One of the male shaitan perks up at Bartan's offer, disappearing into one of the walls. He returned shortly with a burlap sack, opening it to show the shorter human the various tools it held.
.
.
.
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Once everyone is ready, Hajar will blow the horn to summon the Protean. It's time to exit Kakishon, and hopefully the Heroes leave it better than when they found it.
Hajar thinks Lord Oberhak, when Jhahvhul is defeated...I will return for you.
Bartan happily hands 60 gold pieces to the helpful shaitan for being so quick.
Khayal takes a deep breath in through his mouth, releasing it slowly through his nose. His mind cleared, he grips the hilts of his kukris and nods to his friends. He is ready when they are.
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Hajar blows the Ram's Horn, and the Proteans, five of them this time, appear out of thin air. "What is the decision / mend or derision?" the Protean known as Magiyawalla asked. Trumpet sounds blew around the shapeshifters as they flew in mid-air, exclamation points appearing as stone runes around them that disintegrated after a few seconds. Rayhan directed them to the plan of repairing Kakishon and turning it into a true demiplane while attempting to have just the adventurers leave through a secondary exit.
"Your plan is bold / you have us taking the danger / but when all told / we would rather risk it all / than keep trying to repair and change her." Lahapraset says. The other Proteans hiss their agreement.
"You adventurers line up behind me." Dilix commands the humans. "The Proteans will perform their mending and repair of Kakishon via the Heart of Kakishon again. Then I will start the plane shift spell. Yazi, you must be behind me, first in line, ready with that ruby fork. When the Proteans' work is at its' peak, I will take your hand and use your fork to start the spell. Make no mistake - the planar energies tearing Kakishon apart from Andrathi's Mistake will try and interfere with the plane shift spell, just as Archwizard Nex intended to protect his private demiplane with epic magic. We must trust that the Proteans' abilities to shape chaos, and my ability with the Earth Seed to reach the Plane of Earth, can break through Nex's protections to reach the Prime Material Plane. Or at least the Plane of Earth."
"One last boon." Venema said, flying over to you. "Ow, ow, ow - that helm is more trouble than it's worth, paladin." she complained as she touched the tip of her bony snout to Hajar's chest, repeating the process with Yazi, Nasir, Bartan, Khayal, and Rayhan. "There. Everybody has endure elements, at least. If Kakishon is destroyed, like some of you think," with a brooding look towards Bartan, "I'll just wait until Archwizard Nex recreates it - and me." she tells you all.
To Yazi, the former brass dragon says "But if you do meet the rogue before he comes back, tell him 'his favorite ride' misses him. And those days. And nights." The old wrymskull flew off to a safe distance in the chamber. A few shaitan disappeared into the stone walls, but the redheaded Iqilma bravely stood her ground.
Now that's a caster level check roll!
Clearing her throat, Dilix motioned for the Proteans to start. The adventurers stood one behind the other in a long line, each holding hands. The five outsiders moved toward the slowly spinning stone from the Plane of Earth, singing their wordless song, a baritone from Magiyawalla starting the melody this time. The Heart of Kakishon stopped rotating as the Proteans' hands plunged into the stone, and a golden glow began to radiate from the block. Points of light came off each Proteans' skin, changing color as they crawled towards the floating rock and disappeared at the rough surface. The Heart of Kakishon took on a glossy appearance, the ridges and depressions making its' map of the demiplane looking freshly minted and carved.
For several seconds the shapeshifters' song rose and fell, Dillix and the adventurers standing on the stone walls leading to the center stone, Dilix concentrating with her eyes closed, until a thunderclap sounded in the chamber. Purple lightning appeared out of nowhere, starting at one of the serpentine Proteans and circling around them in a split second. Lahapraset bared her teeth, and the purple electricity stopped with her body. Another electrical arc appeared, but this time the Proteans were ready, and serpents from the back of one of the larger creatures grabbed the purple lightning in their teeth, and the bolt disappeared.
"Now! Plane shift!" Dilix cried out, opening her eyes, one hand held palm up towards the Heart of Kakishon. A glow, like rich dark brown soil, came from her hand, the Earth Seed resonating back with the color, and Dilix's other hand grabbed Yazi's arm. Yazi's ruby fork pressed against the stone of the floating block, a Y-shaped depression appearing in the Earth Seed, and Dilix rotated Yazi's hand a half-circle until you heard an audible -click!- reverberate throughout the chamber.
Purple lightning now came from the top and bottom of the Heart of Kakishon, easily rebuffed by the Proteans, their song rising to a crescendo. The Y-shaped depression fell away inward from the ruby fork, and Dilix quickly stepped back as the ruby fork and Yazi with it were pulled into what looked like a dark hole appearing in the Heart of Kakishon. Another earthquake shook the internal chamber, the shaitan crying out in alarm. The rest of the adventurers holding hands together followed Yazi being pulled into that bottomless black hole.
All around the adventurers, you see again the black nothingness that was there when you first entered the Scroll of Kakishon. Below you, you see the islands and seas of Kakishon, Archwizard Nex's private sanctuary. Above you, a glowing point of light becomes a massive scroll, the Scroll of Kakishon as big as an ocean-going vessel, as wide as several Katapesh city blocks. You see a hole of light in the middle of that massive Scroll, and you each fly towards the light. A brown-colored pillar of light rises from one of the islands to the West side, arcing towards that glowing hole in the Scroll above.
Purple lighting crackles around you, strings stretching from that Scroll opening all the way down to the islands of Kakishon. They thunderclap ominously, and the ripping sound you heard the first time you entered the Scroll of Kakishon is louder, like a person intentionally destroying a tapestry by tearing it apart with their bare hands. The entire nothingness you are in shakes like a dog getting his fur dry after being dunked in water, and you start tumbling end-over-end, no longer rising. The brown column fades away, the earth-like tones becoming smoke instead.
Magiyawalla, Lahapraset, and their Protean kinsmen appear with you in the nothingness, at the outer edges, their song breaking the thunderclaps of purple lightning. An aura rises from them, purple lightning fighting back, but their multi-colored aura continues to grow until the nothingness is the colors of chaos, every color of the rainbow.
With a sound like a rod of wood, no, a block of stone, breaking, shattering in a clean break, the colors kaleidoscope, and beneath you Kakishon obtains a glass-like sphere around it, silverly light coming from the edges. "Our prison is broken / our freedom is here at last! / Let us return to the Maelstrom, / no longer fettered to the past!" Lahapraset's soprano voice cries out, and the Proteans each disappear in a flash of light. "Fffrrrrreeeeeee!" the serpentine Protean nearest Yazi shouts before leaving.
Silvery light now overcomes the nothingness and colors, rising from the bottom and overcoming your location to rise to the top. You see Kakishon becoming smaller and smaller, flying away to a silvery-pink realm with other spheres studded in the dimension like pearls on a princess' dress of fine silk. Above you, the hole in the Scroll of Kakishon becomes larger, racing towards the edges, which have the fire of purple lighting still eating at their edges. Rising again, the light from below and the light from above nearly blind you, even as you feel yourself orienting to a standing position again.
The silver and while light merges together, only to turn red and gold at the last second.
You emerge still holding hands in a large, high-ceiling room. The walls are made of shining brass, with arched passageways obscured by curtains of orange fire in the center of each wall. At the top of the arches runes are inscribed, each different from the others. An oppressive heat covers the room like a blanket, something more than what could be provided by the four curtains of flame. A jumble of open chests, overturned amphorae, and and scattered mounds of coins and gems lie scattered on the floor against the walls. A single phrase in florid script is inscribed along the domed ceiling above in runes similar to those that mark the arches, under which is a stylized rune that resembles an animal.
This looks like nothing you've ever seen in Katapesh, and as you look around, what catches your eye is a thick open scroll on the brass floor in front of you. The scroll is aflame, burning from the center to the edges, and before you can even reach out a hand towards it, the ancient parchment is blackening and turning to fragmentary ashes blowing away on the hot winds inside the chamber.
--------------------------------END BOOK FOUR OF THE LEGACY OF FIRE--------------------
-------------------------------START OF BOOK FIVE: THE IMPOSSIBLE EYE-----------------
That was the second most magnificent thing I have witnessed in my lifetime. Thank you adventurers for granting me this experience...but I fear I am too old to contin- Rayhan says, and then stops
We aren't in Katapesh. Where are we?
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"Will do!" Yazi responds to Dilix's command to stand behind her, providing the Mercenary with a rather pleasant view to focus on.
As Venema reminiscences Yazi solemnly nods. "I will, I promise you."
---
During the travel she happil;y waves goodbye to the Proteans as they are freed.
----
"Whoa... what?" she says while looking around.
"Oh dear... we've got ourselves into something, haven't we?"
Are we too late? Khayal says, with his hands griping the familiar handles of his weapons.
How do we get home from here? Khayal says with a touch of disappointment in his voice. He surveys his surroundings looking for clues as to their location or at least find something useful.
The ruby fork still in Yazi's hands changes, growing and shrinking like a live thing, until it has taken on the colors of the Heart of Kakishon. Whorls and ridges of sandy hues and azure depressions make the fork a rough miniature map of the demiplane. The planar fork resumed its' previous size and stopped changing.
The curtains of flame in the archways of the chamber you stand in are soundless, the only whisper the breathing from each person in the room.
The runes on the ceiling and the numbers above the archways are in Ignan. Those above the doors are the numerals 1 through 4. The ceiling inscription simply states, “Half or Triple plus One.”
Khayal finds sp, gp, and
gems.
Fascinating. Rayhan murmurs as he inspects the room.
I believe we are on the Plane of Fire...somewhere.
Fascinating. Rayhan murmurs as he inspects the room.
I believe we are on the Plane of Fire...somewhere.
You are in the Plane of Fire. Most likely, the City of Brass, the capital of the efreeti on that plane.
Jhavhul is an efreeti, an elite efreeti. Before he began his search for the Spawn of Rovagug, he had to have a base of operations. Most likely, it was here in the City of Brass.
The Scroll of Kakishon would have been secured by Jhavhul in order to not be used against him again. Which means, you are in one of Jhavhul's most secure treasure vaults.
With no way to get back to Katapesh.
Khayal picks up the gems and looks them over. I can’t say I know much about these.
As soon as Khayal touches the treasure, the fire in the archways ripple and undulate, revealing four brass men stepping out of the flames. Made entirely of brass and adorned with intricate runes and symbols, the obvious constructs raise greatswords but also open their mouths wide, showing gullets full of molten metal rising to the forefront.
ROUND ONE
Init:
Khayal calls on the magic of his sword granting it power to harm constructs. his blade this imbued, the fighter moves west up next to the gold colored statue.
Rayhan takes a look at the constructs
Elemental Constructs, how curious. We are almost certainly on the Plane of Fire, within the City of Brass. Rayhan says, with a little awe in his voice.
Rayhan chants the mystical phrases and Hastes his allies
Hajar raises Tempest and charges straight at the Northern construct.
We aren't anywhere near Kelmerane! he shouts, more as an accusation than anything else.
Hajar interposes himself between the northern creature and the group and then casts Divine Favor on himself.
HASTE 10/10 +1 to att +20' movement, extra attack on full attack
Divine Favor 10/10 +2 to att/dam
Planar Travel isn't some simple child's game. Rayhan snaps back
It's obvious we were brought to where the Scroll of Kakishon was placed. We must be inside one of Jhavhul's palaces...amazing.
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Yazi's greataxe hits the brass man, her blade easily cutting into the alloy. The wound frosts over much quicker than expected, the cold cracking the brass skin worse than the cut.
Yazi's strikes downs the brass construct to the East . Hajar and Kahyal move to intercept two of the other brass men.
Seeing the cold affecting the brass man, Bartan casts snowball and tosses two frosty cards at the (blue) one in rapid succession.
plus plus
plus
plus
Nasir's blade attacked the brass man.
With two of the brass men already engaged, the one from the North moved in to face Hajar. The three constructs roared, spewing molten brass at the intruders. Bartan got caught in the crossfire.
You take fire damage from liquid metal. (Fire protection applies.)
Bartan's first playing card hits the brass man squarely in his chest, and the snowball nearly frosts the entire construct over. His brass skin is noticeably worse for wear, falling off in great chunks. The second Harrow card goes wide.
ROUND TWO
Init:
Rayhan moves out ofinto the line of "fire" and draws his Rod. He prepares to counter any such antics if they occur again.
Bartan ducks most of the liquid metal, only a bit singed by it.
He then decides to try to finish off the construct, casting frigid touch and hurling two more cards at it.
plus plus
plus
I fully blame Khayal for enraging some firegolemthings before Hajar had time to realize what was going on.
That's my story and I'm sticking to it.