Relieved to see Rennyn getting up she finally feels the long shards of needle-like ice poking through her pant legs causing drops of blood to stain them. She continues on to check on the heavily wounded Rennyn and Shar, ignoring the continued stabbing annoyance of the hedgehog like ice. Once beside them she quickly bends to patch up Rennyn before moving on to Shar.
Land of the Linnorm Kings |The Crown of the World - Aganhei Path | Boreal Expanse | Storm Tower
Ulf turns sharply to look at Sharadei, but his expression turns pensive as he considers his axe. Although his courage did not waiver, his weapon proved lacking against these creatures. The guide glances suspiciously in Draeven's direction then nods to the twin, I will return to let the others know you're about to enter the tower. Wincing in pain from the hazardous ground, the guide lines himself up and makes the leap back toward camp, leaving bloody footprints in the snow.
As Fenra tends to the elf's wounds, the sorceresses dark magic continues to hide the statues and no noise can be heard from the statues.
Fenra's healing continues to improve Rennyn's condition.
Draeven is relieved to see that Rennyn is not down for the count. He turns his attention back to the area of darkness conjured by Anara to see that the statues are doing nothing but standing there. Taking the opportunity, he picks up his bow and stows it on his back.
Land of the Linnorm Kings |The Crown of the World - Aganhei Path | Boreal Expanse | Storm Tower
Unpreterbed, by the sorceress' attempts to blind them, the statues change course to engage 'Draeven' pummeling him into paste
Having served their purpose, the sorceress lets both her darkness effect and the molested replica of Draeven return to the magical essence from which they came. Now, with a clear view, Anara repositions before driving into the closest statue with a telekinetic ram of magical force . 'Let's see these statues swim!'
Draeven waits for the group to be ready to either move forward or back.
Land of the Linnorm Kings |The Crown of the World - Aganhei Path | Boreal Expanse | Storm Tower
The blast from Anara's spell shoves the statue (X) backward into the inky waters. To the sorceress' delight, the stone guardian sinks up to its neck! Yet no sooner is the statue repositioned, than it moves back to its original position. Once within striking range, the statue swings its fist connecting soundly with "Draeven's" jaw! However, the statue does not continue its assault, instead it turns to look at the gathered party members on the next islet over.
The second statue (Y) flails at the "Draeven" figure before it. Stoney fists flail wildly, connecting once with a blow to the head but never quite making the connection its counterpart seems to have made.
As Fenra finishes with Rennyn and turns toward her, Shar manages to sheathe her falchion and quickly drawing her bow, snapping off a couple of shots in the direction of the now visible statues.
Fenra briefly grips the small bronze rod in her hand, touching it to Shar before continuing to apply her herbs and bandages as normal.
Land of the Linnorm Kings |The Crown of the World - Aganhei Path | Boreal Expanse | Storm Tower
Sharadei's arrows strike soundly and although they inevitably bounce off of the statue's form, pieces of the statue chip away where each arrow struck leaving deep cracks across its torso!
Rennyn calls upon his blade's power to imbue Draeven with the ability to walk on the very air itself, and the power of his gloves to knit his own wounds further.
Seeing the group intends to carry on, Draeven wastes no time, letting his anger swell as he charges the nearest statue. He climbs slightly into the air as he goes before setting upon the automaton...
...his first strike missing badly, but it sets up a devastating second effort. His sword carves deeply into the stony statue, knocking it off balance.
Anara drifts forward into the remnants of her fading darkness spell and raises her hands in front of her, palms forward, one aimed at each construct. Fueled by her frustration, the sorceress channels her power, bringing tendrils of lightening to coil around her outstretched forearms and explode from her open palms, lancing out at her chosen targets .
.
Land of the Linnorm Kings |The Crown of the World - Aganhei Path | Boreal Expanse | Storm Tower
Draeven's blade edge strikes at the right angle causing the cracks in the statue to explode! As the pieces of statue fall about the big man's feet, Anara unleashes ribbons of arcane energy. The electricity crackles over the other statue and what remains.
With a new target appearing, the remaining statue strides forward to the floating rager, flailing its fists to no avail.
Spivey looks upon the renewed violence with reverence, YEAAAHHH!
Rennyn calls upon his blade's power once again, this time to give himself the ability to tread upon the air, before setting off to help Draeven.
Draeven continues his assault, taking on the second statue as it moves up to take the place of the one that he just destroyed...
...he swings his blade low, cutting the legs out from under the statue, toppling it to the ground, before his sword arcs up high and comes down on the prostrate figure with all his might. The blow is devastating, causing the statue to fly apart, pieces launching in all directions.
The hulking half-orc turns his attention to the statues in the doorway of the tower and glares menacingly at them...
The darkness dissipates allowing Shar to see the two other statues guarding the entrance. Shaking free of Fenra's ministrations, she lifts her bow once again and fires at the closest one before leaping gracefully over to the other side to join the two fighters and to be nearer Amara when she is forced to eventually land.
Fenra, seeing that the gap is bit wider here is a bit hesitant but ignoring the ice shards as best she can, runs and leaps across the gap, but even with her unnatural lightness she still manages to trip.
Land of the Linnorm Kings |The Crown of the World - Aganhei Path | Boreal Expanse | Storm Tower
Spiked icicles pierce Sharadei's feet as the ranger moves to leap across to the far end of the land bridge. The ranger's path on the other side is made easier by the freshly laid scree.
Despite her reduced weight, the fair oracle's feet still feel the pain of crossing to the edge of the jagged islet . Leaping into the air, Fenra's lighter body seems to float across the inky gap rather than jump. What's more, the stabbing in her feet throws off her timing and it isn't until she is midway across, that Fenra realizes her efforts are not quite enough. It feels like a dream in slow motion. The black waters come closer, closer and closer. Fenra's arms flap in the air trying to gain a little more distance, but it is no good. With a soft sploosh, dark, freezing water envelopes the fair oracle! The shock is immense! Yet Fenra quickly closes her eyes and holds her breath as she knows it is impossible to see anything while submerged in these inky shallows. Fortunately, she easily finds her footing to stand up. A slippery slope of ice and rubble leads steeply up to the snow covered islet, 5ft away.
Unable to help those clinging to the island's edge, the sorceress focused on their biggest threat. Anara rose out of her sphere of darkness and pointed directly at the closet enemy , sending a dark dark line lancing from the tip of her finger straight toward her target .
Land of the Linnorm Kings |The Crown of the World - Aganhei Path | Boreal Expanse | Storm Tower
Anara's ray strikes the statue covering its granite exterior in a sheen of penetrating ice! The statue staggers briefly within the hexagonal threshold as cracks form throughout its form! The statue however quickly regains its balance, returning to guard the entrance. From her vantage, Anara realizes, based on the way her spell struck her target, that she is 45ft from the opening. Assuming the statue next to her target is within 5ft of its companion, she eyeballs the entrance to be 10ft wide . Remembering the interior angles of a hexagon is equal to 720 degress, each of the interior angles of the entrance must be roughly 60 degrees. If she takes the tangent of 30 degrees and divides it by half the width, then the height of the doorway can't be more than 18 ft. Probably more like 17 feet. The twin only really paid half attention to the old crone and her yammerings of numerology. To think she'd claimed it to be the new religion of this world is laughable! Blinking, Anara pushes that memory aside and guesses the statues to be no more than 6ft tall. Not nearly as tall as Draeven, but certainly taller than Ulf. If she's right, it would give her about 10feet of room to fly right in!
Unable to see what the rest of the party and unable to attack the flying menace above the cloud of darkness swirling just outside the tower, the statues retreat to within.
i-33 18 R
Skirting the edge of the darkness, Sharadei leaps across the small gap and moves closer to the entrance to shoot at the statue visible through the doorway.
The ice shards, and even some of the water that she falls into seem to pass right through Fenra, as if she were not of this realm. The unnaturally dark waters tug at her clothes, but she manages to exit a little more gracefully than her entrance.
Rennyn rushes the doorway and attacks the statue to the left of the opening...
...finishing off the statue Sharadei heavily damaged with her arrow, before...
Draeven joins Rennyn charging the door...
...obliterating another statue with a devastating strike from his wickedly sharp blade before...
The sorceress watched with her usual fascination as the pair of her blade-wielding companions made short work of the two remaining animated statues; that's when she spied her opening. Perfect! That's just enough room... Dropping herself to clear the top of the door, Anara navigated through the doorway and climbed back up to a safer height just inside the towers' entrance .
Land of the Linnorm Kings |The Crown of the World - Aganhei Path | Boreal Expanse | Storm Tower
The moment each member of the party enters the interior of the tower, a feeling of dread looms in the air. It is similar to the first time the Demon Lord's unholy symbol was encountered with the trolls except more real. There is an impactful feeling of gloom, doom, confusion and chaotic thoughts. It doesn't take long to see the three fingered hand of Sithhud engraved upon many of the walls here . With her limited knowledge of the arcana, Anara determines the area has probably been warded somehow.
The floors are covered in a layer of black ice. The sorceress can see tile lines buried beneath in some parts - some of the tile work looks intricate. Windblown snow has drifted into the corners obscuring most of what would be the floor and along the walls of this trapezoidal chamber, piling up in deep drifts. Identical hexagonal openings ring the interior of the tower creating open rooms to the south, north, northeast, and northwest.
In the center is a twenty-foot-wide hexagonal chamber; there are two hexagonal openings to the east and west . From where the party is floating, the shaft has no visible ceiling, instead forming a smooth-walled flue rising through the tower’s interior. Eight black basalt walls, each veined in a vibrant blue like an exotic marble. Pulses of blue light trace the veins, each pulse traveling up the shaft of one wall then another in a chaotic pattern. The air is very still within the chamber, yet a rhythmic inhalation and exhalation can be heard as from a slow smith's bellows. An old man's distant, tortured scream echoes down the shaft followed by muffled laughter.
An assortment of crystals of various shapes and sizes are set into a framed portion of the wall outside the shaft . Anara recognizes the clumping of crystals to be more than just decoration. There is something about the grouping to suggest importance, something ancient? The sorceress isn't quite sure.
Fenra moves in to join the others and is met with the sight of shattered stone work. How is everyone?She scans quickly for obvious and serious damage. She examines the surrounding area as she shudders with the sense of evil that permeates the area.
Land of the Linnorm Kings |The Crown of the World - Aganhei Path | Boreal Expanse | Storm Tower
A wave of chaos washes over Fenra in much the same way it did her companions as she enters the tower . The fair oracle wastes no time though and spots the collection of shiny crystals on the wall. Fenra has heard whispers from the beyond, whispers of strange power perhaps long forgotten in Golarion said to employ crystals and harmonics to channel energy. Memories of these fantastic tales draws the oracle to examine these crystals a little closer. Fenra thinks, hopes really, these crystals may be a kind of magic, maybe. What they may do, if anything, is anyone's guess. Stars! Its practically on the tip of her tongue!
Close fail
Rennyn and Draeven split up and circle the outer rooms as quick as they can looking for danger.
Upon entering the tower the shadowcaster felt her hair stand on end. Mental effects. Out loud, she snorted in disgust as the effect tried to creep into her subconscious. ... what is this feeble attempt?
Rennyn and Draeven split to secure the perimeter and Anara dropped down to go through into the center room and get a better listen to what sounded like voices . As the sorceress passes through the opening, she turns to look over Fenra's shoulder and to the crystals beyond .
Well into the central room, and holding herself aloft, Anara hoped to use the room's shape to amplify the sounds from above .
Land of the Linnorm Kings |The Crown of the World - Aganhei Path | Boreal Expanse | Storm Tower
Mocking the uneasy feeling does eventually help the sorceress feel better about herself, but only just . Moving to the center of the tower, Anara's second glance at the set of crystals doesn't seem to jar anything more about the set pieces than before. It is odd to see, probably has some significance within this tower, but she can't figure this mystery out. No sooner does she reflect upon the crystals, than she finds herself hitting the floor! The sudden tumble lands Anara prone on the central chamber floor looking up at a tall vertical shaft. Walls of dark stone rise the entire length of the tower around Anara, nearly 300ft! The blue luminous veins can be seen pulsing all around her, traveling the full length of the interior straight up. Anara thinks all the veins reach all the way to the large ball of light at the top of the tower. The interior of the shaft is almost completely smooth, covered as with sheer ice except for several frozen bumps protruding from the walls in random places. Anara can tell they are not part of the walls due to the difference in coloration between the black basalt of the walls and the dark grey of these bulges.
Their feet barely impacting the ground, the two warriors quickly circle the interior chambers of the Storm Tower. Each pass thigh deep drifts of snow with ease, but do not encounter anything more than some skeletal debris (not enough to make a full skeleton but the odd femur or joint bone) and parts of frozen plants in the form of a partial frost covered leaf or vine buried within the drifted snow.
There is little more to hear; the muffled laugh, a crack as perhaps ice breaking or the slap upon flesh. Then the veins perceivably pause and seem to coordinate for one pulse. Two pulses. Three. There is a hushed whisper, She's doing it! Then the pulses resume a more chaotic pattern. Haha! Soon!
Shar puts her bow away as she moves in to join the others. The sense of dread as she enters the tower puts her on edge. She examines the area for any signs of an enemy.
Land of the Linnorm Kings |The Crown of the World - Aganhei Path | Boreal Expanse | Storm Tower
...Stars!... Wait! That's it! The crystals had just flickered as Anara flew into the central chamber and just like that, a lot of pieces clicked together. Fenra now realizes these crystals are a kind of control panel! But unlike the pullies, cogs, gears and levers seen in Golarian machines, these crystals employ a kind of harmonics to energize the...the fair oracle isn't quite sure yet what the panel controls. Definitely something to do with the central chamber Anara just flew into. Fenra is 90% sure about that. Perhaps, closer to 85%. A solid 70% for sure! Also, while she's certain this is not the work of an arcane master, the shade of the unexplainable surrounding this panel leads her to conclude this is magical in nature, but not a magic native to Golarion. It will take her some time to puzzle out, however Fenra feels excited about the process feeling certain she can work out how to use this panel, if there's time.
Entering the Storm Tower, Sharadei is hit with a wave of chaotic thoughts and feelings . Eyeing her sister lying prone of the floor and the two warriors as they complete their rounds without seemingly finding anything, the ranger can't help but have a bad feeling about this tower...
Rennyn enters the central chamber, glances at Fenra staring at the crystals before looking up the shaft to determine how high the next floor is.
Draeven, seeing no obvious enemies on this floor, moves into the central chamber and begins climbing up to the next floor...
The sorceress landed hard. She was not expecting to be without her effect in place so suddenly. At first, she assumed it was the room she entered that had somehow countered her flight spell but seeing both Rennyn and Draeven enter the room, and immediately start walking their way up the shaft, she wondered if she had just lost track of time and her spell had run its course . She picks herself up as the two on-point pass by and she lays a hand on each of their arms "This'll make you a little harder to target on your way up and when you first come over the top." As the two pass, Anara sarcastically asks of Draeven, "Please, be sure to drop me the end of a rope when you find the top edge of this shaft." She, again, looks up at the incredibly high shaft and then to the oracle, pointing where her eyes had just been. "Do you think those stones have some way to get us waaaay up there?"
Seeing her sister on the floor Shar runs over to check that she is ok. Not seeing any immediate threat, she prepares to defend the group from any perceived enemy.
Engrossed in the pulsating crystals Fenra continues to study them, currently oblivious to the others wandering around her.
Land of the Linnorm Kings |The Crown of the World - Aganhei Path | Boreal Expanse | Storm Tower
Rennyn and Draeven take two steps into the central chamber and stumble past Anara on their way to the ground. Their magical conveyance, like Anara's spell, has suddenly stopped working. The sudden change also leaves Rennyn keenly aware of the absence of many other magical benefits he'd been, up to now, taking for granted.
Attempting to reach out with her sorceress' abilities, Anara promptly discovers she is no longer able to . Sensing this strangeness, the sorceress racks her brain for an answer but is just as in the dark about her situation as when she first encountered it.
As the group considers the central chamber and all its weirdness, elsewhere withing the Storm Tower, the drifts of snow begin to move. Those stray, buried pieces of frozen plant matter begin to stretch and move shifting the piled snow away. An odor of vinegar fills the air, then what emerges is best described as a plant, with attitude. Sharp thorns fill a head ringed in icy blue petals like teeth. Pale, frost covered, thorned vines sway like a toddler's outstretched hands taking its first steps as hardened roots convey it towards the group!
A Recall check failed in previous post.
Rennyn enters the central chamber and stumbles as his spell ceases to function, just as Anara's did. He looks about alarmed. Quickly surmising what is happening, he shouts out a warning, Magic does not work in the central chamber! and retreats out of the room the way he came.
Hearing Rennyn's warning, Draeven remains just outside the doorway and spins, scanning the area again for danger...
The sorceress straightens herself out and tries to rub the hard landing from her posterior. Her attention returning to the others, she noticed that Rennyn had realized the same thing she did, about their magics, and had kept the others from entering. The structure of this chamber was odd to her and the bulges in the otherwise perfectly smooth shaft walls caught her attention. She stepped closer, careful not to touch them, and tried to see exactly what they were. More than anything, they reminded her of insect eggs or even a cocoon like she had seen made by caterpillars and other larvae .
Slotting what she found into the back of her mind for now, Anara joins the others just outside the odd chamber , thankful to once again feel her blood tingle with the energies of her arcane heritage. At nearly the same time she catches the faint smell of something not present a few moments ago and turns to her twin. "Do you smell that?...... Vinegar?"
Land of the Linnorm Kings |The Crown of the World - Aganhei Path | Boreal Expanse | Storm Tower
...An odor of vinegar fills the air. What emerges from the drifts of snow is best described as a plant, a plant with attitude. Sharp thorns fill a head ringed in icy blue petals like teeth. Pale, frost covered, thorned vines sway like a toddler's outstretched hands taking its first steps as hardened roots convey it towards the group!... Exiting the central chamber on the opposite side from where they entered, the two warriors feet once again seem to float on the air.
I have Cognitive Crossover (Occultism & Arcana) and Dubious Knowledge which may or may not be relevant to the check...
Gazing up at the nodes attached to the tower's interior, Anara takes a moment to ponder these bulges further. She can see they are not insect eggs Based on shape alone, she thinks they may either be made up of tightly twisted branches or some sort of crystallization. Exiting, Anara's sorcery once again kicks in and is relieved to find her fly spell once again active!