Timothy rides the horse to about a hundred feat from the entrance before dismounting again.
"Well, this old girl is summoned anyway. Let's see if the doorway does bad things." he explains as he slaps the horse's rear, sending it running in the direction of the doorway.
"Uhm, it says a thing in c..c..celestial. The secrets found within are not for those above. And its p-poisoned."
The horse snorts as Timmy slaps it on its ass, it gives him a look of you derision and it runs in the other direction away from the spire.
Tim watches the horse run the other way, dumbfounded.
Summoning on the planes is incredibly difficult as spells frequently don't have a direct path to what you're summoning. Often the spell will get something close enough. All the layers of Arborea are beholden to nature spirits; these spirits answer the magical calls of summoning spells, which are often quite intelligent and not bound by the summoner's will. Attempts to summon fiends or other Lower Planar creatures such as nightmares bring down the wrath of the Furies on the transgressors.
Jorian frowns at the blatant misuse of an animal, even if summoned but then just chuckles, a hissing dry sound, at its disdain for its summoner.
”Poison you say? I am not bothered by such things, I could just do it.” he muses to the group before casting Barkskin on himself.
”Shall we?”
Tim decides to stand well back of the poison.
"After you, Jorian." he says.
"I'm not so unbothered by poisons." he explains.
"Is there a place to tie a rope up higher?" Tim asks as he starts to pull an unending stream of hemp rope from his longer sleeve.
"I'll check." Snowball replies before leaping into the air and doing a lap around the tower.
Suzuka walks vertically down toward the ground, sticking out straight like a platform. She pauses when her head is next to Jorian's and whispers,
She then continues down until she's almost laying on the ground and waits, face unreadable.
As Snowball considers tying the rope at the point at the top of the 100ft tall tower and Suzuka... does... her... thing...
An elf steps into view just a short distance away. Tall and lithe, he's almost invisible amid Pelion's pale dust, with skin like chiseled alabaster, long hair like spun wool, and eyes that are completely white. A chalky tunic hangs from his taut frame, covering a suit of bleached leather, and a sword in his hand is made of pale white iron.
Walking to the tower thump, thump of his staff, Jorian stops briefly, then reaches down and grabs a handful of earth and starts chanting.
Ignoring Suzuka’s offering with a polite shake of his head and slight bow, he continues walking at a sedate pace, each step going higher as he walks up the air like a staircase, staff butt still thumping along on thin air.
”You may wish to stand back. he croaks as he approaches.
Suzuka watches Jorian walk past and turns a much deeper shade of blue. She looks away from the group quickly, and deftly hops down to give him some distance.
"Hello?" Tim says to the elf.
"I like the outfit..." he adds, as he begins trying to make friends with the stranger.
Hearing Tim’s greeting, Jorian pauses and turns to see who Tim was talking to.
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11T7 approaches the tower and scrapes at it to see if it makes the same kind of dust.
Hearing Tim's address, it spins around to face the elf.
"Accommodating Fey. Dispensing Hat."
11T7 pulls a shabby Gatsby hat from its Haversack. Upon putting it on, the modron instantly transforms into a gnome in business attire.
The elf does not respond to Tim's attempt at communication. Instead he interposes himself between Jorian and the spire.
Jorian simply leans on his staff and looks at the elf in silence, mask conveying exactly zero emotions as he does an impressive impersonation of a rock.
Artemis is feeling a bit sheepish that a elf wearing more white than a virgin bride slipped by her. Pretty sly for a white guy, she has to admit.
Beaten at her own game, the huntress comes out of hiding to assist Tim.
“Tim knows fashion. It is an amazing look.”
“You can call me Artemis. Pleasure to meet you.”
Well, so she hopes. A guardian of the spire posted here to kill upon the breaking of an unwritten rule would be decidedly unpleasant to meet. My aunt would have shot him just in case. Or for being male. Or if his mother insulted her mother.
The elf regards you silently and makes no indication of understanding you.
Artemis nods back, and softly asks the elf if he speaks Sylvan. She’ll watch for signs of patience before playing Language Roulette.
None of the languages the party speaks are understood. He stands there weapon drawn, waiting.
Snowball, after enjoying Kid Artemis try a variety of languages, speaks up.
"May we enter the tower?"
The elf does not respond to Snowball.
Tim sighs.
"We're going to figure out a way to enter that tower, whether you like it or not. Tell 'im, Palla di Neve."
Upon Tim’s words, Arty mentally prepares herself to slide bow from shoulder.
Suzuka cocks her head at the elf and calmly walks to a few paces before them with her own weapon drawn. Very deliberately, she gets into a ready position, points to the elf and then herself, and then points to the tower and gives him a questioning look.
Jorian casually puts his staff away, draws and lights a torch.
The gnome looks from person to person as tensions rise. When the cat tries Truespeach and somehow doesn't get a reaction, the gnome's eyes go wide.
It waves at the elf and writes in the dust.
The elf responds by drawing in the dust,
"Translation: Go away. This place is forbidden" reports 11T7 in Common.
It continues to write.
and adds a smiley face.
The elf frowns and provides no explanation. You seem to be at an impasse.
"Maybe tell him that we're not 'from above'?" Tim shrugs.
11T7 quickly writes
and then adds
The elf draws in the dust, "No. Leave now or we will force you away."
Jorian watches the written exchange impassively, waiting for some light to be shed on their plans.
Long ago, even before the Hunt, I would have struck this elf down for his impudence. Alas, the path to redemption rarely takes the easy road.. He thinks to himself as he holds his freshly lit torch.
"Translation: 'No. Leave now or we will force you away.'"
11T7 pushes its luck
and quickly moves behind Tim.
Tim cuts the rope that is currently dangling from his sleeve and puts his dagger away while picking up the rope.
"Suzuka, pin him." Tim says coolly.
Suzuka nods but makes no other move, simply staring at the elf for a moment, as she begins to pit her will against the Elf's body.
From out of nowhere an arrow sticks in eleventy seven's back. Two more of the alabaster elves pop out from their hiding spots already nocking another arrow.