|
The maenad cackles as she sucks a bit of life away from Ksarress, who gets the last laugh, by turning her into a spray of blood.
Max and Ivan can race to see who gets to do the same to the remaining blood hag.
Meanwhile, you can see that a feast of fresh food remains on the table surrounding the lifeless body of Aram Zey. The Hao Jin Tapestry hangs on the far wall opened in a way that doesn't seem possible. Without being deactivated, it appears likely to remain open to this particular spot for better, or more likely, worse to come. The threats seem to at least temporarily have halted, at least once the black tentacles go away and the remaining blood hag is summarily turned to blood.
|
|
Gaevus finds Zey's body devoid of any papers or useful items.
Genta detects a lingering aura of necromancy on Zey's body. She can also tell Gaevus that the food is likely that of a maenad's Mad Feast. The food provides one with additional strength and fortitude, but makes it more compelling for them to engage in debauchery, excess, and violence.
|
|
It's fairly obvious to Max that Zey is dead. The cause of death is unclear.
Gaevus can see that the tapestry is open to a wide meadow, which seems to be well trampled. It appears that a fairly large number of creatures were gathered there not too long ago. The terrain stretches on into the distance as though one were looking outside by looking through the very large hole in the fabric.
|
Genta takes out Aram Zey's notes and looks from the to the tapestry nervously. "I... I could close this..." she says, hesitantly. "I'm think the ritual would close the tapestry permanently, though. I might be wrong, this is pretty complicated magic..." She's very unsure about doing something so permanent to something that's so valuable to the Society, and looks to her companions for reassurance and guidance.
|
|
"...I am surprisssed, but I agree with Gaevus. Not only does it seem that whatever was going to enter imminently has already done ssso, but to lose one of two accesssss to the plane ssseeems premature. I have a scroll of arcane lock which will at least reinforce the door. Perhapss if we can take down the tapestry, or change the angle of the portal, we can block it effectively with this table as well, or at least stop non-flying creatures from entry."
|
|
As Ksarress finishes his blood biography casting, blood from the body begins to dance along the page as if to spell out the answers to the questions. When the blood stops, the page remains blank. Max takes a bit more time to examine the body and is pretty sure that it is very dead and is Zey. Genta suggests that the only things that can normally stop blood biography are the creature being undead or alive, neither of which seem to be true. She does note that there is still a dim aura of necromancy on Zey's body, even after waiting a while, suggesting that a very powerful bit of magic may have affected him.
Genta also notices a small note on the protocol that says, "*Use ONLY if protocol alpha-7-dracolisk has been used. Do NOT use protocol alpha-7-dracolisk! Signs of protocol alpha-7-dracolisk include an opening from the Hao Jin Tapestry to the Material Plane, inability to deactivate the Hao Jin Tapestry by normal protocols, reading this document."
|
|
"Sure, try rolling it back up," suggests Genta, rereading the protocol. "This isn't how the Hao Jin Tapestry normally works anyway. Usually we just get sucked inside." Renyrd looks at Genta and yaps. Genta looks at him thoughtfully. "You're right."
"Okay, stand back." Genta says, warningly. She rolls up her sleeves. "Protocol alpha-7-dracolisk is in effect. I'm going to have to put into effect plan Zey-Emergency-Omega-4." She pauses. "If we get in trouble for this, it was all his fault," adds Genta, pointing to Renyrd. She'll then begin the ritual.
|
|
Max and Gaevus look for ways to try and remove the tapestry from the wall to roll it up, but they find that, even with the help of Ivan and Ksarress, they cannot get any portion of the fabric to budge.
With all physical means exhausted, Genta begins the complex ritual detailed in Zey's notes. After going through a number of elaborate gestures that take 10 minutes to complete, Genta finally stops moving. As she does so, the portal opened in the Hao Jin Tapestry slowly begins to close, finally winking shut leaving behind a mundane looking geometric pattern where the portal once was. The future usefulness of the tapestry is perhaps at the forefront of your minds, but more pressing matters exist.
|
|
The voice of the Master of Scrolls Kreighton Shaine travels down the halls, carried by a magical breeze. “Pathfinders, we have determined that objectives in Skyreach are now secure and most Aspis Consortium forces within have been neutralized. There have been further developments of which you may or may not already be aware. Aspis agents have made off with the Sky Key and seem to be holding out in the tower floating above our lodge. Our early experiments with teleporting in or flying to it have met with no success, so I am gathering our forces to enter through Arliss Hall, which has a permanent gateway to one of the tower’s rooms."
“The gateway is finicky, though. Our Master of Spells Aram Zey would be better able to explain it than I, but he is currently—” The elf trails off as though searching for the right word before continuing, “—indisposed due to the Consortium’s attack. Finish your business and gather outside Arliss Hall for the final assault. I shall guide you from there.”
It takes you an additional 10 minutes to travel back out of Skyreach to Arliss Hall. As you arrive, Kreighton Shaine finishes giving instructions to one team before
sending them into Arliss Hall and turning to greet you. “Ah, you received my message?”, he asks eagerly while pulling out a small notepad and making a single tally mark.
“Excellent, I was uncertain whether recent events might block communication as well. We have a theory that the northwest tower’s new floating status may be the result of the Sky Key and Hao Jin Tapestry coming too close to one another, much like two extradimensional spaces placed inside one another. Thus far, all of our more conventional attempts to reach the tower have been repelled, and admittedly the whole thing could just rocket into the Irorium any minute.”
He squints to the north before adding, “That would be unfortunate, as there’s a rather big match over there today. Best we take control of the tower before it misbehaves further."
“The good news is that we have a permanent portal to that section of the tower. Since the link is between two objects—a pair of full-length mirrors—it should be stable and safe to use. The only catch is that one of the mirrors is inside Arliss Hall. The hall has several extradimensional properties, and with so many visitors, it’s been changing its internal layout constantly. Rather than waste time sending you to figure out a puzzle, I’ll lead you to the portal myself. We venture-captains are fairly used to it.”
You are aware that the passageways of Arliss Hall are known to shift in strange ways and it often seems larger on the inside than it should be from the outside. The majority of the rooms inside are modest but tasteful rooms that venture-captains (and perhaps Decemvirate) use as personal apartments.
Kreighton Shaine opens the door for you and begins to follow you in, but when you turn around, he has disappeared.
“Of all the luck,” the Master of Scrolls voice echoes from thin air. “We must have exceeded some capacity limit for this version of
the hall and it moved me over to another… iteration of itself. I’ll try to find my way over to you, but look for the mirror! It is in a private room that is reserved. We call it the Lost Room. The chamber will be hidden in plain sight but there’s always some sort of trick to find it. Hurry and I’ll try to join you soon! One last thing—rarely can anyone find the Lost Room alone, so work together!”
|
|
Gaevus spots a guest registry sitting on a desk near the front entrance. The registry appears to list a total of 9 rooms, though you can see up to the second floor that there are only 8 rooms there. The rooms are numbered 1-8, with the exception that Room 8 is registered to Osprey and Room 8A is marked "Reserved--do not use".
At the top of that same page written in delicate penmanship and red ink are the words, "Arliss Hall values your privacy. Simply lock your door and we will see to it that you are not disturbed."
|
"Ooooh, disappearing rooms, my favorite! What better place to put your portals?" Sometimes it's hard to tell whether Fetch is being sarcastic, there's no hint of it in her voice. "Hellllloooooooo secret roooooooom! We neeeed youuuuu!" If I were a secret room, where would I be? Well, if I were secret room 8A, I'd be near not-so-secret room 8! Oh, and we can't find it alone? I wonder if they count Ivan. Some people don't. They aren't very nice. Come along Ksarress! If Ksarress doesn't resist sufficiently emphatically, Ivan will lift him bodily to the upper level in front of room 8, as Fetch begins to examine the room, knocking on surfaces and permuting random objects, while continuing to chat amiably with the hidden room.
|
|
"Lock your door?" Genta says, reading off the guest registry page. "Hm. Do you see any keys in there, Fetch?" Genta calls out, looking for keys around the front desk too. Renyrd starts sniffing around the lobby, trying to scent out anything unusual or magical. Genta casts detect magic to help her fox friend.
|
|
"Hm." Gaevus looks down again at the registry in his hands.
"Maybe the teamwork involved requires us to do something in some of the rooms at the same time...." Gaevus idly walks off, waving mindlessly, as if calling someone to come with him.
Starting with the nearest room , he knocks politely on the door. If there's no answer, he'll try to open the door, hoping that it's unlocked. He'll take a peek inside, and if the room looks like Osprey's, with nothing interesting in it, he'll move on to the next room, knocking, opening, and peeking inside too.
|
|
Gaevus walks back into Osprey's room 8, where the others are. "Nothing to report in the other rooms--they all look the same. This magicky one is probably the key...." He feels along the wall with his stubby hands. "A door knob? A keyhole? Hrmmm." He rubs his hairless chin. "Does anyone see a detachable doorknob? Or something that looks like it might be a keyhole of sorts?" He squints again at the wall.
After a pause, he adds, "Does anyone remember anything special about that Osprey bloke? Did he have a penchant for books and hiding keys in them or something?"
Gaevus pauses again, before walking out side and eyeing the corridor. Does it look like the hallway goes a little too far, as if Room 8 were a little smaller than it should be, and a secret room might lie just beyond?
|
Max looks about to see if anything appears to have changed in the room (especially the mirror). If not, he will unlock the door, open it and inform the rest of the party about finding a key upon closing the door.
"Think we can all fit in here? Maybe 8A is a room that only appears when 8 is "activated"? Genta, are you still concentrating on Detect Magic? Did anything happen to the aura here when the door was shut?"
|
|
Gaevus is walking back to the door when Max closes it. "Hey!" Gaevus reaches the door and knocks on the door. "Didja forget about me?"
If he hears Max's voice through the door, he will say, "Lemme back in!" while tapping his foot and looking around until Max does so.
If he does not hear Max's voice through the door, he'll take a step back and look around briefly and confusedly. If nothing appears to have changed in the outside hallway, he will test the door from the outside....
|
|
Gaevus attempts to open the door before it is opened from the inside, and finds that it is unlocked. When he opens it, he doesn't see Max or Fetch, but does notice that the mirror in this room looks slightly strange. Curious, he moves over to it and touches it, finding that it is insubstantial and his hand goes through it. The view outside the window of the room appears to be the same as what was from room 8, and in fact, if you poke you head out, it is the same.
|
|
Fetch unlocks the door and can see back out into the hallway where everyone else is waiting.
From the perspective of those in the hallway, Gaevus walks out, closes the door, then Fetch and Max open the door.
The strange mirror Gaevus noticed is no longer there. The view outside does look the same to him from this room as it did from the room where he found the strange mirror.