Digging out a metal cup from his backpack, Ry'klead looks at the Grounding Stone with a the hole underneath of it. Skin tingling, the aberration was positive that there was a charge in the stone. He tosses the metal cup at the stone. If he was very lucky, he might be able to get the stone with to discharge.
If tossing the cup doesn't work, Ry'klead has a backup plan. He'll use Mage hand to pick up the cup and tap the stone a few times to coax the charge out of it. The aberration didn't know how powerful the energies stored in the stone were, but he didn't really want to find out with his flesh.
The cup melts with a bright flash. When your eyes come back to normal, the hole is gone. You see untouched earth much like the surrounding dirt. The stone still seems to hold a significant charge. they do support part of the weight of a whole train, after all.
Falko will decline the coat, as it's a bit heavier than he prefers. He will accept the shortsword though, with genuine thanks.
Blinking the after flash out of his eyes, RY'klead lets out a low whistle as he looks up at the Capacitor Stone.
"Now I'm glad I didn't walk up and just look in the hole," the aberration chuckles, then looks closer at the base of the stone. "The same hole that is now gone. Well, that's a dirty trick. I love it." he chuckles walking over to the others.
A bit later the sight of the small orb floating near another charged stone catches his eye. Looking between the orb and the stone, the aberration shrugs his shoulders and wiggles his claws.
The aberration had been curious by the sight of the skeletal arm sticking out of the ground. His mind awhirl with all the things that could have happened. So wrapped up in his thoughts, he had barely realized they had reburied the poor sod.
'Having dirt fill your lungs, um, no thanks,' Ry'klead thinks to himself with a little shudder.
Turning his attentions back to the floating orb, he gets back to work while the others finish up.
The orb resist the pull of the mage hand. Not enough resistance to keep it from moving, but it takes more effort than you'd expect. When it finally pops free, it begins to circle Ry'klead, orbiting his body. It seems to be made of mithral with brass inlays in an odd angular pattern.
From the spider echoes "Good idea. Keep the investigating to things that appear to be a threat."
Because you choose to turn away from incredible wonders so inconceivable that I can barely describe them, you will come to the end of the day.
"Sorry, I'll keep myself more focused. I find the Mournlands to be extremely interesting," Ry'klead grins, his forest green eyes tracking the mithral orb that now orbits the aberration. "Maybe we can check out that organ music out on our way back" he grins at the others.
As they walk along, the aberration looks over his half-brother, speaking in hushed tones to the bulkier looking clawed gauntlet. With a shudder, his armored gauntlet begins to shift back back to it's previous form. Within a few minutes, the half-blood's gauntlet appears to be like it was. Rusty colored, more of a exoskeleton with a few pieces of metal strapped to it. The sickle claws had shifted back to more normal looking claws for a battling gauntlet. As if anything could be normal with the aberration.
"So, when we find a good spot for a campsite, I'll throw up my Rope Trick, so we have a secure spot to rest. I rarely entertain guests here, so this is quite the treat," the all too handsome aberration says with a pleasant smile. "It's perfectly safe, although you might want to take a light source. I don't require light, so I never bothered to include it. Think of it like sleeping in a cave."
"Nope. Not sleeping with only the skeleton watching our back. If he wants to be on watch, it'll be with us."
Gloria shook her head after she crossed her arms.
"I'll take first watch. I hate waking up in the middle of sleeping and I don't like waking up before I have to."
The first couple of watches go uneventfully. Ry'klead gets time to examine his new bauble.
The sphere orbits your body in a continually changing pattern, going around limbs, head, sometimes changing direction. While it seems to be weightless while moving, any attempt to move it either physically or magically is tough. It's as if it were as heavy as an anvil. If you try to hold it, it will pull in ever more frantic ways to escape. Upon closer inspection, it's not metal. It's got a pattern of branching metal lines and dots on a glass or crystal sphere. Below the glass is another layer of metallic lines, and another within that. you can't tell how deep it goes because the entire surface is covered by metal in the first few layers. The lines don't seem to be a language, but the pattern does not appear random. It has moderate auras of abjuration and transmutation.
During the third watch, Ry'klead spots something at the edge of his night-seeing. It seems to be a black circle on the ground. but as he turns to get a better look, it's gone.
Relaxing against one of the mechinacal spider's legs, Ry'klead spends most of his time lost in his fascinating new bauble. HE had absolutely no clue what it was. Other than a masterfully working piece of craftsmen ship, both physically and magically. Something fun and new to explore. He found it curious that it didn't just orbit his head. It seems almost as curious in Ry'klead as he was in it.
Chatting quietly with Falko, the aberration falls silent as he spots the black circle.
"Did you see that?" Ry'klead asks the skeleton, pointing with a claw at the spot where the black circle disappeared. "It looked a bit like the black hole that was under the Capacitor Stone earlier."
Falko was circling around the spider, and by the time he investigates, it seems to be gone. "Odd, I've never seen anything like this." He looks up where the others went into the hole (though of course he sees nothing). "Should we alert the others, or wait to see if it comes back?"
"Let's keep an eye out for it the moment. I'm curious to see if it comes back. I'd rather not wake everyone up over nothing," Ry'klead says after a few seconds. He looks out over the surrounding grounds. "However, why don't you get on top of the spider just in case we do have an emergency, and have to wake them up."
He does that, but the rest of the night goes uneventfully.
Anybody doing anything special in the morning?
"Morning all," the aberration greets the rest of the party as they begin to make there way around. "I noticed something a little unusual. A similar black hole as to the one that was half under a Capacitor Stone showed up last night. I last saw it right about here." Ry'klead walks over to the spot where the black hole had last been seen the previous night.
"Anyone else see anything odd?" asks the handsome aberration, the orb floating around his clawed arm. It almost seemed curious by the unusual gauntlet.
"A few random guesses. Currently, I am leaning towards the thought it is some sort of living spell," a frown briefly appears on his handsome face. "It just looked like a hole of black nothingness, a perfect circle, if I remember correctly. I've seen an item once that was small dimensional pocket, appearing to be a black hole. It looked slightly similar, but that was a while ago, and I might not be remembering correctly. That happens from time to time."
The aberration pauses for a few moments, looking at the ground as he taps his chin with a claw.
"If it was the one from the Capacitor Stone that cost me one of my coffee cups. If it's the same one, then it's presumably tracking us. For what reason, well, that's anybodies guess," he says with a chuckle.
Ry'klead glances at the mirthal orbs currently orbiting his head.
"Unless your going around creating holes in time and space and not telling me about it," the aberration says to the orb, arching an eyebrow.
Looking back at the others, Ry'klead grins suddenly.
"Coffee should be brewing shortly. I only have three cups left, so, you'll have to share. Unless you have your own, that would be a convenient solution." The aberration says as he begins to walk back to the others.
Watching Gloria go through her morning workout while the coffee brews, Ry'klead arches an eyebrow.
"Glora, how strong are you? In comparison to say a blacksmith or heavy laborer?" The aberration had almost said "normal human," but had switched out words at the last second. He didn't feel like being punched this early in the morning.
Gloria stayed staring at her hands on the ground while continuing to work out and huffing between each push up.
"Depends. How angry am I?" she paused during her push ups for a moment to laugh for a second "I have met very few people who are as strong as I am."
She swung her feet up into a handstand position before rolling onto her back to begin sit ups.
"Not to boast or anything."
After an entertaining exhibition of feats of strength, most agree that Gloria is the equal of any strongman they've seen. But eventually the group moves onwards. After a couple of hours in which they pointedly ignore odd things that don't seem to be threatening them, they find themselves travelling near a stone building with a tower coming off of it.
It would be unremarkable, except that as they pass there's a bold, resonant voice calling from the tower. "Excuse me, travellers. I could use some assistance in here. I would reward you for your efforts, of course."
"Oh come on!" Ry'klead whispers back. "We passed up all of the other interesting stuff today! Please can we check this out? I've been goodish all day. It's not like anybodies former homes are going to get up and walk away. Well, I'm pretty sure they won't" the aberration frowns at the thought for the moment.
Ry'klead stops and a puzzled expression fills his handsome face.
"Why are we whispering? Whomever it is knows someones out here," the aberration says, looking at the stone building complete with tower. The copper flecks in his green eyes almost glow with Ry'klead's curiosity.
"I am Variel and I was brought here against my will. If you can release me, you will have my full gratitude. And there appear to be valuables up here." comes the voice. "There may still be creatures on the first level. Aberrations that suck out a person's fluids. They are ambush predators but they don't look tough if you're aware of them."
There's a resignation to the voice, as if he's been waiting a long time and doesn't want to get his hopes up.
"That is a long story, and better told in person. he says.
"Oh sure, blame the aberrations," Ry'klead mutters to himself with a hint of a grin. "Hmm, fluid drainers," the all to handsome aberration taps his chin with a claw as he thinks. Trying to pull details up from the chaos that where his thoughts.
Ry'klead looks over at Falko and a smirk grows on his face.
"We might have a nasty surprise in store for fluid drainers," He says quietly to the others.
"Variel, describe the fluid draining aberrations for us," Ry'klead calls out to the stone building.
There is an extended pause, "I am not of this plane, what is called a devil in your tongue. But I am a being of my word. Feel free to negotiate any conditions you like for freeing me. Banish me home and forbid me to return for a century. I have little to bargain with."
He lets that sink in for a moment before continuing, "I feel that you are considering moving on and leaving me to my fate. Consider this - at some point I will be freed. Possibly in your lifetime, possibly beyond. I may be freed by somebody who will use my power for evil ends. I'm sure you can imagine people you wouldn't want me aiding. I may be freed by sheer happenstance, a creature randomly breaking the magical lines of my prison. In that case I would be free to perform any evils I desired. I could seek you out, or those you hold dear. Negotiating with me would be the lesser of two evils."
The aberration rubs his hands together, smiling broadly.
"Totally worth stopping to investigate," Ry'klead grins at the others. "So, where the fluid draining aberration still around then? Sort of a point for us to discuss before any form of negotiation can take place." he says to the stone tower.
"I'm assuming that we'll be sending him back home," the hansome aberration whispers to the others. "Although, having a devil ally while in the Mournlands might not be a horribly bad idea. Just think that over for a few seconds." Ry'klead throws that thought out for the humans to consider.
With most types of binding spells, you would be able to release him into this world easily or release him back to Shavarath.
"Hmmm, I think I've got a idea, my memory is still a bit..., fragmented. Side effect of my imprisonment over the last few years," the aberration's eyes are distant for a few moments. Blinking a few times, Ry'klead shakes his head to return his thoughts to the present moment.
Smiling, Ry'klead contributes what little he can recall. Oddly enough, other than symbionts, his knowledge of the many types of aberrations could be better.
"So after we get up to whatever is imprisoned the devil, we negotiate so it doesn't harm anyone and is banished to it's own plane for a hundred years immediately after we free it from whatever is binding it to this place," Ry'klead says, counting off the three main points with his clawed fingers. "Are you sure you guys don't want a devil bodyguard? Because now is pretty much the best chance without knowing a Summoner."
"Not all of them are "Blargh! Give us your soul for snacky times!", I remember that being more of a demon thing," The aberration pauses and smiles pleasantly at his travel companions. As if they where discussing the weather, not the potential freedom of a devil. "Not that they wouldn't try for a soul if they got the chance, but that is more signing of a contract kinda deal."