Session 46 - When Spells Attack

General Summary

45th Amberspell - Contd.

Entering the Holding area, Janora spotted the slightly humanoid shaped of another living spell, this one made from roiling clouds. As the cloud began to drift in thier direction they stumbled back into the corner, putting the goat between themselves and the cloud and calling for help. Several Dust Devils appeared from around the corner, just before Ranunkel burst through the open door and looked around in confusion as the cloud spell drifted forward. The living spell swung both arms at Ramlin. The first didn't so much hit as pass through the dwarf's space and Ranunkel started coughing and choking from the toxic mist. Aware now of what this thing could do, the druid was able to avoid the second strike.

 Jilken was the next to run in and slipping between Ranunkel and the door frame, lightning spear already extending and sparking. With efficient and practiced movements, the elf sliced into the cloud twice, the electricity burning away bits of the smoke. Tear of Midnight Sorrow moved up just behind Ranunkel and pulled out his shortbow, hoping that he could shoot the cloud. Unfortunately, as soon as he notched an arrow and pulled the bowstring back, it snapped in half. Muttering goblin curses he slipped around the corner and pulled a new string out of a pouch to begin restringing the bow. 

Vellikar called out, "I can't see anything. What's going on? Who do I need to hit?" As Jilken's spear came to life, there was a bit of light as the blade of lightening formed. Homing in on that Vellikar made it to the door and pushed his way in front of Ranunkel. Still not really sure what they were all fighting, the firbolg druid slammed his staff on the ground and a ripple of thunderous energy exploded around him. It succeeded in pushing the cloud creature back, but it also knocked Tear into the far wall of the hall next to Ell. Janora was also forced to duck as the mountain goat was thrown into the wall as well. "Sorry," called the druid, "it's just really hard to see down here. I really don't like being in the dark."

  Janora muttered, "Yeah, we should do something about that...then we can have a talk about area of effect."

"He's doing fine," replied Ell as the young man reached up to give Vellikar a pat on the shoulder as he slipped into the room. The young man fired off two Eldritch Blasts at the cloud, but both blasts went wide, with the first one striking the ceiling and sending down a shower of debris. The dust devil lifted its arms and sucked much of that in, growing larger, as Ell continued his movement into the room and flattened himself against the wall next to the stunned goat.

Denye called out, "Shield your eyes," and a moment later the air began to hum a clear note. It grew louder as Denye threw a small red bead of energy over Vellikar's shoulder before erupting in an explosive Fireball. It seared the edges of the cloud, but vaporized the growing dust devil. The small wizard joined the rest of the party just as Janora held out a hand and drew a line in the air casting Wind Wall. As the gale force winds began to howl, the witch called out, "This should keep it away from us, but Jilken I'm afraid arrows won't go through the wall either."

"Won't be a problem," replied Jilken, pointing at the living cloud that had been pushed to this side of the wall.

Janora hadn't noticed, and when they did, simply muttered, "Well, shit," and gave the construct a glare.

    Jilken only shrugged and pointed behind her, "You kept this dust devil here from sneaking up on me, so it was still a good spell." As the Aiel elf spoke several of the flaming balls of fire appeared on the far side of the wall as well.

Unsure of what else to do, Ranunkel stepped back into the hall and saw Tear sitting on the floor rubbing his head. Smiling at the young goblin, the druid cast Healing Word and said, "Hard heads take practice." As the pain eased in Tear's skull, the goblin grinned back and launched himself to his feet.    

The living spell exploded outward into a bank of fog that filled the entire side of the room and sent most of the party into coughing fits in mimicry of a Cloudkill spell. As it reformed into its roughly humanoid form, the goat had vanished and the rest of the party reeled. All that is except for Jilken whose face was covered by a mask. She dropped the staff and pulled up the heavy crossbow sending the bolt flying into the cloud form. Dropping it she brought the Reaper up and fired again. As the second shot went wide, Jilken whistled and the arrow turned and headed for the Flaming Sphere, but the bolt turned to ash without causing any damage.

  With a goblin challenge Tear ran into the room through Vellikar's legs, pulled his new Shatterglass sword and cleaved the cloud in half before dissipating it completely. Now able to see in the light of the Flaming Spheres, the firbolg druid cheered, "Yeah boy, Tear the Hero. Oh yeah, I'm really sorry about before, I...I panicked." Vellikar lifted the staff and crystal at the top began to glow as he cast Mass Cure Wounds and soothing green light played over most of the party.

Ell stepped up next to Tear and patted him on the shoulder as well before sending two Eldritch Blasts at the nearest Flaming Sphere. Both blasts hit in quick succession and the sphere exploded in a shower of sparks. Denye let out a squawk of annoyance before turning to the two remaining living spells. She called, "Cover your ears...if you have them I suppose," before pointing a finger at the pair and casting Shatter. The echoingly high bell sounded and shook both spells apart as well shattering a large crystal embedded in the wall nearby.

As the echo of the bell died away, everyone held position for a moment. When it became clear that nothing else was attacking, the party relaxed and began to look around. The room itself was large and roughly rectangular with walls the same black stone wall as before and similar flooring, but here the metal plates were scuffed and scarred with the occasional patch of discoloration.

A wooden cage, made of a grayish wood and reinforced with steel, stood in one corner, but otherwise the room appeared to be empty, stripped of anything that was not nailed down. Ell moved over to look at the cage and the large hole that had been made of one side. Little was inside the cage, a few scraps of bone, one of which looked distressingly like a human's lower jaw. Turning to Jilken, he asked, "What could have broken out of here and made a hole this big?"

  Jilken shrugged, "Could be a lot of things. No real way to tell without more clues. But it looks like this place has been sacked."  

A open hall extended off with three open chambers on one side as well as a pair of doors at the far end. Each of the chambers had a grate in the center of the floor and sets of three large crystals embedded in the both walls, just at the entrance. Six gems in theory for as Denye looked, the wizard noticed that almost half of them were either broken on just missing. After examining the devices for a few moments, Denye declared that these were cages and the crystals were used to project a wall of force or something similar. Going back to the main area she spotted a crystal console built into the wall. Chipping excitedly, the Corva wizard ran over and tapped on the screen. Unfortunately, it did not respond nor did it respond to the next half-dozen attempts. Denye turned away frustrated and muttered, "It must have lost its connections...or there aren't enough sets of crystals left. Maybe I can take one of the crystals to study."

As Denye began trying to remove one of the crystals from its mounting, Janora and Ell took a look at the far doors. Next to the northern door was another sign saying Laboratory 7. The witch bent to examine the door and found that it was not locked and held an ear to the door to listen. It was hard to hear much of anything as Denye let out another loud squawk of shock as the crystal she was trying to extract, shattered in her claws.

Janora gave the wizard a baleful glare before turning back to the door and sending their barghast spirit out to look for danger. Denye for her part realized it would be much easier to disconnect the housing from the wall and take the construct as a whole unit. Doing that she was able to successfully remove the last three of the crystal units.

Sensing nothing from the barghast, the cudgel, or their crow finger, Janora pushed the door open slightly and looked inside. It did indeed seem to be some sort of laboratory with several enormous glass capsules that lay shattered and broken, with glass strewn across the floor. Seeing no movement the witch pushed the door open and stepped inside before freezing in place. Taking a second look, Janora realized that the figure was floating in an intact version of one of the capsules. 

Moving closer to get a better look, Janora saw that the person had a normal looking head on the body of a giant snake. Both arms seem to have been surgically implanted and were clearly from other creatures. One appeared to be almost an enormous crab claw while the other was an insectoid looking scythe. Without breaking gaze on the figure, Janora called out to the others, "Can y'all come in here real quick?" 

As the others all rushed into the room, Vellikar missed the door and walked into a wall. Feeling along with one hand while he rubbed his face with the others he found the door and said, "I hate to bring it up again, but with those Flaming Spheres gone, I can't see a thing."

Denye turned back to look at the firbolg through Helenwye's eyes, "That's a good point. I have a lantern with a continual flame, you could carry that." Pulling out the lantern she said, "Actually, I have a better idea. Tear, can you carry this and stick close to Vellikar?"

The goblin looked very excited to be given a mission and took the lantern eagerly. "Yes, me carry, me squire," he said before running over to the tall firbolg. In the light of the lantern, the fluid in the capsule had a thin yellowish color. Ell moved forward cautiously and when the creature didn't react, he tapped the glass. When it still didn't respond he turned to the others and said, "I'm pretty sure its asleep...or dead I suppose."

Denye shook her head at the warlock before taking a closer look at the broken chambers, trying to deduce from what it left what these capsules were used for. Ell circled the creature and discovered a small control panel with several buttons. Sadly, none of them were labeled and as he bent down to examine them, Janora barked, "Don't touch those."

   Ell straighten, raising both hands and flashed Janora a dazzling smile before saying, "I wasn't going to." Vellikar only laughed as he began to examine the floating figure.

Denye joined them and said, "I think these are some sort of preservation chamber...or maybe growth chambers. It's hard to tell just looking at the hardware."

Vellikar pointed out, "It's not breathing, whatever it is. I've never seen anything like this but that head belongs with the body. Somebody added those arms though, probably over there." This last was said pointing at a nearby stone table. The table itself had a channel carved near the edge that lead to a hole at the foot where a small shelf had been carved. 

Denye went over and began examining the arcane glyphs carved into the sides as Janora asked, "Wait, did we know that the Mad Mage was experimenting like this? I knew he was evil and all, but trying to create hybrid creatures is a bit much."

Ell shook his head, "Both the Mad Mage and the Mage of Silence were known to have created several species that bred true, such as the legendary griffons. Nobody really knows how they did that, magic presumably, this doesn't really look like the same thing."

Looking up from her sketchpad where she was drawing the ruins, Denye said, "The hertasi were created by Whyril as well...or so they always claim." At the others puzzled looks Denye explained, "Three foot tall lizard people. Very shy. They live with the Tayledras and serve them in exchange for protection."

Looking around some more there appeared to be two stone workbenches in one corner along with the remains of a bookcase. As in the other room anything of value appeared to be gone although a few intact jars of a small layer of dust stood on one bench. Janora took a closer look, according to the label they were herbs at one time. Running a hand across the front of the workbench, the witch triggered a hidden switch and a drawer popped out of the side. Inside was a second large key with gems, like the one Denye had found. There was also a second Slate of Delkin that appeared to be intact and functional and Janora immediately hands it to the wizard to examine.

The final corner of the room held a large wall mirror, the glass of which shattered, and two metal crates, both of which were locked. Ell quickly set to work and soon had the first crate open. Inside were four gallon jars full of the yellow liquid. The second lock proved to be a bit more challenging and he just wasn't able to shift the last tumbler.

Having activated the slate and now furiously flipping through, Denye looked up and said, "There are a lot of reports about creating these creatures using both surgical and magical techniques. I found something that mentions loup-garou as well Janora. It's a transfer order for a pack to be sent to Iron Glacier."

"That is interesting," said the witch looking up, "does it say anything else?"

"Not that I've found," replied Denye, "The order was signed by some Meldoh Saveer. Looks like he was the head of research at Fangkeep. But there is a lot more here, it's going to take a while to get through it all. Maybe we should do that later, there doesn't look to be much left in here. Nodding at the tank holding the snake creature she added, "and I don't want to mess with that."

The others agreed and after checking the halls to be sure they hadn't missed anything returned to the lift chamber. It looked much as the party had left it, with large holes in both ceiling and floor and the rope tied around the control pedestal.

Ell spent some time fiddling with the buttons, going so far as to slam his fists into the polished stones, but while they depressed slightly, there was no reaction. Denye came over and started examine the pedestal as Ranunkel pulled out a dagger and started trying to pry the agate stone loose. It wouldn't come loose and eventually the dwarf gave up with a grunt.

Denye didn't fair much better, but eventually looked over at Ell and pronounced, "I don't think there is any power left for it, we'll have to do the same thing we did last time." Surveying the group, she asked, "Anybody want to fly?"

Jilken volunteered quickly and as Denye cast the spell, the elf drifted up slightly before doing a few circles around the room before floating up to the next level and poking a head through. Seeing no movement in the dark room she dropped back down to collect the rope. Flying back up, Jilken quickly secured the rope and the rest of the party started climbing up.

This third floor room looked almost exactly like the room below, with one major change. Instead of an open hole to the higher level, it was blocked by some sort of metal plate, which upon inspection proved to be adamantine. Opening the door revealed another hallway, but just before it turned the corner the floor dropped away to reveal a 10ft wide pit trap as well as a door in the southern wall, with a sign marked Armory.

Ell listened at the door as Jilken flew over the pit trap and around the corner where there was another door to the Armory as well as a set of double doors with a sign declaring it the Machine Shop. Ell pushed the door open and looked around carefully, but it seemed whatever had once been stored here was long gone. In addition to the door at the far end, there was another door in the southwestern corner. Ell started to move towards the south door just as Jilken open the eastern door and stepped inside. A moment later a gout of water blasted out of the wall at Ell, just as Jilken was enveloped in a cone of fire from the wall just behind her.

Ell managed to keep his feet, but spluttered madly before muttering, "I just got dry."

"Better wet than cooked," Jilken retorted, "were both ends of the room trapped or did one of us set off both fire and water?"

Denye stepped in and looked at the pair, "That's a very good question, now tell me what happened?" As Ell described the elemental explosions, the Corva wizard began to ritually cast Detect Magic. Once the spell took hold she got up and began examined the walls, humming softly to herself. After a few moments she announced, "I think it was just bad luck that you triggered them at the same time, there are ghosts of Glyphs of Warding on both walls."

Sighing, Ell gingerly moved to the southern door and stopped to listen carefully. As Denye moved up next to him, she caught the ping of something magical in the next room. Forewarned Ell eased the door open carefully and stuck his head inside. The room beyond looked roughly squarish and seemed to be filled with crates, stacks and stacks of crates. Backing up he looked at the others and said, "Somebody else should go first this time."

"That's a good idea," agreed Jilken, "I'll go have a look." Walking quietly she made her way into the room and climbed up on the nearest crates for a better look. The Aiel glanced around, but didn't see much before the box under her began to shake and Jilken had to focus to regain her balance.

Shaking her head Jilken jumped down and started skirting the large central stack but stopped short when a large metallic snake reared up in front of her. Spreading it's hood, the Iron Cobra hisses as Jilken called through the link, "Snakes. Why did it have to be snakes?" Whipping out her lightning spear, the Aiel fighter slammed it into the snake twice. The construct froze in place as the electricity coursed through it and it convulsed before letting out a hiss of pain. It lashed out at Jilken and tried to bite, but the elf deflected the attack with the spear as two more Iron Cobras slithered into view behind her.

Denye had followed Jilken up on the stack closest to the door and seeing the other cobras quickly cast a Fireball into the room, shielding the elf from the damage. Or she thought she did, but as the bead of flame flew it split into three Scorching Rays that slammed into the snakes. As the snake in front of Jilken dropped to the ground, Denye let out a squawk of alarm and grabbed for her force pistol before looking around wildly, "That wasn't supposed to happen."

Janora eased into the room, but couldn't see anything over the wall of boxes. Spotting an opening further down, they headed in that direction, casting Armor of Agathys on themselves as they went. As the ice crystalized around the witch's shoulders, both they and Jilken vanished for a moment before appearing in each other's spaces. Janora looked around, confused, but that quickly turned to anger as she muttered, "What the hell?"

Tear clambered up Vellikar's back and settled himself on the firbolg druid's shoulders. Holding the lantern out in his left hand he raised his blade in the other before giving a goblin battle-cry that made Vellikar's ear twitch. Ranunkel burst into the room and climbed up onto the boxes beside Denye and pulled out his staff ready to strike out if one of the snakes got too close.

Ell followed the stout dwarf and looked around for a moment, paying particular attention to the boxes. Curious, the young man cast Mage Hand and used it to try and pry open the lid of the nearest crate. Alas, the lid was nailed down too tightly for the mage hand to move. Vellikar joined the others and looked around, but wasn't able to see much in the light from the lantern and looked around frustrated. Ell noticed and say, "See if you can pry the lid off of one of these boxes."  

Hearing this, Janora put both hands on their hips and asked, "Is this really the appropriate time for that?"

 Ell shrugged, "If it's explosives, I'd rather we didn't set them off. Besides it might be something useful."

"I'm less concerned about explosives," shared Denye, "than I am about what messed with my spell."

"It's still a good idea," Vellikar agreed. Pulling out a knife to use as a pry bar, he began working it under the lid. Inside the crate were several dozen polished wooden rods about 10in. long. Vellikar pulled one out and held it up in the light and Ranunkel recognized it as a hammer handle.

   Jilken looked around confused at being back at the door before squeezing past everyone and coming up behind another snake. The fighter jabbed at the creature twice with the shock spear and much like the first cobra, the snake froze for a moment before convulsing. Whipping around to strike at the elf, it sunk teeth into her arm. Jilken felt the poison enter her system but resisted it's effect and sent a Bolt back at the snake in response. That was enough to finish him off and the construct dropped to the floor.

The last remaining cobra lashed out at Janora as well, catching the witch on the shoulder.  They shrugged off the poison in the bite and laughed as ice exploded in the snake's face. Seeing this, Denye took aim with the force pistol and muttered a quick prayer to the Dawnmother before firing. The shot went wide as the box she was on tilted backwards and she tumbled to the floor with a caw. Pushing herself back to her feet, Denye kicked the fallen box. 

  Janora looked at the Iron Cobra and muttered, "You made a mistake getting close to me." Lifting the three-headed cudgel, the witch cast Shillelagh on the club and swung it at te construct." Regrettably the blow went wide as the snake dropped to the ground. It reared up again just in time to get a lightening bolt to the face from Ranunkel and the snake clattered and dropped to the ground.

When it was clear that there were no more snakes attacking, Ell started pulling open boxes, recruiting Ranunkel and Vellikar. Denye sat down and began ritually casting Detect Magic once more. Many of the boxes proved to be empty, but a few contained such wonders as iron bars, oil lanterns, and sail cloth.

Denye's spell completed and she stood up and looked around. Apart from the background magical hum of this ruin and the cobra bodies there was nothing magical in this room. Twitching her head back and forth she paced, "It doesn't make sense, something messed with my magic. I know I cast Fireball...I did the spell right!"

Janora walked over and laid an arm on Denye's shoulder, "It happened to me too, casting the ice armor teleported me into the middle of the room. I did notice that when I used a cantrip, I didn't feel the same resistance."

Denye shook her feathers out and nodded, "You are probably right...or maybe it was something with the snakes." They no longer registered as magical, but from the echoes of the spells there was no sign of a spell jammer. Otherwise, they were quite marvelous constructs. Thanks to Jilken's help opening them up in search of poison sacs or jars, the wizard was able to get a good look at the inside of the creatures. Part mechanical, they were stiff and unwieldy without the magic. 

Ell found another passage leading off to the south and poked a head through to find a wall. A wall unlike anything they had seen so far in the ruin. Made from a patchwork of sheets of metal, the wall extended from floor to ceiling and appeared to be fused in someway to both. The wall formed a short corridor but a break in the wall was visible at the far end.

"I think we go this way," said Ell before heading in that direction. As he turned the corner, he found that the walls continued with several breaks before coming to a dead-end. He sighed and said, "I'm pretty sure this is a maze, let's take it slow and make sure we don't miss anything."

Denye nodded and held up her sketch book, "I'm making a map." With the rest of the party following, they began to explore the space. Every turning, Jilken scratched a large arrow into the wall pointing back the way they had come.

   As they walked, Janora said, "We should probably make sure to stay with someone and not wander too far from the group. We should also try to keep the three of us who don't have earrings in the middle. I just don't want anyone getting lost."

 The others agreed that was a good plan, and shuffled around to reorganize themselves. Once settled the party began to explore. There were quite a few dead-ends and randomly placed bits of wall. They got about a third of the way through before Ell walked around a corner and froze in place as a metallic growl sounded behind him. Looking over his shoulder the young man saw a big metal dog pushing itself to it's feet, glowing red eyes focused on Ell.

Report Date

08 Apr 2022