"Hey, I saw a guy use one of these at the House of Healing once! He did it like this..."
"Did that help?"
Fíriel shakes her head in puzzlement at Jametor's question. "I'm not sure. It looks a bit like Boggard, but I can't imagine what that language would be doing here."
"Yes. Thank you." Xiddik rubs her neck, where the tentacle hit. She peers over at the text. "I have seen that before. Carved on walls and 'neath stagnant lakes."
Asht'el flies around a bit, waiting for the readers to figure out whatever message they're trying to understand.
Firiel and Xiddik can make out the text as Aboleth.
"It's Aboleth," Xiddik says, after a moment. "Strange. Isn't this drow business?" She looks over at Ash't and Jametor. "I feel like I can try to sab... sabotayje the arcane works, but you'd like as not be better at it than I."
"I don't currently know Aboleth, but I have a few spells that might prove useful, plus I've a gift of languages it seems and I can study on it. Sadly, I would be able to speed the process with access to a library, but alas." Jametor says before returning to his spell prep.
Jametor studies the text and tries to do an on the fly translation.
An arcane verse later the party is whisked from the Weeping Cliffs back onto a nice horizontal flat surface.
The Crystal Plaza itself consists of several 30-foot-tall crystal archways set in a rough circle. Several of the crystals have fallen the cause of which remains unseen. Another enormous glowing glyph shimmers in the space under the largest of the crystal arches, its purple glow dimly illuminating the region and refracting off the countless surrounding facets.
"Look at the arches. They look like... like looking down into water, but it's up like a wall. "
Xiddik peers forward. "Crystals don't fall on their own," she says, helpfully.
"Located only a few hundred yards east of the stretch of beach known as the Aboleth Landing, the Crystal Plaza is all that remains of an outcast wizard’s attempt to create a thin spot between the Material Plane and the Abyss to facilitate his conjuration experiments. He raised the eerie crystals here in a henge to focus his magic, but he succeeded far earlier in the process than he’d planned. His crystals drew the attention of something terrible and he was devoured. Many believe whatever the wizard summoned still resides within the plaza and avoid the site as a result."
"Oh good, not only the dark elves but an Abyssal Harvester? this will be fun. Let's see if we can get this done quickly." Jametor says studying the scene.
"Look at the arches. They look like... like looking down into water, but it's up like a wall. "
"That's just weird, Randall," Asht'el observes, "though I suppose after all of us wearing drow skins like suits, it's not so weird after all."
He glances at Jametor to see what wisdom the elf is about to dispense.
Very quickly things go from strange to dangerous in the crystalline plaza as dozens of enormous pale eyes appears in the shimmering spaces spots in the air followed by a tree-trunk sized barbed tentacle. The thrashing appendage flops clumsily across the ground briefly before lunging at Jametor. Through the space in the air where the tentacle has sprung a fiery hellscape is visible along with the rest of alien beast to whom the tentacle is attached.
As the tentacle appears and grabs hold of Jametor, Asht'el casts his trusty ol' spell to grant his friends extra speed.
Fíriel takes a deep breath to quell her gut response, then weaves a web of icy fibers to keep the foe from going anywhere!
Prickles, meanwhile, makes a fearsome face at the monstrous monster!
Fighting tree-trunk-sized appendages is really not Randall's idea of a good idea. He opts for the tactic that worked last time, attacking the glyph while the others fight the guardian. He moves to the glyph and studies it intently, hoping that destroying it might close the gate on the monster.
Within its distant domain, Firiel's magic washes harmlessly off the hideous devourer. Prickle's growl, while fierce, goes unnoticed as well.
Randall does notice some form of defense attached to the enormous glyph but it's not the typical type of explosive trap he's accustomed to seeing. It seems to be attached to the devourer defending the site.
Xiddik starts playing her ocarina, filling the air with a jaunty, discordant jig that seems to weaken the very thread sthat hold nearby magics together.
Jametor struggles to free himself.
Jametor fails to even budge the enormous barbed tentacle.