Joli realizes that there is little that he can do against a swarm of creatures. He climbs up another nearby tree, stopping fifteen feet above the ground. He readies himself to leap off to safe, raised ground should they show the propensity to climb.
"I wish there was more I could do, friends!"
Silt will cast Longstrider, then move alongside Toby. Seeing Toby miss, he will lament the fact he can only cast true strike on himself.
Using the last move action, he pulls out a flask of alchemist's fire. He will ready his last standard to throw the flash when the swarm comes within 1 range increment.
These are not as cute as the other land-shrimp.
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"I do not know, Cedar. Hopefully enough is left to examine."
He calls down to Toby. "A transluscent platform will appear by you, Toby. Stand on it while you harvest shrimp."
His palm cradles the progenitor's familiar crags. "I'm confident he does not weigh many hundreds of pounds. He will be safe."
Round 1
Purpose Creche extends an arm, splinter held parallel to the ground. The weathered object shimmers in the sun, and transluscent grey disk springs into being near Toby. It hovers just above the ground, seemingly formed from folded layers of some broad cloth.
His grip tightens on the the flask in his other hand.
Water drips from Toby's body as he jumps onto the disk, then readies to blast the swarm as soon as he has a clear shot within 30ft.
"Silt, they're comin' right for us! Get somewhere safe!"
Toby's blast sends bits of grass flying, but can't quite hit the mass of spheres.
Silt hucks an alchemist's fire straight at it, melting quite a few of the tiny constructs. The mass moves toward him.
I need a DC 12 Reflex save from Silt or fall prone.
Toby
Joli
Silt
Cedar
Purpose
1000 ball bearings
Everyone is up!
Silt wriggles into the air like a majestic flying fish, shedding the spheres like droplets of water.
He casts guidance on Toby and then moves away from him, trying to lure the swarm away from his friends.
The metal creatures continue to melt.
Toby fires again, feeling the guidance of Silt's strange energy.
"How can it be this hard to hit a big pile of marbles?!"
Purpose Creche launches his vial, aiming for the shattered glass and liquid flame licking at the center of the construct carpet.
Unfortunately, all of the attacks miss! The alchemist's fires singe a few spheres each, though Silt's initial hit continues to burn.
With only one target at ground level, the mass of spheres heads straight for Silt, this time with spikes extended.
+ 1 bleed
Toby
Joli
Silt
Cedar
Purpose
1000 ball bearings
Out of alchemist fire, Silt runs back to Toby and casts Guidance once again.
Toby, water pooling on the floating disk as it leaks quickly from his skin, fires again.
"Silt, get somewhere safe! I'm bound to hit these stupid things eventually."
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Cedar calls out to the plane of air for help and Pppthth a small air elemental appears!
Pppthth, seeing lots of little bits on the ground, wants to suck them up. He moves through the rolling balls and attempts to whirlwind the swarm!
DC 14 Reflex save or take
And then a second Reflex save to not be picked up.
Purpose Creche crouches on a branch, working through strategies and options, dismissing each as wholly ineffective against the mass of spheres.
"Ah."
All but one. He removes his pack, braces it on the bough, then plunges a hand into
the contents like a fishing heron. Instead of a fish, it emerges with gnarled length of dry kelp; the wand from the grindylow cave. He points it towards the gleaming swarm.
A pitiful puff of steam emerges from the tip.
"Ah."
Pppthth moves straight into the swarm, slamming the spheres into each other.
The tiny tornado starts sucking up the spheres into the whirlwind of motion.
Since the swarm can't fly, I think the swarm can't do much. Although, I don't see any reason they wouldn't damage Pppthth?
+ 0 bleed damage because elemental!
Party is up! Swarm at -23 hp
Toby steadies himself, takes careful aim, and fires! His blast impacts squarely....on the patch of ground where they used to be, right before the whirlwind sucked them all up.
Silt casts Guidance on toby again. Destroy these rass-berry eaters!
He then moves closer to the tree.
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In the heat of battle, thoughts flash through Silt's mind.
Would rass-berry eaters be good? Consuming them would leave fewer alive. Someday there would even be no more rass-berries. This is a good thing. But enjoying them is a bad thing. Are potato-eaters bad? A potato-eater eats the potatoes but leaves none for myself. Am I bad? I should plant more tubers when we get back to the village. I will plant them everywhere. I should set Karl loose upon the berries I saw in the plot behind Perrell's home — it is almost as if she was growing them on purpose. She should know Karl is her friend, and will when she wakes up and sees those plants melting in the horrible morning sunshine, never to return to this earth again. Yes, I will be a good potato-eater, and rid her of rass-berry infestations. For every tuber I eat I will plant another, and destroy a rass-berry.
Silt shakes his head. Get… them? Toby!
"And use this. Its power is within your sphere."
Purpose Creche reaches down as well, holding out the wand of flaming sphere.
The spheres dig their spikes into the ground, avoiding the second attck by the whirlwind. They head for Silt again, their only target on the ground.
+ bleed doesn't stack!
Swarm is at -23 hp, and the party is up! Purpose, handing off a wand sounds like a move action to me, so you could take a standard first.
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"Dammit " Water streams from Toby now as he channels his frustration and fear into a mighty blast, scattering metal balls across the landscape.
Toby finally hits, crushing the remaining spheres in a powerful blast!
Purpose, with time to examine them, you think that the constructs are quite old.
It's decidedly evening now, and unless you want to head into the tower in the dark, it might be a good idea to camp. You're currently about a mile from the tower.
Silt toys with the wand, considering the "gardening" potential of a moving ball of fire before handing it back to Purpose.
Silt stops the bleeding. He will accept any healing if offered.
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”Good job Toby!” Cedar tentatively climbs down from the tree.
Pppthth flies around for a few more minutes. He just wants to dance and make rude noises. Cedar thanks him for his help.
Cedar is all for camping. Before sleeping he casts an audible alarm centered on the campfire. The password is oathsworn. It will last 6 hours, which should get the party through the night.
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Joli attends to his friend the berrykiller, tappig the piscine giant with his whistle wand.
The night passes uneventfully, though perhaps not restfully, and in the morning, you can easily cover the short distance to the tower.
To the north, the hills give way to sharp, rocky inclines. A solitary stone structure, a tower at least three stories high, is partially embedded in the rocky cliff wall behind it. The cylindrical edifice is oddly undamaged, however, as if the rock were only the tide lapping at the tower’s lower half, frozen in time. The structure has no windows or rooftop battlements. A metal double door is set in the base of the southern side and is slightly ajar.
Joli also examines the door and surroundings for signs of evil, taking particular notice of any red berry juice.
****************
The previous night, Purpose Creche asks to see Joli's telescope. He holds flat across both palm. He stands completely still, and the cracked lens begins to grow rough, translucent bark. It slowly covers the entire surface before seemingly melting back into the glasswork, leaving a smooth, perfect lens.
He exits his reverie and hands the tool to Joli, small end first.
"Let's look at the sky. I know it is impossible. But I wonder if we might see Acavna on the moon."
****************
When the group approaches the tower, Purpose Creche digs into his pack and removes the celedon's stone tablet , compares its carved tower to the structure before him, then returns it.
"We'll see, Cedar. I want to know its contents."
His perception slowly expands while he does, each blade of grass and chiseled furrow brought into sharp focus.
The spell snaps into place, culminating in a puff of ephemeral ash from Purpose Creche's featureless face, like frosted breath on a winter morning.
"Hm. Curious."
He then turns his attentions to the doors and visualizes thin fingers caressing their strangely pristine surface. He focuses his heightened senses on the entryway. He nocks an arrow, alert for any movement or intriguing detail, and approaches cautiously.
The image on the tablet does not match the tower in front of you, though both clearly use Azlanti architecture.
There are definitely signs of use: tracks on the ground and cleared brush and rocks where the doors open.
Cedar, you detect no magic on the doors themselves, but as it's slightly open, you do sense illusion magic inside.
Joli wakes up and, next to the fire pit, sees one angrily crushed papaya and one untouched mango. Pieces of the strange green, ball-like fruit litter Silt's bedding.
Silt is away from camp, meditating; Karl hisses at any closer approach.
****
On approaching the tower, he casts Longstrider on himself.
Purpose Creche crouches to examine the tracks.
"We know Eliza went here. But that would have been weeks ago. Someone still uses this place."
"Be cautious." Once everyone looks ready, he holds the bow slightly flexed and moves against the rightmost door, then barely peeks around to see inside.
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*Toby stands alone on small island of rock amid a dark sea, as a storm rages above him. Lightning crashes, briefly illuminating the roiling water to be a vast ocean of small metal balls. The ground beneath his feat begins to crumble with every crashing wave.*
Toby wakes with a start, looking around in a panic for something to climb. Geez, calm down, Toby. It was just a dream.
-----
Toby also examines the tracks, trying to make sense of them and sniffing around for any lingering scent.
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Previous night
Joli croaks with delight as Purpose’s magic restores the telescope’s lens. "Are you familiar with the constellations? I’d be glad to teach you their names! That there is the dancer..." He excitedly points the telescope up into the heavens.
* * *
"Ah, that’s the Mordant Spire. Our ship transported a particularly stuffy elf from there. I’ll tempered and wouldn’t take off a most fascinating mask. I think he may have had an Iggi holding it tight."
Purpose peers inside. This spacious chamber appears to have been designed to awe or impress the entrant. Pale gray tiles decorated with faint, intricate geometrical designs cover the floor. The walls of the chamber are pure white, illuminated by unnatural light emanating from the ceiling in a way that makes the chamber appear slightly larger than it really is. A large double door exits to the south, and another double door leads to the north. In the center of the chamber is a lifelike statue of a man in simple black robes with a helmet that obscures most of his face. As best you can tell, this is the same man whose image you saw on the stone dais.
The man from the clearing.
Spying no threats, Purpose Creche gestures for the others to come forward.
"Look. Maybe we'll learn what the Ioun Imperative is."
He walks slowly but steadily into the room.
Purpose Creche stops before going in the door.
"Illusion. But different. Not the same as what conjured the image of this man."
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Silt walks in.
Earlier in the morning, The frog prince asks the fish shaman his assessment of the papaya. "Shall we let the papaya spread and flourish, then?"
Later, Joli hops up onto the wall and clambers into the tower. "I’m sure he’ll have something interesting to say. If not useful. 'How to defeat a clan of skum and still get home in time for dinner.'"
The figure of the man doesn't move, but seems to be similar to the talking figure from the dais.
Cedar suddenly realizes that the illusion magic extends beyond the not-statue. The walls themselves are illusory, and there are skum waiting to attack!
Everyone else is startled to see a skum suddenly burst through the wall!
Surprise Round
blue skum
Cedar
red skum
Cedar, you have one surprise round action.