Journal Entry 21.00 To the Past

The party visits Perlachio in the past as he is constructing his tower and the temple plaza. The party also learns much of the Sarlok culture and how they were destroyed by Coalescence.

“With all five temples cleared, what now? What of the giants outside?” Urik asks.
“If it’s a battle that’s coming, doubt it will be avoided by continued talking. I say get it over with.” Morvion says right before he chants the quick words to enchant his weapon, the crystal spearhead lighting up the hallway with pure white light, the channels etched deep within its shaft filling up with white energy as it pours down from the speartip toward the butt of the spear.
Seeing the rest of the party nod in assent, Graykar approaches the entrance. “Good with me.” He then stops for a moment, “Hmm – something has changed. The doorway has a shimmer.”
The rest of the party huddles up near the door to check it out. At the actual threshold where the inside meets the outside, a solid wall of slightly distorted air exists.
Unable to offer an explanation, Graykar looks back to Aja and Morvion for clarification.
Aja says, “It’s some type of gate – might be planar. Similar type of magic to the rest of the temple gates. I’ve never encountered this construction signature in a gate before so can’t be certain.”
Morvion only adds, “One sure way to find out, go through it.”
Graykar steps through and disappears. Dunger follows. Waiting only a second, Tars and Urik step through. Morvion steps through last.
Stepping through into a light drizzle heightening the smells of a spring morning, they all instantly realize that despite coming out of the Air Temple, the environment has radically changed.
The temples they see before them are incomplete, still in the process of being built. As far as the Air Temple they are standing on, it looks mostly finished on the outside. The Fire Temple is about half completed. The main obelisk, which was over a five hundred feet tall last time they saw it, now only stands about four stories in height, surrounded by an angry web of black metal scaffolding. The air is filled with the sounds of construction coming from multiple forges in operation, the anvils clamoring off of each other like an incoherent orchestral piece. Added to this is the continual clacking of hundreds of visible stonecutters working on polishing up stones to various sizes. While not drowned out, the party hears the collected voices of possibly thousands of workers all laboring hard in the temple plaza.
Not given a chance outside to look around, they hear a loud voice, “Margogag Skidad!” issued forth behind them.
Incomprehensible at first, within half a second all of the party realizes that they can make out the words of ‘Get to back Work, there is still much to do.” Looking back at the speaker and his two companions, they see three male creatures of what they believe to be the Sarlok species. It looks similar to the creature created when Aja first attempted to uncurse one of the savage Sarloks they had seen upon first entering the Sarlok city. Overall, the creature stands at about five and a half feet with a shorter torso than most humanoids, making up for it with longer legs and arms. Barefoot, they can see both hands and feet are clawed rather the fingernails common to most bipedals. As far as facial features go, it appears to be an ugly elf with stark goblinoid features mixed in: pronounced orbital ridge over the eyes, narrow nose, and a wider pronounced chin stretching over the neck.
As they look back at the speaker, they take themselves in also. Despite being able to see each other, they also see that there is a ghostly image covering each party member - the image of a slightly different kind of Sarlok. Each of their alternate images is wearing basic linen cloths as might be expected of a slave or common laborer. In appearance, they each appear to be slightly larger than the other three who were directing them with broader shoulders and overly muscular arms and legs. Whereas the three had shorter hair of different colors, all of the party’s alter images possess long black hair.
Pointing at some logs and boxes full of tools, the initial speaker speaks again, “Garcodesus dindo bas,” before pointing at the path heading down from the temple. Again, mere moments after said, the translations comes to each of the party, ‘Pick up those boxes and head down.’ The understanding comes in the same way as when one half-hears a statement and it takes a moment to register just what was said.
Aja realizes that the language spoken is similar to the language she has been reading in the temples. It is far simpler, possibly the base language the temple language was built upon. Mentally, she quickly readjusts certain of the rules she had set for the pronunciation of various vowel sounds, this being her first actual speaker heard of the ancient language.
Playing along, Morvion reaches down and picks up some boxes saying, “Yes sir,” in response. His hope is that if he acts quickly enough, others in the party will follow suit before getting angered at being bossed around. Aja also reaches down and grabs some of the indicated items, followed immediately by Graykar. With half the party going along, Tars nods and decides that with no visible threat, carrying a few items will be ok.
The three directing them pick up some smaller tools and then follow.
As they start down, Morvion realizes that when he had replied, it had been in the same language as the Sarloks, the sounds of the language coming a slight moment after he said it himself.
Carrying the boxes down, they follow the three others to a forge where they are directed to drop off the items. Continuing to go along with their roles as they investigate their surroundings, they don’t resist the commands of the three directing them. Once at the forge, two of the three directing them depart, leaving only the initial speaker to give orders. When he speaks to them, it is with authority as if he expects full compliance. He doesn’t belittle them, however, he speaks in such a way as to indicate he believes them to be simpletons.
From the encounter, they learn that the master of this forge is Master Smith Karlto, another one of the Sarloks with the elongated arms. He calls out for one of his helpers, a Sarlok of a build similar to that of the party members, whom he calls Gurlin.
Following further directions, they pick up several tools, a box of nails, and a small crate with several metal latches with three notches removed at either end. Then the group starts heading toward the main structure in the middle of the temple plaza.
Having enough of this, Morvion decides he is tired of following instructions. Rather than pick a fight, he decides to take on a stubborn approach. He looks to the overseer, “I am tired of working. Why am I doing this?”
The overseer firmly answers with a calm voice, “Get moving, you have half a day of work left. Then we all rest.”
Morvion asks a few more questions, not getting very far and then sits down. The overseer tries to verbally get him moving, and when that fails he backs up and starts calling out, “I think I have another one here.”
As others of similar type to the overseer start making their way over, Morvion then stands up. “Nevermind, I am ready to work again.”
After this display of independence, the party decides to play along for the day and see what transpires, using the time to better understand their surroundings. One thing they discover is that when they talk to one of the inhabitants, their words are translated, but when they talk among themselves it is as if the Sarloks are oblivious. Intent literally drives this function of whether the words are translated based on whom they intend to hear.
They also discover that if they stop to examine something briefly, like pick up a tool or piece of equipment or something, none of the Sarloks take notice. They only take notice when a delay starts approaching several seconds.
Still together, it takes about three trips back and forth to get all the supplies from the forge to the main structure. During this time, they see another of the overseers start calling out for help, “We got another one changing.” As the party watches, they see a new type of Sarlok emerge from one of the buildings and come look at the worker Sarlok on the ground, now flailing about.
“Confirmed, he is changing,’ says the taller, new Sarlok.
As the party watches, the laborer starts mutating and they can now see that it is starting to resemble one of the wild Sarlok beasts they had initially encountered on their first trip through the dead zone toward the city, one of the ones Tars had referred to as a growler. The overseers have a laborer retrieve a net and they attempt to capture the creature. When that fails and it starts attacking, lashing out wilding, the overseers gather some weapons and kill it. For the first time, the party realizes that the overseers have been walking around completely unarmed.
The gathered Sarloks point at Morvion and Grayar, ordering them to take the body into the main obelisk. Once inside, they are directed through a maze of passageways, going down several levels into the ground where they eventually deposit the body with several other slain bodies of transformed Sarloks. The room looks to be a large laboratory and morgue dedicated to the study of these creatures. In cages lining the walls, they can also see several of the Sarloks who have been transformed being held. Morvion doesn’t like seeing anything captured or enslaved so he spends a little time inspecting the cages. Satisfied that the poor beasts are not being mistreated, merely held, he departs quietly.
Inside the underground chambers beneath what will be the obelisk, they can both feel and hear the hum of machinery from behind the walls. This place is already somewhat active.
The party as a whole is split up by the overseers for the rest of the day, with various members charged to different tasks. Graykar is sent to work inside the base of the future obelisk. Urik continues duties hauling stuff back and forth. Tars ends up working at what the locals call a mana focus. Aja is sent back to the initial forge and begins transporting supplies to a from a large edifice several stories high with walls made of blue pillars. Morvion is directed to the northeastern part of the temple plaza to help hand out food supplies to guards.
At the end of the day, they are all directed back to a building referred to as the North Lodge. What they can determine is that the laborers are grouped in several lodges around the temple plaza at night, several laborers to a room. Choosing to share a room, the party then begins comparing notes with what they had seen during their day of playing along as laborers.
What they found is that on the temple plaza, three classes of Sarloks exist and make up all of the workers. The laborers, of which the party is assuming the roles of, are known as danders. The shortest of the Sarloks, they are also the strongest, with the squattest builds and bulky muscles. As a rule, most danders are of limited intelligence and have rudimentary language skills. They also have low willpower, more content to do what they are told as long as they are fed and cared for properly.
The second group is the pernots. These are the basic craftsmen, the commoner of the Sarlok society. More intelligent than their counterparts, the danders, they still seem unimaginative. All of the overseers the party has encountered so far seem to come from this group of Sarloks.
The third group are the madrons and appear to be the top level of the society. They apparently are the planners and the thinkers of the society.
They figure out there are also two other groups at least, the sullies and the verros. They never figure out what the sullies do, however they are able to learn at the verros are the military or guards of the society.
Over it all, they hear the name of the God King, one Perlachio. Believing it to be the same Perlachio mentioned in the books found in the fire temple and within Aja’s book listed as the builder of the obelisk, the party decides they need to make a point of meeting with him if they wish to discover what is going on.
They then go into their individual experiences, relating their tales to one another.
Tars says that he spent the day working in the mana focus. Not sure really what it does, he says it looked a lot like a mill, with a big wheel constantly turning. Attached to it are several gears, and around the wheel, a golden thread is winding, coiling up onto a tight creel. The creel is allowed to cure for several days, or so he is told, then the creel is placed on a spindle where the thread runs around the bottom of the mill wheel. What comes out is a crushed gold flour sort of substance. It is then mixed into some type of adhesive. What Tars spends most his time doing is coating the adhesive onto small stones and pieces of metal like gears, servos, and bolts. He is told that after the adhesive dries, those items will be taken over to a forge to have the mana cooked into the items.
Urik gets the lay of the land of the entire plaza, running errands to all five temples. In the process, he says the life temple was all but complete, actually looking a lot like what they had encountered minus the vegetation. The water temple is also complete, though completely hollow inside. The fire, metal, and air temple are at various stages of completion. He is able to add that the extra dimensions the party found in each of the temples are not present as of yet, they are just large structures. He also relates that the local Sarloks seem more than willing to answer basic questions. All the party members agree that, yes, the Sarloks seem most willing to give information if they have it.
Graykar gets to work in the lower and underground levels of the obelisk. As of now, it is only four stories above the ground, however, he is told that when finished it will be over sixteen stories tall. Inside is a maze of corridors, the walls being vast complex machines, many of which already have gears working. He adds that if the machines weren’t working, one could probably crawl through the various machine parts like holes in a wall and could easily make their way throughout the obelisk. As it stands, it is a maze going in and out of all of the moving machine parts. He says that on the subterranean levels, there is one humongous wheel or gear which is at least three stories tall, slowly rotating. He also adds that he paused at one point to time a full rotation – almost 10 minutes he figures.
Aja says that she found success as she was taking items to the and from the blue pillared tower to one of the forges. She also learns that the blue pillared tower has multiple levels and is known as ‘temple planning.’ Inside it are the blueprints for much what is to be built on the temple plaza. When she read aloud off one of the boxes, one of the pernots took notice and became excited. Scared at first, Aja relates this turned out well. This is how Aja met her first madron. And the madron was impressed. Apparently very few danders can read and finding one that can is a rare event. With this, she is moved for the rest of the day to temple planning and is informed that she will be working there the next day as well.
Morvion finds that as he is led to the northeast of the temple plaza, the air temperature starts dropping. At the edge, the ground is also covered in snow and ice. Morvion goes on a little as this is the first time he has actually seen a large expanse of ice and snow. “It’s a lot colder than I expected. Snow looks so comfortable, this was not.” Already cold, he enters what looks to be a barracks and they give him heavier clothing to wear for the rest of the day to protect him from the cold. He finds out this is a lookout station with several guards watching further to the northeast.
As he stood on top of the station looking out, he relates he could see all around the Sarlok City a vast jungle with the exception of to the northeast. In that direction, from the horizon, a wedge of icy land penetrates into the city, stopping just inside the temple plaza. He can also see in the distance in all directions a pinkish shimmer in the air. What he learns, if he understands correctly, is that the shimmer represents the border of what is left of the Sarlok lands, once a nation that covered a continent. He also learns that the frozen incursion is from a different world and occasionally great beasts will come at the city from that direction. That, he says, is the purpose of the guard posts. His job is to deliver food and water supplies to the soldiers further out in the response barracks. Along with two dozen other danders, they keep a steady supply of rations and water going out to the soldiers. Overall, in the first day, Morvion estimates that at least a hundred soldiers man those barracks. As he hears about the subclass of Sarloks known as verros from Urik’s debriefing, he tells the party that he didn’t see any, they are all pernots manning the posts.
During all of this, the party also experiments with their items and powers. Morvion reports that he can still feel the fresh charge in his spear and can’t discharge it, leading him to believe that no time is passing for the party back where they were at. Aja says she can cast a few simple spells, however, once cast, they are gone so she wants to be careful not to waste any. Urik reports the same with his spells. He also reports he can’t feel the presence of Josca in this realm. Graykar adds that his pouch is just a normal pouch, he can’t access any of the items stowed away.
They also ask each other about Dunger, has anyone seen him. With no insight as to why he isn’t present, they table that thought and make plans to keep looking for him.
Sometime in the middle of the night, everyone is awakened by a loud commotion and screaming. Everyone files out of the lodge as several of the danders from inside begin wondering around worried. A few pernots show up, followed by two madrons. This time, the dander which has changed isn’t as violent and the pernots manage to get it into chains before dragging it out of the lodge and then taking it to the tower.
Finishing their night in the tower, the party decides on a plan. Explore their surroundings as much as possible and use this opportunity to learn as much about the obelisk’s layout as possible. Aja implores, “If we are to make use of this machine, then we must know as much about its operation as possible.”
They also agree to make contact with Perlachio if the opportunity presents itself.
With some worried about time, Morvion confidently asserts, “I can still feel the charge in my spear, that means it isn’t diminishing if time were actually passing. I don’t think any time is passing for our real bodies. We have time to spare.”
Following through with their plan it is almost two weeks before they finally meet Perlachio.
During these two weeks, Aja continues to work in temple planning gaining more and more access. They quickly trust her with the greatest of the plans. Using this extended privilege, she masters the language of the sarlok, not just the base language, but also the temporal aspects of the language. She, unfortunately, doesn’t gain much information on what the actual workings of the obelisk will be once it is powered. She is told that Perlachio has yet to deliver his blueprints and plans on that subject, for now, it is the construction that is important. Graykar makes a cryptic comment that she needs to keep on the lookout for a potential thermal exhaust port, just in case. He then chuckles but then can’t remember why he thought that was funny.
Tars continues to work in his assign position, performing several more aspects of refining magic and enchanting items. One day he says to Aja, “I believe that I could actually create some of this mana stuff back home, with just the items of a basic forge.”
“In this world, maybe, however, I have already discerned that the way magic works in this world is slightly different. I don’t think the same skills or techniques will work in our world. I have already determined that some of my spells will act in a different manner in this world were I to cast them.”
Morvion, taking notice, asks, “Really, I have been afraid to cast any spells. Without my spellbook, I can’t rememorize anything.”
Aja nods. “Yes. The duration aspect is gone. When casting, it's like the duration variable is useless, just idle noise in the spellcasting. Any spell cast has an instantaneous duration, meaning that it doesn’t have any staying power.”
Morvion decides to test this by casting a simple spell, haste. And to his dismay, the spell works and then is over almost immediately.
Graykar is able to get Urik assigned to the Obelisk also. Over the course of the two weeks, both learn most of the ins and outs of the top five levels above ground – the fifth level started and mostly finished in exterior construction during that time.
Morvion continues his duties traveling into the frozen lands, getting to know the various Sarloks up there.
He learns that the verros are all gone, sent to fight a battle far to the south. Rumor is they have mostly all died or changed. From this conversation, Morvion learns that all Sarloks are susceptible to the change, not just the danders.
As they learn more about the Sarlok culture, they learn that all Sarloks are the same species with an elaborate mating cycle. Morvion is quite baffled at how the different pairings occur to produce different offspring and spends a greater than normal amount of his free time trying to figure out the ramifications.
One day while on a water break, Graykar sees a figure exit one of the basement laboratories. He looks to be a tall human, nearly seven and a half feet tall, with an extremely long white beard and white hair. Assuming this to be Perlachio, Graykar gets up and makes his way over, introducing himself. “Perlachio, Perlachio, we must talk,” he calls out, waving his hand to get the man’s attention.
Perlachio looks down at him, “How can I help you, dander?”
“I believe we are from the future. After everything is completed. The machine that is, we are from that future,” Graykar says quickly, somehow fearing this moment won’t last.
With a confused look, Perlachio says, “Please explain.”
No sooner than Graykar starts explaining, the entire party finds they have reset to when they had just come out of the air temple.
Tars lets out a roar, “Again?”
Urik quickly calms the other orc, “Hold please, let’s not attack. Some of these are almost friends now. Do you not recognize that pernot? It’s Derris.”
Now more familiar with their surroundings, they speed up the process of integrating into their jobs. They find that as they walk up to their workstations, they are mostly accepted as if they had already been doing the job for some time. Apparently, not everything resets. Graykar and Urik find that the obelisks fifth level is still complete, ready to start on the next level.
Aja theorizes that maybe they didn’t actually reset, it is more the timeline righting itself and putting them back in a familiar role. Regardless, now knowing more about Perlachio’s habits, Graykar locates him faster.
The scene plays out, but this time Perlachio seems to retain some awareness of the previous encounter. He manages to get out, “When you exit the Air Temple, go straight to the temple planning building. Ask for Chief Planner Zosa. He will know where to find me.”
Following these instructions, they meet up with Perlachio within just an hour of resetting this time around. He explains that he is in the process of building the temples and with the arrival of the party, he now understands that his initial plans might not succeed.
Looking at them, he says he will modify his plans so it is they who will be able to enter the temples and them alone. He says he will put safeguards in place so that no one else will be able to break in, obstacles only they can pass.
As they press for more details, he implies he still has to plan the challenges. Graykar asks how the dragon might work, and to this Perlachio replies, “Hmmmm. Well if I allow for Garcon to be part of the challenge, then there will be a guard that only Garcon can hold off. I will ensure that is how it is designed. This is good information.”
He then proceeds to ask the party several questions about them and their make-up, taking notes. “Very good, very good, I can use this.”
Throughout it all, this conversation takes several resets, with Perlachio remembering more with each reset and the reset taking longer to happen. The party also discovers that if they delay finding Perlachio, the reset takes longer to happen, much like their first time through when it was over two weeks before resetting.
Their question then turns of how to get home. Perlachio is initially at a loss. “I simply don’t know. I don’t like timeline manipulation mathematics, mind you, I can work it out, it is just not my forte. That said, give me some time. I will find you when I have figured a way for you to return to your time.”
They follow his request and give him time. Occasionally he will send for them, asking additional questions. During this time, they take advantage of the opportunity to continue learning all they can about the machine, how it operates, and the overall layout of the land. Some of the party uses their downtime for additional training. Aja spends her time mastering the language of the Sarloks, learning it is actually the language Perlachio brought to them for they were a primitive nomadic society when he first arrived. Having already mastered the basics, he has given her additional research material and she is learning the entire temporal aspect of the language and how it handles shifting timelines.
Knowing that she is one of the most intelligent people she has ever met, she is still astounded at how difficult the language is to master, requiring a mastering of obscure forms of mathematics and probability theory just to make sense of a translation. Her respect for Perlachio grows, for he seems to understand the language intuitively, something she is so far unable to do.
Finally one day, he comes to them and says, “I am not sure this will work, however, I think it might. This world is eroding. It has a few centuries left at best. I think you must wait it out. Yet I know that is too much to ask. The world is decaying and falling apart the further one gets from the city. As you have discovered, the machine I am building has two parts. The completed parts underground are already in operation and stabilizing this world.”
“Already, this world has existed two centuries longer than it otherwise would have. The machine once completed should hopefully fix the problem of all the broken worlds, righting them to some degree.”
“But this world is still losing its integrity, the further from the machine, the greater the destruction. I believe that if you head out far enough,” he points in the direction of the encroaching ice flow, “far enough that the world has disintegrated you will not only see the horrors that await all worlds, what awaits your world should we fail, but you will also find that once you cross over into where the world falls apart, you will be sent back home.”
Wary, Tars growls, “You sound rather, um, what’s the opposite of confident.”
“He sounds uncertain, that’s the word you might be looking for,” Graykar replies.
“No – um maybe - about it. You sound uncertain, wizard,” Tars says, his assertion sounding threatening.
Perlachio nods his head in a slight bow, “I am. It is a dubious plan at best. But it is the best I got.”
Agreeing that there isn’t a better idea, the party decides to head out and begins venturing north through the ice flow. The journey itself is rather minor. There was a time when the obstacles and the encountered denizens from other plains would have challenged them, probably killed them, however now with their enhanced abilities they tackle the problems easily. Rushed by thirty demons, little hassle. The ground opens up as they are attacked by a mud elemental, morning exercise.
As they travel, they find that they are gaining some of their abilities back the further from the Sarlok city they get.
The land, almost overnight, turns from winter frozen wasteland to jungle. As they continue further they encounter a hole in space and time, similar as Graykar mentions it, to the null space they found in the coffin back in the Fire Temple. It is just sitting in the ground, like a hole, but a hole in which can only be seen spinning darkness.
As they stare in, they feel they are detecting traces of color, the color is gone before it barely registers, being single motes of light. Just enough to allow them to get the sense that whatever lies below is spinning.
Aja states, “After talking with Perlachio, that is the abyss, the hole which exists now between all the worlds. To fall in there is to be torn apart and fall through the worlds.”
“Is that what we are supposed to find, to jump in there,” Morvion asks incredulously.
“I don’t like that idea,” Urik resolutely states. Tars and Graykar agree with single world comments of their own.
“Yeah, probably a little early to resort to that, nonetheless, I think that is what Perlachio was alluding to us needing to do,” Aja then points off to the distance, “Something is coming, something big.”
As they wait, they are attacked by several smaller creatures before a behemoth made of trees, thorns and vines comes crashing through the forest line. They are attacked by a creature they can only define as an entity made up of the life force of the entire land. Morvion remembers a little of his training as a shaman and states, “It’s nature that’s attacking us, a massive nature spirit, deranged from the pain of chaos afflicting everything around here. All the life here has manifested this as a final resort to ward off the impending destruction.”
As they hurt it, they can see they are hurting the land and all the vegetation in the vicinity. In fact, as they come close to killing it, in a final spurt for life it steals the life force of everything around it, including that of the party.
As they fight it, they see more and more of the vortices starting to appear in the vicinity. The original hole they had come across is now several times bigger, with the surrounding dirt and land falling and disappearing into the void.
To make matters worse, they sense another large creature approaching. “The vortices, they are attracting the protectors of this land,” Aja surmises. “If we stay here, only more will keep coming.”
“I agree,” Morvion adds. “We either need to leave or jump in a hole.”
Both Tars and Urik look at each other. As is their tendency when pressed, they both have the urge to just charge in. This time, in their eyes, they see the others thought and it immediately becomes a competition. With a, “Screw it,” from Urik and a, “Let’s do this,” from Tars coming at almost the same time, both of them jump in. Later, none of the rest of the party could ever agree who actually jumped first, both Tars and Urik insisting it was themselves.
Following them, the rest of the party jumps in. Only to appear on the outside of the Air Temple, exiting it as they normally intended to do the first time, back in their own world. Graykar, the first out, pauses to take in the scene and get his bearings. Once again, the Giants are down below, not in formation, just camping waiting on them. The tall green giant, Klaus, is nowhere to be seen, neither is the shorter giant clad completely in armor. The two wyverns are sitting perched on the distant Life Temple looking away and focuses on something even further out of sight. Dunger follows out and immediately runs into Graykar’s back, his eyes wide and strange looking. As Graykar looks back at him, Dunger mysteriously says, “Yeah, ok, that was trippy. I ever mention purple gilled morels to you, that’s the kind of trip you get. Every time. Nasty vile things they are.”