After a long moment's consideration... "Very well. There's some others you'll wish to meet." He gestures you towards the town, clearly expecting you both to precede him.
After a long moment's consideration... "Very well. There's some others you'll wish to meet." He gestures you towards the town, clearly expecting you both to precede him.
Jackson: please lead the way we'll be right behind you (smiles and gestures with sweeping motions).
Solena: (casting detect evil as following)
Jackson: by the way what do you call yourself?
The treant stands there observing you with a somewhat ironic cant to his stance. He notes the spellcasting, and after a brief hesitation, waits until it is cast. After some seconds, he makes spellcasting gestures of his own. "I don't mind being followed, so long as you don't mind it either." His stiff face quirks in what might be a lopsided grin or smirk in a being capable of more facial expression. Behind the two of you a very, very large elemental rips out of the ground. He says, "If they cast a spell or attack me, crush them... Follow me, then."
{{{he does not register as evil. if there are no other happenings, or unless the dm has something, then he will lead you into the fast disappearing remnants of the ruined town where you will be met by the rest of his party. }}}
both follow with Jackson smirking and poking Solena in the ribs with his elbow....
So far as your DM is concerned: I am still awaiting the players'/PCs' decision as to what you're actually going to do. In the interests of time, I would like to assume that Solena and Jackson will be filled in on developments. Tina thinks that given "With the least of my form, 'tis the key to power", plus the Divination, it is best to take the gamble. Her last suggestion: Perhaps the good cleric could go to the trouble of casting a Commune spell. A number of yes-no questions could be asked, but the only one she cares about is: "If any member of the party carries a pinch of the dust of the creature that we defeated in the final room of the Tomb, and all other party members touch that member, then we step into the black mouth in the green demon-face at the end of the corridor from the middle entrance to the original tomb, will we be transported, alive and uninjured, to the City that Waits?"
Other suggestions if we cast a Commune (she won't be the one casting Commune, of course, so she's just trying to spark discussion):
"Will Grunther's axe be able to damage the real Acererak?"
"Should we be prepared for extremely cold weather?" (Confirming an earlier hint.)
"Is the City that Waits in a plane other than the Prime Material?"
"Is the Fortress of Conclusion in a plane other than the Prime Material?"
"Does Acererak's amulet--the one with the phrase about 'The face of the fiend...key to power'--contain any significant clues that we have not yet considered?"
Just ideas--and remember, this is Tina the NPC; it is NOT the DM trying to drop hints.
Solena agrees with the commune idea and finds the aforementioned questions appropriate with one addition : do we currently have everything we need to defeat acererac permenantly.
This actually isn't enough questions--you're 15th level (correct?), meaning we get 15 yes-no-maybe questions. So far we have 7. 8 more to come! I can suggest some--perhaps nijineko can weigh in.
(BTW, nice to see you again, Mato!)
hmmm, i think some of our questions might partly depend on the answers we get so far? do we get the answers as we go, or do we have to ask them all up front?
From the SRD (on Commune):
"If you lag, discuss the answers, or go off to do anything else, the spell ends. "
That tells me that you can't discuss the questions significantly DURING the casting of the spell--and the spell only lasts about 90 seconds anyway. I'm afraid you have to come up with all questions in advance. Please do so!
thanks for that clarification. hmmmm, questions...
"are the 'city that waits' and the 'fortress of conclusion' on the same plane?"Quote:
Originally Posted by Midnight
"do we need to take further preparations that we have not taken to keep ourselves from harm as we journey through the mouth or to the city or to the fortress?"
...
we are pretty certain that acererak is an undead, thus it is not unlikely to be a place that is conducive to such. a simple planar knowledge check would probably list in order the planes with traits most conducive to undead. i imagine that the negative and shadow planes would be the top two. (don't know the lower portions of the great wheel that well, so there might be some there too) i think it would be worth a couple of questions to check off the most two (or even three or four) likely spots. therefore:
"if we pass through the portal correctly (meaning alive and well afterwards) will we end up on the plane of shadow?"
"(ditto)... on the plane of negative energy?"
"do we all need to carry a pinch of dust to pass through the identified portal and be alive and well at the other end?" (just to confirm one way or another... yes/no's can be challenging.)
"what things, not including the axe already asked about, which could significantly harm acererak which we can obtain within a reasonable amount of time?"
"what things we can obtain that would protect us against acererak's abilities?"
"what kinds of opponents will we be fighting against once we enter the city?"
"what kinds of opponents will we be fighting against once we enter the fortress?"
and that should make 15 questions. =D ball over to midnight's court!
(i'm aware that they are supposed to be yes/no's, but as commune does allow for up to 5 word replies, i'm hoping for a brief ,even if not all-inclusive, answer, as one hopes that the power in question being contacted would consider us (or at least their representative) going up against acererak to be in their interest too. thus not clarifying might be contrary to the interest of the power, as per the description of the spell. =D )
Ball back in your court. Quoting from the SRD: "You contact your deity—or agents thereof —and ask questions that can be answered by a simple yes or no." In other words, the questions MUST be Yes/No questions. The deity may reply something other than Yes or No, in cases where a Yes or No would be unclear or undesirable, but the question must be answerable by a Yes or No.
first "what things" replace with "is there anything"
second "what things" replace with "is there anything else"
first "what kinds of opponents" removed, insert "undead" in between 'against' and 'once'.
second "what kinds of opponents" removed, insert "evil outsiders" in between 'against' and 'once'.
figured those are the two most likely kinds of creatures to run into, especially if my suspicions are correct.
The answers to the new questions:
1) If any member of the party carries a pinch of the dust of the creature that we defeated in the final room of the Tomb, and all other party members touch that member, then we step into the black mouth in the green demon-face at the end of the corridor from the middle entrance to the original tomb, will we be transported, alive and uninjured, to the City that Waits?
Only that member.
2) Will Grunther's axe be able to damage the real Acererak?
Yes.
3) Should we be prepared for extremely cold weather?
Yes.
4) Is the City that Waits in a plane other than the Prime Material?
Yes.
5) Is the Fortress of Conclusion in a plane other than the Prime Material?
Yes.
6) Does Acererak's amulet--the one with the phrase about 'The face of the fiend...key to power'--contain any significant clues that we have not yet considered or discovered?
No.
7) Are the 'city that waits' and the 'fortress of conclusion' on the same plane?
Partially.
8) Do we need to take further preparations that we have not taken to keep ourselves from harm as we journey through the mouth or to the city or to the fortress?
Your preparations are enough, barely.
9) If we pass through the portal correctly (meaning alive and well afterwards) will we end up on the plane of shadow?
No.
10) If we pass through the portal correctly (meaning alive and well afterwards) will we end up on the negative material plane?
Close to it.
11) Do we all need to carry a pinch of dust to pass through the identified portal and be alive and well at the other end?
Yes.
12) Is there anything else, not including the axe already asked about, which could significantly harm acererak which we can obtain within a reasonable amount of time?
In the City and Fortress.
13) Is there anything else we can obtain that would protect us against acererak's abilities?
Protection against spells is good.
14) Will we be fighting against undead once we enter the City?
Yes.
15) Will we be fighting against evil outsiders once we enter the Fortress?
Yes.