything goes awry." 

The large bear appears near Chen. He gives it a big hug. The bear...puts up with it...it seems, since it remains standing there, like an oversized house cat being hugged by a child.  Tolerating it.  Chen lets the bear go, then closes his eyes...and the bears eyes briefly sparkle....and then the eyes on the head of his new Maul blink and look around....then the bears eyes sparkle briefly again and the bear glances around in a rather human way.  It seems he can switch back and forth easily enough, but not see through them simultaneously.

Preceding any move out, Fianna walks all the way down the dusty main hall to the cave in...and then summons Fi'Finella on the far side, out in the city.  The invisible imp looks around, and then goes for a flight to check the area out.  No dragons, or other ambushes seem ready to be sprung. It looks relatively clear. It's just past noon, based on the light in the sky, though it's overcast and occasional drops of rain drop from the sky. It's not raining, just...seemingly, testing the waters. 

It may be her imagination, but when Fianna takes a look around through Fi'Finella's eyes....the number of torn threads in the sky seems to be less than it was when they came in. 

Fi'Finella perception check please. 

Nuzej telepathically speaks to his familiar, still sitting, forgotten, on the top of the hill as a lookout. He asks it if it's seen anything curious moving around, or watching.

((Hopefully my familiar doesn’t accidentally eat your familiar...))

Fi’Finella Perception: 11

The fuzzy blue spider has been near the top of the hill for almost a day. He relays a bunch of activity out in the city to Nuzej. The spider has seen numerous demons, devils, and fiends moving about in the ruins. Sometimes solitary, sometimes in packs. Massive spiralling vortex's of magic seem to slowly float through the city.  He's seen a couple of them merge at one point, and also saw one split in two.  Animals are few and far between but birds flit to and from.  About eight hours ago a troop of elves also passed by, six of them.  Finally, there was an illithid that he spotted, walking through the ruins...followed by seven goblins.  From his perch on a twig, the spider watches the activity. And then, about ten minutes ago, he saw a man in armor appear at the base of the hill and make his way up, and then walk right through the cave in. 

Fi'Finella does a loop of the hillside but doesn't see anything particularly intersting.  

Toc mutters, "If we're leaving, then we should pack away the books.  I'll guess it's time to start a library demi-plane.  For now, if everyone could help transfer books from the rooms into this place, that'd be great."  He focus', muttering arcane words and then a ghostly door appears.  He swings it open....and begins moving books into the room, neatly stacking them into different sections.  Fianna looks around, confident she could open a door to this demi-plane with her own magic if she wanted to.  Toc seems to trust the Russel and Nuzej enough that he lets them help move books into the space if they desire.  Finally he moves over all the remaining spell reagents.  The place "cleaned out" as it were, he seems ready to go. 

"Alright, off we go then. Tic, we'll be back soon as we can."  He leads to group to the entrance, then taps his staff on the ground...and a passage appears through the cave in. Rocks sliced in half, hanging in the air...somehow stable as the perfectly rectangular path leads to the outside.  The air is cool outside under the overcast sky. A fickle wind blows from the south carrying with it the heavy scent of the ancient forest of Cormanthor. A blue spider crawls onto a rock nearby which Nuzej collects and places on his shoulder.  The bear follows along behind Chen...huffing occasionally as it waddles it's girth along. Russel, the Kenku, moves along beside the group but makes hardly a sound, his feet landing so softly, and his gear making so little noise that you are often surprised to catch him out of the corner of your eye.  The grey cloudy sky is patched with dark sections and occasionally an errant raindrop splats down on your face or head. Mirica seems strangely quiet as she follows near the back of the group, Fianna near her. 

With Fi'Finella guiding them, the group makes quick time back towards the crevice...avoiding one magical vortex's lazy path, and a lone demon that scrambled into a crack in the ground, vanishing from view before the group got close. Soon enough, you spot the scar in the ground, in the rocky canyon. The ground around it is black with soot, the crack itself a cool black mar after the group set fire to it.  Crouching nearby, but trying to stay hidden, the group looks down at the crack.  

Toc looks about, "What's the plan?"