Seraphi

Yay, war. Australia is primed to send in dawn guards to prevent civilians from being harmed. Positive publicity is never a bad thing.

...Why? Pluto is pretty much a crappy rock. It isn't even a planet. Pssh. I'd rather we kept this game more or less 95% on Earth, thanks.

Before the kepler telescope was finished, we had a great deal of trouble finding rocky planets, since we can't use the same technique we use to find gas giants. The very first time Kepler was used, it found a rocky planet. A rocky planet is more or less required to sustain life, and if we found one on the first check, that must mean the probability of rocky planets around stars is fairly high, which, in turn, raises the chance of there being other life out there. I don't care if it's hostile or not, it doesn't really know we're looking at it, and I don't care if it wouldn't be of any use to us. It would be reassuring to know that we aren't alone in the endless nothingness that is 99.(stupid number of 9s)% of the universe.

Last roll. Jen/Igos- The mages call you idiots and tell you those were the items which would be confiscated if seen, before telling you to hide them. Umbra- Nobody laughs at your joke, because nobody understands it.

The mages gather around your group and explain... "Well, after you bought us that cloak and we screwed up..." Another mage interrupts "It was a screw up of dimension-breaking proportions." The other mage tells him to shut up and continues, "After we screwed up, all of us ended up in that place, that awful, lifeless place. We quickly encountered that vile creature, and it managed to take down one of our strongest battle-mages. After that, we decided that it was way to strong, and placed a final binding spell on it before running far away. Soon afterwards, you guys started showing up. We knew that because we could see from the distance. We made sure not to alert attention to ourselves, because the shade might have targeted us and then you guys would be dead right now... After a while, it appeared that our binding spell had worn off. You guys thought you were dealing damage, but you were actually weakening the seals. Soon after that, the seals broke completely. It had regained it's power, and it was basically going to tear you guys to shreds. There was literally no way you could have beaten it. By that point, however, we had almost completed our ritual, and it looks like we finished just in time, when we all came to, you guys were all near-dead. And then we got some healers on the task, and that's about it. Hope you're feeling better. Your things are in those oak chests over there, as well as certain "Items" which would be confiscated if we didn't hide them." The mage begins to walk away, but turns back and says "Also, don't ever, ever, ever, go near the basement sublevels, okay?" and he continues walking away.

You all awaken in a large room, in a bed, with a lot of robed individuals wandering around. When one notices you moving your eyes, they shout for attention. You appear to be in the Ivory tower again.

Umbra- The world goes black. igos- The world goes black. Jen- The world goes black. Hakon- The world goes black. Huzzah.

Umbra- You cannot heal. You cannot block. Jen- You cannot heal. You cannot block. Igos- Running hurts too much. Hakon- The swords are on chains attached to it's wrists. You cannot heal. The shade brings one of its swords down upon Umbra's spine. Death is imminent. The shade then removes the sword from Hakon, causing him to fall forward and bleed. He then throws the two swords in opposite directions, impaling both Igos and Jen. The world starts to go black.

Umbra- The shade flings its sword again and knocks your about a dozen metres through the air, before bringing the other blade down on your legs, reducing them to the consistancy of chunky salsa. Jen- Your magic does not work anymore, it is likely that the shade's energy is interfering. You take the chain, but have no time to examine it before the shade smashes you in the back with it's sword, breaking most of your ribs, and leaving you barely able to breathe. Igos- Your magic does nothing. You grab the gem, before being hit on the shoulder with a large slab of metal, dislocating the joint and breaking a lot of ribs. Hakon- The shade seems to make a laughing gesture before throwing it's blade directly at you, impaling you against a rock face. (Were any other people involved in this fight who were not online?)

Umbra- The shade flings the blade at you, plowing through the shield, hitting Caladbolg and flinging you sideways. You note that a small shard of the blade split off of the sword. The same fragment you found at the start of the fight, in fact. Jen- Your attacking is futile, it smashes all of the barriers before throwing it's sword at you and slashing across your shoulder. You note that a small part of the chain has come loose, probably due to the shade still adapting to it's new power. Hakon- Your explosion does nothing, save for dislodging a feather, which for some reason drifts towards you. The shade swings it's sword overhead, creating a shockwave in the ground which knocks you over. Igos- Although he has not done anything yet, The shade still targets him. It throws a sword, smashing several ribs, but dislodging a small gem in the process. All the characters know that the shade is dropping pieces because it is not quite in control yet. (It also makes up rewards. Who else was in this battle?)

Retech, just be quiet. You've done enough to provoke people now...

Umbra- You bring down a bolt of light into the shade. Jen- You encase the shade in a coccoon, surrounded by flailing ice. Igos- You melt some of the shards. Hakon- Too technical. The ice shatters, and the fragments stop in mid-air and seem to hang there. They then become distorted as the shade stands up. It has changed again, and it now has two chains of darkness from it's wrists, with the blades of the two swords on the end. It's wings seem broken, and the whispering has gotten so loud that you can barely hear yourself think. There is a spiral of black fire coming from the ground around the shade. (Just run with it here, survive a few rounds and see what happens.)

Umbra- You hit the shade directly, knocking it about a foot to the side. +.2 dark Jen- The shade does not "Look" Per-se. It also doesn't know confusion. However, the shade appears to have stopped within the ice shards. +.1 ice Hakon- You hit the un-moving shade with a few powerful gusts of wind. +.1 geomancy Igos- You blast the shade with a beam of fire. +.1 pyro.

Igos- You hit the shade, but it blocks most of the beam with it's swords. +.2 pyro. Umbra- You create an orb, but it is unstable (Unstable generally means more powerful, but theres a chance it'll blow your arms off or something) Hakon- You create a tornado around the shade, it spins around at rapid speeds in the opposite direction and stops it. +.1 geomancy. Jen- Good call, it is targeting you. You create a flame wall, but the shade jumps towards it, and slashes through it in an X-shape. +.1 ice.

Jen- You heal Umbra's arm. +.1 healing. The shade doesn't breathe. Hakon- The explosive force doesn't seem to phase the shade. Umbra- You shade dodges the arc of energy before cleaving you in two from the shoulder. You die. Choose .5 xp to lose.

We. Are. Not. Terraforming. Mars. End of story. I'm done trying to come up with excuses as to WHY we cannot terraform it, but we aren't.

Umbra- As you jump to grab the sword, the shade cuts your arm off at the elbow. Hakon- It doesn't inverse the direction you cast it in. You fire a beam of electricity at the shade. It doesn't seem bothered by it. +.2 electricity. Jen- You heal yourself, and then create a tiny amount of fire from the floor. +.1 healing.

Because assembling 20 factories on mars when we barely have the tech available to get 30~ people there is no big deal. Also, You'd still need a heckton of CO2 to be transported there.

Umbra- The shade blocks every single attack with it's unnatural reflexes, before parrying the last blow and knocking the onyx blade from your hand. Mather- You fire vacuum electricity (Too technical...?) backwards, hitting Jen with them, doing some minor damage. Jen- You heal Umbra, but ice is a solid and you can't manipulate it properly. +.1 healing.

You'd need a heck-ton of CO2 to make the ice caps melt, assuming it doesn't just get dragged off into space due to mar's magnetic inactivity. We're not terraforming mars.

Umbra- You manage to heal yourself, which is lucky, since you couldn't outpace the shade who proceeds to create a large gash across your back. +.2 healing. Jen- You fail to heal Umbra, You create a prism of fire which the shade quickly breaks out of. Hakon- On the verge of getting too technical... You create a prism of electricity, which the shade quickly breaks out of again.

Hakon- You hit the shade. Umbra- You miss with all of your attacks, and the shade proceeds to break your arm with it's blade. Igos- Kay.

Okay, short session tonight, I have to get up at 6:00 AM <_<

Aye. But since now we can actually find the rocky planets needed to support life, and we (Sort of) found one on the first check, it seems pretty likely that ET is out there somewhere. Not that we are able to visit him, but it'd be nice to have some assurance that we aren't alone in the vast expanse of space.

Terraformation of mars would take hundereds of years and consume most of the worlds funding. I'd say it's pretty implausable.