"OK, let us get the fire started! We may be able to use the same rocks over and over after fishing them out."
Varian works to try to free Sunny if he can, Hes starts with brute strength, then switches to other methods...
"Hang on Sunny, I'll try to get you free."
Varian has a difficult time with the mancatcher. Meanwhile, you hear voices to the north. Voices.. like spellcasting from the odd structure containing unmoving people in crowded stacks - like in a nightmarish display shelf of bodies.
There is the sound of metal against stone as it "opens" the width of a door. Two tentacles emerge and coil around the two chanting.
The chanting voices get weak and pained as they are yanked from there restraints. A gelatinous goop drips from the grasping tentacles, and the held chanters' skin starts to turn to a clear slimy substance.
Varian takes a moment to think mechanically, and frees Sunny.
A black and glossy, flabby and bulbous tube is revealed. An area of distension moves toward the end facing you...
It is some type of conjuration magic. Though there are differences from any "entry level" foundations of conjuration/creation magic.
This is a type of ritual magic.
This has many similarities to an aboleth. Though the structure looks too small to contain such a creature...
A black and glossy, flabby and bulbous tube is revealed. An area of distension moves toward the end facing you..
(O_o)
"That in't good..." Sunny whispers...
Hm, these voices. They seem to perform some kind of conjuring ritual. But it seems something really strong.
This seems to be something like a small aboleth.
Suny at least sits up, still working on getting the weird pole arm off themselves.
"So..whut d'we do about things?" She asks quietly.
The ritual began as this creature died... likely triggered by it...
The two unconscious humans drawn in by the tentacles appear to have been consumed by the aboleth as material for the conjured defender being birthed.
You have a vague idea of the time required to complete the ritual of spawning a defender.
The workmanship of the structure, the fungal goop, and the use of abducted humans all point to derro.
The mention of an aboleth, conjuration, and two humans being consumed should bring to mind your knowledge that the Ugoloths are created using two humans and a ritual which came from aboleths.
*Wiggle, wriggle...*
"They are making a ugoloth. It is time to stop this!"
"Any suggestions on how to do that?"
Corum shrugs and says: "Really hurt the ones making that noise before it happens."
He readies his rod for action. "Let's do it."
I don't know how, but we must be fast. It will be faster than half a minute till they are done!!
Sunny stands up and brushes herself down a little...Then retrieves the weird pole thingy from the floor as well.
Then sneaks closer to the door way and to where the...things are happening.
Varian makes his way to the voices and charges the first being he sees that is concentrating on conjuring.
Corum begins to cast enlarge on Varian.
Gromsch follows Sunny looking for the ritualists. He prepares a bomb to distract them.
Sunny adjusts her grip on her new big stick.
Varian destroys one of the chanting humans held by the aboleth. There is a screeching sound as the defender comes free from the "birthing tube".
It looks like the stone humanoid just killed, but not fully formed. A few seconds after, it breaks down into a dark fluid.
As Corum begins casting, and Gromsch creeps into the room, the tentacles flail violently. What you can see of the creature drops out of sight from within the iron structure holding the unmoving humans. You hear a gloopy splash, and see a ten foot wide hole in the ground in its place.
You recognize many of these unconscious humans to be nearly identical to the child witch.
The unmoving humans are all connected.. like a "swarm of ritualists"
The more involved in the ritual, the more potentially powerful the effect.
A few seconds later - as Corum finishes his growth enhancement on Varian, the aboleth pops up in the center of the bluish pool of translucent fungal goop. Torn flesh hangs from its serpentine body... likely where the birthing tube was affixed. It weaves and writhes upright from the pool.
The unmoving humans in the structure all begin chanting.
>map<
Varian attacks the tentacled creature with his now-enhanced size and reach .
"I be thinkin' things be rilly not good!" Sunny says, even as she adjusts her grip upon the pole arm and move to have a swing at the thing.
Using the 'back end' as per a quarter staff.
Gromsch hurls one of his stink bombs at one of the chanters who is centered in the strukture to disturb as much of them as possible.
Varian destroys a chunk of the aboleth's glossy flesh at the base of one of its tentacles. Sunny whacks at it as it draws nearer, but has little effect on it.
The bomb from Gromsch envelopes the mound of chanting bodies. They cease their murmuring, and begin to cough and retch.
Sunny swings her stick again,
Corum steps and unleashes a fountain of colors at the creatures.
Sunny frowns as she flails wildly with her impromptu 'stick'.
"Um...any one think I should turn this around an' use th'a business end?" She asks, even as she winds up for another whack at the creature.
Gromsch hurls another one of his stink bombs at the same chanter.
I'll interrupt the ritual further. Take care of the aboleth!
Many of the caster swarm immediately drop in the fire. The rest slowly fall. The stone floor around the structure crumbles. The entire swarm tumbles into the dark with a gloopy splash.
Then there is nothing but a bare floor... no sign of the ominous structure or swarm of hive-minded casters. There is only a small metal cube - less than a foot high.
The bluish hue to the light warms into a mundane yellow glow.
The aboleth rears up, and speaks in a deep voice - both sibilant and textured like a tiger growl.
"You have freed my consciousness from its restraints. I have been an unwilling patron and guardian. The Crone has used my natural ability to warp perception and reality against me... and intruders."
You now see symbols like a summoning circle around the perimeter.
"Several cubes lie under these lands. They are the leftover artifacts of the otherworlders who enslaved my ancestors and brethren. Each holds a small world within. They were created to house a species after the imminent destruction of their planet. For each cube there is a key, with which the physical nature of the world within can be manipulated... even time itself. Trust no one who seeks the power and knowledge within these artifacts. Freedom and seeing my captors fail is all I am after, and you can grant both to me. The small part of my mind secreted away from the Crone has been occupied for centuries on how I may repay my liberators, and I will."
"In three days, three of the cubes will move toward the the fourth. Nothing will stop them... not earth, stone, steel... The fourth houses the true masters. When the cubes join, they will wake from their slumber and drink the memories - knowledges their clones have absorbed for many millennia. But now the clones... do not wish to be consumed."
"This artifact is mere trinket in comparison. It holds hundreds of thousands of memory extracts the Crone has collected. The artifact itself could be of use to you. Mar the symbol which binds me to this chamber, and I will give you the key."
Sunny creeps forwards..."UM...how does we know we can be trustin' ye? Ye is, after all, y'know 'Fish people'..." She says, sounding dubious of the whole set up the creature before them has claimed.
"I have no way to convince you. You may slay me if you prefer... quick and painless please. Just be sure to wheedle the mayor for a reward. I will do my best not to hold it against you when I return."
The aboleth lays its head out of the pool so that his neck rests solidly on the edge.
The critters actions speak very loudly to Suny,
"Awe...." :( She sighs, stepping forwards and bending over to inspect the squiggles around the place that the Aboleth has indicated.
"So...we jus' make these go away an' ye be set, right?" She asks.
"Well, we are the good ones and you are evil. You will have to come clean and tell everything and, if an agreement is struck, the best of us will have to honor that agreement. Unfortunately evil creatures who conspire to enslave entire populations of humanity and create kingdoms under the sea do not get the benefit of the doubt. You will have to extend that courtesy to us and share first."
He looks to the others for assent and approval.
"I think we learn and let him live. The Mayor is not the most trustworthy either. There is magic to speak with the dead too, so we may be able to have our cake and eat it too."
The odd aboleth responds to Sunny "Yes..." After seeing some possibility, he adds... " I would be freed from the Crone's restraints, and no longer be an unwilling source of power to her... By morning she would be little more than an old woman with a recipe book."
Still displaying submissiveness by resting his jaw on the edge of the pool, he rolls slightly to eye Corum.
"You might consider me evil..., but I have had no part in the enslavement of populations of humanity. What makes a being good or evil comes from each choice they have made on their path to meaning before death. You no nothing of the path I have taken, how can you so easily judge the choices I have made upon it? You are a sad paradox... your short lives bring a burning desire for advancement of your intellect, but it is lost before you are able to unlock more than a meager fraction of your mind's potential.
I can lead you to a solution to both elements. Time and unlocking your potential are both paramount to avoiding another cataclysmic event on this world... good and evil - as simply put by you.. both have quite a bit to lose when the enemy is a destroyer of worlds. We cannot allow those who slumber to awaken."
Unfortunately his words it makes sense. And if you ask my apprentice, I lived half of my life in a tribe you would call evil. Does this make myself evil? I can't tell. There are higher entities who will judge over my deeds.
"Well, tell the truth and, if your information is as good as you say it is, you will be spared. But you shall be charged with avoiding the evil path. So, what is this information that is so important. And, what do you know about the Mayor?"
Varian listens, scowling in thought as he considers the aboleth's words and actions. "Best hurry and decide Corum, or I will deface the runes myself... I fear we are running out of time to stop this."
Corum sighs: "We have no choice--you are right. Both sides win here. Let us mar the rune."
Varian scratches at the runes with the tip of his lucerne hammer, hoping that will suffice to mar the symbols.
Sunny watches intently, though her interest is obviously more directed at the fish monster.
The aboleth closes his eyes "That will suffice. Here is your key." He thrusts to the light source on the side of the pool, and wraps a tentacle around it. He then lifts it free. The lit gem is affixed to a staff now visible. "Only the holder of this staff may move the cube... this the Argot Cube. There is little room inside, but it should prove useful for storage and resting."
He turns to face Corum. "The mayor was the second clone created by the Eoxian and Thassilonian arcanists using bound aboleths for power, and humans as.. components. The leaders did not trust the others, so they each made clones. Horth is the leader of those who slumber. He has many clones which scour the lands with a hunger for arcane knowledge and power. Migthwet is the engineer of flesh. The one known as the Crone is the binder of souls. Though I have implanted memories of an aboleth, and appear to be a fair specimen, I too am a creation... manipulated matter. The mayor was created to be a caretaker, and to maintain a veil of secrecy on the surface."
"But the extent of the evil - their manipulations of time destroying worlds.. was kept from him." Mayor Doyle descends the stair. "Allow me to take things from here. As I've said, time is short. We will need an army to defeat the sleeping Eoxians, and they will grow in power with each clone they consume. Fortunately, we have allies available within the Barracks and Academy cubes. Unfortunately... they will need help getting here."
"Entering or exiting a cube is a simple cantrip. It can be learned... is known by few, but each key contains the ability. The Academy Cube lies under the fountain in the center of the village. Within it, is a land twelve square miles. In the center is the main structure. It is an impregnable fortress. This is where the cube is controlled, and it has been taken by Horth's minions. With the key you could enter behind enemy lines directly into the control room. Simply defeat what forces are there and open the doors. Corum's acquaintance Errik is already there rallying a rebellion outside the walls of the fortress."
"I hope you don't mind me leaving the room you provided. I accepted capture for my own protection from Horth, and I did not consider those you left behind sufficient."
"They seem reluctant to trust you, Doyle. Let us keep things in this world for now. You came here to weaken the Crone, I assume. Why not finish the job? She is at Fort Birch. There are maps upstairs."
The aboleth sinks lower in the pool. "Meanwhile, I will contain the derro mold in the water supply. Unless any of you care for a swim."
"So we should go deal with this Crone first... then return and defeat the forces in the control center of the cube and open the doors?"
Sunny skips over and investigates the water with a daintily dipped toe.
"I could, y'know, has a gander at whut might be about down below?" She asks the others. Though she has no idea, other than half remembered rumors about the fish monster she'd be sharing the waters with...As she eyes the creature a little apprehensively.
You might be right Varian.
"Let's do it! Crone here we come."
Sunny moves to go after the Crone, giving the Fish a friendly wave. (^_^)
Doyle crosses his arms. "Very well."
You hear footsteps above as you are about to head out. The aboleth drops out of sight into the pool.
Karthak the redbearded dwarf is leading several of the watch.... working his stout armored legs down the steps as fast as he can. "Ha! Knew when you poofed away yu'd be meddlin here!" He shakes his finger at Mayor Doyle then snatches his sleeve.
"You should know I can smell ya perfume from upstairs I can, fancy man. Come along now." He tugs on Mayor Doyle and frisks him.
"Turn out ya pockets. No rings, necklaces, pouch of powdered bat teets... I better not see any of that!"
Karthak then turns to Corum. "Hey slim. How do I know this finger wiggler is outta juice?"
Mayor Doyle sighs, and waves you off.
"I will be fine. Go on and finish the Crone."
Warden Horne walks with you exiting the hag house. "Once we have everyone cleared out, I will change the locks and leave the key with Karthak for you. I have a feeling you are better equipped for further investigation." He turns and kicks back a swig from a flask.
"Have you given thought to how you will make your way to Fort Birch? I know the area fairly well if I can be of any help."
"Well, I need some rest before I will be back to magic-using form. Let us begin with a large meal and a large rest then the jorney."
"Okeys..of ta' met new peoples then!" She exuberantly declares. (^_^)
Then she begins to scamper around and help people clean up, heal etc.