Session 48 - Triumvirate of Madness

General Summary

1st Harvest - contd.

As the strange metallic creature descended, it was possible to get a better look. Roughly round in shape, it's body was entirely covered in overlapping metal plates...except for the large eye in front that flicked back and forth. There were also two large glass reinforced canisters that each held a brain affixed to the creature's back.

"Last time I talked to a mysterious voice," Ell sent over the telepathic rings, glancing at the rest of the party and raising an eyebrow, "You know, about about 12 hours ago, y'all yelled at me. One of you want to try reasoning with this thing?"

As the party hesitated the creature spoke again, "How have you come here? The world was destroyed, ripped out of the very fabric of reality itself."

Suddenly a different voice, more nervous and frightful, spoke from the creature, "They came from the gate, they must have. We warned that it should have been destroyed."

Jilken looked confused and called out, "A gate? Where is there a gate?"

At the same time over the linked earrings, Janora said, "If we can keep it talking, especially with itself, that would probably be best." After a moment's thought the witch added, "On the other hand Jilken, if you get a shot try for the brain jars. It looks like it's just glass. Maybe if we kill one of the brains it will kill the entire creature."

Denye cocked her head back and forth examining the monstrosity, "The world was not destroyed...clearly since we are here now."

"But it was," exclaimed the second voice, "Something was released and the world exploded in magic and in fire. We were able to hold onto this one piece of reality, alone and weakened, falling into the Astral Sea as the material world dissolved around us."

"And how long ago was that," asked Ranunkel, looking skeptical, "How long have you been down here?"

"Decades, centuries, I do not know," replied the first voice, before breaking into hysterical laughter, "Time has little meaning for us any longer."

"A lot has changed on the surface," added Denye, "but I promise you the world is still there. If the explosion you speak of was the Cataclysm, it happened almost 500 years ago."

Janora asked, "What do you call yourself?"

The metal abomination spun back to look at the witch with it's large eye, "We...we are Davrox the Triumvirate."

"Well then," began Denye, "we should at least hear from the third in your partnership. And surely you cannot all be called Davrox, we have heard two voices already."

This prompted laughter from the being, but it was smooth and rich, very unlike the two personalities displayed so far. Likewise when it spoke, the third voice was lighter, more confident, yet also oily. "We told you that these would be interesting specimens. If it is true that the world outside survives, we should collect and study them."

The second voice broke in, "No, no, no, they lie! We should kill them now before they have a chance to destroy anything."

"They are merely mortals," replied the third voice, "They would hardly prove a danger against our strength. Perhaps we could continue some of Saveer's work. Several of them appear to be of unique species not found in the records we have collected."

"Whoa, whoa, whoa," said Ranunkel holding up his hands, "Are you talking about those chambers downstairs? I don't consent to being part of any sort of scientific experiments."

As the others were talking and keeping Davrox busy, Ell was slowly making his way over toward the cabinets. The young man slipped a pinky finger around one of the latches and began to pull the door open carefully. As he did, a burst of green energy slammed into the corner of the cabinet, sending splinters and shards of wood flying.

Janora responded by casting a Heat Metal spell at the mecholder, As the armor plating of its shell began to glow, the wild magics of this ruin twisted themselves around the witch and there was a strange flutter in their stomach. Unsure of what exactly happened Janora backed up toward Ell and stopped as they suddenly found themselves feeling strangely weaker.

Jilken, taking the advice Janora had offered, trained her heavy crossbow on one of the canisters and fired, but the bolt bounced off one of the metal straps holding it to the body of the creature. Swearing she switched out to the Rainbow Reaper and fired again. This time, the bolt struck the jar full on, but whatever the clear material it wasn't glass, and didn't shatter as expected.

Wanting to protect Ell, Tear of Midnight Sorrow pushed the young lord behind him and pulling out the alchemical lantern fired a globe of fizzing green goo at Davrox. The stuff splattered over the mecholder's shell and burned, heating the metal even more. Angry now, Davrox fired another of the green blasts directly at the small goblin. The orb of energy struck Tear directly in the chest, lifting him up and throwing him back against the wall.

"Tear," called Vellikar in a panic. Turning back to look at the large mechanical creature, he brought his hands together and called up a Flaming Sphere, sending it slamming into Davrox's side. Vellikar ran towards Ell and Tear, getting up next to Janora and experiencing that same odd tingling/asleep feeling. As the druid ran, another small eye on a stalk pushed it's way up from the mecholder's body and fired a ray of gray/brown energy that engulfed Ranunkel, leaving him paralyzed and frozen in place.

Annoyed at being threatened and angry about this Davrox hurting Tear, Ell pointed a finger at the monstrosity and cast Synaptic Static. Nothing happened. Ell looked confused, he had used the right words, made the right signs, even felt the power drain out of him. But rather that infusing and igniting the spell, the arcane energy bled away into the nothingness of the Void.

Denye, on the other hand, threw both claws toward the ceiling and cast Dawn, conjuring an enormous glowing orb that filled most of the room. Shaping it to keep Jilken, Ranunkel, and Vellikar safe from the radiant light, the Corvum wizard ducked around the corner. When she turned to look she was confused as there was an almost pie shaped area of the sphere where no light glowed in the direction that the mecholder's large eye gazed.

Poor Ranunkel struggled and managed to break free from his petrification but stood panting as another nine small eye scouts poked out and swung in various directions, taking in the party, before three rays shot out in various directions. A soft blue nimbus of energy surrounded Ell, causing the young man to fall asleep where he stood, crumpling to the floor of this ruined chamber. A magenta colored ray struck Janora, surrounding them in a sparkling shield, lifting and throwing the witch against the wall. Jilken got hit with a ray made from black and grey shadows and for a moment felt a wave of fear rush over her, but it struck the basalt of her will and the warrior Aiel laughed in the face of Fear.

Pinned against the wall, Janora glares hatefully at Davrox casting Withering Gaze and weaving a curse of pain into the spell. The mecholder shuddered as it felt the witch draining lifeforce. With a savage howl, the witch called to their friends, "Try not to use lightning, it's resistant, oh and you can't knock it prone." With a howl of it's own, Davrox pointed its blaster at the witch and fired another blast of green force. Janora twisted and tried to avoid it, but the telekinetic ray held them fast and the blast exploded in their face.

A moment later the strange abstract murals on the walls began to move, swirling and pulsing with a Hypnotic Pattern that captured the eye. Janora, Vellikar, and Ranunkel were able to pull themselves and refocus on the fight. On the other hand, Jilken, Denye, and Tear found themselves turning to face the closest wall, staring in fascination as the colors swirled. Ell, asleep on the floor, was unaffected, lost in his own internal dreaming.

Vellikar looked at his friends in horror as they went slack, but was somewhat reassured when he saw both Janora and Ranunkel tracking. Pulling out the crossbow, he took aim at the monster and fired. The bolt struck the lens over the large eye, sending a few small spiderwebs cracks out from the point of impact. Unsure of what else to do, the firbolg attempted to Hidden Step, but similar to Ell, the magical energy was expended, but it was suppressed or drained away. Looking down at his hands, the druid looked confused and then blushed a little that it hadn't worked, just before being struck in the chest with another crackling force blast.

Ranunkel looked around in a panic before curling in on himself and Wildshaping into his stone elemental shape. Rushing forward he slammed both fists up into the base of the mechholder, trying to knock it back up into the hole it had descended from. The first strike caused the creature to wobble a bit, but the second impact didn't seem to have the same effect. Ranunkel swung a third time as Davrox floated away, out of the blinding Dawn light, but the blow went wide. As Davrox did so, it let out a horrific tripartite scream and Denye, Jilken, and Ell all felt a stab of pain lance through their heads. It woke Ell, who sat bolt upright before clutching his head in pain. It also had the effect of causing Denye to lose concentration on the Dawn spell.

Now free of the telekentic ray, Janora pushed themselves to their feet. Taking a deep breathe, the witch cast False Life on themselves to bolster their energy. As they did so, the wild magic of the ruins took the spell and twisted, transforming Janora once more into a potted plant, this time a small pair of spiky cacti. At the same time, the southern metal pillar began to arc with lightning as crackling energy raced up and down for a moment or two before lancing out and striking Ranunkel with a lightning bolt.

Jilken held her head and shook it, trying to clear the ringing pain of the scream from her ears, still unable to focus. Tear meanwhile recognized that he needed to stay down pushed his way closer to the cabinet and began examining in. The force blast had broken part of the door and side open and inside he could see a number of glass jars and bottles. Taking out a dagger, the small goblin began to pry the side off of the cabinet to try to get within. Davrox fired over another magenta eye ray, this time at Ranunkel. In his large elemental shape, it wasn't strong enough to lift him into the air, but reddish purple bands of force bound his arms to his side.

Vellikar moved forward until he was no longer feeling the strange weakness and cast Mass Cure Wounds, bolstering his friends for the fight. Both Ell and Tear heard the words, but being in the anti-magic cone of the mecholder's gaze, the spell didn't carry an arcane power. It also seemed that the wild magic had once more twisted the casting of a spell for as Vellikar opened his mouth to say something else, no sound came out, but rather a trio of iridescent, rainbow soap bubbles. Looking confused, the firbolg invoked his Hidden Step and vanished from sight.

Yelling about outsiders, the mecholder fired another burst of green electricity at Ell, hitting the young man square in the chest and knocking him back into the corner of the cabinet. As Ranunkel strained against the bounds of psychic power, several of Davrox's smaller eyes shot off on small rockets and began skittering over the ceiling on thin spider legs. A moment later, all three fired beams striking Ell, Jilken, and Ranunkel. A dark beam of black and gray shadows engulfed Ell generating a wave of Fear so strong that it made the young man's knees knock. Jilken got hit with a dusty gray/brown beam of energy and her motions slowed considerably as if she were moving through water. Ranunkel was struck by a beam that could only be described as an absence of color, but as it wrapped an intense cold around the stone elemental, he just shrugged it off.

Davrox shifted his gaze and the anti-magic cone to cover more of the room, as he did so three things happened. The first was that Vellikar's invisibility vanished and he reappeared holding his crossbow. The second was that the small cacti in the lovely adobe pot exploded with a pop, Janora once more standing there with arms crossed and looking pissed! The third was that the top corner of the translucent cabinet had become solid wood once more. Janora pointed their crow finger and hissed a string of curses at the monstrosity and then looked scandalized when nothing happened. Glancing over, the witch noticed the cabinet and the face turned to puzzlement as they moved closer to get a better look.

A moment later the other metal pillar began to crackle with lightning and Jilken slow-motion jumped back as it lashed out and raced over her weapons. As she did so she fired her heavy crossbow into the side of the mecholder and even in her slowed state followed it up with two shots from the Rainbow Repeater. All three shots stuck home, piercing the metal plates. In response, Davrox fired off another eye ray. This beam was a deep purple and as it enveloped the Aiel warrior her eyes went solid black and her mind filled with dark, eldritch voids filled with gargantuan tentacled horrors, barely glimpsed, but she shook it off and came back to herself.

Tear gave up on the cabinet and turned to fire an arrow at one of the smaller eye stalks wandering the ceiling, but the little mech was too quick, scuttling off to the side as the arrow struck stone. Hissing in anger, he skirted the edge of the room coming over to stand beside Janora and the strange cabinet. Vellikar, still thinking they were hidden, ducked over towards a pile of scrap metal and fired his crossbow before dropping to the ground out of sight of the mecholder.

Hands shaking in fear, Ell attempted to fire a pair of Eldritch Blasts at Davrox, but nothing happened. Throwing his hands up with a shriek, Ell dashed around the corner and hid behind the side of the cabinet. Pulling out her force pistol Denye dashed forward, settled her feet and took aim, before releasing a blast of power that caused Davrox to cry out and close his main eye. Ell and Janora felt the rush of magic reconnect as the anti-magic cone vanished. It also caused the corner of the cabinet to regain it's incorporable, misty form. With a trill of excitement, the wizard brandished the pistol as she dashed back around the corner out of sight.

Another eye beam, made of soft blue light, struck Jilken and for a moment she felt a bit drowsy. She shook it off as Ranunkel began burrowing down into the floor, falling to the level below and leaving a large hole in the floor. Raging in annoyance, he began charging toward the spiral staircase and his friends upstairs. Davrox screamed again, "No, we will not let you have it," before firing three eye rays and drifting to the southern side of the room. Denye got hit from one of the wandering eyes with that purple beam and let out a squawk of terror as her mind filled with visions of eldritch horrors and moaning voices. Jilken got hit with a rust colored ray that caused her feet to turn to stone while Janora was struck with the void beam, but managed to tough out the worst of the absolute cold.

Moving south a little farther, Janora stood in front of the odd cabinet and glared at the large metal creature. Lifting both hands over their head, the wizard contoured a small sphere of bright green energy and tossing it at the beholder where it exploded into a large ball of acid that ate into the armor and frosted the glass of the jars. The wild magic twisted around Janora and while nothing happened visibly, the witch felt invigorated as their blood began to sizzle. The nearby metal pillar began to sizzle as well as sparks began to race up and down the smooth shaft, begore gathering and lancing out at Vellikar. The druid yelped and rolled out of the way, managing to avoid the bulk of the lightening strike.

Jilken leaned out from behind the pillar and fired the heavy crossbow at Davrox, but it bounced off. Swearing, she dropped the bow and pulled up the Repeater. Touching a finger to the bolt and whispering a few words, she fired a silvery arrow at the creature. This one struck and as it did so, Davrox vanished. Jilken called out, "It will be back in a few seconds, get your attacks ready." As she spoke, the stone began to rise up to her waist.

Unsure of what do to now, Tear moved up to stand next to Janora, but his focus was on the bookcase. Tentatively he reach out and attempted to grab the amber bee, but just as when the party had tried before, his hand passed right through it. Vellikar looked around wildly and then ran over to Denye who was leaning against the wall panting. Laying a hand on the wizard's shoulder the firbolg druid cast Cure Wounds, sending a warm yellow light pouring into her body. Denye began breathing normally and pushed herself up from the wall, giving Vellikar a nod of thanks.

Ell ran over to stand by Tear, firing off two Eldritch Blasts which hit a pair of eye scouts still scuttling over the ceiling. Denye looked up at the scouts and threw a Fireball up to the ceiling, causing both of the scouts to explode from the heat. With a triumphant squawk the wizard ducked around the corner where she would be out of sight. A moment later, Davrox reappeared screaming in pain as the acid from Janora's Vitriolic Sphere continued to eat at him.

Over the party link Janora said, "I believe we may need to keep him alive for a bit, at least long enough to get him to look at this cabinet." Pulling the Mover from the pouch the witch swung it overhead in a circular pattern, casting Compulsion. As the bell tolled a single boisterous note, they ordered Davrox to "Look at me." Wild magic condensed around Janora and began swirling in visible wisps of light. The large mecholder stopped screaming, but managed to hold out against the spell as two clockwork hounds dropped out of panels in the ceiling.

As the hounds began barking and running towards Vellikar and Denye, Jilken, now half turned to stone, asked, "Are you sure we can't kill him?"

Janora, annoyed that Davrox had shaken off their spell growled, "I've changed my mine, kill the fucker."

"You got it," Jilken acknowledged with a wide smile and leveled the heavy crossbow at the mecholder. Drawing in a breath, she took aim and fired, sending the shot directly through the lens and into the primary eye. With a final scream of pain the creature dropped to the ground unmoving, as did all of the remaining eye stalks. There was a tremendous clang from above as a heavy adamantine plate irised out, blocking whatever space may be above. Tear of Midnight Sorrow let out a whoop of joy, but quickly sobered and pulled out his shortbow. Notching an arrow he pulled back, but just as he was about to release it, the arrow slipped out of his fingers and clattered to the ground at his feet.

Vellikar looked at the two dogs and with a growl, flexed his fingers causing long claws of ice to grow at his fingertips. He leapt and slashed at one of the clockwork hounds, leaving gouges along its back. At the same time Ell fired two Eldritch Blasts at the other one. The first struck the ground, but the second caught it mid-chest.

Denye just looked at the hounds and muttered, "Really!?!" Lifiting her claws she called up another Fireball almost directly on top of herself, shielding both herself and Vellikar. from the inferno. As the explosion cleared the hounds still stood, but both had melted or smoking bits. The wild magic swirling around Janora began to surge and pulse. For a moment, Janora stood transfixed by the colors but the witch shook their head violently and refocused on the fight at hand.

Both of the hounds leapt at Vellikar with sharp brass jaws gnashing. The druid managed to dodge one of the constructs but the other clamped those jaws around Vellika's shin, leaving deep bite marks that welled with blood. Jilken dashed forward and fired both crossbows at the more melted hound. Both shots sank home in the clicking machinery and the dog fell on its side, now silent. Vellikar let out a shriek and pulling out a sickle, slashed at the remaining hound. The tip jammed in and sparks flew as gears ground again the blade. Vellikar started to run away, but the clockwork creature snapped it's jaws around a foot, tripping the druid and knocking him out.

Ell let out a cry of anger as Vellikar fell and sent two Eldrich Blasts directly into the face of the hound. The attacks stuck true and one of the back legs was missing at the knee, but it still stood growling. Denye looked at it in disbelief. "Will you just stop please?" she asked it, before contouring another Fireball on herself again. As it exploded, the hound yelped and dropped dead. The wild magics twisted the spell so that as the flames cleared, they left behind a cloud of fog.

In the now silent aftermath, Janora rushed over to Vellikar and cast Cure Wounds on the druid. As the magic washed through him, the bite marks on his leg and foot closed up and a moment later he opened his eyes. Smiling sheepish, he thanked Janora, but the witch only snorted and offered him a hand up. That was the point that Rocknunkel came pounding into the room, muttering curses about how stupid shit always happens. But since none of the party spoke Terran it just sounded like rocks grinding and smashing against one another.

Janora looked at him and shook their head. "You missed the fight, but lucky for you we all survived, now get over here. And change back so you can talk properly!"

As the dwarf shed his rock skin, Vellikar looked around and said, "Everyone is still pretty beat up after that, let me cast Mass Cure Wounds again. That should be okay until we get a chance to rest." Matching actions to words, green and yellow light filled the space and soaked into the party like warm sunlight.

Ell asked, "Now that that thing is dead, do you think if we peeled back it's eyelids the anti-magic thingy would still work?"

"Only one way to find out," replied Janora. At the same time, Denye said, "Oh yes, we are definitely taking that thing apart."

At first that proved hard to do, as the fog bank around Denye followed her down toward the mecholder and no one could see anything. Frustrated, the wizard backed off and waited for the fog to dissipate. While she did so, Janora and Ell tried to open the eye and point it at the bookcase. Unfortunately whatever anti-magic properties it had held in life, in death it seemed inert...plus the crossbow bolt in the middle of it probably did not help anything.

"It was a good thought," said Janora, "but I'm pretty sure there are other ways to kill whatever magic is on that thing." Walking back over to it they stood pondering the immaterial cabinet. With the fog gone, Denye began examining, sketching, and dissembling the mecholder.

"Well," asked Ell, "can anybody else create an anti-magic field?"

"I could cast Revivify on this guy," suggested Vellikar, pointing at the mecholder with half it's plates removed.

Denye looked up from the eye scout and shook her head violently, "That would be a very bad idea."

"Are you sure?" asked Vellikar, "it hasn't been that long. I think we are still within the windows." He began patting pockets before shaking his head, "Never mind, I don't have a diamond."

Janora blew out the breath they had been holding, "Thank the goddess for that. No, there has to be another way, maybe Dispel Magic or Remove Curse."

"I can cast Dispel Magic," said Denye setting aside the eye scout and coming over to stand by Janora and Ell. The wizard began casting the spell, but the wild magic of the ruin twisted the spell into a Fireball. Eyes pinning wildly, she sculpted the spell to protect herself and her friends. "Sorry about that," said Denye ducking her head, "I will be so happy to be out of here and someplace magic works predictably. Let me try that again."

This time the spell executed correctly and for a brief moment the bookcase started to become visible, but the enchantment proved too strong for Denye's spell to break. Stamping a foot in frustration she declared, "I'm sleeping here tonight if I have to get my spells back and we will break that spell."

While Janora and Denye were attempting to bring back the cabinet holding the bell, Ell wandered over to take a look at the other ones. One proved to be filled with books, most of which crumbled away at a touch. The young man did find one book, covered in a pale leather with Arini and Rilar burned into the skin of the cover. Oddly, the book refused to open. The warlock called Janora over and handed them the book. The witch took it and turned it over in their hands. Two things were obvious, the book was very magical and the skin the leather was made out of was probably human.

Janora looked at it apprehensively and then back up at the young man. She asked, "Do you mind if I hold on to this for now?" At his shrug the witch slid the book into one of their bags as Denye and Vellikar joined them. Vellikar opened the other cabinet, which proved to be filled with jars, bottles, and vials of various sizes. One large jar was filled with liquid and a dwarven hand, cut at the wrist. Several other jars and bottle held body parts, others had strange powders or residue.

Denye muttered, "The bell can't be the only thing around here." Glancing over the bookshelves, her sharp eyes caught the gleam of metal on the bottom shelf. Pulling it out she found it was a book made of beaten brass pages bound between two sheets of electrum. Opening it, she found the pages contained diagrams and pictographs that reminded Denye of spells, but it was not a format she had seen before. She found several potions among the bottles and junk, including two greater healing potions and another unknown potion, a viscous red liquid that contained shimmering black spots. She also found half a bottle of truly ancient whiskey. The faded label read House of Zuqdohr : 391 SA.

"Oh that's exciting," said Janora, their eyes lighting up, "I'll try some of that, if you don't mind." The witch opened the cap and sniffed appreciatively, the aroma was quite potent and heavy with peaty and earthy notes. Janora took a slug and it burned all the way down and continued to burn for several seconds, but it wasn't intoxicating at all. They looked at the bottle in puzzlement, and took a second swig, It too burned going down, but still Janora did not feel drunk in the slightest. Shaking their head Janora handed the bottle back to Denye saying, "Either there is no alcohol in this or the wild magic of this place is fucking things up again."

"I'll try it," volunteered Ranunkel. Denye handed him the bottle and he took a swig. Coughing, he spluttered, "Yeah that has alcohol. Almost as good as dwarven whiskey."

Shaking their head, Janora wandered over to examine the immaterial cabinet. Unable to resist a puzzle Denye joined them a moment or two later and the pair, now knowing that it was a spell that kept it untouchable, began examining said spell. They were able to deduce that the spell worked by pushing the cabinet half-way into the Ethereal Plane. It was also quite strong, a 5th level enchantment, but it could be broken.

After discussing this for a minute or two Janora offered, "I've got Dispel Magic as well, I might as well try it." The witch cast the spell successfully and the cabinet flickered momentarily into view, but the spell proved too strong.

Denye shook her head and said, "That is a tough spell. If we take a short rest and I can meditate, I can regain enough energy for one more try, but if the wild magic screws things up I'm going to need sleep before I can try again."

A short rest sounded like a good idea and everyone settled down for a break after that fight, taking the time to eat, drink, and patch themselves up. Denye had a few drinks from her waterskin and then laid down to meditate. After an hour, Denye squared off with the cabinet once more. Pointing both fists at the thing, she reached for the magic and pulled. No wild magic could break her will and the spell struck the bookcase. With an almost audible pop, the piece of furniture solidified, it and all it's contents become tangible again. Looking exhausted, Denye muttered, "Thank the Dawnmother,"

Janora clapped her on the shoulder and said, "Thank you Denye, well done." Stepping up to the cabinet, the witch took a moment to examine it for traps before opened the glass doors. Moving slowly and carefully, Janora lifted the Binder and quickly grabbed the clapper before it could sound. They wrapped it up carefully, muttering about needed to get a new pouch made.

There were also several other interesting items on the shelves; another keycard with a sapphire inlay, a small shell-inlaid box, and a large bee carved from a chunk of amber. Denye handed the box to Ell saying, "Can you see about opening this? Try not to break it."

Ell took the box and looked at it closely but there were no signs of clasp or keyhole. Trying the lid, it opened freely to reveal an iridescent blue sphere. Lifting it out of the box carefully he showed it to the others, "Any idea what this is?"

Denye took it and spent a few moments giving it the Appraising Eye, identifying it as an Ioun stone of Insight. Handing it back to Ell, she said, "Hold this and look at it for about an hour. I think it will help you."

Ell asked, "Is it magic? I don't think I can use anymore without loosing one of the others." Putting it back in the box and slipping it into his bag he said, "I'll think about it. That does sound like it would be helpful though."

Report Date

06 May 2022