This was the sort of thing Azri was-
-not too bad at identifying, given the number of books she'd read on arcane and planar lore.
Aibek sighed as they followed the others. The witchwolf did want these lights dealt with as soon as possible even if following them seemed like a very unlikely thing for a shadow archon to choose to do.
Once at the square, Aibek's slowed, moving with care as their eyes grew wide. They tried looking around, their mind racing. The fountain..could this hurt the Nexus...or be part of why the Nexus couldn't see out this way...the ripples in the ir. Thinking back to Ayreth's vision, Aibek wondered how this might affect the other magics and things within Nexus and the area.
The tear is a hole to...somewhere else. Not another plane, or at least not one any of you have seen before. The majority of the other planes contain an alignment of some kind or an elemental subtext that defined their nature. Wherever this portal goes lacks that, suggesting it exists somewhere else on this plane.
"Of course not." Azri said. "You remember what happened the last time people messed with teleportation around our city, yes?"
"Hm. Well we did get these nifty trinkets... No, no. I've just gotten back, I'm not in a hurry to take another trip just yet."
Aibek kept watching the tears, confused. Why tears to other parts of the Material Plane? What would that have to do with weird lights and the fountain? Ugh, just more questions. Aibek tried pushing aside their racing thoughts...
"Yeah, definitely not... seeing if fixing the fountain is possible would be nice though I guess dealing with this lights and tears mess is the priority..." Aibek said with a sigh. "I'd been hoping to explain the light to Azerna - and the others at her inn tomorrow, but I think I'm more lost than before I came out..." the witchwolf said with growing frustration, slowly trying to approach the fountain while avoiding the lights and tears.
Nigrum removes from his bandolier a flask.
"It seems to me that those tears are acting like gateways. It makes sense for transportation, to be able to move your forces and supplies quickly is a major and vital issue for warfare. If just anyone could make them then everyone would. As far as I know that's not the case, isn't that explanation enough."
He tosses the flask slightly off his hand before catching it again.
"Do you suppose if I throw a little acid to the other side. It may get them in the face and perhaps disrupt the one maintaining the gateway? Someone has to maintain it right? At least a guard to prevent intruders hmmm?
He didn't know much about magic or magic doors. But if their was no danger of intruders going through then the acid wouldn't make it. If it did and intruders could go through then it should be guarded unless their utter fools. Provoking what was on the other side could get them someone who could grant information. From their they could find a way to close it or he could see how the newly blessed Tsui did on strange magic doors.
Azri isn't certain if she can dispel it, as she isn't certain as to what it is. A normal gate or portal can be, but this seems to be a little different.
Several of the Wisps stopped as Aibek moved, began to float towards thw Witchwolf...and stopped as a shrill whistle pierced the air from beyond the portal. With obvious reluctance, the orbs of light continued floating through.
"We'd appreciate it if you could close your gate from that side!" Azri called through it. "Consider it a gesture of goodwill that we'll remember if you'd like to approach us in a more conventional manner in the future!"
Aibek stared down the balls of lights as they started to approach them, clawed hands spread. As the piercing whistle came through, Aibek tried to catch any clues as to who was commanding them.
"What...who could seem to control so many..." Aibek said, mixture of impressed, wonder, and nerves in their voice. It was like seeing one of the powerful archons call back their bound shadows, all the lights had their own will being infused with another's.
"I'm not sure I'd want to risk angering them with what little I can see..." was the witchwolf's only comment to the acid plan, making no other effort to stop or argue it. If the others see it differently, Aibek would not prevent anything, their focus starting to move from the tears back to the fountain.
Before Nigrum could hurl anything, and without a reply to Azri's yell, the final Whisp floated through and the portal slid shut. The fountain below pumped once more, fitfully, and went completely dead as well.
He puts away the flask of acid.
"Well it seems our next objective should be to fully repair all the fountains. Maybe whoever is controlling those wisp is using them to harvest something around here. The parasite used this cities magic for it's own use before after all."
"Eh, good enough." Azri said, willing to settle for that result. No need to push too hard on things, after all. "I do want to get the city in proper order, though... although the sooner we can get it to repair itself, the better. Best to focus on core functions for now, I think."
Aibek approached the now dead fountain, looking it over quietly. "Nexus has said they can't sense much out this far... but it would be good to find out if they can feel if the fountains are being messed with..." Aibek mused out loud as they kept examining the fountain.
Aibek discovered a large chunk of masonry that appeared to have been broken from the fountain...but couldn't locate a matching location that had been damaged. It matched the stonework and type, however. Maybe it was from another fountain?
"Oh boy, now we get to carry rocks around!" ...From her tone, it wasn't entirely clear if Azri was being sarcastic. She did, however, idly drag her staff around the fountain to see if the broken-off area had been covered by an illusion or something.
...
What? It was worth checking.
Aibek raised their eyebrows at Azri's comment but said nothing before returning to look over the broken off masonry piece and the fountain.
"If it's not from here...I guess taking it back to the inn, maybe taking some traces and measurements would be easier than carrying this broken off part around. This fountain though...it seems this fountain has access to water so there must be another reason why it isn't working..." Aibek thought aloud.
While the fountain radiated magic, including illusion, none of the spells or abilities seemed to be active.
As to why it had been working...the strange, stagnant liquid it had been pumping certainly didn't seem to be safe to drink, but also radiated magic.
"... Anyone care to enlighten me on what just happened? I'm lost like a ladybug in a rice field."
"Fountain's magic, and we're not sure how yet. Weird part is it's illusion, 'cuz fountains normally have, like, endless water or something instead. Piece here is probably from another fountain - which might also be magic." Azri succinctly summarized.
The liquid seemed to be a conductor of sorts, allowing magic to be channelled through it. Although the remaining power in the fluid was quickly fading, it seemed to have been used to channel the energy from elsewhere.
"Maybe we should take a look at the other fountains. If that piece ended up here, there's no telling what happened out there."
Mihara flies up a few feet for emphasis.
"Nigrum, can you get Alerdene? We'll cover more ground with two people."
Nigrum whistles for Alerdene.
"Azri, would you like to come? I don't know much about magic or magic fountains."
"I do." Azri answered cheerfully, following Nigrum. She'd already grabbed the fountain piece just to be sure - and was quite willing to try and figure out where it had come from. This was her home, after all - and she wanted every piece to be where it was supposed to be.
"Selena, Ayreth, and Aibek, perhaps you guys might want to see how Nexus is doing. We'll meet you there after we have a look. I'll check on the east half of town; Nigrum and Azri, take the west?"
It took approximately half an hour fo each group to survey there chosen targets and all three groups to return to the central island without further incident. The moon is high in the night's sky and few lights continue to burn in the city - only the watch lights on the walls and the occasional street lamp light the way, and Azerna's inn is still lit, as the Dryad doesn't seem to sleep.
Unfortunately, the various examinations on the other fountains showed nothing odd or unusual about any of them, and a quick check of the active ones on the occupied islands shows no signs of tampering or manipulation.
Aibek considered, I'm happy to do a quick check on my way back to Azerna's, a more detailed conversation with them with everyone's information can likely best be done tomorrow afternoon..." the witchwolf commented before the group separated. The witchwolf towards The Thirsty Dryad, smiling when they spotted in the lights in the window.
Going to the fountain near the inn, Aibek looked around the fountain for damage before sitting down near the fountain. They pulled their paper from their pocket and began writing notes as they started talking to them, "Nexus? Some...possible tampering, magical, was seen near one of fountains -- near where those lights have been spotted before. Wanted to check everything is okay with you." They kept writing as they waited for a response.
"I am fine," the voice of the system announced, "But to make sure I will check all systems now. While this process is ongoing, I will switch to an Avatar." After a moment a figure of blue light formed and looked at their hand for a moment. "During this check, the fountain system will be non-functional. Do you have any more details as to this tampering?"
Aibek glanced up from their paper and over to the Nexus avatar while they thought over the question.
After a few moments, Aibek replied while writing more notes, "In the sky above it there were...tears that seemed to be from this plane, where I don't knw, water seemed to be coming out of the fountain while those tears were open but stopped after they were closed. Something on the other side seemed to control them and these... odd light balls. After the water stopped, I couldn't find what was wrong with it...though I found a chunk of brickwork that appeared to be from one the fountains but it didn't seem to come from that one... I brought the chunk with me" Aibek said before looking up to see if anyone else or the Nexus were to say something, pondering over several other things at the same time...
"Analysing..." The blue figure Nexus had created paused, dead still, far stiller than a human could manage. After thirty seconds they started moving again. "Insufficient information. No similar phenomena are currently in my data banks."
After a moment, Nexus looked at the piece of stone. "Stonework seems to be from the central most fountain on the island where the lights were seen." That was the same fountain that the strange tear had appeared above.
"Huh. ...Nexus, can you tell me about any other times that fountain was or will be damaged?" Azri asked, frowning slightly. This was getting weirder and weirder, wasn't it?
Aibek paused writing, looking over to the avatar with slight bewilderment.
"Could the fountain repair itself even when it doesn't seem connect to...or they - the light or whoever was forcing their will on them - or someone else repair it but leave this or...the tears be this plane but...different time and...a chunk came through? I don't like how many more questions this seems to be making..." Aibek commented with growing exasperation. They had hoped investigating the lights would be a simple task to put everyone's minds at easy but anything simple seemed too much to hope around here...
"I am afraid my ability to project into the future and past is heavily limited, as the power requirements are unpleasantly high and the risk of temporal damage is concerning. I have no recorded records of that fountain being damaged since it was last refurbished, however." Considering, Nexus added, "It is possible to regrow damaged sections of stonework, when I am connected, but I do not recall doing so. However, I do not have access to all my memories, and it is possible some have been erased from my personality library regarding this event as well. I cannot say I did not repair it for certain, only that I do not recall doing so."
"Yes, several." Nexus considered. "Most, theoretically, should be dead by this time. Do you have any additional information?"
"Considering what we've seen by now, 'dead' is hardly a factor here. Please tell us more about them."