While in the Temple of Time

[Paul]

So while you guys are in the temple of time is there anything any of you want to look into specifically? Any ideas as to where you are interested in going from there? The options I remember were looking into why the priest of Tiamat had full casting ability, going back to celestia to find more about any complications that might have occured in the sealing of the planes and looking into the great war referenced in some of the texts Illana found. You also could try to find more about the sword of fire Eva carries and the portents of it being broken which would most likely involve traveling to the elemental plane of fire. Feel free to post any other options I may have left out or anything else you are interested in looking into.

While Ilana was being trained by Finbar in the Temple of Time Eva and Auron traveled north to an abandoned temple of Brigit, goddess of fire and poetry to use a portal Eva knew of that exists there to travel to the elemental plane of fire. While there they traveled to the city of brass where they went to the home of Gweneth, a fire wierd whom Eva had met on her previous visit to the city.

About a week after they had left they returned with information about the sword Pyrrus and the prophecies they had been researching there.

[Braydz]

In search of Alura (who apparently went off questing after Eva) and trying to follow up on prophecies of the World Devourer (Or was it cuddly warm iguana? It was in Draconic, so who knows.) Eva traveled to Kaska, and through an abandoned sewer to Sigil where she and Tristan faced down Slimy and a Marilith controlled by the Lady of Pain banished It forever to a demi-plane within the hilt of Pyrrus who, by the sword being broken, was released (his soul mostly in-tact).

The mysteries of Pyrrus being "revealed," Eva returned to Kaska (where she tracked down Alura and took her home?).

Auron, resourceful little minx that he is, determined that there was another artifact that could stand in for the fire sword in his mad scheme to return at least one of the gods to their realm, a pair of fire bracers. He sent Eva ahead of him to the plane the bracers were supposedly on (planar tuning fork in hand). Eva made friends quickly in the Vanished Lands despite not exactly fitting in and got to the ogre-riding pronto. In return for assisting in re-taking a Monastery of the Light her companions Melchior, Tetsuo and Sukhov told her about the land, the bracers and where they reside, the Temple of Elemental Evil. Before setting off on a daring mission into the Temple of Elemental Evil to retrieve the Bracers of Fire, she stopped home to kiss her mom & dad goodbye and let Auron know what was going on.

She returned to the Vanished Lands to learn that an "allied" scouting party had set off to self-same temple, and is in the process of catching up to them.

[Paul]

Here is the Update from Eva's time in the Vanished lands
December, Year 0

This story begins in the market place of the city of Gisar, mere weeks
after a debilitation raid on the temple of Tiamat. A monk by the name of
Sukhov was introducing two friends to each other. One was a cleric of the
night whom he had spent much time traveling with and the other, a monk whom
he found to have a similar goal to his own in the city. Their names were
Melchior and Tetsuo. Melchior always on guard was in the guise of an herb
salesman and always on the lookout for suspicious characters noticed a
traveler who seemed quite out of place in the barbarian city. It was an elf
with dreaded hair who was wearing strange garb. Upon approaching the
stranger he found she did not speak the local language although she did seem
to understand everything he said. Instead she spoke what seemed to be an
ancient dialect of elven. She introduced herself as Eva.

Tetsuo watched the pair as Melchior attempted to convince his new sap… er
companion… to buy some of his exotic herbs when from the other side of the
market place a large group of ogres began to approach. They over turned
carts and made a general nuisance of themselves excusing them selves with
false apologies and a few tossed coins. He sighed and placed himself between
the ogres and Melchior’s cart saying to those behind him “Don’t kill them,
there need not be blood today.” as Melchior seeing the approaching danger
climbed down into his cart to hide. Sukhov stood and stretched as Eva palmed
two daggers. The ogres soon saw Tetsuo and approached menacingly chuckling
about a new plaything before Tetsuo gave them a warning to leave before they
ended up regretting their behavior while causing his hand to light in
flames.

The lead ogre pulled a massive katana from its sheath and swung at Tetsuo
only to hit nothing but cobblestones and receiving several blows to his
stomach, stunning him and causing him to drop his weapon. Meanwhile a man
shrouded all in black appeared 60 feet behind the ogres and muttering a
strange incantation put one of the ogre’s minions to sleep. Sukhov drew
weapons which were sheathed in flame while his bard companion caused them to
brightly flash, blinding some of the ogres. Eva feinted and threw her palmed
daggers into an ogre’s neck and Sukhov began to engage it in melee. The
masked man (Melchior) and Tetsuo meanwhile knocked out the two remaining
ogres and the last, flanked by Sukhov and Eva surrendered.

Eva the led the one conscious ogre around to pay for the damage the ogres
had done in the market place before meeting the group while Melchior emerged
from his cart asking if it was all over. Tetsuo threw a couple copper pieces
down to the leader saying “for your injuries”, before noticing a symbol on
one of his underling’s weapons. It was that of clan Nakegawa, the ninja clam
which he and Sukhov had been searching for. They informed Melchior, who read
the ogre’s mind under the guise of tending for its wounds and found that
they had been outfitted at a monastery in the middle of a lake, 3 days to
the north of the city. It seemed Tetsuo and Sukhov had finally found the
ninja dojo they were searching for. Only one question remained, who was that
masked man?

Tetsuo then explained the situation to Melchior and Eva and invited them to
join him and Sukhov as they had already proven their worth and good
intentions. Accepting the offer Sukhov and Melchior left through the
northern gates and Eva and Tetsuo left over a wall meeting up an hour north
of the city. During the first night Eva had a vision. She saw a ziggurat
with 4 levels. On the first were acolytes, on the second ninja, on the third
strange beasts and on the top danced dark shrouded figures she believed to
be drow. Melchior interpreted the dream for her and it was decided that it
could refer to either the dojo they were searching for or the temple of
elemental evil.

When they finally arrived within sight of the dojo they could see it was a
large pagoda with 4 levels. Some would call it a coincidence but the dream
had felt so real. After planning for a short while it was decided that the
best way to sneak in would be to pretend to be paying tribute. Eva and
Tetsuo were disguised as children while Sukhov pretended to be their father
and Melchior donned his smelly disguise. Approaching the temple they were
questioned by Oni guards but they quickly became bored as Melchior had been
nominated head groveler and was made to speak with them. Inside the main
landing of the pagoda Melchior was approached by a Brother Moss who spoke
with him and accepted his tribute. While he kept Brother Moss distracted (it
was almost as if Melchior actually wished to continue the conversation
rather than the mission), Eva set up a distraction combining a breaker
bottle, some alchemists fire, and a smoke stick. Tetsuo also recognized the
temple as one which was originally dedicated to a Lawful Good purpose.

Upon setting off the smoke bomb the group quickly ran to the stairs as the
monks in the main area put out the fire. Each member of the group either
cast invisibility on themselves or drank a corresponding potion before
continuing. Eva cast remove scent on Melchior. The rest of the group ceased
to hold their breath. Tetsuo then pulled out a rope which each of them could
hold onto so they would know where each other were. Skipping the second
floor they went to the top of the stairs and the third where they heard the
sounds of practice and teaching. Eva peaked into one of the rooms and was
horrified to see Githiyanki monks training goblins. They then decided to
have Tetsuo transport them one floor up through his abundant step technique
rather than searching out the rest of that floor as the masters of the dojo
who they were searching for would likely be there.
Upon appearing on the next floor up Eva began to sneak forward as Melchior
put on his goggles of true sight and immediately grabbed her shoulder. She
was about to walk straight into an invisible ogre magi sentry. He then
continued to keep the party undetected by casting a silence spell which
while it alerted the sentry made it unable to raise an alarm of any kind and
it was promptly killed. The continued circling until they found a large set
of doors which appeared to lead to the center of the level.

Entering the room the group found the four masters of the temple, Tetsuo
challenged the Rakshasa wielding his grandfather’s sword while Sukhov
challenged the monk who had corrupted his dojo. Melchior attacked a fiendish
blighter which withered some of his herbs and Eva greased herself up and
grappled the attractive drow blade dancer. The rest of the combatants paused
for a moment to watch before continuing their duels. Bad insults abounded as
each pair (barring the grapplers) insulted each others fighting ability or
virility.

Tetsuo fought using his nun chucks for a short while before disarming the
Rakshasa of his ancestral sword and attacking him with it. Sukhov attacked
wielding his wounding katana. Melchior and the blighter exchanged spells.
Eva pinned the drow repeatedly. Soon however, even with the distraction,
Tetsuo had slain the rakshasa, Melchior the blighter, and Sukhov the
corrupter of his original monastery. Moments later Eva was able to finish
off the Drow. Tetsuo then announced to those who had watched and the rest of
the students in the monastery that any who wished to stay and learn would be
welcomed and that he would teach them but those who wished to continue to
follow the corrupted teachings of the previous masters should leave. While
many of the higher level students did leave many students did still stay to
learn and be redeemed.

[Paul]

December, Year 0

When Eva returned to "The Crossroads of Eternity" from "The Vanished Lands", she would have learned about a great battle at Palerias. The city was surrounded by 4 undead armies, one on each side and there was an eclipse, during which everything that died immediately raised as undead. It also seemed to last much longer than was expected and ended up lasting for the entire day. The city was then attacked by the Tarrasque which Auron later found had been attracted to an object in the center of the city which has since disappeared. Last Warning (previous friends to Eva: Kivan, Ravu, Aaron, Vasec, Orphen, Cuthbert and one not known to her, Gydion. More information about them in the "Last Warning" thread) took to defending the city attacking the Tarrasque (the Civilization devourer), Kivan taking an interesting strategy, thinking it would hurt him less if he were inside it img.photobucket.com/albums/v25/BlueLightning/bait.jpg They were able to defeat it as Auron arrived to warn them not to wish it dead but to wish it to sleep or it would rise more powerful.

Lord Mage Derek Ranel arrived with reinforcements.

Faelonia, a drow ranger wileding a powerful artifact bow.

Ibrihim, an Egyptian paladin from a world whose divine power had not left it.

Rellim, a cleric to an elven god of time in that same world.

Argentis and Quenamun, a silver and a gold dragon.

And several others.

There was a congregation of different forces to discuss the coming battle including those above and the following:

"General Grenich"-male human Fighter, leader of the forces defending the city of Palerias from siege by Undead armies (20,000 are being fought to the south, and Faelonia scouted a force of about 5,000 Wights, pale humans, Glabrezu (demons), and floating Beholders to the west.)

"Cuthbert"-male human Sorcerer.

"Thyril"-male Grey Elf Duelist. Thyril is a swashbuckler in every way. He prizes sword play as the most refined form of combat. He said that he and his apprentices are there to repay a debt. If pressed he would reveal that until very recently he was cursed. He had the body and temperament of a vampire. (He was once the vampire which Eva and Auron met the soul of and released it.) This is the first of what he hopes will be many acts to redeem himself now that the curse has been ended.

"Auron" [Brian]-male blue-skinned Air Genasi Enchanter, talked with Ibrahim and Rellim about the absence of divinely-granted powers in this world; Auron was be willing to tell Rellim about his amulet. It is a divinely oriented item which allows access to a temple of the elven god of time and prophesy which exists outside of time. Rellim examined it and would find it could work as a holy symbol and he would be able to use it to recharge his spells even in the god forsaken world. Rellim and Ibrahim also found out from Auron that it is the focus for several elemental based artifacts.

"Di'riath Amateris"-male High Elf Wizard, talked with Argentis about a strange eclipse which revives those fallen in battle as Undead Di'riath was very respectful to Argentis. He said that he was honored by his presence and Argentis realized he recognizes both Argentis and Quenamun for what they really are. He told what he knew of the eclipse. First that it was a natural eclipse which is being
lengthened by magic. An aspect of the Demon lord Orcus is a necessary focus for the spell and a book of vile darkness was used as a material component. A philosopher's stone could have been used in its stead. He is a professor at an elven university of magic and has been looking into the topic of the eclipse lately although he did not expect someone to actually cast the spell. Only fragments of such spells have been seen for centuries. There are two ways to prevent a person from raising as undead. The first would be to have a death ward spell cast upon them before their death. The second would be to be in a hallowed area. Even a dragon such as Argentis would rise if killed and not as a mere zombie but as a free willed undead creature such as a vampire.

"Regor"-male Hill Dwarf Fighter (Dwarves are stationed by the breach in the south wall caused by the Tarrasque.) Regor's mind was completely on the upcoming battle. He led the dwarves in the feint against the army to the south. He did once adventure with Cuthbert and is here to protect dwarven interests as such an army is a threat to everyone.

Cuthbert and the rest of last warning went to the south to attack the Aspect of Orcus in hopes of ending the eclipse while Holy Steel (Ibrihim and Faelonis's group) went to the west to attack that army and kill its general, the undead beholder lich, Kularkuthan, to create a route for refugees to escape from. Both did end up being successful in their missions and the city was able to hold for the next few days until the rest of Palantyne's army had arrived. It now seems to have turned to a Necropolis as the city still exists but undead continue to arise in the surrounding plains.

Eva Likely would have stayed with her family until the end of the year before returning to "The Vanished Lands", during which time she would learn that the man controlling the horde to the south was killed by "Last Warning" and after that the horde dispersed with surprising alacrity.

[Braydz]

While home for the Year-End Eva ran a couple errands (weapon, spell and clothes shopping mostly) and said hi to a few old friends, staying of course with her family.

She only told Auron about her dastardly plan to make a false alliance with the Drow in the Vanished Lands, promising chocolate, chronomancy and extra-planar aid in exchange for access to the Fire Bracers. If the deep-cover angle works she'll be able to sabotage the occupation of Mount Gruldar and the Temple of Elemental Evil from within while her Vanished Land allies lay siege to it.