Subject: Waiting for the dwarves

Mark, how do the dwarves respond???

Subject: Waiting for the dwarves

I will try and get a reply out this afternoon.

Subject: Force Leader Daral

A loud grumbling comes from the dwarves at the news of the dead. The leader's voice barks out a command and it is quiet again. His voice rings out again "You know I almost believe you. You, a dwarf, stand there with an orc, both of you wearing the colors of a human god. A real spy would not be so stupid. However, you have not explained the dragon and I would understand that before we let you go. I am Daral, Force Leader of this patrol, the third of the fifth of the second of the third of the first." He stops for a second, seeming to confer with his men. "A contingent from Bhyo you say? Send them down. We know some of the men of Bhyo."

Up on the east wide battlements the rest of the party listens. Maximus is still in a deep depression over the loss of his warriors. When Daral calls for the men from Bhyo to come down the Lady De Blum stands and straightens her outfit as best she can. In an imperious voice she says "Centurion, you must accompany me to meet the dwarves." The fighter looks up, his face blotchy, anger flashing. The Lady's response is immediate "Your men did their duty. Will you dishonor them by letting the dwarves see your sorrow? Your place is at my side." The man raises slowly, a burning look in his eye. "Lady, at sometime in the future, we will have a reckoning." However, he wipes the blood off of his sword and motions for her to follow him down the stairs.

OODM: Does any one want to do or say anything before I have the Lady meet Daral.
From: Jason

Subject: Force Leader Daral

OOC: I'm just glad that they could overhear (I didn't realize they could.) I wasn't entirely sure whether Maximus would come down if Ragnar asked him to. I assume that Ragnar can also overhear them, as the Lady seems to be speaking clearly and forcefully. Does Ragnar have any idea what the third of the etc. means?

IC: Ragnar replies "We have come openly, proclaiming our allegiance and with no attempt to conceal our natures. The Order of the Silver Sword has long had cordial and open relations with the dwarves, and in the past has been priviledged to host your king. I dislike the implication that we could be spies. The servants of the god of valor do not spy on their friends."

After a momentary pause, he continues, "As for the dragon, one of our companions is a wizard in the employ of our temple. He cast a spell transforming our comrade into the dragon you saw so that he might combat the mage I spoke of. The effect lasts only minutes, and has already ended. If you still doubt any of my words, by all means ask the Centurion when he arrives."

Subject: Force Leader Daral

The dwarves are still 50-75 feet away. Shouting is needed. The walls of the pass also help concentrate the sound.

Ragnar has no idea what the numbers mean.

Subject: Force Leader Daral

Ragnar can not hear the Lady. She is speaking forcefully but not loudly. Those up on the battlements can hear her quite easily, as she is not trying to hide what she is saying, but she is not yelling.

Subject: Force Leader Daral

In that case, at the end of his words Ragnar will ask Ran to ask Maximus to come join us.

Subject: Force Leader Daral

Ran nods and turns to do as Ragnar has asked him.

Subject: Turn

I will be getting a turn out tonight.

Subject: Turn

I love the preview of the message that I get from gmail.

"I will be getting a turn out tonight. Mark Boo!"

Subject: Turn

Again, no turn.

I'm sure there is a reason. Bioshock 54 just came out, he had to paint his toe nails, etc.

Subject: Turn

Gotta keep those Toe Nails painted. What if there were surprise houseguests and he couldn't find his covered slippers?! Oh the embarrassment.

Subject: Turn

Wow, I'd never thought of that. That would be awful, wouldn't it!

Subject: Turn

Working on a turn now.

Subject: The Lady takes charge

Ragnar turns to Ran "Go get the Lady and Maximus." The ½ elf turns and jogs towards the door and up the stairs. Half way up he meets The Lady and Maximus already heading down the stairs. Mr. Corron, if you would kindly join us instead of frittering away the day upstairs" the Lady says as she passes the fighter. Ran sees the black mood that the centurion is in as the man passes. The ½ elf turns and follows the two back down the stairs and out the door to where Ragnar and Harp are still standing. The Lady hardly stops as she moves towards the dwarves, Maximus following a few steps behind.

At her approach the shield wall forms up in tight formation again. Daral's voice rings out "Halt there or die." Maximus grabs the Lady and she spins on him whispering "Do not forget who I am. Touch me again and you will spend the rest of what career you have training recruits." She turns to Daral, her voice suddenly sweet, "I am the Lady De Blum, Ambassador from Byho to your King's Court. I was expecting to give my letter of introduction to the King himself, but I guess you will have to do." She stands there, holding out a piece of paper that she has taken from her waist.

Daral does not speak to the Lady. "Centurion, are you called Maximus?" The fighter takes a step ahead of the Lady "I am. Who asks?" "Daral, Force Leader" the dwarf replies. " I remember you. I was in a force that did a patrol with you a year or so ago. I recognize you. Can you speak for the others?" Maximus nods "I can. The Lady here is your new Ambassador. The others are either what remains of my command or allies who fought bravely by our side." Daral signals the dwarf force to stand at ease and he moves closer to Maximus and the Lady. "How many man did you loose?" It takes Maximus a few seconds to get out his answer "Sixteen of my men and women are dead. Three still live, thanks to these allies I told you about. How is it that you come to be here?"

Daral whistles "That is sad to hear indeed. How did we get here? We walked." The attempt at a joke falls on deaf ears. "About an hour ago" continues Daral "we received a bat signal. The message said that the fortifications were under attack. We were dispatched to reinforce or retake them. It looks like you and your friends saved us from that." The dwarf turns and shouts out some orders "Patrol's one and two, secure the east side. Patrol's three and four the west side. Patrol 5 your with me."

The ground rumbles the the stamp of armored feet and 50 dwarves move out and follow orders. Daral turns to the Lady "Ambassador, I apologize in the name of my King for your rude reception. Please accompany me and I will find a place for you to rest and refresh yourself." Daral turns to Maximus "My friend, we will take care of your fallen in the way of your people. Please, come with me and take care of yourself. What remains of your command and your friends are welcome as well." Maximus nods to Ragnar, Harp and Ran and they follow Daral up through the east door and up the stairs to the east battlements.

Once there the dwarf goes to what seems to be a blank section of mountain wall. He whispers a word and a large door appears. The dwarf takes out an ornate key and unlocks the stone door. As the door slides open, 10 dwarves rush in. The Lady makes to follow them but Maximus coughs "My Lady, the dwarves are making sure that there are no other surprises. It would do well to wait." Her terse reply is "Oh. Of course. I knew that." While the one patrol is searching, the other dwarves are carefully moving the dead off of the battlements. A few minutes later a dwarf shows back up at the door and gives the all clear signal. Daral nods. He turns and shouts. "Patrol one, your on guard, patrol two, your on mountain side recon. Make sure three and four are doing the same. Find out what happened." There are shouted acknowledgments.

Daral signals for the party to enter. The hallway is well lit and wide. It tunnels back into the mountain side. The party passes rooms with wooden doors ever now and then as well as other tunnels that branch off of the main one. Soon though Daral opens a door and the party enters a room with a large table. The table is large enough for about 40 people. Several dwarves are moving through the room and into an adjoining room. Daral signals for everyone to sit and as soon as they are other dwarves start bring out trays of food and ale.

Daral turns to Maximus "Ok my friend, tell me what happened." In short clipped words the Centurion relates all that he knows of the story. When he tells of his men's charge to the doors the Lady chimes in "That was what that mage was waiting for you buffoon. If it had not been for the Lord Ran here" she bats her eyes at the ½ elf "and his friends, I would likely be dead." Daral turns to the Lady and the party "Tell me what happened to you." "Well you mean besides almost getting burned to death? You would have to asks these others. Their mage used a spell to get me to safety. I did not see anything after that."

OODM: you can tell him what happened and ask him questions.

Subject: The Lady takes charge

OOC: Is everyone from the party in here, or just Ragnar, Harp and Ran?

Subject: The Lady takes charge

It looks like all of us.

Subject: The Lady takes charge

Every one is there.

Subject: The Lady takes charge

"Allistair, you were probably the most aware of the overall situation. Could you summarize what happened for Force Leader Daral?"

Subject: The Lady takes charge

Allistair steps forward. "I would be happy to. Force Leader, we were with the legionnaires marching from Bhyo, approaching the entrance to Backbiter Pass here. The legionnaires were in front, in loose formation around Maximus and the Lady de Blum. When we were about 200 to 300 feet from the battlements, Maximus shouted out for everyone to scatter and for Gaius to get the lady off the road. He must have been the first to notice that there were giants, not dwarves at the battlements. They threw boulders at us, killing Flavius and wounding a few of the rest..."

Allistair then goes on to recount the events of the battle from his perspective. He asks Maximus and Kal to fill in the details of what happened on top of the battlements, since he was not able to see what was happening there.

After recounting the events with assistance from the others on details, Allistair continues. "I have some observations and speculations from the battle."

"One: The enemy wizard and the giants were almost certainly in collusion. The fortuitous distraction of the legionnaires and subsequent attack on the Lady make it highly likely so, but later investigation of the slain guards on the battlements confirms it. Many of the dwarves on the battlements were magically put to sleep before being killed, and others were killed by a fireball. The only logical conclusion is that the wizard assisted the giants in taking the fortifications before the attack upon us."

"Two: I believe that the Lady de Blum may have been the intended target from the outset. Once the legionnaires had rushed forward to retake the battlements, the most likely target of opportunity would have been my companions. From the distance that the enemy wizard was at, it is obvious that I am a wizard and that my other companions are skilled warriors or wield divine power. From a military perspective the Lady is the least viable target. Therefore I can but conclude that the Lady was the intended target from the outset, and given her status it seems likely some sort of political intrigue was the motivation behind the attack."

"Three: The enemy wizard is at least at an equal if not greater skill level than myself. I judge this from his choice of spells. As far as I can determine, the wizard used no spells that are beyond my capability, although he did cast several that I have not learned. It is the shear number of spells he cast that concerns me. Flight, greater invisibility, several fireballs, a powerful sleep charm, a teleportation spell of some type, and several magic missiles. The shear amount of magical energy required to dispense such magical power in such a short time implies a highly skilled wizard."

"Any other ideas or suggestions? With some luck, I may be able to divine the location and perhaps identity of the enemy wizard. I have some skill in spells of divination, and I may be able to scry on his location. However it will be much easier if I have something from the wizard himself: a scrap of clothing, or a bit of his hair or blood. For that purpose I would like Ran and Mund to check their weapons and gear again for any scrap or wisp or spot of blood that may be from him. Surin and Kal? You both have sharp eyes. Would you also inspect Ran and Mund for anything that looks like it may have come from the wizard?"

If nothing is found on either Mund or Ran, Allistair will say, "Kal and Surin? Would you mind coming outside with me to the scene of the battle? There was one spot where Mund and the enemy wizard tumbled to the earth and hit the ground. If anything came off the wizard, it was most likely then. Would you help me search that area for anything of interest?"

If anything from the enemy wizard is found, he will use it as an additional focus and use the Scrying spell to spy on the enemy wizard. If nothing is found, Allistair will attempt the spell anyway.

OOC: Did Allistair get a good enough look at the wizard to have at least 'firsthand' knowledge of the wizard? Also, if the wizard fails his Will save and the spell succeeds, will he be aware of Ally scrying upon him? If he makes the Will save and the spell fails, will he be aware that someone tried to scry on him?

Subject: The Lady takes charge

OOC: I think that the wizard actually did cast one spell that was beyond Allistair's power, when Mark wrote that from the size of the (fireball) explosion that Allistair could tell this mage was more powerful. Without (hopefully) going too deeply into metagaming territory, I'm pretty sure that was a maximized fireball, which is a higher level than we can cast. I also think the description was supposed to relay that information to us.

IC: At the conclusion of Allistair's remarks, Ragnar adds "I agree with his conclusions. Though don't know what purpose the attack on the Lady served, it seems clear she was the target.

"Do these tunnels connect directly to the heart of the kingdom? I will feel better knowing that the Lady no longer needs to travel above the earth where unfriendly eyes may be watching."

Subject: The Lady takes charge

Any thing Mund might have had in his claws from the grapple burnt up when he was hit by the fireball. Ran hit him with a sword, so while there might have been some blood on the blade, a good fighter would have cleaned it off quickly after the fight was done. The party can check where Mund and the mage fell to the ground.

Subject: The Lady takes charge

Daral shakes his head "No this location does not have direct access to the main warrens. That is by design. If these places fell, then who ever took them would have a direct path to our heart. What you tell me concerns me but is above my station. Before I decide what I will do I must hear from my scouts."

OODM: I will write more from what the scouts found tomorrow.

Subject: The Lady takes charge

If he cleaned the blood off the blade, we can get that blood off of either the rag or the leaves he used to do so.

Subject: The Lady takes charge

Ran also attacked and hit the giant.

Subject: The scout reports

As the meal continues other dwarves show up from time to time reporting on the status of the fortifications. One dwarf shows up and is introduced as the Forces scout, Kandal. "Force Leader, Scout Kandal reporting." The dwarf's voice is harsh and husky, his dark beard starting to turn grey. "Good" says Daral "but before you start let this mage fill you in on what they saw." Daral points at Allistair and the mage repeats his story. The scout asks a few questions and then seems satisfied.

"Here is what happened" he says "as best I can figure. We know from the bat signal that the garrison had warning of the giants approach. Giants by themselves would not have caused the garrison too much problem." Daral breaks in at this point "That was one of the reasons we did not hurry faster to the garrison's aid." The Force Leader motions for Kandal to continue. "The presence of the mage answers many questions. For example the doors to the stairs were not forced or broken. My guess is that the garrison gathered at the walls to watch the coming of the giants and that the mage struck then."

"Kandal looks at Ally "You say this mage could make him self invisible and fly? That makes sense. If he cast some type of sleep spell on the warriors and the giants had fly spells on them as well, the defenders would have been woefully underdwarfed to hold off four hill giants. Once they were asleep it would have taken the giants seconds to kill the defenders. They would never have had a chance. Who ever organized this put a lot of effort into it. Sir." Kandal looks at Daral to see if anything else is needed. The Force Leader dismissed the scout and turns back to the party.

"Mage, I think you are right in that his was directed at her Ladyship." Daral turns to Lady De Blum and Maximus "How many people knew you were coming and what your schedule was?" Maximus thinks "Quite a few. The Lady' appointment to the post was not secret. Neither was our leaving Freng. It would not take much effort to figure out when we would make Backbiter Pass. Lady, do you or your husband have any enemies?"

The Lady laughs "You do not get to be in my husband's position with out making enemies. However, this seems a bit elaborate for the usual court intrigue. Flying giants and invisible mages? Those are things that happen in epic stories and in far away lands. No Centurion, Force Leader, I have no idea who might be behind this attack."

OODM: Any other questions for Daral, Maximus or Kandal before I move things along.

Subject: The scout reports

Not from Ragnar.

Subject: The scout reports

Harp has nothing to add. He's just curious as to why someone would want to kill the snooty bitch.

Subject: The scout reports

You mean beyond the obvious. Personally I think Harp is in love. Again.

Subject: The scout reports

This time Mund's not jealous.

Oh, and he has nothing to add.

Subject: The scout reports

Allistair raises an eyebrow at the the Lady's response. Was her laugh a little forced? Does she know more than she is letting on? Unfortunately Ally is no good at reading people, maybe someone else has better insight. He does have a spell that would let him know what the Lady was thinking, but he is unwilling to consider such a forceful intrusion of privacy for just satifying his curiosity.

Allistair briefly speaks up. "I have some magical ideas for the Lady's security arrangements for the journey, but that can be discussed later. In the meantime I would like to try and identify this wizard who seemed intent to kill the Lady de Blum. If I may be excused?"

The party makes a search outside for any scrap or wisp of clothing from the wizard, but nothing was found. "Well, I'll just have to do the best with what I have," thinks Allistair.

Allistair goes off into a corner and begins to prepare the spell. He takes out his magic bag of holding and reaches deep inside and pulls out a beautiful, elaborate silver mirror. At 2' by 4' it's quite large, and Allistair is able to set it against the wall. The Lady de Blum's eyes go wide at seeing such a valuable and ostentatious mirror, and starts to ask about it when Allistair raises his hand signaling silence.

He takes a deep breath. Even though he had learned this spell several months ago, this is the first time he's actually tried to use it. Unlike most spells where the magical energies are woven together upon memorization by the wizard, waiting to be released at a moments notice, the complexity of searching across the world - even other planes - for one specific individual meant that the spell did not lend itself to such a formulaic usage.

It takes Ally longer than he thought it would, almost a full hour. At last the preparations are complete and he is ready to cast the spell. "All right, I'm ready to try the spell. Don't keep your hopes up too much though. Due to us not really knowing his identity and a natural resistance to such magic that any strong-willed individual has, there is a high probabilty that I may not be able to locate him. However, there is no loss in trying, and I can attempt this every day if I like."

With that, Allistair releases the magical energies into the mirror and concentrates, trying to tie the cosmic forces together to converge on the location of the enemy wizard.

Subject: The scout reports

I was just going to suggest that we turn this into an evil campaign by having Ran kill her himself but then I thought that might not really be so evil after all.

Subject: The scout reports

Harp has no interest in the Lady. He just does not understand Court politics.

Subject: The scout reports

mmmmHHmmmmm.

Subject: The scout reports

What are you talking about? Mund's already playing an evil campaign.

Subject: The scout reports

Salix goes underground unhappily. All these adventures they had been going on seemed to always take him away from his first love and focus, the great outdoors. He knew that there were living things under the ground, but the wide open sky, the blowing wind, the pounding rain, those were what he lived for.

(With apologies to Karl).

*** As they eat, Salix tries some of the roast beef, but piles it high on a bun, and then takes it over to the fire to warm it up. MMMMM, toasty.

Subject: The scout reports

l o l

Subject: Mirror, Mirror

Before Ally heads off to the corner he asks Mund and Ran to join him. The two fighters look a bit confused at this request but join him any way. He sits them down across from the the table he has set up as his work space. "The more I know about this mage the more chance I will have of finding him with my magic. I know you have told me what you remember, but sometimes things get lost in the telling. Would either of you mind if I looked into your thoughts? To see what you saw, as you remember it? There might be some detail that will help me locate this enemy." He looks expectantly at the two.

Mund's answer is immediate "Sure, little brother. You can poke around in my noggin all you want if'n it'll help catch that creep. I still got some toasted skin where he baked me." Ran agrees as well, although with a bit more reluctance. Ally assures him "I will only be able to see your surface thoughts, so concentrate on what you remember about when you fought the mage, both of you." The mage pulls out a couple of small copper pieces, chants his spell and hands them to the two. When they pick them up he pushes his will out and into their minds.

Suddenly he sees with their eyes, their memories. Bits and pieces flash before him. The cut of a robe, the angle of a nose, the color of an eye brow. It does not take long since the fight did not last very long. Within a minute Ally pulls back into himself, blinking. Mund looks at his brother "So when is you goin to start lookin?" Ally smiles at his brother "All done." Mund does a double take "Why that didn't hurt none at all." Ally nods. "Can I ask you two another favor? This next spell is one of the most complicated I have yet tried. The preparation takes almost an hour and I can not be disturbed. Can you two keep watch and make sure no one bothers me?" The two fighters nod. Ally moves further into the corner and starts his prep work.

He takes his bag of holding from his waist and opens it up. Gently, he reaches in and thinks of his silver mirror. His hand clasps on something smooth and cold and he slowly starts to pull the mirror out. It just barely fits through the opening and he keeps pulling until all four feet are out of the bag. He grunts with effort and sets the mirror down on the floor. He then pulls out a piece of polishing cloth and silver cleaner and starts polishing the mirror. It takes him almost half an hour, all the while he is chanting the beginnings of the scrying spell. As he moves the fabric over the smooth surface he starts to loose himself in the shinny finish. Keeping an image of the mage in his mind, he lets his mind fall into the silver.

Ally finds his spirit is now in his image in the mirror. He sees his body staring into the piece of metal while his hand automatically wipes the gleaming surface. When his image turns in the mirror he sees that the background has opened up before him. With a thought he launches himself into this mirror world, the image of the mage still at the forefront of his mind. As he flys he feels the winds of magic push him in one direction. At first he tries to resist but then realizes that it is the spell working, moving him to his target (Will save DC17, 5+?=?, fail). Faster and faster Ally's mirror self flys. He seems to plunge down into the ground and through the ground. Suddenly the sense of speed stops and Ally finds himself in a large stone room. In the room is a man.

The man is changing his clothes. He is removing torn and bloody robes and gingerly touching a recently healed gash in his side. He is just about 6' tall, dark hair going grey. His brown eyes show a keen intellect. He seems to be mumbling to himself as he moves about the room. He puts on a clean set of robes and then sits down at a table. Ally can only see for 10 feet around the man so most of the room is out of focus. The table is wooden and looks to seat 4 easily. There is a silver urn and 4 silver mugs on a silver try in the center of the table and the man pours himself a drink.

Ally watches for several minutes while the man seems to just sit at the table, relaxing. He seems to respond to something that Ally can not see and a bit latter moves to a door. Opening the door he picks up a tray of food, still steaming and hot. He takes it to the table and starts eating. Suddenly Ally is flying back the way he came. Almost with out transition he switches place with the real Ally and he is back in his body.

OODM: Commentary or anything else before I go on?

Subject: Mirror, Mirror

Not from me.

Subject: Mirror, mirror cont.

Nice write up.

Subject: Archives

I just updated about 13 days worth of the archives, almost 100 entries. I still have over 2 weeks and 125 more entries to go.

So that is what I am doing this morning. :)

Subject: Mirror, mirror cont.

OOC: Ditto, nice writeup. So basically, Ally was able to find him, but learned little of importance. Will this success make it easier to scry again in the future, or will every casting have the exact same saving throw?

IC: All too quickly, Allistair's magical energies are drained, and he must guide his spirit back to his own body before he lacks the strength to do. Not being able to re-connect in time may weaken or even kill him, a danger that such magic requires. This being his first time, he was sure to return to himself with time to spare. His connection to the mirror, the gate to this mirror world, is still in place and he quickly follows it back through to his own body. With a sharp breath he blinks his eyes and finds himself back in his own body.

Allistair takes a minute to clear his head. "Well, it's finished. Did either of you see anything? I didn't think you would, but you never know until you try." Ally then gets up to report to the rest of the group in the fort. "Well, the spell was technically a success. I was able to find him. He was in a small room, changing his clothes. He had a lot of bandages from the wounds that Ran and Mund here inflicted on him. Then got a tray of food and started eating. Unfortunately, that is all I was able to see, as the spell has a fairly short duration of a few minutes. I can try the spell again, but my energies are currently used up and I won't be able to attempt it again until tomorrow. However, I can give a very accurate description of this wizard. Even better, I can show you."

With that, Allistair casts Alter Self to take the form of the enemy wizard. He is careful to replicate all the details he observed during the few minutes, especially the face and eyes. "Do any of you recognize this person?" Ally looks to the Force Leader, Maximus, and especially the Lady de Blum. Ally keeps his own voice in the altered form, since he hasn't yet had the opportunity to hear the wizard speak. "We don't know his name yet, but this is what he looks like. Remember it well, as he has already shown himself as an ememy of both the Dwarven nation and Bhyo."

When everyone is satisfied, Allistair will cancel the spell, revert to his own form, and answer any other questions the others might have.

Subject: Mirror, mirror cont.

Mund draws his axe and stands guard over his brother while he does his magicker stuff. The axe he's still not used to is heavy in his arms, and he paces the room.

When his brother comes to and tuns into that dirty stinkin' coward magicker, Mund has to consciously stop himself from using that axe immediately.

"Damn, that's creepy Ally. But yeah, that's him."

Subject: Mirror, mirror cont.

You guys got lucky he rolled such a lousy will save.

Subject: Mirror, mirror cont.

But evidently not lucky enough for you to to decide to actually give us some useful information...

Subject: Mirror, mirror cont.

Well the spell does have limitations, such as only being able to see 10 feet around the guy. I mean if someone scryed on me at work most days all they would see is the desk and door of the room I work in. Wouldn't tell them much about where I am or who I work for.

If they scryed at night they might find out even less.

But you do know that with in a few hours of escaping you he was at a place he felt comfortable in.

Subject: Mirror, mirror cont.

OOC: Mark and Derek, according to the spell description, the scrying spell allows you to see and hear the subject. You may not understand what he says, but Allistair should have been able to hear what was being said (not that Mark will have had anything truly important said, but the guys name might have slipped out - a servant saying "here you are, my lord xyz" for example.

Subject: Mirror, Mirror update

A bit of retcon. My PHB at home has contradicting statements about whether a person using scrying can hear the target. It looks like a misprint and the SRD online says that they can hear the target.

The man is changing his clothes. He is removing torn and bloody robes and gingerly touching a recently healed gash in his side. He is just about 6' tall, dark hair going grey. His brown eyes show a keen intellect. He seems to be mumbling to himself as he moves about the room. He puts on a clean set of robes and then sits down at a table. Ally can only see for 10 feet around the man so most of the room is out of focus. The table is wooden and looks to seat 4 easily. There is a silver urn and 4 silver mugs on a silver try in the center of the table and the man pours himself a drink.

Ally watches for several minutes while the man seems to just sit at the table, relaxing. From out of view a muffled voice comes "My Lord, the food you asked for is ready." The man yells back "Thank you. Just leave it by the door. I am indisposed at the moment." He moves towards the door and listens at it, seeming to make sure that the other person is gone. He then quickly opens the door and picks up a tray of food, still steaming and hot. He takes it to the table and starts eating. The food looks to be some type of stew with a dark brown bread, some fresh cut carrots and a large mug of ale. The sight and sound of the man stuffing him self fills the rest of Ally's vision.

Suddenly Ally is flying back the way he came. Almost with out transition he switches place with the real Ally and he is back in his body.

OODM: Commentary or anything else before I go on?

Subject: Mirror, Mirror update

oOoOOH. That actually makes a difference. We might be able to figurethis out after all.

Subject: Mirror, Mirror update

You expect him to be reporting back just at the 8 minutes in time that Ally is scrying on him. Be lucky he was not taking a bath or going to the bathroom. There would have been a fun 8 minutes. I could have added another sense to the spell. :)

You actually know more than you think. You just don't know it yet.

Subject: Mirror, mirror update

I was actually being sincere. I think that we learned alot from thatsmall chunk of dialog.

Subject: Mirror, mirror update

Really? I can't figure out what we learned then...

Subject: Mirror, mirror update

At first glance, the part about him being a Lord is probably significant. Its also at least slightly interesting that he has reasonably polite relationships with his servants, as opposed to being served by undead or imps or something... that's not particularly helpful but its an insight into his personality.

Subject: Mirror, mirror update

Well, probably anyone who's dressed well and has money is going to be called Lord. It just means he's educated and has money, both of which are pretty much a foregone conclusion with a wizard anyway. I guess he could be a sorceror, but he seemed to have too large of a variety of spells to be one of those.

Subject: Mirror, mirror update

That (the part about money) is true, I should have explained why I think he actually is a Lord... If he were in an inn or other public place, the owners would probably play it safe and call him Lord. But my impression is that he's probably at home, wherever that is, with his own servants. And they would presumably know the correct form of address for him.

Subject: Mirror, mirror update

Furthermore, he's keeping what happened a secret from his servants.Which means he's probably a well respected lord. Mix this from whatwe know earlier and we know he's a well respected lord that lives within 2 hours distance. That narrows it down to a pretty small group of guys.

Subject: Mirror, mirror update

Mmm... I was with you until the 2 hours thing. The problem is, what if he can teleport?

Subject: Useless info?

It's possible, but doesn't seem too worthwhile to think about it. Ifour party decides to look for this guy the paramaters I outlined wouldprobably be the best place to start, and I would expect them to work. If and when they don't then we can start thinking about teleportion.

Subject: Useless info?

Is the fact the table he was sitting at was set for 4 people significant? He could simply be a guest at another Lord's house, estate, castle or something.

Subject: Moving on

Check.

Subject: Moving on

At some point Mund wants to try to talk his brother into using Polymorph to turn himself into a bear so that Mund can wrassle two bears at once, but that doesn't need to happen now.

Subject: Moving on

I've been busy the past few days. Sorry for the silence. Allistair is ready to go on.

Subject: Moving on

Kal's just going along with everything. He's feeling a bit on edgebecause they're going underground, but he just seems a little more quiet than usual.

Subject: Moving on

Harp is ready to go on.

Salix is as well, though he has misgiving about the underground adventure to come.