"Ugh, here we go again!", Mara complained. She studied the unnatural creature, trying to recall some information to advise her allies with.
She concentrated, speeding up the flow of time for her comrades, then moved partly behind part of the building for cover,
Ci Ci points at the thing, and draws upon her power.
"Diasporatum!"
Theophilus' mouth hangs open as he watches CiCi blast the blob.
The witch shrugs waving a lazy hand at it.
Dervak is not nearly as discouraged as Mara at the prospect of having to face another horrifying monstrosity. There is perhaps a flicker of recognition from the memories of the Dark Whisper, and some similarities to the things in the Mysterium, but nothing more.
A small smile crosses his face.
"Get behind me, everyone. You too, Zann."
He casts Freedom of Movement . He then Str-rages, casting Shield as a free action.
The White Rabbit appears, kicks the Mad Hatter and disappears.
Theophilis then absently scratches his mysteriously aching leg.
Only have 1 of those, my good friend Dervak. Are you certain now is the time?
Theo begins to summon.
"Yeah, I think so."
The party turns to face the mass of black proto-flesh. A green ray from Ci Ci’s finger strikes the mass and a bit of it turns to dust. The tiny hole almost immediately begins closing and reforming. This does not deter it and it wastes no time catching up to you. With frightening speed it rolls forward with no regard for its own eyes, mouths, and other strange appendages that writhe away from the center mass. In no time at all it is upon you and lashes out at the woman who dared sting it.
It’s then that you hear the maddening cacophony as its numerous mouths give voice to sounds and words no sane life was meant to hear.
The aging violist's mouth gapes as the monstrosity closes in and carefully backs away. He takes out his viol, trying to fight through the madness gibbering from the shoggoth.
Zann also begins summoning something.
Dervak resists the effect.
"Mara, send me in!"
Theophilus watches in absolute fascination as the blob rumbles and rolls toward them!
Most certain Mara can keep that Leap in her pocket!
Mara tuned out the maddening cacophony, and moved back to the party. Disregarding Theo's commentary, she concentrated on creating a rift to send Dervak forward to face the disgusting creature.
"DIE!"
Dervak attacks the monstrosity with Teralindar's Honor.
Steeling her mind against the creature's insane babbling, Ci Ci moves out of the reach of its tentacles and once again draws upon her power. Unleashing a barrage of magical force upon the blob.
Theophilus is seemingly staring up listlessly at the blob. The Mad Hatter daydreaming about I wonder where one may procure a delicious, but not too saucey square pizza around these parts?
The White Rabbit suddenly appears, wearing a kung fu outfit. He kung-fus the Mad Hatter in the Netherlands. He bows and disappears.
Son of bishops and biscuits!
Theo then directs Philadelphia Phil (Air elemental) to Whirlwind the blob, after Theo steps and Misfortune hex it!
Dervak slices whole tentacles off the rampaging shoggoth but his onslaught does little to slow it down. Nor does the bevy of magical bolts that Ci Ci tosses at it.
A green mass of air coalesces above the shoggoth and begins whirling and swirling, until a stationary tornado over fifty feet tall touches down right on top of it. Having grabbed the mass of ill-tempered protoplasm in a tornado of rather immense proportions Phil carries the shoggoth far far away from you. In the distance you can see the shoggoth struggle against Phil, gravely hurting Phil.
Dervak ends his Rage, lowers his sword, and looks only slightly disappointed.
Maybe I could have taken it... but no sense putting pride ahead of getting the job done.
"Huh. Okay, then. Into this pyramid building?"
Theophilus grins.
Mara breathed a sigh of relief when the tentacle monster was driven off.
"Right, let's have a look inside. This is supposed to be the archives."
City Archive Lower Floor
The lower level of the pyramid has a one-room, open floor plan. The only means of entrance or egress is the southern foyer. The hallway splits to wrap around a pentagonal center section, the northeast and northwest walls of which are covered with shelves of scrolls and metal plates. A stone statue of a winged barrel-shaped creature with tentacles for legs stands in the center of the floor. To the west is an alcove with a stone table covered with a diorama. Another alcove mirrors it to the east. A ramp on the north side of the room ascends to a second floor.
Examining the diorama more closely you determine it is a map of the city as it once existed before being consumed by Carcosa.
City Archive Upper Floor
Dim light pours through windows in this top-floor chamber. The ceiling slopes almost to a point and then merges into a solid pentagonal support column that runs from the floor to the roof. Around this center section are five racks of scrolls and books fabricated from metal plates. On both the east and west side of the room are glass cylinders with hinged hatch doors, held within are a pair of creatures the the statue is modeled after. They do not respond to your presence.
Theophilus looks at the steaming pile of foreshadowing statue. He shales his head.
It feels like it's a bit on the nose.
The White Rabbit blows a raspberry at the Mad Hatter. They both begin searching the initial area.
The Witch examines the scrolls, makes a face and hands them to Mara.
Superstitiously cleaning his hands on a handkerchief, Theo smiles down at the diorama.
So, according to this there are only 2 public restrooms available to tourists. Dibbs!
Venturing up the ramp, Theo looks forlornly at the bottled monstrosities.
Yup.
Theophilus looks down at the White Rabbit.
Remind me to look into doing some memory exercises. This life has really be a bit distracting recently.
The White Rabbit is seen wearing his scribe outfit.
Good idea. Better write it down
The Mad Hatter winks.
Better also make a note that we need to not drive Delmoth too crazy in a combat situation. Apparently it wasn't that previous one.
The White Rabbit is seen taking notes.
"Do we think they are dead?
Or alive but magically preserved?
Maybe we should try to wake them and communicate with them. If this was their city, they may know where the Star Stela is.
Erich said they were 'educated but capable of great hubris'. That does not sound like they would attack us on sight, at least I hope not."
Erich writes in Aklo for Dervak, "Hibernating. They would know best how to locate the Stela. But if you don't want to risk it we can do the research ourselves."
Mara read Erich's response and commended, "Let's see what we can find out ourselves before we attempt to question the elder beings. We don't know for sure how they'll react."
She studied the diorama to see fi their were any hints about the location of the Star Stela. She also checked the books made of metal plates, to see what language they were written in.
Dervak is actually (barely) trained in Knowledge (Arcana). He assists Cerise with her research.
Theophilus dives into the research like a madman!
The White Rabbit is seen wearing his prestigious scholar outfit.
Mara decided to research the nature of the creatures living in this strange realm. It was slow going at first, until she tapped into the expertise of her ancestors.
The city you are in, Bohlvarai, was once a vibrant and prosperous city. The elder things relied on an amorphous servitor race, shoggoths, which were used to construct buildings and other structures.
The shoggoths over time gained intelligence and rebelled against the elder things. The elder things made a fevered effort to locate a new planet or place they could evacuate to. Unfortunately these efforts led to Bohlvarai being transported to Carcosa, the shoggoths included.
In the final days of the city countless elder things died to the shoggoths. The remaining populace was faced with a grim choice, explore Carcosa, launch themselves blindly into space, or enter hibernation and hope the shoggoths would have died out.
Dervak is restless after a day spent reading.
"If we want to wake those two Elder Things from hibernation, which is what it sounds like they are in, maybe we can find the Star Stela today. That would be my preference.
Otherwise, hopefully we can finish this research tomorrow. I don't like taking so much time, but maybe that is more prudent."
I think leaving sleeping elder beings lay would be prudential. Ot already seems that they fouled things up.
Mara said to her comrades, "I agree with Theo: it seems safest to leave the elder beings be for now. We made good progress today: let's renew our research tomorrow.
"I'll go outside and make us another resting place. I'm ready to take a break for the evening."[b]
She walked out into the fresh air, and recited the prayer to create another twilight meadow"
You wake refreshed and rejuvenated, but you are met with the loneliness and thin air of Bohlvarai.
Munching on fried egg, tomato and sharp cheddar sandwiches, both Theo and the White Rabbit are seen furiously researching.
"Yeah, and that symbol, I saw it somewhere... here it is! Saw in a treatise by Nex on cross-planar temporal distortion."
Dervak gives a broad smile.
I know a thing!
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
In the morning Mara teked bak into the library and continued her reserach on the elder beings. Once again, she needed to call on her ancestral memories to help her.
You find references to a black stone monolith, Bohlvarai's Star Stela. The elder things were using it as a power source to fuel their experiments creating novel forms of shoggoths. The elder thing laboratory uses special pentagonal keys in order to access it, which you'll need to recover. Finally you learn that the laboratory has defenses that prevent anything escaping should something go wrong. Force fields prevent entrance and egress, and time is frozen in the interior.
With access to the map of the city and the facilities description you're confident you can locate it today.
"So... first we need to find these special keys.
And then deactivate the defenses of the laboratory.
And, if there is something inside the laboratory that could escape, we will have awakened it by un-freezing time in the lab. In which case I will fight it if need be.
Any idea where these keys might be?"
Dervak goes over to the glass cylinders and looks closely at the Elder Things within, seeing if they have any visible pentagonal keys.
Sure enough the elder things have 3 pinkish keys, each with a number written in aklo, 2, 4, 8.
"I'm not professional pickpocket, but I have fairly quick hands," Ci Ci says. "If no one else has done this sort of thing professionally, I'm willing to give it a go."
Theophilus is seen absently shuffling cards from hand to hand. Each individual card seems to float between his fingers effortlessly, spinning and weaving through his fingers.
The White Rabbit is seen wearing a tuxedo complete with top hat.
Theo notices everyone looking at him.
Oh? I may just get lucky.
Striding on over to each cylinder, the Witch cast Guidance, before searching for traps.
Three for three.
The Witch then rolls up a sleeve, pinches his nose, and makes a grand show of getting the keys.
The White Rabbit is seen wiping his forehead each time with a clean handkerchief.
Before anyone can blink Theo holds the pentagonal keys in his hands, a stack of cards takes their place each showing a joker.
"He's a magic maaaaann, awww, he's got magic haaaands..." Ci Ci sings quietly under her breath, smirking at the impressive display of dexterity.
For our next trick!
Theo takes an electric guitar from the White Rabbit. The White Rabbit takes the mic!