Session 20
Caught in the middle of a blizzard, tired and weakened, our heroes ventured onwards. Their goal to reach the uiversity and find out how to stop the elemental invasion. Francis broke the silence first, telling the party that they would need to seek shelter soon as the blizzard was getting worse.
However, our heroes are not so easily swayed from duty or the potential of having powerful wizards owe them. The forged onward, in spite of their bruised bodies and general exhaustion. As they trudged through the snow, their pant legs now soaked with the melted ice around their legs, they all began to feel the chill.
Fortunately, they were close. Around the bend was their destinatin; the university. Curiously, the university was surrounded by a purple and pink dome, which showed no snow or breeze inside of it. There were, however, a patrol of elementals awaiting anyone foolish enough to step in unprepared.
Seeing an opportunity to get an edge, Oryim suggested a stealth plan. The party agreed, having Oryim and Liaden O'Legal stealth at the wings while Sam Calas, Kalydin and Francis attempted a stealthy yet direct approach. Unfortunately, Francis was less accustomed to stealth and gave away the groups position.
What followed was a gruesome battle which nearly left Sam and Liaden frostbitten and everyone else much worse off than when they started. But before they could take a moment to catch their breathe, they had to get inside to warm up. Before just barreling into the building only to be ambushed, Oryim tried putting their ear to the door to listen do what may be inside. What they didn't account for though, was a forcefield that jettisoned them from the area. Thrown onto their backside, but no worse for wear, the party decided that the stronger members should probably be the ones to try the door. Sam struggled to keep hold of it, but Seraph shook off the effect as though it were no problem. However, he struggled to pull the door open. After a moment Seraph tried pushing instead, a considerably easier feat considering that the door was labelled "Push."
Once inside, our heroes searched the foyer for any additional information, noting that torches were lighting up the space without giving off heat. The door directly in front of them shed light from the crack beneath it leading them to believe that this was probably the right course. Kalydin, tired and sick of the cold slammed the door open to reveal a clutch of mages inside. While 5 sat in a circle chanting and drawing arcane sigils into the air, the others were sweating and appeared exhausted. It was Liaden who interrogated them first, asking them who they were, what they were doing and why they weren't helping any of the others outside the university with their magic.
Having gotten answers and chastising the mages thoroughly for their negligence, they then turned their questions to the whereabouts of Headmaster Oswald. The mages here, who were maintaining the weather field to keep the ice and wind out of the university, were upset to be spoken to in this way, calling Liaden rude but begrudging her with answers as it seemed like the fasted way to resolve the issues at hand. They informed the party that Oswald was in the basement lecture theatre; where the conjuration exam was being held and that he had been down there for some time. This, to them, was a clear sign that something had gone wrong, so they sealed up the university to stop anything else from getting in. Or so they thought.
On their way downstairs, the party drank some of their potions in preparation for what they may find down there. Once they had descended the stairs into the lecture theatre, they saw not one, but two gaping portals to the elemental planes beyond the material realm. In front of the portals were Matty and Rob, incased in elementals. The two boys looked as though they were in pain. With Matty's body slowly leaking blood into the whirlwind incasing him and Rob struggling to breathe in the water and ice incasing him. On the upper level were Oswald and another member of staff, one that Liaden recognised from the day before when she was taking down Rob's stolen poetry. Between the staff members and the larger elementals were tethers of magic that appeared to be holding the monstrous forms in place.
In order to free the boys, without them dying, the portals needed to be shut. The unnamed professor instructed our heroes to destroy the arcane sigils on the ground beneath the portals to sever the connection between the material realm and elemental planes. This would force these monstrosities of elemental power to uninhabited their hosts and become weakened. However, reinforcements were coming from beyond as well. Smaller elementals clambered into reality as the battle drew on. The party, with little regard for their safety, took the shortest route possible as they jumped from the highest level down to the lowest in order to make a bee-line for the arcane sigils.
The battle drew on, and our heroes grew withered. Still exhausted from their jaunt through the blizzard and now weakened from the many trials and tribulations that beset them on their way here. It seemed like the battle would be lost. But Oryim was able to use what little strength they had left to erase the sigils linking the material plane from the plane of air beyond. But with every victory comes a new foe. With the portal destroyed, Oswald lost control of the binding spell releasing the Storm Lord, Widgrace, upon the battlefield. Soon after, the other professor also lost control, releasing the Tidal Master from the plane of water as well. With time definitely not on their side, or heroes scrambled to get the portals closed while also fighting off the hordes of advancing, and quite angry, elementals.
After an intense and close fight, our heroes emerged victorious, with Seraph dealing the final blow and laying low the Tidal Master and Lord Windgrace. With the imminent threat dealt with, and the university secured, our heroes turned their attention to Oswald. Asking him to explain how he could let something of this caliber happen right in front of him. Dumbstruck, he was at a loss for most words. The other professor did his best to fill them in, introducing himself as Darcy Raleigh; the head of the sorcerer program at the university. He agreed that there were some clear, and very serious, faults in the universities security and protocols and thanked the party for their intervention.
As he turned to leave, leaning against the stairway railings, the party turned their attention to the rest of the town that, one way or another, would need help recovering.
However, our heroes are not so easily swayed from duty or the potential of having powerful wizards owe them. The forged onward, in spite of their bruised bodies and general exhaustion. As they trudged through the snow, their pant legs now soaked with the melted ice around their legs, they all began to feel the chill.
Fortunately, they were close. Around the bend was their destinatin; the university. Curiously, the university was surrounded by a purple and pink dome, which showed no snow or breeze inside of it. There were, however, a patrol of elementals awaiting anyone foolish enough to step in unprepared.
Seeing an opportunity to get an edge, Oryim suggested a stealth plan. The party agreed, having Oryim and Liaden O'Legal stealth at the wings while Sam Calas, Kalydin and Francis attempted a stealthy yet direct approach. Unfortunately, Francis was less accustomed to stealth and gave away the groups position.
What followed was a gruesome battle which nearly left Sam and Liaden frostbitten and everyone else much worse off than when they started. But before they could take a moment to catch their breathe, they had to get inside to warm up. Before just barreling into the building only to be ambushed, Oryim tried putting their ear to the door to listen do what may be inside. What they didn't account for though, was a forcefield that jettisoned them from the area. Thrown onto their backside, but no worse for wear, the party decided that the stronger members should probably be the ones to try the door. Sam struggled to keep hold of it, but Seraph shook off the effect as though it were no problem. However, he struggled to pull the door open. After a moment Seraph tried pushing instead, a considerably easier feat considering that the door was labelled "Push."
Once inside, our heroes searched the foyer for any additional information, noting that torches were lighting up the space without giving off heat. The door directly in front of them shed light from the crack beneath it leading them to believe that this was probably the right course. Kalydin, tired and sick of the cold slammed the door open to reveal a clutch of mages inside. While 5 sat in a circle chanting and drawing arcane sigils into the air, the others were sweating and appeared exhausted. It was Liaden who interrogated them first, asking them who they were, what they were doing and why they weren't helping any of the others outside the university with their magic.
Having gotten answers and chastising the mages thoroughly for their negligence, they then turned their questions to the whereabouts of Headmaster Oswald. The mages here, who were maintaining the weather field to keep the ice and wind out of the university, were upset to be spoken to in this way, calling Liaden rude but begrudging her with answers as it seemed like the fasted way to resolve the issues at hand. They informed the party that Oswald was in the basement lecture theatre; where the conjuration exam was being held and that he had been down there for some time. This, to them, was a clear sign that something had gone wrong, so they sealed up the university to stop anything else from getting in. Or so they thought.
On their way downstairs, the party drank some of their potions in preparation for what they may find down there. Once they had descended the stairs into the lecture theatre, they saw not one, but two gaping portals to the elemental planes beyond the material realm. In front of the portals were Matty and Rob, incased in elementals. The two boys looked as though they were in pain. With Matty's body slowly leaking blood into the whirlwind incasing him and Rob struggling to breathe in the water and ice incasing him. On the upper level were Oswald and another member of staff, one that Liaden recognised from the day before when she was taking down Rob's stolen poetry. Between the staff members and the larger elementals were tethers of magic that appeared to be holding the monstrous forms in place.
In order to free the boys, without them dying, the portals needed to be shut. The unnamed professor instructed our heroes to destroy the arcane sigils on the ground beneath the portals to sever the connection between the material realm and elemental planes. This would force these monstrosities of elemental power to uninhabited their hosts and become weakened. However, reinforcements were coming from beyond as well. Smaller elementals clambered into reality as the battle drew on. The party, with little regard for their safety, took the shortest route possible as they jumped from the highest level down to the lowest in order to make a bee-line for the arcane sigils.
The battle drew on, and our heroes grew withered. Still exhausted from their jaunt through the blizzard and now weakened from the many trials and tribulations that beset them on their way here. It seemed like the battle would be lost. But Oryim was able to use what little strength they had left to erase the sigils linking the material plane from the plane of air beyond. But with every victory comes a new foe. With the portal destroyed, Oswald lost control of the binding spell releasing the Storm Lord, Widgrace, upon the battlefield. Soon after, the other professor also lost control, releasing the Tidal Master from the plane of water as well. With time definitely not on their side, or heroes scrambled to get the portals closed while also fighting off the hordes of advancing, and quite angry, elementals.
After an intense and close fight, our heroes emerged victorious, with Seraph dealing the final blow and laying low the Tidal Master and Lord Windgrace. With the imminent threat dealt with, and the university secured, our heroes turned their attention to Oswald. Asking him to explain how he could let something of this caliber happen right in front of him. Dumbstruck, he was at a loss for most words. The other professor did his best to fill them in, introducing himself as Darcy Raleigh; the head of the sorcerer program at the university. He agreed that there were some clear, and very serious, faults in the universities security and protocols and thanked the party for their intervention.
As he turned to leave, leaning against the stairway railings, the party turned their attention to the rest of the town that, one way or another, would need help recovering.
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