New Year's Day began cool. A breeze was in from the north and a fine mist sprayed the city. Road dust collected in gutters and ran into storm drains. Rooftops were washed and people just stood in it, enjoying the rain.
Unbeknownst to her, a talented woman named Lenara was about to receive visitors. Lenara looks like a bipedal porpoise, mostly because that's what she is. She hasn't much tail, but she has a beaked snout and an offset blowhole atop the bridge of her nose. Her skin is pale blue and her fingers are long. This morning, she was sleeping with the windows open, allowing the rain to spray her as she slept. She had spent all night laboring over her laboratory work and she deserved a rest.
She was roused by a knock at her door. She stood and grabbed her white linen robe and drew it around herself. She reached out to the hallway beyond the door with her mind and touched the thoughts of the people out there. One was a charismatic fellow in disguise and harboring no violent intentions towards her, and the other had an ordered mind, perhaps a Gnome or a Golden Elf, who had a message for her from someone.
She told them to come in. The door creaked open; a human and a gnome stepped into the room. Both men wore breastplate and had weapons strapped to their belts. The gnome wore a duster and a wide-brimmed hat. He looked a bit like a gunslinger. The gnome explained that he bore a message from Talaraesae that she would like to meet her.
Lenara agreed, but first, she told them, they must block the door against the people coming up the stairs. Lenara went into her bathroom and splashed water on her body, then began grabbing up her papers. The other two looked at each other incredulously. The human cast a spell on her while the gnome called out the window. She explained that those coming up the stairs were there to kidnap her and steal her laboratory. The gnome's grumbling motorcycle hovered outside the window.
The doorknob turned (no one had locked it or blocked it). The Gnome (named Ben) turned to the young man (who she read in his mind to be named Morphail) and said "You didn't lock the door?"
At that point, the door opened and there stood a Halfling bearing a pair of big firearms, a Goblin decked out as an entertainer (slightly disheveled), and a well-built Halfling wearing the full regalia of a Divine Champion of Hurdzoon and Tiamat.
Morphail blinded the Divine Champion (Grub) with a spell and turned invisible. The gunslinger, Marshall retaliated with a pair of blasts from his firearms at Ben. Ben took a serious wound. Lenara felt a hand touch her and she became invisible. Lenara pushed Marshall back with a telekinetic blast and dominated Grub's mind. She held back a bit, though, not wanting to give him a stroke. Malark cast a spell at the motorcycle, greasing the seat. Ben called the bike in through the window and leapt towards it. The bike met him half way, changed configuration, and wrapped itself around the gnome. An almost 8-foot-tall humanoid machine now stood in the room. At the same time, Grub stepped forward and, hollering something ogreish, increased in size tenfold. He swung at the suited Ben, but the armor protected him. The Halfling was now nearly 10' tall. Ben fired a blast from his arm weapon, blowing a huge hole in the wall, cleanly missing Grub. Grub got another swing in (missing cleanly) before Lenara called for them to halt.
Grub obliged, as did Marshall. With those two calmed, the rest of them stood down. Lenara went to get them all tea. Grub acted strangely the rest of the day, as if Lenara was a trusted friend and ally. They discussed many things, and Ben said he could not allow her to bring the rest of the group with her to Tal, but agreed to bring Tal here. Eventually, Tal arrived with her guard. She produced a fine glassteel weapon for Lenara to look at. Lenara was quite pleased about seeing it and began to explain that the sword was used by warriors fighting against the Illithid, who had enslaved her people for centuries.
She asked the group to perform a quest for her, to go into the bowels of the city to retrieve a piece of technology for her. She explained that a place like that which has been locked up for so long must be full of treasures, which could all be theirs. The group agreed.
(Note: I did not include the battle between Tiamat/Gront and the Bluearms because that will be described in the "Announcements" page later.)