Lyntel sits down for a moment. She isn't particularly fazed by the mirror's vision because she has been reliving that moment constantly for two days now. After a moment she stands and begins singing a song of redemption.
The man's suffering seems to ease. Even the evidence of his long, magically-induced starvation fades away; his stomach becomes less distended, his skin grows less sallow and sunken. He's still unconscious, but stable. You think you could move him now if you need to. Meanwhile, your efforts at the arcane twist the fabric of the Weave all around you; take -1 to spellcast ongoing. What do you do now?
Upon seeing the old man in his emaciated yet still living state clutching the mirror, Dhice is reminded of an epic poem that he once heard some captive soldiers reciting...
The old poem was called the Lay of Elizabeth Tuttle, a tragic poem meant to remind soldiers of home and those they left behind. The poem tells of a woman in the prime of her life, freshly married and happy; until war breaks out on the borders, and her husband is called away. Three long years, Elizabeth waited for her husband; until the word came that he had been killed in action.
Despondent, the bride refused food or water, staring only at her mirror and wasting away. The mirror reflected her grief and sorrow onto itself, and such was the force of her anguish that it awakened the latent power that had long lain dormant. The mirror showed her images of her husband, lost, and she could do nothing but waste away. One day, after weeks of reclusive behavior, her family broke into her house, only to find a hand mirror sitting on the vanity, and a pile of dust in Elizabeth's favorite chair.
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+1 that idea, Lyntel. Do we want to just transport the thing all wrapped up and take it to the remaining dwarves?
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.
"I can probably carry it without touching it, if we think that would be safer" Dhice concentrates on the metal frame and the polished glass surface that he knows is just heated sand, trying to get a grip on the raw earth elemental form of the mirror so he can manipulate it.
Spending 1 hold, Dhice moves the mirror by levitating it slightly above the ground.
"I think I've got a good grip on it. Even if I have to focus on something else, I should be able to keep it in the air and prevent it from dropping. Now, if something should catch me unawares, I can't make the same guarantee. Try not to let anything bump into me from out of nowhere, ok?"
"Archepex, can you adjust the blanket so it's centered and won't fall off too easily?"
Archepex does one better and tires the blanket on with a bit of rope. That blanket was the last thing in the world he wanted slipping at the wrong moment.
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Lyntel focuses on Dhice, willing him to maintain a close grip on the mirror. Its unlikely that anything else here is real. Let's return to the dwarves.
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Emma, pale-faced still, glides towards Dhice, blood trickling from her wrists, and whispers in his ear.
"I'll stay right here to make sure you do not drop that mirror."
Dhice jumps in surprise and the mirror wobbles a bit as Emma's grisly, pale image gets up close and personal. "Uh, maybe you could do that from one or two paces back?" he says in a cowed, suddenly very young, tone of voice.
"What about that poor old man? Can someone try to bring him along? If the journey kills him it would still be a better fate than leaving him down here alone. There's probably not much to be done for him, but maybe we can give him one more sunset or a last swig of fine dwarven brandy before he goes."
Grigor sheathes his sword and gently scoops up the old man. He turns to Archepex.
"Lead on, my man."
And Archepex does so...
With the Mirror contained, the illusions filling Tollerhelm's sewers are subdued. There's no change in the golden river nearest to the locus point, but as you move through the sewers, you see the golden color returning to normal. However, another change is taking place in the sewers as you retrace your steps. As the gold recedes, the green slime covering the walls and ceiling that you saw at the first T intersection appears out of nowhere. Indeed, the slime had been completely concealed by the mirror's magic, and now you're surrounded by it.
The slime is green, and viscous. As you walk past it, keeping your lights aloft, you can see it pulsing periodically, as if there was a massive heartbeat going through all the slime in the sewers at once. You continue to travel through the sewers, and as the change becomes more widespread, it begins to feel as if you're traveling through the innards of a living thing. You slip, occasionally, on the slime that now coats the very ground you walk on. You have to slow down a little bit to avoid tripping and falling.
Wicks had been taking point. He rounds the last corner before the gate that Grigor had torn off...and shouts in alarm!
"What? NO! No no no no.." he mutters, clutching at his face in dismay. Ahead of you, where the gate was, is a large, rubbery, thing stretched across the entire sewer tunnel. It's the same greenish color as the slime surrounding it, and it's stretched taut across the tunnel, blocking any progress. What do you do?
"Holy crap, I thought Morley was joking when he told that story about the Colossus Slime! If I recall correctly, it was known to..."
Lyntel issues an elven curse that threatens to make Archepex blush. Everyone feeling ok?
Grigor lays the old man gently against the wall and draws his sword and shield.
"Anything I need to know before about ugly over there before I eviscerate it?"
Lyntel searches her memory for a song of triumph in the face of slime. I don't think that is right, Dhice ...
Looks like rampant moss to me. Archepex comments.
It's a good thing the fighter gets to rely on his own extensive arcane knowledge. ;)
...heedless of the danger of threading in between the amorphous pseudopodial appendages, Gridor brings his heavy broadsword down, causing an awful wet ripping sound and creating a massive rend in the abomination's body.
"...If I recall correctly, it was known to..." Dhice's words are interrupted by a chorus of giggling. The sounds are coming from behind you, from down the right fork of the T-intersection, the fork you didn't take on your way into the sewer. Whirling around to face this new threat, the earthshaper gapes in astonishment. Strange, 3-foot-high creatures are climbing out of the very ooze that covers the walls! They emerge from the ooze on the ceiling, too, falling down into the sewer river with a plop. As they fall, they look merely like green balls of ooze, but when they emerge from the water, they're shaped a bit like goblins.
There's more of them behind the first few in the tunnel; you can see their eyes reflecting the torchlight in the darkness. The ones you can see don't appear to be carrying any weapons, and their bodies drip slime to the ground from all over. Smiling wide grins of malice with multiple rows of sharp teeth exposed, the ooze-goblins begin to advance on you in the dead-end tunnel. You're trapped between ooze goblins and an ooze barrier, what do you do?
Emma silently stares at the goblins. As far as stares go, this one is pretty good.
Dhice doesn't want to risk his magical grip on the mirror, so he lowers The Package to the ground in a hopefully inconspicuous location and then concentrates briefly on switching over to Air Bending. "Muppy, I think we could use some help..." he whispers to the spirits around them as he concentrates on the task at hand.
The air swirls and spatters of goop and mucous fly off the slime covered beings in the area as Muppy is reincarnated as a mass of living air. This time the elemental is a very tight ball of buzzing, swirling wind. It pulses regularly, going through small expansion/contraction motions.
Grigor swings as hard as he can at the ooze. His blow is accurate, but the slimy thing is tough and resilient. Though you make it a point to keep your sword as sharp as you can, Grigor, it feels dull as it strikes this blockade. Your sword doesn't quite bounce off the thing's slimy skin, but it doesn't cut, either. Indeed, in response to your strike, it spreads itself across more of the tunnel, completely covering the gate and blocking your escape.
Emma, give the goblins an order based on your divine authority! Or however you want to flavor that.
I Am the Law:
When you give an NPC an order based on your divine authority, roll+Cha.
✴ On a 7+, they choose one:
- Do what you say
- Back away cautiously, then flee
- Attack you
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[Did I mentioned that my sword has Piercing +2, Mooshy?]
Grigor reaches into his hip pouch, pulls out his Demon-Summoning Box™ and smashes it into the ground at his feet. Staring into the infernal eyes of the demonic war machine that manifests before him, Grigor gestures first at the ooze and then at Emma and shouts,
"Destroy this slimy abomination that threatens us and blocks our path! It is the will of your high priestess!!!"
Definitely, Grigor. If anyone could rip through that thing and cut it in half through sheer brute force, you could. Something's not right here.
Grigor reaches into his hip pouch, pulls out his Demon-Summoning Box™ and smashes it into the ground at his feet. Staring into the infernal eyes of the demonic war machine that manifests before him, Grigor gestures first at the ooze and then at Emma and shouts,
"Destroy this slimy abomination that threatens us and blocks our path! It is the will of your high priestess!!!"
Archepex reaches into his connection to the sky and the stars and brings fourth a blessing of wind and fair skies. He touches Grigor and says, Be blessed in battle, my friend. They approach.
Lyntel kneels next to the old man and mumbles under her breath.
She stands, draws her slingshot, and prepares to face the oncoming goblins.
"Back, filth. Leave so I need not cut you down where you stand."
Grigor reaches into his hip pouch, pulls out his Demon-Summoning Box™ and smashes it into the ground at his feet. Staring into the infernal eyes of the demonic war machine that manifests before him, Grigor gestures first at the ooze and then at Emma and shouts,
"Destroy this slimy abomination that threatens us and blocks our path! It is the will of your high priestess!!!"
The goblins had been advancing on you, but when Emma stares them down, they falter. They hadn't really expected serious resistance; most things they find down here are easy prey. Not so much here.
They glance at each other, and are about to try and rush you despite your command, when Grigor shatters his demon-summoning box. Immediately, a portal opens in midair above the water flow in the center of the sewer. A massive, green-scaled foot emerges, filling the entire 5' tall portal, pushing through with difficulty and splashing into the river below. The foot is too wide to fully fit into the sewer slot in the middle, so part of the walkways on either side are destroyed as well.
More of the demon begins to emerge through. The portal is forced open wider as the demon pushes and strains against it, tearing a hole in the fabric of the universe so it can come through to our side.
The demon's fat, green-scaled body pushes through the portal tightly, revealing more of itself. As it emerges, it's laughing to itself, a quiet, basso profundo laugh. The goblins squeal in terror and flee down the tunnel the way they came.
The laughter persists, filling the slime-covered sewer and reverberating off of the stone walls. The giant pit lord pushes until he tears the portal itself, tossing it aside when he's through. The portal itself hits the wall and fizzles into a burnt-out crisp of a box.
The Pit Lord is too big to properly fit inside the sewers. Pressing its shoulder against the roof, the demon rips through the top, sending stone bricks and masonry falling down all around you! Defy danger please!
Dhice tries to dodge out of the way of the falling masonry.
The nimble elf does his best to dance through the rocks, but they fall from everywhere. He tries to make his way toward the slime door to see if the braking masonry has had any effect on the slime barrier. If not... Well he prefers not to be too morbid.
Lyntel attempts to dance gracefully away from the larger debris.
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Grigor dives directly under the largest piece of falling stone.
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Emma simply raises her shield, lumps of rock thumping and bumping down on her.
She pulls Lyntel aside and under the shield as well, holding her close. Surely there's room for a slight elf maiden?
Mousetrap Company dives for cover as the Pit Lord destroys the sewer roof entirely, exposing open air into the slime-filled environment of the sewers. From deeper in the sewers, down the tunnels, you hear a massive, rumbling cry of what sounds like pain...but you're distracted from the sounds when the rubble nearly falls on you.
Emma and Archepex fare best, though nobody escapes completely unscathed from the sewer collapse. Emma managed to drag Lyntel under the cover of her shield, protecting the slighter elf woman at her own expense. Lyntel is unharmed, but both of them are 80% buried in heavy masonry stones and rubble, and Emma takes 2d6 damage from the falling rocks. Archepex, you're 100% buried - part of the wall came down on you as well as the ceiling, and it took every ounce of agility you had not to be crushed entirely. Take 2d6 damage and you're underneath a big wide slab, but no part of you is pinned. Mule flew away down the tunnel as soon as he saw the demon, and is unharmed (you think).
Grigor and Dhice are not so lucky. A huge falling stone has pinned your arm to the ground and you're unable to move it, Grigor... what's even worse is that it's your dominant arm. Dhice is able to salvage the situation somewhat with the help of Muppy, but the elemental's connection to this plane is damaged. Each of you take 2d6+4 damage from the falling rocks.
Meanwhile, the demon is fully through into this world. His arrival has destroyed the slime-creature that was covering the gate, although he destroyed almost everything else in the sewer tunnel along with it. From high above you, you can hear basso profundo laughter, accompanied by the sounds of enormous claws on stone. The screeching fills the air alongside his giggling, echoing throughout Tollerhelm. The demon is massive, at least 30 feet tall, with an enormously fat belly and a lower jaw that's armored with steel.
Grigor bleeds.
Yep, damage was the main drawback of the falling rocks. Unless you'd like a nice debility to round out the failed roll? :3
The rocks rain down and Dhice looks up in shock at a large stone heading right for his head. Frozen in terror, the young Channeler is saved by Muppy, who buzzes towards the rock in a flash and detonates under it, causing it to rain down a hail of small stones instead of a huge chunk of crushing death. Spared from the impact, Dhice feels his link to the Elemental weakened by its efforts.
Surveying the scene before him now, the elementalist realizes that his native Earth connection is going to be much more helpful from this point forward. He nods his appreciation at Muppy before dismissing him in order to focus on re-connecting with the Earth energy around him.
Once that's done, he sets to work on the stone that's pinning grigor. "I'll move this first, but you've gotta help me unbury Archepex right away!" he tells the warrior.
Blood drips from the scabby wounds on his arms as his power arcs forth and levers the stone up on one axis. The tendons in the frail-looking young man are bulging as he puts his full magical might into the effort, successfully lifting the stone up and away from Grigor's arm.
As soon as the warrior moves out of his trapped position, Dhice lets the rock crash back to the ground
As the dust settles, Lyntel scans her allies. She winces in empathy with the warrior. Her body may be buried, but her face is clear. She begins singing the battle hymn of Grigor's dragoon company.
As the brief song ends she drops the invisibility spell. Anyone have eyes on the old man?
Emma smashes her way out of the rubble, heedless of any cuts or bruises.
She points her sword at the monstrosity, and vows to Exterminate the planar intruder.
And with that, she charges.
= 15/21
Archepex coughs and groans under the pile of rubble. He quickly checks to see if anything is broken and it doesn't feel like it, though he's unsure if he isn't one big bruise. He calls out, Hey! Is everyone alive up there?