The Tower of Ages

Game Master Giant Halfling

As previously mentioned, there is a fire burning where their camp most likely is/was (to the left of the anchor from your current location). Who’s heading that way, and where is the other group heading?

random, 1 means Lyra and Witness go that way: 1d2 ⇒ 2

"You two go to the camp, and we'll circle around the other direction, to make sure there are no stragglers hiding to gut us in the night." she looks to the Witness to see if he agrees and if so she'll lead the way into the woods.

Gavin and Fenrick head over to the campfire. Gavin lights the way as they walk through the camp, making a thorough search of anything left behind.

Gavin will take 20 searching anything within 40' of the fire and a quick search of another 20' beyond that.

The wizards nods in agreement to The Pigeon's proposition and summons four magical lanterns that hover around him, lighting his way. As the pair begin their search, he communicates to her via their telepathic link.

++I'm not averse to you keeping to the dim light in order to travel in stealth - just in case we do find someone or something hostile. My magical defenses will last a few minutes more, and serving as bait to allow you a lethal strike may be more efficacious than both of us serving as potential targets.++

Will cast and maintain dancing lights centered on himself.

This lot certainly irrational. Are we sure Marco didn't have some sort of mind control? Fenrick puts his blade away. And moves on with Gavin. He has the ability to see clearly in the darkness so he opts to not create any light.

In a hushed tone to Gavin, This was a mess. I didnt expect for any of them to need to for them to surrender. I must preform their proper rights to lead them to Pharasma.

Before leaving, Lyra will rest her hand on Fen's shoulder "I can help once we make sure there are no more dangers."

Lyra and the Witness have a rather uneventful walk around the Anchor and find themselves entering the ruins well before Gavin and Fenrick have completed their search.

The side of the Anchor facing the ruins is the side which bears the carving of the Seal, and as the Seekers draw near a large black, now somewhat familiar portal opens on that face. About forty feet from there, a fairly large fire burns within a recently constructed circle of ancient stone blocks. The remnants of buildings dot the field as far as any of the Seekers can see, the skeleton of a long-dead town. Unlike the ruins around the southern Anchor, these ones show, to the Witness' trained eye, signs of being ruined and rebuilt several times, with newer construction built atop the remnants of older structures in waves.

Near the fire, one of the largest buildings has been rebuilt. A hodgepodge of stones from random eras have been assembled to bring the walls upto a single story with a fairly shoddy thatch roof crowning it. Two other buildings close by seem to be under construction, and a low stone wall marks out what looks to be a garden when the weather allows it. The finished building is divided into three roughly fifteen by fifteen foot chambers. The central chamber, which opens to the outside, has a large wooden table with ten chairs and various pots and dishes, as well as a simple bookshelf stocked with a meager supply of preserved fruits and pickled vegetables, along with some dried meat and cheese. The chamber to the left holds four simple cots; it is tidy, and neatly stowed beneath the cots there are two masterwork chainshirts, a darkleaf suit of studded leather, a darkwood heavy shield, an elysian bronze shortsword, two alchemical-silver warhammers, a cold-iron dorn-dergar, and four sacks with 1,000 gold in each. In the chamber to the right is one large, rustic bed, a simple wardobe, and an iron-bound trunk. In the wardrobe there hang a variety of fine silk scarves, two embroidered sarongs, and a midnight blue robe adorned with silver moons. In the chest, there is 1,668 gold and 3,200 gold worth of gems and jewelry, plus six potions, eight scrolls, and a black headband with a metal skull clasp. A more thorough examination of the room also turns up a hidden shelf on the underside of the bed; within it are a small, travel spellbook (probably a backup) and a journal recording some details of the daily life in the camp interspersed with poetry of various quality (nearly all of which is about love and/or the night sky).

I'm out of time- I'll post the contents of the spellbook, and the potions/scrolls, in discussion later.

I'll list the gear and if I think a character should take it, I'll list their name after it. These are suggestions, so if you have other thoughts, feel free to voice them.

If I missed anything, let me know

Once calm has been established and all of the bandits lair has been searched, Gavin catalogs the items and suggests new homes for the ones that seem obvious to him. Casting detect magic over the considerable stash, Gavin checks for anything he might have missed.

Turning his attention to the fallen bandits, the old priest give a quiet but lengthy prayer for each of them, then he asks Fenrick to gather some wood for a pyre. Removing any armor or other items from the corpses, Gavin lays them gently (with Fenricks help) onto the piles and then lowers his head for a last prayer of the night before lighting the wood.

Turning to Fenrick, Gavin offers words to comfort both of them, "Some men choose the sword, and nothing can turn them from that path. What was done was needed. These souls are at rest now."

Exhausted from travel, combat, and death, Gavin welcomes the peace to be found in the Witness' mirror. When the others are ready, he takes his fitfull, but needed, rest.

"You kind of wish this was more of a pit of depravity, full of murdered people and blood sketches of their kills. Instead of this... a home." she sighs, placing the book of poetry back down where she found it. "We leave anything that is personal." she says softly, but with a firmness suggesting there will be an argument if someone has another opinion on the matter.

The Witness glances over the clothing at Gavin’s request and gives an estimate of their value. While the two holy men conduct funerary rites the wizard scans through the scrolls and spellbook given him, sorting out what he finds worth keeping and putting the rest under the bed.

"You kind of wish this was more of a pit of depravity, full of murdered people and blood sketches of their kills. Instead of this... a home." she sighs, placing the book of poetry back down where she found it. "We leave anything that is personal."

”I’d like to read this - it may contain some insight into this Anchor, or at least these men. I assure you I’ll return it when I’m done - the wondrous thing about a book is you can leave it behind yet still carry its value away with you.” He pauses and reflects a moment. ”Not strictly true of spellbooks and other enchanted tomes, of course; to be of lasting use those generally need to be replicated if the original is to be left behind. But accurate in matters of less intense knowledge.”

After a magical examination of the Anchor he enchants his mirror for the evening, though he makes a brief study of the eclectic recycled architecture before withdrawing to its extra-dimensional space to read the journal.

Fenrick helps Gavin with getting the pyre ready. Once everything is set up, he begins the prayers he has given countless times to let their souls pass safely to Pharasma. The prayers have an odd cadence to them... rhythmic in a dark way. Once the dead have been laid to rest, Fenrick sighs. I know there is nothing we could of done to change this outcome, but it is never easy to take a life. I am glad we cleared all this up quickly. Let us rest here for the night and take care of the anchor in the morning. I will keep watch for Marco while we rest.

Fenrick will give himself a touch his want and finds a nice place to watch over the campsite.

Once the pyre has burned out, and the others are settled into their nighttime routines, Gavin joins the Witness in the mirror for some much needed rest.

Knowing Fen has magic to keep him rested no matter the sleep, Lyra settles into her bedroom and goes to sleep, outside the mirror if Fen needs backup quickly.

Stripping the dead men before their final rites, Gavin and Fenrick recover two masterwork agile breastplates, two masterwork longswords, two shortbows, 40 arrows, two daggers, 4 flasks of alchemist’s fire, one potion of cure moderate wounds, two potions of cure light wounds, one traveler’s any-tool, and a strange bottle of white fur.

After divvying up the spoils of their conquest, and stowing as much of it as they can in their various magical bags, the Seekers settle in for the night. The Witness, Gavin, and Lyra all pass the night fairly peacefully while Fenrick sits vigil alone outside the mirror.

Once he's completed memorizing his spells and coffee has been prepared, The Witness exits his mirror and stows it as soon as any other occupants have left.

"How went the night, Inquisitor? I admit, I spent some hours reading, but from my vantage you seemed unperturbed."

We had company all night. Someone or something seemed to be circling the camp all night long but never getting close enough to be a concern. Fenrick glances at his left hand where is mark is, and I feel the anchor is trying to pull me to it. My mark wants me to go in soon and I fear it might have some compulsion effects if we delay it much longer. That being said, maybe we should set up some sort of protection or trap outside. Someone was watching the camp last night and I have a feeling it was Marco. If this anchor is like the last, I fear we will be drained of resources when coming out and Marco will try pressing his luck again, not that he seemed like much to be worried about. What are your thoughts?

"If the anchor is pulling us, delaying, even to place a trap, seems unwise." Lyra seems antsy to get moving. Technically it is Seth's day, but battle awaits, she knows it and Lyra is the better twin for swords and blood.

Gavin's morning is more quiet than most. Quiet prayers. Quiet tea. Quiet meditation. Quiet packing.

He seems unnerved by Fenrick's talk of being watched last night, but there is nothing to be done about it now.

"Marko was here because this place attracts visitors. A trap is as likely to snare an innocent as it is Marko." Gavin says after thinking on the trap.

"Lyra is right, delay seems unwise."

please, each of you, take a moment to claim any of the things listed in the spoiler 'marko's bounty' and let me know.
Lyra, please update your current hp.

Thank you for the reminder. Potion of cure light wounds and remove disease is all the twins are taking.

Once the discussion quiets, Gavin hoists his pack onto his back and makes his way to where the portal appeared last night, looking back to be sure the others are ready to follow.

When they are ready, he suggests the order of Himself, Lyra, the Witness and lastly, Fenrick.

"Why?" Lyra asks Gavin "Despite the fact I am faster and less prone to be cut in half..." she starts with a smile, but then turns serious "You are more important. All I can do is stab people. You can save us if we need it. If you fall, there is little we could do to prevent it."

other than the lovely perception you have there of course :)

"With Saranrae's blessed gifts, I am a little more durable than you." Gavin replies with a smile, "It'll be for a moment only."

”I also prefer not to delay. I’ll account for the possibility of ambush upon our exit of the Anchor and manage my resources accordingly; if possible, I suggest we all do so.

“If there are no objections, I’d like to link us all telepathically before entering, much as I did at the first Anchor. It served as a useful indicator of whether we occupied a shared dimensional space, in addition to facilitating communication.”

Assuming there are no objections, he casts telepathic bond on the party.

++If we have the opportunity to gather before exiting this Anchor as we did the last one, I suggest we attempt to exit simultaneously. If we succeed, I can then immediately translocate us along the next leg of our journey, hopefully bypassing any attempted ambush.++ The wizard lays the bandit journal on a convenient piece of ancient masonry before stepping into proximity of the portal.

++I suggest we make a test of this portal and attempt to have as many of us enter at once as can fit.++

Lyra relents with a laugh and a bow. "Then lead on, good sir"

*the foursome enter the portal, in pairs, if possible*

I’ll post heading into the anchor in the morning, so last call for actions before entering.

If you think it best, we will go now. Let me first give us a blessing of Pharasma. It might help us in what is to come. I wish you all luck and see you soon. Fenrick nods to his allies and makes a quick prayer. Everyone feels the dead cold of Pharasma wash over them.

casting bless on the group because it lasted so long last time. I am good to go in now

*the foursome enter the portal, in pairs, if possible*

Or even as a quartet, if possible...

The four seekers approach the eastern Anchor. As with the southern Anchor, a portal of rippling blue energy, six feet wide and twelve feet tall cuts into the wall beneath the medallion bearing the Seal. The portal cannot accommodate all four at once, so Lyra and Gavin grasp hands and step through. Just behind them, Fenrick and the Witness step through; they refrain from holding hands, to gather extra data.

After an impossibly brief tumble through utter nothingness, all four Seekers find themselves standing, in the same formation, in a circular stone chamber very reminiscent of those they passed through in the southern Anchor. There are no pedestals or niches this time, however, only a three foot tall shard of obsidian floating in the center of the room and two flat walls, behind them and opposite them.

Gavin looks around to make sure everyone made it in one piece, then casts Detect magic. Looking first to Fenrick to determine if the Inquisitors blessing followed them through the portal, then into the room, carefull looking for clues or missed details.

perception: 1d20 + 21 ⇒ (4) + 21 = 25

Satisfied that there no immediate dangers, Gavin moves to within 5' of the floating stone, but touches nothing.

Gavin will continue focusing, for the purpose of offering an assist to the Witness on checks he might make.

++We remain together, for the time being. Excellent. Let’s make a study of this chamber.++

The Witness casts heightened awareness and detect magic before studying the chamber for several minutes, focusing on the flat walls and the hovering obsidian.

++That’s the second largest piece of volcanic glass I’ve ever seen.++

"Well that is a better start then. I hope..." Lyra slides her blade out of the sheath and looks around, waiting for something to jump out at them.

Fenrick also casts a spell to allow him to see magical auras. He tries to help the other spell casters with identifying what is going on but gets lost on their complex understanding of magic.

k. Arcana (aid): 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (11) + 4 = 15

But manages to get some information in that is helpful at least.

So what do you think we are supposed to do in here? Fenrick also uses his gift to detect the auras of good and evil to see if this place has anything about it.

using my at will detect alignment ability

"Maybe we touch it." Lyra suggests, waiting patiently, feeling only a Little left out of all the magical looking at things.

++Maybe, Pigeon. The obsidian has an abjurative effect active upon it, possibly meant to dispel magics that come into contact with it, but more likely, I believe, suppressing a conjurative function of the glass. I theorize that performing some triggering action may temporarily suppress or outright remove this abjuration, allowing the suppressed effect to become active. Given this room's deficit of distinguishing features - including exits - I find it likely triggering the effect is our only option to progress. Touching the stone would seem a highly intuitive mechanism, one Seekers unable to discern the tapestry of the arcane are likely to arrive at, as you have just proven.

++I second The Pigeon's suggestion that we touch the obsidian. Gentlemen, are you in agreement?++

++If your curiosity is sated, I think it is a logical next step.++

Lyra reaches out pressing the palm of her hand to the stone. "Cold, even though my glove. It... wants something, but we have to agree." she looks to the others, and shrugs. "This probably is the way out. Do we agree together? Hold hands again."

++Agreed. Maintain physical contact with one another, as we do for translocation. We wait to give our permission together, and then will do so on a count of three. The cadence will be one, two, three, then permission in time with the fourth beat. Understood?++

Putting one hand on the shoulder of the person to his left, he places his right hand on the floating obsidian. Once everyone is ready, he begins a countdown.

++One...Two...Three...++ Go!

Having few clues to go on, but wanting to take some precaution, Gavin casts a protective blessing on the group, then he joins the others and waits for the count.

casting resist energy, communal.(cold)

Gavin- are you just placing a hand on the Witness or are you following his lead and placing your other hand on the stone?

Gavin will touch both the stone and another person.

Fenrick touch the stone and grabs Gavin's shoulder so that Gavin can touch the stone and grab someone else's shoulder to allow us all to touch another and the stone. When the count down happens, Fenrick gives permission at the right time.