Rudra seems like a kind, less stoic person and Toman seems ultra stoic and faithful!
As for my best quote...
I've got a little story (Backstory, to be exact), and I hope its not too much >.> You know, demystifying and its drawbacks...
Standard Calender 1440, May. Periwinkle Island.
Fifty casters... Anarose looked around her. Fifty. A nice, round, and potent number of wizards. Together, on this day, they would blast through the very definitions of the Life seed and cast a spell on her that would let her live forever, to be the living lock on the jail of the Spear. The Spear, or at least what was left of it, was in her right hand, completely surrounded by layer upon layer of magic spells to hold its power in check. She looked at the spear, which despite the measures taken to prevent it from using its power was dripping blood through every single spell she cast on it onto the ground. At least the blood was confirmed to be harmless...
She had used ten of her epic spell slots to cast limited disjunction, an epic version of Mordenkainen's Disjunction (whoever Mordenkainen was) that only targeted one item per casting, and the Spear had made all of its saving throws. She tried every single method in the book, from casting it into lava, grinding it between the gears of Mechanus(the spear caught between the gears and stopped every single one. She was charged of the crime Various Crimes Against Existence right then by the Inevitables, and had to deal with them annually), all sorts of shatter spells... all to no avail. Wish didn't work either - apparently it was too much for the spell, and instead of the Spear it broke a bunch of other spears in a one mile radius. Petty money for her, though, so she reimbursed every single one. Even the dwarves' famed AtomSmasher(tm) bridges broke upon the Spear; the dwarves did not believe it.
...Eventually, the spear rolled a 1 and it split into twain, by the humble Disintegration spell. That caused even more disaster - the shards flew and embedded themselves into some of her cohort. They immediately mutated and started killing everyone else. She had to dispatch them.
With a final gesture, the 100-day long spellcasting was finished. She winced as 90d6 backlash damage hit her. Potentially life-threatening, but she had invested in a number of items that increased her Hit Points. She gasped as the massive damage nearly killed her. Anarose unstoppered a potion of heal (likewise expensive) and drank it. She sensed something was wrong. She looked around her, and was met with the horrible scene of forty-seven wizards simultaneously melting.
"No...NO! Why? You are not supposed to be backlash-"
She spun around, long hair whipping through the air, and saw a number of huge deity symbols surrounding the hilltop. They were catching and reflecting the magic residue from her spell back into the hilltop. The backlash damage treated the other wizards as if they were Anarose. She quickly identified a fancy cross with red gems, a crescent moon, a five-headed dragon, a flaming red skull, a skull and a scythe. A black feather, a white feather. The gods. The thrice accursed, meddling gods. Apparently, they came to a decision that a mortal had overstepped her bounds, and temporarily bonded together to punish her. Punish her, for breaking one of the god's toys, despite it being for the good of all humanoids, punish her, for overstepping the bounds of normal, perhaps even Epic, magic, again for the good of all, a human sacrifice that would be cursed to live forever, and never enter the Cosmic Wheel to her place in the Outlands.
"STOP IT! GREATER DISPEL! EPIC DISPEL!"
The deities' symbols reluctantly stopped their effect and flowed into nothingness. It was too late. It was... too, too late. Anarose collapsed on the ground. 47 dead, 3 alive, scared, and already had ran. She would be followed, and the ignorant peasants would attempt to burn her at stake, like they had done half a millenium ago, when magic was even younger than now.
"Let them try..."
She gathered up her wits again and cast Greater Teleport - with an arrow through her knee arm, she was stopped.
"You witch - killing forty seven for you own wants... You'll be killed by me!"
Some elf. A woman, related to one of the wizards, she guessed.
"No." No, I did not. And no... I will not.
Still Time Stop.
Silent (Quickened) Hold Person. . Still Quickened Stoneskin. Quickened Protection. Quickened -
A green ray popped out of a tiny mini-gate and struck her.
"...Oh, you merciless gods, Dimension Anchor? Really?"
...Fine, Quickened Haste. She paused. She then renewed her frantic spellcasting - Quickened Resistance. Quickened Shield. Quickened Mage Armor. 'Auto-Quicken really does come in handy,' she noted, detached. Quickened Delayed Fireball. Quickened Suppressed Dragonbreath.
A greater dispel magic popped out. She counter-spelled.
Anarose counted six more seconds. The world resumed itself. She took off - (Quickened Still Overland Flight!) - and winced as the dull whoom of a fireball burning someone echoed.
She ran.
She ran...
=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=
With a start, Anarose woke. The same old dream...
She still felt that sorrow. She was sorry, she really was. Wish didn't work... perhaps the gods stopped her again. Anyways, it ended up completely removing the remains.
As she got up, the roots and bushes surrounding her receded. The Marut had mentioned Ichavon Arnim, and Kels. So, they had died, because she had to run... More sorrow crashed into her, and she lay down again. She went back to sleep, murmuring her late apology.
@ Araph - Basically you can either ask for some item, or some enchantment, or maybe a spell, or like Rudra ask for access to Anarose's spellbook & library.
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Topic: Trail's End: Semi-Trained Hero's Journey :: the end is nigh (3.5e) (Read 98432 times)