The Demon's weregild: chapter 1

[agentaaa]

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T-H-E D-E-M-O-N-S W-E-R-E-G-I-L-D



Chapter one:
The Jewel thief

Steve Frankenson and Angus Magec walk to the doors of the bright city of Ashta, grateful for the rest from their wandering, likely. As they come near the city, the gigantic metal gates of the walled fortress in front of them open, without any guards nearby. The gate didn't appear to be in possession of an automatic unlocking system, and whatever suspicion you might have had of it's condition is soon cut short as the door falls off it's hinges, and the smell of blood rushes into your nostrils.
Walking into the city, all you find is dead guards, townsfolk, animals, killed in spectacular amounts of butchery. What could do all this damage? The guards seem well armed and armored, and this town had resisted attacks from orcs, wizards, trolls, ogres, and even dragons in the past. there seemed not to be a threat the city couldn't handle, and even the drow had concluded it impossible to take the town after many attempts. Surely an army had come, and destroyed this city....
"Just give the ruby to me, you stupid woman, before I get angry." A man's voice could be heard shouting.
"You killed them, you bastard! They were the first to accept me! I'll kill you!" A woman's voice could be heard, as you round the corner. "Die, you heartless-" The woman, a dark haired beauty in a red dress, created a red fireball in her outstretched hands...
only for it to be dissipated with a snap of the man in front of her's fingers. The man had a long, brown beard, and wore violet robes filled with arcane energy. The staff he carried was long and black, the top appearing to be carved in the shape of a demon, but like none any mortal had ever seen. "hehehehahaha! Oh, you little fool! Your power truly is nothing next to mine.
as you hear the man say this, however, you hear a sickening crunching sound. Looking all around you, you see the remains of the dead piled around you move through the air, creating a barrier around you, leaving only one path open - right to the mage - for mage the man must be - and the woman.
"Right on time, Angus Magec, Steve Frankenson." The man remarks, regarding them with a smirk. "I can't use my own magic to steal this ruby, so I might as well take it from your corpses. I don't doubt you'll attempt to fight, of course - heroes always do, particularly when a little bit of power has managed to inflate their little heads - but, well, I'm prepared for you, and you must surely realize, by now.
I am the creature that destroyed this town."
Raising his staff, he readies himself for battle. Perhaps you should do the same.

[Angusm3]

Angus examines the staff

[agentaaa]

You note that this is the staff of death, a powerful magical item that gives +1 to your INT and WIS modifier, as well as allowing one to learn the spell "death coil".
Death Coil
Daily Dark
Standard action ranged 6
Target: One creature
Attack: Intelligence vs. reflex
Hit: (1/2)Level d10 + 4 + (INT modifier)
The staff allows one to use the technique. Once learned, the staff is no longer necessary, but may be used to fire a second death coil.

the staff does 3d10 + 5 damage in combat, and uses INT for to hit and attack rolls instead of STR.


as for the chest, it contained 200 gold, and a ruby. additionally, a poisonous dart seems to be in the chest. the chest itself is made of wood and iron.
The woman stands up, looking around. "and now, he is ready to destroy this world... You fools." She says, angered. "He will render this world an ashen crater if he is not stopped, and I'll be [censored] if I let that happen!" She says, before stumbling. It's apparent she's been quite weakened by what has occured, and the draining of her own magic, and she barely catches herself with her hands, just barely preventing herself from falling on her face.

[Nut_Column]

Quickly looting the chest, Steve rushes over and attempts to help the lady to her feet, whilst checking and stealing anything she might have on her.

"Hey now, we didn't mean to give a bitter mage the means to destroy the world. That's just what seems to happen to us. It's kinda like that guy whom it always rains on. Only instead of harmless water, it's life obliterating magic."

[agentaaa]

you burn your hand attempting to reach into her pouch. "Stranger, if you wish to steal coin from someone, choose somebody not trained in fire magic." She says,(Take 5 damage).
"Nonetheless, you gave him those means, and unless something is done - and quickly - he will destroy us all. That includes both of you, mage, rogue."

[Angusm3]

I take the staff,
"Look, you're pretty banged up so if you want some nice tasty life force in the form of... Hmm" Angus rifles through his pouch while holding the staff up with his other hand. "Okay, so like I established before with some other guys true resurrection only works on the dead, so I could kill you and then bring you back to health or I could..." Angus shudders "just give you this healing potion"
he ends his sentence with a Pfft.

[Nut_Column]

"I'd go with the True Resurrection myself." Steve says while holding his hand in his mouth.

[agentaaa]

"oh yes, put my life in the hands of the idiots who ruined the world by not even checking for rudimentary wards on the area before recklessly casting spells. by the way, there's wards against true resurrection here before you bother using it, so unless you'd like to bring that skeleton back to life, I'd suggest you remove those for future passersby, and just give me a potion." She says sharply.

[Nut_Column]

"Snappy Snappy... There's no need to be so angry. Also, how would one go about removing these wards. And can one steal them?"

[Angusm3]

Angus walks over and gently places the potion in her hand, taking ten and being careful not to trip on anything. "This is indeed a messed up world... I do not have any magic to remove wards though."

OOC: xp from encounter?

[agentaaa]

you don't know any way to dispel magic? At least you could sense for them and find the wards - even an apprentice who knows only a cantrip can do that(Sensing wards is a perception INT check, by the way) and dispelling magic is something almost every mage I've met knows how to do.". The woman says, drinking the potion, with . "and yet you've learned time stop... Whoever was in charge of your magical education did a poor job... Nonetheless, I must implore you to stop this man. He is dangerous, and will stop at nothing to destroy this very planet. It's your duty to fix the screw up you've caused." The woman says.
(Gained 2500 experience)

[Angusm3]

"Well, it's quite obvious to me that your are skilled in magics, otherwise you would have been strewn among with the rest of this city as a bloody mess. Hell, we could use someone like you, to take the precautions we never would, or to just..." Angus glances at Steve "He'll tell you the rest"

[agentaaa]

"I wasn't chosen to guard the keeper of flame for nothing." she calmly responds. "And in any case, you'll need a guide regardless. If you're serious about stopping him, we need to go to the frostscythe mountains, on the northern continent..." She says, starting to recover her strength.
(so, you gonna take that staff?)

[Angusm3]

I take the staff,

anyway

"I'm getting the slightest feeling that we just failed at a hopeless boss fight, not something to be too ashamed about but worrisome nonetheless..." Angus thinks, rubbing his temples and looking out into the wreckage.

[Nut_Column]

Steve gets out his carpet, gets on and turns to the other two. "Well we can discuss your mild delusions of a man sitting at a computer rolling dice to decide what happens to us along the way. The northern continent sounds like an awfully long carpet ride, no?"

Steve eats an Omelet from his Omelet Pot.

[Angusm3]

Angus goes inside his dimension door and orders the carpet to take him to the northern continent. (they are bound together)

[Nut_Column]

Steve wonders why Angus left all by himself.

[agentaaa]

(dimension door can't be used for intercontinental travel, as I recently found out be looking up it has a maximum range of 960 feet at your level. just sayin'.
http://www.dandwiki.com/wiki/SRD:Dimension_Door )
(on another note, how come most of your new powers appear to be 3rd edition?)
(also, just pointing out that according to: http://www.d20srd.org/srd/spells/timeStop.htm
you shouldn't be attacking in timestop.)
(also, according to SRD, power word kill shouldn't harm anything with over 100 hp, but I'ma let it do damage anyway)
(also, according to the 4th edition rulebook, fireball does 3d6 + int, and is a daily, but I'll let you keep it as encounter)
(also, according to 4e rules, timestop only gives 2 extra standard actions which can't be used to harm other creatures)
(also, finger of death is fortitude check now, not dragon's fire, also encounter)
(also according to 4e rules, wall of fire is up to 8 squares long and four squares high, so 40 feet by twenty feet, but only does 3d6 + int to creatures in it, and 1d6 + int to creatures adjacent. doesn't count to your total learn-able spells, though, considering you got it from that pyromancy spellbook - which you never continued reading, I might add.)
(also, true resurrection takes 10 minutes to cast, although it's so good you don't even need the corpse of the person, if they get turned to ash - just gotta know their name.)
(also according to the 4e rulebook, meteor swarm is a level 29 attack power)
(also, according to 4e rulebook, mage hand isn't an attack spell, just a movement spell that makes a hand that can lift up to 20 pounds)
(also, magic missile now has a chance to miss, but it's against reflex, which monsters barely ever have, so it's still essentially gonna hit all the time)
(also, according to 4e dimension door, it can only teleport ten squares, so about 50 feet)
(also according to 4e rulebook, invisibility only lasts one turn)
(also according to the 4e rulebook, in a rare spot of good news in this onslaught of nerfs, you're missing quite a few slots for powers. next time I see you at DND we need to add some.)
(also, you're missing some skills)
(also Icy rays is intelligence versus reflex, another spot of good news, and is encounter. also, it gets two shots, either two at one target or one at two targets. checked 4e rulebook)
(also, you should have the ritual caster feat, gain 3 1st level rituals, and 4 more rituals of any level lower than yours)
(also, you get a [censored] of extra daily spells it'd be easier to talk about rather than talk about in forum posts, which I'll also help you add the next time I see you)
(also, you get a weapon mastery, such as staff, orb, etc. that gives you extra abilities while using them)
(also, you get the cantrips Ghost sound, Light, Mage Hand(well, you already had it, but still), and prestidigitation automatically)
(also, acid arrow only does 2d8 + int, but also hits everyone adjacent to it with 1d8 + int, with 5 ongoing acid damage on a hit from either, and 2 ongoing acid damage on a miss from either, not to mention half damage)
(seriously, you're supposed to have, like, 10 or so more spells than you do. you are missing a LOT of spells)

Steve manages to eat an omelette from the omelette pot. in the next battle, he will have a +1 to hit for his first 3 attack rolls, and is fully healed. both of you are, yes. fully healed. because I said so, yes.

[Angusm3]

In James' campaign I attached my dimension door portals to nut_column's flying carpet and my flying carpet so my carp it flying around, I'm not using the dimension door to teleport.

(A fireball spell is an explosion of flame that detonates with a low roar and deals 1d6 points of fire damage per caster level (maximum 10d6) to every creature within the area. Unattended objects also take this damage. The explosion creates almost no pressure.
Casting time: 1 standard action)
as for firewall, you told me what it did and I just wrote it down

Also yes, it would appear this is from 3.5
finger of death: I said Oh nvm it does no damage if the creature has more than 100hp and you said oh that's okay I'll let it do 100 damage anyway.

meteor swarm (according to my increasingly unreliable source is a 9th level power)
I guess they didn't expect anyone to get past level 10 in 3.5

in the spellbook I got it from, mage hand does int modifier dmg

(also, according to 4e dimension door, it can only teleport ten squares, so about 50 feet) Where I read it, it was per caster level

And more about dimension door, I think I accidentally mixed that and mordenkainen's mansion and now that I'm there it says time stop is a level 22 utility power

you know what I'm just gonna respec everything on monday if that's okay.


so ANYWAY Angus is still flying toward the northern continent, suddenly feeling like he lost all of his powers for some reason.

[agentaaa]

(well, I'm quoting directly from both the 4th edition players handbook, and the SRD 3rd edition rules. the only fireball spell I found did what I had earlier mentioned. Where did you read what you have from? I also checked the 4e homebrew site, by the way.)
(also, yes, I read that about time stop too, but it's too ingrained in the character to get rid of, I think.)
(you are fully correct on the firewall spell, I changed it only because it was earlier using 2nd edition, which I thought was 4th edition, because that wiki was terrible in every way. It doesn't count towards the total powers you have, btw, nor does fire plume, because you gained that from a spellbook)
(also, if that's the case, add the cantrip mage hand to your spell list, and perhaps rename the mage hand you have as "greater mage hand" or something?)
(Well, in 3.5, mages did get those powerful spells earlier, in exchange for them, ya know, actually being needed to be attained rather than randomly gained upon level ups. I'm quoting 4th edition, though, not 3.5, at least, wherever I can find the 4th edition equivalent. I'm not doing this to screw with you, just to update the char for 4th edition.
(Not sure if dimension door, ya know, works that way, at least not without some sort of ritual I can't find.)
(also, because you get it automatically, add one spellbook to your inventory. it's where you're supposedly storing your ritual spells, and allows you to get a crapload of extra dailys too.)
(why are we mentioning finger of death? I was talking about power word kill. I buffed it to 100 damage, I remember, and was just noting that even if the rules say otherwise now, "Screw them, because I have money")
(Indeed. dimension door in 3.5 was 400 feet + 40(caster level) which is where I calculated 960 feet. This is 4e.)
until monday, though, you get to keep most of your crap, with the exception of the time stop barrages, so we can RP properly.

The woman turns to you, saying "I'm coming with you. My name's Alexis, by the way. Listen to what I say, and we might stop him, AND live to tell about it. got it?" She asks, as both you and Nutty feel warmer. Gain +1 to reflex for the first 5 turns of the next encounter you enter.

[Nut_Column]

"*ahem*"
Steve waits for a couple seconds.

"*AHEM*"
Steve looks agitated.

"Oh you stupid carpet, GO!"
And the carpet jumps off the ground suddenly.

(Also, does this count as a significant stopping point? Because I want my XP and mah Boots from James' campaign.)
(See? I can talk in parentheses too.)

[Angusm3]

Okay well I fly circles around his massive carpet while following him.

[Nut_Column]

My carpet can go faster than...

Well, my carpet goes at a speed that everyone won't be thrown against the wall for now.

[agentaaa]

I'll allow that, because my campaign is NOT going on dimension hopping, time travelling tangents. That's what my other campaign is for.
also, yes, though they might be farther apart from now on. also, xp carries over between campaigns regardless of stopping points, just saying, but levels and powers are not given midencounter, and wait till after any combat encounter ends to apply.
both of you keep going on your respective carpets, Alexis flying under her own power on what appears to be a giant eagle made of fire.
As you pass a small island, Alexis says "I sense a faint magical aura on that island. can't get a secure lock on it, but it's definitely arcane in nature.
Do you wish to stop at this island?

[Nut_Column]

"Well Angus? You're the mage." Steve says, wishing he had some sort of detect wealth ability.

[Angusm3]

Angus reads Steves mind, "I thought you did have the ability to detect wealth" he says. "We might as well check it out, what's a boss battle without grinding the [censored] out of every encounter?"

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