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Champions of the Empire | Citadel of Fire - Turn 1.5 - The Veiled Woman
| Barnas |  |
| KC | Stoneskin (2) |
| Martin Vane | Stoneskin (3) |
| Morty Crystaltouched | |
| Pellanistra Xarann | Stoneskin (3) |
| Shaarilla | |
| Syllivarrna Obanghall | |
| Tyra Stellastrom | |
Both Syl and KC repeat to the group what the veiled woman said.
In the bedroom, Lani and Tyra heed the message and both back away cautiously. The displacer beast still looks very angry but does not attack. Instead, it follows them back to the doorway. Syl backs away from the snowman and it does not attack. Martin and Morty follow suit and the snowman backs into the room far enough for Lani and Tyra to exit.
Meanwhile, two more doors in the central hallway open.
The first is closest to Barnas and opens to reveal another feline creature but looking nothing like the displacer beast. This one has the body of a lion but it has a grim, human head and bat-like wings. Barnas can see its tail swishing about in a threatening manner and notes with alarm that it looks a lot like the head of a flail, covered with sharp spikes. Its visage is clearly one of intense anger and Barnas is somewhat dismayed that the beast is only 15 feet away from him with no one else to help out.
"A bloody manticore," Martin says under his breath but still loud enough for Morty, Syl and Barnas to hear. None of them know anything about manticores.
The second door opens closest to KC as he was about to move forward to get a better look at the woman with the cards. KC whirls around and sees 10 foot tall, very ugly humanoid filling the doorway. The giant's hands are free but a short sword-sized dagger hangs at his waist. His clothing is neat and clean and fits him well, an obvious counterpoint to his very ugly visage. He looks mildly angry but not enraged.
KC is not fooled by the fancy clothes and instantly recognizes the giant as an ogre, albeit the most well-dressed ogre he has ever seen. KC backs away towards the room with the veiled woman.
Surrounded by a very angry displacer beast, a very angry manticore and a mildly angry ogre, the group quickly decides to talk to the veiled woman. "May we enter," Syl asks the woman and she nods her head in agreement. The group hopes they are not leaping from the frying pan into the fire.
The group enters the room as the displacer beast moves up to the doorway. The manticore and ogre have both come out of their respective doors but are not otherwise threatening.
Once everyone is in the room, the woman makes a gesture and the door closes. Almost certainly an Unseen Servant spell, the mages in the group think to themselves. Probably the same force that opened the door.
The woman says, "who will step forward and have their fortune read?"
The group notes that this chamber is furnished in very similar fashion to the one where they encountered the displacer beast though it is not sprinkled with snow and ice and in fact, is quite warm. There is a bed and chest in the far corner. The desk sits in the middle of the room and the veiled woman is behind the desk holding a deck of cards. Also on the desk is an ornate hourglass. There are no windows but the room is well lit with lighting that seems natural but is clearly not.
KC: Not being the most charismatic of people, he will step forward, "Sure why not. Who do I have the pleasure of meeting? My name is KC and what is this place.. this tower... this land?"
IRINA: "My name is Irina S'Byelli. As for your questions, they must wait until you know your fortune."
With that, she shuffles the cards and then lays down six cards face down in front of her. She indicates for KC to point to two of them. Once he has down so, she moves the two cards closer to him and then looks at the remaining four cards without revealing them. Then she asks him to pick up one the two cards that are now in front of him and look at it.
KC picks up one of the two cards, looks at it - and then disappears. The card flutters back down to the table and lands face down in the same spot from which he picked it up. No one was able to see the face of the card.
The woman does not seem at all surprised. She picks up the hourglass and turns it over.
SHAARILLA: Shaarilla spazes at the sudden disappearance and asks the question likely to be on everyone’s mind, “Where did he go? And when will he be back?"
IRINA: "He will likely return," and she nods at the hourglass.
After a minute or so the group guesses that the hourglass is set to measure a 10 or 15 minute time frame. They continue to watch it as minutes tick by.
SYL: will step forward and study the woman carefully before speaking
SYL TECH: Character Judgement: [rolled 115 (Success)]
SYL TECH: Conversation (information): [rolled 88 (Partial Success)]
SYL TECH: Jirdunian Lore (if applicable): [rolled 79 (Partial Success)]
SYL: I would like to know my fortune/future please...
GM: Jirdunian Lore does not seem to apply to this situation and you have not engaged her in conversation enough to learn anything. Syl is not entirely sure what to make of her character from the brief exchange so far other than to say that there is more to the situation than meets the eye.
Syl steps forward and asks to have her fortune read. Irina nods and recovers all of the cards on the desk with the exception of the one that KC chose. That one she moves to the side and places the hourglass in front of it. Then she shuffles the cards and, as she did with KC, deals six face down in front of her and indicates for Syl to point to two of them. These two she moves over in front of Syl and instructs her to pick one up and look at it. Syl picks up a card, looks at it, and promptly disappears. The card flutters down to land on the table in the same spot it was before Syl picked it up. It is face down.
As soon as Syl disappears, Irina reaches into a desk drawer and pulls out another hourglass. This one is smaller and less ornate. She slides the card that Syl chose to the side of her desk, upends the new hourglass, and sets it in front of the card. By now about a quarter of the sand has dropped in the first hourglass.
SHAARILLA: Shaarilla wasn’t surprised when Syl also disappeared. She asked, “Where are they going?” She wasn’t really expecting an answer, but it sounded like they were going somewhere dangerous and only return if they survived.
LANI: Shaarilla's assessment causes Lani to react. "If they are somewhere dangerous, then I will go as well and see if I can help. Hopefully they arrived in the same place and I will too."
LANI: With that she steps forward and tells Irina, "I wish to have my fortune read."
MORTY: Morty interjects immediately, "Wait, it seems very unlikely that you would end up sent to the same place as they are, since they drew different cards and you are almost certainly going to as well. Wait until KC gets back, it will only take a few more minutes! We need more information!." Since his protests are falling on deaf ears he trails off and falls silent.
Irina repeats the same procedure with Lani, dealing out six cards and then moving two near Lani when she points to them. Lani picks up a card and disappears as KC and Syl did before. KC has been gone about 5 minutes and it looks like about half of the sand has fallen through the hourglass. Syl has been gone about 2 minutes.
When Lani's card flutters back to the table face down, Irina removes another small hourglass from the desk and places to the side of the desk in front of Lani's card.
TYRA: As the rest of the group enters the room, Tyra tries to assess the woman as the dialog progresses.
TYRA (GM): Tyra would like to use Character Judgment on the Veiled Woman.
GM: Like Syl, Tyra doesn't have a lot of information to go on in the limited exchanges with the woman and is not sure what to make of her.
TYRA: The Nordic warrior looks uncomfortable with the situation. "Seems like we need to wait for our friends to return before taking further action."
Barnas, Martin, Morty, Shaarilla and Tyra watch the first hourglass as the sand continues to drop. The other two hourglasses, although smaller and less ornate, seem to be measuring the same time span.
A few minutes later, the last of the sand falls from the first hourglass and KC suddenly reappears. He is standing behind the woman at the desk. He looks a bit surprised and says, "You people haven't really been waiting here for three months have you?" Then, looking around he adds, "Where's Syl. Where's Lani?"
KC is dressed a bit differently than he was. His hair is neater and looks to have been trimmed recently. Overall he looks a bit more seasoned and looks like he has been gone for some time.
By this time three quarters of the sand has fallen through on Syl's hourglass and about half on Lani's.
SHAARILLA: “It’s only been ten minutes for us. Where were you? What happened?"
KC: after taking a few seconds to reorient myself to the new surroundings. I reply to Sharilla, "I have just spent three months of training with 'The Rogue'. He was pictured on the card I flipped over. It was really intense and insightful. I did learn a lot with the short time I was with him. (i.e. 15,000 exp to spend on certain roguish type skills only) I thought it might of been a dream at first, but dreams do not go on for that long."
SHAARILLA: “That sounds like it would be worth doing, but I’ll wait told others get back to confirm that their experience is similar. Meanwhile, maybe the veiled woman will talk with you now, since she said questions must wait until you know your fortune."
TYRA: Tyra listens on with fascination. She shakes her head and replies, "that wasn't what I was expecting to hear. If that's the case, then I guess we should all proceed since she told us we need to hear our fortune before she'll answer our questions. Should we pace ourselves so that only three are gone at a time? Who would like to go next?"
TYRA: Tyra will wait until Lani or Syl returns so the group has at least two of its primary combatants present with the others before seeking her fortune.
A couple of minutes later, Syl suddenly reappears as well. She reappears behind Irina. She too is dressed differently and her hair is slightly longer. Her clothing, while still suited for adventuring, is of better quality than she was wearing when she left. She seems more confident as well.
She looks around and sees KC but not Lani. "I would presume that, from your perspective, I was not absent for three months but only a matter of minutes, is that correct?"
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