Game: Great minds think alike

"Until washed off," A'kin replies. "Or blasted off by a fireball, or things like that. As for the crown, one person in your group has to wear it, but the wearer can project up to six crown shades onto the others, granting them the same protection effects. And as for the effects, the crown allows you to control precisely which ones of your thoughts are detectable, and which ones not. Oh, but there are two things to keep in mind: First, it's only usable by people capable of casting some kind of magic. Second, it's got a history... in the improbable case you meet someone from Mt. Celestia, better let him NOT see the crown."

After a short pause, he sets up his wide grin again. "So, who wants to try it?"

"No no, nothing like that," A'kin quickly assures, walking over to Ohalian with the crown. In a friendly - almost too friendly - gesture, he puts his arm around Ohalian's shoulders, continuing: "It was created by a deva - an angel, in Prime terms - for a group of adventurers who were NOT good. He hoped to convert them, but they died before he succeeded, and the crown fell into someone else's hands... and someone else's, and someone else's, until it came to me."

"For the crown, 12.000 gold, which of course is a price where I don't earn much, and considering it's almost an artifact, it's a ridiculous price. But, after all, my friends, I want you to survive and STAY customers, right?"

Leaving Ohalian behind, he approaches Ian. "The powder comes at 500 gold for an ounce, which is just enough for an item like this," he says, pointing to the crown. "I do have seven ounces, which is quite funny considering the meaning of Seven for Mt. Celestia."

"Wonderful!"

A'kin puts the crown on the counter - which is packed with other things, giving him some trouble to find a place for the crown - and then asks: "As for the powder, one ounce or all seven? This stuff might come in handy in other situations, too. Not to forget about the fireballs."

He then turns to Ophelia. "Now, the spells... please come on over here."
He walks to a chest closed with a golden lock. In a smooth movement almost too quick to observe, he pulls a key out of his robe, opens the lock and hides the key in his robe again. Opening the chest, a few scrolls fall on the floor, and A'kin quickly grabs them and puts them into the chest again.

The whole chest - about two feet high, three feet wide and four feet long - is full of scrolls. Most of them are just paper or similar materials, but a few ones are strikingly different: One scroll shimmers with a filthy darkness, another one is written on a transparent material, giving the impression of runes hovering in the air, and a third one is cast into stone. Within those hundreds - if not thousands - of scrolls, there are probably two or three dozens of outstanding scrolls.

"So, let's see what we got for you in here, my dear," A'kin says, giving Ophelia a really friendly smile.

[OOC: I'm BACK! The internet trouble seems to be solves, things are working fine at the moment... which means, I'm going to post regularly again from now on. There we go ]

"Well, first of all, those are all divine scrolls... nothing in here for mages. But of course not all of them would work particularly for you, like this one, for example, " - he holds up a pitch black scroll that seems somehow... alive - "as it would burn you to ashes to moment you touch it, which, by the way, happened once when a thief came in here trying to give me the laugh. Hadn't much to laugh himself when he decided for this scroll. Last I heard he's a petitioner in the Gray Waste now. I'm glad that you are all honest customers and would never think about stealing anything."

With another grin, he looks from Ian to Blackthornes. "After all, I like you, and I'd hate losing you as customers, my dear friends."

Turning back to Ophelia, he continues with the scrolls. "This one's for you, I think. Cure friends once and one Eternal Star... oh, no, that's not the one I was looking for. That last spell allows you to create a Celestial Star no matter where you are, unique thing, and way beyond your fifty thousand gold. But... here we go. Cure friends twice. The spell allows you to cure everyone you consider a companion in a three feet diameter. The spell comes from a quite powerful goddess from the Outlands, and I heard this spell is beyond the normal healing spells. The scroll comes at seven thousand Sigil gold."

Before Ophelia or anyone else has a chance to interrupt him, A'kin continues, "Then we have this one, Emergency Regeneration, which automatically starts a healing process as soon as the person the spell is cast on is badly wounded. It's three times on this scroll, and the scroll goes for nine thousand gold."

A'kin smiles like a child that has just won a game. "I hope this is what you were looking for. I do have a few of the... boring known-by-all spells, too, of course, if you insist."

"The Cure Friends scroll has been created by a priest of the Goddess Lavinia of the Three Hearts. She's a three-fold goddess, basically a goddess of Rage, of Protection and of Willpower. This spell is part of her Protection aspect."

"As for the regeneration thingy, I have no information from which divine source it comes, but I'm perfectly sure it's not one of the Lower Planar ones."

A'kin sighs, shaking his head. "It's not that you are the first one to attempt this, but try it if you must. I just want you to know that I'm truly, deeply unhappy about losing you as a customer."

As he speaks the last words, the illithid raises his long, pointy violet hands; only a second later, the ceiling changes. The stone blurs, seems to become fluid, and finally changes into an acid-green bubbling whirl. Horrific alien shrieks can be heard from a far distance, somewhere deep within the green fluid.

For the very first time, A'kin seems to be seriously impressed, watching at where the ceiling once was.

"An unnatural gate... in Sigil?"

A'kin nods, replying to Blackthornes: "Seems like it. But don't worry, I never allowed one of my customers to be harmed in my shop."

Just a moment later, he pulls a small wooden stick out of his robe. A few golden runes can be seen on it. Arcane words leave his mouth, and with every word he says, the air seems to fill with electricity and... darkness.

"ARUN AMARTHA LOVAY MABARATH."

The shadows become stronger.

"SHUDAK MALLENOR TRUYAN KHACHWAI."

The contrast between light and dark is so strong that the world appears unreal, or rather, like two worlds merged into one.

"ATHKA FALLOR YURAI."

Lightning bolts rush through the whole shop, meeting at a point just above the illithid, gathering until they form a silhouette... resembling the shape of the illithid.

Right above the mind flayer, an exact clone of his hovers in the air, made from pure electricity.

Blackthornes looks closely at A'kin and the illithid. As far as he can say, A'kin fully focusses on the protection of his shop and his customers, without showing any real aggression.

The mind flayer, on the other hand, has pretty obvious motives: Blackthornes is convinced he won't let any single person within this shop get out alive.

[OOC: I'm posting the results of Ian's actions now, since it's really still the actions he initiated in the first round. I'll wait for the others until everyone else has posted, including Ian's next move.]

Slowly, the scroll moves towards one of the creatures. Focussing his will on the ring of telekinesis, Ian makes the scroll move just slightly faster than the creature... until both come into contact.

A horrible ear-ripping shriek hits the room like a lightning, as golden flames swallow the creature. Slimy arms flap helplessly, the shriek becoming more and more panicked and full of pain. Green, burning fluid makes its way over the floor like oil as the creature slowly dissolves, shrieking and yelping. Seconds later, the creature is no more... but its helpless screams echo through everybody's minds.

The burning fluid stops only a foot away from the illithid... and it crosses the path of one of the remaining two slime creatures, who seems totally unaffected by the death of its companion.

The black scroll, on the other hand, still burns. Engulfed in golden flames, it appears both strikingly beautiful and fear-spawning dangerous.

Somehow, Ian has the feeling the scroll is calling for him. The scroll... or something beyond.

As one of the slime creatures approaches A'kin, Ian sends the black scroll moving towards that beast. This time, as the scroll touches the creature, it erupts in a pillar of flames, while just at the same moment, the last remaining creature crosses the line of fire burning on the ground... and is set aflame, too.

Horrific death screams echo through the shop once more, sending chills into everyone's bones.

Reason I'm going to hell.
I'm going to hell.
Going to hell.

His own words ring in Ian's mind as the creatures die their painful deaths; then after a single moment of silence, this same voice speaks again.

We're waiting for you.

Ohalian takes a quick look around, his cyberware giving him important data about the opponents.

Slime monsters, before they got roasted: about 250 hp each (not wounded)
Illithid: 52 hp (not wounded)
A'kin: maximum hp not detectable, but slightly wounded (less than 5 hp lost)

The first bullet hits the mind flayer, who is pushed back by the hit. All of a sudden, Ohalian hears a rasping voice in his mind.
How dare you, thrall! I will eat your brains first!

Illithid: 22 hp

Seconds later, A'kin raises his hands, casting a silent spell targeted at the energy clone of the mind flayer. What comes out of the "friendly fiend's" hands is... water. Buckets of water hit the energy clone, and just at the same moment, the real mind flayer begins to twist and jerk, incapable of controlled movement.

Illithid: 7 hp

In this state, it's easy for Ohalian to target, his next shoot an easy hit... and the bullet goes right through his heart. With a bright flash, the energy clone disappears, and the illithid falls to the ground.