Session 85 - Now I Lay Me Down to Rest

General Summary

23 Planting - Contd.

Stepping inside the Crystal Citadel was like entering a dream world, at once gleaming and bright while also being soft and scattered. The entrance hall itself was large with smooth glass pillars scattered around the room and two low braziers before the large crystal staircase that led up to the balcony that ran across the back of the room. Feeling cautious the party began to look around, searching for hidden doors or traps but found nothing. Jilken moved about halfway up the stairs, far enough to see that beyond the open doors was a hallway, 20ft wide, with more frosted glass walls. Soft music and the susurrations of many conversations drifted from deeper into the castle, but there was no sign of other people.
"This looks like the way to go," said Jilken, over the link, "but where are all the people?"
"Maybe they are all ghosts," replied Tear, as the others moved up the stairs after the elf.
"No," growled Janrora, "I would know if there were ghosts about, this is something else."
The hall beyond the doors was 100 ft long or so with another set of doors, one of which was slightly ajar. Before anyone stepped through the doors, Ell took out a bag of ball bearings and used his mage hand to drag it along the floor looking for traps. He didn't find any as he and Tear made their way down the hall with the others following some distance behind. Reaching the door, Ell attempted to push the door open, but ended up closing it instead.
Sighing and muttering to himself, the young man tried the handle and when it turned easily, he pulled the door open. The room beyond was large and roughly diamond shaped with doors at each apex as well as a sort of stone plinth in the center of the room. Ell and Tear continued to look for traps as the others began to look around.
The music and muted conversation continued to swirl through the air and while it wasn't loud, it was very distracting. Finding one of her feet tapping in time to the music, Janora pursed her lips in annoyance and held the foot still. Over the link she warned, "Try not to listen to the music and laughter, I don't trust it, I think it's some sort of trap. We should make this trip as fast as we can."
At the same time Denye had been trying to make out what the voices were saying. It was a mix of languages and much of it was muffled, but she was able to make out bits such as "...war is going poorly in the south, I heard...", "...husband and daughter were taken. They said time here would heal...", "...my girl bet that I wouldn't come in and now I can't find, do you know where the exit...", and "...horrible, it was some sort of giant undead monster and it just stomped around picking up people."
"I think you're right," replied the wizard, "I can't tell if we are just unstuck in time or if these voices are some kind of ghosts. I know you said they weren't, Janora, maybe it's more like they are memories. Either way, we shouldn't linger."
"We should also make sure that no one is fully separated," added the witch, "if we need to split up the group to cover more ground, that's one thing, but don't go anywhere without someone else."
"That's a good idea," agreed Ell, "so where do you think we'll find the bell?"
Tear had worked his way around the room and called, "Hey boss, this door looks important," as he took in the far door. He leapt back a moment later as an ancient face pushed itself out of the glass and in a low rumbling voice announced, "Forced quarantine measures are in effect. To move forward, you must ring the gong. Seek the keys within the Chambers of Healing and lay down your burdens."
Looking around the room, Janora asked, "Where the hell is a gong?"
"Probably one of the keys we need to find," replied Denye, going over to the plinth and examining it. She found that there were several holes in the top of it, maybe two inches deep. Two were small round holes about a foot, foot and a half apart while the other pair were shaped like the outline of feet. "I think," she said, "that we need to assemble some kind of statue and gong."
"So which door should we try?" asked Ell.
"Both probably," said Jilken, "maybe we should split up to try to get the pieces faster?"
"Hold on a second," replied Janora, "we don't even know if the bell is that way. Remember, that's the whole reason we came inside. Actually, let me try something."
"While you do that," said Denye, "if we're alright to take a few minutes I can put an Alarm across this entrance that will ring every hour. That might be useful so we can keep track of how much time we spend here."
Pulling out her silver thread, the wizard began casting her spell across the doorway through which they had come. While she was doing that Janora had pulled out her own spell focus, a die carved of bone with sharp corners. Calling on the Raven Queen, the witch gripped the die in one hand and asked, "Is what we seek down this pathway and behind this door?" The die had pricked her hand, drawing beads of blood that glistened when she cast the artifact to the ground. It rolled several times before landing on yes and the witch heard a whisper, "Both of your goals lie beyond the guardian."
Tucking the die back into her cloak she sighed and said, "Of course we need to get past this door. I guess that means finding these keys. Do we want to try the right or left hand doors?"
"Maybe we should check out both sides before we decide?" suggested Ell. That sounded reasonable and the young man went to the left hand doors while Jilken went to the right set. Of course, both doors led to hallways roughly 120ft long that dead ended, but each also have four doors that could be seen, two in the upper side wall and two in the lower.
"We should stay together as long as we can," said Janora, looking down both halls, "My instincts are telling me that it is too easy to lose yourself in this place."
The others agreed and after a bit more discussion decided to check the lefthand hall first. The doors along the left side read For the Infirm and For the Hale while the right hand doors were labeled For the Wise and For the Lost.
"What language does that look like for you?" asked Denye, "I assume you aren't all seeing it as Birdfolk?"
"Looks like Aielian script to me," replied Jilken.
Tear added, "It's looks like Goblin to me."
"Interesting," said Ell rubbing his chin, "I see it as Common. It must be enchanted to show as the first language you learned. That would be handy if it was a mix of peoples coming through here. So which door should we open?"
"The door said something about quarantine," recalled Jilken, "that sounds like we want some sort of medical area."
"Well," said Janora, "that seems like we should try the door for the infirm, I would think." Stepping over she took a good look at the door. Like everything here it was made of the same milky glass and trimmed in silver. The witch tried the handle and found it turned easily, pushing the door open enough to look in.
What she saw made her swear over the link. They had found people...sort of. There were a dozen or so figures in the room, split up into several groups, but all of them were translucent to various degrees. More than that, they were in various stages of clarity. For example, one group laughing in the corner almost looked like real people and another pair, one laying on a cot, were little more than humanoid smudges.
The room itself was retangular with two doorways visible leading deeper in. All of the walls were glass, but here there was a pattern carved into it of curling vines and flowers. After taking a few minutes to watch the spirits, Janora stepped inside and when the spirits didn't respond, the rest of the party followed and they began exploring further, trying to block out the music and laughter that echoed through the halls.
What they found was a series of halls that twisted around in various directions. It took some time but eventually they found a room with several copper tubs lining the walls and a strange looking humanoid standing in the center of the room. The figure looked like a halfling, but seemed to be made from a variety of soap, all mushed together in a range of colors and scents. As the party stepped inside, the doorways vanished as the walls fused closed. Before anyone panicked, the halfling figure turned and flashed a bright smile. ""Welcome to the Chamber of the Body," she said, lifting her arms, "The world outside can be cruel, please let us wash away your ills and troubles."
Janora glared and asked, "Is this room a part of the chambers of healing?"
"Indeed," said the soap golem, "this is the Chamber of the Body, allow us to wash away your ills and troubles."
"You said that already," said Jilken, scanning the golem and realizing that there was no real sentience behind those eyes. She asked "Do you know anything else?"
"Perhaps where we can find the key to get through the door in the main room?" suggested Ell.
"Welcome to the Chamber of the Body," the golem repeated, "Simply choose a tub, place your hand on the faucet and count to five. When the tub is full, please disrobe and enter the tub. There are also privacy screens that can be pulled around if your culture has nudity taboos."
"I don't think we're going to get much more out of this thing," muttered Janora, marching over to a tub and putting her hand on the faucet. After a few beats, water began pouring out and filling the tub. Sticking a hand in the water, Janora nodded, "At least it got the temperature right."
Jilken and Tear immediately went to tubs and touched the faucets, summoning more water. Denye and Ell were a bit more hesitant. Over the link, Denye complained, "I'm a little discomforted by how accommodating this place is...it doesn't seem natural."
"It is overly pleasant," agreed Janora, "but I don't get a sense that this place is trying to harm us so directly. I think it will be okay as long as we stay on guard."
"At the very least," said Ell with a laugh, "it's a nice change. Usually the places we visit are dark and damp." Claiming a tub, he triggered the water and began disrobing shyly.
Once everyone had climbed into a tub, the soap golem came by and snapping off one of the fingers of her left hand dropped it into each tub. As she did the water began to fizz and bubble in a pleasant way. For each of the adventurers, the scent was a personal favorite. Ell's tub smelled of cedar and old books while Tear's smelt of freshly baked cinnamon rolls. Denye's bath had the sharp, biting smell of cold, snowy air mixed with pine, spruce, and cedar. For Jilken, it was the smells of home; chickens, sweat, and the everpresent spices the Aiel used.
As the soap golem came at last to Janora's tub and moved to break off her thumb, the witch grabbed the attendant by the wrist and in a soft, pressing voice asked, "How is that you came to exist? And how did you end up here?"
The attendant blinked and looked confused but eventually replied, "I...I am here to help you wash away your ills and troubles. I have always been here, I am a part of the Chamber of the Body."
"And what will happen to your hand?" asked Janora, glancing down at the mangled appendage.
"It will regrow," replied the soap golem, without concern, "when next the doors open."
"And it doesn't injure you?" Janora asked, still suspicious.
"Not at all, this was what I was created for," replied the attendant, shaking her head.
Finally satisfied, the witch released the wrist and leaned back into the water. With a smile, the soap golem broke off her thumb and dropped it into the water. Job completed, she returned to the center of the room as Janora's tub began to fizz and foam with the sweet and smoky scents of an applewood fire.
The water was soothing and relaxing and never seemed to cool. With the sounds of the haunting music and laughter muted here, the party relaxed and made small talk. Tear ended up dozing off and both Denye and Janora came close. Eventually, Janora asked, "Miss, how long are we to stay here?"
"Until you feel rested and rejuvenated," replied the golem with a smile. "If you are ready to carry on, you are more than welcome to exit the tubs." The party decided that it was in fact time to get moving and quickly got out of the tubs, dried off, and began dressing. As they finished, the attendant spoke once more, "May you be refreshed and renewed. Please enjoy your time within the Halls of Respite."
With those final words, the soap golem began to quickly melt away into a drain at the center of the room. The party was too shocked to respond as the entire thing happened in seconds. What remained in her place was a 2 ft square frame of polished bronze.
Denye shook out her feathers and looked at the frame curiously before announcing, "This must be the first piece. I'm fairly sure this will fit the smaller set of holes." As the wizard picked it up the walls moved once more revealing the doorways back into the twisting halls. "We should get...," began Denye, but she was interrupted by the mental chime of the Alarm spell.
"Were we in those tubs for an hour?" asked Janora, aghast.
"I'm not sure," replied Ell, "we were there for a while, but it's hard to tell in here."
"I set the spell to ring every hour," said Denye, emphatically, "and it set correctly, so it has been an hour since we left the central chamber."
"That's a good point," acknowledged the witch, "it did take a bit to find our way here from the door for the infirm. We should probably hurry. We have what, three more keys to find?"
Denye nodded, "That seems logical. At least it should be easy to find our way back out to the main hallway."
"Unless the walls have moved," suggested Jilken, darkly. Her fears proved unfounded and the team soon found themselves once more exiting through the door for the infirm and stepping back out into the hall before making their way back to the center chamber.
Denye took the frame over to the plinth and held it above the smaller, round holes. Nodding, she announced, "I was right, this will fit here...but I think we should wait to actually build the statue until we have all the pieces."
"That makes sense," replied Ell, "do we want to leave it here next to the base or should we take it with us?"
Janora grimaced, "If it's not too cumbersome, I would be more comfortable if we kept it within sight."
"I think I can fit it into my bag of holding," suggested Ell, "it wouldn't be in sight, but it would be with us and safe."
"That's the important thing," agreed Janora, "I'd just rather not leave it here, where someone could find it. We still don't really know if there is anyone else here or if they are all just memories."
It did fit, but only because it was thin and the mouth of the bag only had to be stretched in one direction. As Janora started to ask which door to try next, Ell immediately went to the door for the Wise and opened it. What he found was another rectangular room filled with the semi-translucent people that they had seen before. Here the walls were carved in repeating geometric fractal patterns.
As before the spirits paid no heed to the party, continuing their various conversations and activities. Also, like the last area beyond this first room, the party found more twisting halls of glass. As they explored, the music became harder to ignore and both Tear and Ell caught themselves whistling along once or twice.
Eventually they found another large room, this one containing a table and chairs made of the slightly glowing moonsilver. On the table was a large cube that appeared to be some sort of puzzle cube. As the party stepped inside the walls again fused closed and a trio of gems in the center of the ceiling lit up before projecting the illusion of the head of an androgynous elf. "Welcome to the Chamber of the Mind," they said in a melodious voice, "even the sharpest mind can be clouded, face your fear and find the peace of clarity."
"Oh joy," muttered Ell, before adding in a louder voice, "how are we supposed to do that?"
"And are you real or just an illusion?" added Jilken.
The voice spoke once more, "Please, take a seat here and take up one of the circlets. Place it on your head and then place your fingers on the contact plate." As the head spoke, four circlets of copper and gold popped up from the top of the box.
"Before anyone touches anything," said Denye quickly, "let me examine this. I don't want us to get hurt by moving too quickly." Using her arcane senses she scanned the puzzle box for a few minutes before declaring that it contained mainly illusion and enchantment spells, but nothing that appeared to be dangerous.
"Let me try it first," declared Janora, "everyone else wait and see what happens to me before you follow suit." Sitting down in one of the chairs, she solemnly removed her hat and picked up one of the circlets. As she did so, a small plate at the base of the box slid out about 6 inches revealing 10 concave cabochons of clear quartz. Placing the circlet on her head, the witch hesitantly placed her nine fingers and a talon on the spots. The crystals glowed with a soft white light, but nothing else seemed to happen for almost a full minute.
Sighing, Denye said, "I think it's expecting a team effort." Settling into one of the chairs, she claimed a circlet and settled into the same pose, although it took a moment to fit her talons into the contact points. Ell and Jilken took the other circlets with Tear promising to keep watch.
Once all four adventurers were in place, in between a blink of the eyes everything went dark and with the next they found themselves standing in a hundred foot circle of soft white light. Nothing could be seen or heard from beyond this circle of light and there was a sense of a vast, echoing darkness beyond.
"Where the hell are we now?" asked Janora.
"A better question is what are we supposed to do?" mutter Jilken.
Almost as if in answer, there was a ravening howl some distance away to the west. Everyone turned to look in that direction, horrified looks on Denye, Ell, and Tear faces while Jilken excitedly whipped out her spear, kindling the blade to life. Janora began swearing.
When nothing more happened for a few seconds, Denye asked, "Why are you swearing, Janora?"
"I fear that I recognize that howl," replied the witch, shaking her head, "if I am not wrong, that was the howl of a loup-garou on the hunt. It also appears that my cudgel that allows me to control them has vanished." She sighed and rubbed her temples before adding, "Does anyone else feel odd as well?"
"I can only remember some of my spells," said Denye, slightly alarmed. Pulling out her spellbook she rifled the pages and shook her head. "The only spells that make sense are my fire spells," she announced.
"That's it exactly," replied Janora, "I can only think of my necrotic spells."
"At least you both still have magic," muttered Jilken looking down at one hand, "I seem to have lost my connection entirely."
Ell had had a thoughtful look on his face but said, "I feel fine, I think, or at least no worse off that usual." With a flash of insight, he asked, "So is that your fear, Janora, that you lose control of your werewolves?"
Before the witch could respond, there were more howls in the darkness. One from the north and an answering howl from the southwest, both closer than the first. The party tensed once more but before any of the werewolves showed themselves there was a running, marching sound of a dozen or so humanoids coming from the east. This resolved into a squad of Aiel warriors who split in two ranks as they came into the circle of light, forming a protective ring around the party and facing outward bristling with spears.
Two heartbeats later, a pair of enormous werewolves burst out of the darkness snarling and raging. With a single leap both launched themselves at the Aiel, with the first one ripping a fighter in half, blood and other fluids spraying everywhere. The other wasn't quite as efficient, only ripping an arm free and leaving a deep wound across a thigh.
Stepping forward, Ell used a Telekinetic Shove to push the injured Aiel out of the monster's range before unleashing a series of Eldritch Blasts. The first struck the ravening loup-garou squarely in the face and the other two struck the chest. It didn't seem to bother the creature, but it certainly got it's attention. At the same time, Denye called up a Flaming Sphere behind the other loup-garou and slammed it into its back. It knocked over the creature and the acrid smell of burning hair filled the area. Nodding to herself, the wizard backed up, getting closer to both Jilken and Janora.
A third loup-garou rushed out of the darkness and disemboweled two of the Aiel as he closed with the knot of adventurers. With her best glare, Janora turned to the prone werewolf and growled, "Why are you doing this? What are you doing here?" Looking into the eyes of the beast, the witch realized that she wouldn't get a response, there was nothing left of this loup but hunger and anger. Shaking her head, Janora pulled the Mover from her bandolier and began ringing it in a complicated figure-8 pattern, casting Compulsion on all three loup-garou. The one facing Ell managed to shake off the spell, but both the prone and newest loup-garou seemed panicked by the witch's command, "Flee!"
Jilken shouted an order to two of the Aiel to attack, but neither of the fighters seemed to hear her. Cursing, she launched herself at the werewolf threatening Ell. Her first thrust went wide, distracted by the large purple rubber duck inexplicably atop the loup's head. The second strike was back on point and pierced the beast in the shoulder. She went for a butt strike as well, but the werewolf knocked it aside.
The loup-garou that had just run in looked around confused and appeared about to bolt, but before he did, he raised his head and howled. The howl was almost deafening and got into the ears and shook the bones. Both Ell and Denye looked frightened and nervous by the experience as the loup-garou bolted back out into the darkness. As he vanished, the darkness began to shift and lighten revealing the outlines of enormous trees.
At the same time, the Aiel fighters ran to attack both remaining loup-garou, delivering more cuts and slashes with long shafted spears. It only seemed to madden the monsters even more. The loup with the purple duck disemboweled one of the Aiel as the other pulled a second Aiel in close so the werewolf could tear out their throat with its teeth. The prone loup-garou pushed itself to its feet and still being burnt from the Flaming Sphere, opened the bellies of two warriors as he too fled off into the darkness.
Ell tried to shove the remaining loup-garou backwards, but the beast dug its feet into the non-descript ground and would not be moved. Shrugging the warlock threw more Eldritch Blasts sapping its strength and knocking the monster around. Denye brought her Flaming Sphere around to slam into the loup-garou as well. Waving her talons in the air the wizard also conjured 5 Scorching Rays which she threw at the creature, the scent of burning meat joining the smells of burnt hair and scattered vital fluids.
Janora felt a pulse of power flow out of her and to her horror she saw the dead Aiel around her stand up as undead zombies. "But I didn't summon them," she muttered to herself, clenching her fists hard enough to draw blood with her nails. Summoning her full conviction, the witch commanded the zombies, "Hold down that wolf." None of them moved and frustrated, Janora turned to the loup-garou and gave it a Withering Gaze.
While focused on that loup, Janora entirely missed another of the beasts rushing out of the darkness at her back, delivering two slashes across her back and knocking her to the ground. Another of the beasts attacked the zombies, downing two of them. Three of the remaining zombies slammed their fists into the werewolf while the other two attacked their friends. The few remaining Aiel fought back against both the zombies and the injured loup-garou.
The darkness continued to not so much lighten as come into focus, revealing the shapes of towering trees and Jilken even spotted movement, shapes moving slowly in the direction of the light. More howls could also be heard, distant but echoing from multiple directions.
There was no time to deal with that however as several of the wounds on the bloodied loup-garou healed closed. Snarling, the monster raked a set of jagged claws across Jilken's chest and biting Ell deeply on the shoulder. A burst of blue fire lashed at the werewolf as the warlock cast Hellish Rebuke. Ell sli[[ed out of the monster's reach and over the earrings said, "We are being fucked with." Gripping the Rod of Strength he added, "Remember this is supposed to be some sort of test, I don't think it's as simple as just fighting."
As if summoned, the words of the floating head echoed in everyone's mind, "Face your fears and find clarity." The party looked around as if taking everything in, the dark spaces beyond having revealed running figures among the trees and the thick heavy scent of burning wood began to drift through the circle. Deney moved to the edge of the circle of light to stare fixedly at the strange fire that had sprung up and was clearly consuming the trees. It was clearly fire, but its light didn't seem to illuminate anything around it.
Almost as an afterthought, she sent the Flaming Sphere to slam into the loup-garou with the duck once more. He managed to resist being knocked prone, but howled wretchedly as the spell burned him. As Denye continued to stare out into the darkness, that howl transformed itself into the screams and cries of Humblefolk and Birdkin as she watched the massive forest fire begin to sweep through.
Another squad of Aiel ran out of the forest, splitting to surround the two new loup-garou and attacking. Both of the werewolves responded by killing some of them, one rushing past and delivering a slash down Jilken's back. She tried to return the favor with a strike of her own, but wasn't quite fast enough.
Looking at the chaos surrounding the party, Janora backed up and tried to take a moment to just think and try to figure out what she was supposed to do. Closing her eyes, the witch's hand reached up and closed around the symbol of the Raven Queen. Whispering a prayer she asked, "What am I supposed to do here?"
In her mind, the witch heard the soft susurration of feathers and the echo of a whisper that asked, "Where do you find your strength, are you strong enough to let go when you must? Can you tell the difference and hold on to the things that should not be released?"
Eyes still closed, Janora whispered to herself, "This is not real, these are not real loup-garou. Even if they were, I am responsible for standing between them and the world. I will protect both if I can, but I am as much a guard as a caretaker."
The others turned as a bell rang throughout the space and Janora vanished, outlined in silver sparkles. Hoping the earrings still worked, Ell called over the earrings, "Are you okay, Janora? Did you get out?"
Before the witch could reply, Jilken added, "And how did you get out?"
"Yes," replied the witch, "I'm back here with Tear. I'm not exactly sure, I tried to calm down and I prayed."
Jilken laughed over the link, "Yeah, super easy to think about calming down with zombies and werewolves."
Ell calls out, "If we can all get close together, I can maybe buy us a little bit of like, breathing room."
Nodding, Jilken took two strikes at the loup-garou in front of her. The second strike was under the chin and up into the monster's brain. As the beast fell to the ground, she rode it down and leapt over the zombies and landed near Ell with a three point landing. The other two loup-garou seemed to go even madder and attacked the Aiel and zombies around them, ripping through the bodies.
Ell looked off into the forest and though he saw some humans that looked familiar but he cut off sight of them as he wrapped a Wall of Light around himself, Denye, and Jilken. Over the link he warned, "They can walk through it but they have a good chance of being blinded. Either way I don't think it will last long, we need to figure out how to get out of here."
Denye was still staring off into the burning forest and watched in horror as a burned and shattered wreck of a Corva stumbled toward her calling, "Why, why you spread this, don't you know that the fire will kill us all?" The figure collapsed at Denye's feet as she realized this was an illusion of her father. Looking around in horror, she saw more birdkin stumbling out of the burning trees and stumbling in her direction. Shaking her head she resolutely turned around and settled into a cross-legged pose. Closing her eyes she took several deep breaths and began to recite the concentration exercises Secret of the Bluff had taught, interspersed with other mental litanies and the occasion reminder that none of this is real. As the wizard found inner peace, there was a tingling and she found herself back in her body.
The others saw Denye vanish with the same outline of silvery light. As the loup-garou and Aiel continued to fight, Ell and Jilken alternated between trading glances back and forth and staring in horror at figures stumbling out of the blaze. "This isn't real," repeated Jilken. The Aiel warrior dropped to the ground in a cross-legged pose as well and settled her spear across her lap. Steepling her fingers in a concentration pose, she took several deep breaths before beginning to chant, "This is not real. These Aiel are not real, they are only here to torture me with their senseless deaths. This is all a lie of a damn machine." It was difficult to shut out the screams of the dying and the smells of burnt wood and flush and she had to repeat this chant for some time before she was able to reach that point of stillness that allowed her to wake up.
Ell watched as Jilken vanished and looked around, alone at the center of this battlefield, only a Wall of Light keeping the monsters from attacking him. Over the link Ell heard Denye call, "Come back to us, Ell, we miss you. You just have to acknowledge your fears and let them go."
Ell shook his head as tears threatened to well up. Muttering to himself, "Just how am I supposed to do that. I'm doing all that I can, but it's not enough to protect everyone. I don't want to be like my family and just use people, but how am I supposed to that?" As he watched, more humanoid figures stumbled and ran from the fires and the rampaging loup-garou. He spotted the shape of his halfling inventor get mauled by two of the werewolves as nearby he saw the tiefling healer who had set up shop in Duskcairn.
Now he let the tears fall, there was no one to see or scorn him for emotional weakness and he felt completely useless. Awkwardly, he got down on his knees and dropped his hands in his lap. Terminating the Wall of Light spell, Ell bowed his head and closed his eyes before uttering a prayer. "Milani," he began, "I don't know if you can hear me, and even if you can, I don't know what you could do...or if you even still exist. I'm not worthy of glory and acclaim, but my friends and companions are and I want to do everything I can to help them. I hope I can live up to those needs, I know I want to try." As he prayed, small illusions of his companions, his budding network, and other individuals met along his travels, dancing, unheaded, around Ell's head. Feeling that same tingle the world around him began to fade and blinking, he found himself back in his body. As the young man reached up for the circlet on his head, a Voice at the back of his mind whispered, "You know they are only going to leave you. They don't actually like having you around, they just want your bank account."
Before any of the party could say anything, the central disc atop the puzzle cube irised open, revealing a fist-size bronze hammer head. The doors rematerialized as the illusory elf head said, "May your mind be ever clear and focused, please enjoy your time within the Halls of Respite," before vanishing.
Having been standing guard, and recognizing that all of his friends were dazed, Tear leapt up onto the table and picked up the hammerhead. Looking at the others, he asked, "What happened? Are you all okay? You went stiff for like 10 minutes, but I didn't see no blood."
Ell reached out and swept up the goblin in a big hug. The others as well reached out, feeling a need for connection and the reassurance that they were among the living and back in the real world. That lasted for several long moments but eventually Jilken broke the silence by saying, "That is a very unique and vile torture device, I say we should smash it."
"No, no," said Denye in a slightly distracted voice, "it's like maggots for a wound. It only eats away the dead flesh. I think we should go and go quickly."
"I agree with Denye," replied Janora, standing and replacing the pointed hat where it belonged. Feeling a bit steadier, she got a thoughtful look on her face and said, "Before we go, I think I should try something." Carefully, she pulled the Charmer from its pouch and after a breath to focus she rang a single pure tone that echoed through the room and washed over the entire party with a surge of comfort and energy.
Thus fortified the party headed back out into the maze of glass halls and the doors that would let them out of this section. Everyone was a little withdrawn and quiet, struggling with various degrees of success, to integrate the experience of the simulation. They got about halfway before the Alarm spell chimed once more, announcing the end of the second hour. That made the adventurers put on a bit of speed, but Denye and Janora soon found themselves outpacing the others and had to stop and wait for the others to catch up on more than one occasion.

Report Date

01 Dec 2023