Jek tries desperately to dodge the deluge of acid and mane bile but ends up drenched.
As Xibalba touches him he shivers as his body goes all shadowy. He takes a moment to admire the changes and nods to Xibalba.
Jek spits out some acid. "Well... I'm already covered in this stuff..." He takes a deep breath and begins assaulting the manes with his shadowy knees, hooves, and horns.
Jek manages to kill 5 more of the least Tanar'ri, each exploding into an acid cloud.
The remaining two manes flail uselessly against Jek.
Rinika frowns and uses her Escape Route to move backward, fading from view as she goes. Once away from the action, she casts a spell.
Khikril steps back from the two remaining manes, drawing his crossbow and firing at one of the demonic creatures.
Nik pulls out one of the wands from Tcian Sumere and, seeing that Skee's bolt wasn't doing much, aims at the same one.
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Nik pops another mane while Skee's bolt fails to harm the other.
Xibalba cringed as another spray of acid scattered across Jek.
“This one’s magics are finite on the stairs. Besideswise, tha is forbidden from harming a Wish Warden. Not even a wish coulden sunder this vow.
The djinn drifts around further onto the platform floating and smoking, while watching the group.
“A lone soldier is for thee.”
Jek headbutts the last demon.
"It must be weird to know you'll explode someday..."
"Better them than us?" Nik suggests.
Nik furtively gets close enough to see the rest of the plateform, double checking for more Manes before stepping onto the landing.
Jek explodes the last Tanar'ri, leaving you alone on the platform.
Nik knows that the manes will reappear here after one day.
From here you can head down a set of stairs or you can open a door to the unknown, the door is made from some sort of dark green stone. A warm breeze blow through the cracks.
"Hopefully we can finish the delivery and come back through here within a day. Those Manes were annoying. I suppose I can prepare for fighting them again if we take too long..." Nik explains, slowly stowing the wand.
He eventually looks around for magical items and notices the flute. He takes a few long moments to inspect it, including giving it a sniff.
"Hey, they weren't just awful at playing this thing, they're awful and the flute reflects that."
Nik pauses after the mostly complete explanation.
"Anyone ever use a flute before?"
"Nyoooo...but I can try? Or we can trade it. Anyone good at tracking, maybe we can figure out where this barmy fella went?"
"It's got to be the door, doesn't it?" Nik suggests while scratching his cheek and passing the flute to Rinika.
Jek inspects the dark green stone door. "I wonder if this is where the all the little fellas came from..." He looks to Rinika. "Care to take a little peek before we all barge in?"
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Khikril's overworked mind barely registers Nik's talk of the magic flute, consumed as his attention is by the strange green stone door. As Jek steps forward to examine it, Khikril shadows the bariaur's steps, his talons clicking on the floor of the platform as he walks back and forth, examining it from all possible angles - he even takes wing, flying over it to inspect its obverse. Landing in front of the door again, his wings flare open with excitement as he gives a manic grin. "Nik, do you know what this means? Because I have absolutely no idea, and there's no better reason to be excited than that! It's a mystery, wrapped in an enigma, lightly coated with the scent of..." He sniffs the air experimentally, catching a whiff of the mane remnants that fill this area of the Staircase. "...the lingering smell of acid and bad decisions. Truly, we are spurred to action by that most sacred of all causes - the desire to see what happens when we open the sealed gateway in the fabric of reality begging to be opened."
He whirls to face the group, one finger pointing upwards theatrically as an outstretched wing accidentally smacks Jek in the back of the head. "The sweet sibilant song of curiosity is calling! Onwards and..." Realizing himself, he hurriedly corrects his statement, pointing at the strange doorway instead of empty space. "...well, onwards and forwards! The spirit of inquiry calls us to battle against the explosive, dissolving hordes of ignorance!"
You open the green door and you find yourself in a desert cave, strange green sand blows in from a hot wind through the mouth. Sunlight reflects off the sand casting everything in its hue. You step down off of what look like naturally formed steps. The scene is desolate and barren but peaceful without a soul nearby.
After exploring the area for a bit, nearby you find another cave filled with bizarre sand sculptures, strange creatures with exaggerated forms and too many limbs and eyes. It must have taken decades to create everything here. Unfortunately a number of the sculptures have been destroyed or otherwise befouled. A single body, or what’s left of one, lays slain amid the sculptures, eviscerated and abused, clearly the work of some fiend.
"Think that's what's-'er-face? Shava-something? Or think Oriam might've visited his ex?" Nik suggests as he gets closer to inspect the body.
Khikril takes in the vast expanse of desert with a look of awe. "Krevaar, the sun is so bright here! This land is truly beautiful, in a peaceful sort of way." Taking wing, he flies through the empty skies as the group explores, basking in the sun on his wings and breathing deep of the open air. When the group finds the strange cave and its malformed sand sculptures, he flips open his journal, ready to make a sketch of the strange forms, but as he sees the dead body, he hesitates, glancing back and forth between the aberrant sculptures and the dead body. After a moment, he comes to a decision, rushing forward to check the corpse first.
The body is eviscerated beyond recognition, and definitely dead and not undead. It is not more than a few days decayed.
"Well, here's hoping that isn't Oriam's ex, or we don't have a lead. Think we just try the other stairs?" Nik wonders aloud.
"Well, here's hoping that isn't Oriam's ex, or we don't have a lead.
"I'm not sure how to tell... where are we now anyway?"
Jek looks though any belongings near the body for clues.
Xibalba finishes marveling at the flute over Rinika's shoulder, grateful to witness a curious magic oddity in the wild so soon after her release from the bottle.
She claps vigorously at Khikril's door introduction, eager to visit yet another world. She gasps at the sight of dunes, wind whipping her long fabrics wildly. Taking a deep breath, she burys her feet in the sand.
"Green. This one has seen purple and black sand, but never green."
The Djinn follows them lazily towards the cave, watching the sculptures curiously as the group picks at the lone body for hints.
"Master-Jek, perhaps us return hencewise to a Guild to obtain such answers? Surely thum knows of a green door so near. "
Rininka blinks lazily into the sandy wind. "Mmm. Makes me sleepy. It's nice. I suppose we could head back, it's just time and of that we have plenty."
She'll try flying up a bit above the cave mouths to see if there's anything visible around them other than more caves and desert.
Rinika spies in the distance smoke plumes rising from the horizon. A city or encampment miles away.
Planewalker's Guild
The myconid puffs out another cloud of spores, which has a slight hallucinogenic effect, objects begin to blur and trail as they move. You take this to mean they're excited, Yes! Teach us to conjure fire. They take out a piece of parchment and draw a single vertical line. In Gladsheim, inscribe this symbol, this rune, on piece of stone, and toss it into the shadow.
We also possess this key for Arcadia, trade for necromantic key?
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As Nik and Rinika bargain for spell keys, Skeessannak'khikril seeks out whether the missing planeswalker might in fact be the eviscerated corpse they found in what he insists on referring to as 'the Gatescape,' checking when exactly he left and what sort of clothes he was wearing in an attempt to match it up with as much of what is left of the corpse as possible.
Unfortunately, he spends not quite enough time asking about the circumstances behind Trascalia's disappearance and far too much time asking about the color, texture, and general size of his internal organs in an attempt to compare them with those found. He goes into intricate scientific detail about the unfortunate corpse, and several listeners lose their appetites quite quickly - as few of them are insane and fewer still are trained surgeons, the request comes off as odd if not downright sociopathic.
Nik's eyebrows shoot up at the myconid's hastiness to share.
I guess I should be stacking spell keys myself... He thinks to himself.
"It's a deal." He says, deciding that he'll go first for the second exchange.
"Here's the chant: Arborea doesn't like elemental magic for the most part, but if you dump a lot of water, you can conjure a lot of fire. About 20 gallons for a Fireball should do it. The Outlands, as you probably know, are about balance.
For Enervation you just need to channel the stolen life-force into something dead. It's easy to get dead wasps for your component pouch, but a few dead maggots or a small dead bird would definitely work."
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The fungus “speaks” to Nik instructing him on the way of Shadow magic on Arcadia. ”Take water from a stream on Arcadia and bound it in a bowl shaped like a regular quadrilateral with each angle measuring ninety degrees, then muddy the water. It will work for all illusion magics.”
Skee doesn’t get far before he encounters a physician originally from Sigil, she is tall and thin, has open sores on her skin that don’t seem to bother her and wild unkempt hair. While the woman doesn’t know anything about Trascalia she does speak with him at length about humanoid physiology and asks relentless questions about his golem, Skee’s own internal organs, and advises him on how best to flay a manes alive so as to observe their internal structure without getting a face full of acidic gas.
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--At the Encampment--
Rinika leans against the counter, uncharacteristically quiet and tapping her foot with nervous energy. Her Spot has taken its customary spot in her tail and rubs her shoulder with what might almost be a comforting gesture? Once Nik seems to be concluding his business, she jumps in, suddenly engaged. "Got keys for shadow magic on the negative plane? How about the vacuum plane? What about healing magic in the same? Or portal keys, you know anything about them? Tuning forks for this camp, even. This seems like a good place to be able to find again, and you a good fellow to know."
She'll hand off the shirt fragment if anyone else wants to go asking around to see if it's from Trascalia or Shavanistra.
Nik doesn't seem to mind being nudged aside by Rinika.
He scratches his cheek and pretends not to be listening to her questions.
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Just outside the encampment, Jek takes out his Traveler's Any-Tool and begins twisting, folding, and bending it into the shape of a flexible hand with a base. He sets the corpse barrel down as a table and places his felt hedgehog on it across from him. Out of his backpack, he produces a cheap deck of cards and begins dealing - placing the hedgehog's cards in the flexible hand. He puts on a serious face and begins to play.
As the physician questions him, Khikril's ebony eyes seem to light up, and he begins talking with his fellow healer (in theory), forgetting almost instantly about Trascalia and Shavanistra as he begins to discuss the finer points of golems, vivisection, and anatomy both avian and human. "X-302 here? It's a proof of concept - I had this idea to interface spare organs and such with technology. I work in the Mortuary, see, so there's extra hearts and such lying around everywhere, so why not integrate them into pumping systems? I tell you, I didn't want for raw materials after I embalmed myself! That's an interesting tale in and of itself - what I did was..."
An hour or two later, he tries his level best to reunite with the other members of his motley group - as Jek tends to stand above the crowd, he gravitates towards the edge of the encampment, landing in front of Jek's card game in progress. "So, who's winning?" He peeks at the hands of both Jek and the hedgehog, grimacing. "Jek, that hedgehog's like blasting powder - or some other kind of high-yield explosive, I'm bad with simile." The half-insane alchemist seems to be even more chipper than his usual exuberant self, though the distinction is a hard one to make. "Say, Jek, do you remember who it was we were supposed to be looking for? I got a little sidetracked playing the Syringe Game with this doctor I met. After a few rounds, we kept breaking even, so we started wagering internal organs instead of money - largely to see what would happen, I think." He rubs his side contemplatively. "Talk about stone-faced - I'm down two livers and an ancillary heart!" The alchemist shrugs off his loss, returning to peering over the bariaur's shoulder. "Eh, I've still got three left, plus an entire box back at the Mortuary - I'll live. So what have you been up to? Do you owe that hedgehog money? Do you need me to beat it up? Does it have any invisible shadow assassin bodyguards? Do you think the hedgehog's invisible shadow assassin bodyguards are listening in on our conversation?"
The small myconid considers the question posed by Rinika, ”Shadow magic draws raw shadow from the demi-plane of Shadow on the Ethereal plane to form its effects. The reason such spells do not function on the Outer planes is that the Ethereal does not touch them with its misty borders. You have to appease the plane you are on to grant you its shadows, unlike the Shadow plane which greedily wants to extend its tendrils outwards. While I have never traveled to the quasi-elemental plane of Vacuum, nor do I wish to, I posit that no such spell key will be needed for such spells to function.”
The greybeard's line of reasoning tracks with what Rinika and Nik know about the generally accepted cosmology of the planes. The Ethereal borders the Elemental planes and the Prime but not the Astral or the Outer planes. Shadow magic will need some sort of key for it to function on the later planes, but not the former. Barring the Powers allowing them specifically in their realm.
As the fungus finishes his speech a cry rings out as the illusion on Nik’s deaders suddenly and unexpectedly fails. From down the street a woman in full plate armor emblazoned with a celestial being on the chestplate screams, ”By Sarenrae’s light! I shall smite you foul creatures and your creator!” The woman seems to be having trouble making her way through the crowd of confused Planewalkers.
Round 1
Rinika clicks the soft heels of her slippers together and Nik and his shamblers (and Skee if he's close) suddenly find themselves moving with much more subtlety.
Then she slinks off into the crowd closer to the presumed paladin, pulling her hood up and letting her shadows swallow her up.
"Hells." Nik explains as he decides that it's best to not stick around for the inquisition afterwards, and also to not be seen with the shamblers any more.
"Just stand still, shamblers." he hisses.
He ducks off and sneaks towards the stairs as quickly and quietly as he can.
The two four-armed minders continue to stand still and look around impassively as they morph into four-clawed skeletons.
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"Skee!" Jek grabs his letter "It should be delivered to... Trascalia. Oh, and it's a tie game. I'll deal you in if you like, but it could be a while before your turn. It's the little guy's first time playing, but more importantly: he's a felt doll.
”By Sarenrae’s light! I shall smite you foul creatures and your creator!”
"Well.. the card game was fun but it's time to move." Jek quickly repacks his things. "Sounds like some clueless prime wants to nick Nik again..."
"Skee! It should be delivered to... Trascalia. Oh, and it's a tie game. I'll deal you in if you like, but it could be a while before your turn. It's the little guy's first time playing, but more importantly: he's a felt doll."
Khikril grins, sitting and accepting his cards as the bariaur deals him in. "Sounds great! I'll see your bet and raise you an eyeball and two tympanic membra..."
"By Sarenrae’s light! I shall smite you foul creatures and your creator!"
The strix's head snaps up at the screams from the bazaar, and he leaps to his feet, spreading his wings as he draws his crossbow. "Another prime-born maniac who thinks shamblers are some sort of personified evil. Piking tourists..." Taking wing, he zooms over the heads of the crowd, headed for the source of the commotion.
Behind the mad alchemist, the alchemical golem finally arrives at the edge of the landing, having pushed its way laboriously through the thronging crowds of planeswalkers and tourists. Seeing its creator fly over its head, bound for yet another area, its dome head moves to track the itaraak impassively, but after a moment, its shoulders seem to slump with resignation as it turns and wades back into the crowd.
With the deaders left alone and the party making a stealthy retreat you’re able to give the clueless prime paladin the laugh. She smites the skeleton’s with righteous fury but shortly thereafter you see a number of the Planewalkers Guild surrounding her with stern looking faces.
After another arduous climb you arrive back at the Blue Mushroom area, past the manes platform a stairs leads downward to another platform with a single door and a spiral staircase leading downwards. The single door on the platform below the manes radiates heat.
You descend to the platform two levels below the manes platform and find it inhibited. To your right are a set of stairs leading upwards and away from the mushroom area, these stairs are heavily damaged but still hold together. To the left another set leads upwards farther in.
Khikril rushes past the manes' landing and the strange door to the bizarre desert (or, as his sketches are labeled, 'Gatescape 1'), his taloned feet clacking on the next flight of stairs for only a few steps before he takes wing, going into a steep dive that ends in a somewhat (but not really) controlled crash on the next landing. Hurriedly scrambling to his feet and brushing himself off, he eagerly opens the door, staring into the flaming city's skyline with the open-mouthed half-smile of one who knows that unimaginable wonders are just around the corner.
He busies himself with another sketch as his more sedate allies catch up with their manic teammate, this time of the brass city, seemingly oblivious to the edges of some of his feathers beginning to smoulder as he scrawls the label 'Gatescape 2' in the corner. Feeling the unimaginable heat radiating from the door and not possessing an easy way to survive in such temperatures, he regretfully closes the door after a minute of investigation, casting a wistful glance at the exciting cityscape before moving on to the next platform but faltering as he realizes the dilemma between the two paths. Stroking his chin, he casts appraising glances at both paths, muttering to himself as his allies catch up to him. "Well, the one on the left probably leads to a Gatescape about to lose its connection with the Staircase... might be interesting to see how it vanishes... but the one on the right leads deeper into the mushroom area. I'd bet one of my lungs that at the center of it, we'll find a Gatescape entirely overgrown with the stuff..."
As his keen ears pick up the sound of footsteps, the itaraak alchemist becomes quite agitated, spinning in a circle in an attempt to spot the source of the noise. "INVISIBLE SHADOW ASSASSINS! INVISIBLE SHADOW ASSASSINS!" After a moment of futile searching, he draws his crossbow, firing a bolt in the general direction he heard the sound. "I know you've been following us! Now either you come out and face us, or you go back to that felt hedgehog and tell him he won't get a copper piece of my friend's money!"
"Pike all these assassins. First that Dawnflower damned paladin and now what?" Nik says, getting as close to Jek as he comfortably can and looking quite paranoid as he looks around.
"Ugh, Loki don't mess me up please." Nik mutters under his breath, wishing he had bought a spell key for Mirror Image.
The djinn uses most of their time at the guild simply people watching. She was unfamiliar with card game and floated nearby in an effort to learn. She can't help but laugh as the Paladin spurns them forth.
"Never boring wise around thee!"
She spends the return trip chatting about shadow keys with Rinika and Nik. But she becomes consumed when Khikril opens the strange feeling a familiar heat wash over her.
"Tha's home plane!" She pushes her larger frame past him poking her head inside, just to remind herself of it's smell and gorgeous vistas. The glimmering of Malsheem sent an ache through her heart.
"Shamely fortunes that our gathering can not visit, but new masters would crispify under the weight of Xibalba's world. Perhaps another time?"
She reaches down and snags a loose igneous stone near the door, breathes deeply of her realm one last time, then retreats back to the platform.
As they continue to the next split in the stairs, she starts to offer the rock as a souvenir to Khikril when he suddenly starts shouting about some spectral murderer nearby. The famously oblivious djinn squints around for any sign of their assailants.
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Rinika sticks her face through the door to look at the City of Brass alongside the others, and only flinches back after a long moment. "Toasty. You know the city, Xibalba? We have been to the fire plane before, but it was a little more hospitable where we went. I'm up for going back, eventually."
On the latest platform, when Skee starts making a ruckus, Rinika's fur puffs up a bit and she smiles slyly. "I'm very flattered, but I'm hardly-" Her whiskers twitch, and her eyes dart over to the stray noise. "Nobody likes a copycat."
She slinks into the shadows herself.
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"Shamely fortunes that our gathering can not visit, but new masters would crispify under the weight of Xibalba's world. Perhaps another time?"
"Toasty. You know the city, Xibalba? We have been to the fire plane before, but it was a little more hospitable where we went. I'm up for going back, eventually."
"They had to toss me in the first time, and I imagine they'll have to toss me in the next. It is beautiful though."
He watches in amusement as Skee squawks and Rinika fades from view. "There's someone walking right about there." Jek gestures with his lance. "Maybe they just want some company..."
Invisibly the voice of a woman speaks, "Me and my sisters mean you no harm! We've been hipped here since that Tanar'ri started rampaging here about a week ago. I'm Shavanistra and I'm a priestess of Athena. We weren't sure if you were knights of the post."
She pauses and then adds, "Hedgehog?"
Those of you who heard Shavanistra swear that you only heard one set of footsteps.