You know what would be amusing?
If there's some bigshot Valyrian red dragon with gold scales (one of the Fourteen?) and the Deep Ones mistake them for us. Then they spend eons and a ridiculous amount of effort targeting this Valyrian bigshot, but see their efforts blunted by the might of Valyria (forming a closed loop, and perhaps explaining how the Flesh Forges got inspiration and why they're so distrusted), and from our perspective as we return to our time this isn't a problem because the loop is stable.
You know what would be amusing?
If there's some bigshot Valyrian red dragon with gold scales (one of the Fourteen?) and the Deep Ones mistake them for us. Then they spend eons and a ridiculous amount of effort targeting this Valyrian bigshot, but see their efforts blunted by the might of Valyria (forming a closed loop, and perhaps explaining how the Flesh Forges got inspiration and why they're so distrusted), and from our perspective as we return to our time this isn't a problem because the loop is stable.
The "infinite time and ressources" thing is likely doomsaying. They have powerful time magic, but they also haven't conquered the multiverse so they're likely limited in many ways.
No, i'ts more likely that they "just" have massive amounts of time and resources - but then so did Valyria, which is why I can imagine it as a target capable of avoiding / weathering a war with the Deep Ones.
I'm hoping this instance was only possible through very specific circumstances, including the birth of a Far Realm entity into a Material Plane deity and active effort from the future.
The Illithids are from the end of time and they only traveled untold billions of years back into the past when their were no other options to continue their existence, so it's not something which can be done casually.
Thank god for that. While it has been an enjoyable in a small dosis like this, I fear the introduction of widespread time-travel in the setting would have me agreeing with Black mage's opinion soner than later.
The "infinite time and ressources" thing is likely doomsaying. They have powerful time magic, but they also haven't conquered the multiverse so they're likely limited in many ways.
No, i'ts more likely that they "just" have massive amounts of time and resources - but then so did Valyria, which is why I can imagine it as a target capable of avoiding / weathering a war with the Deep Ones.
There seem to be pretty much zero rules on the time travelling so far, so that means automatically infinite time and resources, due to the nature of the beast.
Mind, I'm greatly looking forward to bury all of this, precisely because that state of affairs is undesirable.
Adhoc vote count started by egoo on Jan 11, 2021 at 7:31 AM, finished with 113 posts and 18 votes.
[X] Plan "Bending Time and Space!" -[X] The group bends their collective wits and powers to the task of slipping back through time to shortly before our first battle with the Chronomancer, including contacting the Ferryman for direct assistance if necessary. --[X] Assuming the group is able to use the time loop's cyclical nature to travel back once more, they will find a suitable location from which to work that will allow Viserys to cast the Tidal Wave spell to match what we originally saw when the Chronomancer fled. --[X] The site will be prepared with a Teleport Trap spell (DC 40 Will save, 38th caster level to overcome SR) as an added measure to supplement the Arcane Mark Aife will use as a Teleportation target and to prevent another incident of fleeing Chronomancer. ---[X] Aife, accompanied by Lya and a Myrkdreki, will return to the site of the battle while hidden using Superior Invisibility spells and rendered Incorporeal by the Dragon. While affected by Lya's Encouraging Harmonic Chorus spell, Aife will cast Assay Spell Resistance then cancel her Moment of Greatness buff to use Miracle to duplicate the effects of Divert Teleport (DC 42 Will save, 40th caster level to overcome SR) immediately before the Chronomancer attempts to flee, directing it to our prepared site. Lya and the Myrkdreki will both use Alter Fortune to assist with the spell if the Chronomancer somehow resists. ---[X] The Chronomancer's destination will be within range of Viserys' Greater Anticipate Teleportation effect, allowing him to prevent its arrival for 3 rounds. This will give Aife, Lya, and the Myrkdreki plenty of time to return to the rest of the group before the Chronomancer arrives. ---[X] Before it arrives in our trap, Viserys will use Wild Arcana to duplicate the Tidal Wave spell at minimum caster level and without any effort to prevent it from being Dispelled, cast and timed to coincide with what we originally saw when the Chronomancer first fled. ----[X] Aife, still boosted by Lya and under another Moment of Greatness spell, will use a Quickened 30th level Invoke the Cerulean Sign (DC 36 Fortitude save, 40th level to overcome SR) as soon as the Chronomancer arrives followed by a Reached Sacramental Seal (DC 38 Will save, 37th level to overcome SR) spell, Lya will target it with a Wild Arcana'd Amber Sarcophagus (29th level to overcome SR), and Viserys will use Assay Spell Resistance and target it with a Wild Arcana'd Scribe's Binding spell (DC 36 Fortitude save, 32nd level to overcome SR). Qyburn and the Myrkdreki Twins each use Alter Fortune, if necessary, once for Aife's spell, once for Lya's, and once for Viserys'. Richard remains on standby to fucking murder the Chronomancer if it somehow avoids being captured. --[X] Once the Chronomancer has been captured or its eviscerated remains cleaned up and the site sanitized, we quickly depart the area and begin the journey back to our own time.
[X] Plan: "Well, shit"
-[X] Seek out Merling King/Ferryman. Prepare the full Willsave buffs for surety just in case.
--[X] Also pointedly take effort for maximum disguise. Apply actual disguise under the Cloak of Khyber, with all bonuses possible. Better not risk with a God.
--[X] Hand the staff of the Old Gods to Qyburn.
--[X] Short: "Am an ally coming from far future to fight the damn Squids. A Chronomancer of theirs got away, but not before I got a bunch of his flesh. Need help getting the bastard, lest all of future is fucked, yours likely included".
---[X] "Even so much as directions to someone best capable would be appreciated at this point"
-[X] Qyburn and the Myrkdreki will attempt to discern the state of Yss as a Deity at this moment, and whether or not we can trust this version of him with the issue we're presenting.
So, assuming we don't meet the Eel on the way back, we are about to leave the time-period with 5 Shoggoths, 1 sealed Illithid, and hopefully an Aboleth (body, or capture)
+- gear, +- variable success on turning Drowny into a power source for the Imperial Deity.
Did we stop the Wyk-quake, though?
And what is our plan with the shoggoths, exactly?
We acted as if we are excited to experiment but I'm not exactly seeing much of interest on them, sans the slapped-on template..?
And we can't exactly throw them into any of our Forges, for safety concerns.
Gotta wait for Qohor's to mulch Abominations.
Lastly, do we want to stay in the period one last time to look for off-the-beaten-path Heart Trees we could re-fossilize in our time?
Would require one more track through the tunnel and back to avoid Aboleth-related paradoxes, going into the 'after' we leave to time-ambush the Aboleth.
...And I'm getting worried about doing too many hoops, the ambush alone feels like pushing it, so to me it seems like Heart Trees aren't worth the risk..?
The thing is, originally the destruction was a result of the Ironborn breaking their oath to the Drowned God and turning agains the Squids.
Now that point about "eventually turning against them" has always been part of the oath, part of the Drowned God's nature.
So they can't use that break to destroy Old Wyk anymore.
They might still pack some kind of magical bomb there, if someone who knows what we did survives, but that would be much easier solved than an ancient ritual with divine power involved.
I am also somewhat worried that traveling through the tunnel with the Aboleth, be it captured in bottle and cloak or just a ded body, is gonna let it reverse the condition and try to escape.
Like, I'm seriously worried enough about it pulling an Aberi again that I wonder whether we should sacrifice it to the Ferryman before going back to our time, and make the price for it... the removal of Ferryman's memory of the events transpiring on the Wyk, closing off the loop
(Yeah, okay, last one is a stretch, as I'm completely lost as to what caused him to lose that memory to begin with, and whether/not he's aware of things in the 'now' due to Aife being here and our actrions).
(And it would also necessitate a mini-loop to past the point when we leave to ambush the Aboleth, after the divining failing. Time-travel is painful like that)
So, assuming we don't meet the Eel on the way back, we are about to leave the time-period with 5 Shoggoths, 1 sealed Illithid, and hopefully an Aboleth (body, or capture)
+- gear, +- variable success on turning Drowny into a power source for the Imperial Deity.
Did we stop the Wyk-quake, though?
And what is our plan with the shoggoths, exactly?
We acted as if we are excited to experiment but I'm not exactly seeing much of interest on them, sans the slapped-on template..?
And we can't exactly throw them into any of our Forges, for safety concerns.
Gotta wait for Qohor's to mulch Abominations.
Lastly, do we want to stay in the period one last time to look for off-the-beaten-path Heart Trees we could re-fossilize in our time?
Would require one more track through the tunnel and back to avoid Aboleth-related paradoxes, going into the 'after' we leave to time-ambush the Aboleth.
...And I'm getting worried about doing too many hoops, the ambush alone feels like pushing it, so to me it seems like Heart Trees aren't worth the risk..?
Adhoc vote count started by DragonParadox on Jan 11, 2021 at 11:04 AM, finished with 121 posts and 20 votes.
[X] Plan "Bending Time and Space!" -[X] The group bends their collective wits and powers to the task of slipping back through time to shortly before our first battle with the Chronomancer, including contacting the Ferryman for direct assistance if necessary. --[X] Assuming the group is able to use the time loop's cyclical nature to travel back once more, they will find a suitable location from which to work that will allow Viserys to cast the Tidal Wave spell to match what we originally saw when the Chronomancer fled. --[X] The site will be prepared with a Teleport Trap spell (DC 40 Will save, 38th caster level to overcome SR) as an added measure to supplement the Arcane Mark Aife will use as a Teleportation target and to prevent another incident of fleeing Chronomancer. ---[X] Aife, accompanied by Lya and a Myrkdreki, will return to the site of the battle while hidden using Superior Invisibility spells and rendered Incorporeal by the Dragon. While affected by Lya's Encouraging Harmonic Chorus spell, Aife will cast Assay Spell Resistance then cancel her Moment of Greatness buff to use Miracle to duplicate the effects of Divert Teleport (DC 42 Will save, 40th caster level to overcome SR) immediately before the Chronomancer attempts to flee, directing it to our prepared site. Lya and the Myrkdreki will both use Alter Fortune to assist with the spell if the Chronomancer somehow resists. ---[X] The Chronomancer's destination will be within range of Viserys' Greater Anticipate Teleportation effect, allowing him to prevent its arrival for 3 rounds. This will give Aife, Lya, and the Myrkdreki plenty of time to return to the rest of the group before the Chronomancer arrives. ---[X] Before it arrives in our trap, Viserys will use Wild Arcana to duplicate the Tidal Wave spell at minimum caster level and without any effort to prevent it from being Dispelled, cast and timed to coincide with what we originally saw when the Chronomancer first fled. ----[X] Aife, still boosted by Lya and under another Moment of Greatness spell, will use a Quickened 30th level Invoke the Cerulean Sign (DC 36 Fortitude save, 40th level to overcome SR) as soon as the Chronomancer arrives followed by a Reached Sacramental Seal (DC 38 Will save, 37th level to overcome SR) spell, Lya will target it with a Wild Arcana'd Amber Sarcophagus (29th level to overcome SR), and Viserys will use Assay Spell Resistance and target it with a Wild Arcana'd Scribe's Binding spell (DC 36 Fortitude save, 32nd level to overcome SR). Qyburn and the Myrkdreki Twins each use Alter Fortune, if necessary, once for Aife's spell, once for Lya's, and once for Viserys'. Richard remains on standby to fucking murder the Chronomancer if it somehow avoids being captured. --[X] Once the Chronomancer has been captured or its eviscerated remains cleaned up and the site sanitized, we quickly depart the area and begin the journey back to our own time.
So, assuming we don't meet the Eel on the way back, we are about to leave the time-period with 5 Shoggoths, 1 sealed Illithid, and hopefully an Aboleth (body, or capture)
+- gear, +- variable success on turning Drowny into a power source for the Imperial Deity.
Did we stop the Wyk-quake, though?
And what is our plan with the shoggoths, exactly?
We acted as if we are excited to experiment but I'm not exactly seeing much of interest on them, sans the slapped-on template..?
And we can't exactly throw them into any of our Forges, for safety concerns.
Gotta wait for Qohor's to mulch Abominations.
Lastly, do we want to stay in the period one last time to look for off-the-beaten-path Heart Trees we could re-fossilize in our time?
Would require one more track through the tunnel and back to avoid Aboleth-related paradoxes, going into the 'after' we leave to time-ambush the Aboleth.
...And I'm getting worried about doing too many hoops, the ambush alone feels like pushing it, so to me it seems like Heart Trees aren't worth the risk..?
Get the template off the Shaggoths, then keep them bottled. Presumably for the Imperial God Awakening sacrifice. We are going to need a lot of power there.
And we can bookify the Mind Flayer or give it to Qyburn for him to eat.
But presuming we get the Aboleth we're definitely bookifying it. So, so much we can get out of that thing. ... After stripping it of all gear of course.
Well, the current plan has Sacramental Seal, Amber Sarcophagus, and Scribe's Binding spells competing to capture the Chronomancer. One allows no save but requires a hit, one a Will save, and the other a Fortitude save, all with sky high save DCs and enhanced caster level to beat SR. That's just after it burned all sorts of resources in order to escape the first time. It's also appearing in a Teleport Trap and getting hit by a boosted Invoke the Cerulean Sign.
Artemis rightfully brought up the concern over these "3 rounds un timelesness" of anticipate teleport, as it's a chronomancer - it might just have the Mythic Juice's equivalent to plop out of the trap and run.
Adhoc vote count started by DragonParadox on Jan 11, 2021 at 11:04 AM, finished with 121 posts and 20 votes.
[X] Plan "Bending Time and Space!" -[X] The group bends their collective wits and powers to the task of slipping back through time to shortly before our first battle with the Chronomancer, including contacting the Ferryman for direct assistance if necessary. --[X] Assuming the group is able to use the time loop's cyclical nature to travel back once more, they will find a suitable location from which to work that will allow Viserys to cast the Tidal Wave spell to match what we originally saw when the Chronomancer fled. --[X] The site will be prepared with a Teleport Trap spell (DC 40 Will save, 38th caster level to overcome SR) as an added measure to supplement the Arcane Mark Aife will use as a Teleportation target and to prevent another incident of fleeing Chronomancer. ---[X] Aife, accompanied by Lya and a Myrkdreki, will return to the site of the battle while hidden using Superior Invisibility spells and rendered Incorporeal by the Dragon. While affected by Lya's Encouraging Harmonic Chorus spell, Aife will cast Assay Spell Resistance then cancel her Moment of Greatness buff to use Miracle to duplicate the effects of Divert Teleport (DC 42 Will save, 40th caster level to overcome SR) immediately before the Chronomancer attempts to flee, directing it to our prepared site. Lya and the Myrkdreki will both use Alter Fortune to assist with the spell if the Chronomancer somehow resists. ---[X] The Chronomancer's destination will be within range of Viserys' Greater Anticipate Teleportation effect, allowing him to prevent its arrival for 3 rounds. This will give Aife, Lya, and the Myrkdreki plenty of time to return to the rest of the group before the Chronomancer arrives. ---[X] Before it arrives in our trap, Viserys will use Wild Arcana to duplicate the Tidal Wave spell at minimum caster level and without any effort to prevent it from being Dispelled, cast and timed to coincide with what we originally saw when the Chronomancer first fled. ----[X] Aife, still boosted by Lya and under another Moment of Greatness spell, will use a Quickened 30th level Invoke the Cerulean Sign (DC 36 Fortitude save, 40th level to overcome SR) as soon as the Chronomancer arrives followed by a Reached Sacramental Seal (DC 38 Will save, 37th level to overcome SR) spell, Lya will target it with a Wild Arcana'd Amber Sarcophagus (29th level to overcome SR), and Viserys will use Assay Spell Resistance and target it with a Wild Arcana'd Scribe's Binding spell (DC 36 Fortitude save, 32nd level to overcome SR). Qyburn and the Myrkdreki Twins each use Alter Fortune, if necessary, once for Aife's spell, once for Lya's, and once for Viserys'. Richard remains on standby to fucking murder the Chronomancer if it somehow avoids being captured. --[X] Once the Chronomancer has been captured or its eviscerated remains cleaned up and the site sanitized, we quickly depart the area and begin the journey back to our own time.
Sometime in the Age of Heroes, Before the Rise of Valyria
Time is a malleable thing for a brief while, at least as much as those words can be used to express the flow eternal ever-changing. Back on the path you go, through stone and darkness, through dim and empty places filled with poisoned air. You almost did not find the right way, you almost lose yourself to some other year, some other place as the thread of time twists and vibrates with the coming of a newborn god. But in the end you need the aid of no being of this realm's past.
There is pain and crushing darkness, much as one imagines might be the pain of being born awake and aware, too heavy for the realm in which you stepped a second time in some way. To the east you can feel a weight, calling a thread you know you must never unwind.
"See yourself in mirrored glass, of the moments bright and cold..." Lya quotes a broken stanza of a play you can only half remember.
"No thank you!" you answer aloud with a shudder. It is a dangerous thing you know to lay eyes upon yourself and worse still to try to work in cooperation with yourself a will redoubled, like parchment bent upon itself. Lya, Aife and the mirkdreki would be taking the most insidious risks of all of you, but the herald's presence should make it bearable.
Before they fly off you lay a ward, a trap across the shifting waters and lie in wait. Beside you are mismatched companions, the knight risen to greatness beyond his fellows' dreams and the once-maester transcended of his humanity. They chat in Common now, for this brief span of broken time, united in startlingly prosaic fellowship.
"The Ironborn aren't anymore clever here than in the days to be, are they?" Ser Richard grouses.
"The acquisition of intelligence usually functions the other way," Qyburn burbles. After a brief pause he adds: "Not that they're doing much better at that..."
You check the timepiece, counting down the moments before Lya can divert the foe, even as you conjure the wave, since it will hopefully not be able to. Twenty-five, twenty-four, twenty-three, twenty-two, twenty-one, twenty, nineteen, eighteen...
Space ripples, time twists.
"It's immune to the delay!" you call out as the snarl of tentacles and eldritch flesh manifest besides to Ser Richard.
Oathkeeper flashes like a rippling black spear in the fading starlight between the beat of false wings. How the knight is able to guess the rhythm of alien magic such that his strikes deflect before it can twist again you cannot say, but find that moment that time he does. Steel still bright with flames of its forging slams into the middle of the crimson slits along the aboleth's body, passing through whatever the seat of its mind and consciousness might have been. Already wounded and stripped of protections the ancient aboleth convulses once... twice... and slides off the blade into the sea below.
"Such a brutal way to handle a book..." Qyburn tsks. You know him enough by now to know that he is speaking in jest.
"You are welcome to tan its hide..."
As Lya, Aife and the twins return, not long by the scene they found, you pick up the body... and its alien treasures.
Eyeglasses of True Sight:
While worn these glasses grant a constant True Seeing effect, however by some flaw in their making the glasses remain as fragile and easy to remove as glasses tend to be. Whenever the wearer takes 30 or more damage in one round or suffers a critical hit, they must make a DC 15 Reflex save or loose the glasses, after which they take normal falling damage depending on the fallen height (they have 5 HP, Hardness 5).
Fins of Earthglide:
Attachment for a creature's fins that allow it to constantly move through earth at its normal swim-speed as the spell Earth Glide. If the Creature wearing this item has no natural (or magically added) swim speed it can only bury at 10ft/round.
Runecarved Diadem of Mental Mastery:
This Diadem shaped out of Bilestone sharpens the bearer's mind with a +6 Enhancement bonus to Intelligence while also protecting it with a Psionic Mindblank.
It is also capable of projecting a false mind outside the protection it provides, drawing on the bearer's memories to hide any current plans or thoughts from Divination and mindreading and instead providing random thoughts and plans of the past. A character divining the wearer will get false information, but with a DC 15 INT or WIS check can identify this information as false, otherwise they might assume the information to be true.
The Diadem is enhanced with the Elder Roots effects of Runecrafting.
Cloak of Life:
The Cloak grants a constant Deathward effect and a +6 Enhancement bonus on Constitution.
What next?
[] Return to the time of the Last Kingsmoot
[] Look around more in this stolen moment while you can, but do not stray far nor act too loud
-[] Write in
[] Write in
OOC: As a bit of a look behind the curtain the Aboleth had one last time trick to play, a crystal of Time Regression, it replayed the first round it got hoping to be able to catch its metaphorical breath after it came out the worst in the mage fight, but then Ser Richard er... Richard-ed. It would have done better with reinforcements but that did not pan out well. Thanks again to @Artemis1992 who made not only this guy, but also the chronosavant class. Making enemies that can challenge the party alone is far from easy, but this guy had Aife out and almost killed Lya. If he had been a little luckier in the reinforcements he could have won.
