The Danger Gang Meets Another Modron And Plays 20 Questions

At five am Arben hears a knock on his door. Its B The Beholder and he's being chased by a ten armed Modron. "Woah!" says Arben and he starts running down the hall, trying to wake everyone up. He tries to offer the big guy a job, but before he can say, "What are your references?" the modron Holds him fast.

Luckily, Eorl is already awake and kind of ready for this kind of thing. He grabs the Mithral Bead off the Change Into Substances Necklace, and turns into Solid-Mithral Eorl.

Everyone is soon awake and ready to fight this interdimensional paper pusher. HZ starts Chanting in praise of some Owl. Beau is quickly brushed aside by the beasts mighty tentacles. Can tries the old Color Spray, and on the second attempt, the vivid, fanshaped spray soon stuns (realing and unable to respond) the creature for one round. Gershom Silences it, leaving only it's ten mighty psuedopods to defend itself. Even Oeonoe gets in on the act, after being woken with a splitting headache. She Free Actions Arben, who is soon whipping Magic Missiles at the beast. This thing is bleeding numbers everywhere. With a few rounds of melee, the creature soon is sent back to its native plane. As it leaves, it cries out, "We shall return on June 22".

Everyone considers that quite decent of him.

Before they head back to Samothrace, there are a few things to take care of in town. Arben goes to take stock of who's still around that might want to get in on this wall killing. Liten (looking a little worse for wear) and Abner both are interested, but everyone else decides against it. Indeed, almost everyone else is gone. Naum and Signy have left town, possibly with sexy results. Leo got his hands on Ezio's Comprehend Languages and is freaking out with glee.

Still, two more sets of hands couldn't hurt. Someone casts Divination, and they response tells them that they got, possibly a 50/50 chance, but there's going to be something behind that wall that is also kind of bad news. C'est la vie.

The other thing they want to check out is the 20 questions jar. It's already down to 19, so they figure they should get cracking. They get Maya the Chicken in on it, knowing her intelligence and love of riddles. Gershom translates questions in to Hebrew.

19. Are there keyword(s) needed to open the jar? - Yes 18. Is it a person? - No 17. Is it a thing? - Yes 16. Is it mentioned in Rabbi Tarphon's Letter? - No 15. Is it a thing of religious significance? - No 14. Is it man made? - No 13. Is it organic? - No 12. Is it larger than the jar? - Yes 11. Is it larger than the mansion? - Yes 10. Is it a proper noun? - No 9. Is it the world? - No 8. Is it bigger than a mountain? - Yes 7. Is it smaller than the world? - No 6. Is it the sky? - Hmmmm, no 5. Is it a concept? - Define concept (this answer didn't count) 5. Is it reffered to in the first five lines of the Torah? - No

At this point, everyone seems a little stumped. They decide to take a little breather and come back to it.

Then, suddenly, inspiration strikes Eorl. He grabs Gershom and tells him to ask some more questions.

4. Is it plural? - Yes 3. Is it the stars? - Yes

The jar opens revealing a cache of scrolls. Gershom is beside himself and rushes off flip through them.

That settled, Eorl takes steps to fill the hole in the ranks opened by Xenon's retirement. He posts a sign in the town square, saying that there will be a tournament. Beau rushes to sign his name at the top. Eorl shakes his head and hopes better candidates show up.

Indeed, later that day, he notices that the sign up sheet has several names; some familiar, some not so much. In addition to Beau, there is also Zahrah, Probus, Kotrag, Abner, and Lugurix. Also, for the title card of the evening, Xenon will challenge Pantigathus for the captainship of the guard of Chrysopolis.

Soon after dark, a crowd assembles in town square and Arben annouces the beginning of the evening's entertainment. Eorl draws lots for the entrants and the first fight is going to be Abner versus Probus. Everybody finally gets a good luck at the Probus character, and he seems like quite the dandy, (hence his nom de guerre, "Probus the Dandy").

Probus and Abner go at it a few rounds, and the Dandy defeats the Mathematician. Indeed, Abner seems greatly outclassed; but takes his licks with no ill will.

In the next round, Lugurix takes on Kotrag, and is a bit intimidated. It turns out the Kotrag is a mountain of a man, barely capable of speech. He carries a small, blind girl on his shoulder, but plunks her on a wall before the fighting begins. Neither of them seem praticularily good at hitting the other; each deftly dodging blows. None the less, Kotrag soom takes down Lugurix with his mighty club (perhaps due to Can's distracting shots of "You suck, Lugurix!") and the crowd goes wild.

Next up, the comic relief: Zahrah versus Beau. Zahrah gets a lick in, but Beau's quick hands prove too much for her. However, Arben the referee doesn't notice her weakened state. Gershom tries to Hold them from the stands, but they both make their saves (for once). Arben soon catches on and calls the fight in favor of Beau.

Next up, the battle royal between Beau, Probus and Kotrag. Probus, quickly sizing up the situation, decides to take out Beau first, and does so with amazing allacrity. Beau waves to the crowd as he retreats to his corner, knowing that he has once again been knocked down, but that he will live to fight again. Kotrag and Probus continue to go at it and much to everyone's surprise, Probus the Fancy Lad is not being crushed under Kotrag's boot. Kotrag swings and swings, but it seems the aristocrat is too nimble for him. Kotrag soon falls to smaller man's long sword. There is a round of applause. Eorl approaches the gentleman and shakes his hand. "It seems you're quite good with a sword, my friend. If you're looking for a real challenge, maybe you'd like to fight me." he says. Probus seems interested.

But first, the title card. Xenon squares of against Pantigathus. Xenon looks resplendant in his magical, royal platemail with matching crown, his magical sheild and sword glinting in the torchlight; while Pantigathus looks less so, in his rags and hand-me-down, ill fitting chainmail (chopped full of holes, marking the demise of its previous owner). Pantigathus fights bravely, but he's no match for the magical mummy man from the year zero. Xenon quickly chops him down, but, just as quickly, offers Pantigathus the position of second in command in his new regime...