There are no other chambers on this level of the tower. The only way to go is through those large doors or further up the stairs.
She casts Aid on Abigail, and nods to let you know she's ready. "Open them."
Tessa lifts her crossbow and prepares to fire.
The floor of this massive, octagonal room is etched with an elaborate circle consisting of magical symbols, concentric rings, and silver-inlaid grooves, all stained with smeared blood. Four supports in the room have iron spikes driven into them, connected to thick iron chains that lead to the center of the circle.
Chained to the spikes is a bald giant with a single empty eye socket in the center of his face. He would be nine feet tall if he wasn't hunched over. He appears to be emaciated and weak, with numerous scars and bruises decorating his body. He groans feebly, but makes no move to interact with you.
Tessa converses with Azil for a minute, then explains to her companions, "That's a cyclops, descended from a race of very powerful seers and visionaries. The diagrams represent the Azlanti version of the cosmic caravan- the nine constellation signs of the night sky- and the center represents the Great Beyond, you know, Heaven, Hell, the Abyss, Axis, Elysium, and so on, and the inner spheres, the planes of fire, water, earth, and air, alongside the positive and negative energy planes and so on. Nothing terribly special, but it is interesting seeing it from the Azlanti perspective."
"The poor thing. I wonder if he can speak?" Relia is shocked at the creature in the room.
She moves forward and calls out. "Hello? Can you understand me?"
The cylcops winces and recoils a bit from Relia. "Yes, of course, mistress," the giant replies in a deep voice. "As always, I am Helekhterie's humble servant."
Relia's heart breaks as the creature recoils. "Oh sir. I'm not that terrible hag. We plan to take care of her in a most permanent way. I'd like to help you if I can. My name is Relia. What's yours? Do you have family nearby? Can we release you and help you home?" She looks around the room, and at the others pleading that we help him.
The cyclops does his best to bow his head despite the painful positon he is chained in. "A test, mistress? Of course, I will not succumb to temptation. Please, do not punish me! I would never dream of attempting to escape."
Arma stares at the cyclops with wide eyes. Quietly, she says, "Look, I get the instinct to help, but blind or not, it's still a cyclops, innit? If they ever were seers or whatever, they've come a long damn way from that. They're still a kind of giant, after all."
"I know, but I can't just leave him here. It's not right." She replies to Arma quietly. "I'll leave him here for now, but we need to come back for him. Once the hag is you know... He'll starve."
"Good you passed the test. I'll be back with a reward." Relia says to the poor thing.
"Thank you, mistress," the cyclops sighs with relief.
There doesn't seem to be anything else of value on this level. The stairs will take you up to the top of the tower, where the hag awaits. If you want to do anything else before confronting her, now is the time to do so.
Abigail can hear chanting coming from the room at the top of the stairs. The stairs spiral around the tower's wall under finally emerging at the top level.
A colossal device of jeweled, copper-lined globes, steel rings, and dazzling lights fills this room. The contraption—an elaborate orrery—rises from an octagonal dais at the center of the tower peak. The instrument surges with phantasmal depictions of constellations and cosmic phenomena. Periodically, a lens pauses, briefly concentrating the light of some distant star upon one of the glowing glyphs circling the perimeter of the massive orrery. Around the room, windows twenty-five feet tall and five feet wide allow a spectacular view of the crater lake outside. The copper plates forming the dome of this chamber form a mechanical iris engraved with arcane sigils.
The hideous hag Helekhterie stands at the base of the orrery, muttering arcane phrases. She turns her milky gaze upon you as you arrive. "Interlopers! I will not let you interfere with my destiny! I'll kill you here and now!"
"You know, the future has been incredibly unpredictable for the last century. It's quite fascinating, actually." Tessa responds with a smile and an uncharacteristic sens of wit, sighting her crossbow and firing, reloading with a steady, if out-of-practice, hand.
A shimmering field of energy around the hag deflects Tessa's bolt away! She cackles. "Yes, I know all about the lost omens. But I shall be the one to fix prophecy once more!" She casts a spell and points at Abigail. "Kill your friends, dearie!"
"Well aren't you a humble one!" Arma snarls as she rushes in, forgoing her daggers in favor of claws.
Tessa steadies her crossbow again and fires at the hag once more.
She manages to stay strong against the sight of the hag, but cries out as the ax bites deep. "It's ok. I'll be fine." she says to Abi as she coughs blood.
She casts Boneshaker on the creature.
Relia's spell falters against the hag's spell resistance! Her magical defenses deflect Tessa's crossbow bolt again. As Abigail and Arma close in, Helekhterie cackles and steps back. "Again, my precious! Kill your friends!"
"Okay, so I was kind of lying when I said I was out of spells. I do have one more, but I'm not sure if it'll be useful. I can immobilize someone in webs, should I use it?" Tessa asks.
Web the hag." Relia yells as she heaves her trident at the creature.
Arma clambers up the stairs and side-steps Abigail's strike. "Screw you, you wrinkled old freak!" She launches into a flurry of attacks with tooth and claw, her muscles stretched taut by the combination of her mutagen and her extract, and goes for weak points.
"Okay!" Tessa says, casting her spell and attempting to immobilize the hag.
Helekhterie manages to avoid getting stuck in the web. Relia's trident is knocked away by the swirling aura around her, but Arma scores two good hits, ripping into the woman's wrinkled flesh. "Argh! You'll pay for that!" she shrieks. Her eyes bulge as he stares at the alchemist, attempting to hex her!
The strange effect makes the hairs on the back of Arma's neck stand up and for a moment, she stiffens--and then, she pushes past it with a burst of adrenaline.
"Sorry! It's a bit all-or-nothing. Tessa responds, sending another bolt at the hag.
Relia draws another magical Trident as she moves forward, and up the stairs. She carefully moves around the hag to the other edge of the circle.
While most of you miss, Arma scores another solid strike, slicing into the hag's belly and narrowly missing some vital organs. With a shriek she retaliates, lashing out with her own claws. Arma narrowly dodges her attack!
Arma shouts wordlessly, latches onto Helekhterie and bites down with razor-sharp teeth.
Abigail's axe slices deep into the hag's back. She staggers forward, giving Arma the opportunity to leap onto her and rip her apart with teeth and claws! Blood and guts drip from her fatal injuries. "N-no! This wasn't meant to be..." Helekhterie manages to gasp before her eyes roll up into her head and she falls to the floor!
"It will be all right. I understand what happened to you Abigail." She moves everyone away from the hag, and channels energy to heal her companions.
"This place definitaly feels older than that. This machinery is amazing, though." Tessa responds, running her hand gently over a part of the orrery.
The construction of the tower and orrery are consistent with ancient Azlanti designs. The orbiting spheres make up a powerful magical artifact that is beyond Tessa's ability to understand without experimentation as to how it works. As she studies the planets, though, she notices two planets in the orrery that are not a part of the contemporary cosmology.
"So... What now?" Tessa asks, enraptured by the machinery, "Because I could stay here for ages. I really need to start trying to collect all of these things into one place. If only I knew the right spells...."