Powerful new evil.....here's the scoop!

[Admin]

I have some very important role-play to pass on to everyone. Chastity came across some information that was corroborated by Aris.

Iuz knows of a way to gain additional power. I knows of an entity of great power, a demigod, whom, if he kills, he can gain her power. She is a threat to Oerth on her own, but if Iuz gains her power, he could be an even greater threat. She is one of a number of ancient beings. She was freed during the apocalypse. She had been bound on Celene, Oerth being her home plane. She has never manifested on other worlds and is one of the “Primal Gods”. She found a way to leave her prison and manifest at Tovag Baragou (which is like Stonehenge) and is south of the Plains of Payim where the Lacota come from. She was so dangerous on Oerth that she was banished to the moon. David reminded me that this is reminiscent of the sunken continent of Morgon where the people offended the gods by striking a deal with deities that had been banished to other places. The gods then sunk Morgon).

This needs to be taken care of right away. If we let much of any time go by Iuz will beat us to her. Chastity is busy in the war, fighting Iuz already. She took time away from the war to contact Aris and get the ball rolling. She also knows that Moorak is unavailable right now, we can’t rely on him for any spells at the moment. Chastity teleports to Blackrobe and tells him what she knows since the area this is happening in is an area Blackrobe is familiar with and people that he would try to protect, not to mention the fact that he is the highest level Clerical type in the game, he should be playing a major role in this game. It is going to take him away from the Temple of Elemental Evil, but this is much more important at the moment.
Chastity asks Blackrobe and Aris to work together to put a party together as quickly as possible and go after this demigod before Iuz does. David says that the level width for this game is at the VERY MINIMUM 6th level to an upper range of 13th level.

We would like everyone who is interested in doing this game (in the next two or three weeks) to please respond to this email ASAP with characters that would like to go. Anyone in the Greyhawk or Amberwood region would definitely have a reason to be there. Also, anyone who knows Blackrobe or Aris would be great as well. The Arabia party is too far removed, sorry. But other who may be reasonably contacted are welcome. We would like to have as many players as possible on the game. It should prove to be a fun yet tough and exciting game.

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Just a quick note, this god is now on Oerth. She isn't trapped on the moon anymore.

[Andy]

A few related thoughts -

What about the other primal gods that were released and not killed yet? Will Iuz be after them too? If he's going for the insanity god (Paul please confirm this one is insanity) and the good gods won't help him to absorb, perhaps the revulsion one would also be worth taking out. Once again though, someone's got to suck up that essence. Hmm...Chastity does know someone with a spirit vessel capable of holding a god's essence.

Anyway, for this one, it shouldn't be that complicated once we locate the beastie, zoom in, blast em and leave. Although I'd expect to run into scads of orcish scouts as well in good need of BBQing...

[Admin]

I know there is a spell called Mind Blank or Mind Bar or something like that....it was used quite effectively during the Mind Flayer wars. Perhaps () that could work to protect against any special insanity effects?

Also, would psionic characters have an advantage?? I'm guessing no, but it's worth looking into...

[Andy]

I'd guess most pisonic defenses would be useless with the exception of Mind Bar. It's available as a high level MU spell...

[David]

The psionic discipline is Mind Bar

The 8th lvl mage spell is Mind Blank

They're largely the same, shielding the recipient's mind from just about ALL intrusion, but with a few minor differences in what's covered.

The specifics of the entity you're going up against aren't fully known. Perhaps some additional reconn or info gathering would be in order?

Sucking up the essence of any of the Primal Gods is dicey. Only Jessica, of all the heroes who've managed it, hasn't been totally screwed in the process.

According to what ARIS heard, Iuz, being a god himself, should be able to manage the godhead and bend it to his will, using this additional boost to accomplish nasty things -- like shattering the forces in Northern Furyondy or summoning an army of demons to Oerth. Imagine not just one or two babau but rather two or three DOZEN...!

[Jeff]

Is there any way to protect ourselves from sucking up the essence??
If not, we could have a very screwed party member

[David]

That's exactly the problem, Jeff, each time someone has slain one of the Primal Gods, the essence of the god has flowed into that person in order for that person to take the god's place. At the moment of the Primal God's death, the slayer gained its godhead. Jessica sliced open Talon and absorbed the essence of Survival (at all costs). Kate hacked up Sauron and took on the essence of Hunger (in ALL its forms). And Tyris=Flare chopped through Chaos and was infused with (mindless) Destruction. How can we avoid this Primal God's primal nature...? Heck, we're not even sure what it is....

[Andy]

Tyris=Flare's 'gift' has been defined by David a little more clearly, it's more Violence and Destruction rather than pure Chaos. As such, it is actually rather part of her nature, and she really shouldn't have been insane...just a little more bloodthirsty. That being said, she shouldn't be given any children to look after, but would be quite effective in a battlefront situation. The fact that she was already living (immortal) undead at the time she absorbed it, means that it has enhanced / affected those abilities as well. KaaaBoom!

So - David - is any part of HOW the cat staff was used to contain a god's essense a significant part of its history? Would Chastity confer with Kee'O on this?

[David]

The Cat Staff was created specifically to suck up the essenses of various Animal Generals and Beast-Related Deities. It COULD work on this Primal God, depending on the being's area of influence, but then again, it could be used as a toothpick to pry out your soon-to-be-lodged-between-its-teeth +3 ring of protection from the demi-god's mouth.

One thing that AARON JACOBSON said, in an email that his brother relayed, was: "is there a spell "soul bound" or something or some "amulet of soul stealling"? if so I think Jeffs right ( but hes wrong and always is, in this case you whont be a god just a demi"

Well, there IS a spell call spirit bind that locks the soul of the departed into its former body. And there is at least one PC who knows it. It may or may not be effective, since the essense would probably have already left the body before the caster could get the spell off.

BUT, as I believe Aaron and I have discussed before, there is an amulet of life protection. This is a magical item designed to PROTECT the wearer from possession (and psionic attack) by "putting a lien" on the wearer's soul. Thus, if something that would mess with the wearer's soul is encountered, the soul is (temporarily) housed in the amulet until the threat passes. As a side effect, the if the wearer is killed with the amulet on, his/her soul hangs out in the amulet for a week before "moving on" to the Outer Planes. But, were someone to SOMEHOW get one of these amulets ON the Primal God before you killed it, then the amulet should be able to contain most or even (possibly-but-unlikely) ALL of its divine essence upon its death and thereby protect the slayer from having a Primal Makeover...! Oh, and there is at least PC with one of these too.

And I'm assuming it's Aris doing all this 'splainin'...

[David]

And some more info, this related by a fiesty woman with red hair and gray-green eyes...

"Well, a hae a vision fer the last three nights now. I see meself an' a Flan holy man along wit' a woman in Medegian armor an' a strange man as well as others at a circle o' standin' stones, like those at Sundown. We thayre lookin' fer somethin', but canna figure out wha'. The place hae power -- a lot more'n Sundown -- an' its MUCH bigger too. I can feel it all a'roun' us. Then we're some place else. A cold place. There be strange carvin's on the walls. And it's dark. Some people are missin'. We're bein' hunted. Later, we're followin' a powerful evil, like Ol' Wicked ur the EEG. He's wit' his minions. Some of 'em are slowin' us down so they c'n get ahead. They're lookin' fer somethin'. We need ta catch up an' get there feyrst. So we steal some fingers, but some people get badly hurt, maybe die. And then we're in a swamp with fog an' mist. And we're bein' watched again. But later some folk'er gone an' were back at the stone circle fightin' giant red furry bat-men-monsters. A woman ur somethin' but nae is watchin' us and waitin'. She'll get us; we jus' need to give 'er a chance. And all the time, time be runnin' out and a woman surrounded with blades be screamin'..."

"Don't ask me wha' it all means! All I c'n tell ya is that me visions ALWAYS come true, tho I dinnae always understand the specifics at the time..."

[Stephanous]

T.C.

"Hey, Auntie Flora, how about sharing the hobbit weed with the rest of us?"
"By the way Auntie, I know you can see lay lines, but can you cross them by yourself?"

Paul

[David]

"Ya cheecky li'l slip o' a girl...!"

"And 'nae', I'm not sharin'... D'ya know what me sister-in-law brought back frum Muluk? A hookah...!"

"As fer ley lines, yer right. I c'n see 'em clear as day, but I c'nna trigger 'em without help. If the stone circle a' Tovag Baragu innay active, this cooh be a short adventure indeed... Perhaps a wee sidhe gerl like yerself might wish ta c'm along? Ya c'n still cross ta the Otherworld in this form, c'n ya nae? If nae, I do kenn two others wit' the talent -- a firbolg lad in Angel's Forge an' a lass wit' selkie blood livin' in a sky-castle."

(T.C. is bringing up a good point -- one I didn't really think of. As for level range, I believe both characters would still qualify for the game -- assuming you want to substitute Theseus out for either Tiny [fighter type] or Gere [bard/cleric])

[Andy]

I'll assume this is Quendi, since she'd be likely to butt in. And she helped take out Sauron.

Hmm... I'm afraid my apple doen't translate Flora's mutterings well...lessee if I can sum up...

1. Party gets to the place where we think the creature is, it's an ancient place.
2. We go somewhere else, perhaps teleported there...perhaps far north and/or a side of the planet not currently getting sun?
3. Being hunted - seems reasonable...we usually are.
4. Yes, we know Old Wicked is trying to take this creature out too. And it makes sense that such a party would act strategically like that, and that they have a head start on us.
5. Steal some fingers? Why would we do that? Ewwww!!
6. Red Furry bat men - Slaadi? Shaggy Dodemodands? The other primal gods all had some 'worshippers' but usually humans, I thought.
7. The creature we're after must be female then...and she'll obviously be watching us before we get to her.

Okay, seems pretty reasonable to me...except the finger-taking process.

One thought does come to mind though, given what Chastity has said to us so far. If Old & Wicked wants this god's essence, and it's taken by killing the creature that had it, then is HE himself planning on walking out there and collecting it?? Would he, demigod in the flesh on his own plane risk that? As we've mentioned, it's possible that his minions have some sort of device to contain the essence, but I'm kinda doubting that whole level of trust there amoungst evil creatures. Certainly any creature powerful enough to kill the beast we're after would also then be powerful enough with the new godhead to either part ways from OW or challenge him, no?

Where we were able to just fly down to the Amerid jungles and wipe out Sauron, I think this one will be much more (and multi-night) complicated...

[David]

"Ach! She spakes Flora...!"

And I think you hit the nail on the head in your last paragraph

[Andy]

david said:

"Ach! She spakes Flora...!"

And I think you hit the nail on the head in your last paragraph

Last paragraph, or last sentence???