Game: In the Spire's Shadow

Initiative = 17

Discretion is the better part of valor, and by a rule, anything with Tentacles isn't worth getting near.
Baba quickly grumbles a hastened spell, hovering into the air as he does so - (and staying there - it's Fly). He then begins to fly away as quickly as the spell will take him - heading in the direction of a more reputable (see guarded) ward if possible. In any case, getting into the air is worthwhile for for his health.

(Fly Action - if I remember Good Manuverability right, Rise 15 feet, move forward 30 feet).

[You *always* roll for initiative. It's a reflex.]

Will Save = 14 (9+5). Baba clutches his head.

Baba rises another fifteen feet into the air, tossing a ball of flame to the ground as he does so. It quickly rises to become something much more - a large, extremely angry centipede that is in fact on Fire.

"Grab the thing!", shouts Baba in Ignan.

[Use Rapid Summoning to Summon Monster III - Fire Element Huge Monstrous Centipede. That is, if it fits. Otherwise, use 1d3 Large ones. If it/they listens to Baba, initiate grapple at +17/+9 using a Half-Charge*. Spell's range is 35 feet, Baba is 30 feet above the ground.]

(*See Special Attacks - if you can only take a Standard Action, you may charge at your speed.)

[This would provoke an AOO, but the Centipede has too much reach. He has to make a Melee attack though - +7.]

Taking advantage of the confusion, and having taken a good look on the demeanor, clothes etc of the evarage inhabitant of this area, M'rek again changes his disguise to fit more perfectly and progresses cautiously towards the apparent source of the comotion

(I assume that my search of 24 would let me follow the obvious clues towards the right direction...)
If I get lost, M'rek will simply ask around for directions, probably with a feeble attempt at cant:
Begging pardon cutter, what are all these bloods running from?

{Yeah -we're unfozen! brrrr, that was cold! -oh, and awesome stuff everyone}

After bantering with Kadar, Linji begins an all-out sprint again, thinking inwardly, "now, if only it was raining acid again and I was naked..." but his inward thought are interrupted by himself yelling back to Kadar,

"Last one to the Kimchi is a rotted cabbage!"

(Full run, 160')

{Side rules note - the Dimension Door "No-Action" limit is really pointless and should be removed, since you can just take your move/frees before you 'port. In any case, it's a relic of 1.0, where rounds were 1 minute and you actually *walked* through the Ethereal to get to your location.}

Like an overweight soap bubble, Baba starts to float out of the alley - but not before throwing yet another ball of Fire to the ground. A large and flaming rock creature rises from the ground - a Thoqqua.

"Help the giant and latch on!" , he shouts.

[Rapid Summon - Summon Monster III - Thoqqua. It automatically latches on due to the Joining a Grapple rules, and merely touching it [see grappling] does 2d6 Fire every round. This doesn't hurt the Centipede. Also, I'm fairly sure it doesn't have a brain.]

Innocent in the ways of the planes, M'rek loots the bodies of the yankis, taking the ring, the money and anything else deemed useable (remembers nathri ain't choosers...), including the greatword, which he rolls in a blanket and ties to the back of his pack.

Coming into contact with the high drama scene involving the Kobolds and a heavily aromored stranger one aspect of the conversation attracts his attention: what is the Mythal? (Knowledge arcana to find out?)
M'rek almost by instinct elects to hide and see what transpires. ...maybe something usefull could come from it, maybe something to scavenge, maybe he would join in an attempt to help the overwelmed and bleeding cutter to escape, or maybe the kobolds are what passes for the police in this are, in which case he would ask them for directions...

Here are the rolls: arcana 15, hide 27

Listen check from above post

{K - Dungeoneering is Untrained - Roll Below}

Things don't look good for our hero, so he flies away quadruple-time [Run Action 240 feet], heading for a Ward that doesn't involve savage near-Illithids.

He scans the horizon for something big and beefy and preferably non-Fiendish, non-Cordial to ask for aid.

Kadar senses that ths gnome's time has not yet come and rushes towards the puddle
[action here depends on whether, by looking at the puddle's size, it looks like action 1 is possible.]
[1] Kadar leaps across the puddle, attempting to intersect with the plunging gnome and knock them both onto another side

Acrobatics (1d20+6=24)

Dexterity (1d20+5=25)

tumble (1d20+10=19)

[not sure what other checks you'd want]

[2] Kadar pulls out his rope and tethers it to a nearby drainpipe.

use rope (1d20+5=7)

Baba grabs on to the rope, holding on to his unsteady footing.

For the briefest of moments, Linji's mind recalls a time, a moment in the past, and yet now in the present.

He was much younger then, long before the Rthak'aai. He had wandered off by himself in his home of Err'ishtok. He found himself climbing the pyrimad city -for hours upon hours he climbed -he did not know what compelled him -or for what purpose he compelled his tired limbs to continue the climb. Losing all thoughts or concept of movement or time, he was awakened from his reverie, and found himself at the apex.

With awe he gazed out at the surrounding Chaos of Limbo.

Whether inside or outside his mind, he heard -no he felt the words:

"What do you see?"

Breathelessly, Linji-then-Rinzai replied, "Infinite Possibility"

There was no answer -there didn't need to be.

"But then, All that is -and All that is not -are all our Choices just Chance and without meaning?" Linji-then-Rinzai asked the nothingness-yet everythingness around him -and in him.

"Yes -and No."

"What?"

"Not what, but While. Cannot it also be that every Chance is a Choice -and thus, has nothing but meaning?"

"I suppose its possible," Linji-then-Rinzai replied.

"Infinitly possible..."

"...I see," said Linji.

He was no longer on the apex, or at Err'ishtok -he was on the Chaos-Mountain with Torpellin, sipping Tea. He had not chosen what was in the Cup, but he had chosen to drink it -and it tasted great.

But he wasn't drinking Tea anymore, he was in the middle of Greenwell Plaza, watching a flailing gnome's hand sink into the Ooze.

Or was he still drinking Tea, still standing on the Apex?

Linji goes to grab hold of Baba's hand, and motioning Kadar to help;

"We've reached our hand into the fire, but this is a first for reaching the hand *on* fire".

M'rek keeps his position (as long as it is roughly within 30' from Kortek), but does not like the odds here...these kobolds do not seem to be what passess for authority around here, and his tribal morals are very much against summary executions...so if it seems like the armored stranger is going to be just killed, M'rek will flood the area with a darklite effect and give the stranger a chance to run....
But this is only as a last resort...he will be more than happy to remain hidden for a little longer as the drama unfolds itself

(OOC- when M'rek left his tribe his shaman told him to find some people and prevent the hissing prophecy where there any hints that could help his decision making process now?

Hoisting out the minature muck-man, Linji decides he is hungry, and so as long as there isn't anything else fanged and bladed yelling or falling from the sky, Linji plunks his crate off his back, and using it as a seat, pulls out a couple of Bananas, and mid-scarfing one down, offers a Banana to the ooze-drenched gnome;

"Do you have any Bananas?"

{Not really a Diplomacy check, but kinda one, all the same}

"In my long years, I've had the good fortune never to have to", snaps Baba, spluttering in the newfound appearance of actual breathable air.

After a second, he calms. "Thank you, cutter." He waves away the fruit, sitting down heavily on the ground nearby and looking to Kadar. "Do you have any idea what is going on? There appears to be some sort of feral Illithid out there."

M'rek actually speaks draconic, so if anything significant was discussed he would like to know...
things seem to be very interesting right now so he will follow the kobolds for a little while (using the tail someone procedure in Complete Adventurer, also changing disguises every three rounds for good measure) just to see if anything else can be learned from them...he can eavesdrop and even read lips (checks to follow).

After a while, he will let them go (unless they prove to be too interesting, DMs discretion, remember I am looking for something related to the prophecy), and follow Kortek's bloody trail to the pub of his choice, this might be another good source of information and also it would help his safety prospects to bond with the big bladeling...upon seeing him he will just pop up as if from out of the blue and say:

scary bit of busness down in the alley...sometimes if I touch this stick to wounds it heals them...you tell me if it works (use magical device)...so do you or don't you?

Results:
Hide 27, 21, 22 (since I must stay within 30' this gives me 3 rounds of following) if more time is needed it would be easier to take 10 for totals of 29 hide...):
Listen 7
read lips (spot) 27 allows me to follow a conversation for one minute...tel me if need more rolls or take 10 for 17 total
use magical device (wand of CLW) 26..so I guess Kortek heals some 1d8+1 hp...

Ok. This is it please tell me what the kobolds said in the alley and if they said anything interesting after they left...

Sorry about the inverted comas, I tought that colour already was enough to signify speech...
Also sorry about the ton of rolls, I have been trying to find an efficient method to roll a lot of skills which M'rek will always have to do, but find that the inbuilt roller leaves too much confusion in the air...
to explain myself, as per the former post:
the three first rolls are for hiding (which would give me roughly 30 seconds of tailing), and to them I added my skill modifier of 19, so to wield 27, 23, 21...(so the kobold cap would have to have beaten the 21, and then I could even attempt a bluff check to try to make m'rek look innocuous...but then again we are not playing exactly by the book now, so I am satisfied with the results...)
then there was a listen roll at +0 so = 7,
then there was a spot roll (read lips) at 20+7=27
and a use magical devce roll (wand of CLW) 20+6=26

I suspect that invisible castle might be better for such a large number of rolls, since I can state the order in which they are rolled and automatically add the modifiers...or would you prefere many smaller posts with my actions broken down? (in the above example there could be one set of rolls for the follow attempt, than another for the listen/read lips, then a last one to heal Cortek...in my view this last option would tend to bog down the game...

"Nasty cough you've got there, I guess the city air can do that to you when you've been out of touch. Where were you headed Baba? Our furry friend seems to have cleared off but we might as well stay together until we find some more friendly faces. That suit you Linji?"

[can you give me a quick run down on how Baba looks OF, is he obviously a mage? (I know the flying should be a give it away but there's a fine line between flying and being thrown and you didn't look like you were in control, also there's stranger things in the planes than a race of levitating gnomes)]