[ We find Our Heroes at the threshold of a very large tree that bears evidence of having been converted to a home. What with the windows and all. ] [ Last episode, they stumbled onto what might have once been a beautiful city; it's hard to know now, since the place was solidly trashed a couple hundered years ago. ] [ So far, the only person you know who's likely to have first- hand knowledge of what happened is Nym, an unusually well-tanned elf who is currently escorting you to the tree he lives in. Oh, and he said something about a horrible monster that wants to turn the city into a mustering grounds for an army of undead of heretofore unknown proportions. But shucks, that happens all the time. ] [ Session Start! ] * Max is still staring wide-eyed at the ruins. And at the tree-house. Don't see those every day. [ Actually, massive trees with lots of elven occupants are fairly common in Brighthome. ] * Max still stares at it. IT's the first one he's seen in a ruined city. :P * Istvan eyes the stonework of the ruined city. "Can see that the stonework was damn good quality..." *tries to get Nym's attention* "Dwarven work, or elven? If it's the latter, I'm damn impressed." * Alcinoe clanks along, quiet as she's usually been. * Seylin seems to have quieted a bit once they entered the city. [ "Mostly human, with dwarven supervision," comments Nym. "I'm sure you know elves dislike working with stone." ] * Patrick has been looking around, but not touching. * Istvan nods. "Figured. But I've met a couple of elves back in Moradin's Deep that took to it, so I figured it was worth askin'." [ As you move through the city, you get the feeling you're walking through an open-air crypt of some sort. Every here and there you see an arm or a leg poking out from underneath the rubble. ] * WillS follows silently in the back of the group. The ruined city is depressing. * Seylin shivers slightly when she sees the remnants. * Max is too busy trying to reconstruct the city in his head to notice the arms and legs. [ But now you're at the end of your current trip. You pass through a high wall that seems to mostly consist of ivy, and into a grassy courtyard some hundered yards in radius. Nym leads you up to a large double-door and says, "We've arrived at my abode. Welcome." ] * Patrick pats Seylin comfortingly on the back. * HKenji looks around, calmly taking in the devastation. * Seylin tries to smile at Patrick, but it's not terribly convincing. * Max smiles. "Thanks." [ Nym opens the doors and stands aside to let you in. ] * Patrick walks in! * Seylin nods politely to Nym and enters. * Max drifts inside, and looks around. And then waits for everyone else, trying to restrain himself from asking questions until they're wherever Nym wants to settle them. * Alcinoe smiles a little at Nym. "Thanks." She enters, too! * Istvan nods at Nym as he enters, idly wondering if one needs to wipe their feet before entering a tree. * WillS nods thanks and follows in also. * HKenji bows deeply to Nym, then enters the tree. [ Inside is a large, circular room with a thin, wooden spiral staircase in the middle. There is a circle of comfortable-looking furniture at one end of the room, and Nym gestures towards it, saying "Have a seat, friends - for so I dearly hope I may call you - and we will discuss what has happened and what ought to be done." ] [ The furniture, as well as a few tasteful rugs, all look brand-new. Which probably means they've been preserved by magic. ] Thank you. * Seylin sits on a comfy chair. Okay. *hops off his Book, leaving Specs sitting on it, and walks quickly over to a couch, which he climbs up onto and sits with his back straight and his legs dangling, kicking lightly, over the front* * Istvan sits down onto a chair, testing it a bit to make sure it can handle the weight of his armor before flumping down. * WillS finds a seat on the site and sits down, glad to be sitting down finally after all that walking in the jungle. * Patrick takes a seat next to SEylin [ Sadly, there doesn't seem to be a seat built for Tia. Becuase... y'know... Large quadruped with a tail. ] [ There is, however, a nice rug she could curl up on. ] * Tia plants her backside on the rug and wags her tail. * Max pushes his glasses up his nose, and folds his hands in his lap. * HKenji stands near one wall of the room and waits patiently for the host. [ Fortunately, there is no furniture in the way of Tia's tail. ] * Alcinoe looks around, then has a seat on one of the remaining chairs. [ There's more than enough chairs and sofas for you all. Nym closes the doors and walks your way. "Would anyone like some water? I'm afraid I don't have much in the way of refreshments, here." ] * Tia raises her hand. "I would love some water!" None for me, thank you. ^_^ Mm? Oh, I'm fine. No, but I thank you for the offer. * WillS smiles and shakes his head. "No, thank you for offering." * Max kicks his feet, looking around and twiddling his thumbs. ^_^ * Seylin seems a bit distracted. "Oh! No, but thank you for the offer." Pass. Thanks. * Alcinoe blinks. "Water'd be nice, sure." [ Nym goes to one side of the room and pours a tall glass and a stout iron tankard full of clear water. He walks over to where you are, handing the tankard to Tia and the glass to Alcinoe. ] Thanks, Mr. Elf! * Alcinoe takes it with a smile. "Thanks." She looks into the water before having a sip. * Tia takes her tankard and chugs the contents in one gulp. [ The water is crystal-clear. Either the result of a spell or an unusual water source. ] * Tia licks her lips. "Good water." [ Nym then has a seat himself in a high-backed chair. "So. You're doubtless wondering whatever befel my beloved city, and how it managed to happen in spite of seemingly flawless defenses?" ] * HKenji smiles sadly. "There's no such thing as a flawless defense. More's the pity." We would like to know, if you're willing to tell the story. * Max nods eagerly. ^_^ * WillS nods, and waits for Nym to start. Ooh, story! * Tia listens intently, tail still wagging. * Patrick nods. "What's up?" * Alcinoe looks interested. [ "Ah, but we thought we had it, you see. And it is a mater of course that I am willing to tell the story: It is part of what I am here for." ] Oh? [ "It was... nearly three thousand years ago, now, that we had completed the Dias. We were proud to have an artifact that could offer incredible defenses to all the sun-blessed folk. We thought there we had become unassailable, and before long, we were proven right - for a time." ] [ "Perhaps a week after the Dias was complete, there were armies of drow, duergar, and orcs gathered at all the entrances of the Underworld, and at the gates of the dwarf-deeps, as well. The couldn't get in, try as they did - no spell or blow was sufficient to bring down our defense. We were not sure how they knew to gather then, or why they even bothered to come, or why they stayed once they began to learn of the nature of our defense." ] * Max bites his tongue on a question he would have rudely interrupted with. * HKenji has quit IRC (Ping timeout ) [ "I was one of the ones tasked with maintaining a vigil over the device. I was proud to have the job, although it was unbelieveable dull. The defenses for our nations required very little in the way of active involvement. One night, the lady who had the next shift came in to relieve me. Almost the minute I left the chamber we kept the dias in, she began altering the defenses." ] [ "I knew, as all the watchers did, because I was by then attuned to the dias - we all were. We had to be to use it well." ] [ "So when she began changed the defenses to let things in, it wasn't long before all five of the other warchers had amassed themselves before her. A battle ensued. It was... difficult. She had suddenly taken all the power of a dark god, and we had difficulty dealing with her at first." ] [ "Reinforcements arrived steadily, however, and eventually it was clear she could not win. So she turned and shattered the dias. Just like that. Nearly killed everyone in the room with the force she unleashed, and I'm sure the poor, posessed woman died too." ] [ "I survived only because the paladin in front of me aborbed a great deal of the blast. When I awoke, the roof was being torn open by dragons, so I took the smallest piece of the dias and ran. I'm not sure what possessed me to do this, but it seems to have worked out. I fled, and ever since I have safeguarded the fragment I took. Eventually, power came back to the device, and I was able to use it to protect the remains of my fellows here." Dragons? [ He nods. "Dragons. I learned later that the first thing the possessed woman had done when the touched the dias was to allow in a rage of dragons the likes of which had never been seen. She allowed them full use of their abilities, and they tore Sunhome apart with them, killing millions. Some of them made off with pieces of the dias, as well." ] [ "I don't know what happened to the other pieces. I haven't been able to scry on them ever since." ] * Alcinoe frowns. * Max puts his index finger on the bridge of his glasses, holding them in place while pondering. [ "Which means one of two possibilities. Either the holder of the fragments learned to have some minimum control over them, or some other force is occluding them." ] We have one, recovered from a dragon. [ Nym smiles. "It warms my old heart to hear you speak those words, friend." ] * Patrick nods. So, um, do you know how this poor young lady came to be possessed by that which your dias was supposed to keep out? Forgive my pointless curiosity, but I also wonder at her name. She needn't have been possessed at all. * Tia scratches her head and looks blank. It is far, far simpler to corrupt a mortal soul than to possess one. That's what Ah'm thinkin'. * Patrick nods. I am using Nym's terminology, Kenji. I do not imagine he is incautious with his words. * WillS frowns in thought. * Max looks to Nym, smiling politely while waiting for the elf's answer. [ "How she came to be possessed - if that's what it was, and I believe it was - is beyond me. We had specifically blocked all the spells we knew of, and generally blocked the avenues such spells use." ] Simply, it wouldn't need to take a spell. [ Nym waits for Patrick to elucidate. ] * Max does, too, turning his bespectacled gaze on the archer. * Patrick shrugs. "Many people can be swayed against their better judgement by any number of means. Power, wealth, fame... Many people desire these things, and some may even go to great lengths to get them." * Tia fidgets a bit, spots her twitching tail tip and starts circling after it. Sadly, this is not an irrelevant point. If the flaw was in the traitor, then we need only be careful of those allowed to opperate the Dias. If it is a flaw in the design, we need to find it. No offense intended, Nym; I merely am trying to ennumerate the possibilities and their required actions. [ Nym shakes his head. "If it was as simple as her being lured to darkness, then where did she aquire the power to stand up to five other wizards of similar capabilities to herself, as well as nine clerics and a half-dozen paladins?" ] * Istvan frowns. "Old dwarven saying... roughly translates as 'Never be secure in your power, as there's always something out there more powerful'. Maybe there's something out there that blows its nose with the dais?" Istvan raises a good, if disturbing, point. From whence did the Dias draw its immense power? That should narrow down sources that could be greater. * Patrick shrugs. "I don't think it even has to be that." [ "Perhaps there is, but if so, I do not know what it could be. The Dias drew its power both from arcane sources and from each of the Bright Pantheon, including Bahamut himself. The only thing that could possibly break through is a like force."] Perhaps a countering 'evil' pantheon? No, that equation doesn't balance correctly. It would take greater than the sum of the known Dark Pantheon to overwhelm the force of the Bright, when Bahamut himself is included as a variable. * Patrick mmms. "I don't quite buy that, myself." Perhaps there was a dark one who slipped something in before the defense was errected? Given there's a bit we don't know about the dark pantheon, most likely. * HKenji smiles a little, then extends one finger and pokes Max in the shoulder with a fair bit of force. * Max topples over on his side! "Eep!" That was to make some point, I am sure, Kenji. *rights himself, straightening his robes and glasses* Please explain it in words, though. * Alcinoe looks over at Kenji and Max. * HKenji smiles a bit and holds out the one extended finger. "This is all the answer you need, as far as force against force." * Alcinoe nods. "It don't take much to knock someone off balance." More importantly, force concentrated in a single point is more effective than force spread over an area. I think I understand, though your analogy is flawed; you are much stronger and more massive than I. *sticks his tongue out at Kenji, winking* ...oh! You're right! So it is! There's that too. So they don't need to counter -- and he said of a dark god -- yes.. yess.... that's how I'd do it, now that you mention it. Get all my allies together to poke me through, and then go and open the gates! Brilliant! Diabolical, but brilliant! Probably was a small, minor one, too. I mean, even the least of the gods should be able to hold off a few non-gods, even god-chosen non-gods, right? Long enough for the gates to come crashing down and let the others through! *has jumped up and is pacing on the couch, now* Hardly brilliant. It's basic military strategy. Forgive me, Kenji. I have not studied military strategy. I will have to ask you to explain to me how that meshes with your ideas of honor, later, though, please. * Patrick shakes his head. * Max realizes he's pacing on the furniture, blushes, and flops down again, once more with legs over the edge and hands in lap. That would be a way they could have done it, though. One of many ways. Of course. We must needs, then, make the defenses even stronger 'round those who opperate it, in the future. No, that is not the way. Or perhaps 'purify' them with the artifact itself, before letting them at it? * HKenji shakes his head. The solution is much simpler, Max. Oh? Sorry, please, go on. ^^; *pushes up his glasses, clearly excited* The solution is simple. We will not rely upon the Dias for our defense. * Max blinks. "Oh. Oh, of course. Multiple defenses are a good idea. Just always good to seek to strengthen known weaknesses in each. But we are going to utilize the Dias among others, of course?" The Dias is nice, yes. But do not rely on it. At all. Rely on nothing. All defenses can be penetrated. All men can be corrupted. * Max nods, listening intently. Know that everything you do can be countered, and know how your enemy will counter it. If you know your enemy and know yourself, you will not know defeat in a hundred battles. That doesn't make tautological sense... if you know your enemy and you know yourself, and your enemy knows himself and you, that logic dictates neither can know defeat, and yet one must, eventually. Let me know when you solve that puzzle. * Tia continues to chase her tail. I will! ...do you know the solution already? Yes, Max. I do. The Lion have known the answer for nearly a millenium. Bash in your enemy's head before he can get to know you. * Max laughs. "Well, there's that." I'll work on it. Thank you, Kenji, I shall see if I can find any solution to that conundrum that does not result in negation of the hypotheses. ^_^ [ And so they discussed the matter a bit, and then went on to see how well they knew the Linnorm nearby. Session End! ]