Bella pauses, staring, before saying quite flatly, "Uh... Well, my maker was a house-cannith d- tinkerer! And, uh... What I just did. Making things, I mean."
She pauses, before clapping her hands together and saying, "So I'm Bella! If there's anything you need, don't hesitate to ask. The Stairs back down are on the exterior, so do watch your step- and if you don't mind, where am I?"
She pauses, before speaking again, "Oh, where's my manners, please, sit!"
Bella steps back a bit, as between starting and ending her sentence, you see her glow, as if a brilliant purple light is glowing from the inside- The intricate and detailed etchings on her form seem to almost writhe, as in front of you from almost nothing, magic happens. Seemingly from nothing you watch as intricate, delicate carvings appear before the very stone is etched into the nothingness, like reality itself is being carved away into a new shape. No, it was like it’s being pressed, like clay to the touch. In the air you can almost see the world itself be shaped into a new form, as bits of it flake away to reveal an intricate porcelain teapot with a set of equally as detailed teacubs, and a full set of plates covered in cucumber sandwiches and cheese, a small piece of charcoal lands in an black iron braiser, the tea setting on top with a clink. As you look into the iron braiser, you realize that it’s not truely iron at all, but instead something that flickers like ink, a dream of iron turned into something solid.
As she steps back, she sits in a chair that appears under her, taking a plain shape as other chairs appear to serve as parity, beautifully drawn and intricate with as comfortable a pillow she could make. "It's been a long week, and I'm glad to meet some new friends."
In terms of spells… It’s basically a lesser version of Major Creation, with a duration of 14 hours unless she decides to stop supporting it.
But in truth, it’s a Creation sphere effect with expanded materials, plasma creation, surrealinforcement forged to replicate Fire Forged Steel to heat a teapot. It was also done with a borderline comical amount of ease (0 SP/cantrip level) due to taking time and some expert-level shortcuts that you can barely understand
Lyra watches everything she does, and at the end she simply says.
"Fascinating"
Then she walks around Bella and her lesser constructs.
"Bella is a Warforged, a kind of magic version of me, and just like me, it's Bella has been reprogrammed. It seems for Eticet and entertaining by Bella's creator. But her code is a little off, Bella must have been in her compact form for some time. And the radiation here seems to have had an effect on the code-soul. How much is hard to tell. Her memory may be impaired."
She shaped her personal force field to make an simple unseen seat for herself and sat, joining Bella at her made table.
"Bella, what's the last thing you remember?"
"Remarkable..." said Azzim as he watched Bella. He inspected the things she's made and he murmured, "These are excellent constructs, she clearly has real talent."
When Lyra mentioned her memory was possibly impaired, Azzim asked, "I'm told that mending and similar spells work with constructs, do you think one of the more powerful forms could help with memory loss?"
He considered this too based on various texts he'd read in Sigil.
"Well, Bella. It is nice to meet you", Arlo smiles. "May the Soul Forger Be With you."
Bella smiles at Arlo's introduction, shaking his hand and smiling, "And may the flame be with you."
Bella blinked, and you can see her quietly begin to shuffle around expectation in her head. She didn't think of herself as "Off," she just thought of herself as something that was quite intricate, designed for a purpose, and then forced out of it. Truth be told, she hoped they would just ask her for something and she could get back to life as usual, but it seemed like these people were in the habit of prying further than usual. The truth wouldn't hurt in this situation, but she would have to leave out some of the more... sensitive details. Truth be told, she probably should have just been thankful she wasn't immediately outed as outside the norm, and by Ontar's blood was she thankful that Warforges weren't simply a house cannith thing in Sigil.
"Oh- W-well you see, I had just been kicked out of my friends house for inviting someone over for tea, I didn't know them but apperently he owed them money, and so I was looking for work, tried to talk to someone about it, and then immediately the tavern was attacking me and everyone else. Someone pinned me down, and I was..." She waves her hand, as if to brush the topic aside, for lack of a better word, 'Put into a deep sleep.' It's part of my initial design. I'm just thankful someone let me out, to be quite honest."
She looks over to Azim as he mentions using magic to heal her memory, shaking her head, "As I said, I was basically asleep while I was in the cube. It's not like you can reach into my unconscious and pull out half-sensed emotions. Oh, give me one second-"
She touches the rock she's on, and with a quiet flick of the hand re-shapes the stone platform into a chair. You can literally feel the rock fall a few inches as the stone is siphoned from below into a new shape of the stone. After settling back in, she puts the tea back on the brassier and blushes. "Ah, uh- My apologies. I'm still settling back on my feet."
Entering the North wing of Institute For TransDimensional Studies, Terex finds some deserted offices fairly typical for mid-tech research institute. Jumping from room to room, he discovers what seems like the offices of a group of idiosyncratic researchers all brought together for their interest in "interplanar travel" (in a world where it's mostly considered ridiculous) - with most being the typical fantasy spinners but with a few seemingly guessing the truth of this interplanar travel but some, a couple, having some grasp of the principles of magic.
Terex' deep intuition on scholarly research and planar lets him discover these details in just twenty minutes. But what he discovers ultimately is that the serious research was quickly moved to the (now radiated) South wing when it showed signs of success. Still, he moves the papers of Otto Wallagan to his library for further study...
It is at that point, Emoree sends Terex an image of the scene outside the Institute with feeling of opportunity and danger. The telepathic bear is curious but knows of various mutant plants in the decimated zone capable of first mesmerizing and then consuming the unwary and she sends images of these as well to Terex...
Outside, the party sees Emoree, the enormous telepathic bear, return from her usual scouting and glance at Bella, sending a feeling of curiosity and wariness to everyone.
Entering the North wing of Institute For TransDimensional Studies, Terex finds some deserted offices fairly typical for mid-tech research institute. Jumping from room to room, he discovers what seems like the offices of a group of idiosyncratic researchers all brought together for their interest in "interplanar travel" (in a world where it's mostly considered ridiculous) - with most being the typical fantasy spinners but with a few seemingly guessing the truth of this interplanar travel but some, a couple, having some grasp of the principles of magic.
Terex' deep intuition on scholarly research and planar lets him discover these details in just twenty minutes. But what he discovers ultimately is that the serious research was quickly moved to the (now radiated) South wing when it showed signs of success. Still, he moves the papers of Otto Wallagan to his library for further study...
It is at that point, Emoree sends Terex an image of the scene outside the Institute with feeling of opportunity and danger. The telepathic bear is curious but knows of various mutant plants in the decimated zone capable of first mesmerizing and then consuming the unwary and she sends images of these as well to Terex...
Outside, the party sees Emoree, the enormous telepathic bear, return from her usual scouting and glance at Bella, sending a feeling of curiosity and wariness to everyone.
Lyra was fascinated as matter shifted and moved.
"I have analyzed the matter she is waiving and I don't think any of this is permanent. It's magic-based, a bit like what my daughter Gift does with ectoplasm. I think she may be fine, the Sleep mode she was in may just have affected Bella's timeframe of reference. Someone must have found her in Music Box mode and bright her Here
She pauses, before saying "The gazebo is permanent. I can make more permanent stuff, it's not that much harder than anything else. And who's radiation? Are they the person who kidnapped me?"
Leaning down and looking over the edge of the platform she made, she sees the mutated bear. With a quiet wave, she makes him a berry bush before quietly turning to the first floor party and whispering "There's a bear"
Terexaltherin is just about to reach out to the group and share what he's learned when Emoree sends him some images. He puzzles over them for a bit--where had all that come from?
He responds back with a sense of reassurance, along with images of their group handling some different mind-affecting plants and such. He doesn't think it's particularly likely they're all in thrall to something like that, but he does suggest to her that she could try communicating with the new person herself to see if she's dangerous.
While he's telepathically communicating with the great bear, Terexaltherin himself flies out of the building. He's still in his raven disguise, just on the off chance this gets back to the Dark Traders somehow. He reaches out telepathically to the group, leaving Bella out.
What did I miss? Is this someone you met in the south building? he asks.
"I found a music box that turned out to be this being here, A warforged called Bella. Bella seems to have been repurposed as a dramatic servant. Also, she has no memory of how she got here."
Lyra sends.
Emoree sniffs the berries Bella offers her and gently takes a few (which requires considerable dexterity given her immense size). Looking at Bella and the party, she send an image of Bella accompanying them. And to Bella, she sends an image of a very large honey comb and looks at her expectantly...
Terexaltherin broadcasts agreement to Emoree's suggestion. Then he says, straining to accompany his words with images and feelings to include the bear, We're definitely not going to leave her out here alone, so I agree we'll need to take Bella with us. That means we'll have to tell her part of what we're doing here. Should I go ahead?
Bella stared at the bear, gesturing her hand and attempting to conjure honeycomb. With it almost entirely unfamiliar to her, she could only do her best
She turns to her party, and speaks quite bluntly, "I would appreciate any help you can provide to return homeward, or any work you need. I don't know who Radiation is, but if he uses Poisons with a but of time I should be able to provide some alchemical equipment to help deal with it. I have a fair amount of experience with them, and with healing with them."
She pauses, "if there's nothing you can do, then I am afraid I will have to fight Radiation myself to get back home through the building, and I am not sure where I would go."
Azzim suggested gently, "I don't think Radiation is something you can fight exactly, it is however dangerous and like poison it can make you sick. As for what you'll do. Well long term there's a place called Sigil you might want to visit, I expect there's more of your kind there and besides it's really quite an amazing place in it's own right, unique in all the planes."
With a more troubled tone he added, "Still Sigil is a long way from here, and this area is I think potentially really quite dangerous and fair warning, we're heading towards the danger, not away from it."
The talk of radiation's harm brought worry back to Arlo's face, as he watched over his android wife. "Let's keep going."
Not until we explain what's going on, Terexaltherin insists in response to Arlo as he comes and perches on Azzim's shoulder.
He adds Bella to his telepathic communication. In contrast to his current raven appearance, his telepathic 'voice' sounds like a rich, powerful baritone. He strains to include images and emotions along with his 'words' to keep Emoree included in the conversation. Hello, Bella. I'm Terexaltherin.
His telepathic message includes an indication he's the raven. I'm sorry to say, but there's probably not a way back to your home in that structure. You may not have noticed yet, but this area has been abandoned for a long time, and whatever portal you may have come through is likley no longer functional. And...
He hesitates, sorrow coloring his thoughts. Given how much time has passed... your home is probably very different now. With the differences in how time flows between planes it's hard to say just how much of a difference there will be, but... it's almost certainly a lot.
Now, Azzim was mentioning Sigil. When we get back to the city we came from, we could help you get to Sigil. It's the City of Doors, so we could almost certainly find a portal to your home there. But as he said, we're in the middle of an expedition, so we can't head back right now. This world had a catastrophe happen a long time ago, and we suspect that a group of evil people are trying to learn about it or use what it left behind for their own purposes, so we've been following a trail to somewhere we hope to learn more of what's going on. You're welcome to come with us--this land is dangerous no matter which way you go, but we will be going to an area that's probably still more dangerous. That said, there's safety in numbers, and we're a dangerous group ourselves, so there shouldn't be anything we can't handle.
Bella pauses, as she puts two and two things together in her head. These people don't know that I just came from sigil.
Bella's life almost flashed before her eyes- Her patrons assassinations and the parts she played in them, her uncovering the dragonmark slowly growing inside of her, leaking out bit by bit, she remembers running. She remembers the two strangers, surrealy human and traveling with them through a ship, into a city of impossibilities. A place where she was just another person, even one with plenty of magic.
She remembers a search for job so she could afford a place to live. Or at least a place that won't be stolen out from under her in a day. Trying to join a mysterious Organization. She remembers getting pinned, having herself "Reset," with the stone-beating fear that she would never wake up. That that would be a death that she could never escape, not without going home. Not without the rest of her world finding out.
In all her time, she had not met another dragonmarked. In all her time, she had not heard of another dragonmark. She wasn't sure, but she was worried she was the only dragonmarked on sigil. That the only dragonmark on sigil was someone who shouldn't be a dragonmark.
But this- The opportunity to return to her tasks? To trail with another and provide them aid, to do what she can to make their lives easier? The chance to use her skills to help again, something she hadn't been able to do since she left Michael and Xalthisa? Being able to do good, rather than being the tool to assassinate multiple high-level nobles? This was... Incredibly fortunate.
"Of course!" she bleats in shock, "My apologies- I was still a bit frazzled, and didn't quite register the..."
For the first time, she truly gazes around to the depth of ruin around her. Endless wasteland in every direction, decay at almost every step, the only thing new, cohesive, and not battered and worn was the gazebo and the platform she had created.
"... Depth of destruction. By the host. Of course I'll travel with you, especially if it means I can do something to prevent this destruction from spreading. I don't know what I can do, but if there's some sort of material that can prevent it from hurting- with a bit of help I might be able to make an antitoxin, or a coat to protect us, or... Or something. Just let me help."
So, with Bella partially filled-in on the quest, the party continues forward towards the final position indicated by the Starling, which with a bit of recalculation for terrain changes, you now guess is 2-3 days ahead... Continuing through the area of ruined research and technology enterprises, Emoree still reports she can detect no dominant creature in the area. Finally, the path crosses a hole in a large fence and some railroad tracks and finally emerges in what seems to have been something like luxurious park... However the grass and flowers are dead in patches and overgrown elsewhere, the park rides are fallen in places. But even more, you see places where it appears space itself was distorted - Buildings, trees and ground are all stretched and twisted but not destroyed. Moving with stealth and caution through this strange zone, in about an hour you see in the distance a weird creature; it has a conical body of spongy flesh with a variety of legs, arms and other things sticking asymmetrically... it takes an irregular path like a mad, slowly spinning top.
It's Chiralzon demon, a unraveling demon, a creature that creates distortion in reality as it moves. Kept as pets and steads by the Choronzon... A dangerous thing to allow to roam free and a weird thing to see in a random plane... Emoree is behind you scouting.
DR 10/silver and good; Immune Fire, poison, acid; cold 10, fire 10, electricity does double damage for unknown reasons; SR 25
- They have strange senses and an alien mindset but generally want to destroy things.
Arlo scowls at the threat from his vantage point.
Azzim saw the strange creature and frowned "A reality distorting Chiralzon demon. That's something we can't leave roaming free... If possible use electrical attacks, they're said to be immune to fire, poison and acid and be resistant to cold. It has strange alien senses so invisibility might no be effective..."
Bella tilts her head, trying to wrack her brain as to the best way to confront this encounter.
"Well, if there's lightning needed, I can create some lightning-bolts. They're not the most potent, but they're one avenue. Usually I'd pass multiple poison daggers to Ms Phiarlan, but it can't deal with poison. Hm... I can also make a bunch of enhanced holy water to drop on them."
She gives Arlo's sword a brief look over, holding out her ears to see how magic it is.
"Your sword is rather... Tempermental, isn't it? It sounds like it's thirsting to kill this deamon. While I can't do poison in this case, I could coat it with some balms Ms Phiarlan showed me to deal with them, and it should grow back between attacks. I can enhance it right before we enter into battle to deal some electric damage to save us some time in combat."
She looks to Lyra and furrows her brow, "I'll be honest, I don't know what I can make for you. You should be able to coat your hands with some balm, but I don't know how to enhance people. Though... I haven't tried this, but in *theory* I should be able to change what your hands are made of, but... Well, I never tried it."
She looks to Azzim, and pauses. Ms. Phiarlan did have magic, but her magic was very musical. "I should be able to produce you a set of Singing Steel armor as per my lady's usual, but I don't know if poison daggers will be useful. Or if your magic works. Or what I can make to help. Maybe Myrr? Ms Phiarlan mentioned how useful Myrr is for dealing with spell resistance..."
She also looks to Terexaltherin, pausing. She'd never dealt with familiars. Or psudodragons. Or regular dragons. She had no idea what she would even do for him. Quietly, as if she didn't quite know what she was saying, she asks "... Do you want bombs? I know how to make bombs. Or darts. Would Darts work?"
Azzim saw the strange creature and frowned [b]"A reality distorting Chiralzon demon. That's something we can't leave roaming free...
The dwarf paladin simply nods and draws The Arlosword. Arlo looks at the environment and sees if he can quietly approach the demon for an attack.
Arlo carefully charts a path outside of line of sight that takes him close to the entity . He winds-up behind a ruined merry-go-round about 40' away from it. Close enough to charge it - or he could wait for it, it's spinning path seems like it will lead it to him about half a minute...
Terexaltherin shifts back to his true form from the raven form when it's clear they're going to fight.
He considers Bella's offer. I usually use my wands in battle, but like most demons this one is resistant to magic... I could use some bombs or darts, though I probably won't be as effective if it can detect me before I hit it. If you can do any kind of holy-silver coating for my stinger, then I could dart in while it's distracted and sting it somewhere vulnerable.
On seeing the Demon. ]
She smiles at Bella's offer.
"Thanks Bella but I'm good, best to mix Magic and technology too much, however saying that"
From her N-Space Tech Backpack, she takes out her Large Rail Gun or as it is also known...
"Arlo my love could you bless myself and my BFG"
Setting it up ready for a shot.
---
When her husband gets close she sends to him.
"Say the word dear"
Bella desperately fails at Arlo as he flees, the Arlosword getting coated in the holy balm and silversheen, as she barely manages to hear Terex.
Her mind flashes to the fairy that her old master called friend, who always carried whatever she made. She turns to the psudodragon as she quickly fails her hand, summoning a bottle into his arms, thrusting with energy and boiling at the touch. In a torrent, she says "I don't do flesh, so I can't help with that, but if you need a weapon it'll work, but this bottled lighting will be very dangerous if you can land it right! I have an idea to hide you, no idea if it'll work!"
She looks to Lyra, pausing as she sees the gun. It is big, and it does not sing quite as hard as the arlosword. She pauses, and asks "What are you firing? I can make some stuff if needed.[/b]
Arlo quietly gets into position, taking a moment to designate the Chiralzon demon as the subject of his smite ability. Then the dwarf paladin springs for the cover, then attacks. "MORADIN!!!"
"Not this stuff, its compressed adamantium, with a depleted uranium core, the magnetic rails compress it down to a needle as it fires. Kind of mass equals speed one hell of a punch"
As Arlo goes she fires, there is a shock wave of a blast and a small dense object is accelerated to Mck14
She zeros in again as her weapon recharges.
Ah hell muttered Azzim under his breath, before Arlo got far he gave him a encouraging clap on the back, "Good hunting!" A thin layer of protective energy shimmered over his body.
Laurana popped out of one of Azzim's pockets, she flew twice around Bella and said, "Hi!" before she whispered a word of power and everyone felt a huge jolt of adrenaline!
Terexaltherin seems a little surprised by Bella's rush of words, but he grabs the bottle she creates in his forelimbs as he takes off. He flies low, trying to keep cover between him and his target. As he gets closer he starts projecting his "don't notice me" field.
The Arlosword, holy smite: 1d20 + 18 + 4 ⇒ (15) + 18 + 4 = 37
As Arlo charges, he notices that there seems to be an odd shimmer that almost lies on the edge of beig holy.- The balm made by Bella! As strikes, you watch as the arc is almost mirrored in a divine smite, as arc flies to the demon! .
Bella holds out her hand, and in a comically desperate, desperate attempt to look like a wizard, folds them dramatically as with all her skills tries to Create, tapping into her hidden pool of power in the desperate hope that she'll be able to get it powerful enough . She didn't know how many senses it has, but her old master had her do this before . This wasn't facing some horrible monster, this was a sneak attack!
First, the blindness. She didn't know if it had eyes, but most things had eyes- She created a thin, silvery powder falling behind it that, with a single ember, flashed to a blinding light, almost drowning the creature to Arlo for a split second and is it forced to brave the entirety of it.
Then comes the second part of her plan, as she unfolded her hands to create... Mayhem! Smoke fills the air as a horrific racket joins in, as it seems like the trees behind Arlo are filled with almost a small army of sparklers dancing around in a mess, dragging clattering stones in a horrifically disorienting display .
Arlo steps from behind cover and swings against the spinning creature that either didn't sense him or didn't care. But the glowing rents he cuts in the thing gets it's attention and weird appendage comes snaking out and strikes him full on the side to send him flying 30' while the thing seems to incidentally turn a nearby tree into weird spaghetti.
Then Lyra's shell strikes it and adds another large rent to the huge creatures and the light hits. Then it's various tentacle and arm-like ampendages futilely lash out at the clatterstones while it moves in a disoriented fashion.
✰ ✰ ✰ ✰ ✰
Arlo uses blessing of fervor to get up from prone as a swift action.
Even expecting it, Terexaltherin finds Bella's distraction very... well, distracting. Forcing himself to ignore all the racket he zooms forward and hurls his payload at the demon.
Arlos blade strikes true, and with each true strike deals deeper damage with the clear salve, glowing with the holy light
Terexalthian, as he pops open the lightning bottle, feels the force of a storm blow out of it as the air singes of Ozone, blasting out with a force he didn't expect, especially as he discovers another in his hand.
Bella stares as the outsider reacts to the balm like almost nothing, not even acknowledging it as it hits- For a second, she struggles to recognize it. Slowly, the nature of it seeps into her shoulders. She was facing some ancient, unfathomable deity reaching out to cause chaos, to destroy. To unravel the very notion of space and time and she-
Stick to the plan
She stood back, as she stifled the feelings in her gut of fear and horror - her movements turning jerky, she reached out her hands and tried to Create once again- Was that a fairy?
The chaos in her thoughts crashes into brain as she finds herself filled with fear, the heartbeat in her chest thundering with the sheer adrenaline of the encounter , divine power pumping through her veins and her mind racing in terror as she creates- The past and present flickering between herself as she desperately changes aim, feeling the racing of her thoughts turn into racing of plasma
Behind it, you can hear the sound of a meteor descend, as a steel icon of a fairy crashes, barely missing Arlo as it crashes into the ground behind the beast.
She flinches as she looks to Laurana, muttering an apology to the Lyrakien as she looks at the Icon. It didn't look like her. It looked more like a children drawing than anything else. More had appeared among the trees, barely the size of a halfling.
And then they began to move, begining a quiet dance.
As Terex' lightning crackles around the thing, the chaotic storm around it gathers force and then explores in a strange, mind-bending swirl of dissonance. Once the swirl clears, the ground in the area is strangely reshaped and the creature is gone. Healing as best you can, the party continues on the Starling path. In the next day, you encounter several more minor chaos-creatures. Then the morning when you approach the end of the Starling path dawn, you guess only a few more hours. This area was once a series of high rise housing structures...
Lyra scoped out the area and when happy the thing was gone, She stood up and packed away her BFG.
"Well that was interesting, and Bella thank you for helping us. I agree with Terex, think you should stay with us for now"
She then goes and check her husband to see he is all right.
With the demon's destruction(?), Arlo seems dazed and confused. "Wha? What happened?"
The dwarf paladin does his best to stay low as there doesn't appear to be much cover.
As she gets to her husband she can tell something is off.
"Right holds still, this will hurt a little, sorry."
She takes out a small disk device and pulling a strip off it, sicks it to her husband's forehead. two lights come on and it starts to humm.
There is a dull light pain.
restoration
"It rebooting your main cortex, don't remove it until it stops humming"
Which dose not take long, She takes it off him and slips it back into her medical pouch.
"Good to go dear"
And she slaps his little dwarven butt.
"All better off you pop"
MUCH BETTER IMAGE OF WHAT SHE LOOKS LIKE AND HER BFG
=====
She follows the others bringing up the vanguard as the others head into the last space, using her BFG scope to scope whats ahead.
"Keep safe love"
She says as Arlo moves ahead.
Bella followed Lyra, nodding, just staring at the gun she carried-
"I will say, that is a massive gun. It's odd- So much of what you make is silent. Arlo's sword sings loud and boisterous, about glory and vengance, and yet your gun whispers instead. Where does it's killing power come from?"
She watches as Lyra pulls out some of her equipment, and it's faint on the wind, but she can hear the technology at work to mend, the nanites music sounding like intricate noise to her construct ears.
----------------------------------------------
Rising towers into the sky were a familiar passage to Bella- Though she was unused to this particular design. Or how short they felt, in comparison to the world she once fumbled through.
She quietly weaves herself a staircase further up, boring holes as she quietly pulls apart the seams of the walls slowly trying to reach her final location while making use of old buildings walls and windows to scout ahead. She looks aside to whoever decides to follow, as she is not the woman to say no to aid.
Terexaltherin flinches from the demon's destruction, but otherwise seems unbothered. Well, there's another weird demon down, he telepathically comments to his friends. Did anyone get injured?
Once he sees that Lyra is caring for Arlo, he turns his thoughts to Bella. That was pretty effective, but next time warn me that it will duplicate itself. I almost dropped it a second time! His telepathic 'tone of voice' makes it clear that he's just teasing.
He also checks in with Emoree before they keep moving, to make certain she's doing all right here.
Once they near the target area, Terexaltherin 'says', Let me scout ahead! That's one of the things I'm good for!
He darts ahead of the rest of the group, flying from cover to cover as he looks for signs of danger.
Coming upon the highrises, Bella drills tunnels straight through a couple of them but then realizes there are a few miles of this stuff to go and lets Terex take the lead... The party deduces that now taking the path pointed to by the Starling would not be wise since the Dark Traders or their allies are at the end of it. So carefully skirting that and moving through the huge tower-block complex, Terex approaches the end point with the rest of the party far enough behind to be quiet, close enough to communicate. (As you approach the end point, the radiation you can detect diminishes but you detect a sort of field of chaotic magic flooding the area).
Then, rounding a bend, Terex sees a stunning vista...
Those behind at the minimum sense a gasp through the telepathic link...
"I will say, that is a massive gun. It's odd- So much of what you make is silent. Arlo's sword sings loud and boisterous, about glory and vengance, and yet your gun whispers instead. Where does it's killing power come from?"
Lyra chuckles,
"That's because you are attuned to magic and its resonance. Myself and my belongings are not from a magic reality. But from a reality where universal laws apply everywhere. The average cosmos is magical and relatively small. With no need for a complex extended reality outside of the main sentient and divine habitat space-times. Gods and faith render those realities as tails and legends-based rapped in magic. Stars are indeed campfires in the sky, Suns being pulled by Chariots and star Goats. You get the idea. They are small and they are fluid, they change all the time and all things hum with the magic. Unlike planes with low magic or zero Magic like my home plane. These are outliers plans on the great scream of things."She holds out her hand and a complex hologram of a bell curve of plotted reality comes into being.
"On this side of the reality bell curve you get pour infinite chromatic planes, where time and space are meaningless. That demon we just vaguest came from such a place. And on this side, you have realities of pour law. They have hard immutable entropy and cosmic constants making them often Trillons times traillons of light years across and years old. My plane was over 15 billion years old and the same and would go on to be some 10 to 73 Trillion years old before heat death. And it's on such a plane we craft within the laws that zero magic reality. we make with Physics what other planes make with Magic. You are not tuned for that, but you are right, there is no magic in my weapon, you're picking up the fact it's been around magic that is all. What is uses is electromagnetism, I kind of Physics."
She puts her hand down, and powers up her weapon.
"When you move from plan of reality to plane of reality, you take with you a kind of personal bubble of your home reality. Not a big one, Just enough of one to take personal things. trust me I did an experiment with a larger object and the power needed was god-level and even then it did not last for long. So don't expect cities from other planes of reality to show up on other planes. It's why the dark traders can only send beings to other planes and not gigantic war devices. So when you head to another plane, which may be with us, given our other adventures. Your skills and powers will work, and your belongings will. Just like my rail gun, but that's it. So it's kind of cool you can make stuff. That Bella would be a great help to us. Took me three months just to make a basic landwalker for this exhibition. Could have done it in weeks with your help."
She powers down her weapon.
"Bella you should think about joining us. After you get home that is. We could do with someone with your skills, and it would be nice to have another construct in the party, also I think you will get on with my daughter. She can be a bit scary but I think you will like her. Your form Sigil right? We have a manner there, come visit."
She stops as Terex says he will go point. Gun ready she waits with Bella.
I think I'm coming up on... Terexaltherin's telepathic speech suddenly cuts off as he rounds a corner and looks down...
...and down... and down... and down... into impossible angles that seem to fill his mind...
...he barely notices when he crashes into the ground.
"You know." said Azzim after hearing Lyra's explanation, "I've heard it said in Sigil that sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic. You say there's no magic to your weapon, but it sure worked like magic if you ask me!"
As they traveled through the strange environment, Azzim watched Terez disappear into the distance he remarked softly, "Surely they know we're here right? Or maybe this close to ground zero everything gets too weird for that."
Then Terex's mind brushed into their shared consciousness and fell silent. Glancing to the the others he said, "Damn, he's in trouble. We'd best find him!"
Azzim wondered if they'd need any protection from the planar-temporal weirdness ahead.
Terex's mind brushed into their shared consciousness and fell silent. Glancing to the the others he said, "Damn, he's in trouble. We'd best find him!"
Azzim wondered if they'd need any protection from the planar-temporal weirdness ahead.
"Shi+." Arlo replied. "We better find him quick>"
The dwarf paladin begins to brave the murky wilds to find the pseudodragon.