Session 82 - Cost of Favors

General Summary

5th Planting - Cont.

With all the immediate threats dealt with, the party gathered back into the room with the sparking and glowing chaos engine. As Denye pulled out her notebook and began trying to analyze the strange contraption, Jilken began sorting through the junk on one of the tables in the anteroom.
A moment later, Jilken cried, "Hey Janora...is this what you were looking for?" She lifted a large silver hair comb with three inset cabachone stones and held it up for the others to see.
"I'm not sure," replied the witch doubtfully, "that doesn't really look like the Yaga's style. But there is an easy way to find out I suppose." Pulling out the small hair once again on the head of her cudgel, she muttered a spell and then nodded. "Jilken, will you take that and walk over to the other side of the room and we'll see if it moves."
The Aiel nodded and walked over, but the hair did not spin to follow. "I guess not, but it feels like it has magic, so I'll keep it. What else is in that pile?"
Turning, Janora carefully moved the Ceberus Cudgel from right to left along the edge of the table. Watching it carefully, the witch reached out and overturned a scarred leather vest and revealed a rusty iron comb inlaid with brass patterns. Lifting it carefully she sighed, "Now this looks like what I would expect from the Yaga."
Statisfied, Janora slipped both comb and hair into one of her cloak pockets before turning back to the table and rummaging through the items on the table. Jilken grinned and started going through one of the others. They found several other interesting items; including an onyx/silver necklace and a small box of blackened wood.
While the three of them were looking around, Ell and Tear headed back to the hidden room and the treasure chests waiting to be plundered. As promised the first chest held sacks of platinum coins and stacks of gold bars. Sharing a grin with the goblin, Ell left him to fill the bag of holding while he began working on the other lock.
It only took a few moments and there was a soft click and the young man sat back with a grin. Pushing the lid up, he discovered a half dozen heavy stone bottles with wax seals. Lifting one, Ell was able to read the dwarven runes and quickly realized that this was dwarven whiskey...and if his calculations were correct, over 700 years old. There was also a smallish ragdoll with button eyes. Ell was a bit confused as to why it was in the chest, but he added it to the bag of holding before the pair headed back to find thier friends.
Returning to the antechamber they found that Janora had started going over gray slaad, while Jilken had gone to check the death slaad. Getting a closer look at the apron the gray caster wore, Janora recognized it as having been made from skins of various humanoids. Shuddering she pulled it off the body and threw it up onto one of the tables and with a flick of her wrist it burst into flames. The only other item she wore was a neck delicate carved horn of moonstone which the witch pocketed. The other gray had the large serrated sword he had carried as well as having a pair of sais with a black, oily finish tucked into his back.
In the other room, Jilken found that the death slaad had fallen half into the pool of chaos liquid. She was a bit wary of getting to close to the lightning sparking from the machine, but pulled the creature out. The silvery liquid had already begun to eat into it's skin and the smell was terrible. The only real item he had was the heavy metal necklace, although both the darker stones had crumbled, leaving only the emerald. Annoyed, the Aiel pulled the collar off and pushed the death slaad back into the pool.
Recognizing that these were demons, Janora decided to harvest a few body parts. Leaving the witch to her greusome work, Ell went into the other room and asked, "So, Denye, what do you think? Should we keep breaking the crystal or just pull the sword out?"
Denye looked up from her notebook, "That would certianly break the machine...but there is enough magical energy that if it goes unstable it will likely destroy this entire temple."
"So should we leave it?" asked Jilken, skeptically.
"No," said Janora from the other room, "we can't leave that thing...do we even know what it does?"
"Oh yes," replied Denye, "and for what it's worth, I agree with you. As for what it does, well I've never seen this particular technology, but from what I can tell it takes blood and converted into both food for that Eyemass and this chaos liquid. If I'm not mistaken, that sword is Dawnbreaker and it is functioning as the power source. Although those other glass balls seem to be containing some sort of elemental energies as well, but I think those are somehow being broken down and mixed into the chaos liquid."
"So destroying this is a good idea," agreed Ell, "seems like making it explode is a good idea. How long would we have?"
Denye shurgged, "No idea! It could be as quick as seconds or as much as a minute or two."
Jilken scowled, "It's going to take more than that to climb the stairs, do we have another way to get out of here?"
"I suppose I could start a Teleport Circle," said Denye, "we should have at least a few seconds."
"What about the sword?" asked Ell, "We really should take it with us...such a powerful artifact should be studied. I'm fairly sure I can lift it with Telekinesis...but what do we do with it then?"
"What if we put it in Denye's house?" suggested Tear, "That should be large enough and then we only have to take the ring."
"That's actually not a bad idea," agreed Ell, "if you are willing, of course, Denye."
The Corva wizard bounced her head back and forth in thought. "I think it should fit. It will take up most of the floorspace, but if we move one of the workbenches I think it will work."
"Wait a minute," Jilken said, going stiff, "Ironheart and Forest are still up on the surface, we can't leave them...espcially if this place is going to explode."
"That is a very good point," said Janora, "Forest could probably fly away, but I don't think the horse is going to be getting off this island by herself."
Ell looked puzzled, "Well...I don't think we can get them down the stairs. There is also the pool upstairs to get across."
"Well," the witch said, thoughtfully, "Jilken and I could go back up and then I forest walk us back to Wexwood, Haven, or whereever you all want to meet. Then the three of you can pull the sword out and then Denye can Teleport your group away."
Jilken nodded, "With Denye's upgrades, the earrings will still work so we can warn you when we are back down on the vally floor. So where should we meet?"
"Back in Wexwood, I think." said Ell, "might as well get some use out of our new hub."
"Works for me," agreed Denye, "I have the sigils for the Wayfinders Refugee there."
"It will take us an hour or two to get back," Janora said, "but we'll see you there." With a wave, the pair headed off for the stairs and the climb before them. It took most of an hour, but eventually they made it back to the surface where thier mounts had been waiting paitiently. Ironheart was very happy to see the Aiel and began mouthing at her hair. Laughing, Jilken pulled out one of the strips of fruit leather that the warmare liked. Together, the four of them headed down the wide, broken steps of the pyramid and back down to the jungle.
Once among the trees, Janora stopped and dismounted. Pulling the obsidon tool out of a pocket she pinched it into a long pointer and began drawing the circle and sigils to connect the forests of the world. As she did so, over the earrings, Jilken sent, "Janora's casting the spell, you all are good to proc....shit." That last was because of an enormous snarl that shook the trees, sending birds flying. Looking around wildly, the warrior spotted movement, tree collapsing as if pushed aside coming in thier direction.
Through the earrings, Ell asked, "What is it? What's wrong?"
Jilken pulled her spear and kindled it to life, lifting it as more of a lance as it began to hum, quietly at first but quickly picking up in pitch and volume. As she watched, a 20ft tall T-rex came into view, nostrils flaring as it turned it's head from side to side. "It's one of those big ugly lizards we snuck past, you called it a T-rex I think. I think it's looking for us....Janora you might want to hurry your spell."
The witch was already muttering and drawing as fast as she could. Just as she was completing the circle, the great lizard seemed to catch sent of them and with another bone-shaking roar it started running toward the four of them. With a magical word, Jilken send a small ball of crackling lightning toward the dino. The ball exploded into a giant blast of electricty that enveloped the upper half of the dino. The beast stopped dead in it's tracks, shaking it's head and acting a little woozy. By that point, Janora was back on Forest's back and the team took off as fast as they could. They contiued to run for a good 10-15 minutes but by that time it was clear the spell had ahold of them and the great lizard hadn't been able to pursue them.

---

While the other team waited for Janora and Jilken to get away, Denye had taken off her Ring of Homesteading and extended it so that the three of them could move some furniture around. They had just finished when over the earrings, they heard Jilken say, "Janora's casting the spell, you all are good to proc....shit."
"What is it?" replied Ell, worriedly, "What's wrong?"
There was a moment or two while Denye, Ell, and Tear just looked at each other before Jilken responded, "It's one of those big ugly lizards we snuck past, you called it a T-rex I think. I think it's looking for us....Janora you might want to hurry your spell."
Out loud Denye said, "We'll never get to them in time to do any good. They have almost a two hour head start and whatever they are dealing with will be long over by the time we got there."
Ell grimaced and nodded. Over the link he asked, "Did you escape?"
When there was no reply Tear started to look upset, but again Denye had an answer, "If they are in the grip of the forest spell, they aren't strictly on this plane so the link wouldn't work. It usually only takes an hour or less for that spell so let's finish up hear and head back to Wexwood. We'll worry if we haven't heard from them in a few hours."
That seemed to make sense and both Ell and Tear focused on the task at hand. Ell asked, "So what now?"
Denye ruffled her feathers before blowing out a long breath, "I don't know how quickly that thing is going to go, this spell takes a minute. I've prepped as much of it as I can. I'm willing to bet it's going to be safer inside the ring and I think there's 10 minutes worth of oxygen in it if it's not open or rather 10 minutes worth of breathable air in it. You may be safer there but also if I don't get out in time, you might suffocate which wouldn't be good either. So really do you want to be on the ground or in the safe room when this is going off?
"Um, I think we should all be down here," said Ell shaking his head, "standing in the teleport circle. What I kind of want to try is to like let you start the spell and after like 20 or 30 seconds, then like we rip the sword out tossing in the ring of home setting and then we're gone. Hopefully before like any explosions get too big."
"I'll help Ell," said Tear, "and I can pick up the ring once the sword is in...then you only have to focus on your spell, Denye."
"Okay." said Denye, slowly, "I think that might work. Once I start the spell I'm not going to be able to stop it or I'll lose it and have to start over. I don't...I don't think it will explode right away, so you might want to start pulling it at the same time, just so we don't get caught short." Pulling out her chalk, Denye began marking a large circle on the stone floor. Adding smaller circles within, she directed the others, "Stand there and don't smudge anything!"
As the wizard began filling in the circle, Ell turned his attention to the enormous sword held in the crystal. Holding a hand out the warlock used his Telekenisis to grasp the handle and pull it free. He pulled up as hard as he could but the sword seemed immovable. Sweat started to run down his face as his other hand joined the first and he switched to rocking the sword back and forth. This was much more effective and the huge crystal began to crack and break, several pieces falling into the machine as the light within began pulse erratically and the lightning surrounding the sword increased.
Denye was more than halfway through her spell and Ell gritted his teeth and concentrating as hard as he could, he pulled at the sword once more and this time it came free. Unfortunatly the actual weight of even a broken Dawnbreaker was significantly heavier than the young man had expected and he staggered, sending the sword swinging into one of the glass orbs before he could regain control.
When the sword was pulled from the stone, the light within the gem began to strobe erratically and the swirling energy/mist within the orbs spun wildy. As the glass from the broken orb tinkled into the machine and the chaos pool below, the bright red mist sparked into flame, quickly going from a few sparks to a whirlwind of flame rose to the ceiling before dropping down and taking on a vaugly humanoid shape.
"New plan," shouted Ell, "we get the sword into the circle and get out of here. We can put it into the ring of homesteading on the other side."
Not wanting to break her spell chanting, Denye used the mental link to say, "Just get it in here and hold it upright. I think as long as you actually touch it, it will come with us."
Tear had pulled his Shatterglass shortsword and was eyeing the fire elemental warily. "Should I grab the ring then?"
"Yes," shouted both Denye and Ell as the young man pulled the sword into the circle, holding it a few inches off the floor. As the fire elemental advanced on the party, firey arms reaching out, Denye chanted the final words of the spell with a florish and the circle flared up and with a plucking sensation the three adventurers vanished.
A moment or two later, the three found themselves standing with a medium-sized looking room. Other than the circle laid into the floor, the only other decoration were two large banners hung on the wall. One bore the seal of Wexwood and the other the mark of the Wayfinders. Denye started to nodded satisfactorily when the smell of burnt feathers filled the room and she squwaked and patted out the smoldering tail feathers.
Once Denye was sure that she was out the wizard took the ring from Tear, and reactivating it helped the other wrestle the sword up into the demiplane. When they were finished, Denye reclaimed her ring and said, "I should probably find the librarian and apoligize for borrowing their portal."
Putting actions to words, Denye headed for the door with the others following behind. They actually ran into Shalana Emorin in the halls. The Wayfinder Minorus smiled and gave them a short bow and a bright smile. "Ahh, I heard the chime that warned someone had arrived, I am quite glad to see it was you. I hope all is well."
Ell barked a short laugh but Denye nodded, "It was a little touch and go for a moment, but now that we're home, it's fine."
The Bur'an elf's eyes widened, "Oh my, that sounds dangerous, where were you coming from? Where are the others."
"Jilken and Janora are coming back a different way," explained Ell, "they had to split off to get the mounts and Janora was going to get them back to Wexwood."
"As for where we were," said Denye running a talon across her beak, "I'm not really sure. It was some island with dinosaurs, off the southern coast. I need a nap, but I promise I'll come back and tell you all about it in the next day or two." At Shalan's words of concern and acceptance, the wizard gave her a final wave and the three headed out of the Keep and back down the stairs to the Restless Raven as the last rementes of dusk fled from the sky.
Janora and Jilken rode into town a couple of hours later, although they had to negoatiate with the gate guard. That took no more than a moment as the guard recognized Jilken and the privy door was quickly opened and the pair ushered inside. The others were glad to see them, but Janora wanted nothing more than a quick wash, a hot meal, and her bed.

6th Planting

The next morning the party gathered in thier private common room. A breakfast buffet was set up and Tear was offering everyone omlets. Denye's feathers went slick at the offer as she shook her head violently before going over to claim a large bowl of porridge. The young goblin realized what he had done and appolifized profusily, promising that he would make some seedcakes for lunch.
After catching each other up on the events after the two teams split, Ell asked, "So should we retunr that comb to its rightful owner and get a bell?"
"Well," said Denye turning to the witch, "I guess the question is, Janora, do we all need to go or is this soemthing you want to handle on your own?"
Janora pursed her lips for a moment before replying, "I think I should probably take care of it myself." Her eyes flicked over to look at Ell before she added, "It will be safer, I think. She...she didn't give me a timeline, but waiting is not her strong suit. I'll probably take off shortly. I can't imagine I won't be back before day's end."
"Fair enough," said Denye, "Ell, what do you want to do with this sword?"
"We probably don't have space up here," mused the young man.
"It's also not really secure," pointed out Jilken, "not that I don't trust the inn workers, but that feels important."
Tear snickered and asked, "How they carry it? It weighs more than 'heart."
"Yeah," agreed Ell, " We'll have an actual treasure chamber once the new wing gets built, but until then I've got keys to a pair of rooms in the basement. According to Master Zinfir, it's the only set. Shall we go see if it will suit?"
With a plan, the party broke up to tend to business. Before Janora took off she stopped to speak to Denye. "If you would like," she said, "I can show you are the swamp...you just probably don't want to meet the Yaga. She can be very...intense is probably the best word for it."
"No, no," said Denye, "You have a lot of secrets, Janora, and magic very different from my own. I want to respect that."
Janora shook her head, "It's not that it's a secret...it's just complicated." With a sardonic chuckle she added, "And we already have enough complications. Either way, I'll be back this evening"
The wizard twittered as well, "Fair enough, safe travels. When you get back this evening you'll have to finish telling me about how you were able to enbody Forest."

Rewards Granted

8 bags of 1000 platinum coins and 500 gold bars worth 5gp/ea
6 stone bottles of 700 y.o. dwarven whiskey
a large iron comb with copper inlay
a strange kazoo
a small black wood box
a strange shard of stone.
a stone jar with a waxed stopper.
an onyx and silver amulet
a necklace with a delicate carved horn of moonstone
a small ragdoll
broken Dawnbreaker

Report Date

20 Oct 2023