[ High above the canyon floor of Sunhome, we find Our Heroes huddled in a circular clearing some one hundred feet across. Ahead of them is a large cave entrance, beyond which is the linnorm, a horrible beast that has long planned to do something awful. You are, naturally, here to stop it. ] [ The climb up was arduous, but you likely avoided it altogether by taking advantage of those in the party who fly. Now it is time to prepare for the battle, and do some serious badness to a monster too ancient to even be featured in legend. ] [ Session Start! ] * Max whispers. "First, I would suggest we move to a less direct location, soas not to alert our quarry to our presence while we...finalize preparations." Begin your preparations, I will mark the spot for entrance. * Tia is warming up with some rather unstealthy jumping jacks. Tia! Shh! * Istroll waves for Tia to calm down. * Tia stops and stands still. "Sorry." *whsiper* s'okay. Just try'n be quietish 'till we're ready. * Patrick stretches and smiles, drawing out his bow of force to be enchanted, aswell as a very large assortment of arrows, including a set of 10 dragon'sbane arrows. * HKenji steps up onto the cliff and walks to one side a way, looking for a good inward dip that would make a decent entrance. Okay... you want burning arrows, Patrick? *flexes fingers in preparation* * Tia nods and wags her tail as she whispers back, "Okay!" * Patrick nods and smiles. * Max waves his hands over Patrick's arrows, muttering a short phrase punctuated by a few mathematical mutterings. When he's done, fifty of Patrick's arrows light up, engulfed in fire. "That should last for more than two hours." How big is Mr. Bad Dragon? Does he hit hard? Very. How hard? Can he smoosh me? * Patrick gathers his arrows and places them in his quiver. * Tia seems cheerfully unaware - or at least unmindful - of any upcoming danger. Kenji, I need you, Alcinoe, Seylin, Patrick, and Will to stand near me for this one. *nods at Tia* He can smoosh all of us. s'why we're making sure we're ready before we go in. * Alcinoe eyes Max, then clanks over. Wow. He must be really strong! We'll be okay, right? * Max floats around, nudging the named people into a loose circle before taking a position in the middle. * Will nods and clanks over to Max. * Seylin moves into position. Psst. Kenji. This is the important one I discussed with you this morning. Come over here. Please. ^_^ * HKenji nods and jumps back over, switching orientation in midair to land next to Max. Okay. * Istroll nods at Tia. "Yeah, we'll smush him. When we've gotten a chance to prepare, ain't many things that can stand up to us." * Max begins chanting again, using an abicus as he makes a few calculations while examining each person. Then he nods, mutters a few more magic words, and says, without moving his lips, to all those in the circle around him, ~It's done!~ * Tia idly sings Ganache's song in a quiet voice as she waits off to the side, tail still wagging merrily. * Tia grins at Istvan. "We'll smush him good!" ~Okay, these next ones don't last so long, so we need to get them done in quick succession and then charge in. I, um, can open a passageway for any who want a direct route, and can take up to 5 of you with me when I teleport in.~ * Patrick nods. ~Are we prepared?~ * Seylin finishes casting her spells. ~Done!~ ~I need to know who's going to want to be 'ported in. If one of them's Istvan, he's big enough to count for two of the riding slots.~ Quite. Max, I found a likely spot over here. Patrick, Will, Seylin, you're with me. Max, teleport the rest in. * Tia unslings Mr. Axe from her back and grips the weapon securely in her hands. "I'm ready! How 'bout you guys?" Okay. *floats over to look* I'll open there. But first... Everyone... [Mass Fly]. * Seylin nods. * Max takes a moment, then goes on, [Mass Haste]. * Istroll shrugs. "I was gonna say that I'd charge, since we want its attention focused on me, but that works." *pauses as he tries to figure out the whole flying thing without getting too far off the ground* Um, what's the plan? Is there a plan? * Tia scratches her head. "What should I be doing?" * Max looks a bit beaten up, as if he'd run a bit of a marathon before starting today, but continues... "*ahem* [I wish for my power as a wizard to be magnified for the durration of this battle]." Tia, when you see the dragon, hit it. Oh, that's all? Okay! I'm good at that! * Will does some last minute praying for the group too. He draws his sword out when he's finishes and is ready to beat up some undead. And, last but not least, "[Bigby's Interposing Hand]." Everyone coming with me, fly up here and hold hands. * Istroll frowns for a minute, then zooms up! ... about fifteen feet above Max. "Oops." *scoots back down* I'll grab one of you when I 'port in. You won't see me. *pulls out a familiar-looking pouch, and empties its dusty contents onto himself...before vanishing* * Patrick glances at the group with Kenji and nods. Everyone ready? *echoes the query along the telepathic bond* Open the passage, Max. * Istroll joins hands with the nearest person who's 'porting in with Max. Patrick, Seylin, you'll support the others. Will and I will be occupying the undead. Mmmhmm. Okay, here it comes... [Passwall.] * HKenji darts down the passageway as soon as it opens. * As Max utters that spell, a ten foot square passage opens up in the wall, allowing access to the Linnorm's lair. ~Let's make a house call.~ [ The passageway is about fifty feet long. At the far end of the passage is a dark room with a veritable sea of walking corpses of various sorts covering it's floor, and a dark shape moving about at it's top. ] * Max takes a moment to visualize the lair as he saw it just this morning on Nym's crystal ball, then Istvan feels his tiny hand drop on his shoulder as a mystic incantation begins... [ The corpses come after Kenji the moment they see him coming through the tunnel. ] * Will runs in after Kenji, clanking loudly but what can one do? [ And the battle is on! ] [GREATER TELEPORT!] *All those holding hands vanish, to reappear in the Linnorm's Lair on the opposite side from the passwall's entrance* * Max immediately (and invisibly) jets away from where he appeared, making an erratic circuit of the lair. [ Kenji, go! ] * HKenji charges straight out of the tunnel at top speed, then skids to a stop and draws his blade in a flashing arc while he's still far out of striking range, sending a massive beam of sunlight streaking across the room through the undead. [ Kenji pastes a line of zombies, although there's a vampire in there that bites it, too. ] CHAAAAAAAAAAAAARGE! [ Max, go! ] * Max casually tosses off the phrase: "[Halt Undead]," at three vampires before beginning to mutter to himself as he starts partially casting one spell, switching to another, and back again, with careful mathematical phrases being dropped in there. [ Two of the vampires stop moving! ] [ Istvan, go! ] * Istroll flies up to the linnorm, muttering in dwarvish to activate the flames on his pick, then rearing back and swinging for the shadow's torso. [ Tia, go! ] * Istroll digs his pick into the linnorm! [ A discontented grumble echoes through the chamber. ] * Tia rages! * Tia folds her wings as she dives at the linnorm and cleaves downward into it with her greataxe. * Tia charges the linnorm and cleaves into it with her greataxe. [ Patrick, go! ] [ The thing in the dark twitches slightly as Tia's axe digs in. ] * Max takes a quick look at it with his magical eyes while making his calculations, double-checking he's got the right target. * Patrick flies up, knocking a single arrow and firing at the thing as he gets just within 30 feet. [ The shadowy form bellows in pain as Patrick strikes it somewhere very important, apparently. ] [ Alcinoe, go! ] * Alcinoe holds her hand out towards the linworm, shouting a quick prayer. Slime begins to form under and around it before Alcinoe takes to the air and rushes it. [ The linnorm gives no indication of noticing the slime. ] [ Will, go! ] * Will charges in chanting. Uttering the final syllable of the prayer, a single blinding beam of light cuts through the undead standing in from of him. As the last visages of the beam fades away, a curious glow remains on his hand. [ Will obliterates another line of undead! ] [ The undead horde crowds in on Kenji and Will! ] [ All the undead crowding around them are zombies, currently, and they mostly flail uselessly at the two, only a few managing a lucky hit. ] [ Seylin, go! ] * Seylin streaks towards the linnorm, chanting a prayer as she goes. Holy light surrounds the area around her halberd as she strikes at the creature. [ Seylin fails to damage the linnorm, although she does scrape off a lot of what looks like moss. ] [ The linnorm mutters under it's breath, and points a claw at PAtrick. ] [ Nothing happens! You can't tell for sure, but the linnorm prolly looks disappointed at this. ] [ Kenji, go! ] * Patrick grins. * HKenji draws his wakizashi, then lifts one leg. A split second later, the light from his blades begins strobing wildly and zombie parts are flying through the air in every direction. [ Max, go! ] * Max finishes his calculations, and the last words of both spells, as he states, "[[Lower Spell Resistance] [Lower Spell Resistance]]." * Max goes on, releasing another spell from his Matrix, "[Scale Weakening!]" A grey ray shoots from the middle of nowhere, lancing at the Linnorm. * Max jets around in more erratic little loops as he pulls out a really neat abicus - pity it's invisible - that starts doing calculations - for- him as he begins casting two more spells, worked together with these complex calculations. [ Istvan, go! ] * Istroll rears back and tries to tear into the linnorm with a series of strikes with his war pick. [ Isvan digs deep into what might be a ribcage, and the linnorm howls in pain! ] [ Tia, go! ] [ Tia lands some deep blows in some part of the linnorm, who gives a bizarre-sounding scream to express it's pain. ] * Tia roars thunderously. [ Patrick, go! ] * Patrick draws his bow back further than itsh ould goand unloads a series of arrows at the dragon inrapid succession. [ Patrick makes several good shots against the linnorm, which bellows again, writhes, and bleeds a lot. ] [ Alcinoe, go! ] * Alcinoe is right up by the linworm at this point, and she swings her sword - a brilliant white shaft of light - and lets out a loud shout, golden light somehow gathering around it and adding to her blows. [ Alci carves her way through a part of the linnorms body, proceeding through the thick, trunklike section and on to it's head, which she tears apart with a series of strong blows. The linnorm falls from the ceiling, falling on top of anyone who's beneath it. ] * Max zips out of the way, just to be sure! * HKenji is in motion even as Alci is cutting, grabbing Will and yanking him out of the way of the soon to be crushing its own undead dragon. * Tia shoots out from under the linnorm as quickly as possible, wings beating frantically (though unnecessarily). * Patrick dives down and away with amazing speed and agility. * Seylin streaks away from the falling linnorm-bits. * Istroll looks up, acks, and decides not to test his amazing troll regenerative capabilities as he zooms out of the way. "Incoming!" * Alcinoe is... right in the center of the entire mess, and she tries to move, but she doesn't make it in time. [ Nearly everyone gets out of the way in time, or manages to squirm between the coils of the massive corpse, but Alci is pinned beneath the creature's head and is driven into the ground beneath it, pulping several zombies and hurting her a fair bit. ] Alcinoe! * HKenji sighs. "Istvan, dig Alcinoe out of the dragon, please." * Will didn't even notice he was pulled until he was out of the way and saw everything coming crashing down. "Thanks, Kenji... Alci!" Tia, gimme a hand here! *zooms down and tries to get Alci out* * Tia nods quickly and joins Istvan in digging through the linnorm's remains. Hang in there, Alci! * Patrick winces. "That's gonna leave a mark." * Tia digs faster, using all four paws. * Istroll does some hackin'. When enough of the head is gone, he motions for Tia to help him move what's left of the linnorm's head off of Alci. [ Tia gets to the creatures head, under which is Alcinoe. ] * Max finishes his spells, finally, and says, somewhat embarassedly, "Uh, [I wish that the walls of this cavern to be permeable to sunlight for a little while], and [I wish then luck getting Alci out, unharmed.]" * Tia takes the head in her meaty hands and hefts the heavy thing. "Alci!" Are you okay? * Tia heaves the head aside, away from her companions. * Alcinoe is under the head, and she takes a deep breath when it's lifted off of her. She doesn't look so good, but she moves, standing shakily. "Ah'm okay." Pause. "Ow." * Tia offers Alcinoe a hand up. A perfect cut, Alcinoe. * Patrick smirks. "Nicely done." * Tia nods and claps. "That was so cool!" * Max drifts down, not that anyone can see him, and peers at Alcinoe. "That was fantastic! We beat it, right? It's not coming back to life or anything?" [ Suddenly, sunlight begins to filter in through the walls of the cave. To one side, you see another cavern. ] * Tia turns her head toward the light. "Huh? What's that?" * Will runs over and lays a hand on Alci's shoulder. A warm glow flows through her and she's healed! :D * Seylin sees that Will has Alcinoe taken care of, then flies over to the second cavern, checking for traps. * Alcinoe smiles at Will and straightens. "Thanks." And then she runs a hand through her hair and looks at the grime there. "An' Ah think Ah'm gonna need a bath." That wasn't so bad. *looks over at Tia* See? We smushed 'em! * Alcinoe sheathes her sword. [ Seylin finds no traps. Inside, however, is one impressivly massive heap of treasure. ] ...this creature will surely be worth studying. Perhaps its body parts are useful in arcane pursuits. * Tia grins and crushes Istvan in a hug. "Yeah! We smushed 'im good!" Wow! * Will grins. "I can help with that too!" *Summons some water on Alci's head* Guys, come look at this! * Tia releases Istvan and dashes over to where Seylin is. * Max giggles. "Sorry, I don't have any Hygiene today!" ... Shinies! * Istroll oofs, but holds up better than usual, since he's larger and hardier as a troll. "... yep, that's a treasure horde all right." What? Shin-- ohhhh. Wow. *pushes his glasses up his nose as his eyes go wide in wonder* * Patrick whistles. "Impressive." This is *amazing*. * HKenji turns, catches sight of the treasure, then turns away. "A samurai must not think of such things. A samurai must not think of such things." * HKenji keeps repeating this, under his breath, several times. * Tia jumps into the pile and wades through it gleefully. So pretty... * Max drifts over. "Think of what things?" he asks as he stares at the largest pile of wealth he's ever seen. * Alcinoe is wet. * Alcinoe blinks a few times, then looks at Will. * Will blinks too and looks abashed. Just think of it as more funding for our campaign against the bad guys, Kenji. * Tia giggles as she amuses herself with various shiny findings. A samurai does not think of commerce. All things are for the clan. Greed is unbecoming of a samurai. ...this could fund research grants for years to come... * Alcinoe sticks her tongue out at Will and thwaps him on the back of the head, getting him wet. And ... we kinda earned it. * Istroll claps Kenji on the back. "For the next five minutes, Kenji, I pronounce you a clan of one." * Patrick snickers. Now if you'll excuse me, I see a couple of suits of armor that look lonely. All of it will be put to good use. * Will grins widely at Alci before turning to look at what has the rest of the party mesmerized. * Seylin just... stares, really. It's overwhelming. *_* * Max doesn't even know where to begin, so just stares, floating about the massive trove. * Tia runs up to Seylin and thrusts her hand, now decorated with several rings, toward her for examination. "Look what I found Sey!" Tailing wagging wildly, she hops up and down. Shiny! Shiny! Shiny! * Seylin giggles. "Very pretty, Tia!" * Tia removes the rings, puts them in Seylin's hands, then runs off to play with other newfound toys. * Seylin is holding rings. They are shiny. Yay! * Tia streaks by with an armful of gems and coins, dropping them everywhere as she runs. "Yaaaaaaaay!" * Max notes things like staves and wands, but his eye is drawn by several books, which he begins collecting and stacking in neat piles. * Alcinoe clanks over and looks. She blinks a few times. That's nearly blinding. * Will just stares... * Tia skids to a stop in front of Alci and hands over the remaining coins and gems. "Look, Alci! Shinies! Lots and lots of shinies!" Yes, Tia... it's rather a lot of shinies. * Istroll sliiiiiiiiiiiides up to a particularly well crafted suit of armor. "Why hello, beautiful. Fancy meeting you here." A hoard this size hasn't been seen since... since Ikoma Otemi discovered the Isle of Gold. * Max pushes his glasses up his nose. "It is the stuff of tales in and of itself. Transporting it home will be a task." YEah, it's fuckin' huge. Yeah, Tia. That's a lotta shinies. 's very pretty. * Tia nods emphatically. "So very pretty! What are we gonna do with it?" Perhaps some of it can go towards rebuilding and repopulating Sunhome? So many fun things to play with, too. No, Max. Couldn't you feel it? * Max blinks. "Feel what?" * Istroll puts an arm around the shoulders of the suit of armor as he lays back on the pile o' shinies. "Anyone ever told you that the overlapping of your midsection plates is particularly well done?" * Tia flops onto another tall heap of treasure and rolls in it gleefully. * Seylin looks over at Istvan and bursts out in a helpless fit of giggling. * HKenji watches Tia and smiles a little. "Do all dragons enjoy rolling in piles of treasure?" * Max reverently sets the last of the tomes down on the pile. Feel what, Kenji? * Alcinoe rubs at the back of her head. It's very wet. * Tia sits back up and wags her tail. "Maybe! Papa often sits on his shinies at home." Sunhome is like the ruins of Otosan Uchi. Cursed. Um. Oh my. *eyes the pile again* Do you want me to start seperating the magical items from the merely intrinsically valuable? * Tia blinks. "Cursed?" ...cursed? Howso? Having fallen to darkness once, it cannot help but fall again, and again, and again, each time it is rebuilt. * Patrick smiles. Really? Really? How could you tell, Kenji? There's no hope at all? *lifts up one leg of the armor* And is this a shin guard fashioned in the style of the Forgeaxe clan, or are you just happy to see me? * Alcinoe frowns. She ignores Istavn, looking to Kenji. How typical. ...that is not logical. Each time is different. There is always hope... but it is better to choose a different place to stand. But it's so beautiful...to just let it rot... Max, could you please turn Istvan back to a human? The architecture alone is worth restoring. ...and sure. Ready, Istvan? * Tia watches Max and Istvan intently, tail wagging slightly. * Alcinoe speaks up: "Ah don't see why we shouldn't donate some of this to it. They've suffered enough, haven't they?" * Istroll blinks at Max, realizes he's still cuddling the armor, and stands up quickly, looking rather embarassed as only a troll can. "Sure. Go right ahead." *glances back at the armor; winks* There's nobody from Sunhome left. There's Nym. * Tia grins at Istvan. "That's some pretty armor, Isty." * Seylin walks over to Patrick and whispers. * Max gestures at Istvan. "[Dispell Magic]." * Istroll is human again! "Ah, much better." *pauses* "Significantly better smelling, too." * Tia giggles. Aside from the terrible body odor, being a troll wasn't really that bad. Guy could get used to being freakishly strong and regenerating. * Will grins at Istvan hugging the armor. * Istroll is now known as Istvan * Istvan plops back down next to the armor, and starts whispering sweet nothings into the side of its helmet. I, um, have some, um, notes to go back over. Maybe I will have an expedient means of transporting this all home? I need to speak with Nym some more, too. That would be helpful, Max. * Patrick nods. * Tia yawns and stretches, then promptly falls asleep on the pile of shinies she was rolling in. [ And so they did something with the loot and went to claim the piece of the dias from Nym. Session End! ]