Devotion Campaign Planning and Discussion Thread

[Vanya Mia]

((Server is up, should be the usual details.))

[Mirgalen]

Continuing the chase of those responsible for the sleeping curse the group explored a crypt. At one point, they encountered a demilich but that thing was not the creature they were after. A level deeper they found themselves in a large crypt where a voice offered them to take the key and leave. The team members pondered a moment to find the best way to handle such dilemma. Eventually havoc ensued.

Later the team explored the lair of mind flayers who hd more than one trick in their bag. The confident archer found himself alone in a circular cell. A large manticore appeared. There was little time to think. The archer wanted to summon his companion but forgot. Instead he did launch all his explosive arrows and used a dark energy potion to do some reciprocal damages. He also used a curing potion at some point. He had bandages (//healing kits) but using them in melee was not very practical.

After launching his own darts, the creature rushed into melee. Althor could have tried to fight with the big sword but he was more confident with his abilities with the bow and he was betting on the reciprocal damages.

Perhaps he used the wrong tactic(s) or did not retreat in time or perhaps the manticore was more than what he could handle. The others found him lying on the ground.

After defeating the mind flayer he acquired a nice cloak that may allow him to survive would he find himself in the same predicament...

[Karvon]

The party had pressed on thru the crypts, searching for the lich and key, slaying various undead as they went. Then the lich appeared and offered a deal; spare him and he would give up the key the party sought. A rather animated discussion followed, dominated by the righteous unwilling to let such a creature live to fight another day, so the party refused and continued the attack. The led to a rather disorganized and swirling battle in which Slade fell after getting cursed and injured by undead he was unable to outrun. When the dust settled, the undead were gone and the party eventually found and resurrected him. The only thing that made this less painful was they finally found a hoard, a number of magical artifacts and more gold than the party could carry. Slade packed what he could into his backpack, but sadly had to leave much behind.

The next stop was a mindflayers lair; a web of tunnels and odd chambers filled with assorted creatures enslaved by the mindflayers. Most of them went down fairly quickly before the swords and axes of the party, but some of the mindflayers proved a bit tougher to track and dispatch. Slade's sharpshooting helped quite a bit against most of these.

Later the party got ported into a deadly maze, each person finding themselves in a different corner. Slade dodged by a massive umberhulk that initially confronted him, then lurked in the shadows till others appeared and linked up. One counting heads, it was discovered the demon hunting archer was missing. Some poking around found him fallen in a corner of the maze. The priests were able to resurrect him, and the party moved on.

[Gulfwulf]

"So liches, undead ogre mages, dragonlings, dragons, eye tyrants...anything I missed? Gonna be fun fightin' that mind flayer if'n we can't keep our protections goin'. I 'ope one o' ye lot 'ave some good mind protections goin' 'cause mine tend to be stripped as soon as they see me."

Toric looked over at Althor and his new cloak. "I'm still not totally convinced ye be needin' that cloak, lad, but I ain't gonna argue over it. Sure that beast got the better o' ye, but how many times are we split up?" He raised a hand, "No, don't go answerin' that; 'twas a stupid question. Anyway, if'n one of the girls feels she can use it better, ye'd best think 'bout giving it up since they be the ones keepin' us all on our feet and all."

[Shadani]

As the party prepared to face the lord of dreams, Nihmri became uncharacteristically quiet. She prayed and rested, and then she prayed some more. She whispered to herself stories of revelations and lies, and in her hands, she held the soul of a god.

They stood, she knew, at the precipice. It would not be an ending - not really, anyway. Nothing ever really ends. But sometimes, they do get to start anew.

[smartalec]

"Kinda begs the question, doesn't it?" Suula looked at the cloak on Althor's shoulders, and then at the Rod of Dragons in her hand. "Is any of this actually... real? i mean, we're... asleep, right...? So when we wake up, is Althor wearing that cloak? Is all this gold stuff in our packs? Did I just drink that potion or do I think I did? And if I didn't, and it's not there any more, where'd it go?"

She rubs her head. "My mind actually hurts."

[Vanya Mia]

"You think yours hurts?" Shanni responded. "I don't even know where to begin. I mean, are we still asleep at all? Start there and everything begins to unravel." She sighed. "Is this something we are sharing, are all of us even here at all? I think I would know you anywhere but what if you're all just manifestations of thought?"

"Is this even me right now, wondering if you are all real, or is this me as a manifestation telling you that I may not be real?" She paused. "I believe I'm real but does that make me real. We went through a place where belief was important so did that have an effect?" She paused yet again. "And if so there is a real one of each of us somewhere else dreaming of companions and making them real because they believe we are real?"

"Alright." The pause was longer this time. "I think I just broke my brain."

[Topato]

You could have just as easily asked yourself all those questions before we ever came here, or before you ever became an adventurer. The answer would have been the same as well; it doesn't matter. The only world we have is the one we can perceive, and it's up to us to make the best world of it that we may.

[Lazybones]

+2850xp for full-party IC posting this week.

[Vanya Mia]

((Server is up, usual details.))