indeed marrant
As they follow the svirneblin, Malbrighka ponders the magical nature of these beings and paintings, recalling what her teachers drilled into her.
”Do you mind asking him about these books? And how long has he been here? He must have been here before this place was discovered by us surface dwellers.”
Mal, you're not sure, but it sounds to you like you are dealing with some fey.
Tumblefoot leads you for a mile or two into the city until you come before a magnificently built building. It looks to be almost as if it was carved from a single stone! The eyes follow in the darkness the whole way. The doors appear to long ago crumbled away, blocking the entrance, but your guide knows a secret way. He lifts up a sewer grate and motions to head in.
Under common:
"sewer leads to basement of museum. Sometimes nasty nasties crawl through sewer we must be careful. We go down and take first right, then up ladder int buildings. Be quick!"
Alright, alright she replied trying to be quick
”How wide are the tunnels? What should our order be when walking single file? I don’t mind being second,” she says lifting her axe slightly and catching the light on the sharpened head.
Coughing slightly Zee draws the attention of the group to himself.
If wide enough My self and Vai will take point followed by Farrin and Malri..Malbrighka, miss if you may suggest a diminutive that would be lovely, then Tumblefoot with Beylindia and Marrant taking the rear. If If there is only space for one I believe that I should go first followed by Marrant, Farrin, Malbrighka, Beylindia,Tumblefoot with Via taking up the rear and watching our backs. This will keep the back and front of the groups protected while allowing the ranged fighters the chance to fire over my head rather than around Vai's if we are attacked.
Vai nods, her estimation of the short furry magus rising by the moment.
"Good plan Zee."
Let's go then
Everyone climbs down into the sewer below and finds themselves in about 2 feet of water (rough terrain). The critters above wait until you have all moved forward enough that they can stick to the shadows.
Vai tries some Undercommon learnt from Zee on Tumblefoot.
"Tek danta ffett Stollgen-kar. Tishata vey - nar pusch!"
I'll have you know Tumblefoot is a proud 3'4"!
Undercommon:
"what you say of trap? I know no trap! Just say sometimes scary things lurk in sewer!"
"Cha, Vai'anassena kroll hissunt!"
Vai is enjoying her growing facility with the Undercommon tongue.
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Before getting into the water Farrin Speaks the word "Tarag"
He casts the cantrip Mage Hand
he runs his fingers over his loose flowing beard and it braid itself under his touch into battle braids as you have heard him call them, actually going up over his shoulders.. in place of a cloak I guess that you could say, and far enough above the surface to stay dry.
Stepping into the water he says. "Were burning daylight here let us follow these new friends of ours."
As you all trudge forward, Vai, you swear you feel something brush past your leg.
"There's something in here. Move on!" Vai says through clenched teeth.
You heard her double time people we don't want to be surrounded by tentacle monsters. Beylinda put some light here in front.
Zee draws his blade and reverses it walking forward with it under the water using it as a ships bow searching out anything under the water in front of him.
You all make it through the water with no further event. Apparently whatever was in the water decided it best to continue past you. You find the right turn and continue down until you reach another ladder.
Tumblefoot heads up first and removes a key from his pocket, unlocking a chain around a trap door. He gives a grunt and a push and the door opens up, faint blue light streaming in. He motions for you to follow him up and then dis spears into the opening.
Taking a quick look for traps Zee follows Tumblefoot into the building after ordering the party into the second line up.
Just because we are here doesn't mean we're safe stay ready.
Vai follows the ratfolk up the ladder, cursing the darkness...
Can't do. the magic only allows me to have one light spell. Ask Farrin he should be able to she replies following
You find yourselves in an enormous vaulted room, with ceilings reaching up nearly 40' above you. The arches and columns are intricately carved depicting dwarven warriors and many battles of dwarves, drow, giants, and other underground nasties. Here and there upon the walls are strange blue, ever glowing lamps that cast a hazy dim light. Those of you with darkvision notice that, surprisingly, you can still see the blue color with your darkvision, and the light does not obscure it in any way.
Along all the walls, nearly floor to ceiling, are bookshelves with thousands upon thousands of ancient tomes. Here and there, it appears some have been ransacked, but for the most part this chamber seems untouched.
As if recognizing your curiosities, Tumblefoot explains:
Undercommon:
"I have been here a long long time, taking care of this library. Many books I find in the ruins, and I bring them all here. This is when I found our friends here... over this way, to the painting gallery!"
He leads you through this room to a door in the eastern wall. Another massive room opens up before you, this one's walls are covered in paintings depicting landscapes of every terrain imaginable. He stops at a painting depicting a wild overgrown forest that appears to be from ancient times. None of the vegetation is recognizable, but it impresses upon you a feeling of wonder and majesty.
Undercommon:
"My friends came from this painting here. Come see!"
Then, without another word, Tumblefoot leaps at the painting! The canvas ripples as the deep gnome passes through it. The tiny creatures that had until now been hidden rush after him and leap into the painting as well!
From the brief glimpse of the creatures, you notice at least six different species of fey and gremlins! Some winged, some insectoid, some ugly, some beautiful, some winged, and all sorts of other beings.
"What could possibly go wrong?" Marrant asks sardonically before jumping into the painting.
The air could be poison, and he's through already
Sigh Why do I even bother
Vai keep an eye on the painting and call us if that fool gets in trouble.
Zee starts detecting magic around the room taking 10 for 16 and not looking at the painting with detect magic Then starts reading any books in Common, Undercommon and Draconic looking for interesting titles.
Vai sees a reflection of her intricately worked armor and helm in several of the assembled faelings and assorted gremshadows.
Not content to merely follow Zee's orders, Vai ensures Marrant is still breathing and can hear (i.e. the membrane between worlds is two way for sound as well as vision!) before returning her archaic blade to its scabbard and conducting a fairly haphazard (or fated) search of the shelves and paintings.
If this painting leads to an otherwhere, perhaps there are more, and otherwheres more and less dangerous, and more and less rewarding...
to find "interesting" books or similar gateway portal paintings.
During the visit in the library:
Amazing, Truly amazing. all these books one could spend years trying to read them all as she also looks trough the shelves at the titles that she can understand
in the panting room after the gnome has jump through:
Unbelievable, that would be the equivalent of a permanent zone of teleportation or breach to other planes... Fantastic
She also cast a detect magic and follow through after Klokk
Finding nothing of interest in the collection of tomes, Vai turns back to the portal to find Farrin and Beylinda have also passed through.
"Uh - Zee, Mal - the others have gone through the painting!"
Come on then we need to get in there and watch out for them.
I jump into the painting.
Vai grabs a book at random Strange books LIST #1-#351
and follows Zee with a last call to Malbrighka.
"Come through Mal!"
Malbrighka reads the book titles in overwhelmed wonder. She has a new respect for the deep gnome to collect such a trove of knowledge. Probably each of these books is unique and found nowhere else.
She turns as Vai calls her name. Into the painting!? the half-orc thinks. She grabs her axe and leaps into the same painting as the others.
Emerging on the other side of the painting, you all find yourselves in a quiet clearing. Ancient gnarled trees surround you in each side. A clear pond lays in the center of the clearing, and numerous flowers grow wildly about. The colorful light of dusk streams in from the sky above.
Tumble stands proudly before you all, smiling and gesturing about the wild forest landscape. The various gremlin and fey scatter to the woods and begin to joyfully scamper about, apparently delighted to be home.
The deep gnome addresses you all in under common.
"I stumble into painting one day and find these creatures. Also, all the other paintings appear to transport you to the scene they depict as well. I do not believe this is a true portal... I have venture far in this painting and I t certainly appears to have distinct boundaries. Go more than a few miles one direction and you soon end up where you started. Though, truth be told, I have not explored the other paintings much. Dangers exist there...
... And danger here as well. Not all the critters here are as friendly as these. From what I can gather from them, an ancient wizard sealed off parts of several realms to create these numerous demiplanes, trapping them here. The only way to free them and return these fractions to their planes is to collect the 'star gem' from each painting."
My, My , My... i wonder why that wizard did that
Via looks around, perhaps trying to hide any discomfort in this strange demesne by appearing to be irritated and underwhelmed. She addresses Tumblefoot, in sharp contrast to his obvious pride at having brought them here.
"Oooookay. So here we are. In a demiplane. That is fractured from its parent realm and can be reconnected with a star gem."
She throws her arms wide, causing too-close faelings to skitter from her outstretched blade and buckler.
"Why should I care? Do we get to keep these "star gems"? Do they posses eldritch power beyond this supposed purpose?"
”What purpose is there to create these paintings, these fractured demi-planes?” Malbrighka touches the ground and a few of the trees and flowers. She sniffs one of the flowers as well. ”I know little of planes.”
The half-orc peers into the lake, thinking perhaps that will show the room they just came from. Since her clothes are not wet, she realizes that she probably didn’t pass through the lake after all.
Amazingly, there is a painting behind you all depicting the chamber you just came from. The painting is attached to a tree.
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Farrin racks his brain trying to come up with anything that the late Darter had taught him about The Planes. As he is doing that he looks around to try and identify which plane we are now on.
Farrin then leaps through the painting, seeing that he arrives back in the library, he then jumps back though the painting again to rejoin everyone.
Zee looks around detecting magic trying to make sense of this world.
"What did he say?"
”Forgive my bluntness,” she addresses her companions. ”Are we going to help this gnome and restore the planes? Or will we seek adventure elsewhere? Finding adventure isn’t difficult. It’s the rewards that are harder to find.”
Oh i am all for exploring these place. maybe we can even find out why the wizard extracted these demi planes she says with a smile
Vai smiles at Mal.
"No more blunt than I was already. *sigh*. Well, we are here now. As long as these faelings don't turn nasty I'm up for a little exploration. I'm also going to be rather annoyed if this demiplane winks out of existence, and us with it!!!"
Vai turns to Tumblefoot.
"So, which way to… something more interesting than this forest? Is there a structure, architecture, wizard stones, mud huts, hole in the ground? Where might this star-gem be entangled?"
Above the treetops to the north (the painting is in the south), there can barely be seen a large hill with what seems to be a stone fortress on top. Spindly trails loop up the side of the hill to the top.
Those of you familiar from the outer planes can recognize that this area seems not a fractured section of another plane, but rather an area that has somehow been sealed off from the rest of its plane. It would take a mighty strong wizard to do this, especially an area of this size.
Two different paths appear to be hidden among the foliage, one leading east and the other to the west.
The western path appears to contain many footprints and be more well trodden, leading you to believe it the better way to go.