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When Gabe wakes up he rushes to his swords, and still kneeling covers himself "Foul beast! You won't win tod-" but he stops when the situation appears clear to him "We survived... and won. I thought we would die." but then he lets his sword drop to the ground and rushes to Avdol "Damn! Don't die on me, you pyromaniac fool!"
But once again he sees that a hit to many have dazed him too much, as Avdol is stable. After checking Akari too, he sits near where Lys and Zul are. "We thought we would never see you again, Zul. Does any of you what in the name of Pelor has happened here today?"
Sadrazar gets jostled awake and chirps. Looking about he notices Avdol still lying on the floor and flutters over to him chirping and squawking.
On Lysanthir's statement Zul brings forth his wand once more. Going to Avdol first and using it a second time then Akari it would only be a matter of time before both awoke.
"Worry not Gabriel, you fought valiantly, each of you have I'm sure... He was a strong foe, one of many in the paths before us. Moving forward in a world like this sometimes comes with ease, other times it is as though you're attempting to swim upstream."
The last 3 remaining archers make their way down as everyone is regaining consciousness. One's mask has been obliterated, he being the man who was practically unconcious. The masks and robes still were still in tact for the other two, however only one of them didn't remove theirs. They help the severely battered comrade of theirs, placing an arm over each of their shoulders. They continue walking past, only acknowledging Lysanthir and Zul with a nod and moving toward the stairs. As they begin the descent of the stairway, one spits at the floor where Geof once had stood.
Severely beaten and bruised, the sound of footsteps are mere comforting rhythms to your ears now. Adrenaline wears off and they ringing eventually stops.
Avdol would snap awake and notice his wounds were slowly healing. Geof's body lay before him. Him noticing the lone arrow in Geof and the archers descending from the catwalk and Zul and Lys making no attempts to fight them indicated to him the fight was over. Outstretching his hand to Sadrazar and allowing them to mold into one. Avdol stands and brushes himself off and picks up his longspear.
As the three begin to walk past, Avdol will step forward and points to the man still wearing his mask with his spear. "Remove the mask, that way I will remember your face among the three of you!"
The man stops a brief moment not turning to give a change in his directed posture. "No,..." He exclaims blatantly before he and his comrades continue and begin descending the stairs. The hollow sounding of their footsteps are all that fill the otherwise silent room. A few more moments pass and Akari awakes, silent and mostly still he lays there with his eyes closed for the time being.
The wind shifts and picks up enough for you to hear it from the inside of the tower. A mess of destroyed paper lay scattered across the floor and you're able to take in the more refined details of the room at your leisure. Tapestries that match the rooms below symmetrically hang about the room undamaged, a chandelier with many glowing orbs cast light about the room, bookshelves make rounded isles to the backside of the desk with a break in their center to allow access to the ladder that lead to the catwalk. Should you walk about them you notice a stairway to each side hidden behind the bookshelves themselves.
It is most definitely night-time and for the moment from what you can tell you are safe.
Lys joins Gabriel in sitting down. "Avdol check out that orb. Do you think its the one from town. I realized they never gave use a great description of it."
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"Should we return now or make camp here? I feel that there are still plenty of secrets to be uncovered in this tower... and about who we have faced." says Gabriel, taking off his helmet and turning to Zul "Without lights, there are no shadows. Without shadows we couldn't see the light. I'm glad to have you by our side, Zul, even if you are as mysterious to me as the rest of our travel."
Avdol would have set the man alight for the man's refusal of his demand had it not been for the fact that he didn't know how able his compatriots were after defeating the burly man. Instead he made sparks crawl along his hands. "I'll just have to BURN you another day and give you an actual reason to wear a mask." He said with a subtle mocking tone as the three past him by.
After they left, Avdol would move to the orb that lay on the ground next to some ashes of what he assumes is Lys's handiwork. Avdol takes a bit of cloth from one of the downed spear men and covers the orb in it and ties it off into its own little pouch. "It's safe to assume this is it, magic orbs aren't exactly commonplace. I'd say look around the immediate area, as we have to find Elrosk still. But I rather stay here for the night, rather than travel back to town in the dark where those three could be waiting in ambush."
After a few minutes Lys gets up "we should stay here. Akari is still out. I can see if I can help him. Mostly looks like he needs rest though."
"Sure, gets me away from Mr. Slashymiggy here." Avdol says nodding at Akari.
While they check out the surrounding areas Lys looks around the room looking for anything useful.
Gabriel and Avdol begin making their rounds about the tower, taking in various details along the way. Nothing more appears to be out of order, including any apparent threats and/or persons besides yourselves.
Lysanthir begins searching in the library.
Sitting down in the chair you begin searching the desk drawers. Inside you find a leather bound book in decent condition, (no title), a scroll that unlike the ones found in the ground level, isn't brittle, and lastly you find what looks like a note, folded inside an envelope. The folded piece of parchment is blank however...
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As they walk around, away from the rest Gabriel's expression turns somber, and he speaks to Avdol almost in whispers "I'm sorry. I am a protector of the people by my own will... but couldn't protect a friend from other." he says putting his hand over Avdol's shoulder in a friendly manner "I... I don't know what to do about what Akari did. You almost convinced me that you were going to change sides, and trust me I would have stroke you down if you did... but attacking you over mere words. I fear darkness clouds my mind, for I cannot decide if we can or should trust him now. I just hope Pelor enlightens me at dawn, because otherwise I'm drawing a blank."
Avdol will glance at Gabe's hand upon his shoulder. Raising his own hand and removing Gabe's, Avdol then turns and walks a few paces before turning to face Gabriel. "Friend... Funny little word... Before Akari cut me down, I was simply speaking my mind, what they could of offered me as a boon for joining them. But alas, my neck would of been cut within a week if I went with that lot...
Avdol would walk towards Gabe with emotionless eyes. "I'll be leaving once this job is done, you may keep Akari with you or remove him, it doesn't concern me. I'll only say this, there is only one true god of the sun, and he is very much alive. What could one man hope to accomplish with a dead god?"
Avdol then leaves the room and heads back to the main group.
Akari's eyes open slowly, his vision blurred and heavy for moments as he pulled himself up into a sitting position and surveyed his surroundings. He was alarmed at first to not see Lys or the others, but after a moment of examining the bodies he calmed when he realized they were not among them.
They must have moved on. His gaze fell on where he had cut down Avdol, noticing the he too has gone, Akari sighed heavily and resolved to simply rest for the time being, gathering his weapon close to him.
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Glancing up from the books and scrolls Lys notices Akari moving. Not removing her attention from them she says "Welcome back Akari, you might want to stay down for a bit."
Is there anything written in the book and can Lys make heads or tails of the scroll?
He nods, or passes it off as such as he not so much relaxes as waits. "Don't gotta tell me twice." He says with a sigh and shuts his eyes.
Being a bit of an oddball Lys gives the book a deep sniff, to determine if its just the smell of the book eliciting a response, or if its truly an odd magical connection.
At this point in time I will say Avdol has made his way back.
With the soft echo of familiar footsteps Lysanthir gains vision as Avdol's head, then body crests the top of the stairs. The building appears to be safe and empty of everyone else.
"I'll take first I suppose." Avdol says bringing forth Sadrazar from his chest.
If nothing else is said then Avdol takes first watch.
Zul nods Inot agreement though brings up he'did like to check again in morning for Elrosk.
Everyone's dreams are filled with the fight that had only just happened, of Avdol being cut down, Akari being dropped by Geoff, one by one it played in your minds. However...
Once you're able to get to sleep your body is heavy. each new wound a scar to predominately carry with you. You drift off into your own world as your eyes close. The tickling of the sands blown in by the warm winds graze your feet. The smell of goods, and desert you found so comforting welcome you as you open your eyes. You are home!
You travel through the streets waving occasionally to the locals you know. Once on the far end of town you see someone suspicious. Instinctively you begin following him as Saldrazar comes out for an aerial view. You both break out into running in hopes to both catch and loose one another. The buildings begin to cease and open up as you made it to the far end of town, the being stands there cloaked under a statue of your God, RA. He removes his mask and raises an arm as Saldrazar lands. You stare into your own eyes as you gaze at the man.
You blink, you are now where the man is, by yourself with the exception of your familiar. The town now lays before you deserted, a ghost town. Shock fiercely comes over you as you look out from under the statue unable to speak or act. You wake from a cold sweat to see the others are sleeping still. Rolling over you are able to fall once again into a deep slumber, this time clear of any thoughts, or memories...
You step closer as it replays again and again, reaching out towards where you swear you seen something,... or someone.
"Hello Lysanthir..." A smooth warm voice calls to your right as you make it to the middle of the room. Now sitting at the desk is a man dressed in a rather stylish outfit. A white dress shirt, black vest, pants and tie neatly tucked in. His face above his upper lip is shadowed still, as if being hidden from you and your mind. From what you can make of it, he has a well trimmed goatee. It comes to your attention that you are dreaming, that none of this should be real. He smirks and attractive smirk holding up the very journal you once held, he sets it down on the desk. "... I've been waiting.."
as the words he speaks finish you begin falling, as the floor gives like the very paper you watched fall. Everything goes black as the lighting of the room becomes more and more distant. You scream as a last attempt to wake, eyes clenched you open them forcefully... You are laying on the floor. Avdol is awake sitting at the table. You sigh with some relief and roll over and try to fall back to sleep.
"Dead God?"
Your faith in him was pure, it is what you've always known yet even among friends you never expected to hear those words. You find yourself sitting in a study. Looking about you recognize it as the one found previously downstairs in the tower. The ground begins to release an awful tremor unlike any you'd felt before. The first chance you get after they cease you rush out the door to the room and proceed to exit the tower. The clouds are dark, a devious black with sounds of thunder and lightning echoing from all sides. The smell of sulfur and brimstone fill the air as signs of smoke make it's way past from below...
You glance out over the landscape and now notice the the land beneath you has been utterly broken and destroyed. You proceed walking forward down the small stone slab and it's steps, onto the remaining grass and stop approximately 10 feet from what is now an edge. Your sense of positioning tells you that you are no longer among the chaos below, in fact somehow, floating... Down below among the chaos you hear a roar unlike any you'd ever heard before. A sinister evil hides itself far below beyond your sights...
A hand holds your shoulder, you look back and are no longer in that nightmare. Instead you are sitting back in the bar, and old man walks in spewing nonsense about the world ending,
"The Apocalypse is nigh!"
... voices cloud your mind, first 1, then 5, then 10, hundreds, thousands... at it's peak it breaks into silence once more. In the distance a familiar sound of a droplet hitting water echoes and you awaken.
Blood splatters down upon you, as your eyes open for the first time. You lay in the dojo, a girl kneeling at your side impaled by your sword. She smiles at you and then vanishes. You wake the following morning slightly shaken.
Was that?... could it be?..."
Uncertainty increases as you attempt to remember her face, but like most dreams, they are fleeting when they are most wanted...
As she falls back to sleep Lys thinks to herself "I've been seeing too many strange things...perhaps...I'll ask the others... and falls back to sleep.
During her watch 2nd she will mix up her mutagen(dex again) and extracts. She then tries focusing on the notebook, which she hasnt let out of her sight or out of her hands for long, in the ways she does when she makes potions and extracts. Letting her small(in comparison to sorcerers and wizards) magic potential flow into the notebook.
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With cold sweat covering his skin, Gabriel wakes... his lips still whispering "The apocalypse is nigh...". He sits up and looks around, seeing Lysanthir doing watch duty.
He sits there, in silent contemplation for a few minutes, until his breath isn't heavy anymore and his mind has calmed.
He finally speaks to her, but to himself too "I have seen the darkness, Lys... the world crumbling into pieces while brimstone filled the air. And I've felt it... the Evil that will Devour the Earth.· a sudden shake runs through his body, the memories of the dream still too recent. "But we saw the Light, a proof of Pelor... or at least a proof that he is still struggling to remain with us us. This whole journey together has been a long arduous test of will, a trial if you will." continues the warrior as he produces his old holy symbol from his backpack.
"Will we be able to stop the evil that dwells below from devouring our world? Will we be able to rekindle the Light and fight back the darkness?... Or will we fail only to watch the earth covered in ashes, our very souls ripped apart... I... I don't know if we can overcome what lies ahead, Lys... but I have found the Light, and I will fight until the very end."
Lys is twirling a black feather in her hands barely paying attention to what Gabriel is saying until he mentions finding proof. Passing it off as a touch of trauma or shell shock from the combat, before he gets to such strong conviction. He always believed in Pelor, but now to claim proof of the old gods? "What do you mean proof? We've been sitting in this room the whole time. How did you come to find proof? A dream?" Almost under her breath she continues "Because I've had a few strange visions as well." Still holding the feather and barely looking at Gabriel. "We can talk this out in the morning. Rest now. I'm thinking."
Avdol sleeps soundly after his first watch dreaming disturbing dreams. The sand of the dessert calls to him. "Has something happened?" Avdol thinks to himself in a topor ridden state. He soon decides he must return to see for himself. It's not like him to have such vivid dreams.
The remainder of the night is uneventful for everyone. Though one by one for those of you woken for watch, as the grogginess wears off you each notice that the books that littered the floor have all been replaced.
Greeted by a peaceful resting grace period everyone is able to get some decent rest as needed before the golden rays peek over the mountain range. The sounds of frolicking birds outside alert you to the oncoming morning.
Zul stirs as he begins to sit up, nodding and waving to you Lysanthir. In a hushed voice he pronounces, "Good morning, m'lady. Were you reading this whole time?" as he notices you staring at and/or flipping through the journal as he stretches, still sitting up on the floor. "When did?..." as he point to the books stupefied with excitement and intrigue. In that same moment you watch as some matter coalesces about him and he blinks out of sight only to be heard by the bookshelf from up on the catwalk. "Fascinating!........ no words in these books though!..." excitement was apparent in his voice as he pulled multiple books off the shelves one by one, replacing them only after he'd flipped through them.
"Hmmmm..."
"We need to find Elrosk before we leave... I doubt he would go far without me to be quite frank..." Zul pulls out a ration after setting the last book he'd retrieved back in it's place. biting into it in silence as he became lost in thought for a moment.
"You didn't happen to find anything did you Lysanthir?"
"I found this scroll and this in the envelope parchment. And uh this notebook, which seems familiar somehow. Anyone else have some strange dreams or visions. I know Gabriel has."
Avdol stirs and sits up as Zul speaks. He gets up from the floor and dusts himself off. "Nice little trick Zul." Avdol mentions off handedly. At the mention of visions Avdol will simply nod.
"Let's find him and head back to town, we got a job to do."
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As he wakes up, Gabriel greets the rest and isolates for a while to pray anc contemplate what he have dreamed.
He thinks of the rising darkness that threathens them all, the mysterious figures they have faced... but he remembers the shining grave and the town's priest.
"As the Sun that beightens our days, I will rise. As the light, I will go everywhere to cast out darkness." he mutters as his hand lightens and he touches his sword.
His heart full of happiness and his faith in good and light strengthened, he comes to the rest "Let's find Elrosk, there will be time to speak of our dreams when we arrive at the town."
Akari wakes with a start, looking to his left where his sword lay until his breathing slowed and his nerves calmed and wordlessly follows the others without pause.
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As everyone gathers their belongings, there is an awkward silence that ensues. The lighting as you descend the stairs is rather dim, bettered only by Gabriel's lighted sword. The eerie echos of footsteps are all that greet you now in this seemingly empty, decrepit tower. Zul walks ahead taking in the scenery in awe of the glorious heights this tower's insides held. Within a matter of a couple minutes at a very casual pace, you all make your way down the spiraling staircase to the ground floor.
"This is no ordinary wizard tower."
"Been in many Zul?" asks Lysanthir in a suspicious tone.
"A few, yes. I have studied after all, we all were once apprentice in one form or another. Some with latent gifts,..." and he brings his hand to his chest with one hand and gestures towards Avdol as well, "and others, whom must attain training over significant time.
"Are any wizard towers truly ordinary?"
Akari huffs with amusement. "What sets this one apart from the others?"
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Zul smiles slyly at Akari, "Like two wizards, no two towers are alike. It's basic knowledge really." He continues walking looking about the oddities about the room on the ground floor.
Avdol reaches into his bag and pulls forth the Orb. "There is something going on here." Avdol unties the top of the makeshift sack he made for the orb. Leaving the cloth between his hand and the Orb.
Akari turns to regard Avdol and the orb silently with a raised brow as he waited for an explanation.
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Unlike last time, as your feet meet with the groud floor of the tower, the lighting conditions do not change. Thanks to Gabriel's light spell he is able to illuminate a good portion of the area for everyone. Few of the floating candles remain from before, and they are far too high and randomly scattered to really be of use to the party. The shadows loom away from you via the four pillars as Gabe's light casts away darkness in the immediate vicinity with ease. The terrible smell of burnt flesh still lingers leaving you feeling uneasy. A place once created for wonder and purpose, since stripped of such ambition, lay desecrated in a shadow of its former self.
"It was vibrating... I didn't want to but..." Avdol reaches out and touches the orb with his bare skin.
Looking up you have a flashback to the previous day...
"In each of the four separate pillars you notice there is half of the sphere indented with a two inch gold clasp ring encircling it."
The rest of you just watch as Avdol suddenly goes quiet, his concentration on the orb growing more intense with each passing second.
"The pillars..." Avdol puts the orb into the golden clasp of the pillar he is currently standing in front of.
"What about them?" Lys looks to the pillars and watches Avdol place the orb.
Hand shaking slightly, Avdol almost instictively places the orb into the socket. A bead of sweat runs down his face and for a moment only the beat of your heatbeats break the still silence. One light, then two, four, eight, sixteen. The candles all begin reigniting themselves about the cathedral'd room chansing the darkness into extinction. They however, float over and perch on the walls in a more permanent manner this time and stay. The orb now glows visually. Slowly from the core, (starting from the orb), a light that matches the orbs traces the runes about the golden ring clasp. In a way it fills in like liquid following a trail and upon completion it turns one way, then reverses direction for a partial spin, reversing once more before stopping. As if flowing from the source, that same light now traces the pillar that the orb is embedded into, visually appearing as rune-like veins. The light pulses through them outward starting from the clasp as the orb now keeps a solid glow. The sound of a heavy door of sorts scraping is heard below you,...
This happens repeatedly until eventually a stone opening begins to form as the floor beneath you shifts, turning circularly along the bottom of the marble steps. Nothing is disturbed otherwise when this happens. The newly found hallway descends in an opposite direction than that of the stairway that ascended to the library, and is lowly lit compared to the now, well lit ground floor room. Settled dust cling to the steps and the walls and it would appear no one had been here and quite some time.
"Fascinating!" Says Zul as he peers as far down as he can at the curved, descending stairwell.
Beseech'd beside a throne,
For he shall build the pyre,
Self fueled by one's desire,
Crimson rivers will weap,
A soul bound by the beast"
This poem comes to your mind, though you feel no threat immediately from it. As if a whisper spoke into your ear, but you hear nothing at that same contradicting time. You are unsure why, who, what, where and how it came from, but your first guess is the orb. Overall though, you are unsure ultimately.
Lys lights a torch in case it gets completely dark down there "Well shall we ?"
She looks to the others "I know we need to get back to town with the orb, but too many odd things have been happening in this tower. Gabriel's sudden burst in confidence, which you still haven't fully explained, that his god exists. I've been seeing a man occasionally out of the corner of my eye, and most recently while I slept. Elrosk is still missing. We must continue exploring."
Lys is confidant that whatever else remains in the tower does not mean intentional harm, maybe old traps, but nothing here wants them dead. As such her curiosity and eagerness takes over her logical brain. She goes down, not waiting for answers or for Gabriel or Akari to take lead like normal.