The crystals all seem to have gone dormant and the cyclone has collapsed into the portal. It would seem the only way is through the portal...
Rhyol cocks her head at the whirling portal. "We must go in the shimmer of the air" she states bluntly. And without further delay, she crawls on in.
Krakos places the journal into their backpack, determined to read this later to see what more can be gleamed from the situation but it was clear that they had to prioritise their mission for now and the unexplained portal would seem to be the end of their journey thus far.
"An interesting find here my friends, though we should look throught it later. I would agree with Rhyol here and we should investigate this portal."
Unsure of what the portal may bring them, Krakos calls upon Azyrul's blessing to keep him safe from harm. The Inquisitor then follows his Thoqua ally.
[ooc]Cast shield of faith, lasts 6 minutes for +3 deflection AC (total +2 AC)[/ooc[
Slipping through the portal feels like stepping from a speeding cart: there's a moment of free fall and then a sudden, gut wrenching stop.
The color-streaked blackness expands to fill the entire sky. Above, a ring of electricity hovers in midair. Brightly colored formations shaped like cracks running through stone pepper the sky around it. Below, a forty-foot-wide stone platform bears a runic circle. Smaller pieces of stone are connected to this platform with sturdy iron chains.
Floating around the platforms are four creatures you recognize as elemental wysps. Each one is a different element, but they seem sickened, for they twitch oddly and spew multi-colored sparks. They seem, also, to be singing, but the words are nonsense and you can make no sense of it.
A strange creature floats near the runes, studying them with intensity. Tentacles tipped with snapping jaws emerge from this serpentine creature’s back, complementing the vicious maw in its reptilian face. It seems to mutter to itself, and with a strange gesture you can see the portal behind you begin to widen: if this creature gets its way, the portal will spread even more onto the Plane of Air!
Krakos shudders at the sudden rush experienced from translating through the portal, looking around the chaotic plane the Inquisitor shivers at the inherrent Wrongness of it all and processes the effect such a place could have on their own planes. Seeing that his allies have little intention of rushing the creature unprepared, Krakos once again calls upon Azyrul for luck before turning to his temporary allies.
"This creature seems to at least be the expedient to the unnatural phenomena effecting your plane Zephyr, if not the cause. I suggest we destroy this thing and quickly."
"Those runes are Thassalonian, the major being Evocation, could the Runelords have something to do with this invasion?"
The creature hears your voice as two of the wysps suddenly seem to brighten and fly toward you, crooning happily. They seem to have shaken off whatever strange mood they were under!
The chaos-spawn stares at you. In a voice that sounds like the simultaneous baying of hounds and the whispering of a young woman, he calls "Defilers. Spawn of order. INTRUDERS! BE CLEANSED WITH CHAOS!"
Round 1:
Ember
Foes!
Krkaos, Rhyol and Zephyr!
Ember rallies the troops! The strange serpentine minion of chaos snarls in a voice that now sounds like metal on metal and the flapping of bird wings. It shoots toward you, flying like an eel through water. In a blink it's adjacent to Krakos and Zephyr and attacks Zephyr!
for damage plus I need a will save vs CONFUSION!
You want vortex-confusion? I will give you vort... They call it chaos. Use the word Rhyol; Chaos. And with another roar that is completely at odds with her wispy voice, and has nothing to do with her otherwise bizarre internal monologue, Rhyol launches herself at the chaos-spawn.
Calling upon Azryul's powers to smite the foe before them, Krakos shakes off the strange effects of the tentacle and grabs his morning-star in both hands, bringing it back in a powerful blow to bring it crashing into the Protean monstrosity.
for
Rhyol slams into the chaos-spawn, while Krakos throws off the confusion and hits him as well! Zephyr delays!
The chaos spawn looks at the little dragon with a long slow look, and in a voice that sounds like the roar of lions crossed with a dog's bark says, "Mu."
One of the remaining chaos-tainted wysps suddenly flies toward the chaos-spawn and stops. It stands tall for a moment before exploding into multicolored mist that congeals around the chaos spawn, healing it!
75/105
Sudden a swirl of living colors like a wave explodes from the protean's body. It hits Krakos, washing over him! Electricity explodes over Krakos, dealing electrical damage to him! The protean cackles, then attacks the enlarged Rhyol!
for damage!
for plus
for damage and a DC 22 Will Save or be confused for 1 round! Rounds stack!
for damage and a DC 22 Will Save or be confused for 1 round! Rounds stack!
Rhyol's world becomes a whirl of conflicting, roiling images. However, one thing is certain: she will make what hurts her stop.
Electricity writhes around the Inquisitor but much of it is weakened by Zephyr's earlier spell and he smiles darkly. With Azryul's bane still flowing across his morningstar, Krakos calls upon the Earth-Lord's Judgment for swift death to the foul protean spawn. Reaching back with his Morningstar the Oread brings it down with a roar of justice.
for
The chaos spawn snarls as the fire from Rhyol's heated form burns him and staggers as Rhyol unleashes on him. But he's still standing, at least until Krakos and Zephyr both step up and combine spell with blunt trauma to end his chaotic life! The thing seems to fold in upon itself, and then explodes in a mind-melting array of colors as the creature rejoins the chaos of the Maelstrom!
As he dissipates, the wysps seem to return to themselves, and the three remaining wysps sing songs of gratitude as they head toward the rift and the safety of the Plane of Air. As they do, you notice the rift is shrinking, and quickly! Heading through as fast as you can, you turn back to watch. The roiling incursion of color slows and contracts upon itself, forming a vibrating sphere. Although the disruption beyond its otherworldly borders has abated, the tenacious rift remains.
Krakos leaps out of the swiftly closing portal with a sigh of relief, not wishing to suffer any more exposure than necessary. With the creature defeated it would seem closing the rift is the best way to end the threat they had been sent to deal with, effectively helping the concordance seal a future as useful allies to the Planes as well as the member's roll within it.
"I hope this goes well my friends for I do not wish our struggles to be for nought"
Wracking his brain, the faithful of Azyrul thinks back on his teachings for rituals of binding and sealing performed by the clergy and brings aspects of them to bear here.
Ember recalls the lore of planar travel she has learned and shares it with the others. Zephyr views the rift as an actual wound and begins looks for something to knit the wound shut. Krakos recalls the lore of binding and sealing and begins to draw sigils on the ground surrounding the rift.
Rhyol shrinks back down to her normal size and shakes herself angrily before considering her companion's behavior. They all seem to be deep in contemplation or attempting to understand the rift that has changed things so. What is it that as given them pause? Perhaps there is something that they have not yet seen that would help them bring their skill to bear. Rhyol thus begins searching for where the rift is most weak, where it might be most efficiently removed.
Rhyol studies the rift and notices it seems to revolve around a specific point. She points it out and Zephyr and Krakos begin to apply as pure an elemental blend along with their runes. It takes a few moments, but the rift suddenly seems to contract and lets loose a last flash of chaotic colors before POPing out of existence! In its place is a small gem. It appears to be a stormlure.
As you watch, the air currents around this tower slowly return to normal and you depart sure that you have completed your task with honor. You use the smelly unguents to call the wind spirits, who retrieve the Captain for you. In a matter of days you are back in Armun Kelisk, where Ashasar awaits. “I knew I could count on your team to handle this dangerous task. Congratulations on a job well done. How did your mission go?” He waits for your report.
During the voyage back, Krakos will sit and deliberate over the journal found in the tower, ahowing it to the others if they so wish, happy to discuss what this could mean for the concordance. Grateful to be away from skyships for awhile, he thanks their captain as they reach the docks, glad the trip back to Kelisk was less eventful than the journey out.
"We found many interesting phenomena on our joirneys, though of disturbance was a rift to the Plane of Chaos where Thassalonian runes seemed to be drawing power. A protean of great size sought to invade it would seem, but thankfully it is no more and the portal sealed.
There is a grand tower paying Homage to Ranginori, a captured Lord of Air which is intriguing yet I am unsure totally of what this means. I auggest more investigation is needed."
"I enjoyed being of help to the people of the Concordance. And it was good to feel great purpose." whistles Rhyol under her rocky exterior. "But this air lord... Why is he not as known as the lords of the four planes?"
Ashasar nods. "The Concordance was fortunate to have you. Perhaps your success will allow me to convince them to utilize you in the future. As for Ranginori, I do not believe the conjunction of the rift in his tower at this moment is a coincidence, but rather an omen... I must speak with the Concordance further. I thank you for your actions, my friends. I know your fates are tied with the Corcordance; I will see you again."
|
"Indeed, upon closing the rift, this stormlure popped out of the final flash of chaos. And the ruins Krakos mentioned included strange pipes, and large blue crystals which seemed to be part of the problem. Oh and the murals. And those weird pipes. And remember the storm that damaged our raft?"
Zephyr goes on to describe the pipes and the murals, and then the crystals & 'haunt' in greater detail, how the crystals glowed and the whirlwind blasted off electricity and how we disabled the crystals, etc. Then he'll describe the final climactic battle, and how the protean seemed to control the wysps--and was even healed by the dying burst of one of the wysps. He then suggests that someone from the Concordance may want to speak with the wysps, in addition to further exploring the ruined tower and its murals. While the level of detail seems impressive, the narrative is a bit disjointed and flighty.
"Most important of all, this beautiful lady," Zephyr says, gesturing towards Rhyol, " is one kickass brute. And if you're gonna give her a hug, be sure to wear your oven mitts!"
That is true. Core and Non-Core can't be mixed. Jane, do you have another character you'd like to apply this credit to?
Gotcha. As soon as I hear from IH with the reporting link, I'll get this reported and I'll send out chronicles tomorrow!
I will close the thread for this game tomorrow. If you need anything after that, drop me a PM and I'll be happy to help!
