Chapter 11: The Parallax Reality

[SilverBen]

Finver holds the shield against the storming enemy and draws his dagger to slash the one opposite his shield.

Finver attacks in melee with dagger [1d20+1]=14+1=15 doing [1d4+1]=4+1=5 slashing/piercing damage

He swipes broadly to fend off the attacker and inflict pain to deter or delay the surge.

[ravenn4544]

Ko-Nan doesn't hesitate - he charges! All is lost if they can't defend their position...

Attack: THACO (18): [1d20+2]=13+2=15 + 2 charge = 17 / Damage: (S/M: [2d4+3]=4+3=7 / L: [3d4+3]=6+3=9)

Charges at S46

[redwarrior]

Connak, finding that his scimitar is useless moves over to his bow. Badly bungles his first shot. With any luck,his second may connect.

Arrow 1
Short Bow THAC0 19 [1d20+1]=1+1=2 Damage [1d6]=4
Arrow 2
Short Bow THAC0 19 [1d20+1]=13+1=14 Damage [1d6]=5

[jemmus]

By Verne and Wells, Mungo cries, Those Sleestaks will cut us to pieces! Kill the skeletally one! You know, the one with flesh falling off of it! It's our only chance! He takes out the magic bracelet and messes around with it, hoping it will drop the party anywhere but here. Well, anywhere that's at least a little better than here.

Former post, before correction for the actual situation.
By Verne and Wells, Mungo cries, Those Sleestaks will cut us to pieces! Kill the skeletally one! You know, the one with flesh falling off of it! It's our only chance! He again grabs at the evil overlord with his electrical forge gloves.

[Urson]

Maskelyn
Maskelyn tries to stay just out of reach of the Sleestaks. He dodges, ducks, and otherwise mocks them, trying to be as annoying as possible.
Over here, Doc! Nope, this way! Nice swing- too bad you missed! If he can, he'll put his magic goggles back on, looking for the Creepy Dude.

[Inferno]

The City of the Sleestaks, Deep Beneath the Forbidden Zone
The Island of Xygax the Wizard, Land of One Thousand Towers
Day Eleven. Morning? April 6th, 912 CY








Surrounded by hissing, snarling Sleestaks, Maskelyn dons his magic spectacles and spies more of the insidious puppet masters hidden among the savage throng! (S44, S45)

Connak looses an arrow over Finver's head and it sinks deep into the Sleestak he had slashed with his scimitar! (S41)! The reptilian warrior collapses to the ground!

Another Sleestak lunges forward (S40) and Finver fends off its jagged spear with his shield! The dwarf's flashing dagger counterstrikes, stabbing it but not fatally!

Behind the retreating adventurers, Mungo produces the strange, magic bracelet. He rotates its diadem disc and it sparks to life! He drops it between himself and the Sleestaks on their rear flank!




Once more, the magic artifact rends open a hole in the fabric of reality!




The glowing portal divides Mungo from the confused Sleestaks, and speaks in the voice of a woman, "Attention. Your wristwatch has malfunctioned. This entryway is temporary and will disappear in 20 seconds. 19. 18..."

Meanwhile, in the eastern cavern, Drapaudi points at the lone sorcery engine against the southern wall. "Maybe if we destroy the thing they guard, it will aid us. Otherwise we are trapped."

Fiefo puts two arrows into one of the Sleestaks that defend the wizard-machine! (S46) Then Ko-Nan the barbarian pounces and finishes the cold-blooded creature with a fell-handed swing of his great ax!

Alone and outnumbered, the other hissing Sleestak abandons his post, putting the lake between himself and the human invaders!


Actions?!


Map Detail:

One square = 10 feet. PCs are purple. Altrusians are orange. Ambrose is brown. Sleestaks are green. Doppelgangers are blue.

Behind the DM Screen:

Initiative: Party: [1d6]=5, Monsters: [1d6]=4 Party wins.
S40 attacks Finver: [1d20]=4, damage: [2d4]=6 Misses.

PC Status:

Connak: Cat-Man Fighter/Thief 2/3: Move: 9", AC: 5, HP: 5/19
Draupadi: Human Cleric 4: Move: 9", AC: 2, HP: 16/34, Spells: 5/5 1st lvl, 4/4 2nd lvl
Fiefo LeBratt: Rat-Man Fighter 3: Move: 9", AC: 1, HP: 8/26
Finver Karstlander: Dwarven Fighter 3: Move 6", AC: 2(1), HP: 4/31
Ko-Nan: Human Barbarian 3: Move: 12", AC: 4, HP: 11/39
Maskelyn: Gnome Illusionist 3: Move: 9", AC: 7, HP: 11/14, Spells: 1/2 1st lvl, 0/1 2nd lvl
Mungo: Mole-Man Cleric 4: Move: 9", AC: 7, HP: 6/34, Spells: 1/5 1st lvl, 4/4 2nd lvl, Lantern

PC Magic:

Blur (Maskelyn): Duration: 4 rounds

Player Resources:

End of the World (game description)
Strange New World (maps and realms)
Memory Tapes (the story so far)
Viewscreen (the story so far in images)

[SilverBen]

Finver attacks in melee with dagger [1d20+1]=6+1=7 doing [1d4+1]=4+1=5 slashing/piercing damage

His blade reflects the familiar blue hue of the wormhole as it harmlessly flails before the advancing enemy. It becomes more of an poorly feigned intimidation effort than an effective attack as he withdraws towards the wormhole with sheild raised.

Finver turns in response to the familiar electrifying sound and groans as he sees the wormhole open in the floor. He laments to Connak, "Not again! This'll be the most shameful death of any dwarf if I fall outta tha ceiling again. We already surrendered ta these gherkins once and look where it got us!"

He calls to direct gnome in the rear, "Maskelyn, forget tha wormhole - get tha gadget and go ta tha others! Stick tagether!"

[Rex]

Draupadi

Draupadi attacks the machine with her mace. "Destroy it!"

As usual not good.
Mace [1d20]=1 to hit [1d6+1]=1+1=2 damage

[ravenn4544]

Ko-Nan has eyes for his enemy now. "Fight, you coward!" He moves as fast as he can to engage the remaining creature.

[ChubbyPixie]

Seeing Ko-nan moving to attack, Fiefo shrugs and half-heartedly fires two more arrows at the remaining slizard by the lake. He's had a hard time following who are the good guys and who are the bad. Or are there bad guys and worse guys? Thinking things through was never his strong point...:

Attack with Short Bow (THAC0 16): To Hit: [1d20+1]=5+1=6 Damage, s/M/L: [1d6]=4

Attack with Short Bow (THAC0 16): To Hit: [1d20+1]=10+1=11 Damage, s/M/L: [1d6]=6

[jemmus]

Mungo looks around, thinks. "Well this is no good. We've got an escape portal (albeit involving a drop of unknown tens of feet, possibly into boiling lava, the maw of a giant sand worm, etc.), but not all of us are here." He picks up the magic gold bracelet and packs it away, readies his sling, and whips a bullet at the Sleestak across the portal (S32).

THAC0 18
[1d20]=19 [1d4+1]=1+1=2

[redwarrior]

Connack Continues to step backward, loosing arrows over Finver's head, targeting the nearest foes S40? and if he goes down with the first arrow, moving to S38 Hearing the portal announcement, he glances over his shoulder, looking to locate it. Seeing it temporarily blocking the other sleestak, he will continue to back into the other corridor moving in the direction of S30

Short Bow THAC0 19 [1d20+2]=12+2=14 Damage [1d6]=5
Saber THAC0 19 [1d20+2]=20+2=22 Damage [1d8+3]=4+3=7
Opps clicked on the wrong macro! adjudicate as seems right
Short Bow THAC0 19 [1d20+2]=10+2=12 Damage [1d6]=3

[Urson]

Maskelyn
Maskelyn takes The Elder Altrusian by the arm.Come on, Doc. Time to go!
Hoping he understood Finver, he heads NE toward Ko -Nan and the others.

[Inferno]

The City of the Sleestaks, Deep Beneath the Forbidden Zone
The Island of Xygax the Wizard, Land of One Thousand Towers
Day Eleven. Morning? April 6th, 912 CY








Surrounded and outnumbered, the desperate heroes slowly retreat into a dead end where they'll be cornered and trapped!

"Come on, Doc. Time to go!" urges Maskelyn.

But the Altrusian Wandering Master will not budge. He implores his mutated, degenerate kin: "Wake up! Your true enemies are safely hidden, breeding you for slavery and war! Outside the limit of your sight. Feeding off you. Perched on top of you from birth to death are your owners! Your owners! They have you. They control you! They are your masters!"

To no avail. The barbaric Sleestaks continue the ferocious, unrelenting attack!

Connak's arrows fell another reptilian marauder (S40) and the feline archer joins Finver in the fighting retreat! They pass Mungo as he hurtles a slingstone across the glowing, magic portal!



The missile hammers a Sleestak on the other side! (S32) And then the cobalt gate solemnly intones "3, 2, 1," and closes! The barrier holding back the Sleestak horde is no more!

Maskelyn flees east! In the natural cavern (area 24) he sees Fiefo fire an arrow into a lone Sleestak that is held at bay! (S47) Ko-Nan stalks him, gripping his ax, "Fight, you coward!"

With its guards overcome, Draupadi advances on the undefended sorcery engine! "Destroy it!" she cries as she smashes it with her mace! With a thundering roar, the wizard-machine explodes!




Draupadi is thrown back and, in the aftermath of sparks, flame and smoke, something astonishing happens.




Suddenly, without the use of spectacles, all the adventurers can see the insidious doppelgangers masquerading as Sleestak war-chiefs! (S37, S44, S45, S47)

And so can the Sleestaks! With surprise, suspicion and revulsion, they look upon the revolting, fleshless fiends lurking in their midst, and slowly raise their spears against them!

"Wait! Wait! Uh... Can we talk this over?" the craven, unmasked doppelgangers wheedle.


Actions?!


Map Detail:

One square = 10 feet. PCs are purple. Altrusians are orange. Ambrose is brown. Sleestaks are green. Doppelgangers are blue.

Behind the DM Screen:

Initiative: Party: [1d6]=5, Monsters: [1d6]=1 Party wins.

Damage to Draupadi: [1d6]=1 1hp damage from explosion.

PC Status:

Connak: Cat-Man Fighter/Thief 2/3: Move: 9", AC: 5, HP: 5/19
Draupadi: Human Cleric 4: Move: 9", AC: 2, HP: 15/34, Spells: 5/5 1st lvl, 4/4 2nd lvl
Fiefo LeBratt: Rat-Man Fighter 3: Move: 9", AC: 1, HP: 8/26
Finver Karstlander: Dwarven Fighter 3: Move 6", AC: 2(1), HP: 4/31
Ko-Nan: Human Barbarian 3: Move: 12", AC: 4, HP: 11/39
Maskelyn: Gnome Illusionist 3: Move: 9", AC: 7, HP: 11/14, Spells: 1/2 1st lvl, 0/1 2nd lvl
Mungo: Mole-Man Cleric 4: Move: 9", AC: 7, HP: 6/34, Spells: 1/5 1st lvl, 4/4 2nd lvl, Lantern

PC Magic:

Blur (Maskelyn): Duration: 3 rounds

Player Resources:

End of the World (game description)
Strange New World (maps and realms)
Memory Tapes (the story so far)
Viewscreen (the story so far in images)

[SilverBen]

Finver lowers his shield for a vulnerable moment long enough to see the spectacle unravel before his eyes. An expression of wondrous understanding overtakes his face. He bellows to the line of enemies in front of him, "Fight your enslavers, not us! We will help you free yourselves!"

As Finver's caught up in the middle of the melee fracas, he has no other choice than to hold the line and simply try to spur the revolt of Sleestaks. No other option besides that unfortunately, I don't think one is feasible

[Rex]

Draupadi

Draupadi looks around to make sure everything is destroyed, "Quick we need to help the others!"

Assuming everything is she will rush back to help the others.

[ravenn4544]

Ko-Nan reels in revulsion as the thing before him changes shape! "What foul trickery is this!?!" HIs cleaver flies well past it's mark!

Attack: THACO (18): [1d20+2]=1+2=3 / Damage: (S/M: [2d4+3]=7+3=10 / L: [3d4+3]=8+3=11)

[jemmus]

By Wells and Verne, we're saved! Mungo cries. Maybe. He loads his sling with another bullet, for just in case.

[Urson]

Maskelyn
Nice work, Sister!
Maskelyn doesn't stick around to admire the destruction, but heads back to help the rest of the crew.

[redwarrior]

Connak stays right behind Finver, backing up slowly, with an arrow knocked, but pointed away from the Sleestak. If they heed Finver's words, he won't fire.