DM:	Ok, improving this more than ever, but that's probly how it's supposed to be done anyhow

DM:	correct. No need to map the city, so this is just gonna be a text RP until we get to the next real scene.

Keenan:

yeah, i also guess its ok to leave the fort in the hands of the men for that long hopefully since this is a pretty important message

Officer Ekkhardt:

On the topic of the fort, Hunter, I advise we return and clear all classified material. God is on the offensive, and we don't have the means to defend every position.

Hunter 1:

I was just thinking the same thing, we dont want him to learn anymore then he likely already has.

DM:	The clearing out of fort takes about a week of trips, as the liquid men are still causing a major issue for most of the ordos.

DM:	You get a return word. He orders you to continue survelence and inform him of any future updates. Even over the still, minimalistic wording of the telegram, you can tell the concern in the man you have always know for his heart of stone.

Keenan:

oh yeah, i assume weve been checking that periodically, because it would be stupid not too, something hunter and ekkhardt wouldnt have forgotten even if i had

DM:	So you get to see Constance a few times (the scrying is getting tougher for some reason). She is now carrying the rock around

DM:	She is speaking in a relaxed voice to Ignatious. It's hard to tell what he is saying, but she seems to be happy that they are now living happily ever after...

Keenan:

ok, hunter is wondering if this is the real constance or not. also, is ignatius no longer a liquid? or is he still a liquid man

Keenan:

im trying to decide what a good idea would be, im kind of thinking of using a portal to go in invisible and jsut check things to try and see if this is the real constance or not,a nd if so, question her while being ready to run at a moments notice.

DM:	after the first day, the stone gets dropped on the ground for some reason, where it stays. Occasionally other personal possesions of the Constance's also drop there

DM:	yeah, we can't all be luck masters. How much time do you spend watching the scrys/nagging Ekkhardt?

Keenan:

well, since i dont ahve much other time, i guess a reasonable amount, though i do suggest trying to go through a portal there in order to spy in person to check for illusions, unless he knows a way for the portal back to be easily prevented

Officer Ekkhardt:

If you think it's a good idea, I will allow the portal. Just don't mess up whatever Constance is trying to do...

DM:	Sadly, the portal fails, because it turns out they are on a different plane now.

DM:	Ekkhardt explains that there are officers who can handle this kind of a two way trip, but it will require hunting down an officer out on the field, which will take time.

Keenan:

i imagine, especailly since probably most of them have important thigns to do as well

Keenan:

though gaining info on one of our greatest enemies is also pretty important, we don't know xactly what they know, or whether constnace actually betrayed us or someone where an ilusoion or somehting did

Keenan:

has anyone looked at where the map leads to yet?, you know the map on the back of the travel guide thing?

DM:	those were two seperate tablets, but it has been suggested that such an area may lie in uncharted territory to the east.

Keenan:

ah, do we have any word on a potentially close by and less busy officer that could potentialy help us with a 2 way portal so we could find out whats goign on, or a chance that we could get permission to explore that area later, or some other lead?

DM:	The 2 way portal looks like your best bet. The crisis is starting to wane, so you will be able to find a guy eventually

DM:	Also, in the meantime, continued scrys reveal various voices muttering random things

Keenan:

is the existence of the "god" faction known to all officers so that i could jsut say that i need a 2 way portal so that i could check out a plane that holds some people that might have info on him?

Hunter 1:

I need access to a 2 way portal to a different plane so that we can check on some people that might hold information on "god" as well as finding out more about him from investigating the area they are in. At first we may not try to interrogate them as at first I will liekly just be performing reconnaisance in order to learn more about the area, unless it seems like both can be done without much risk.

Hunter 1:

At the moment, the people we are checking on may not be in there right minds due to powerful magic from "god" so intial interrogation may be useless.

Officer Ekkhardt:

You specified that Bliss was an illusion on a personal level, correct?

Hunter 1:

Yes, basically it jsut locks the mind so that it's perpetually happy and imagines itself in a wonderful place.

Officer castalot:

I can cast a spell on you that allows you to read minds. It is pretty easy to resist, but if they don't even know what's going on, it may be an easy process.

Officer castalot:

This will allow you to see what they think is happening, and let you get information without causing a scene.

Keenan:

admittedly, im not thinking at my best at the moment, really didnt sleep well recently

DM:	this is you. Note that you don't nessicarily look like this in the illusion; you will have to follow me

DM:	After about an hour on the road, you see a stranger standing on the side of the road...

Christopher:

Like, are we out in the middle of nowhere, or could he be bound any of a few other places?

DM:	you don't know this area too well, but you don't seem to really be near anything...

Stranger:

You are right where "god" wants you, your in an illusion. You are in bliss. You need to snap out of it.

Stranger:

You probably shouldnt. Think about it, how did you get to this idyllic place. Where were you last before here. Did you see some illusion of killing god? if that was you,, do you really htink it would be that easy to kill such a powerful daemon

Officer Constance Stendatem:

This would explain a great deal. All my memories between then and now are fuzzy at best.

Officer Constance Stendatem:

And... and everything was a little TOO perfect, and I almost didn't want to go home...

Keenan:

I guess i just try to get them to grab my hand, since theres not really anyhting else to do in the current situation

DM:	you can go to her for move action, and grab for standard, but using a magic item is standard as well.

Keenan:

ah, in that case i guess ill jsut go to her as a move and ready a standard to go back

DM:	ok. A tenticle emerges from the ground to grapple Constance (I'm so sorry Chris...). Roll grapple

Keenan:

i said i delayed teleporting back till after chirs could grab on to me, didnt she grab on on her turn

DM:	you are now in a Macharian tent, standing above a hastily draw summoning square

Keenan:

i assumed since it failed grapple it it was shaken off, anyway, i shoot at it to kill it

Keenan:

actually, knock it out, who knows if this think could be useful, whats the policy on knocking out and interrogating daemons, and is this a daemon

DM:	interrogation is good, but protocols exist for how to hold a daemon captive so they don't just escape magically, and you don't have the stuff for that protocol

Keenan:

and how long does it take to set that stuff up so that we could hold it, cant we jsut keep it knocked out

DM:	it requires magic items and a whole shabang. You aren't even on a rail line, so it's gonna be a week or more...

Christopher:

Wingdings is a Microsoft font that doesn't use any identifiable letters as characters.

Keenan:

guess hes trying to reconnect, and i guess it would be too hard to keep him out that long since i can do shit tones of nonlethal, though we will ahve to be careful nearby him since it'll be easy for god to scry on him, and all of us i guess, is there a paint room nearby by the way?

Ignatius Stendatem: (( I take this opportunity to try and figure out what's going on. ))

DM:	I heard you talk, but I didn't know if you were going to take any non-free actions

DM:	You currently have no possestions, Stendatems. Anything you were carrying you put down during that period, and only thought you picked it up again during that trip.

Hunter:

Hey, lets calm down, just get off of him, everything is going to be all right

Hunter:

We are here to stop an evil monster who had kidnapped you, he just tackled you becasue he was worried you were aligned with him, now please get off of him, so that there will be no more violence

God:	Why Hunter? Why do you drag the innocent out of paradice? Are you not pleased until all share your suffering and loneliness?

DM:	nope. This is an ad-hoc camp in the middle of nowhere this officer was using as a staging post when travelling from one town to another

DM:	You are in a tent. Looks military. You recognise officer Ekkhardt in front of you, but not the other Ordos guy. There is some creature dead near you, and a wriethor under Ekkhardt.

Ignatius Stendatem: (( is he named cabbie because he's the guy that was driving the cart? ))

Hunter:

I dont know, however, once we get to a secure area, I would like it for you two to tell me everyhitng that happened since we were seperated, first things first though, constance, what was the last thing you remember doing till you were taken by "god"?

DM:	Come on chris, you have to roll... I promise I won't be mean to you if/when you fuck it up...

Keenan:

i love the bonus threat range rangers get, it has saved my ass so many times

DM:	they are coming through only the center hole one at a time, but I am saving time

Christopher:

That's fine if it ultimately happens. Can I touch the rift from here?

DM:	if you shoot it, do you shoot it at the ground on this side, the ground on the other side, or at the veil itself?

Christopher:

well, i technically already channelled, but would you let me take the remaining square of movement to touch the midsection of the rift?

Christopher:

Okay, let's see... how does defensive casting work? It's been a while.

Keenan:

then again, well liekly never get rid of all of them, what happens to you fail

Christopher:

and rolling concentration to keep the spell then, since it's just DC=damage received, yeah?

Christopher:

i could do an anti-magic field, but we'd be in a world of hurt once it wore off

DM:	you draw the direct attention of a greater daemon, an dyou think one portal of guys is all that you face?

DM:	hint: this combat is a puzzle, based on what you have seen of how portals and scrying work...

DM:	falling through the portal is a move action that provokes, and it probably does....

Officer Constance Stendatem:

Do you have ANY paint or anything usable for disguises lying around?

Officer castalot:

There might be some paint here. I don't know if just throwing on clothes will hold them off for long...

Officer castalot:

The problem is that they can just use the clothes to scry with when you try to put them on.

Officer Constance Stendatem:

Maybe not for long, but long enough to buy us breathing room.

Keenan:

no, the portal, i remember you said it had to be place on an item or somethign

Christopher:

short of committing suicide in such a way as to render our bodies unidentifiable, i see no way out of this

Christopher:

either that or bring an entire army in through bliss to kill the bugger

DM:	remember you have two wizard NPCs if you need extra magic (although I don't promise they have everything prepared), and it's still your turn guys

Christopher:

allow me to rephrase that: i don't even see any hypothetical solution to this

Christopher:

Okay, here's the situation as I see it: We need a permanent solution to being able to be scryed at DC10 by a greater daemon, who probably can't actually fail that.

DM:	remember that the paint seemed a pretty effective mundane solution, and dispelling is a good temporary solution to nearly everything

Christopher:

maybe huge amounts of tattooing and never wearing these specific outfits again?

DM:	Keenan, do you? I was trying to give you an open-ended thinky final encounter to a thinky campaign. If you really want to have an NPC just think of somthing and end the game for you, I could do that...

DM:	not complicated. You can look at the rules for Planer magic. God is bound to the rules of the NMS, and is not absurdly high level

Christopher:

Well, we *could* ride this out like a siege, since he can't keep it up forever.

Christopher:

The thing is, God has DC10 to scry us, and once he does, he can open a gate on us. Both tasks are completely trivial for him.

Keenan:

since it seems to be only a large beast and those typically dont ahve reach, ill 5ft step and do full attack on it

Keenan:

and do any of the soldiers ome out yet with paint, or atleast guns to shoot stuff, theyve had 2 or 3 turns to do so?

Keenan:

i dont think you shoudl do taht iggy, you should priobably wait for constance to leave first

Christopher:

God technically has a 5% chance of not portalling directly on target.

Christopher:

And if he's managing this kind of unfailing accuracy with his portals, he knows this spot very well.

Christopher:

If he's not doing anything even at the fringes of the NMS, he knows the area. How can we mess with that?

Officer Constance Stendatem:

If anyone knows how to summon Planar magic, pour some into the portals.

Christopher:

It's a counterspell. It, in enough quantities, would shift the 4th effect, here Planar, to the 3rd position.

DM:	but the spell is being cast from Bliss, not here. You would need to be there when the portal is forming...

Keenan:

and cant ekkhardt also shoot since casting a spell is a free action, or did he channel as well

Christopher:

in terms of permanent solutions, i see only the option to create a loooooooot of anti-magic fields and cast a loooooooooot of permanency

DM:	there are several, north of the west tent. They are currently flipping multiple shits

Keenan:

and since officer castalot cant pour in planar magic, what will he do instead

Officer Constance Stendatem:

Use all the antimana you safely can on those portals!

Christopher:

In terms of temporary solutions, riding off into the sunset is looking best.

DM:	Any plans you have, be ready to tell them, because I can't promise that the dinosaur won't kill you next turn...

Officer Constance Stendatem:

Also, strike the south tent! It might buy us some time!

Officer Constance Stendatem:

I don't care if you disassemble it or beat it to death, just see that it goes down!

Christopher:

To my knowledge, glassing and/or perma-anti-magicking this region are the only solutions.

Keenan:

and doing ti to the region wont help too muhc probably since hes not scrying the area, hes scrying us, and in particular you

Christopher:

Although *otherwise* screwing it up so severely he can't see it would also work.

Christopher:

Well, that's the thing: Portals can only be created at target areas, and scrying a target person only reveals them in the midst of a grey void.

Christopher:

Through process of elimination, as far as I can see, God has to be able to see this location.

Christopher:

Far as I've read, under the NMS, you cannot open a portal on a person or item, but only a locale.

Christopher:

with the caveat that it doesn't provoke while moving out of the first square

Keenan:

except its a full round action, so if you stomehow get a moveaction from some other source it doenst ocunt

Keenan:

can we say he tripped due to 2 nat 1s in a row, bthough i guess thats asking a bit much

Keenan:

woah, where did all those ocme form, there were only 3 angels on the other side of this portal

Officer Constance Stendatem:

Thank you, soldier. Wish there were time for introductions.

Officer castalot:

Don't forget the lessons of this battle officers. No matter what happens.

Keenan:

nah, can i try to pull ekkhard onlong with me as i escape the burning tent

DM:	it's DC 20 strength to try to pull someone behind you as you squiggle through a tent hole, and if you fail you are both stuck there prone

Keenan:

brian, im ot sure god was prepared for this, as such, would the angels really all be here this rapidly

DM:	I am assumeing that this time around that one of them notified God (this happend once before this time), and it's been about 8 turns now since the alert was triggered.

Christopher:

Which is maybe a half to a third of the natural expire time of the first portal.

DM:	I think it's reasonable, given that it's spending most of it's energy for the day on these portals

DM:	he has been storing magic for big flashy spells that he hasn't had time or opportunity to cast

Christopher:

the area that the exterior portal is at is visible from the first portal

DM:	and I don't need you alive for any further games, and if your kids become orphans, all the disneyer

DM:	yeah, I wasn't trying to snipe you here. I forgot about the weaknesses of tanks...

DM:	he probably had a cantrip or somthing, and it would literally have taken one more point

Keenan:

ok, hopefully me and ekkhardt can lead all of the angels near where cosntnace is, so taht castalot can get them all at once

DM:	keep in mind that you will need to move fast; if they don't think capture is possible, despreate baddies might just cue, and there is no chance Constance survives that...

Keenan:

wait, if instead of doublemving, he actually ran, ekkhard coudl eb out of dodge distance

DM:	also, with Iggy chosing to fight another day, things are looking a little darker on the front...

DM:	see, he can pin Contance's guards, and try to go for broke, or just pin the guys on you and hope you DPS the guys around him, and leave Constance to die.

DM:	I was in a situation where I went for leaving nobody behind, and we all died....

Christopher:

If he goes to save me, Hunter has to dash in and out of attack ranges and will most likely die.

Christopher:

If he saves himself, he might, maybe, get out alive along with Hunter.

Keenan:

atleast the other portal shoudl close soon since its been around 10-12 rounds i think

DM:	See, I am trying to figure out if it makes more sense to run you though one round of fire (you are sure to survive the 1d6, as are all these mooks around you), or just wait until it goes out. It's just cloth, after all

Keenan:

im pretty sure it mgiht ahve collapsed by now since a wall is gone and tis on fire

DM:	the first place conjuration does do constrict damage, while second place is far weaker, but does not

DM:	the first place might not kill constance in one turn, but the second place won't pin everyone for sure...

Keenan:

yeah. that would be the probalem, but if we kill you with constriction yuor dead anyway, and oh, nvm, that'll realease 2 angels

Keenan:

wait, whats castalots caster level, and how mayn points did he put into that?

Keenan:

so shouldnt it have a +13, sicen isnt a grapple check your chance to hit, and as its strenthg is 22, and its bab is 7, it owuld have a +13 modifier

Keenan:

i had accidnelty rolled witht eh wrong number, so i rerolled with the right one and it hit, however it owuldnt have with the wrong number one, so i was wondeirng if you would count the fixed roll, or the intiial one