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Topic: Monster's Paradise Q&A
Subject: Posts
I posted in Kal's storyline. I will post for the heroes next time I get a chance. I have summer midterms now so don't expect the same rate of posting from me for a while.
Posted on 2010-07-01 at 17:29:43.
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Topic: Monster's Paradise
Subject: The City of Gleech
Beyond the tall iron gates, Kal found herself in a city truly as chaotic as the minds of those goblins inhabiting it. Bridges and walkways crisscrossed the space above her connecting houses which stood at every angle not perpindicular with the ground. Above them zeppilins traversed the sky leaving black trails of smoke in their wake.
The citizenry of Gleech was as amalgamated as its architecture and it engulfed the half dragon like a poluted ocean of flesh. Many were goblinoids, others were feral beasts from the nearby forests, gnolls and werebeasts; all gave her a wider bearth than other pedestrians.
Within moments the encircling walls of the Arena rose into view. Many humans, some kin of men and women at the camp, had met their bloody ends upon its dusty stage. Kal could hear the cheers of fans carry down the crowded streets and behind them, the screams.
Posted on 2010-07-01 at 05:06:07.
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Topic: Monster's Paradise
Subject: Traffic
Kal can barely see the gates over the jumbled line of commerce backed up against its iron face. Horses, oxen, and basalisk driven carts and wagons all wait, their wheels still, their drivers sullen. The traveler at the back of the line and therefore closest to Kal looks to be a slaver from the Nine Crowns. Two bearded devils protect his human cargo as the merchant, a sly looking infernal argues with a guard.
"All do respect to your Mayor but I'm on a tight schedule here. These are no normal slaves. They are specifically bred research subjects for the Arcane Academy. Certainly a civil servant as dedicated to the city's well being as yourself would see the need to prioritize magical research.."
The Hobgoblin only snorted immune to the devil's charisma, "the gates are closed to all western traffic, especially traffic with the Nine Crowns. You can find lodging in Brimshear until the gates are reopened."
"But this is absurd..."
"Move along sir." Being creatures of lawful planes, the devils knew when they had encountered an immovable object. Their leader slipped into the driver's seat and whipped his black steeds into motion. The vehicle joined the disappointed flow of traffic streaming away from the Gate and toward the goblin hovel of Brimshear which encircled the city.
"I hope I don't have to repeat that ag.." the hobgoblin started, moving along the line to Kal. As expected, he mistook her for a pure-blood of her species, "my lady, a thousand pardons. We don't see many dragons coming through the gates on foot. Please move to the head of the line. They'll do a standard check to verify you're not a shapeshifter or a magician wearin' sum illusion and they'll let you through."
Kal was used to the treatment. In Gleech as well as many Goblin cities, the dragons were members of an elite aristocracy. Though not officially above the law, the law did tend to 'bend' at their discretion.
Posted on 2010-06-22 at 21:59:42.
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Topic: Monster's Paradise
Subject: Silver in the Shadows Cont.
...The glint of silver, bane of both vampire and lycanthrope, showed through the bushes. The Lord of Ndaxur had not lived several centuries to be so quickly ambushed by a pack of goblins. He spied several more hints of the hated metal, a total of atleast three assassins. It was not the first time his manor had been attacked by oppurtunists hoping to stake a claim to the riches of several lifetimes of successful legal practice. The last time had been fifty years ago and the vampire could only guess that its gory conclusion had faded from the memory of Gleech's more unscrupulous residents.
The attackers remained motionless as the carraige neared the house. He could only assume they were waiting to make their move once he exited his compartment...
Posted on 2010-06-19 at 19:23:46.
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Topic: Monster's Paradise
Subject: A Vision of Danger
In Seluraiiel's mind's eye a picture of a desolate slope scoured by slave labor appears. Thralls stand about idle, their tools lying at their feet. Meanwhile their controllers have larger worries. They rush down the hill in an angry pack, six Illithids (CL-16) in all. At the head of the group march two minotaur mind-slaves (CL-10), armed with battle axes their hafts as long as any of their masters are tall.
One of the Illithid (CL-20) carries a staff which radiates magic visible to the Seeress. He directs the creatures as they approach a gaping shaft at the base of the slope. Cautiously they begin to surround the excavation. Then the minotaurs, signaled by invisible commands, approach the ladder leading down into the dark.
[Character Knowledge- The temple had more than one entrance. A sub chamber was linked to an underground river to provide potable water. If the room isn't collapsed and the river hasn't shifted its course this may provide an escape route, if you'd rather avoid a fight.]
Posted on 2010-06-11 at 22:05:33.
Edited on 2010-06-11 at 22:08:10 by madscirat
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Topic: Monster's Paradise Q&A
Subject: All busy
 well looks like we've all had RL stuff going on, well except me. I've been distracted recently by a new fascination with modding Oblivion so not really that RL  Anyway popped back in and did another post in the vampire storyline.
Also Shieldwolf are you still with us? I was kind of waiting to see where you were going with your character b4 doing more posting on your storyline but if you need a post to help get you going I'd be more than happy to oblige. Also don't think that I mind you dodging that NPC in the slightest. You should always do what's in character and I'm quite happy when players don't follow the plot. It makes the story that much more interesting and challenging for me as a game master.
That goes for everyone, I have a sort of hands off style when running a game so if I'm not posting, its not that I've forgotten you its just that I think the next post would be better written by you. However, you can always request a post from me. Just ask here and I will oblige. 
Unless I hear from Wolf my next post will be back with the heroes again.
Posted on 2010-06-08 at 22:39:05.
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Topic: Monster's Paradise
Subject: Silver in the Shadows
The Kobold flashed his badge across the bars, and the human slave opened the gate slowly letting it's rusted hinges squeal into the night. 'Why do all Vampires have to live in houses as old as they are?' the seargant thought. He stalked through the gate followed by a squad of four goblin guards armed to the teeth with silver. The human scanned them all warily, "I'm afraid my master is out at the moment..."
Wyck's grinn was studded with sharp tiny teeth. "That's alright, we'll wait." He signaled the guards into positions hidden behind the courtyard's shrubbery. Then he turned to the slave once more. "Your master is accused of creating spawn without a license. Any attempt to aid him in resisting or avoiding arrest will result in you being charged as an accomplish... Do we have an understanding?" The human nodded meekly after a long minute's strain. Obviously he was torn between his fear of his master and his fear of the courts which did not deal gently with human criminals. "Good, now go transmit that understanding to the rest of his servants. I want no interference."
After the human had scurried off, Wyck did what kobolds did best, he vanished into the shadows to wait in ambush.
Posted on 2010-06-08 at 22:27:39.
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Topic: Monster's Paradise Q&A
Subject: Cool
That's fine. I don't mind the pause. I apparantly have won the lotto this summer and got the worst calculus teacher ever. I should have known when I learned he was employed in public schools where imcompetence is rewarded. Uggg. Anyway, I've recovered from the initial shock of seeing someone trying to teach integration at Mach-2 and will be able to reply to any posts. No rush tho.
Posted on 2010-05-27 at 21:26:09.
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Topic: Thinking of making a new game.
Subject: I Fail at Geek
Sorry it appears my summer classes will be harder than I initially anticipated. So I won't have time for another game.
Posted on 2010-05-27 at 21:11:21.
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Topic: Monster's Paradise Q&A
Subject: Been Busy
Sorry for lack of posts recently. Summer classes have started and I have the Calculus teacher from hell. Will be posting again soon.
Posted on 2010-05-26 at 18:52:23.
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Topic: Monster's Paradise Q&A
Subject: Crowe
Crowe read the last few entries carefully. The Plot has found you 
Posted on 2010-05-20 at 16:23:27.
Edited on 2010-05-20 at 16:23:50 by madscirat
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Topic: Monster's Paradise
Subject: Beneath Gleech
A stilted silhoette played on the corroded walls of the city sewer. Groveling the spawn approached its master still cloaked in shadow. "It has been done, my Lord."
A pale hand tipped with hooked nails emerged from the darkness to stroke the spawns bald head as one might a favorite pet. "Good, the lawyer has made many enemies. It will be long before the truth comes out, if ever, and before it does our time will have come... is that not right my dear."
The figure that shared the darkness with him sat up from an inclined position her body moving with a cat's grace. A pair of wings could be seen rustling in the shadows behind her sloping shoulders. "That's right my love," came the darkly enchanting voice. "Soon the alliance will be forged and everything can proceed as we have planned." She slid off what appeared to be a luxurious bed, strangely placed in the dripping confines of the sewer. Her arms flowed over the vampire-lord's bony shoulders like oil over jagged rock. "Soon you will live above and rule Gleech and the goblins will live below huddled in the darkness where they belong."
Posted on 2010-05-20 at 16:21:21.
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Topic: Monster's Paradise
Subject: It Doubts
The Illithid split its mind, a simple feat for a creature for whom psionics was as natural as breathing. One part focused on the simple task of leading the group to the site of the ... disturbance. The other focused on its puppet. Through the thralls eyes it saw the unspeakable, the unthinkable. A dwarf and an elf, not thralls, or even slaves but free. Moreover he saw its two hive-mates slaughtered near their feet. It scanned the ruins for some monster that could have helped the humanoids accomplish such a feat, it saw none save another thrall, held in what seemed to be a trance. It tried to comandeer that mind as well but found the mind resistant to its entrance. 'A thrall?.. impossible..' It could have, of course, exerted the force necessary to flay the feeble will it found in the thrall but it did not dare alert its enemies with such a move. Instead it urged the thrall it currently inhabited to crawl in for a closer look.
Something was not right with these two humanoids. It had been on hunts before, into the wilds where escaped humans and dwarves were rounded up like lost cattle. They were savage things barely able to clothe themselves. These two however, wore items of power the likes of which Duegar excavaters spent their entire lives hoping to uncover. Moreover they wore them naturally, not like some creature who'd merely stumbled upon them. Then there was the elf; her simple presence, considering her race teetered on the brink of extinction, was enough to surprise, but something else about her shocked the observant mindflayer.
It had been raised in the mana-pools where as a larvae, it absorbed the essence of what would become its arcane gift. Later on, after it matured in its host, it had been trained by the Ularithid Magi themselves, so it could easily sense magical power even through the dull eyes of a thrall. This elf female radiated with it. Not even his Ularithid teachers posessed such an aura of power about them.
It was in seeing that aura that It first felt something, a feeling reserved for lesser races, reserved for elves and dwarves; he felt.. doubt.
Posted on 2010-05-20 at 16:07:09.
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Topic: Monster's Paradise
Subject: Trespasser
No sooner had Gortag spoke than he felt something, not heard but felt. Centuries of roaming the most feared crevices of the underdark, not to mention his dwarven heritage, had taught him to sense vibrations through the stone. It was the secondary reason for the metal plating on his boots, the primary one being obvious.
The sound that traveled through the rock, spoke of a stealthy scurrying, a trespasser in the temple straining to remain unseen. His steps were crudely placed, grinding gravel beneath each tread and clearly advertising his position near the crack which had given the Illithid entrance. However, unless the mindflayers had grown soft in the lack of true enemies, the trespasser could not be one of them. No creature of the Underdark Gortag knew could be so clumsy.
Posted on 2010-05-20 at 15:36:00.
Edited on 2010-05-20 at 15:36:13 by madscirat
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Topic: Thinking of making a new game.
Subject: Me no scared
I am currently running a game, but its pretty slow paced and I would love to play in one as well. I'm mostly only interested in fantasy/scifi genres though.
Got any more specifics about the settings?
Posted on 2010-05-20 at 01:26:40.
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Topic: Monster's Paradise Q&A
Subject: Edit
Edited my last post. I had a vampire regenerating wounds from a silver weapon and I'm pretty sure they can't.
Posted on 2010-05-20 at 01:23:32.
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Topic: Monster's Paradise
Subject: Warning Gleech Part 3
Zirt gawked at the twisted towers which peeked over the high wall's. Their warped masonry was all most citizens, and guards for that matter, would ever see of Gleech's Institute for the Arcane Arts. As he stepped up to the gates a teacher glided up to meet him. The bulging eye of the beholder weighed down upon him. "I am Orrixolan, Conjurer, how can we assist the city today." The aberrant mage smiled cordially, a forest of fangs filling the space between his lips.
"Uh.. yeas, well," Zirt stuttered in the face of the great veined orb, "I've been ordered to distribute the Mayor's proclaimation around town." He held out one of the flyers and instantly it flew from his grip surrounded by an enchanting glow. Beholders didn't have hands so they had to settle for magic.
The notice floated up to the aberrant's face where a number of its smaller tentacled eyes swooped down for a look. He read the paragraph in a split second but took a bit longer to consider the words. "I assume the Guard would like the notice posted where our faculty and students can observe the warning. Its not often that the students travel but occasionally teachers will take trips to the Nine Crowns for... reasearch purposes. They should be made aware, of course."
"Uh, yes that would be... um.. nice of you."
The beholder grinned and Zirt couldn't help thinking it could have just as easily bitten his head off. "Do you have multiple copies?" Zirt went to hand the creature more of the leaflets but they went gliding out of his hands before he could ask how many it wanted.
"Very good," said the beholder mage, the flyers orbiting about him like leaves in a whirlwind. "Is there anything else I can help you with?"
"Uhh, no.. thankyou.. good-day." Zirt tipped his helmet to the monster and hurried off, glad to be out of the shadow of those towers and the beholder's singular stare.
**********************************************************
Zirt entered the guard tower out of breath. When he'd taken the assignment, he hadn't really understood how huge Gleech was. Now he did, from the soles of his feet on up. He'd been to every landmark in the city: the Arena; the Sunken Temple of Maglubiyet; the Flesh District; the Steam Docks; even the Pit, Gleech's backdoor to the underdark. Now his legs were so weak from walking that he nearly collapsed into his sergeant's empty chair.
A sudden shriek assured he staayed on his feet. Reacting despite his fear, Zirt drew the big dagger which sufficed for a sword and charged toward the noise. Clamoring down to the cells he half expected a prison break. Instead he saw Wyck, the sly kobold guard standing in a pool of blood. Chained on the wall before him, a pale human hung panting. Cuts expertly placed around his body were bleeding in rivulets across otherwise unharmed flesh.
"Find Captain Maldoroth," Wyck snapped, "tell him it talked, he'll know what you mean." The reptilian than cleaned off the guilty silver blade and sheathed it into a hidden nook of his uniform. Zirt followed the order without question. He'd lived long enough to know not to judge a threat by its size and to that end he was more frightened of Sergeant Wyck than the biggest monster he'd met on his tour of the city.
Posted on 2010-05-19 at 20:18:30.
Edited on 2010-05-20 at 01:21:51 by madscirat
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Topic: Monster's Paradise
Subject: A Saddened Terral
Hearing the half dragon's words and the finality in her tone Terral hung his head in disappointment. "Oh, alright Kal," he replied sullenly. Turning back toward the village he trudged off, dreams of steam ships and zeppelins still chugging through his mind.
Posted on 2010-05-18 at 16:29:36.
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Topic: Monster's Paradise
Subject: The Illithid Strike Back
The Illithid's tents stood on the ridge overlooking the gorge which aquaduct would one day span. The dwellings were made of heavy black canvas wrapped tightly about supporting poles in an effort to prevent even a drop of natural sunlight from squelching through. Outside two minitaur guards stood serenly their eyes as lifeless as dead fish and much the same color. Though they had sounded no alarm, the shadows within the tent began to roil with motion.
The mindflayer were a collective race and the death of one in a group could be overlooked as easily as the loss of a finger could by a less evolved species. Normally they would know something about the nature of a threat from their psychic link, but in this case that link had been severed quickly enough to leave them with nothing but the location. However the celerity of their demise spoke volumes, Illithid were not normally easy to kill.
Six of the deep lords very nearly exploded from the tent, their wrath written on each and every writhing tentacle. The leader, atleast a head taller than the others, pulled the minotaurs into formation with but a look. Huffing, the mindless giants strode forward unslinging titanic axes from their shoulders. Most of the mindflayers also held weapons of some sort. Strange staves tipped with crystal or wicked looking daggers. The leader, however, held a staff nearly as tall as he, that pulsated with arcane energy.
************************************
At the Dig Site
One of the workers who had stayed behind shuddered as the psychic force of a mindflayer gripped his spine. Puppetted and possessed he crept toward the opening in the rock, the place the collective had last sensed their lost members. With eyes that transmitted directly to the Illithid he peered into the darkness to spy three humanoid shapes, one familiar, two... unknown.
Posted on 2010-05-17 at 21:36:58.
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Topic: Monster's Paradise
Subject: Warning Gleech Part 2
Zirt stepped back from another warning flyer and gave it the unhappy look of an artist defeated by his canvas. Around the poster on the message boards were so many advertisements that the red letters of the Mayor's orders could hardly be seen. Not only did it have too much competition, the competition was... steep.
The bulletins were mostly about the districts many brothels. They advertised the arrival of new.. merchandise along with the most lurid images. One even used a projected illusion which had a tiny elf bending over and showing her backside to the viewer. "No one will ever see it here," Zirt grumbled to himself; so he yanked it down and began looking for a substitute. 'Why not where they can't miss it...'
******************************************************
Zirt pinched his nose with one hand as he tacked up the notice with his other. When the work finally demanded all his digits the waft of stale urine and other fluids that wafted up from the waste trough nearly knocked him out. A scary proposition considering he was leaning over the putrid moat and would surely fall in if he allowed himself to faint. When he finnaly finished however he could stand back and feel proud. Five posters spanned the wall over the urinal right at eye level,'err, atleast goblin eye level.'
When the guard emmerged from the latrene he noted the matriarch leaning over the front counter. The wide goblin woman's enourmous bosom practically flowed overtop the desk. "How long those things gotta be up for?" she asked rudely. The Madames ruled Gleech's Red District and if they didn't need to be polite to passing ogres they surely wouldn't show any respect for a humble guard.
"Just until the region is safe again."
"And how long will that be?"
Zirt turned back at the door. Through the gossamer curtain cutting off the rooms beyond, he could see a slender shadow with pointed ears move amidst larger cruder silhoetes. Seeing the figure's grace in motion, he couldn't help but feel an attraction, the attraction all monsters felt for the fair folk, the attraction which turned to violence in some and lust in others. "..Well.. you can never tell about these things... you'll hear from us." Zirt banished the unprofessional thoughts from his mind and rushed out the brothel's swiveling doors.
Posted on 2010-05-16 at 02:17:14.
Edited on 2010-05-16 at 02:30:51 by madscirat
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Topic: Monster's Paradise Q&A
Subject: DM responses
Crowe: Yeah I noticed this problem. I think you are fine to keep narrating your story. You are helping to set the mood in the city. Once drama starts happening there then you'll have more challenges that require my responses to your actions. So far you haven't faced any real challenges so I haven't needed to intervene. Also I have avoided adding to your storyline as I did with the halfdragon's because you already have many elements to it and I don't want to make it too confusing.
Remember you can always prompt a response from me by writing your character into a challenging scenario or leaving a cliffhanger at the end of your scene. I will take the hint.
Posted on 2010-05-14 at 01:07:03.
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Topic: Monster's Paradise
Subject: Journey Below
Seluraiiel's vision of the temple quickly fades to black as her consciousness plunges down as if into a deep dark cave. The only light in the subterranean world are the spiraling glyphs of numbers and equations that rim the rock walls like lines of crystal in otherwise gray granite. Beyond their glow all is darkness and unconsciousness.
Suddenly after miles of descent through this cramped tunnel, her perspective explodes out into a vast chamber, actually more than just a chamber, a metropolis, an underground city that would dwarf any surface habitation of her day. Twisting towers make columns that join the stone floor to the roof. Upon them multitudes crawl up and down, looking like termites from Seluraiiel's high perspective. Other towers hang upside down, steel stalagtites, their tips serving as the launching points for ships that fly not by propeller or balloon, but by sheer telekinetic force.
Farther down now she can see the citizens, not just mind flayers but drow, drider, duegar; every evil denizen of the dark she can recall and some she can't. They walk together without violence, allies in some perverted mockery of civilization. Then she notices, they are not alone. Humans and dwarves are there to, thousands of them. Naked apart from rags and worker's tools, they march in lines. Their eyes are blank, soulless, without mind enough to recognize their plight.
Now the sorceress's spirit plunges deeper down, toward a huge domed structure. She passes its walls, intangible within the thrall's memory, and enters a place of pure horror. Here she sees the heart of the slave economy, where people are not born but bred. It descends down fathoms beneath the dome, level upon level of torture, where flesh is created without love and minds without will.
Her journey, driven by the mind she's entered, then takes a sharp turn into a long chamber. Here young thralls are strapped to tables, their heads, surrounded by psionic crystals. They scream as knowledge is force fed into their brains and all twist and squirm in their bonds, all but one. The mindflayers circle about this child probbing his skull inquisitively with their tentacles. Seluraiiel recognizes his face, and the bliss of tranquility upon it. Though horribly out of place, she knows happiness when she sees it. Glancing up at the crystals that flank his skull she sees the very same series of numbers and equations she had seen on her descent, they fill her vision, blotting out all the horror around her, until she stands no longer within the dark subterranean hell, but within a great unfinished cathedral. She see's the boy sitting in the midst of a flurry of workers. He's holding in his hands a scroll with precise geometric plans and giving orders to all around him. As Seluraiiel draws nearer she sees the same face as before, the thrall turns and looks at her, their eyes meet and he smiles.
Instantly the chapel collapses into the Star Shrine's aged ruins and she is standing looking not at the boy but at the man and on his face that same look of happiness, a look lost to the reality around him.
The first thought that comes to her mind after, a thought that holds a secret fear, in all her tour of the horror below she had seen not a single elf.
Posted on 2010-05-12 at 16:13:15.
Edited on 2010-05-12 at 16:15:58 by madscirat
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Topic: Monster's Paradise Q&A
Subject: Oh Duh
Oh right the Yuan-ti. I need to start taking some notes so I remember these details
Posted on 2010-05-01 at 19:32:09.
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Topic: Monster's Paradise
Subject: Temple of the Mind
7 yearned for the light, for escape from these monsters, but most of all for the voice. The reasoning power which remained his, told him that if he alerted the other thrall herds, the voice would return, albeit from a new master. But all his attempts to escape were in vain, some force held him immobile. 7 couldn't help but recall seeing a slave try to escape once. The man had yet to hear the voice, othherwise he would have known better than to fear the masters. Before he had run nine cubits, a force paralyzed him holding him still, though his face continued to register his terror. 7 imagined he looked very much the same as that man, with only his facial muscles under his control.
He had to take his mind off the sure death which was quickly coming for him, so 7 did the only thing he did that ever freed him from fear, doubt and pain. He imagined a building, but this time, not one from scratch. Instead he imagined the temple as it must have looked before time had eroded its perfection. In his mind columns rose and statues reassembled themselves. Earth eroded away from the stained skylights and the room bathed once more in multicolored hues. As he saw the arches reassemble he learned the techniques the builders had used, he learned why it was that so many domes in modern cities collapsed. They were simply to low. If the dome was higher, steeper then more of its force would be directed inward at the keystones, and less downward in the direction of collapse. But amazingly this dome's keystone was nothing of the sort. Instead at the center stood that bright portal to the sky, daring 7 to understand what supported it. There was only one answer, the glass. That glass whatever it was, had been stronger than any they had today and now it was... His vision shattered like the skylight itself whose, jagged remnants were littered across the stone, like pieces of a dream long since forgotten. Deprived of that dream he stood, once more, in the dark, alone and at the mercy of monsters.
Posted on 2010-05-01 at 01:47:20.
Edited on 2010-05-01 at 01:50:25 by madscirat
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Topic: Monster's Paradise Q&A
Subject: Arena
Great post Crowe. Your editing could use some help  but damn if you don't always add some colorful detail to the world. Your posts help alot with creating a mood for Gleech and the monstrous world at large. I took your Arena idea and ran with it btw. Its my favorite of my posts so far and u definitely inspired it, so thanks.
PS Is the medusa the client you are representing against the Blue Wyrm or a different one?
Posted on 2010-04-29 at 04:09:40.
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