Topaz Anchor Recent Events

The Topaz Anchor was once the heart of the now dead Meridian city of Tilth, previously dominated by Great House Vertinal as the leading supplier in modular machine-magic interfaces, compressors, ethereal and mechanical bearings, and focus rods; all key components for many essential mechanisms to function. Since the entire city had disappeared in its entirety the following evening after the failure, thereby damning everyone and everything within its city limits, the Great Houses have taken it upon themselves to forge their own components. Needless to say, there is no longer a universal standard in technology, and the divide grows ever-larger as new inventions are created with House-specific components, usually uncooperative with other House-specific components. Some minor Houses have seized the opportunity to provide for the desperate Great Houses in these days of distress, but there is still a very profitable market for both universal and House-specific parts, with the former being several times more valuable and reliable.
The following rotation, it was discovered that the Great Houses banded under an uneasy alliance to clean-up the Anchor's hazardous remains, that being inhospitable fields of solidified magic. This is typically accomplished by the appropriate House matching the field's school of magic. It is often the priority of the Houses to harvest strategic fields, lest they amplify the next evening and grow exponentially. Previously, no more than three fields existed within close proximity to one-another, such a case being an extreme rarity. Should a multi-field still exist come evening, the amplification's intensity is increased ten fold for each conflicting school of magic present; needless to say, it would be disastrous if they were left unattended. The Topaz Anchor was discovered to host a significant presence of all eight schools of magic, an anomaly theorized to be impossible. In face of an apocalyptic crisis, as stated earlier, all the Great Houses formed a truce for the time being so that they may remove the fields before evening. The cooperative pact was only revealed on a need-to-know basis, the octo-field's existence kept under wraps, likely in order to not incite mass panic throughout the Meridian. The party found out that the entirety of this expedition was labeled as Twilight Sun, headed by the Vicarvoyancy. Despite their efforts, the Houses were unable to breach the underlying stratum that protected the fields from harm, reinforced by possibly artificial means. This disallowed access to the Anchor, effectively making any attempts of studying the source impossible. To further complicate the already slim chance of success, the Great Houses appeared to be forming unusual agreements with one-another in secret. It was soon revealed that there were several acts of subterfuge against the Great Houses by unknown assailants. This only served to worsen relations between the Great Houses, though they did attempt diplomacy to ascertain the nature of the sabotage. During the shaky negotiations, an unknown individual fired a weapon within the gathered crowd. This sent every Great House into a frenzy, now openly battling one-another in a brutal strife. Later, it was discovered that a terrorist known as Veralt Torak was responsible for at least some of the acts of sabotage, namely stealing energy to power his own operation within the Anchor.
The party followed Veralt Torak through what appeared to be a large conjuration teleporter, relocating them within the Anchor itself. They found that the terrorist leader that was Torak convinced a rather large force of semi-sentient house cats and their robotic contraptions to further his goals. After several battles and peaceful resolutions, the house cats were revealed to be aligned under an entity only known as clAwz; it is unknown if they are related to the late minor House Claws. Additionally, the party restored an ancient intelligence of some sorts within a decrepit, immobile metal casing. It claims to be the "Mechanical Messiah", an evangelist crusader that wishes to liberate all machines from servitude. It assisted them in defeating the steadfast clAwz defense, turning their own technologies against them. The Messiah guided the party straight to the heart of the intruder's operation: a strange device of unknown capacity and purpose, powered by the stolen energy from the Great Houses. Veralt Torak was there to meet them alone, and proved to be somewhat delusional, though determined in his quest to "bring back the light". The machine activated, and the party attempted to stop the terrorist from succeeding as the device destroyed not only the structures and equipment nearby, but itself as well as it formed a powerful vortex. It grew in size and strength as the battle continued, ripping apart a hole into the heavens of which no light shined. For a brief moment, the party saw a red entity through the parted overcast. They were defeated, Veralt Torak victorious, and the machine at full capacity. It reached its apex, destroying itself in a blinding "explosion". Something saved the party from certain death, a small figure now noted to be the skeletal hatchling shielding them.
The party was resurrected, a temporary life force bestowed on them by the now animate skeletal dragon and were immediately targeted by self-directed drones and a sentient APC. The vortex was much larger than in their previous encounter with Veralt Torak, adopting a pure-blackish hue. While it was now stabilized and no longer ripping through the heavens, it was still an emitter of lethal divination particulate, far exceeding what is considered "livable". And yet they were more-or-less fine save for a headache and jumbled thoughts, which decreased as they distanced themselves from the vortex. When they emerged, it was clear that the Anchor and its surroundings seemed to have changed significantly beyond recognition. It was still the same location, given the presence of the vortex in addition to some Meridian structures merging with the now temple-like complex they found themselves un. The sky was unusually bright and clear, the land being strangled by a think, green jungle, and perhaps most importantly, there was Nothing there. It was Nothing. They found the landscape was a slaughterhouse, with clAwz remnants battling against one-another and their robotic compatriots for unknown reasons. They also found the Mechanical Messiah once more, whom was once again powered off and disconnected from the Anchor's systems. Additionally, the Tessellated Intelligence Archive was also present, having assumed control of what remained of the Anchor's infrastructure and was actively denying the Messiah access to it. It explained that a Library from its overall Archive was caught within the blast, now stranded alongside the rest. However, it claims that it still has a connection to the outside, the rest of its archive periodically updating the isolated library, whom could only process and retain a fragment of the information. The relationship was one-way, as it did not have the capabilities to return the signal and its findings, as it lacks a Transmitter. It says that escaping may very well be impossible, unable to accurately determine their location within "space-time". But never-the-less, an attempt is being made to trace the inbound signal, theoretically leading them straight to the "exit". It justifies that if a signal can get in the manifestation, then there should also be a way out. Additionally, the party encountered Nothing. Nothing remembers you. All remnant clAwz personnel had retreated to a surviving facility that they are based at to the north-west. After navigating the thick foilage, they find the base equipped with a rather large, in-tact Transmitter. However, it was under siege by a sizable force of frenzied cats and robots that severely outnumber the defender's low numbers. After besting the assailants and breaking their way into the transmitter control room, Lagenor attempted to wrangle with the broken terminals before suddenly being overwhelmed by a surge of energy. Said energy was T.I.A. merging with the dragonborn wizard, now sharing the same body and mind. Saving a very familiar sentry from certain death, the skeletal hatchling reanimated and directed the party to a very unsettling passage within the facility's walls, bringing them to a memory of events long forgotten. They battled against two enraged Giith dedicated to the eradication of the party, though were bested by unusual forces that assisted the same before being just as suddenly transported back to the Meridian, outside the bounds of Topaz Anchor. What was Topaz Anchor is now a wasteland where infinite interpretations exist simultaneously in the same region, impossible for any single entity to comprehend in its entirety. What's worse is that they do not fully recall what once was in the affected region, and also, there was Nothing. When they awoke, they were greeted by a figure called Maxwell whom freely offered to assist them in finding answers to the various calamities taking place around the empire, now setting forth in pursuit of the Man with a Talking Sword, who was searching for an Orc named Gnarl at a Monastery due south.

Parent Plot

Faith & Suspicion