Jhaelin tumbles off the pew, awakened by a muffled screeching noise. He feels the scorching heat against his face as he glares at the intense light coming from the fire and puts up a hand for shaded protection. His mind can not register what is going on and he shades his eyes from the brightness.

"What happened!?" he calls to Karok.

In the far corner of the room, Illiana mumbles something in her sleep and turns over to face the cooler outer wall of the shrine. In her sleep she finds some comfort in the cold stone, pressing a cheek against it.

"I think we're having a volcanic eruption from under our fire!" Karok shouted, guiding towards Tynia, Durwe, Illyana, intent on shaking or lifting and carrying them, if necessary to avoid the magma rivulets.

"S'either supernatural or some flaggin' inconvenient tectonic action!"

Having taken a spot fairly far away from the fire, Roxie had curled up like a cat and dozed fairly well until she felt a wave of heat and the muffled bellow of Karok. Rolling away from the heat, she sprang to her feet with dagger in hand barely blinking the bit of sleep from her eyes. "What the hell?!"

For a moment her eyes narrowed as she glared at the fire and she spit and growled. "That symbol was tossed in the fire and I'd say it pretty much pissed off the frackin' deity from the looks of things." Damn touchy gods. Geeze they're worse than some women during moon times or Iliana, she thought grumpily.

Leah frowned at Karrock's in-your-sleep answer about the pelts, but could not argue it. The heads were not attached, after all. And with that, she returned her attention to the stew, at least until Roxie and Jhaelin return.

"EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!" she shrieks! "What happened to you? Did he do that?!?" she demands, pointing the spoon, which is probably a dessert spoon, at Jhaelin accusingly, and ready to brain him with her pole, or at least refuse him supper, should Roxie answer in the affirmative.

Later, after all is settled, she sleeps deeply, somewhere near the fire she built, in case there is a serious stew emergency during the night that she must handle immediately. She warns the guard on shift to wake her immediately should this occur- it would not do to have untrained people handle the meal. As they say, too many cooks spoils the stew.

It is a peaceful night, completely uneventful, and she sleeps deeply because of it, and without a light snoring she would completely deny in the morning if brought to her attention, because it is not true and she does not snore at all! Not at all!

Screeee- Screeeeeeeeeeaahhhhhh!

As if stoked violently, embers and sparks erupt upward in a convolution of smoke and purplish flame. What remains of the haunch of meat and pot of stew is all knocked over well outside the edge of the fire. The screeching noise becomes violently loud, piercing the consciousness of even the most deeply slumbering companion to wakefulness. A flapping noise overhead draws everyone's attention. There, amidst the smoke of the fire, is a strange looking four foot tall humanoid-like winged creature with charcoal black skin that is cracked all over. The cracks glow orange with heat and what appears to be something molten seeps from within those cracks. Droplets of the liquid drip from its body, sizzling through the air with a hiss and into the fire. Its body smolders with flame and dark greasy smoke, and its baleful eyes smolder like hot embers. As it flaps its wings, smoke curls away from it and it flexes long claws protruding from two forearms.

Jhaelin recollects one of the tomes he chose to fuel the fire had something to do with the incendiary elements and wards.  It was too ruined to have been useful, so he had set it aside to burn. Burning a book of such import was a mistake!

---

Begin combat rounds 2345.06 (Rnd 1)

Beginning combat rounds does not automatically indicate a fight. The encounter reactions have not been determined. It merely sets the timeline into combat rounds for perspective on movements and actions because there is a definite possibility of a fight.

1 Magma Mephit

Magic in play...
Armor on Illiana, AC6, 9 points remain
Armor on Shandrilar, AC6, 9 points remain

This message was last edited by the GM at 18:43, Sat 19 Nov 2022.

Durwe bolts upright on the pew, his legs and arms flying forward when he is startled awake by the piercing screech. He is not immediately aware of the creature and stares at the strangeness of the fire. Then the flapping... and in the next second he is standing bow in hand, straddling the pew he was asleep on.

"TO ARMS!" he calls, steeling himself for a fight. He puts an arrow to string and pulls, ready to let fly at the first sign that it will attack them.

Illiana is startled awake, her eyes flying wide open to stare at a cold wall. She flings herself over to her other side and sees the fire and creature. Then her eyes really widen, both in surprise and fright. A fire mephit! Really? Here? How...

As she gets to her feet, she grabs her pack and shoves her spell books to the side. Apparently, she had fallen asleep at what she was doing. No matter now. She could pick it all up later. Do these guys know what they are dealing with, she wonders. How in the nine hells did it get here?

"Ohhh Gods of Ulduan! That's a fire mephit!" she exclaims hastily, keeping her distance. "It's planar... meaning not from this world, highly magical, and we must get it away from the fire to kill it!"

She begins casting her only ranged, sure to hit, spell she just learned courtesy of the dead mage's spell book...

Away from the fire ... Roxie highly doubted it would leave the vicinity of cozy flames but they had a bucket of water and plenty of things to poke and spread out the coals to get rid of that fire. Sprinting over to the bucket, she picked it up and whispered "cover me" as she started making her way back toward the fire.

Alright, then. It looked like everyone was out of danger of being roasted in their sleep.

And now the girl was shouting about planar magicks, and Roxie was saying, "Cover me!"

Now, Karok's FAMILY had some magic weapons amongst them, but him? The least son with little lapidary or jewelry skill, a foot soldier with no great distinction, why should they trust an enchanted weapon to him?

But, maybe...

Karok took out the dwarven stone that Jhaelin and Roxie had thought might be special. He pulled the old sling he'd had since he'd become an adult from his belt, and placed the stone in the pocket. Maybe THIS would be magic enough to affect the Planar-Fire Thing...

Tynia had instinctively grabbed her bow as she was startled awake. She knocked an arrow but held it ready until she knew what exactly was going to happen. She took the free moment to cast an armor spell upon herself... Hopefully the group wouldnt have to fight this thing. It seemed far beyond their capabilities to slay. Tynia would do all she could to attempt killing the thing if it came down to it...

Leah hears the screaming. It can only mean that the pushy girl has found a mirror and saw what happened to her head. She begins to rise, eyes first opening, then widening as she sees what is dangerously close. She had slept close to the fire, and was not far away from what was clearly a threat. Or was it? Hmmm...

"Hello," she says brightly as she rises. "Are you here for stew? Are you here to join our group? Ancay outay eakspay Ommoncay?"

Dfyrsnice grimaces in pain, his mind gripped by some unseen force. Then his body... the pain as he is ripped from his home, from his element and thrown into some unknown world. A bitterly cold... very, VERY cold world to his reckoning. He can feel his body pressed on all sides by the coldness. The absence of heat. There is only one comfort... and a very small comfort at that below him.

He screeches in anger and rage. He flexes his stiffening body, feeling the crackling of his leathery charcoal skin. Flaps his wings and is irritated at the lack of heat beneath them.


Screeeeeeee-Screeeeeeeeeah!

Then a voice.... angry, smoldering eyes look downward upon a fleshling. A prime walker... speaking in an unusual language. Like that of casters.

"...eakspay ommmoncay?"

Was this the one summoned him? He feels no binding. He feels no bond... no restraint. He senses no protection upon the femme prime. He was free! Free to make havoc upon the mortal world of men! They would all burn in the glory of eternal fires... then he will make a domain of his own and grow in power! But first... he must kill the caster and those around him before he can begin his reign of incendiary terror. And what one can do... two can do better.

With a great flap of his wings, giving him a little lift, Dfyrsnice spreads his wings wide. Bits of magma fly off in every direction as the mephit controls the magic that summons another his kind.

Bleary eyed, Jhaelin rolls over and gets to his feet after hearing the screeching beast. He gapes in wonder, amazement, confusion and fright...

"Heironeous protect us! Where did..."

Then...it hits him. The fire. He had put a tome to the fire for fuel before waking Karok for his watch and he recalls it being a dwarven text on the elements and associated wards. But... had it been magical? Had it some kind of ward on it? Questions he could not answer, but one thing he is sure of. He had inadvertently caused this.

Taking up his shield and war hammer, Jhaelin flanks over next to Karok, ready to strike should the need arise.

"Leah! Get back from there!" the former cleric advises in a stern voice. The beast flaps higher into the air and spreads its wings that drip with a molten fluid that he suspects is rock of some sort like that found in a volcano. And odd sounds emanates from it.

"Durwe, Roxie, Tynia, Shandrilar! Shoot it! Illiana--" Too late, she was already casting and Jhaelin ducks out of the way as Karok begins winding his sling around for a throw. He feels so helpless without his God!!

Nothing... Nothing I can do as long as its flying up there over a fire!

Taking Karok's cue, Cassius pulls his sling from a pouch and loads it with one of his iron bullets. No one had to tell him to keep back. The very sight of the thing and its unnatural appearance warns of the danger if possesses.

With two short twists of the leather sling, he lets fly the iron bullet toward his target.

Illiana has one part of her exclamation correct. The creature is surely extra-planar in origin. But, her inexperience and lack of real world knowledge caused misidentification.  It is not a fire mephit but something perhaps more destructive.

Karok twists the leather sling around his head twice, then lets fly a stone from the cradle. It strikes the creature solidly, breaking a chunk of its weird hide and a new rivulet of molten liquid squeezes through. Whatever the creature was up to, the hit disrupts it and smoldering eyes turn to Karok in irritation. An iron bullet from Cassius' sling passes harmlessly below it as it hovers above the fire nearly ten feet in the air.

Durwe manages to get a couple of arrows fired at it. Each hit the target, but bounce away as if hitting a solid wall. Illiana finishes her magic missile spell, which she recently learned from Brett's spell book and transcribed into her own. The force of the bolt strikes the mephit solidly, breaking away several chunks of dark stone-like material and liquid magma.

---

Begin combat rounds 2345.12 (Rnd 2)

Roll a d6 for initiative modified with DEX. Roll a d20 for any attack with the appropriate damage roll for the weapon used.

1 Magma Mephit

Magic in play...
Armor on Illiana, AC6, 9 points remain
Armor on Shandrilar, AC6, 9 points remain
Armor on Tynia, AC6, 9 points remain

Roxie stayed focused, hurrying as fast as possible with the sloshing bucket of water to the fire. As much as she wanted to grab her crossbow and start firing, she felt the loss of heat would affect it more than her bolts. Once she reached the fire, she attempted to douse as much of the fire as possible.

"It's okay," Leah calls back to Jhaelin. "I think he's friendly! I'm pretty certain he wants to join our party!"

She turns back to the mephit with a smile...

... and continues, "Okayay, allay ethay easuretray isay itsplay inay ouray oupgray, exceptay Arrockkay antsway allay ethay oosemay eadshay. Oay Kay? Utbay ifay ouyay indfay emthay irstfay, ouyay ancay eepkay ethay oosemay eadshay otay ourselfyay. Isay atthay airfay otay ouyay? Ifay osay, elcomeway otay ethay artypay!"

Dfyrsnice is confused with a moment of indecision. Should he try to summon again one of his own? There are too many of them. Too many chances at being disrupted again. Perhaps he should level the field first by burning a few. He tilts his wings, reducing lift and drops a few feet lower toward the fire. He turns his smoldering eyes toward Leah.

He will begin with the one chanting near him...

Illiana has no intention of getting anywhere near that thing. She positions herself a little close toward the double doors, just in case, then began casting again. Oh, if ONLY she had some sort of cold based spell.

Well, doesn't... so magic missile will have to do. She suspects burning hands would have little to no effect on it at all and she would have to get way too close to even try that one.

She stretches her arm again and points at the creature, uttering the arcane words for a magic missile.

"Solaise solatcuam!"

Seeing what Roxie has in mind, and that-- as a result-- she is unarmed and vulnerable, Karok moves to interpose himself between the water bearer and the fire-creature(s). He'll intercept any missiles flung at her on his shield, will counter any melee attack it/the swoop(s) to make.

At first confused by the simultanious negotiating and fighting, Shandrilar hesitates, but when the Mephit moves to burn an ally, the elfgirl uncoils into action.

"Oh, good plan, Illiana!" the rehdead calls, slashing the air towards the mephit with an arcane gesture of her own. "Solaise solatcuam!" Saphire energy darts at the mephit.

Tynia huffs a grunt of displeasure as Shandrilar calls praise to that elf.  She the cue of the other mages and chants the words to a magic missile. With an arc of her hand arcane energy is let loose and flies towards the elemental beast.
This message was last edited by the player at 19:17, Sat 19 Nov 2022.

"Stop that!" Leah demands angrily of the others, hands on hips. "He's going to think we're unfriendly if you keep trying to kill him. He hasn't done anything other than come to borrow a cup of stew, after all!"

She turns back towards the being, and is pleased to see it is paying attention to her rather than the others. That must mean it is willing to talk, even given the provocations. So, she says apologetically with a head shake, "Iay amay orrysay orfay ethay othersay.Ometimessay eythay areay otnay eryvay artsmay. Eythay idday otnay evenay avehay a-ay entay ootfay olepay!"

Jhaelin gulps, worry creasing his forehead as he notices the creatures attention drawn to Leah.

"THAT THING WILL KILL YOU LEAH!" he shouts, running for her.

With the hopes of protecting the warrioress, Jhaelin rushes forward bringing his shield up. Hopefully, whatever the thing has planned can be blocked.