You are alive!<br/><br/>Whether through luck, trickery or just plain skill, you’ve managed to survive to see the sun rise. That’s the good news.<br/><br/>At the moment of the master’s death, you all found yourself teleported, in what must have been some kind of triggered spell--perhaps some last kindness of the Dark Lord himself?--to an unused basement storeroom. The only things in the room with you are dust, spiders and a collection of empty barrels, including one that looks suspiciously dust-free and larger than the others, with the seal of the Dark Lord’s forge on its side.<br/><br/>The bad news is that, if you went upstairs, you could literally see the sun rise, because the castle of your former master is a crumbling ruin, the site of a great magic battle that punched holes in the walls and somehow transmuted some of the furniture into very confused but probably temporary sheep.<br/><br/>The worse news is there is an army encamped outside the ruins of your front door, though perhaps they are having a raucous celebration and singing variations on ‘Thank goodness that guy is dead’ instead of raiding the castle, hopefully motivated by not dying in a castle collapse moments after killing a Dark Lord.<br/><br/>Speaking of raiding, the castle is probably full of interesting things. The armory door, once spelled and warded and with a goblin that ran a very tight ship on inventory management, is blown open. The master’s private laboratory, at the very top of the castle, where he performed unspeakable experiments (so unspeakable you don’t know what they are), is potentially unguarded.<br/><br/>But there is the matter of the increasingly disturbing groan the tower is making and the army business and the unfortunate possibility that one or more parties of soldiers may get up the courage to explore, plus one or more heroes, plus the remains of the master’s personal guard, some of which mostly guarded by eating anything that got too close to him.<br/><br/>From where you are now, you could sneak out through the sewers under the castle, which might allow you to bypass the army entirely. Of course, there is a wyvern caged up in the basement, a surprise for any hero who dared sneak in, but as long as it's still caged, you should be able to walk right past it…<br/><br/>Most of all, though, you are very aware that the castle is without its king and that whatever the future holds for you, it looks very different than it did mere moments ago.<br/><br/>What do you do?<br/><br/><div class="spoiler_container"><div class="spoiler_header" onclick="hideSecond (this);" role="button">OOC</div><div class="spoiler_body"><br/>Feel free to make any skill checks that sound like fun, reminisce on where you were just moments ago, of course talk among each other, etc! Yes, the barrel is Meris. <br/><br/>Iridis - You're familiar enough with the Lord's magic that it would surprise you if that teleportation spell was his--the magical energy from it was very different than what you would normally expect from him.  <br/><br/>Irethe - You do know what was in the Dark Lord's experiments, as you were one of them and you know his latest project was a device that he hoped would allow him to breach the barriers between realms, including the barriers into the afterlife. You stole an artifact meant to power on one of your recent missions and were told to assassinate the head of the cleric's guild that held it (did you?). No one else, to your knowledge, knows this. <br/><br/>Betty - A few days before his death, the Lord approached you, his expression darker than you had ever seen on him and told you to trust no one, "especially those who wish to help at no cost" and you must not let yourself be corrupted. He gave you a ring and swore to you that if you were ever in danger, to place it on your finger and you would be protected, but that it would only work once (please mark one mysterious ring down on your character sheet). <br/><br/>Sawm - The day before the attack, you arrived to the war room a little early to help plan the defenses and heard the lord arguing with someone, saying that he was 'still of use' and that 'this was a betrayal of our agreement'. But when you entered, there was no one there. The Lord refused to speak further of it. <br/><br/>Meris - When you were in that barrel, you overheard two people talking near you. 'Can't believe we're supposed to kill this bastard, then immediately turn around and attack the Spice Isles. Boss has really gone crazy this time.' 'Well, most of their army is here anyway and they've had a pretty good rate of attrition. Should be easy pickings'. They both laughed and then went to go stab someone else. <br/><br/>Joshua - As you were helping the palace staff escape, one of them, an elven housemaid named Lydia that you couldn't remember ever speaking to, paused to shove something into your hand. "You are a good man, Lord Reinhart. I have family in Horizon. If you...if you escape this place alive, take this letter to them and they will see you treated well and justly rewarded. Take it to the Loth'an clan in Horizon." The letter looked as though it was written in the Elvish script, but when you first glanced at it, seemed to be nothing more than gibberish--no real words at all. Before you could ask or think much more of it, the spell took you (Mark down one mysterious letter on your character sheet). <br/><br/></div></div>