"Until Bob Gets Back" Gaming

[Deleted]

Bharnag is easily able to make headway through the crater's stone floor. Baking in the sun's light unprotected, the stone has been weathered significantly over the ages. He's able to work it without much difficulty, and though it is slow going, he can see vestigial signs of what was once perhaps the foundation of a large building.

The specter visibly hesitates. "I do wish for the palace to be excavated, but I do not wish to bind myself to another--especially not another whom I know little to nothing about."

[Niachi]

Zeekir points out modifications to the dig using a geometric approach. Barhnag's textbook efforts are finessed. (Any construction overseen by an Ythri lorekeeper has 20% more structural points than normal)

All his attention to the ongoing bargaining veers instead to what is revealed. He fumbles for his torch and firekit. He's muttering to himself in a constant low yipping of curiosity and mental notes.

The torch head smells odd. Something like garlic, cinnamon, and old shoes?
He's got infravision if that matters.

[Deleted]

The excavation proceeds according to plan. At first, it appears that the secret cellar was nothing but another myth to misdirect the party, but continued efforts begin to bear fruit--Bharnag's tools reveal the beginnings of what would appear to be an ancient staircase, shielded from the rigors of the surface of Athas by a thick layer of rubble and stone that he systematically peels away. The spectre watches their progress with rapt fascination, silently hovering sometimes at Bharnag's shoulder and sometimes kneeling to inspect the hole and watch the digging more closely. He is unable to get in the way of the work--Bharnag can simply reach through him for tools and whatnot--but whenever he is contacted a brief chill goes through the offender.

[Skrye [AC3; 48/48HP]]

- After listening carefully the words of the spectral warlord - "A pact, an alliance, binds either side, this is not a rendition or submission. You agree for mutual benefit not by defeat, don't misunderstand terms, plus one of the artifacts found would be yours, one of your precious ones, and the support to Gallard will be temporary.

You might not know him, but you do know that, at your time, he was as powerful as the ruler of Bodach to be able to exterminate a whole race. Wouldn't a pact like that alleviate your fears and bring your moral and those at your command up?
A warlord allying with a king!" - making a short recess - "Fear not and clear your mind, think about all said, pound pros and cons. I'm going to help my comrades but will be back soon" - and after saluting him, Hwasa leave him and heads off towards the crate area to help the others

[Deleted]

Bharnag talks to the Warlord as he works. "Listen guy, we've already walked through a city of undead last week. Busting skeletons is easy work. Most of us are experienced gladiators, psionicists and spellcasters. I'm not saying you wouldn't be a huge pain in the ass I'd rather not have to contend with. I'm saying we can and will do this despite your opposition. Nibenay, or Gallard, isn't the guy you once knew. He's survived where many, like yourself, have not. He's achieved immortality and is not undead, like yourself. Recently he's had to admit that even he has some limits and is open to making mutually beneficial alliances. Take me for example, I was a slave not long ago. Now I'm one of Nibenay's trusted inner circle. What you have is an opportunity. Tell me what the artifact you need looks like. We'll get it for you. In exchange, cover the defense of the city of Nibenay for a few months. Show yourself trustworthy as a warlord and you can have more than a dead city like this to rule over. You decide for yourself. I will say this, if you make my time here a problem I will wreck this entire city in life or unlife and you bet I'll break every artifact I can get my hands on. Just laying it out on the table so you know where you stand."

[Deleted]

These offerings seem to take the wind out of the spirit's sails. Glumly, he stares down at the steps that Bharnag is uncovering bit by bit by the moment.

"I...I don't know what it looks like. I just saw the stairs leading down here on the way in and thought that...well...you know. I..I had to do something. I couldn't just sit here...forever. For all I know, there's nothing but rotten barrels of spoiled wine in that basement. But what else was I supposed to do? I had to have something to believe in. The spell the Wizard-Lords cast destroyed the entire city--even them. And they didn't come back--not like me and all the others did. I would have liked some company. At least then they could tell me how to get back to life. Why am I stuck here forever, but they get to go wherever all the dead people go? I've killed so many people to restore the world and now I don't even get to die? Maybe there's some paradise beyond the veil that the Wizard-Lords cursed me and my host to never see."

[Deleted]

Bharnag checks the sun, then looks to the Warlord again.

"You seek a release from the curse then? That seems a lot easier than restoring life to you. Tell me, what other undead within the city have free will as you do? Most of what we've encountered is the mindless sort."

Regardless of the warlord's intent, Bharnag plans to uncover the vaults as they may hold the key to this city or at the very least have useful treasures the party would benefit from.

[Deleted]

Early afternoon, it seems, still.

The spirit rolls its shoulders uncertainly.

"If possible, I would wish to continue aiding the cause of the restoration of Athas. Goodness knows I only razed this city as a necessary step back towards the splendor of the Blue Age. As for the other undead, all of those I have seen on the surface are mindless and bound to my control. I sense more undead, however, below the city, and I do not control them. As for what forms they take or what desires they may have, I can only guess."

[Deleted]

Bharnag stops his work.

"Restoration? Have you looked outside of your ruin. The world is desolate. Mostly sand and rock. Water is a commodity due to it's rareness and requirement for life. Whatever you thought you were doing it appears that it was not achieved."

Bharnag considers for a moment. "I've learned the hard way that sometimes good intentions lead to bad outcomes. That's how I ended up in slavery in the first place. Too ambitious a build, when it collapsed, people died. That's on me. All we can do is move forward though, right? If you seek freedom from this curse, I will attempt to aid you."

Bharnag climbs out of his excavation and signals to the others that it is time to leave.

"We will stay in the same ruin that we sheltered in last night. If you wish to prove your intent to negotiate and work with us, you can demonstrate your control over the surface undead to keep them from assaulting us. I would also welcome your conversation through the evening if you wished. Maybe one of the templars can even summon a manifestation of Gallard should you wish to speak with him after all these years. The ball is in your court Warlord. Do with this opportunity as you feel is best."

[Niachi]

[OOC: What is the envoy doing during these rounds of dialogue?]

[Deleted]

Xyn'iia watches meekly through this time, glancing back and forth between the party and the spirit. When the party begin to leave, Xyn'iia reluctantly starts off in a different direction--likely returning to its own shelter as, unlike the spirit, it did not receive an invitation to follow along.

(Post concerning the spirit's reaction in progress.)

[Deleted]

The strange ambassador moves along behind the party, traveling in its strange, limping gait. The spirit does not bother to follow--at least not immediately.

Xyn'iia is considered rather interesting by the Templars, who believe that the creature is the one that was spoken of in the most recent prophecy. It is provided foot and water, both of which disappear into its cloak, and it continues to refuse to reveal itself. All day, the Templars batter it with questions. It answers methodically, but gives away nothing of any serious interest.

As night falls, the Templars ready their spells, but nothing stirs in the night. Nothing, that is, besides a single pair of footfalls slowly echoing through the night.

[Deleted]

Bharnag will request that the crater in the center of the ruin be scried upon.

He will step out of the ruin to meet the Warlord if the footsteps belong to him.

[Deleted]

It is, indeed, the Warlord--or at least, it had better be. Bharnag comes face to face with an imposing figure, some six feet and a few inches spare, wrapped in a suit of steel that hisses as if it had been just withdrawn from some hellish forge. A terrible sword is clamped in its grasp, perhaps a facsimile of the weapon it once held. A pair of burning pinpricks of red light peer out of the helmet, but not at Bharnag--the figure focuses on the horizon, scanning the sight of Athas outside of the walls of the city for perhaps the first time.

"Where the hell is the Aubernweald? What is this desert doing here?"

Its voice echoes out of its helmet as if heard from the bottom of a cavern.

[ascieszl]

"Athas is a wasteland - has it not always been so?"