Rudrik pauses in place and concentrates, and Tannaris starts to drip with sizzling acid!
Calendula prays upon her weapon, blessing it.
As Calendula and Rudrik enhance their weapons, Theo unleashes chains of fire. Two of the mezlans dodge the worst of it, but the third takes the full brunt. Nime's thunderburst proves quite effective at disrupting the mezlan's amorphous bodies. Shenuska completely disintegrates one of the wounded oozes while Iron Shen slams her initial target. Ieldana melts that one with burning acid to ensure it won't regenerate.
Two of the mezlans move to flank Rudrik, attacking with their morphed weapon-hands. His impressive armor just barely holds against their attacks! The other three unleash chain lightning on the rest of the group!
As Alaznist and Xin continue to battle, swirling motes of shrieking black energy in the form of tormented souls spiral through the room, inflicting 1 negative level on each of you (Fortitude DC 20 reduces the effect to shaken for 1 round; this is a death effect).
The undine laughs joyously as the electricity courses through her body. The energy doing nothing but making her feel even more alive.
The swirling souls cause her to pause for a moment, but then she brings her hands together a second time.
Rudrik manages to shake off most of the life-sapping magic and starts really setting to chopping one of his foes to sizzling pieces.
Shenuska ignores Alaznist and Xin, it's just so much noise in the background as her ring glows invisibly and keeps her safe from the effect.
She unleashes another disintegration ray, followed by a swift mental assault.
Iron Shen slams into one of the golems flanking Rudrik while Ieldana invisibly aims an acid arrow at the most wounded Mezlan.
Moving further from the others in case of future chain lightnings, Theo responded with another set of chains of his own.
Theodric's flames wreak havoc among the mezlans, badly burning nearly all of them. Nime's thunderblast causes the three she targeted to explode into puddles of melting goop, though the puddles shudder as they slowly start to regenerate. The mezlan Shenuska targets resist the disintegrate beam but succumbs to the mind thrust, dissolving into an inert puddle. Iron Shen and Rudrik manage to take down the last one between their attacks. The half-orc swiftly uses his corrosive blade to ensure each of the mezlans stays dead!
The shards of the Sihedron float in the air, emerging from the mezlans' remains, before they coalesce into the completed artifact! And with that, you find yourselves suddenly whisked back to the Well of All. The barren patch of anima mundi swiftly grows over with fresh grass as the temporal wounds heals. And floating in the air in front of you is the Sihedron, now yours to make use of.
Additionally, you are restored and rejuvenated as if you had just gotten a full night’s rest, including regaining new spells and daily uses of abilities.
"I hope that effect occurs each time we clear a rift." Shenuska comments. "Shall we move on, while our spells are in effect?"
"You're the boss," says Rudrik, shaking his head to clear it after that sudden whirlwind of unexpected time-jumping activity.
Nime takes a deep breath as the aura from the Sihedron soaks through them all. "Wow that feels ..." she begins and then giggles, her lips curling up in a smile. "Or at least close enough."
She nods in agreement with Shenuska. "While the magic is still in effect."
Wasting little time, you step into the second temporal wound. Bent with age, the once-imperious Emperor Xin of Thassilon toils before a three-legged, four-armed clockwork frame holding a coffin-shaped crystal. Seven rippling conduits of magical energy flow at his direction from the Sihedron into this clockwork device, infusing it with power. A moment later, Alaznist is there as well, and as she holds forth the Scepter of Ages, it draws the seven strands of energy away from the clockwork, siphoning it into the glowing scepter as Xin, in a panic, tries to regain control.
While Alaznist cannot see you, Emperor Xin can. ”You! I know not who you are, but I know that I need help! I beg you, help me refocus the conduits on the clockwork reliquary before this unknown magical siphon absconds with all of the power!”
Your version of the Sihedron pulses with power. You instinctively understand that you
can substitute it for the Sihedron in the past. Doing so would immediately sever the conduits to Alaznist and heal this temporal wound, but doing so would sacrifice the Sihedron, putting it out of your reach.
Nime looks around at the smarter members of the group hoping for direction.
"Dispel the conduits, or cut through them!" Shenuska's mental voice commands as she unleashes a barrage of anti-magic.
"Oh. Dispelling I can do," Nime says with a nod as a prayer of nullification follows.
"Or maybe not," she adds with a frown.
Rudrik lurches into the action when Shenuska shouts instructions. Tannaris comes up and then skids sideways in an arc across the filaments connecting to Alaznist.
Calendula is unable to strike a tendril, and neither Nime nor Shen are able to dispel them. But Rudrik severs one with a mighty strike, and Theo dispels a second, leaving five remaining.
Things grow more complicated, however, as another portal opens into the room and disgorges a towering rune giant. "Emperor Xin! I have come for your head!" the giant declares.
"Not sure if that happened or not. Shen?" Theo asked as the rune giant appeared, aiming at another of the tendril.
Shenuska is so focused on crushing the magic in the conduits it takes a moment for her to realise that Theo is speaking to her.
"Yes, that's real." She replies. "We need to stop him before he kills Xin. Calendula, he's yours! Rudrik, we need to break these conduits!"
"I'm trying," Nime declares with a note of petulance as she stamps her foot in frustration.
Rudrik chops at another tendril. Quite clumsily, in fact.
Despite Rudrik’s perceived clumsiness, he still manages to sever a tendril. Nime dispels one and Shenuska dispels two, leaving just one remaining! Calendula moves to engage the massive rune giant, taking several brutal blows but holding her own and, more importantly, keeping him away from Xin. ”Keep it up! It’s nearly clear!” Xin shouts encouragingly.
The undine perks up when her spell is successful and she throws out another one almost immediately on the remaining tendril. "Poop! she snaps in frustration when the spell fails.
"I'll help Calendula," Theo remarked, flames engulfing his body as he ran towards the rune giant, transforming mid-run into his largest golden dragon form, invoking paralysis on the giant in the process.
Unfortunately Nime and Shen's fortunes seem intertwined and they have another round of miserable failure.
"Rudrik, finish the last one!" The psychic commands.
Predictably, when the situation is grave, Rudrik fumbles Tannaris and nearly drops it.
Fortunately, Rudrik's bad luck seems to have rubbed off on the rune giant! He succumbs to Theodric's spell, unable to recover before the dragon sorcerer and Calendula cut him down!
You have plenty of time to destroy the last tendril of energy. As you do so, Xin's Sihedron explodes in a massive blast of energy that catapults you back to Stethelos! As before, your wounds are healed and your spell slots restored. The temporal wound closes and the grass grows over the barren patch.
Five temporal wounds remain...
As before, your wounds are healed and your spell slots restored.
"Wow, that's making me dizzy," Nime says putting a hand on Rudrik's arm. "Shall we keep going?"
"Me too," says Rudrik, offering Nime a stabilizing arm. "Yeah. This time-manipulation stuff keeps making me feel like I've just gone through night and day. Might as well press on while we can."
Calendula vomits as they return to the City of Time, also affected by the constant back and forth.
You quickly press on and enter the next temporal wound. A massive city lies in smoking ruin. Huge armies of magic-wielding soldiers flee in panic as an elephantine behemoth trumpets and roars behind them, smashing buildings to rubble and crushing scores of soldiers under its feet. The city’s defenders flee in panic as well—it’s apparent that the enormous monster obeys no master save devastation. And then, above a flat-topped pyramid at the city’s center, a rippling field of energy manifests, within which the flickering, blurry shape of a castle can be seen. The four-tusked beast trumpets anew as its eyes alight on this, and its course immediately changes to a direct line toward the portal.
You recognize the blurry castle as Castle Korvosa. The beast in the vision is none other than the legendary Oliphaunt of Jandelay. As you appear adjacent to the time portal, you know you must close it before the Oliphaunt can pass through!
Having dropped his dragon form before they were pulled away from Xin's temporal wound (not able to remember if the "hub" area they were using was large enough to comfortably accommodate his draconic form), Theo quickly took stock of the situation.
"Right, haven't had to do manipulation along these lines before, but may as well give it a go."
Calendula slices and tears into the edges of the portal, staring down the Oliphaunt.
Shenuska hammers the magic of the portal, attempting to disperse it.
Calendula vomits as they return to the City of Time, also affected by the constant back and forth.
"Oh, Calendula," Nime says as she steps to the paladin's side. When a minor magical prayer doesn't seem to help the issue, she settles for rubbing the woman's back, gently.
~~~~~
"I guess we really can't ignore the 'Elephant in the Room', can we?" the undine says, quite pleased with her own little joke.
She attempts to tear at the magic with her own magic as well.
The portal begins to waver as you work to unravel its temporal anchors. The Oliphaunt’s influence causes the skies above to boil over with clouds, and bolts of lightning begin to lance down to strike the city.
A bolt of lightning strikes Rudrik!
With her hair forming a blue nimbus around her head from the abundance of electricity in the air, Nime invokes another prayer to weaken the portal.
Calendula continues hacking and slashing and stabbing, grunting and screaming, "Go away, ya dumb elephant!"
With energy to spare, Theo unleashed a high-end dispel on the gate.
Rudrik dodges the lightning bolt and slices through some temporal bindings on the portal.
A bolt of lightning lances down from the sky to strike Calendula! Meanwhile, the Oliphaunt's advance causes a localized tremor that threatens to throw you all to the ground!
Calendula shrugs off the blow and stays standing through the tremor, but the earth's movement causes her to miss her swing, almost falling into the portal herself!
Rudrik keeps on his feet-his good sense of balance paying off-as he moves to slice another one of the portal's lanyards.
Nime falls ungracefully on to her blue bottom and it seems to knock the wind out of her.
Keeping himself steady, Theo unleashed another high-end dispel.
You continue to make progress against the portal. Nime falls down, and a bolt of lightning strikes her! Meanwhile, the portal surges with energy as some of the damage you have dealt to it reverses—Alaznist must be channeling power to try to keep it open long enough for the Oliphaunt to pass through!
Nime's eyes brighten and a halo of blue hair forms around her head when the lightning strikes her. She shudders a bit and a trace of laughter can be heard coming from her.
"That feels amazing," she says.
Shenuska continues to smack the portal around with magic.