The Final Spires, Part 5

Log Info

• Title: The Final Spires, Part 3

• GM: Whirlpool

• Characters: Aelwyn, Carver, Eztli, NAME UNKNOWN (Fidget),

• Place: The Felwood

• Summary: -The confederation of Alexandria and the Mythwood are making a push to activate the final Spires of Linneia before moving onto the center spire. Expect demons and fel monster of all sorts.

Silence reigns over the battlefield once again with the plant monster dead.

Healing efforts are made, and are uninterrupted.

The silence will last until you begin to catch the signs of the approaching group of wizareds, accompanied by their guide: Carver.

Seems she's been hired to bring them here.

Carver holds up a hand in greeting, looking past the scattered groupling of adventurers to their latest trial. No quip about pruning local ecology, or wizards arriving at the precise moment they are needed. Instead, she lets the hand fall back to her side. "Expecting anymore trouble?"

With a wand that she produced from somewhere in her many layered output, that goblin with no name waves it over some of the tentacle slash wounds seeping a vibrant red into her otherwise pastel blue shirt, which itself has been greviously wounded. "Ah, a comrade fallen in battle, you will be mourned. And re-sewn. Mostly re-sewn." the goblin mutters to herself as the wand glows faintly, then goes out. The goblin shakes the wand vigorously and it begins to glow again. "Stupid god-magic. Never works the first time." she complains as the worst of the wounds close up, leaving her still quite wounded - but no longer re-colouring her outfit drip by drip.

After that, she offers Aelwyn similar treatment, and for some reason, the wand works a little better on the warrior. "Maybe the god of whatever cleric made this wand likes you better." the goblin suggests.

And then some wizards arrive. The goblin hurries over to find out what they plan to do next, after all, they missed the fun part.

"Well, so much for those early warning signs." Eztli sighs with the unpleasant creature falling. "Aewlyn, you okay? You too, uh, gobber?" She wonders, turning to her own business with everyone licking their wounds. "Oh, Carver! Happy to have you here, if you're here to help." She greets with the group finally arriving. "Expecting, most likely. I don't think that's going to be the last thing drawn here, this forest really doesn't like us being here."

It's not questionable that these are the wizards. They are so *painfully* wizardish. Where possible, beards and other such things.

Some of them have the pins of the Resurrectionists of Animus on their collars.

A couple of them are Mythwood Elves, clearly.

"Been a bit of a trip," says one of the wizards, "But we managed to avoid setting the ENTIRE forest on fire." They sag with relief to have reached the foot of the Spire and the Guard 'Box'.

It may have been quiet in the forest, but Aelwyn was glaring at the creature as if to will it to burst into flames. His glaive continued to burn brightly in the dark. "Tch, this one shall be fine." Eventually. "Though this one would truly appreciate if the task shall be done hastily."

At the latter point, he was staring at the arriving wizards - though Carver receives a flash of his teeth. "Huntress," He greets. "This one is pleased to see familiar faces."

"S'good to see you," Carver says, looking behind her to the wizards. "I hadn't been back here since... well, anyway, here now. Happy to help though not sure how much more you lot need with this particular job." She shoulders her bow as she steps forward, eyes darting about. "What all do you need? Still looking for the 'key' to the tower s'to speak?"

"I'm with you on that one, Aelwyn. The less time we spend here, the better. Although, let's not sacrifice being careful for speed, yeah? We'll get this done with however much time it needs." Eztli chuckles awkwardly.

"Yeah, it has been a while. Honestly? The helps real appreciated. Ran into some shadow... things earlier, and they wore a lot of us down. Aelwyn isn't able to flex as much as normal, which is an improvement, but not when it means it's harder for him to actually swing a weapon. I think, we need to figure out what the group we were here to escort need done next, yeah?"

"Not sure exactly, I think these guys have the full plan. We're just supposed to clear the way. But most likely they need to Dimensional Anchor the tower, and then do something to purify it? I think that's what Hark did." the goblin suggests, looking to the wizards. "And you could have set the whole forest on fire. This forest fuckin' sucks. Noone woulda missed it!"

Aelwyn turns to look at Eztli. "This one would never flex." He replies, then slowly gets up to his feet, though he leans heavily against his glaive. "Without unneeded cause." Which seemed to be, every moment. But he did look very exhausted.

"Let us hear the plan and set the forest on fire after, yes?" At this point, he stares at the wizards with expectant stare.

"No setting the fire on forest," remarks one of the Mythwood elven wizqards to the goblin in question.

HE seems firm on that front, finger wagging at them.

"Yes, the plan is to anchor this spire in place, activate it, and then move on. There's only one other outlying spire left before we can access the central one and find out if this is really what we think it is," adds one of the Resurrectionists.

Carver nods to express that, yes, she is following so far. She shows no real surprise either. Perhaps she is familiar with the steps so far, and it all sounds like what has been experienced prior. "A'ight, well, let's keep hoping all this meant somethin' in the end." She kicks at the remains of the dead plant thing and wrinkles her nose.

"Stinks." Helpful commentary aside. "Fores' fire would probably just means the forest adapts and makes another monstrosity except this time, it's on-fire so maybe it's best the torches kept away."

Aelwyn shakes his head. "Tch, fire is easier to deal with than all these mimicking beasts and shadows that try to devour one." He replies, making a clicking sound. He gives a glare to the elves, but doesn't push the point further - for now.

"Let us keep moving then - the longer we stay, the more this forest shall create trouble for us."

"Yeah, let's go and get that done then. So we can get out of here sooner." The goblin certainly doesn't think it would be wise to get into another big fight before they have a chance to rest, and for most of them, visit a cleric. "I hope the Anchor doesn't draw more of the forest's ire down on us just yet. Maybe it's out of creepy monsters for a while. Like, an evil refractory period."

"Yeah, as much as fire would be nice, it's probably just going to cause more trouble than it's worth."

"I guess it needs to be anchored before activating? Not sure why, but I bet I could get that tower to stick in place real good. permanently? Less certain on that." The small sorceress shrugs. "I'd be lying if I said I wasn't curious what's in the main building when all is said and done."

The wizards spread out a little and one of them, one of the Resurrectionists who's a half-elven man with a scarred face and long beard, begins to into the spell. The forest around you seems to shudder unhappily but it might just be your imagination. The ominous feeling of it all does seem to recede after the spells are cast by him, and then another, some kind of curse breaker it seems, is cast by a second.

The spire fixes in place, no longer blinking arouhnd, and you're able to go up it.

The wizards settle back, casting more protective spells, it seems.

"Go ahead inside," says the bearded human, "and flip the switches. You want to align the crystal so it reflects the light of the moon towards the central spire, like the others."

"Whasa 're-frak-atory period'?" Carver asks as they advance toward the ominous innards of yet another spire, great clawing edifices of misfortune that they have always proven to be clearly having her on edge. She nocks an arrow to her bow as the unnatural sensation of the forest revoking the urge to change rises hackles on the back of the neck. "I really do hate magic men and women. They always sound so confident when they tell 'you' to go do somethin' and never explain what it is you're doin'."

Aelwyn picks up his glave and starts to head out as well, his tail dragging after him. "This one can find some truth in that." The draconian replies, "Though when one is paid coin, how much does one need to know?" Approaching the spire, the Dragoon turns towards the others. "Make certain to poke all and doors before entering - for at least in one tower, the house itself grew teeth."

GAME: Nameless rolls spellcraft+4: (7)+20+4: 31

At least one of the magic men and or women, specifically the short colourful one who wants to set the forest on fire, says "Hey!" to that remark. "Some of us sound confident and then go do it ourselves. So, shall we go do the thing?" and she starts heading deeper into the forest, making sure to keep close to those with less magic and more meat, with a little wince from all the beating she took earlier.

"Plus, " the goblin adds as an afterthought, once they're a little away from the wizards, "Don't let the confidence fool you, they obviously only have guesses as to what'll happen when we activate that last tower. Might explode. That would be awesome! Not the one we're in, obviously. The one in the middle. Explosions are more awesome when they're not centered on you."

"It means that the forest is having trouble getting it's woods up." Eztli offers bluntly, having to stifle a laugh as they continued to the tower. "Real talk, I think what she means is hopefully the forest needs to find other things to attack us with after nudging those shadows and that plant monster our way. I hope she's right."

Eztli blinks once they're at the tower, feeling the slight wrongness in the air. "I hope that doesn't mean you hate me Carver, but I guess I do have a habit of not explaining what I'm doing." She huffs. "Let's go though, and if you see any strange stones, don't touch them."

"Don't touch the tower's balls without checking with others first, got it." Carver says. "You all feel that, righ'? Like the air is groaning or somethin'? Really do hate this place, always feels like it's watching you. Or disgusted by your presence. Places don't feel like that."

Blink at Eztli. "Huh, oh, sorry. No, I didn't mea- aaah." She sighs as foot is firmly in maw. "Anyway, yeah, carefully. Door pokey. Got it."

Up the spire, then.

Following the instructions of the wizards, you make your way up the spire. Inside the narrow confines, there's a spiral staircase, familiar to those of you who have been here before. Each metal step plays a corresponding musical note, obvioiusly reminding you that these places certainly once had religious significance to the Mythwood elves of centuries ago.

You push to the top, and see the magicite crystal contained with what could be politely called a contraption, with mirrors arranged around it clearly designed to reflect the light of the sun or moon off their surface and direct it towards the central peak. The levers at the platform at the top of the stairs do the job: rotating, moving, and ascencing the mirrors and crystal into position so that they can harvest, collect, and reflect the light towards the central spire. So far so good.

Aelwyn is beginning to be more and more suspicious as they ascend the stairs. Eventually, when everything seems to be going just fine - he hisses. "Something is wrong. Is this the right tower?" He asks. "Or maybe it is the camp. The wizards?"

He glances at the others. "Anything suspicious one might have picked up?"

GAME: Nameless casts Detect Magic. Caster Level: 8 DC: 17

GAME: Eztli casts Detect Magic. Caster Level: 11 DC: 16

"I haven't seen any interesting strange rocks worth picking up yet, no." The goblin replies, "It seems fine to me, I don't sense anything awry. But I can double check..." she says, already weaving the magic to illuminate anything else magical nearby, and giving a nod to Eztli doing the same. Magic users! "What's giving the creepy vibes, and when did you first feel it?"

"Don't worry about it Carver." Eztli chuckles as they head further inside. She pauses just a moment, snapping her fingers, causing the makari sorceress' eyes to glow for a brief second. "No clue what felt off, seems similar to last time otherwise. The stairs are enchanted, so's that crystal. I guess they needed it to take whatever ambient magic was here and get it into a usable form. Whether it's a good idea to say if it's a good idea to mess with when it's charged up well past when it was likely scheduled to be used? I can't really say. And don't worry, I know better than to touch unknown crystals here after enough times."

GAME: Carver rolls knowledge/dungeoneering: (9)+8: 17

Carver stands for a long time, hand on chin, peering at one crystal in particular. It's almost as if she is charmed by the quartz. Or in communion with something in the stars, the mad creatures such as the elf may call divine, but she would more likely incur a lightning bolt due to less flattering terminology.

After a long pause, she turns to the others, "I was really worried it was goin' to be like that one book I read. With the mouth wrigglers."

"It is that there is nothing here that shouldn't be here." Aelwyn explains, sliding his hand down his mane of quills. "This one supposes it is best to align that cursed crystal and do our best head out in one piece."

The draconian then moves out towards the stairs and takes a guarding position, staring suspiciously at everything. "... And this one does not want to know whta these mouth wrigglers are."

Carver brings her fingers to her lips, pointed down like fleshy tusks... then wiggles them for affect.

GAME: Carver rolls wisdom: (10)+3: 13

GAME: Nameless rolls knowledge/engineering+2: (13)+11+2: 26

GAME: Nameless rolls knowledge/mouthwrigglers-100: (19)+knowledge/mouthwrigglers+-100: -81

"So, like... want it here?" Carver says, as she lends hands in angling the crystal in the exacting dimension as directed by the goblin. "How abooout 'ere?"

"You're right Aelwyn, it's going too smoothly at the moment. Every other time we've gotten here, there's been something nasty wrong with the towers. That, or adventurers who don't know any better making a mess of things. Unlike us, who know what they're doing and aren't trying to run off with irreplaceable crystals." Eztli agrees with the cavalier. "I'm worried there are here things, and those wizards are the ones who are going to get the brunt of it."

"So! I'll help by staying out of the way for the time being. Sounds like an interesting book though Carver, something about a vampire not drinking enough milk or something?"

The goblin directs the crystal realignment, with Carver doing the aligning, she can move around the room making sure to get the exact right angle to focus the beam on the inner tower, "Yup, perfect, right there aaaaand..." she waits for the explosion.

... no explosion. Instead, the mirrors glint, refracting lights from the full moon, and send them towards the central spire, dissipating as they have nothing to hit at the moment.

Still, it now seems solidly in place, and to be doing its job.

There's one more of these to go.

When you emerge from the Spire, the wizards look relieved and pleased. One of them tugs on the sleeve of another wizard, who hands him a few gold pieces.

"Told you they wouldn't explode."

"Not so loud!"

Aelwyn had the urge to still set things on fire when the crystals are aligned and nothing happened. And indeed, to hit the building. So when he arrives near the wizards again, his orange eyes narrow.

And the flaming glaive is put up forth towards the wizards. "This is where the adventuring party is checked for mimics." He tells them. "Left or right hand?" Yes, he was in a great mood!

Carver smirks, unsurprised by the promptu betting pool. Clearly not offended either. Explosions are actually fairly common on the spire jobs.

"You know, I'm pretty sure our job was to bring you here to do your jobs. I'm just going to overlook that since everything went well." Eztli sighs. But Aelwyn was more of a concern, and the sorceress reaches to pat them on the shoulder. "Easy, easy, Aelwyn. This place has you on edge."

"You are not stabbing me with that thing, for sure, Aelwyn." The goblin protests, "But if you're really concerned about them, a quick Detect Thoughts would likely identify anyone who's mostly thinking about eating you. Could just be a wizard who doesn't like getting stabbed, though."

The goblin snap-snaps her razor sharp teeth together for emphasis, then grins.

GAME: Nameless rolls survival: (1)+0: 1 (EPIC FAIL)

GAME: Aelwyn rolls survival: (20)+1: 21

GAME: Eztli rolls survival: (12)+1: 13

GAME: Carver rolls Survival: (12)+12: 24

Good news, everyone!

You're able to make your way from the spire you're at to the other spire, this time with twice the members. There's some turning around in the forest, mists thatr try to confuse you, echoes that try to throw you, and more. It's just how it is. By now, you're used to it, and it's navigable, especially with the help of theo ther group, particularly Carver.

You reach the other spire without incident, and this time, find another horrible plant and fungal monster waiting for you...

... which is bombarded with such a massive amount of magical fire from the wizards that it evaporates in the seconds it started to retreat at the sight of such a large group.

"Well, then," says the long-bearded resurrectionist, "That was very satisfying. We'll leave it to you to turn on the spire."

... and so you march up the tower, once again, after activating the locking mechanism in the guard tower and the dimensinal anchor and curse weakening are applied by the wizards. You find yourselves at the top, preparing to activate the final one.

Who knows what's going to happen now?

You turn the crystal, raise it into the sky, and it activates -- shining a light directly on the center between all five of the spires.

Indeed, they all shine now, capturing the full moon's light. The ground beneath your feet quakes just briefly and there's a great shifting feeling as the skyline of the Felwood changes: At the center, between the five spires, something shimmers into view. Not just another spire, but a shining, silvery-hued building. Above it, twists in a silvery aura the symbol of Eluna: a crescent moon with a silver sphere within, the focus point of all five other spires.

The building looks to be on silver fire.