"- that's everything we've discovered so far, TaBog." Imedren says finishing his explanation.
"But it looks like the we should go through the portal to catch up. We'll see what else we can find later."
"Not rocks? Dramm, what -" Imedren started to ask as he heard the panic in the man's voice. Then he saw the scarab figures gathering together.
"Get back!" Imedren shouted to everyone in the room as he aimed for the swarm.
The explosive darts do great harm to the closest swarm, incinerating dozens of beetles. The other two move quickly enough to mitigate some of the losses, but the spell still proves to be quite effective.
Uruuna blanches but quickly raises her crossbow and fires into the closest swarm, splattering numerous beetles, though it doesn't seem as effective as Imedren's spell.
Tabog immediately hones in on the fact that there are bugs and they're hostile. He instinctively transforms into his alternate form, a white lynx, and bounds next in front of Dramm; swiping his huge paw at the swarm.
Anophth hits the swarm once, and Joy disappears as she conjures a ball of witch fire that incinerates the remaining beetles. As that swarm smolders, the other two charge forward at Dramm! They bite at him with their mandibles and try to burrow into his flesh!
Joy shouts advice to try to help Dramm fight them off!
The sorcerer swings wildly at the beetles as he falls back, pushing Hobb with him! Tabog pounces on the beetles, swiping several with his paw. The bugs try to crawl all over him, biting and tearing at his fur.
Tabog whips himself around, shaking the beetles off his fur. He Swipes again, bounding backwards away from the bugs.
"TaBog, jump back!" Imedren warns his friend turned lynx, as he raised his hand to unleash another explosive blast right into the ground next to both of the swarms.
Feeling the build up of Arcane energies he disappeared and reappeared next to the two swarms.
"Everyone, I meant everyone get back!"
Dramm's swing isn't enough to dash away any of the swarm. Instead, a number of the beetles skitter up the blade and burrow through his arm! Dramm screams loudly as they devour the flesh before re-emerging to sickening effect. He crushes the insects in fury before healing the wounds.
Imedren's explosions are impressive. Dramm watches with grim satisfaction while his flesh knits back together.
Anophth fires another arrow, but he's distracted in trying to find a way to get away.
Tabog swats at the bugs, flattening several before leaping away. Imedren's meteor incinerates that swarm and leaves the other badly burned. As the arcane energies explode out of him, he teleports next to the last swarm, unleashing his fury upon them!
Uruuna's luck rubs off on Anophth as he scores a solid hit, finishing off the few remaining scarab beetles. The chamber falls silent again.
In the aftermath, you notice numerous semi-precious stones of various hues and sizes that had been scattered among the scarabs. There are 24 in all, each one worth 1 silver shilling.
The obelisk continues to glow with green lines.
"Think we got them all?" Imedren asks glancing around at the room before looking at the Obelisk.
He begins to carefully examine the strange black stone.
Necromancy and... teleportation runes. I can't really discern much more but they seem to match what I've studied before. We can leave the room by touching the obelisk... although... the magic is chaotic in nature. There's no guarantee we'll all end up in the same space." he looked at the others with concern.
"Wherever we end up, look for either the portals we've seen or central objects like this one. Good luck." he smiled at the others, his gaze lingered on Uruuna. "I love you."
He waited for the others to gather and then he reached for the Obelisk.
"I love you, too. No matter what," Uruuna says, perhaps a bit ominously. She squeezes Imedren's hand tightly as the sorcerer touches the obelisk. A chilling darkness fills the room, freezing your breath in your chest. The green lines on the obelisk flare and you find yourselves being hurtled through space. You try your best to hang onto your companions but feel them being ripped away as you careen through an icy void...
***
You find yourself standing in the entry chamber of the tower. The exit portal is behind you. Stairs lead up to the room with the blue flame and the red portal.
***
You find yourselves standing in a relatively empty chamber. A ring of white gossamer curtains hangs from the ceiling to heavily obscure the center of the room. There are no obvious exits from this room.
***
Shadows partially obscure the empty, frigid chamber you find yourselves in, thwarting all natural light. Slippery ice covers the floor. The wall opposite you is a rippling pool of darkness 2 yards in diameter.
Faint voices whisper and whine in the gloom. "Foolish mortals. Did you come here seeking glory? Treasure, perhaps?"
"Only death awaits you."
"Death and the Void..."
***
You find yourself in a circular chamber. At the center of the room, a 12-foot-tall clay statue depicts a man with his arms stretched out to the sides. Three waterfalls are spaced around the statue. Two are streams of pink liquid that spill from cracks in the ceiling and drain through cracks in the floor. The third is a thick orange sludge that bubbles up from a crack in the floor, sending shuddering droplets upward to disappear through a crack in the ceiling. There are no obvious exits from this room.
Joy gulps, then whispers:
"Uruuna, we need to search for a way out, find the others. I'll try to find any strong magic nearby first."
Joy concentrates, seeking sources of magic.
Joy can sense something magical on the other side of the curtain.
"There's something magical beyond that curtain. Let's approach, but let's be very careful."
Joy draws her silver dagger, gulps again, and begins to quietly step forward.
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Joy carefully pulls back a corner of the curtain to see what's on the other side. A statue of a nude male elf stands in the center of the room, with one hand extended, palm up. The statue is the source of the magic aura. However, coiled around its torso are two 12-foot-long snakes, with heads at either end of their bodies! Their forked tongues taste the air, but they haven't noticed Joy yet...
Anophth heads up the stairs.
Anophth reaches the room with the column of heatless blue fire and red portal. There is no sign of his companions...
Tabog, already nervous about teleporting, opened his eyes to the room. Realizing his friends were no where to be seen he begins to panic on the inside.
S#$&, s#~$, s&#+, Oh s#&%. What the hell am I supposed to do now!?
After moments pass he calms himself down and begins to work on finding a way out.
He begins by inspecting the around the fountain and then the perimeter of the room; thoroughly looking for cracks, divots, pressure plates, anything that he can move or see into. Not finding anything, he then begins the task of finding out what the fountain might do.
This flows down, normal, good. This flows up, weird, bad. Okay what if I...
As he gets within 1 yard of the fountain of pink liquid, the clay statue suddenly lurches to life! It lets out a bellow and takes a heavy step towards him!
Tabog bounds away, firing off two arrows that pierce the clay, though it hardly seems to faze the statue!
The statue gives chase, slamming the ground next to Tabog with both arms as he rolls away!
Uruuna quietly sneaks up beside Joy and scowls at the giant snakes. "What should we do?" she asks.
Imedren was surprised at the sudden chill he felt and the fact that he could just see his breath. He realized that he was in a room with Dramm and Hobb, Imedren narrowed his gaze at the menacing voice from the shadows.
"Strong threat, too bad we're leaving with both our lives and what we came here to find." he said, as he glanced at the portal and the room searching for the being speaking to them.
"Dramm, tell me you brought light magic." Imedren whispered hopefully.
Even as he did so he focused to bring an aura of chaotic luck around to him.
Well, f!*&. Went through the flame last time. Lest see what the door has to tell us, shall we? Anophth says to no one in the room. He steps into the red portal.
Dramm approaches the green lined stone slowly.
"Stay safe. See you all wherever this takes us." He looks uncertainly at the dark stone edifice. "I hate fey tech..." With that, he touches the rock.
-----
Dramm blinks twice, decides it's not helping, and puts a hand out to steady Hobb by the horns as he appears. He jumps when the voices start, and it takes a moment for him to realize that Imedren's is real.
"No, not what I'm good at. All my utility is healing. Got a lot left though. We don't die in here."
He draws magic from the air, healing some of his wounds. He eyes the swirling pool.
"Into the death pool or away from it?" Dramm grips his ax and swings hard, trying to bury it in the icy floor.
Stepping through the red portal, you find yourself in another room. Fungi of all kinds grow in soft earth covering the walls, floor, and ceiling of this level. At the center of the room stands an enormous mushroom with a red cap.
A strange creature is hunched down behind the giant mushroom. This creature looks like an enormous mushroom with a drooping, perforated cap, a thick trunk with two armlike appendages ending in heavy knobs, and two rubbery legs. Six tiny mushrooms grow on a mound of dirt a few yards away.
***
The voices hiss with laughter. "There is no escape. We were once like you, eager to find our fortunes in this tower."
"The traps and guardians proved too much. We died, but our spirits linger."
"It is time that you joined us!"
You can sense the foul presence of creatures in the darkness, but you cannot see them!
Dramm backs himself to Imedren, forming a tight circle with the fellow sorcerer and Hobb. He quickly creates a forcefield.
"Imedren, do you still have flames?
Hey little guy! Do you talk? Anophth asks.
The hulking fungal creature does not respond to Anophth. It bows before the giant mushroom, as if it worshiping it.
Since it ignored Anophth, then Anophth decides to return the favor. He walks around the room looking for an exit.
There doesn't seem to be any exits in the room. As he looks closer at the mound of dirt, though, Anophth realizes that it's covering something. The fungal creature stops its genuflecting and turns to regard the goblin as he draws near it.
Swiftly, Joy tries to think on what manner of snake these are, and how best to bypass them without violence.
Unfortunately, Joy isn't sure exactly what these creatures are. They do appear similar to vipers, not constrictors, so they likely have poisonous bites, but she is unable to determine more at a glance.
If you don't mind, I need to get right there, Anophth says, pointing to the mound of dirt.
The fungal creature lets out a rumbling bellow and takes a heavy step towards Anophth.
"Mmm hmm."
Imedren nodded to Dramm, an idea coming to him. He shrugged off his pack and pulled out a torch, holding it in front of him.
"Can't see that well, just need to light it."
Three shadows move against the light of the torch, lunging for you! Imedren responds with a blast of flame that passes right through them, leaving them unharmed! The ice in the fire's path burns away into steam, though, making that part of the floor easier to traverse.
One shadow each plunges a hand into Dramm and Imedren's body, staining their souls and draining their life force!
Imedren's heart stopped and even his soul shudders in response to the draining and deathly cold attacks made by the shadows as they reached into his chest.
"D-Dramm!" he rasps out, turning his head to his companion after a moment which seemed to drag on forever. "R-run! Portal!"
Imedren disappeared from his space and reappeared at the edge of where he'd cleared the frozen ground away. He took a labored breath and then he began to run for the black portal. Hoping that it took them away from this room of imminent death.
Tabog bounds backwards once again and fires another arrow as he pivots and runs to the other side of the fountain, putting the orange sludge between himself and the statue.
Dramm gasps as the shadowy hand eats at the barrier and spreads a devouring chill through his chest. He bolts for the portal after Imedren.
"Run Hobb!"
The statue moves swiftly to pursue you, and while you dodge one fist, the other slams into your chest with bone-crunching force.
***
Imedren teleports away from the shadows and plunges into the portal. Dramm takes a chilling hit as he rushes past the monsters, shouting for Hobb to follow. He hears the ram bleat and turns to see it slip and fall on the ice. The shadows converge around it, but Dramm steadfastly rushes on, leaping through the portal.
Dramm finds himself in another chamber. Joy and Uruuna are here, quietly peeking through a gauzy curtain covering the center of the room...
***
Plush cushions and rich fabric cover the floor and walls of this level. The air smells of incense, soothing and calming. After your harrowing escape, a nap does sound lovely...
"Ugh, Dramm... I hope he made it out okay. Where am I now?" Imedren looked around the rich and comfortable room. "Compared to where I was this place seems like a dream... speaking of... I am feeling kind of... tired now."
Imedren's eyes began to droop as he walked over to the cushions and plopped down.
"Seems safe... and comfortable... guess I could wait for... someone else to..."
and then he was asleep.
"Imedren! Hobb!" Dramm's eyes search for something, anything to find a way back. He sees Joy and Uruuna. He remains silent for several seconds.
"I lost them. Shadows attacked us and we had to run. Got teleported to different places. Hobb fell." He gestures futilely, searching for words. He eventually stops and he focuses on the curtain. "What's happening in here?"
Uruuna turns around with wide eyes when Dramm starts shouting. She tries to shush him, but it's too late. A quartet of angry hisses fills the air. The halfling pulls the curtain aside to reveal the pair of enormous two-headed snakes beginning to slither off the statue of a nude elf man.
"This is happening now!" Uruuna shouts. "Stay behind me! I'll fend them off!"
With another bellow, the hulking fungus rushes at Anophth! Anticipating its charge, the goblin ducks under its swinging appendages and rushes towards the giant mushroom. Anophth scrambles for purchase but just ends up sliding down its stalk! The creature whirls about, readying another charge!
This time, Anophth quickly clambers up to the top of the mushroom! He takes cover atop the spongy red cap. From up here, he can see the whole room below him. Unfortunately, he still can't see an exit! The enraged fungus charges again! Despite his cover, the thing reaches up and clobbers the goblin! The small mushrooms begin to quiver as they uproot themselves from the dirt, looking like miniature versions of the hulking brute..
Well, f$++. Anophth says. Ok, what's going on here. What's your problem with me, huh? I haven't done anything to you, and yet you're trying to kill me here.
The fungus shows no sign of understanding Anophth. The goblin growls and fires an arrow at one of the little mushrooms. The tiny mushroom shrieks as the arrow pierces it. The small ones all scatter, but the big one just gets angrier! It smashes Anophth again. The goblin reacts by turning invisible, but it continues to track him. Apparently, it doesn't rely on eyesight to sense him!
Desperately, Anophth reaches into his pack, hoping to light a torch and set the mushroom ablaze, but the fungus's heavy appendages come down hard on his head. There's a flash of red across his vision, and then he feels himself falling as darkness claims him...
What was I doing here again? Imedren wanted to forget, to let his troubles all slide away but the pain in his chest reminded him of the unpleasantness he had just survived. Had Dramm made it out? Where was Uruuna and Joy, Anophth and TaBog? Even Hobb. The images of the shadows coming to consume them, the coldness they will feel. What if they all get killed and I did nothing to help them because of this room? he had to... he had to warn them. He tried to wake up. But it was like pressing against a latched door. His eyes were so heavy and he'd found the perfect spot... but the pain. That was still there. The pain was uncomfortable. He had to focus on that... so he did.
It was laborious to come back to the waking world, but he couldn't let sleep take him again. He took a better look around the rich room. Finding a few other niceties he thought he recognized. He pocketed them, several times he felt his arms nearly give in and just let him fall but he thumped his chest to keep him awake as he continued to search the room for an exit.
A thorough search of the room uncovers a doorway cleverly concealed behind a luxurious curtain on the wall Opening it reveals a silvery portal.
He took a look around the room and sighed. He didn't really want to leave here but he had to. He looked down at one of the healing potions he'd found, not knowing what he'd find on the other side he downed it. Once he felt it's healing energies begin their work he called to the innate magic to pull in more from the tower itself.
Feeling about as ready as he was going to be, he stepped through the silvery portal.
This unusually high chamber has a ceiling that looms 10 yards overhead. Three spiral staircases wind up from the floor, ending at closed doors standing in midair at three different heights. Imedren is standing in front of the middle door, which sports a bas-relief carving of an androgynous elf with eyes closed. The lower door features a great eye in its center. The top door is smooth and cold to the touch. On the floor between the three staircases stands a podium on which rests a stone tablet bearing an inscription in glowing runes.
Glancing around the room with interest and wariness, Imedren inspects the stone tablet bearing an inscription first. He can feel power gathering as you read the inscription. As he completes it, a portal springs into existence a few yards away. The portal has two sides--one white and one black.
"Great, more ways to go and the only one I recognize is possibly to the room I was just in... or maybe somewhere else." he nodded to himself after a few moments. "Black goes somewhere random. Colors likely go to set locations." he looked at both sides but he walked into the white portal.
A flash of light momentarily blinds Imedren, then he finds himself teleported to another room. Decaying furniture fills this level. Narrow paths twist through the mess, leading to a bronze ladder that climbs from floor to ceiling.
"The complete opposite of where I was." Imedren muttered to himself. He glances around the mess of the room ensuring that he doesn't run into anything untoward or find anything interesting as he made his way slowly toward the ladder.
Searching the cluttered chamber, Imedren discovers a wardrobe whose handle holds a silver medallion and chain. The face of the medallion has been scribed to resemble a grinning faerie. The wardrobe itself is filled with moldering fur coats. The sorcerer senses that the medallion and the wardrobe are both magic.
The medallion seems to bear magic related to the alteration tradition. It likely enhances the wearer in some way, though as with most faerie magic, it likely comes at a cost. The wardrobe's aura seems similar to the obelisk he previously encountered.
Taking the medallion and not willing to suffer any side effects, Imedren stows it away for now. He then looks up the ladder, wondering if it would be more beneficial for him to head up the ladder to to risk transporting again. Seeing that it apparently ends at the ceiling, he touches the wardrobe. When nothing happens, he starts trying on the coats, but they are far too large for him.
After a minute, Imedren just starts to feel silly. He takes out the medallion and looks at it before putting it on. The world suddenly comes into intense focus, Imedren's vision clearer than ever before. He feels attuned to his surroundings, sensing the slightest movements of air across his skin, the tiniest sound ringing in his ears. The state of heightened awareness is intense. Enough time in this state might drive a man to madness...
Imedren's suddenly heightened senses cause him some momentary discomfort but he nods, seeing the use of such an object. He goes to remove it for now until he needs it for later. Afterwards he rubs his chin in thought and shakes his head as he steps inside the wardrobe. Trying to figure out how else it might possibly be activated.
Imedren squeezes into the cramped wardrobe, brushing fur coats aside. There doesn't seem to be any obvious way to activate it. He tries closing the door. "Okay, I'm obviously missing something." Indeed, when the door is closed, a glowing white portal appears on the back wall of the wardrobe! "There it is." he says with relief against the mounting frustration and worry. Then he moves to go through it.
The portal transports Imedren to another chamber. A glowing glass orb sitting in a bronze tripod at the center of this level fills the area with light. Images of stars and planets seem to move where they cover the walls and ceiling. The portal that he arrived through remains on the wall behind him.
Imedren starts upon seeing the orb. "I... think this must be it." he says with some excitement as he looks around the room. He crosses to the orb in the tri-pod. "I"ll just need to use this thing once and then we can find Nutmeg and that monster, Katandramus. Then we can leave."
The orb contains a fiery substance that emits light, though it is cool to the touch. There doesn't seem to be any obvious way to get it to do anything but emit the glow. Imedren tries to put his hands on the orb, trying to manipulate it to change things. Nothing seems to happen at first. When he lifts the orb off the pedestal, though, the light inside of it extinguishes. In the darkness, another glowing portal appears on the opposite wall. Stairs seemingly made of starlight climb up...
The stairs lead up to the top of the tower. This chamber holds a glowing sphere of crystal 1 yard in diameter, with wisps of blue smoke swirling inside it. The sphere sits in a bronze cradle with five legs. Five statues of well-armored elf warriors stand against the walls in the room...
Joy presents the enchanted coin to the two-headed snakes, but neither one succumbs to its power. Joy readies her scimitar as the snakes slither towards her. She dodges one's attack, but the other sinks its fangs into her shoulder. She yelps in pain, but resists the poison and retaliates, slicing into its body.
As Dramm starts forward, one of the snakes' heads lifts up to stare at him. He feels it power trying to pin him to the spot, but he resists its effects. Dramm carves out a sigil quickly and slices it to pieces. His tattoos begin to glow, and the wounded snake writhes in pain. Magic power bursts loose from the sorcerer, singeing the snake and Uruuna.
The snakes' other heads attack, but Uruuna fends them off with her shield. She slices the wounded one again, leaving it critically injured.
Dramm carves another burning sigil in front of him and grips both sides, tearing them violently apart. The amber in his arms pulse a sickly orange and he unleashes the rending spell on the uninjured snake. "I. Do not. Have time. For you!" he snarls and bloody wounds tear open on the creature. Again the circuits shudder and twist, and the magic tears itself free of Dramm's flesh in another explosion. He barely even appears to be bothering trying to contain it. The blast finishes off the first snake.
Joy hurls a magic acorn at the other one, only scoring a light wound. The snake's heads strike at Uruuna, but she manages to dodge both attacks!
There's an orange glow on the far side of the room, and suddenly a 12-foot-tall clay statue appears! It has a humanoid appearance, and several arrows are stuck in its body. The statue begins stomping towards you!
"Damn! Don't we have enough problems already?" Uruuna curses. "Joy said this elf statue's magic. Maybe we should try to use it somehow?"
The stomping statue makes Dramm's teeth rattle.
"How's it work?" Dramm carves a new sign into the air above his palm and his tattoos glow again. He stabs the dagger point through the sign and into his hand before reaching out to the snake. "We can hold them off. Someone find out how it works! What was in its hand?"
Tendrils of reddish energy connect with the snake, and a bloody hand print appears on its scales. With a caustic hissing and bubbling, a growing patch of flesh falls away.
Another burst of energy rushes forth. Dramm directs it to one side to avoid burning Uruuna with a wave of amber fire.
Dramm's spell causes the snake's body to begin to unravel, then the explosion of energy blasts it into dust!
Uruuna looks at the statue. "Its hand is empty. It's just holding it out!" She jumps up and grabs a hold of it, and as she touches the hand, a silvery portal opens up on the far wall. "That must be the way out! You guys go first--I'll hold off the statue!"
Joy rushes through the portal as the halfling moves between Dramm and the statue. The towering construct stomps over to her and brings its arms down. She sidesteps one swing and narrowly deflects the other away with her shield, arm bruised from the glancing impact!
Joy dashes for the portal at Uruuna's insistence, ducking and weaving as necessary.
She knows what she's doing! I hope!
Dramm covers Uruuna as the halfling falls back to the portal. She leaps through, and the sorcerer follows a few seconds later!
This unusually high chamber has a ceiling that looms 10 yards overhead. Three spiral staircases wind up from the floor, ending at closed doors standing in midair at three different heights. The middle door, which sports a bas-relief carving of an androgynous elf with eyes closed. You are standing in front of the lower door features a great eye in its center. The top door is smooth and cold to the touch. On the floor between the three staircases stands a podium on which rests a stone tablet bearing an inscription in glowing runes.
***
A short time later, Tabog appears in the room with the statue! Seeing the open portal, the hazy ferret dashes for it as the construct turns towards him, leaping in before it can attack!
He appears in the same room as Dramm, Joy, and Uruuna.
"Tabog, you're alive. Must have been your arrows. We're still missing Imedren, Hobb, and Anophth. Have you seen them?" He peers behind Tabog hopefully.