Session 81 - Favors, Offers, and Responsibilities

General Summary

5th Planting - Cont.

As the electric blue wisps floated out of the now broken jars and became gastly spectral warriors, Tear of Midnight Sorrow pulled his Shatterglass shortsword and slashed twice at the nearest shade. The blade flashed with reflected light and tore through the spiritual matter removing the arm. With a leap he backed up and got out of range of the ghost.
On the other side of the room, two of the Deathwisps advanced on Janora and Jilken. One managed to sneak up behind the witch and drove their spectral blade through her back, necrotic and void energy causing her to gasp. The Aiel warrior saw the other shade coming, but wasn't able to avoid taking a slice through her arm. The tingling in the arm made Jilken a little slow as she pulled her spear and the shade managed to avoid both blows.
Looking up from the pool of chaos liquid, Denye glanced around and let out a chirp of surprise. "Ell, hold very still," she said as she lifted her talons and began conjuring a bead of fire. Tossing it out over the giant crack it exploded into a large Fireball that caught three of the deathwisps in the blast, as well as the young man. Ell breathed a sigh of relief as the golden light of Denye's spell sculpting protected him. The shades were not so lucky, although one managed to slip out taking minimal damage and the one that Tear had struck was starting to fade in and out.
The specter that escaped the blast drifted directly for the wizard, but swung high. Ell also escaped his attacker, but the flickering wisp advanced on Tear. It raked long spectral nails across the top of his head, causing the goblin to yelp in pain. Ell looked up at the shade that tried to attack him and pushed it back 5 ft with a Telekinetic Shove. He followed it up with three Eldritch Blasts that tore apart the apparition.
Looking around wildly, the young man ran over to the nearby hall and ducked around the corner. Janora whirled around, muttering a curse that ended in a bolt of lightning lancing into the spirit that had struck her. A second curse followed and a spiritual weapon in the shape of a raven that began to peck at the same deathwisp.
Tear landed two more slashes at the dealthwisp in front of him before leaping away once more. The goblin ran over to stand in front of Ell as the wisp attacking Janora went mad and began to lash out wildly. Another of the foes struck out at Jilken as well, but now alerted she danced out of the way. Whirling her spear the Aiel warrior flicked the lightning blade through the shade, cutting bits from its form.
Denye looked up at the skeletal figure and yelled, "I'm down here, you fool!" Realizing quickly she shouldn't be helping, she clapped her beak shut before firing a Firebolt into the apparition's face. The blast made it flicker in and out of sight, but it managed to stabilize itself as she tried to think of what to do next. The deathwisp responded by taking a swipe at the wizard with it's sharp claws, only to strike the swirling golden feathers of her Shield.
The other deathwisp on that side of the room continued chasing Tear, but lashed out at Ell instead as the young man threw up an arm to protect the goblin. The shade's claws passed through his forearm and Ell gasped as he lost feeling in the hand for a moment. Ell fired off an Eldritch Blast into the face of the creature, but backing away he turned a heel on a rock and the second two blasts went wide.
Janora glared up at the spectral figure and continued to blast it with lighting as her crow tried to pick at non-existent eyes. Ell's sacrifice triggered Tear and with a battlecry of "Get off my boss!" cut the spirit in half as the blade. Before it could pull itself back together, he slashed upward and the sword shattered into a million shards of glass ripping through the creature and tearing it to bits. The goblin flashed Ell a quick grin as the sword rebuilt itself on the hilt in his hand. Turning back to the fight, Tear dashed toward Denye, his sword held high.
The deathwisp attacking Janora continued to flail wildly as it's form flickered in and out from the continued witchbolt the witch held on it. Jilken was not quite so lucky as the other shade lunged at her and managed to bury it's claws in her chest. The Aiel gasped and stumbled back as all the color drained from her face. The final deathwisp tried to attack Denye, but the wizard was too quick and managed to slip out of the way.
Jilken managed to recover her breath and swung her spear at the deathwisp that had struck her, but the first blow was too slow. Gritting her teeth the Aiel brought the spear around again and cut the spirit in half. Gathering her energy she Action Surged and ran down to Janora and finished off the second wisp. On the other side of the room, Denye tried to shoot a Firebolt into the face of the shade attacking her but let it go too soon and sent it up into the ceiling. She looked around panicking, but Ell finished off the ghost with a pair of Eldritch Blasts.
As the room went quiet, the party looked around in shock and Ell asked, "What the hell were those? And why did the jars break?"
"Sorry boss," said Tear, sheathing his sword, "I stepped on something in the floor right here."
"There are two more jars," said Denye, "that probably means there is another trigger around here. Nobody move until we find it." She sent Helenwye over to examine the trap plate. Made from the same stone as the rest of the floor, there was still a thin seam visible around it. It took a bit of searching, but they were able to find the other trigger only a few feet from Jilken's right foot. Denye marked it by drawing a square around it with chalk.
With that identified, Janora went over to examine one of the broken jars. Denye joined her a few moments later and Janora pointed out the interior was covered in Abyssal symbols. They called Ell over to check if it was text, but the young man shook his head and declared it magic sigils rather than text. Between the three of them they decided that It was some sort of confinement or binding spell that had kept the deathwisps inside. Otherwise the jar was simple stone, but ornately carved with laurel crowns. The iron ball too proved to be non-magical, simple weight and gravity being enough to shatter the lid when dropped.
Turning her attention to the ladder leaning up against the eastern wall, Janora asked, "Now why would there be a ladder in here, are we supposed to use it to climb down in the chasm?"
"I don't think so," said Denye, looking down at the glowing magma as Hellenwye flitted around, "I don't see any openings or doors."
"There's this passage over here," said Ell, "there's a corner and I can't see around it, but it takes us in the direction Janora said we needed to go."
"Very true," said Janora nodding, "but why is there a ladder?" The witch had pulled out her obsidian tool and was using a long thin point to poke at the ground around and under the ladder. "There seems to be some sort of gold tracery in the stone and it feels magical, but I can't tell what kind."
"If we can take 10 minutes," said Denye, coming over to examine the area, "I could ritually cast Detect Magic and that should give us a better idea."
"Oh, that's a good idea," agreed Janora, "I'll do the same thing, that way we have two different views." The pair began setting out their ritual supplies and began casting. Although it could be considered the same spell, the rituals of witch and wizard were quite different.
Ell and Tear decided to go explore the further rooms while Denye and Janora were working, leaving Jilken to keep an eye on them as she tapped at the wall with her spear shaft. The hall did turn to the left and then opened up into a squarish room. A corner of the room was filled with another of those chaos pools and a large stone door stood in the north wall. As Tear held up his lantern, the pair could see that a curling and abstract carved outline of a 9-pointed star covered the door and a large diamond was inset in the center.
Ell's eyes glittered at the sight of the diamond, but with an unusual sense of caution he conjured up a Mage Hand and used it to poke and trace the carvings before moving on the diamond itself. Over the link he called, "Tear and I found a big mysterious door in here. There isn't anything, like, on the door, other than a symbol of the sun." As the warlock spoke, he moved up to look closer at the carving, "Oh hey, there's text mixed into the carving...it looks like Celestial."
In the other room the pair had finished their rituals and turned to examine the spells on the ladder and the ground beneath it. Both were magical, or more exactly, the stone of the floor held a spell and was linked with the end caps on the ladder. There was also a square in the stone wall, about 3 ft above the top of the ladder, that glowed with abjuration magic.
Frustrated, Janora pushed the ladder over. Over the link she growled, "This is stupid...maybe I was overthinking things. I'm going to go look at Ell's door." As the witch stalked off, Denye picked up the ladder and began examining the end caps on the ladder. The decorations and sigils seemed to be the same, but one set was made of gold and the other end had silver caps.
After a few moments thought, the wizard replaced the ladder, making sure that the golden end caps were on the floor. She climbed to the top of the ladder and as she stepped on the next to last rung, the panel in the wall swung open. Sending Helenwye up to look inside, the wizard found a pull handle for some sort of switch. Over the link she said, "I found something, it looks like a switch."
"Did you pull it?" asked Ell excitedly.
"Not yet," replied Denye, "I'm just reporting what I found. It's in a hidden panel that I had to climb the ladder to open."
"Too bad, Ranunkel isn't here," added Jilken, "he could look in the wall and see where the switch goes."
"It doesn't matter," said Janora, checking the hair once more, "we need to get behind this door, that's where the comb is."
Denye nodded and climbed back down the ladder, "That's fine, I'll leave it for now. Did you figure out what the door said?"
"Yeah," said Ell as Denye and Jilken walked over to join the others, "It reads, 'The thought of me brings sickness / The sight of me, despair / Falter while in battle / And you're sure to find me there. / And when your children mourn you / Do not weep or rage / Know that you have passed me down / To endure in them for an age."
"What does that mean?" asked Jilken.
"I think it wants blood," mused Ell. Pulling out a pen knife he pierced the ball of his thumb.
Before the young man could do more than watch a bead of blood well up, Janora's hand shot out and grabbed Ell's wrist. Her grip was steely, as was her voice when the witch warned, "There is death behind that door, let us not be hasty."
Ell sighed and asked sheepishly, "Well then what should we do? I don't see any other doors."
"We could pull that handle," suggested Jilken, "maybe it will open a secret door."
Now it was Janora's turn to look confused, "Did it just lead to a tiny hole in the wall?"
"No," corrected Denye, "climbing the ladder opened the hole and there was a switch of some kind, but I haven't pulled it yet. But why do you think there is death behind that door?"
"The poem," replied the witch, "It sounds like it's describing something behind the door."
"But wait," Jilken asked, "didn't you say the comb we're looking for is through that door?"
Janora nodded, "I'm pretty sure, let me check." She pulled out the hair and consulted it before cursing. "So yes, I guess we're going to have to open the door after all."
"I think Ell was on the right track," said Denye, looking down at her notebook. "This does sound like a riddle about blood."
"Well, I suppose we have little choice," grumbled the witch.
Ell lifted his penknife again, but he stopped a moment later and looked over to Tear. "Can you go stand at the top of the ladder," he asked the goblin, "just in case it's some sort of failsafe in case there is something dangerous beyond here."
The little goblin wasn't happy about it, but agreed and ran off into the other room. Ell waited for confirmation that he was in place, before he pricked his finger again and smeared blood across the inset diamond. A moment later, the blood seemed to be sucked into the diamond, turning it a reddish pink that glowed with an inner light.
That was followed by a grinding sound and the stone door vanished into the floor. Beyond was a 100 ft hall with another set of regular looking doors at the other end. Unfortunately there was another of the chaos pools that blocked the entire hall near the middle. Denye sent Helenwye down to get a better look at the doors. "There are handles and what looks like a lock," she reported, "but how are we going to get across the pool?"
"Did we," began Jilken, "have we determined that it's not a good idea to walk through the stuff?"
Ell shrugged, "It didn't seem to hurt Tear, but I don't know that we've determined it safe."
"Actually," said Janora slowly, "I think I have a way, but it will only work for me." Turning to Ell, she asked, "Can I borrow a set of lockpicks."
Ell nodded and pulled out a set, "I've picked up a few sets...just in case."
The witch took the set and nodded before locking eyes with the young man, "Now, and this is not something I will ask often, but please slap me in the face."
The warlock blinked in surprise, but when he realized she was 100% serious, he did as bid and actually managed to move the witch's jaw by an inch. With a burst of raven feathers, Janora vanished, only to reappear on the far side next to the doors. "You know," she said over the link, "I don't think I have ever picked a lock, you may have to talk me through this."
It took a few minutes for the witch to work the unfamiliar metal tools, but with Ell and Denye's help she pushed the last tumbler into place and with a smug look of satisfaction tried the door handle. Seeing that, Ell cast Dimension Door and taking Jilken with him, the two appeared next to Janora. The witch twitched and glared at the warlock, "You could have waited till I had opened the door...or at the least warned me,"
Ell flashed her a grin and only asked, "So what's inside?"
Janora gave him a squinty-eyed glare, but slowly turned the handle and eased the door open. Steps lead down into another pool room. almost square and filled with murky, ankle deep water. Four tables made of bones fill the room, although there are also two hanging cages on the east and west walls. Ell used his mage hand to stir the water while Janora sent the spirit of the barghast out to sniff for traps.
When they found none, they stepped into the room and looked around. Several of the tables were covered in tangled piles of tattered cloth, bones, and other detritus. Janora checked the hair and pointed at a table to the left. As she approached it she realized the cage next to the table held a small halfling girl, wearing ragged sailors' clothes. She appeared to be sleeping but stirred as the party splashed through the water.
As she sat up and rubbed her eyes, Jilken called out, "Who are you? What are you doing down here?
The girl looked shocked but grabbing the bars of her cage and sending it swinging slightly, she pleaded, "Thank the Sea! Please, please, you have to get me out of here."
"Why are you here?" asked Janora suspiciously.
"I...I got shipwrecked," replied the girl, breaking into tears, "Two friends and I managed to get to a little beach, but this island is horrible. First there were all the big monsters, but then we met some frog people. They seemed really nice and took us to their village...but then we fell asleep and ended up here."
"Drugged with that fruit probably," mused Denye as she arrived in the doorway, having taken a running jump and gliding over the chaos pool in the hall.
"Yes, yes," said Janora before turning back to address the girl with hands on her hips, "So where are these friends? What do you know about what's going on here?"
"I'm not sure," said the girl still sobbing, "I know Avilar is dead...those, those gray-skinned bastards took him into that room. I could....I could hear him screaming for hours. I'm not sure if Jael is still alive, I haven't seen him since they brought Avilar and I down here."
"Where are these gray creatures," asked Jilken, "and are they big, ugly frog monsters?" At the same time Janora asked, "What are they doing in that room?"
The girl nodded, "Yes, with long spines down their backs. There were also red and blue ones, but they seemed more like muscle. They...they took Ailvar's body and ripped him apart and started...started to eat him." Looking over to Janora she added, "I don't know exactly what it is, but they have some kind of machine or something. They peeled his skin off and drained all of his blood for their experiments. Please, please get me out of here, I don't want to die."
Over the link, Denye offered, "She seems consistent, her clothes look like sailors and were clearly ragged."
"Poor girl," murmured Ell as he moved forward and began working on the lock.
Janroa still felt like something was off and stepped closer to the cage, locking eyes with the halfling girl. In her most authoritative voice the witch said, "If you want to get out of that cage, we need you to tell us everything that you know."
"What...what do you mean?" asked the girl looking confused.
"Why were you spared," asked Jilken, "why did they kill your friends but not you?"
"I wasn't spared," she wailed, "they just haven't gotten to me yet. I told you, they...they like to take their time. It took them two days for Avilar to die. I think it was two days....I don't really know how long I've been down here."
Still not fully believing her, Janora took a step back and pulled out one of the Bells. Removing the leather covering carefully, the witch gripped the Reasoner firmly before ringing the powerful artifact and using it to cast Detect Thoughts. The halfling's surface thoughts were a swirling cacophony of "I need to get out of this cage, will these people free me, I'm so hungry, what am I going to do, am I ever going to get home, do they have food, how long is this boy going to take." Narrowing her eyes, the witch pushed further into her mind and discovered an entirely different mind voice. The thoughts of this second presence were calmer, but there was still a hint of desperation in the thoughts, "Who are these strangers, must protect the engine, more bodies for the Master, have they come to destroy the engine, the twins better not screw this up."
Shocked, Janora tried to make sense of the two mental voices. For a moment she considered possession but quickly realized that the surface thoughts were only a projection and whatever this creature may be, it wasn't actually a halfling sailor. Over the link, she shouted, "Ell, step away from the cage. That's not a sailor!"
Ell looked up in confusion, having just finished the lock. The girl looked pleased momentarily, but then caught sight of the others all going for weapons. She growled something Abyssal, but before she could complete the spell two things happened. The first was that Denye recognized the spell and quickly cast Counterspell, canceling whatever it was the halfling was conjuring. The second was that Janora's hand shot out and grabbed the girl by the chin, ice began to form on her hand as the witch cast Freeze Blood.
The girl screamed and pushed the door open as her body began to melt, exploding out of the cage as black ooze and reforming into a grotesque 9 ft tall monster with black scales that seemed to smoke and drip at the same time. Where its eyes would have been were black pits that if stared at for too long produced a hungry sucking sensation. It wore no clothes but has a fist-sized piece of polished onyx embedded in the center of it's forehead along with a twisted circlet of some rust colored metal that held a handful of other gems; two are smoky quartz, one is an emerald, and there were also gaps which might have held other stones.
Jilken launched herself at the slaad, slicing at it twice with her spear and delivering a strike to a knee with the butt end. The blade cut into the creature, but it didn't seem particularly bothered by the lightning. Over the link, Tear asked, "Should I pull the lever? Or should I leave it and come join the fight?"
"No," replied Ell, "stay there for now. That lever might be a reset for the stone door." Janora looked up into the face of the fiend and fired off a Firebolt laced with a curse of pain. She frowned as the creature seemed to shrug off the attack, but quickly took a few steps back. The death slaad lashed out with sharp claws and managed to score a hit on Janors, causing her Armor of Agathys to explode, embedding ice crystals in it's arm.
Denye stepped back to the doorway as she raised her staff, drawing a glowing glyph in air. With a final flick, she sent the Frostbite spell to strike the creature on the shoulder, ice forming in the water around his feet. Ell glanced at the doors on the other end of the room, but quickly cast Crown of Stars. Seven sparks began to spin around the warlock's head and with a flick of his hand sent two of the sparks to explode against the monster's chest.
The death slaad turned to Jilken and with lightning fast reflexes caught her arm in his mouth, sharp jagged teeth. The Aiel warrior managed to pull her arm free, but blood and black ichor dripped as the wounds began to ache with a strange chill. A moment later the other set of doors flew open and two more slaad burst into the room. Both of them were gray-scaled and shorter than the black one. One of them, wearing a patchwork leather apron lifted her hands and a small bead of flame began to form between them. Shaking her head, Denye quickly traced a Counterspell glyph neutralized the Fireball. The gray slaad snarled in frustration as the other fiend pulled an enormous greatsword and rushed up to Ell. The young man was shocked and the slaad managed to land two heavy blows.
Jilken shook her arm to get feeling back into it and launched another flurry of spear strikes against the black monster. It managed to block the first strike, but the second slipped under the slaad's arm and buried itself in its the flank. The creature hissed and began to look a little worried. Janora, seeing these new monsters, began to mutter in witchtongue. Throwing her hands out she cast Hold Person on both of them, bands of purple and black energy wrapping around the newcomers. The slaad with the sword managed to shake off the witch's spell, but the spellcaster wasn't quite so lucky.
Denye looked around and with a quick assessment, moved a few steps over to get the right angle. With a few whistled notes the wizard conjured a shimmering bowl of light between her talons and sent a Sunbeam lancing across the room. The free gray slaad managed to avoid the full blast, but his sister was not so lucky and took the blast full in the face and became blinded. Ell got himself under control and used a Telekinetic Shove to get the demon out of his face. With some breathing space, the warlock fired off three Eldritch Blasts as he backed into a corner.
The death slaad began to cast Invisibility on himself, but Jilken reacted with another stab of her spear into his armpit. It wasn't enough to keep him from spellcasting, but a Counterspell from Janroa canceled it out. The demon howled in frustration and rushed for the doors into the next room, disappearing inside. The gray caster struggled against both the Hold Person spell and the blindness but she was completely locked down. Her brother on the other hand, rushed down to Janora and swung his jagged great sword into her knee. As the weapon struck the witch, she vanished in a burst of raven feathers only to reappear in the next room. Over the link she swore, "This is bad! Denye, you'll have to see this...there is some sort of enormous machine in here and a giant sword. There is also some sort of growth on the wall.....full of eyes."
Jilken swore as the fiend ran away and dropped her spear and pulled up her heavy crossbow. In a smooth motion she sighted on the slaad, fired, and dropped the crossbow, hand already moving to her other bow. The Aiel warrior brought the Rainbow Reaper up to her lips and kissed the water drop and fired off a second bolt. The first shot hit him in the shoulder and the second got him in the back of the leg. Over the link, Tear asked, "Is everyone okay? Do you need my help? Nothing out here is happening." When Ell told him to stay put the goblin grumbled and pulled out some rope so he could tie it to the handle and start edging closer to the fight.
Janora looked over at the death slaad and began casting another spell. As she spoke the words of power, thick vines with sharp thorns appeared and began to grow up in a large ring that rose to the ceiling. It blocked the doorway and wrapped around the frozen demon but the death slaad managed to escape with only a few cuts. Denye moved forward slightly and sent another Sunbeam through the stuck slaad and in the head boss beyond.
With the other monsters occupied, Ell turned his attention to the slaad with the sword. With a flick of his hand, he sent another of the radiant motes to explode in his face. The fiend threw up his arm to protect his face, but wasn't in time and as he stood there blinking, the warlock followed it up with another barrage of Eldritch Blasts.
Muttering curses in Abyssal, the death slaad cast Fly on himself and zoomed up to hover next to the enormous glowing sword at the heart of this strange machine. The caster slaad managed to break out of Janora's Hold Person but she was still blind and trapped in the vines and thorns. The other slaad turned and identifying Jilken as the biggest threat moved to attack her. Both strikes got past her defenses and managed to knock the Aiel unconscious. A moment later there was a flash of bright blue light from Ell's bag and Jilken found herself waking up, gasping as her eyes tried to focus. Groaning, she pushed herself up to her feet and delivered several serious strikes of her own with her lightning spear. The slaad wavered but didn't go down as Jilken swore in Abyssal, "Don't worry, I'll finish you off quickly and then I'll finish off your sister as well."
Hearing Denye's cry of alarm, Tear swore and pulled the lever before jumping off the ladder and starting towards the others. As he did there was a grinding noise and a section of the wall swung inward. Excitedly he backtracked and looked inside and over the link called, "I pulled the lever...it opened a secret door and there are three chests inside!"
Reacting to the flying demon, Janora pulled up her light crossbow and fired a silver bolt at the fiend. She swore as the missile's curve dipped too soon. Over the link she called, "This bastard is trying to do something to the sword. I might need some help in here." Hearing this Denye loosed another Sunbeam that struck both the gray slaad. The warrior threw his arm up over his face, but fell to one knee gasping. His sister on the other hand screamed and went limp as her scales began to blacken and scorch. Using the earrings, Denye said, "We're just about done out here, Janora. She's dead...I think you can drop the wall of thorns."
Ell quickly finished off the warrior slaad with a series of Eldritch Blasts. As the enemy fell to the ground he spoke, "Tear, I think we'll be okay. Find out what's in those chests...and we'll be over there in a few minutes." As the vines and thorns vanished into purple and black mist, he caught sight of the flying slaad. With another flick of his hand, he sent one of his remaining radiant sparks at the fiend. It exploded in his face and he fell to the ground, striking the machine several times before landing, unmoving, half in the chaos pool.
Before the party could do more than take a breath or two, an odd and eldritch voice spoke into their minds. Well, everyone except Denye and Jilken with their mind protection, they only felt a mental presence outside their shields. "Why do you fear change so?" whispered the voice, "There are wonders beyond imagining to be seen and experienced. I want to give those to you, I wish to bring all of the world into my embrace. When all are one there will be peace."
Janora shook her head as a wave of dizziness and exhaustion swept over her, but she managed to shake it off. Ell wasn't quite so resilient and crumbled to the floor, snoring. Shaking her head the witch touched her holy symbol and whispered a short prayer Sealing the Dead.
Denye was ignoring the presence and looking over the strange looking chaos engine. An enormous, glowing sword was embedded in a large cluster of purple and red crystals that sat on a large metal ring with four swirling colored balls affixed at right angles to each other and the entire construction was in a pool of the chaos juice. There was also a large table covered in blood stains and pipes ran from the table into the machine. When Ell collapsed, the wizard rushed over to his side and shook him awake.
A few of the party took shots at the crystal structure before the goblin's voice echoed in their minds. "The first chest had bags of gold and platinum," reported Tear, over the mental connection, "the second chest has a harder lock and I broke a pick. Imma move on to the third." A few seconds later, he cursed, "My arm is stuck...oh no, this chest is alive and trying to eat me." The goblin tried to pull away but couldn't. swearing he grabbed his elemental gun and fired off two shots at close range.
Back in the other room the strange voice spoke to Ell and Janora once more, but this time it was much less friendly, "My children are many and they call to me, you will never be rid of me. Your kind are ants who scurry around building sand castles, spreading like parasites! I shall consume you all in the end. Would it not be better to submit willingly?" This time the wave of magic and desperation hit all four of the party. Ell and Denye managed to maintain their sense of self, but Janora and Jilken were filled with an urge to give up and move closer to the mass of eyeballs and tentacles at the back of the room.
Seeing his friends slump and begin to shuffle forward, Ell flicked his hand, sending another starburst to explode in the center of the big eye, muttering to himself, "We don't have time for this." Concentrating he reached for the power of his Voice and Banished the entire Eyemass.
Feeling the malaise vanish, Janora looked around and asked, "How long will that thing be gone?"
"Forever, I hope," replied the warlock, "if it's not from here and I can hold the spell for a minute, it won't come back." When no one moved he added, "Since I'm holding this spell, can someone go help Tear?"
Denye nodded and then took off at a run, still holding her bowl of sunlight, not even worrying about the chaos liquid as she splashed through. Jilken shook off the spell and angrily shot a crossbow bolt at the large crystal in the center of the machine. Seeing this behind her, as she ran, over the link, Denye called, "Maybe we should wait to break the crystal until we're sure the thing is gone. Let's only have one crisis at a time, please!" Jilken didn't look really happy, but nodded and then took off after Denye to save their young goblin friend.
Knowing that Denye and Jilken were more than enough to help Tear, Ell and Janora began looking over the machine and trying to get an idea of what it was doing. The witch went immediately to the sacrificial table and began examing it closely. There were 4-point chains attached to the table and the various colors of dried blood within the channels made it clear that the victims were of a variety of races. It was also clear from a hole at the bottom of the slightly tilted table fed into a pipe which connected into the large copper ring.
"What do you think they were doing?" asked Ell.
"Well," began Janora, "I'd guess that they were draining the blood of victims and feeding it into the machine...but to do what?" Taking a few steps back she took in the entire structure. Lightning sparked off the enormous sword and the crystal was showing cracks which caused the energy inside to pulse and spark erratically. The four colored balls of energy were also flickering and no longer swirled in synchronicity. As she walked around and saw the other pipes leading from the machine to the space where the Eyemass had been, she understood. "We'll probably need Denye to look it over to tell us how," said Janora, tapping her chin with a finger, "but I'm fairly sure that they were using the machine to take the blood, infuse it with energy from the sword, and then feeding it to that abomination."

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Over in the secret room, Tear pulled harder as the chest opened and a large sticky tongue tried to wrap itself around the goblin. He managed to wriggle out of the way and even pulled his arm free as the mimic began to melt, becoming more gel-like and blobby. The goblin scrambled back and fired two more blasts of lightning into the mimic. Scrambling back he made it back into the main room with the lava pit.
The mimic followed and tried to strike at the goblin warrior with a pseudopod, but now knowing what to expect Tear was not about to let himself get caught again. He put a bit more distance between them and fired two more shots. He pulled the trigger too early on the first one, but the second blast hit dead center.
Before the mimic could get much closer, Denye came running around the corner and over the link, yelled, "Tear...duck." The goblin dropped to the ground and Denye let all of the sunshine spill out into a final Sunbeam that burned away the top half of the mimic.
Tear pushed himself to his feet and looked at the smoking mass before turning to flash a smile to Denye. "Thank you," he said, "chests shouldn't attack you!"
"Sorry about that," replied Denye, "we shouldn't have left you alone. Are you okay?"
"I'm fine," said the goblin, regaining his cheer. He excitedly pointed back to the secret room, "I found a bunch of treasure. We should get the boss and find out what's in that other chest."

Report Date

06 Oct 2023