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Forrest nods at Arin's suggestion. "I think you may be right, friend. After all, who makes a gate out of glass? " He goes up to push on the portcullis as well.
He turns to Arin as he does so. "By the way, thanks for the assist back there. You might not have noticed, but they punch actually hurt a lot. " He rubs his jaw, to make sure it is still in place.
Although a somewhat flawed idea, in Forrest's estimation, the glass portcullis seems very real, and both Arin and Forrest are unable to push through.
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"Oh, my!" Danicka mutters as bits of illusory clay get stuck in her hair. She fans herself, but looks quite pale.
After collecting herself, Danicka looks around the room for flaws and strange features.
"A glass portcullis is rather foolish." Danicka agrees. She approaches it and stares at it's brittle bars.
"You are not real." she announces. "You would break. In fact, you've broken already."
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After the thrill of using more of his explosives he realizes all his catalysts have been used up. He frowns and pulls out a vial of acid loading it into his syringe spear.
"Great, looks like I am getting personal with whatever shadow shows up next. At least these things don't spray blood everywhere when Yaiho smashes them." mutters Rook as he finishes up and moves to the others.
He raps a few times on the portcullis...and thinks.
He turns to Yaiho..."Illusion or not can't you just break that thing down?"
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He turns to Arin as he does so. "By the way, thanks for the assist back there. You might not have noticed, but they punch actually hurt a lot. " He rubs his jaw, to make sure it is still in place.
Arin nods in acknowledgement. "Yes, you're always welcome, it seemed like it might have hurt. Now I'm having the hardest time willing my mind's beliefs to agree with its intellect. I wonder if this is easier for those who know who their diety is..." He frowns again.
The glass portcullis stands firm under Danicka's stern gaze, unmoved by her bold proclamations. It does, however, appear extremely fragile and at Rook's suggestion, Yaiho steps forward and just pushes on the peculiar barrier. It cracks easily under a little pressure, and with slightly more effort the whole thing shatters and falls to the floor in a shower of little glass beads. Now free to continue onward, you enter the hallway beyond. Turning right leads back to where the giant eye formed on the ceiling, giving some of you vertigo as it changed to a question mark. The hallway to the left looks similar, constructed of the same smooth glowing tiles. They are currently dormant though, emitting just a soft light instead of dizzying images.
As the passage curves toward a familiar set of doors, the glass tiles once again give way to stone floors and wood panelled walls. As the door opens, a familiar bell tinkles overhead, letting Palhuna Murqual know that his shop has visitors once more. The setting has changed subtly since earlier; while the shop's layout remains the same, the wares previously displayed in cases and on the walls are missing. In their places are keys of all shapes, sizes, and construction.
Soon after you have all entered, the back curtains stir and Palhuna Murqual comes forth, smiling unctuously. The more perceptive among you who watch the shopkeeper as he approaches, and see that he is not quite right. His form flickers, almost imperceptibly, and he tends to "jump" from one location to another when not observed directly. He doesn't speak, but instead points to himself then makes a grand gesture with his hands encompassing the room around himself. He then produces a golden key and gestures to a door that wasn't there a moment ago.
Just then, Rook suddenly finds himself in possession of a scroll, appearing in one hand as if he had been holding it all along. Upon it is a clear drawing of Wulessa's face. Murqual points at the scroll in Rook's hands and makes a haughty "give me" gesture with one hand as he holds out the key in the other.
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Brock looks around, bewildered as this crazy mind trip just get weirder and weirder.
Growling internally, wishing they could deal with a flesh and blood obstacle he could charm, con or kill (possibly in that order) instead of magic stuff he didn't understand.
Reaching the shop and the silent shopkeeper.
"So, uh, this is the arcitest or whatever its called. Is it, hmm, offering us a way out in exchange for Wulessa? She did get us into this... but we need her to get paid. I say no deal"
Though if we can get Danicka to leave first I bet Rook would help me loot the whole lodge, might make up for lost wages
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Forrest drops his jaw in disgust. "We would never trade away an innocent woman's life for our own freedom! How dare you! " His face grows red as he continues. "Was she incompetent? Sure! But that doesn't mean her life is over, or that she deserves to be enslaved to this library of souls! " He shakes his head furiously. "No! The answer is no. "
Murqual points at his mouth and shrugs. Then he just stares at you with a confused expression as the angry refusals, and threats start as if he can't understand why leaving Wulessa behind is a bad thing. Finally, Murqual exasperatedly throws his hands up, and just before Arin can grab the key, both Murqual and the door just pop out of existence.
As soon as he's gone, the facsimile of Murqual's shop shimmers like a heat mirage, slowly transforming into the familiar meeting room in Farseer Tower. Familiar, at least, in shape. The furnishings are different, more resembling a grandmother's cosy tea room than the stark, studious place where this journey began. Intricately brocaded settees and pouffes clutter the room, while elaborate tapestries cover almost every inch of the walls. One of these, a floor-length cerulean silk curtain, is embroidered with a portrait of Wulessa Yuul. Her arms are folded across her chest, and a look of distaste resides upon her face.
After a moment the image of Wulessa turns within the hanging and says, "When I first became Venture-Captain and took charge of Farseer Tower, this was how the place looked. The whole tower. My predecessor was more concerned with frippery and luxuries than with hard-won knowledge and diligence. If this becomes my final view of the tower, it might be the greatest indignity of all." She shakes her head and addresses you directly, "I think you are close to the end. I can feel the archivist pausing its work with me to face you directly. The shadows you fought before now were a reflexive response, like sweeping cobwebs from one's face. Now I think you have its full attention. I don't think it can appear directly. Its essence is split across all the archive's scrolls, but whatever form it takes will have considerably more power than the things you've fought before now."
"I am truly sorry for putting you in this situation... Frankly, I'm furious with myself for letting the excitement of finally getting my hands on the Monadistic Archive cloud my judgement so severely. However, now is not the time to beat myself up, there will be plenty of time for that later. For now, I think you should prepare yourselves for what is to come next. Name a spell, and I should be able to manifest another potion or oil for you. It's not a lot I'm afraid, but it's all I can do for now."
The embroidered image of Wulessa turns to Arin, "Out of blessings? That is... troublesome." She says, clearly concerned that the archivist has already worn you out, or at least forced you to use more resources than you would have liked, "I'm glad you can still offer healing and guidance, though. If you didn't have them, I'd have rathered you find a different way out... Even if it meant leaving me behind to be drained of my memories." She looks thoughtful for a moment, then addresses all of you, "Okay, I've got it! Look in that credenza over there, I'm pretty sure I manifested a flask of magical oil. If you apply that oil to one of your weapons, it will act a like a blessing of sorts. Unfortunately, it'll only work for one of you, but it is something at least." She indicates the marquetry-adorned teak credenza to the side of the room.
Beside Danicka, Prickles growls nervously, unsure why his pet is so afraid when no danger is before them...
Seeing that you all seem ready, Wulessa says, "Good luck!" she grabs hold of either side of the wall hanging she inhabits and pulls. The hanging opens like a door, opening back to the checkerboard patterned corridor. The passage opens upon a tunnel to oblivion. The smooth glass walls stretch fifty or sixty feet, ending abruptly in a maw open to the void. The crystalline structure floating in the void's heart somehow hovers mere feet away from the tunnel's end. From this close, it resembles a torus of jagged crystals, slowly revolving around a core of flashing light and mist.
As you make your way down the tunnel, the patterns on the walls and floor shift yet again, now producing more images than ever before and everywhere you look, there are images of friends and family looking disappointed, shaking their heads, or sighing in frustration. While this is happening, a creature appears from the core of the crystalline ring and strides across the void, positioning itself at the end of the hallway. To each of you, the creature appears to be a copy of yourself with two differences: the copy possesses four arms, with two limbs splitting from each elbow, and the copy's head is a crystalline torus hovering above the shoulders. It wields a longspear in two of its hands, holding its point out towards you, and gestures with its empty hands for you to 'bring it.'
Suddenly the creature leaps into action, pulling a short spear out of nowhere as it runs towards the centre of the room. It skids to a stop, hurling the short spear with all the force it can muster while still defending itself with the long spear in its other two hands. Yaiho doesn't have quite enough time to dodge out the way, and as he leans to the side, a considerable cut appears in his shoulder where the spear sliced on its way to the wall behind.
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"At least its not a demon from hell I guess" Brock mutters, thoroughly unnerved unnerved by the mind trip hallway and images of his few loved ones mocking him.
Pushing through his unease in his hard shell of cynicism, he rushed forward, swinging his magically enhanced war pick. Gripping his pick in both hands.
"Time to go beast, Brock Swiftread will be your doom"
Brock charges forward, swinging his pick with tremendous force. Just before he strikes, however, he sees through the illusion and instead of swinging his pick at a weird copy of himself, he is swinging it at a strange creature with a crystalline torus body and eight limbs sprouting from two arms and two legs. The change in shape is not enough to distract him from the spear heading towards his leg, and Brock deftly steps inside the creatures reach and delivers a powerful blow.
Despite reeling from Brock's attack, the creature does not let Forrest pass easily. Caught between the wall and a freaky copycat version of himself, Forrest is hit hard by the longspear and is unable to parry the large weapon in time. Despite this, Forrest manages to keep on running, and taunts the archivist as if the large cuts in his side is but a scratch. Without a face it's hard to tell just how shaken the creature is, but it certainly doesn't seem happy with the situation.
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"Are you seeing this thing. I have four arms...That is brilliant!" Rook says getting distracted with thoughts of all the bombs and potions he could hold at once or how much quicker he could work.
Time to do some research!
He shakes it off and moves up to thrust his spear at...a better armed version of himself.
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Imbibing the potion as soon as the enemy appears, Yaiho suddenly grows twice as big as he earthbreaker becomes bigger than his companions.
He winces with mild pain as the spear thrown from the enemy clips him. With sight of this mind dungeon being close to an end, Yaiho lets his rage take over and he steps forward. The shadow of Yaiho's maul suddenly hovers over the archivist as it comes down like a meteor strike.
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Arin muses at the off-version of himself. The big crystalline hair on top to match is own is particularly remarkable. No matter, he still understands this is the enemy.
Much action takes place very quickly at the outset. Arin rushes up to the melee, just behind Rook. This puts him in reaching distance of the now giant Yaiho.
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As she enters the room, Danicka's resolve weakens. Seeing her mother and father, both long dead, sighing at her in displeasure makes her whimper. And her friends? There were so few of them... Only her fellow pathfinder, if they could be called that. She'd like to think they were, at least, but to see them scowl, and sigh and groan.... They had done that before. When she cried, or screamed... When she insisted upon mercy... They hated her! Who didn't?
At the sight of her monstrous, many armed self, Danicka screams.
Quickly she pulls out a scroll and activates it, sending a bolt of magic flying at the terrifying monster Danicka.
Don't faint! Don't faint! Be brave!
Prickles growls at the strange images of his mother, his siblings--even that one he devoured as a pup!--and his pet, Danicka, shaking their heads at him in disappointment.
He wasn't a bad dog! Not a bad pup! He was strong! Brave!
As a strange monstrous dog-self appears in the room, attacking with sharp man-sticks and his many mouths, Prickles barks ferociously, trying to keep it away from his scared little pet.
He wasn't bad dog! He was brave!
Pet needs him!
Perhaps distracted by all the possibilities the creature has opened up in his mind, Rook fails to pay attention to what the two extra arms are actually doing as he moves forward to attack the archivist. The creature's longspear goes deep into the Rook's abdomen, but momentum carries the spirited alchemist forward, and his own spear sticks into one of the extra arms of his copy, delivering its painful payload of acid. The archivist shudders in agony, yet remains eerily silent.
Yaiho, now a much larger vessel of rage and carnage than ever before, steps forward and looks down at the much smaller version of himself as he raises his terrifyingly massive maul. The archivist sees him coming, it's really hard not to at the moment, but with its spear still jammed into Rook, is unable to get it free in time to defend itself. All the creature can do is look up as the shadow of its destruction looms over it. Putting all of his considerable strength into the attack, the hammer smashes down on to the archivist, causing the very ground to shake.
Suddenly everything goes black. For a moment there is nothing, then you all feel your arms become heavy, your legs stiff, and your mouth dry. Slowly, you open your eyes and find yourselves safely back in the seance circle, everyone still holding each other's hands, and Prickles is still sitting protectively beside Danicka, slowly opening his own eyes and showing off his teeth with a wide yawn. The dim candlelight glints in the unshed tears welling up in Wulessa Yuul's eyes as she looks around the room. She pinches herself then looks to each of you around the circle, "I am so sorry for my error in judgement." She says, sounding both sincere and remorseful, "This could have gone very wro- Oh!" Rook still hasn't opened his eyes, and in the middle of Wulessa's apology, falls backwards beside her and hits his head on the floor with a thud. Though no wounds are evident, you all still feel the effects of your encounter with the archivist, and it seems Rook had it quite bad before returning to the real world.
Without thinking, Wulessa lets go of Yaiho's hand, plucks a small vial from her belt, and pours the contained liquid into Rook's mouth. It doesn't take long for him to start coughing, and slowly he regains consciousness, "It's alright. You're back now..." Realising that she is gripping Rook's hand much too tightly, Wulessa lets go and stands up, regaining her composure. "You have my sincerest thanks for the way you acted in the mindscape, and for saving me from being stripped of all my memories. Suffice it to say, the Grand Lodge will soon be receiving several letters of commendation regarding your actions here tonight." She takes the scroll and carefully returns it to the chest, "Nevertheless, I certainly intend further study of the Monadistic Archive, but clearly, more research is needed into proper safeguards first. Once it is made safe, if you should ever want to return to seek out the knowledge within the archive, I would be honoured to assist you."
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Danicka groans in pain, and gives Prickles a big hug. Remembering the harrowing experience, she suddenly bursts into tears.
Eventually she sniffles loudly, wipes her nose, and struggles up to her feet. Her legs shake like jelly. "Oh, dear... Oh, my... That was... horrible! Wulessa are you... You're alright...?"
Suddenly, Danicka straightens up. "You're alright! YOU'RE alright!" She smiles brightly and starts jumping up and down. "We saved you! We're heroes!" She squeals in delight and throws a hug around Wulessa. Then she moves on to the others, giving everyone an excited hugs as she jumps up and down squealing, "We're heroes! We did something good! Eeeek!"
After everyone's gotten hugs she blushes bright red. Looking embarrassed, she mutters, "Sorry..."
Then she smiles, and looks down at Prickles. "Come on, Prickles. Mommy needs some fresh air."
Danicka heads downstairs and outside into the city, happy to be away from that horrible tower and the memories inside.
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Rook sits up shaking his head and laughs...
"That was a mess but I am glad you were so worried about me, Wulessa. It was your fault after all." his laughter becomes a bellow as he is a little shaken from the spear he took. He gives her a tusky grin.
I do not like facing down death like that...I need to increase the bombs I carry.
He made plans to work through some formula to improve his bombs and extracts but it was time to get down to business.
"I take it that commendation comes with greater reward?"
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Before they leave the city he makes a detour to Marqual's place to talk business and invites Brock along.
He sits down with the merchant and goes over the alchemical items in the shop talking about ways to improve or better evaluate their worth.
"As you can see this could be the beginning of a great partnership between yourself and The Exchange. You can take my word on it surely?"
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Forrest wakes up slowly. Wow, my side really hurts... He lifts up his shirt to check, and there it is, unblemished. Wow. Never again. No more crazy going-into-artifacts business. He stands up slowly and pats Yaiho on the head. "Way to go, Eater-Of-The-Wicked. Even in our dreams, you're still a scary, scary dude." He shakes his head in disbelief, adjusts the heavy scarf around his neck and goes out into the street after his friends.
On his way back to the ship, Forrest takes a long look around. I am not yet powerful or strong enough to stop this injustice. But one day I will return and free you, brothers in bondage. One day. Perhaps with my friends.