"Foul thing! Unhand her!" Ilyana strikes at #5 with her falchion.
The darko-darko entangling Isidora lets go when Ilyana slashes her sword at her. BUT it tries to climb up Isidoras legs to get to her torch!
A blackgoop gets sliced to pieces by Kildel and it begins to fade away.
one of these amorphous umbral antagonists still lunges at Dskanis torch!
#4
Finally, Dskani's urumi connects with the shadowy fiend as it leaps up at the glowing symbol on a chain around his neck. However, the creature still rakes a claw across his chest, leaving a vicious wound. He raises his symbol, chanting a brief prayer, and a burst of light washes over the group.
Isidora screams in a mix of pain and fear as the creature snares her again. She drops her spent pistol and with renewed strength, thanks to Dskani's casting, she draws her short sword and slashes at the creature climbing her leg.
Ilyana takes another swing at #5, hoping to finally tear it away from Isidora.
#5 fades away, dripping off of Ilyanas sword.
one goopy shadow remains in the light of Dskanis holy symbol. it claws desperately at it.
You hear more shuffling in the darkness around you.
A small pinprick of light peaks out of the darkness directly above you.
Isidora stoops to pick up her firearm, returning it to a holster on her belt before gripping her sword tightly and looking up to try and identify the new source of light.
As the shadow lunges at Dskani, it rips a vicious wound, and his urumi clatters to the floor as Dskani keels over, motionless.
"Dskani!" Ilyana shouts as an ally falls for the first time. She steps towards the final shadow and attempts to avenge the Nagaji.
Ilyanas longsword slices though the final blob of solid shadow. it melts away into the mosaic floor.
the small pinprick of light widens. additionall points of light start appearing above you, behind you, and all round you. as the light continues to widen you see the darkness recede. several small shadow blobs of varying sizes begin shuffling out of the light.
Above you the pinpricks of light reveal themselves to be windows. Grand windows with various ornate stained glass fractal swirls. when the light reaches the sconces they erupt in beautiful magical flame. All around you as the light grows you see the edges of the grand foyer you are standing in. Two sweeping staircases line the walls and head up to a balcony. There are paintings on the walls and sporadic statues or suits of armor lining the foyer. You also see several elegant doorways. Finally, the mosaic floor beneath you comes to light and you see the edges of the long spiraling portraits.
The smaller shadow blobules, similar to those you just fought, scurry out of sight like insects would. You see some slide under doorways, into crevices and out of sight.
Current Exits are North, East, West South and Stairs
Before anything else Ilyana rushes to the Nagaji, casting cure with her wand as many times as it takes to get him fully healed.
As Ilyana's Magic heals Dskani, he lapses back into consciousness. Once he sees the enemy is defeated and the light of the windows and torches, he dispels his light spell. "Thank you." "I can heal us all once more today. However, it might be wise to save it for later."
Isidora looks down at her wounds. "I could use some of that healing magic. If Dskani wishes to save his energy perhaps you could use your wand Ilyana?"
"Of course, milady; it is what I brought the wand for, after all." Ilyana gives Isidora some taps as well.
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Kildel grunted as he made his way over to the others. He watched them work. He didn't like the idea of magical healing, but he supposed it was the best choice. Now that he could see, however, the room was quite something to look at, and Kildel was damn well impressed by it.
"Wow..." He said impressed by the way the light flooded through the stained glass. It was enough to make even the most jaded barbarian stop and think for just a minute, before turning back to work.
"I think I could use some of that as well."
Dskani checks if any of the doors are locked, keeping an eye out for traps.
Ilyana takes a quick glance around the room, looking for any hidden treasure or traps on the doors.
You spot no traps in the vicinity.
The north doors are a dense grey wood lined with gold filigree.
The south doors you recognize as the entrance doors you've already walked through.
The doors to the east and west are identical simple heavy wooden doors with bronze knobs.
An upper level of this foyer is accessible by two sweeping staircases.
Of all the brightly colored and intricate mosaics on the floor, which spiral outward from the center. the one that seems out of place is the last one. it lies at the edge of the spiral though there is still plenty of smooth un-mosaic-ed stone after it in the spiral. this last one in the long spiral line is made of bits of dark stone, steel, bone, and obsidian. It depicts a pale figure in black robes surrounded by books being held up by skeletal hands.
Current Exits are North, East, West, South and Stairs
Ilyana scales the staircase to reach the upper level of the foyer.
Isidora begins to follow Ilyana but first she stoops to examine the last portrait in the spiral.
"Either these portraits are added when one inherits the castle, or when one passes on. In either case, I suspect this portrait belongs to the great Amrion himself."
Isidora studies the mosaic closely, looking for clues about the great wizard's life that may verify her theory.
Dskani follows up the staircase, urumi and shield held at the ready.
As Isidora studies the floor more closely she too notices the small necromantic symbol that Dskani noticed earlier. It appears etched onto several ( but not all) of the portraits, usually in a corner or nook where it wouldn't be a large distraction.
At the top of the stairs Ilyana and the rest see a large orrey in the center of a circular room. The ceiling here is domed. of all the various orbs and spindles on the orrey one yellow sphere just left of center is glowing.
Around this strange arcane instrument there are 7 levers. next to each lever is a strange looking keyhole. 6 of the levers are a dull bronze-ish brown but one shines with an inner yellow glow as does the key in the keyhole beside it.
there are also two hallways that branch off in opposite directions from this upper area.
Exits are Left hallway, Right hallway and Stairs.
Dskani examines the orrery, trying to figure out how it works.
When she joins the others upstairs, Isidora is immediately facinated by the arcane orrey and moves toward it for a closer look, trying to understand its functionality and its significance.
Ilyana closely examines the orrey, wondering if she can recognize it from anywhere.
Powerful spellcasters often create powerful tool or artifacts to assist in their studies.
It does not seem dangerous. also you can tell it is older than it appears.
You know that sometimes the relationship between different Planes can be represented in orreys such as this, but you don't recognize this particular configuration. Its not our solar system nor our Great Beyond(as in, the layout between Planes)
You recognize some sort of conjuration magic tied to the orrey.
You notice that your families farm house could probably fit inside the foyer of this castle. Such a waste.
"Unless there are any objections, I say we should pull the glowing lever."
"I don't think it looks dangerous, we could try the lever. These orreys can contain some very useful information about the interactions of the different planes and planets. I don't recognise this layout though." Isidora responds to Dskani, biting her lip in a puzzled expression.
Dskani pulls the glowing lever.
After pulling the lever with a satisfying 'a-chunk!' the orrey spins slightly. A few obs spin in place, and the glowing yellowish orb stops its yellowish glowing. The light emanating from the lever dissipates as well. curiously, the light from the yellow key which is inserted int the keyhole to the side of the lever you just pulled now glows brighter.
Does the key turn?
When you try to turn it the key does turn with a 'click' and can be removed.
Ilyana observes Dskani's actions with curiosity.
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Each of the 7 levers has an empty keyhole beside them.
If the yellow key is used in any other keyhole the effect is the same. Pulling the lever causes the same globe to glow yellow and the orrey to spin slightly.
"I can't seem to figure out what this orrery does. Perhaps we should investigate down one of these hallways?"
"Agreed, the meaning of this machine may become clearer with some new information on the castle, for now it is lost on me."
Dskani investigates the hallway to the left.
"What an odd device; worth keeping in mind for later, I suppose. I'm sure it will come in handy at some point." Ilyana joins the group through the left hallway.
you follow the stone hallway to the left. It curves slightly to the right and is lit with a combination of magical torches that light themselves when you are near and what appear to be sunstones white sunstones.
While keeping an eye out for suspicious things, Kildel notices a discoloration on a patch is the stone floor. the stone is slightly darker there.
After a few yards you find a doorway on the left wall. above it shines another sunstone glowing blue. the sturdy wooden doorway is also marbled with what looks like a blue-ish metal.
Exits are Left, Right, and Door.
Dskani casts detect magic, focusing on the door and stone above it. "Hmm… nothing. Maybe the strange glowing rock from our battle with that statue is of relevance."