Post by David on Sept 29, 2016 15:46:38 GMT -5
The heroes returned from the caverns beneath the Klarr region in the late afternoon. The group was tired and wounded, having battled quite a few foes that day. After several hours and a talk with his mother, Mikhail disappeared, only to return before sunrise with a tall, dark haired man wearing the very latest fashions from Seant, Ahlissa, and Nyrond. The man carried no weapons other than a dagger, though he did sport several pieces of expensive-looking jewelry as well as a complex iron mandala worn as an amulet around his neck.
The man smiled at Jasmine, who greeted him in return, "hi, Aris. Come to solve our mystery?"
Aris grinned and glanced about Klarr's only inn, the Displacer, a quiet, well-kept tavern in a largely sleepy woodland town. He glanced at the party eating their breakfast in the white-washed, country-style common room.
"Hey, Darya, what's up, Toots? Oh, and, uh, Malachite. So nice to see you away from campus. I didn't, uh, think you liked to go underground... And, where is this black obelisk, anyway?" Aris asked, gesturing with his hands toward the White Witch.
"I'm sure Mikhail would be happy to show you," Jasmine replied.
A small group returned to the limestone caverns before noon, quickly making their way to the edge of the myconoid domains. There, two people got into each of Mikhail's bags of holding while Aris turned himself into a winged cat and joined them. A few moments later, the group was beyond the mushroom-folk's caverns and nearly to the black obelisk.
When the group arrived, Mikhail pointed out how more of the ceiling has collapsed like mud around the black structure. Oddly enough, a puddle the size of a small pond had formed around the onyx building, as if the stones were slowly melting into water at its base. Coincidentally, the heroes could clearly see at least one entrance to the edifice complete clear of rock.
Grinning, Aris Tradewind cast his spells....
"This is the lost shrine of Bundushatur, cursed to the far side of the planet more than ten thousand years ago by the Morganti followers of the Lords of Law," began the Scarlet Sorcerer, as if partially in a trance. Then he smiled and once again seemed alert, adding, "well, I guess that blowhard of a captain does know something. If this thing was cursed to the far side of the world, then it makes sense that the lost continent of Morgan must be deep beneath the Southern Sea..." Noticing that no one else seemed to care about the site of Oerth's first civilization, Aris continued, "the nature of the shrine is pure chaos, making it quite difficult to read. My spells can in no way pierce the surface; I can only relay that which applies to the structure as a whole."
"This was a powerful bastion of pure chaos. Not good or evil, just chaos-" Aris began, cut short by Mikhail.
"And yet, I feel the distinct prickle of the Far Realms," the young psi began. "Could these agents of chaos have been actively serving such beings?"
"Perhaps, but that is not clear from here. All that is clear is that this building is like a minor relic itself, predating every civilization on the world a couple times over. It was carefully sealed here, almost as if it were not to be found again..."
Now it was the Green Witch's turn to interrupt. Annoyed at Aris' showboating, Esmerelda had cast her own divination spells, revealing, "it was long ordained that this shrine could never be harmed directly by the forces of Law, so the best the ancients could do was bury it. Yet there was ever the prophesy that one day a powerful enough group of heroes would be born to cleanse the site once and for all of its unnatural taint. But to do so, a key would be needed to bridge between now and then, here and there, reality and insanity. Only the key can truly make this place safe for those around it. And the key is found within..."
The heroes (Tiana, Ichi, Brünor, Malachite, Mikhail, Tolus, Aris, Esmerelda with Drusilla) then discovered that their reconnaissance mission had become a combat one! Suddenly half a dozen ghasts along with a dozen ghouls poured out of the structure as all the party's magical lights went out and a faerie fire blanketed everyone but Mikhail. Aris, Esmerelda, Tolus, and Mikhail were all surprised by the assault and as Ichi charged into the fray he quickly realized that there was a prayer aiding the undead. The monk was quickly swarmed and Malachite called out to him, warning him that he was going to toss a fireball into the creatures. Ichi dodged to the side, but Aris wound up getting grazed by the flames. The spell did destroy a couple of ghasts and seriously wounded most of the shadows -- all of the undead seemed oddly powerful.
After casting his spell, the half elf became the target of multiple ghasts, one of which paralyzed him. Brünor lept to the mage's defense, buying time for Tiana, already cloaked in an invisibility to undead, to cast remove paralysis on Malachite. Meanwhile, Tolus and Ichi charged into the wave of two dozen ghouls coming in as Aris fled from the barrage of poisoned crossbow bolts and (useless) magic missiles coming his way.
The battle raged on and suddenly the ground beneath Ichi erupted with Evard's black tentacles which held the monk fast for the shadows to strike. He freed himself, but was again ensnared, this time going down under the undead assault. Luckily, Mikhail saw him, having already boosted his strength psionically. Now, the young psi grabbed the monk and teleported him free to the darkness of the far side of the cavern, where Mikhail tended to Ichi for a good chunk of the battle, stabilizing his condition and saving his life. Tolus and Brünor continued to hack into the undead as Esmerelda used a phantasmal force of her son, Rhom, to give the drow a new target. Right then Aris returned, his carpet invisible and he improved invisible. He carefully targeted the drow with a fire breath that stunned all of them. At roughly the same time, Malachite tossed another fireball into the largest remaining chunk of undead, damaging himself and Brünor, but clearing both of them of foes. Teetering from wounds and poison, the mage then dimension doored to the relative safety of the cavern entrance, where he collapsed. Tiana, seeing this, rushed to heal him.
Brünor and Tolus continued to fight there way to the black obelisk. Aris unleashed another fire breath, killing all but a single drow with the flames. That one remaining drow, however, nailed the Scarlet Sorcerer several times with the swords he grabbed from his ally's bodies, his own weapons and armor having melted. Aris collapsed from poison just as the rest of the heroes charged in. The drow tried to flee, but Malachite's magical rope caught and captured him.
The heroes questioned the drow briefly, but gained far more knowledge from Esmerelda's speak with dead spells on the fallen drow...
Esmerelda healed the wounded with her remaining spells, then left with the drow prisoner (in her bag of holding) back to Klarr.
Status:
Tolus: 97 (full), 1gb, -2 STR, FLY active (from Malachite)
Ichi: 37 of 63, 8gbs, 1psi, -2 STR, HEAL self
Tiana: 40 of 45, cast invis to undead, CLW / / ice knife, remove / CSW
Malachite: 37 of 53, 8gbs, -1 STR, cast / / fly / dim door / MM
Brünor: 66 of 79, -3 STR
Mikhail: 88 (full), -1 STR, 7 of 170 PSPs
Aris: 33 of 42, 8gbs, cast ALL 1st / ALL 2nd / / II / all 5th
The man smiled at Jasmine, who greeted him in return, "hi, Aris. Come to solve our mystery?"
Aris grinned and glanced about Klarr's only inn, the Displacer, a quiet, well-kept tavern in a largely sleepy woodland town. He glanced at the party eating their breakfast in the white-washed, country-style common room.
"Hey, Darya, what's up, Toots? Oh, and, uh, Malachite. So nice to see you away from campus. I didn't, uh, think you liked to go underground... And, where is this black obelisk, anyway?" Aris asked, gesturing with his hands toward the White Witch.
"I'm sure Mikhail would be happy to show you," Jasmine replied.
A small group returned to the limestone caverns before noon, quickly making their way to the edge of the myconoid domains. There, two people got into each of Mikhail's bags of holding while Aris turned himself into a winged cat and joined them. A few moments later, the group was beyond the mushroom-folk's caverns and nearly to the black obelisk.
When the group arrived, Mikhail pointed out how more of the ceiling has collapsed like mud around the black structure. Oddly enough, a puddle the size of a small pond had formed around the onyx building, as if the stones were slowly melting into water at its base. Coincidentally, the heroes could clearly see at least one entrance to the edifice complete clear of rock.
Grinning, Aris Tradewind cast his spells....
"This is the lost shrine of Bundushatur, cursed to the far side of the planet more than ten thousand years ago by the Morganti followers of the Lords of Law," began the Scarlet Sorcerer, as if partially in a trance. Then he smiled and once again seemed alert, adding, "well, I guess that blowhard of a captain does know something. If this thing was cursed to the far side of the world, then it makes sense that the lost continent of Morgan must be deep beneath the Southern Sea..." Noticing that no one else seemed to care about the site of Oerth's first civilization, Aris continued, "the nature of the shrine is pure chaos, making it quite difficult to read. My spells can in no way pierce the surface; I can only relay that which applies to the structure as a whole."
"This was a powerful bastion of pure chaos. Not good or evil, just chaos-" Aris began, cut short by Mikhail.
"And yet, I feel the distinct prickle of the Far Realms," the young psi began. "Could these agents of chaos have been actively serving such beings?"
"Perhaps, but that is not clear from here. All that is clear is that this building is like a minor relic itself, predating every civilization on the world a couple times over. It was carefully sealed here, almost as if it were not to be found again..."
Now it was the Green Witch's turn to interrupt. Annoyed at Aris' showboating, Esmerelda had cast her own divination spells, revealing, "it was long ordained that this shrine could never be harmed directly by the forces of Law, so the best the ancients could do was bury it. Yet there was ever the prophesy that one day a powerful enough group of heroes would be born to cleanse the site once and for all of its unnatural taint. But to do so, a key would be needed to bridge between now and then, here and there, reality and insanity. Only the key can truly make this place safe for those around it. And the key is found within..."
The heroes (Tiana, Ichi, Brünor, Malachite, Mikhail, Tolus, Aris, Esmerelda with Drusilla) then discovered that their reconnaissance mission had become a combat one! Suddenly half a dozen ghasts along with a dozen ghouls poured out of the structure as all the party's magical lights went out and a faerie fire blanketed everyone but Mikhail. Aris, Esmerelda, Tolus, and Mikhail were all surprised by the assault and as Ichi charged into the fray he quickly realized that there was a prayer aiding the undead. The monk was quickly swarmed and Malachite called out to him, warning him that he was going to toss a fireball into the creatures. Ichi dodged to the side, but Aris wound up getting grazed by the flames. The spell did destroy a couple of ghasts and seriously wounded most of the shadows -- all of the undead seemed oddly powerful.
After casting his spell, the half elf became the target of multiple ghasts, one of which paralyzed him. Brünor lept to the mage's defense, buying time for Tiana, already cloaked in an invisibility to undead, to cast remove paralysis on Malachite. Meanwhile, Tolus and Ichi charged into the wave of two dozen ghouls coming in as Aris fled from the barrage of poisoned crossbow bolts and (useless) magic missiles coming his way.
The battle raged on and suddenly the ground beneath Ichi erupted with Evard's black tentacles which held the monk fast for the shadows to strike. He freed himself, but was again ensnared, this time going down under the undead assault. Luckily, Mikhail saw him, having already boosted his strength psionically. Now, the young psi grabbed the monk and teleported him free to the darkness of the far side of the cavern, where Mikhail tended to Ichi for a good chunk of the battle, stabilizing his condition and saving his life. Tolus and Brünor continued to hack into the undead as Esmerelda used a phantasmal force of her son, Rhom, to give the drow a new target. Right then Aris returned, his carpet invisible and he improved invisible. He carefully targeted the drow with a fire breath that stunned all of them. At roughly the same time, Malachite tossed another fireball into the largest remaining chunk of undead, damaging himself and Brünor, but clearing both of them of foes. Teetering from wounds and poison, the mage then dimension doored to the relative safety of the cavern entrance, where he collapsed. Tiana, seeing this, rushed to heal him.
Brünor and Tolus continued to fight there way to the black obelisk. Aris unleashed another fire breath, killing all but a single drow with the flames. That one remaining drow, however, nailed the Scarlet Sorcerer several times with the swords he grabbed from his ally's bodies, his own weapons and armor having melted. Aris collapsed from poison just as the rest of the heroes charged in. The drow tried to flee, but Malachite's magical rope caught and captured him.
The heroes questioned the drow briefly, but gained far more knowledge from Esmerelda's speak with dead spells on the fallen drow...
Esmerelda healed the wounded with her remaining spells, then left with the drow prisoner (in her bag of holding) back to Klarr.
Status:
Tolus: 97 (full), 1gb, -2 STR, FLY active (from Malachite)
Ichi: 37 of 63, 8gbs, 1psi, -2 STR, HEAL self
Tiana: 40 of 45, cast invis to undead, CLW / / ice knife, remove / CSW
Malachite: 37 of 53, 8gbs, -1 STR, cast / / fly / dim door / MM
Brünor: 66 of 79, -3 STR
Mikhail: 88 (full), -1 STR, 7 of 170 PSPs
Aris: 33 of 42, 8gbs, cast ALL 1st / ALL 2nd / / II / all 5th