Session 116

General Summary

• The party defeated the attackers and proceeded around the blockage using a passage through a side of the tunnel that had grown weak over time.
• This eventually led up to the surface, too close to The Wall™ to stay for long. Kiirni instructed them how to meditate in order to stave off the worst of what The Phantasmagoria has to offer, and then they proceeded into the chaos to take a long rest.
• Dwardazik confidently summoned "a stone bed that's soft" just by asking the chaos for it.
• During the night, strange phenomena attacked whoever was on watch duty. On Dwardazik's turn, he lost track of time, missing his cue to wake the next.
• In the morning, the party discovered that Barry had been knocked unconscious during his watch with Dwardazik, and he was somehow stuck in the floor.
• Dazki tried to will the ground under Barry to become water. This kind-of worked: it became acid instead.
• Kiirni mentioned that it's safer to travel in smaller groups (the party is a "larger group"), so she left on her own with Roamer.
• A voice came through the Rotor of Return again, one of the two familiar ones (the one that didn't say "You can suck my nads, Prime!" and which Marvin is reasonably confident is not his father). The voice says:
• The stunt that they had pulled to redirect the time travel to a different destination involved strengthening the connection between Prime and "The Damsel".
• Pendel has set up a series of antennae out here to maintain the power he gets from Mirage Prime even though Prime can't actually reach this side of The Wall™.
• The plan is to use these antennae as waypoints leading to the "Wandering Temple", which is somehow connected to the Orrery of the Wanderer.
• As soon as the voice stopped, some pieces of the Rotor rearranged themselves, shooting out a series of lights that can project a map of some sort onto a surface.

Full Recap

Dwardazik: What is all this shit?! Whose blood is this anyway? Is anyone hurt?   Dazki, looking down at his stab wound: Doesn't look like any of it's mine. I see it all right here.

Rumble in the Tunnel: Combat Summary

• The triceratops blocking the tunnel turned out to be Barry, probably transformed by Kiirni.
• Kesmet turned the Tri-Barry-Tops greaterly invisible, allowing the party to get a good look at the enemies on the other side.
• Kiirni fired a Lightning Bolt down the tunnel, at a delay so that it wouldn't break Barry's polymorph.
• (The polymorph, by the way, didn't last much longer at all — it dropped the first time he got hit by a scimitar after the party had engaged.)
• She didn't bother to give any party members a heads-up, though, so it hit both Dwardazik and Kesmet in addition to three enemies, killing one outright.
• (Dazki was in the line of fire too, but you know how it is)
• Throughout the rest of the fight, Kiirni singularly focused on the commander, not seeming to care much about its minions.
• Having practically no spells available, due to "The Metronome Man"'s constant interruptions, Grogery decided to try to inspect the tunnel to look for a way out. (Perception 14) The wall of amalgamate material looks identical, but you have not had the time to process the walls of the pipe.
• Dwardazik tried to get the more vulnerable party members to go behind him. Barry happily complied (probably... he was still invisible, so it's hard to know for sure), firing an arrow at one of the abominations on his way back, actually managing to hit one.
• Kiirni specifically walked in front of him, and in a later round she would again stand right next to him after he moved forward to give another opportunity.
• A Confusion spell from Marvin locked down the three minions (not the leader) for the remainder of the fight, one of them even stabbing another with its spear.
• Dwardazik killed one of the abominations with a melee strike, Kesmet finished off a shaman with his fire ball, Kiirni killed their leader with a Magic Missile, and the other abomination managed to flee.

Dazki: Are we chasing that thing or letting it go?   Dwardazik: Do we really want to go back and potentially get ambushed by more reinforcements? We need to get the fuck out of this pipe!   Marvin: Yeah, forward is our best bet.   Dwardazik: And damnit, elf, I told ya to stay behind me! There could be other critters who are invisible! (He stomps in front of Kiirni, and then in front of Dazki when he sees that Dazki is there too.) Damn elves... don't know nothin' about a tactical shield wall...!

Grogery picks up a +1 Hand Crossbow off the leader's body, and Dazki pockets a vial of Drow Poison. Kesmet drops the Invisibility effect, and Barry appears in front of him.

Grogery: I checked out the wall a bit while we were fighting. The rubble pile seems to be similar, but maybe part of the pipe is cracked.   Dazki: We were told there would be something on the side of the pipe that we could break into. So I wouldn't expect the rubble pile to change, but there might be a weak point in the wall.   Grogery: OK. Dwardazik, I can take up shield duty if you want to take a look at the tunnel and see if anything got weakened by our actions in the past?   Dwardazik: Fine. (He stomps off, pausing to give Kiirni a stern / disappointed look for disobeying him.)   Dazki: So, these are the guys who were chasing to ambush earlier?   Kiirni: Yeah, for now.   Marvin: Will they be bringing reinforcements?   Kiirni, dismissively: Well, there was a survivor.   Dazki: I'd say we've got at least a day, maybe a day and a half to deal with it, though. It was a long way out to the end of the pipe, plus time back, plus time to gather whatever forces he might. We have at least a little bit of time to prepare and keep moving.   Grogery: If we can break into the side access, we might be able to Mend up the hole we leave behind, and then hide in the side access tunnel to regain our strength.   Kiirni: What do you mean, "side access tunnel"? We're trapped here.   Marvin: Oh, but that's where you're wrong!   Dazki: Like I warned you about before we disappeared, weird time travel bullshit thanks to "The Metronome Man", one of the lieutenants in The Hounds Guild. He shunted us back in time, we got some help, and did something in the past that should cause us to be able to have a way out of here in the present. Yes it's time travel, yes it's dumb, it sucks, just go with it.   Kiirni: You lied to me, by the way.   Marvin: About what?   Kiirni: You said there would be metal people. You just brought me regular people.   Dazki: I said in the past, there had been metal people.   Kiirni: I am under the firm belief that twisting one's words maliciously is still lying.   Dazki: I wasn't intending to be malicious! I was trying to warn you about something that might happen. I didn't know we would be switched with real people! Every time in the past, it's been automatons!   Kiirni: Mm-hmm...   Dazki: Every time in the past, it's been exploding automatons.   Kiirni: Mm-hmm...   Grogery: Pendel probably expected something like this to happen, so he made it different to screw with us.   Marvin: Kiirni, it seems like you deliberately misunderstand us.   Kiirni: I just don't buy into all these lies.   Marvin: ...there's a lot to unpack with that sentence.   Dazki: All right.   Marvin: All right. Kesmet, do you have that mirror?   Kesmet: I have two.   Marvin: Let's see what we can find by looking through the reflections. With any luck, the writing on the wall and reflection messages might point to where the new opening should be.

Marvin touches that spot on the wall. It's not an illusion. Kesmet uses Mage Hand to throw a rock at that part. It makes a different sound than at other parts of the wall.

Dwardazik: It appears that this area is just a patch on the tunnel. Interesting. I'll bet you I can rip this thing off!

Dwardazik: Wait, I wasn't expecting this! It looked like this might have been a side passageway, but this is a bit strange...

Grogery: Oh! What must have happened is that when we blew stuff up in the past, it made a weakness where water could trickle through, and it made this. It started getting in the tunnel, so they patched it.   Dazki: Yep. So, let's follow it.   Grogery: OK, let's make sure to replace the patch afterwards so that they won't know to follow us.   Dwardazik: It might be hard to make it look convincing from the outside, but if we can use some magic or illusion, we might be able to make it look legit.   Kesmet: Out of magic.   Marvin: Well, a weld is just a bunch of heat on metal.   Grogery: I could mend part of it in place.   Barry goes to start meditating.   Dazki: Unfortunately, Barry, we don't have time. We've got to keep moving now.

They pack up camp and determine a marching order. Kiirni and Roamer take up the rear.

Dazki: Speaking of Roamer, I have an idea that you're probably going to hate —   Kiirni: Listen, can we have more of this ridiculous discussion later, when we're not in a stinky pipe?   Dazki: Sure. Whatever.   Kiirni rolls her eyes.   Marvin: You're welcome, for finding the exit, by the way, Kiirni.   Dwardazik: Can we fucking move?!

Grogery spends some time Mending the patch.

Heat Rises

Dwardazik: I wouldn't expect anything living up here, but keep your eyes out.

Dwardazik: What the hell? This isn't what I was expecting. Isn't it supposed to be, like, a jungle?   Dazki: That's what it was on the other side, but who knows?

Grogery: The Wall™ probably does things to keep things from growing on top of it. It would be a bad "impenetrable wall" if plants could just uproot it over time.

Dwardazik: Damn, this place is hot...!   Grogery: Oh, this is going to get really hot during the day.   Dazki: Yeah, let's make it to the shade as quickly as we can.   Dwardazik: Oh my gosh, it feels like I'm in a damn forge!   Grogery: Too warm.   Dazki: All right, come on, let's move. Go-go-go. (He starts heading towards the foliage.)   Grogery: Is that even safe?   Dwardazik: Safer than this!

Dwardazik drops some ball bearings from his bag of 1,000 to help lead them back later, and Grogery digs a shallow line in the sand along the way as well. Marvin is the slowest of the bunch (and he doesn't know why), so the party goes at his speed.

Dazki, shouting at Kiirni running ahead: Are you safe going at it alone? Do you think that's a good idea? Or would there be other people waiting for you in that direction?   Kiirni just waves, not looking back.   Dwardazik: Damnit, Dazki, what if somebody hears ya?!   Dazki keeps pace with Kiirni.

Dazki waits until after Kiirni comes out of her meditation:

Dazki: What were you doing? For protection or what?   Kiirni: Give me a reason to care to tell you. And don't just whine and complain at me about how much better you are, how much cleverer you are, how much you deserve to know what I know.   Dazki: The reason is because I want to save people's lives. I don't want people to die. That's why we're coming out here. Now, you don't need to believe that — I'm sure you're angry at me for what happened with Roamer, and that's entirely understandable, I'm sorry. If there's any way we can fix what was done, any way we can help — other than dropping dead — then I would like to help fix that as well, because I am at least partially responsible. So, I want to help people. I know the way we do it isn't always correct, I understand. But I'm just a person doing the best I can. Can you help me continue to do that? Can you help me be better so that my ignorance won't cause more people to get hurt as all of us continue to struggle through life doing the best we're able? (Persuasion 16)   Kiirni: All right. You've never crossed this threshold before. You don't understand the danger you're getting into. So I should at least give you a chance at not immediately becoming one with it. "The Phantasmagoria", as it is called now, is a land of pure disarray. It's ever-shifting, ever-changing. As soon as it starts to make sense, it stops making sense. If you have no control over yourself, you're likely to get lost within the chaos as the matter around you cares not for your position within it.   Kiirni (cont'd): But, with proper mental fortitude and a proper respect for oneself, you can calm the chaos around you — at least temporarily — allowing you to traverse the land without becoming the land. It is a technique passed down, and I know it, which is why I do not fear "The Phantasmagoria": because I know I will not become it, and it will not become me.   Dazki: Will you please teach myself and my companions this technique?   Kiirni: I can try. Though I'm not as good a teacher. And I don't really like you, so the motivation's a little weak.   Dazki: Well, you'll find we are motivated students, so hopefully that will help. And Kiirni, thank you, I understand that this must be really hard for you, so thank you. I truly appreciate the effort you're putting forth.   Rest of the party has caught up.   Dazki, addressing them: Hold on, hold on.   Dwardazik: What are we holdin' on for? There's nothing but sand!   Kiirni: Do any of you have access to a pure element?   Dwardazik: "Pure element"? I don't think so.   Kiirni: Darn. That automatically stabilizes it.   Dwardazik: Huh?   Grogery: Turmoil. Pure elements automatically stabilize it. We don't have any, and we're not elementals.

The Medium Way

Each party member meditates, following Kiirni's instructions, to stabilize a zone around them while within the Phantasmagoria proper:

• Dazki will stabilize a 10-foot area around him for the day.
• Grogery will stabilize a 5-foot area around him for the day.
• Dwardazik, Marvin, and Kesmet will stabilize his own area for the day.
• Barry does not stabilize anything for the day.

They all step into the Phantasmagoria proper.

Dwardazik: This is stupid! (He walks forward a couple of steps and holds his hand out.) I want a stone bed that's soft!

Dwardazik: Now, THIS is fit for a dwarf!

Dwardazik hops on top and takes his armor off, setting it between his legs.

Dwardazik: 100%.

Dwardazik: No, come back, it shows how powerful I am!

Grogery: ...what even is this?   Dwardazik: All right, guys, I'm taking a nap. I'm done with this shit.   Dazki, with a sigh: I'll wake you when it's your watch.   Dwardazik: No, my watch is done!

First Watch: Dazki and Kesmet

Dazki starts taking detailed notes of what he is seeing through the night.

Dazki: Did you see that, Kesmet? There was a giant... dragon... bird thing that just dove down at me!   Kesmet: I think it was just the sands and maybe the heat playing tricks on your eyes. Focusing too far into the sand. You gotta be more like me and just kinda chill. Scan the horizon and not really focus in on any one point.   Dazki: OK. Sorry, the place is maybe getting to me, I guess. Anyway, you can turn in, I'll get Marvin.   Kesmet: All righty. Just remember: everything here's fine. Nothing's real. There's no way Dennis can survive here. We'll get whatever we need for killing him, and we'll be out of here in no time!   Dazki: That's... oddly comforting, thank you.

Second Watch: Dazki and Marvin

Dazki: Lots of crazy stuff. Lots of crazy stuff. Be careful.   Marvin: I think this will be the most careful I've ever been. Somehow staying calm despite all this.

Marvin: We should probably shoo that thing away, shouldn't we, Dazki?   Dazki: What thing?   Marvin: Oh, great. You don't see it. OK. Should I not interact with creatures here?   Dazki: I... ... maybe? I don't know.   Marvin: Well, I see one eating our fire.   Dazki: Fire looks fine to me.   Marvin: All right, I'll ignore it, then.

Dazki: OK! Maybe there is something there that I just couldn't see.   Marvin: Should we just get it going again, real quick?   Dazki: Yeah... (He begins walking over)   Marvin: Uh, the thing that I saw, he's not liking you going over there.

The chia bites Marvin, who takes a little damage but does not "suffer a horrible disease".

Marvin: Yeah, you'd better run away!   Dazki: What do you mean by that?   Marvin: No, the creature. That was just... eaten... by a bat. No, you're good, Dazki.   Dazki: All right. Yeah, I saw a bird/dragon/lizard thing that tried to swoop down and eat me. So, nothing is normal here.   Marvin: Looks like that creature you saw just got a snack. So I think, hopefully, it's not hungry anymore.

Marvin describes the creature to Dazki, who takes notes on it. It's a different beast altogether.

Dazki: All right. Time to get Dwardazik up for watch. He's taking watch, whether he likes it or not.

Third Watch: Dwardazik and Barry

Dwardazik: Huh?! ...rrgh. I was having a good dream, too.   Marvin: The creatures can, in fact, interact with you.   Dazki: Well, I'm off to start meditating.   Dwardazik: Might as well meditate on this rock. Damn comfiest thing you're gonna find in a thousand leagues. (He goes over to wake Barry.)   Barry feverishly assaults the air.   Dwardazik: Barry! Wake up. We gotta keep watch, Barry!   Barry: I'm watchin'!   Dwardazik: We gotta keep watch, Barry! Things could go wrong, Barry! Barry! Barry, things are getting weird out here, Barry! We need to keep watch, Barry! OK?   Barry: Uhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh... yeah.   Dwardazik: All right.

Dwardazik, to himself: Finally. The quiet I've been waiting for. Now, I'm NOT going to sleep, because that would be irresponsible toward my clan. But damn, is it not nice to have some silence for once!

Dwardazik: Wut? Oh. We meet again. Are you what I think you are? The Turmoil living inside me? The passenger?   Child: I am us.   Dwardazik: I thought so.   Child: I am your child.   Dwardazik: You are too familiar. When I came out here into the Phantasmagoria, I am afraid of the chaos and what it will instill. But I'm not afraid of the chaos itself — I'm afraid of what it will do to you. I don't want its effects to harm you. To cause you to become something that I don't think you want to become.   Child: It will not harm me, mother. In fact, it feels nice to have nothing against my flesh. The world you raise me in is caustic, but this seems nice. Can we stay here forever?   Dwardazik: We can't stay here forever. Just like it may be uncomfortable for me. I do believe we can travel to and fro, whenever we desire. For right now, what I want you to do is relax and enjoy this experience. To grow as an individual. But to remain vigilant and remember your purpose, and our goal: to defeat "The Metronome Man" and to protect our clan. Because clan is the most important thing that exists in this world. Our family will last forever.   Child: Our family will last forever!

Fourth Watch: N/A

Dwardazik having lost track of space and time and Barry apparently having run into other problems, nobody is woken up to do fourth watch.

Morning

Dazki wakes up Grogery first, then everyone else.

Grogery: Feels so good to actually get rest. How long was I out?   Dazki: Longer than you were supposed to be. Dwardazik didn't wake anybody up for last watch. Barry is unconscious, no idea what happened.   Grogery: OK. OK-OK-OK-OK.

Grogery walks over to Barry and tries to pull him out of the floor, but (Strength 5) it doesn't work. (Medicine 12) Barry was tempted to eat something; he's been poisoned. Dazki goes to Dwardazik and snaps him out of it.

Dwardazik: What's going on? What was that? Someone say my name?   Dazki: Yes. You didn't wake anybody up for fourth watch, and Barry is stuck in the ground. We need help getting him out.   Dwardazik: No, that's not possible. Hasn't it only been a couple minutes? Are you sure you're not overreacting?   Grogery uses Lesser Restoration to cure Barry's poison, but he's still stuck.   Dwardazik: Is Barry OK?   Grogery: He's not poisoned anymore, but he's stuck in the floor.   Dwardazik: How do we deal with that?   Grogery: We pull him out of the floor.   Dwardazik: The one thing I know about Turmoil, and that I think you all are starting to realize, is that it's everything all at once. So, Dazki, I need your help. With your strength of mind, and my... strength... we can force him to leave this fake earth. Deal?   Dazki: Uh, sure. I've got a feeling that the earth is real, but... yeah. I know what you mean. Got it.   Dwardazik, grabbing onto Barry: OK, now you stand right next to him, and you think strong "he's not stuck" thoughts.   Dazki: Sure.   (Strength 13) he's still stuck in the stone floor.   Dwardazik: What the hell, this isn't supposed to be this difficult!   Kesmet: What if we just cast an illusion of a hole in the ground where he is, so that he's unstuck? That sort of weird shit happened in the pipe.   Dazki: That sounds like a good idea. Why don't you try that?

Kesmet creates an illusion of a "cartoony black circle" on the ground. Centipedes start pouring out of it.   Dazki tries to will the ground beneath Barry to be water. (Intelligence 18) Barry is now above a terrible pit of acid. Dwardazik throws him out of it.

Dwardazik: Now, if everyone's OK... if I fucked up my watch, I'm sorry. I wasn't prepared for what happened tonight.   Dazki: It's fine. Turmoil, everything's crazy, don't worry about it. Minor injuries, nothing else happened. It's fine.   Dwardazik: OK, well, I will do better. I swear it on my honor.   Dazki: I know you will. It's OK.   Barry: Guys, I don't think I like this place.   Dazki: Yeah, I'm getting that feeling as well.   Grogery: OK, I feel like I'm still a bit groggy from oversleeping, but... where exactly are we even going?   Barry: Should we be concerned about all the centipedes?   Dazki: Let's hope the answer is no.   Kesmet: Nah, they're fine. It's fine. (Deception 11)   Marvin: They'll probably turn into slugs in a few seconds, and then flies in a few more seconds.   Kesmet: Or! Or, they could turn into corn dogs, and we could have a delicious breakfast.   Grogery: Speaking of that, I need to get my spells ready, and then I guess we can get breakfast going.   Dwardazik: Damn straight! I never thought I'd say this, Grogery, but can I get some of that completely bland bread of yours?   Grogery: Sure, I just need to do some prayers to get my magic back.   Dwardazik: Oh. Right. Yeah, that makes sense. OK, we'll get the fire going! Kesmet, help me out here. If there's one thing I know that will keep this party sane and focused, it's —   Kesmet: Murder, in "self-defense"?   Dwardazik: — a full stomach of non-chaotic food.   Kesmet: Oh yeah, full stomach. That works too.   Dwardazik: Full stomach.

Dwardazik cooks something on the fire and (Survival 8) generates a really nice-looking meal. It looks amazing and smells good, too.

Grogery: Are we going to reach where we're heading today?   Dazki: We'd need to talk to Kiirni about that, and she's currently meditating.   Grogery: OK, it would be nice to know before preparing spells, so I'm going to plan just in case. Nobody get cursed!   Dwardazik: I'll... keep that in mind?

Grogery creates food and water.

Dwardazik: Now, this thing that I made, it's best if it's spread upon Grogery's bread. That was the intention.

Meditation checks for the day:

• Dazki and Grogery will each will stabilize 5-foot areas around them.
• Dwardazik, Marvin, Kesmet, and Barry will each stabilize their own areas for the day.

Grogery: Also, I looked something up before going to sleep: if we're in a place where we have 120 feet of space, I can probably do something that will keep "The Metronome Man" from finding us again. It blocks divination and keeps ghosts out.   Dwardazik: You know, when I saw "The Metronome Man" in his true form, in a different "plane" I guess, ...that might be a really valid option. But more importantly, I'd be more interested in going to that plane and beating the shit out of him!   Grogery: I can do that too, now.   Dwardazik: Something tells me that transferring planes in the middle of nowhere may not be the best advice. But that brings up a point: where do we go from here?   Dazki: We need to get some advice from Kiirni on that.   Dwardazik: Where's even Kiirni going? (He calls out to her.) Hey, Kiirni! What do you even want from The Phantasmagoria, besides a cure for your boyfriend?   Dazki: You know, Dwardazik, I understand your frustration, and I understand that that is dwarven diplomacy, but maybe we should try to use... something other than dwarven diplomacy, seeing that Kiirni is not a dwarf?   Dwardazik: ...well... uh... Kiirni, what do you...   Dazki: "Please"s, "Thank you"s. Softer, kinder words.   Dwardazik: So... right. Um, Kiirni. Where are you heading in The Phantasmagoria? Perhaps we're... heading in the same direction!   Kiirni: We're not. My plan is to go in whatever direction you don't go.   Dwardazik: That's great! Because... uh... (He looks to Dazki for help.)   Dazki: We have to impose upon your kindness again. We are looking for a Dennis Donahue and "The Metronome Man". The people that were hired to assassinate you, that Roamer was trying to stop. Would you have any idea how we could navigate this place to find them?   Kiirni: "Navigate"? I mean, nobody really "navigates" this place.   Dazki: Then, how would we best traverse this land?   Kiirni: You know, a big part of it is luck, a big part of it is basic survival skills. A big part of it is just, you know, toeing the line. If you want it too much, sometimes you're not going to get it. You have to kinda go with it.   Dazki: All right. And, unrelated to that, I had an idea that you're probably not going to like, but... you know how Roamer linked to me using his powers, and that's what caused this transformation of his?   Kiirni: Yeah, you infected him with orderliness.   Dazki: Something like that. So, in that link, I unintentionally took something from him. Part of that is the ability to make the kinds of links that he makes. Would you allow me to try to mentally link with him again, so that maybe he can take back what was unintentionally stolen from him, in an attempt to undo what was done?   Kiirni: What, so you can take more of his powers?!   Dazki: I will not take anything from him. I didn't try to take anything from him initially. It was a result of my struggling against someone invading my mind. This is going to be completely up to him, he can stop me if he wants, and I will not force anything. I just want to try to help, and this is an idea that I thought of that might be able to help him. If you don't want me to, and if Roamer doesn't want me to, then I won't.   Dwardazik: Dazki's trying really hard to be diplomatic, Kiirni, and —   Kiirni: We're not talking to you.   Marvin: Well, that was rude...   Kiirni: You know what's rude? Eavesdropping on other people's conversations. AND talking with your mouth full!   Dwardazik: I will not be baited by your elven temperament!   Dazki: Will you please allow me to try to help? This is the only thing I can think of that might be able to do the pain that I've caused both of you.   Kiirni: We have it under control. We can do it ourselves.   Dazki: OK. All right. I'm trying to learn about not forcing my assistance on people that don't want it. So, OK.   Dwardazik: Ugh. Kiirni, I'll say this once. I don't think it's wise for you to leave our party. (Kiirni begins mocking him as he talks.) But frankly, and I think you truly believe this, I would like to see you leave as soon as possible.   Marvin: OK, that was also rude, Dwardazik.   Dwardazik: So, take it as you will.   Dazki: All right, well, thank you. I guess we would appreciate it if you'd continue with us, but obviously you're the expert here. If you want to leave, you're more than welcome to, but we're going to stop the people that tried to kill you and that caused Roamer to have to take such a desperate ploy that caused him this issue. We would like your assistance in ending that threat.   Kiirni: It's safer to travel in smaller groups. I do not want to be in your larger group.   Dazki: OK. In that case, thank you for the assistance you've rendered unto us thus far. We are in your debt.   Dwardazik: Just one thing I want to make clear, though.   Kiirni:

Dwardazik: When I said that we would find a cure for the issues caused by Turmoil that have been plaguing our homeland... the cure, when we do find it, will be open to all, including you, should you seek it. On my dwarven honor. Despite me not enjoying — as you can tell — your personal company. It's the least I can do for your assistance in the stability field.   Kiirni: I've been pretty good at living my life so far without your intrusion. Keep it to yourself. I'll be fine.   Dwardazik: I hope so. I'm looking forward to it.   Dazki: Well, then we wish you and Roamer the best. Hopefully, you two will have a long and happy life together whose paths we will not cross again.   (Insight 22) You have grown on her, the tiniest little bit, through your kindness opposing her fear. And though she very much would like to leave this situation to go deal with something else, the thought of never coming across you again is not necessarily a positive.   Dazki: If you have other places to be, then good luck, and may whatever gods — or Turmoil or whatever it is you worship — smile upon you.   Kiirni leaves, walking into the prismatic colors of the world.   Marvin, yelling after her: Good luck out there!   Peeking through the mist:

Dwardazik: Don't worry about it, Marvin. Trying to understand their culture is difficult.   Dazki: I dunno, Marvin, I think your girlfriend in Ashport might need to be worried!   Marvin: I have no interest in Kiirni, oh my gosh.

Grogery, gloved: Hello?   Voice: OK! OK, when are you? Same when? Close when?   Grogery: We are past The Wall™. We've gotten through.   Voice: That was a "where", but I'll take it. This seems to be a very stable connection. I like it!   Grogery: What even happened last time? It sounded like Mirage or Pendel became aware of what we were doing.   Voice: OK. OK. Very concerning, did have to increase the connection between the Damsel and Prime... but that's fine, because we're going to save the whole world anyways, and then, so that's all irrelevant. The only thing that matters is the final result. If it gets a little messy in the middle... that's fine! That's fine. Everything's fine. How are you?   Grogery: Well, I mean, doing significantly —   Voice: We don't — we don't have time for this.   Grogery: Why'd you even ask?!   Grogery: Who, like, are you? Are you Marvin's dad, or...?   Voice: Later. We can talk about a lot of this later, OK? Later? Before? I don't remember if I've already answered these questions.   Marvin: Definitely doesn't sound like my dad.   Voice: In order for Pendel to get his power on this side of The Wall™, he has set up a series of redistribution antennae.   Grogery: ...O...K...?   Voice: We can utilize these to pinpoint the location of the Orrery. The Wandering Temple.   Grogery: There's a "Wandering Temple"?   Voice: I haven't told you about this yet! Shit! Hold on. ... ... ...OK. The Orrery of the Wanderer. You know that part, right? Got it. No, yeah, of course you do, you have the piece. OK. Listen. We've got to get to the Wandering Temple. The final resting place of the Orrery of the Wanderer is there. That is the only place we can use to stop him from, uh, causing all the problems. I have to be vague, here. We're just going to call them "problems" for now.   Grogery: OK, where is it? How do we find it?   Voice: In order for Pendel to have access to his deity, he has to set up a series of antennae to redistribute his signal. Prime cannot reach this side of The Wall™.   Grogery: That's... interesting...   Voice: I could go on about it for hours, but we literally have no time for that.   Grogery: OK, so what do you have time to —   Voice: We can use the antennae as a map... ... as a "road"? "road sign"? ...sure!   Marvin: ...sure.   Voice: Because those will have to link up, signal-wise, to the Wandering Temple, regardless of where the Wandering Temple currently is.   Grogery: So we use the antennae to link to the Wandering Temple, figure out where it is, go there, destroy the —   Voice: WAYPOINTS! We can use them as waypoints.   Grogery: So, the antennae are out here past The Wall™.   Voice: Yes, it's the only way he can get his power this deep into the Phantasmagoria. I don't have enough time to explain, but if you can get to one of those beacons, I might be able to afford more time to answer some questions.   Grogery: OK, how do we find the beacon?   Voice: You're gonna — ...good luck!   The Rotor goes silent.   Grogery: Well, that both shed a lot of insight, and also brought up about twice as many questions as it answered.   Dwardazik: So, can we talk to this lad?   Grogery: It sounds like he's done.   Dwardazik: How do we know we can trust him?   Grogery: Well, he did get us through The Wall™, so...   Dwardazik: All right. I don't like being led on like this without at least knowing the person I'm talking to, but... frankly, times are strange.