Aria nodded and laughed, inviting herself to take the most useful-looking atlas.<em>Cities about the Sea of Fallen Stars</em>, for the time being. "That<em>does</em>sound like a nice plan. Sure, resting in Luthcheq then, so we can deliver the warning earlier....and you're right that showing up in daylight hours will likely seem less suspicious. Hopefully they'll let us rest while guarding the statue."<br/><br/>In town, the hire-wizard had four scrolls as it turned out, as an interest in quite a few of their own items of magic; indeed he was probably one of the few souls in the small town capable of understanding or taking such wondrous items off the girls' hands. Aria was rather glad to be rid of the unsettling viper rod, doubtless crafted by some worshipper of Mulhorand's most evil Power, the scheming snake-god Set.<br/><br/>Aria had made to take quite a few water-skins from the temple before that. Strangely, she'd grown a bit fond of the camel that she's ridden for four hours and had nearly died under her like the other - but for its safety as well as the sake of her rear, she was rather glad to be parting at the temple.<br/><br/>Once they teleported, Aria gasped at the first sight they saw: the city of Luthcheq was mostly of white and light blue stone, a honeycomb of dwellings flush with one another which ran down hillsides towards a glittering aquamarine sea with alternating broad beaches and rocky formations.<br/><br/>Like the other cities of Chessenta, its finer buildings had a signature architectural style: many marble columns arrayed around the walls, with the proportions of many of the rectangles those of the famed 'golden ratio' beloved by mathematicians and philosophers. The finer courtyards and streets also boasted rather fine statuary, mostly in heroic poses.<br/><br/>And yet, the city's architecture and olive-skinned, curly-black-hair framed faces held evidence of decline. The finest buildings looked old and not in perfect repair; the more recent architecture seemed to be mostly labyrinthine slums. It was part of a Old Empire indeed, and from Aria had been reading, this city in particular was presently ruled by the mad and magophoic Karanok family. Deities of art, wisdom, and beauty such as Apollo, Athena, and Aphrodite had more worship in rival Cimbar; here, most men revered the sterner Zeus, Ares, or even Hades.<br/><br/>Aria and Kass had been granted such a view by virtue of arriving upon a rooftop near the corner of a city block. Its most immediate downward view was down along two rubbish-strewn streets and an open square. The square looked to've once held some sort of open-air dome supported by columns; now, only the bases of columns and a few fallen curved shards of marble dome stood upon a wide dais ringed by all-around stairs.<br/><br/>Upon this dais had been erected a small wooden platform with a single vertical pole. Bound to it was young man, flamboyantly dressed with in a bright orange toga with a gilded geometric trim. His sandaled feet were piled about with thatch and kindling. he stood flanked by two unbound men with black curly beards, and blacker tabards over their breastplates.<br/><br/>Surrounding the wooden edifice and the crumbling marble dais were sixteen men all dressed almost identically and plainly militaristically with bronze breastplates, red cloaks with gold clasps, all armed with spears, javelins, rather large shields and small swords. They held the spears, keeping the tips pointed skyward but using the shafts to keep the surrounding cloth-garbed crowd of cityfolk from pressing in. Bronze helms with narrow vertical slits hid their faces but boasted crests of red feathering to match their cloaks.<br/><br/>Within the outward-facing ring of soldiers,  upon the marble dais stood an inner ring composed only of four monsters in similar but specially fitted military garb: two minotaurs standing tall with axes out, and two centaurs with lances, and bows and quivers upon their backs. The centaurs were outfitted with saddles, but at the moment unridden. Despite the monstrous nature of these four, their armor and cloaks seemed at least as fine, the breastplates' shoulders etched with some bird of prey.<br/><br/>One of the two black-bearded men flanking the bound one, his tabard like his fellow's displaying the symbol of a black ram's head, held a furled scroll and orated as if from memory.<br/><br/>"...yet even father Hades welcomes under his everlasting shroud those who would, no less than Prometheus with his stolen fire, wield the fire of magic unlicensed. If this fire a man practice, fire he shall have: witness now those flames which envelope this unlawful warlock as surely as Hades's own fatherly embrace. Our flesh is but a sealing tomb for our soul; thus, in death, does father Hades free every living soul."<br/><br/><br/><br/>heehee, it's a fun thing to plan out the timing of, and the perform spell preparation thing again was very clever<br/>(it's also interesting b/c a lot of BoEF spellcasting classes and feats had fluff to that effect...and yet it works right there within Bard to begin with) Also just noticed, does Kass's sheet have her alignment?<br/><br/>(from the beginning:)<br/>kept:<br/><br/>Kass:<br/>runestaff of zeus<br/>metamagic rod, lesser extend<br/>potion of lesser restoration<br/>ring of evasion<br/>rod of splendor<br/><br/>Aria:<br/>headband of intellect +4<br/>artificer's monocle<br/>staff of charming, two charges<br/><br/>Both:<br/>staff of gr. teleport / gr. planeshift, 7 charges left (1 used to go to Luthcheg, unless you'd rather use one of the scrolls for that - remind me, did we use a staff charge before that, or just the runestaff?)<br/>speaking stones<br/>reciprocal compasses<br/><br/>Purchases (?)<br/>4x scroll of gr. teleport, CL 13th (2,275 gp each). With a UMD DC of 33, Kass has a 19/20 chance to activate one on a given try; Aria has a 8/20 chance.<br/><br/>Liquid share so far:<br/>Kass 66,493<br/>Aria 101,763