Bella will follow to the wounded, and offer up some troll styptic, before turning and quietly trying to listen to some faint echo of their will, looking deep into the sea and trying to sing some order into it.
So, despite exhaustion after the battle with the Dark Traders, the party continues past sunset researching the lake as well as healing and talking to the two young Starling carriers, Daleana and Ullia. These two are suffering from serious radiation damage as well as wisdom damage from gazing at the black lake but with the party's healing efforts they are return to full health. They tell a now familiar tale - desperate to pay their families debts, they took on the Starling quest and saw similar sights to what the party encountered - which they dealt with mostly by stealth and diplomacy. They have the making of adventurers, no doubt and they are curious who you are as well uncertain how their quest will end.
Meanwhile,
... investigating the dark lake... are the planes he can sense in it truly contained within it
Your sense the planes are contained, trapped within it and distorted and cursed by the black lake... but this isn't certain. You have a sense there is at least one other exit/entrance on the "bottom" of this maelstrom.
what is the relationship between the lake and the crystals the Starling bearers bring back? Are they pieces of the planes within it, or solidified protoplasm from the lake itself?
They seem to be a bit of both - some of the energy of the trapped planes is smuggled out this way and some of the protoplasm is released by opening these maps - probably to bad effect...
He also does his best to keep Emoree appraised of what they're doing and why, though the concepts are a bit difficult to explain in images and feelings even with his experience 'speaking' that way.
Emoree seems to have intuitive understanding of the lake, her image-focused thinking seems well to weird phenomena, indeed, she has formed something like a maps of multidimensional world in her mind.
She tells the two too stay in the Mech.
"This thing is shielded, stay in here while we investigate. As for who we are, we are investigates interested in what happoned her. If anything happens to us, I have set the walker to head back after 48 hours should be not come back. This thing can take out just about anything local that may get in its way. Also we have a bear around here, Please don't try and harm it."
She shows them the business docs they have from the local city.
Terexaltherin reports on his findings. There's at least one other entrance to the 'lake', so we'd best be careful. The Dark Traders may have reinforcements, he states. Or they may have retreated already. We need to figure out a way to destroy the lake as quickly as possible, I think. Preferably while freeing the planes trapped within, if they really are trapped.
Emoree is amazing and made a map, he continues. He suggests Emoree share it with the whole group. We should give it a good look and see if anything sticks out at us. We also need to figure out how to destory or undo the lake--I have a feeling the connections with the planes are going to be a big part of it. We may need to quickly go to several planes and do something in each.
But... I definitely need to sleep at this point. I think we should back off from the lake a bit to establish camp, given the... deletrious effects it has on the mind. Find a defensible place in some of the ruins, maybe, and set watches. I don't trust the Dark Traders not to try something. The spider mech will be good for keeping those sleeping safe, but we'll want eyes out watching for trouble.
It actually takes Emoree several hours to fully form her image and transmit it to the party... So she finishes late-ish and sleeps next to the spider mech with the rest of the party.
Daleana and Ullia are happy with stay in the mech but they're thinking about getting on the road back home. They're relieved to be healed but hoping that they can have something of value for the time and risks they took coming here. "The business documents might help but we have but fifty silver between us and that may not be enough..." (the party has enough gold that they could give what to the pair would be a fortune while barely touching the party's own resources).
The party awakens at dawn and returns cautiously to the lake (with Daleana and Ullia staying behind), just in time to see a strange creature (vaguely half-humanoid, half-parrot) appear from the "surface" of the lake, shriek loudly and then return (sucked-back?) to the "depths"... You carefully shield your eyes as this happens as the lake's mind-warping dimensional echo effect becomes stronger. After maybe 30 seconds things return to normal and you see four of the strange "dark crystal maps" scattered near the shore where the creature surfaced (the things the Traders back in Kalthinia apparently sought).
Peering into the lake, Azzim pointed "Sarmidal! These are creatures with a strange alien minds. Supposedly they're not evil, I wonder what they're doing here? Maybe contacting them telepathically would be a calculated risk worth taking?"
Azzim was worried about what contact with such a peculiar mind might do, evil or otherwise. Still if a fight could be avoided or an expected ally gained maybe it was worth it.
Terexaltherin also recognize the creature and strains his telepathy to try to reach it. Wait! Why are you doing this? Are you trapped? Can we help you?
As the Sarmidal sinks back into the lake, the sends Terex an image of a strange black vehicle with tracks and feeling of pain... and you are back where you went to sleep, knowing you have only a day or two before the multiverse senses it's presence... Ten minutes later, two more Sarmidal appear and vanish even more briefly and then quiet for at least an hour.
And in that hour , you have time to study in detail the image Emoree has synthesized of the roiling ripples within maelstrom.
10. Rushing water
9. A salt plane
8.
7.
6. Swamp
5. Mercury pool
4.
3. A field of stars.
2.
1. An iron wall
And, after the night's rest to clear your heads and recover from the shock of seeing it, you come to understand several things about the black lake:
1. Time move much faster in the semi-planes in the lake, up to 50x faster. Entering the lake would give relatively much more time to deal with the thing, if that is possible.
2. Plane 1 may be the other exit but it clearly needs to be approached cautiously...
3. The Sarmidal probably came from one of the near demi-planes (#9 on map) and it's possible that plane is experiencing a dark trader invasion. Why is uncertain... If there is place you'd want to go to within the lake, that plane seem most logical, since you have only the sketchiest of info or none at all about many of the other rough ten demiplanes...
4. Each demi-plane likely has a different view of the lake, so visiting other planes will give you more information
5. There is likely a "ritual of attunement" that must be completed by someone to command the "tubes" the dark traders were using.
Basically you have walk to the center of the lake, tracing microscopic swirls on the surface feeling the surge of strange things within it but willing yourself to stay on the surface.
While the others works, Lyra took out items that looked to be a kind of gate platform. She hooks up the mechs power core to it and then it starts to charge. As it dose she heads finds Arlo.
"Sweety, I don't think I will be much use in there, its not my kind of realm, lost of magic realms. I also need to get these two back to safety and report what we have found. So I have set a emergency recall becon in here. This things shilding should let me poke an o so small hole in space time. Take a lot of piower there end. But this find is critical"
She kissed him and then said her goodbye, she said farwell to the others and then to the two STrlinhgs.
"Come on your two we are getting out of here"
The three stood on the becon as its power made a small wormhole.
Layra waved at her husband and they where gone. Now stood in her place was Gift, looking around.
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Gift had got the call form HQ saying her mother had activated a n ERB, she had ported over at once. The room was full of power cables and the mad Lab types. One took here to a disk on teh floor.
"Now this is taking a LOT of power, that last stunt with the ship needed a little less but not by much. Your mothers says she needs to report and wanted you here to jump the other way."
Gift just nodded, if mum was coming back this was big.
"Bad news is this will may burn out the power units here so don't expect to be coming back this way any time soon."
She just grinned.
"You ready?"
She gave thumbs up and then jumped.
For a moment on the platform was her mother, she smiled at gift and then, the inside of basic looking Mech. And Dad.
"Ok Dad whats going on. Whats with this tin can and mum rushing back?"
Arlo frowns as his wife disappears, but lightens up when his daughter appears. "Hello, GIFT. Please tell me you have some knowledge of radiation shielding?"
She runs and hugs her dad, you can tell she cares for him a lot.
After he asks her she nods.
"Psicystal Travel, its something me and mum talked about as a means to move about in hazardous planes. Cosmic radiation, gavity wells, that kind of thing. Seem here must be one of them places. I can see now why mum called But we need a large crystal, I can do the rest. But I can't make one so we have to find one."
She says looking over the mech her mother made.
::"Hay Terexaltherin, you been acting as switch boord., want me to bring up the hive mind. Kind a need it if we are going to move within a psicystal."::
She sends this to everyone by means of her telepathy
::"Who's the new member? got a funny old mind there, a lot like mums, but more posalin"::
she sends.
After studying the lake with Terex for a while, Azzim shared his conclusion, "We should be able to use the tubes the dark traders where using, if we undergo a attunement ritual of sorts. Best as I can tell you need to walk to the very center of the lake, using willpower to stay afloat. As you go you'd be tracing these microscopic eddies and swirls and exposing yourself to all manner of strangeness. Possible but dangerous as raw planar forces are quite literally mind bending."
Azzim was more than a little surprised when Lyra swapped places with Gift. He was glad that she was alright, having been worried when she'd vanished at the end of their previous mission. He said to her, "Welcome back, you've arrived at one of the strangest places we've seen yet."
Bella felt... Very lost, in terms of what was going on. There's a sense of whiplash that only ever occurs when you're stepping on the edge of something, when you can feel yourself almost falling off the edge, and just on the precipice of something new.
Stella had stepped on the edge, into an abyss deeper than she could have even conceived of 3 months ago. Planes in planes in planes had left her badgered and confused for the last few days, as she managed to spend the last day sleepless, and doing her best to fade into the background. It is only with the new figure appearing that she notices.
She reaches out to Azzim, and manages to grab ahold of him as he talks about the ritual. She could feel her mind race, as she quietly wished she had blood to feel it pumping. She rises, as she reaches out, the etchings on her clavicle quietly shifting as she stands and says "Understood- Will head out and do it now. While I am not used to situations as lethal as these, my mind is also not a particularly soft thing."
She quietly began to sprint, trying to get out of there before the new person discovered her and made her have (Gasp) a conversation. They would sense a deep shot of fear and Adrenalin at seeing someone she had grown to know be replaced by a strange and mysterious human.
(Flex into Fate and the Empress for +8 to this will save)
Skating across the lake, Bella feels the echoing, churning planes within it, louder and louder 'till reaching the very center, the sensations momentarily explode and then finds herself back at the edge, the images within the lake now somehow not bothering her, almost as if she can feel the lake's flows just from where she stands.
As Gift leaves The Organization's Headquarters, Bethia hands her a box, "If the League of Wizards asks, we definitely have nothing to do with this... and our repairs may take a while, yeah..." Opening the box on arrival, she finds a long length of silver wire (edged with tiny leaves). Several miles long, in fact, enough to circle the lake and analyzing it, it seems it block the lake's transmission and survive maybe ten days, the party a bit more time if you string it around the lake.
Gift takes one end of the Line and gives the box to Hexqil her psicystal watching him fly off round the lake laying the line.
::"Hi Azzim is this your telepathic bond set up, mind if I piggy back. Can bust everyone better this way. I kind of think this is why mum wanted me here."::
Gift watches Bella move over the lake, and takes a good look at it.
::"You know that looks very much like [i]Walking Patton I mains to synchronised one self with a group of planes. Any how the boffins back home gave me this device line, When placed around this lake it should block the lake's transmission and let us survive maybe ten days, give us a bit more time."[/i]::
When Bellia comes back gift send.
::"So what was it like, you mind remembering it, Ill show the others your memories"::
Oh, hey Gift! And I see you brought a gift, Terexaltherin jokes, masking how abrupt he found Lyra's departure. We definitely need to lay that down quickly. We'll probably need the time, even with the difference in time flows between the planes.
Oh, and Bella, this is Gift, she's Lyra and Arlo's daughter. Gift, this is Bella, she was in... suspended animation of a sort in one of the ruins here.
The little dragon--who's stopped bothering with the raven disguise now that the Dark Traders aren't around--turns his head towards the 'lake'. Probably we should all attune to the lake right now and then lay down the wire. Then I think we should head to plane number nine on the map Emoree made. The only question is, do we leave anyone here to watch our backs? I feel nervous not securing our line of retreat, but at the same time I'm not sure only part of our group would be enough if the Dark Traders did try to return here.
Terexaltherin also explains the attunement ritual to Emoree and asks if she's coming with them. Then he lands on the shore of the lake and carefully steps out onto it, trying to focus his will.
It goes well until he's out in the middle of the lake and his focus slips. A surge of confused images breaks into his mind, and while he grimly sticks to the ritual until he's attuned, it's clear he's not doing well.
The little dragon's flight back to the shore is wobbly, his landing lacking in its normal grace. That... could have gone better, he sluggishly 'says', his thoughts feeling thick and slow.
Gift greets Bellia,
::"Right lets do this."::
As she seeks to atunes to the lake
"I'll be following right behind you." replied Azzim to Bella.
::Sure is, hop on it!:: replied Azzim to Gift over the link.
Anticipating all manner of unwanted mental interference and the ever present danger of the dark traders, Azzim prepares some mental defences. In a magical ritual he brews a special draught to sharpen his mind followed up by a spell to sharpen his senses. .
He then steps out onto the lake, well it wasn't really a lake, that was just the abstraction their minds preferred, limited as their minds where to things within their sphere of experience.
The interactions between the physical and the metaphysical properties of the the 'lake' were quite distracting so it took considerable effort to shut that out and focus on the task as hand. Fortunately Azzim was no stranger to meditation and as he quietened his mind he walked, concentrating on putting one foot in front of another.
Arlo focuses his will in the Black Lake, more importantly, on the enemies likely within.
Remember, Arlo! These are the fu<kers that took Žemėia from you! Use that angry to force a hole. Burn! The dwarf paladin thinks to himself.
Bella sits and stares at gift. This will be the fifth person she talked to, when before she had traveled across the planes she had met at most three in her life. She felt anxious and scared, but she perservered. In an utterly deadpan voice, she shared her experience.
"It felt... like how the stench of purple feels, but only on Tuesdays after eating too much cheese."
Bella knew this was a horrible way of describing it, as she had neither scent, time, or ever had sufficient quantities of cheese. But somehow that was the best explanation.
She will bow, and succinctly introduce herself, "I am Bella, I am magic, and I make things."
She looks around, and turning to terex says "Most of what I can make that can watch us will last maybe a day at *best*, I could trap the area, but I'm unsure of the utility."
So now, the entire party stares at the Lake in a clearer fashion, though Terex is still scared by the experience...
Now, you can all roughly see Emoree's "picture" echoing in the lake/planar-tunnel. The Salt Plane is the clearest visible "place" here. The other exit besides this, if there is one, has to be at the very bottom. On the salt plane, you can see hills, plains, a brackish, a "forest" of tall grass and reeds and a manifestation of the Black Lake itself, a ways from the sea proper, all of which you think you could fairly easily transport yourselves to. In fact, you feel as this attunement has given you each considerable power over all that you can see within the lake, a feeling of power that you feel a bit suspicious of... If you can command this force, the Traders may well be able to as well...
And also, as Gift is sorting her equipment on arrival, she finds a small, rune-cover gem she hadn't expected along with a tiny note. It seems to have been tossed in by Bethia at the last minute. The note reads "A small charm capable of setting off a chain reaction between and among the undead. For use only you if reach the Dark Trader City of Dys where it may effect 1000s, otherwise keep safe and return" It's a powerful weapon, one you've heard rumors of The Organization working on...
Another thing that occurs to the party is that were Dark Trader agents back in Kalthinia and they may investigate the Black Lake if they hear nothing from the Traders who were here when you arrived - indeed, it's surprising they haven't done anything though it's only mid day of the second day you've been (~20 hours). Emoree communicates her desire to stay and guard the Lake if you enter it...
Gift walked off the Lake, leaving footsteps or pour psionic power behind.
When Bella talks to her she bows back.
"Hi Bella, I'm Gift, I'm made of well...psionic power stuff,"
She holds up a hind and you can see the psionic power under her skin.
On a privet channel she says to Bella
::"And hold a kind of group mind for us, A little bit more than what
Azzim and Terexa where doing, and it lets me help when needed. Its nice to meet someone more my age, so to speak, the old gezers tend to be a bit dull. O and Arlo is my Dad, a old gezer if ever they was one. Tuesdays after eating too much cheese nice description I can see what you main. I mean I really can, if you let me see your mind state I can feel what you feel and see what you see, and Vis versa, all part of the hive mind fun. O and this here is Hexqil, he's my psicytsal and BBF"::
She indicates the flouting psicystal, its lands on Bella's shoulder and turns into a crystal spider.
::"Seems he likes you"::
----
With the Undead killing weapon she gives that to her father with the note.
Bethia, sent this as well Dad, you best have, this kind of weapon is a little to much for me, but you know undead, so safest place is in your hands."
She hands it too him.
======
Then when they are all done atuning
::"Sooo.. Terexaltherin, whats the plan?"::
She sends to her favorite dragon.
Thanks to Gift's help Terexaltherin is able to beat back the surge of maddening thoughts, leaving him shaken but unharmed.
The little dragon shares gratitude and also concern with Emoree at her offer. He warns that there are others of the Dark Traders out there who will likely come to investigate, and can't keep his worry out of his communication that they'll do something terrible to her. But if she remains adamant he shares what he knows about fighting the Dark Traders.
Okay, we have to assume the Dark Traders in the lake are expecting us to come after them, so we'll need to go in ready for an ambush. This Salt Plane seems the most likely spot for them. That said, we're probably worst off if we try to show up near the reflection of the 'lake', since that's likely where they have their base there. At the same time we won't want to show up so far away we'll have to spend a lot of time traveling. As such, I'm thinking maybe we go for the tall grass and reeds, to give us a bit of cover while we check things out.
They'll still probably know where we came in, so even if we're luckly we'll only have a brief moment to look around before we have to fight, but that might make all the difference.
At the mention of being able to feel her emotions, Bella froze, as Gift could physically feel the walls rise up in her thoughts.
By the flame this girl is talkative.
Bella felt her mind flicker back to her old master, who never talked save for a demand. Even her friends on Sigil hadn't talked this much to her, they talked mostly to each other. She desperately tried to cram thoughts of her homeworld into the deepest crevices of her mind.
She withered under the attention, before nodding at the psycrystal and muttering a stifled "Hello. "
Hearing about the bear offering to stand back, she will conjure a bear-sized shadowsstuff mithral kikko, reaching out and making the image of what she wants to make in her mind, only making it once she gets the go-ahead.
"Cover is smart. I'm wondering if I should drop a bunch of statues ahead of us designed to look like us for a distraction, dropping them more out the way so they'll attack then first."
When gift asked what the plan was, Azzim suggested, ::We hunt us some dark traders. Terex suggested the Salt Plane is the most likely spot for their city of Dys and I think I agree. Getting there is another matter, but the lake is going to be a psychic assault but I'm feeling quietly confident... Follow me, it's time we took the battle to them!::
Azzim warded the party with several protective spells. The first protecting them from chaos, the second attuning them to the expected planar environment of the Salt Plane.
Aiming for the salt plane, Azzim entered the lake and emptied his mind of everything except for their chosen destination the Salt Plane!
Lvl 2: Lesser Restoration/Tongues, Protection from Chaos communal (used), Barkskin, Focused Scrutiny, Fog Cloud, Resist Energy x2 Resist Energy
Lvl 3: Locate Object/Neutralize Poison, Cure Serious Wounds, Daylight, Dispel Magic, Major Image, Sand Whirlwind, Sleet Storm
Lvl 4: Legend Lore/Restoration, Blessing of Fervor, Energency Force Sphere, Air Walk, Purify Body, Restoration
lvl 5: Breath of Life/Contact Other Plane, Persistent Slow Breath of Life, True Seeing, Wall of Thorns
Lvl 6: Heal/Mass owl's wisdom, Jatambe's Ire x2, Planar Adaptation (used), Mass, Heal
Lvl 7:Greater Restoration/Vision, Familiar Blessing of Fervor, Reverse Gravity, Planar refuge
So, Azzim gathers the party together at what he senses is the power point of the lake. As you enter the planer rift together, the reflected plates beneath the dark surface shift and become something more akin to a spider web of connections between all of the elements of the "lake". Ignoring the myriad possibilities this web offers, Azzim guides the group to your decided destination...
And the whole of this second plane does seem to be cover by some sort of "trap" for those who would enter it - but with powerful force of will Azzim is able to bypass it and the party leaves the matrix somewhat confident they are away from the Dark Trader controlled areas they sense on the demi-plane...
Thus you find yourselves on a wide salt-flat area pocketed with boulders 10-100' in diameter and as you orient yourselves, a dozen Sarmidal appear from behind three different boulders and move towards you as they form a semi-circle facing you... They stop about 100' away and one of them stares and says "Meep bozhai ein pods..", speaking in no language you know of. The Sarmidals seem only more alien on closer inspection, they resemble parrot-headed humanoids but also goats and their covering is neither feathers nor fur but closer to multiple layers of cloth... A notable thing is that each of these creatures bears a different weapon - apparently from different time periods and approach. One apparently has an electric chainsaw, another a wand of fire balls, a third a musket, a fourth carries Visuvian paralysis net and so-forth. With all this, their attitude seems curious or questioning rather than hostile...
Also, it should be noted the sky itself here has the dark, multilayered appearance of the surface of the Black Lake...
Gift smilles at Belle,
"Coming out of your shell then, come on lets get ready."
As they set off Gift pulls to her, her power shaping it into force.
And weaving around her, over the hive mind you hear the murmur of voices, hers and others, talking over what she should.
Once they fly down Gift says.
::"You want me to talk to them?:::
Once they fly down Gift says.
::"You want me to talk to them?:::
::Yes, please.::
The dwarf raises his hand in hopeful greeting.
::"Hello there we mean you no harm"::
Terexaltherin wishes Emoree good luck while they're gone before he enters the 'lake'. As they come out the 'other side', he thanks Azzim for his deft handling of the Dark Traders' trap. He looks around warily as they emerge on the
I can speak with them, too, Terexaltherin offers, flying forward and finding a perch on some of the oversized grass.
He reaches out his mind to the Sarmidals. Greetings! As you can probably tell, we just arrived here, and we don't know exactly what's going on here...
His bright tone darkens. However... may I hazard a guess that we have a common enemy?
At the point that Terex communicates his friendliness telepathically, the Sarmidal respond with a dizzying array of actions and emotions; two move to embrace him, a couple seem skeptical, others are excited to the point of nearly firing their weapons (but are stopped)... A few seem terrified The chaotic group doesn't seem to reach a set consensus but nonetheless begins moving towards the nominal East was they continue to argue ... you notice as you interact, the group members switch "position" as their discussion continues, from fearful to aggressive and back again, etc... One of them sends Terex and any telepaths an image of the area near the black lake (in this area) where perhaps 200 heavy tanks are assembled and more seem to be unloading from the lake itself...
::"Go right ahead Terexa, your always good at this stuff. Ill back up."::
As they talk she sends them images of them fighting the evil Traders, and of other planes they have saved.
::"Bella how fast can roll and bonce a large ball if you made one, Say 10+ tons or such. Mum loves tanks, but I have pointed out the fact they can be squished with a big old object. Kind of like whack a mole!"::
If I can get in among the tanks unnoticed I can cause some 'exciting' malfunctions, Terexaltherin suggests, his thoughts dark with the threat of violence, But the problem is the sheer number. If they manage to figure out where we are, they could just saturate the area with explosives beyond what any of our defenses could handle. We're going to need to avoid a direct confrontation.
He turns his thoughts outward, to the Sarmidal. He queries how recently this started, and what else the Dark Traders have done, as well as what the Sarmidal themselves have been doing against them.
We should probably go with them for now, he suggests to the group while waiting for their reply. They... may be a bit too chaotic to really get a plan together with, but we can at least get an idea of what's happened and the terrain and such, and maybe we can figure out a way to work with them.
Arlo wants to fight them with The Arlosword, paladin and godling abilties blazing!!
The Sarmidal take the party to a secluded area near the Dark Traders' landing position. Some of the group send to Terex an image of having repelled a couple previous Dark Trader efforts with clever tactics. They did suffer dozens of casualties at one point but the situation seems like a stalemate currently. They have a remarkable power of reaching through planes and pulling out random objects of use.
They have several tunnels dug underneath the assembled tanks and show you the entrance. They are also quite terrified by the sky of their realm having turned a strange black colors replacing the clouds and moon that usually light their area.
Over the link, Azzim wondered, ::What if the Trader's outpost has a portal to Dys? That would be mighty convenient for them wouldn't it, and for us it would represent both a huge opportunity and danger...::
Concerned by the Sarmidal's story of what happened to their sky, Azzim tried to understand what had been done and if it could be reversed somehow.
Terexaltherin is also concerned about how the sky has changed. Maybe it has something to do with how the Dark Traders can move so many tanks here so quickly? He tries to help Azzim figure out what's going on.
He also tries to communicate with the Sarmidal to ask why some of them were taking crystals out of the lake. Have the Dark Traders captured some of them and forced them to do their will?
He'll also look around the tunnel with them, thinking if it might be possible to collapse them and drop the tanks into a hole.
Stella pauses, and whispers "I can drop boulders on them? They won't bounce though, or at least... I don't think they will. I might be able to roll it, but I dont know where it will go if we do."
She summons up a small 5 course dinner, as she sits down and begins to talk more, "Though I feel like explosives might be the better options here, blow up the tunnels and bury the army in one fell swoop."
At the comment of the sky's changing, she quietly asked how recently it did through her telepathic link. She had a suspicion that the end of their world destroyed their sky, but did not want to risk asking for fear of being right.
Comparing notes, Terex and Azzim think that the sky of the area transformed at the point that this Black Lake interdimensional catastrophe expanded across the multiverse sucking pieces of various planes into itself... And looking around, despite their distress, the Sarmidal are not losing. They suffer some casualties but they throw the Traders' forces back in a dizzying array of ways (while other plans fail miserably). They summon tiny creatures that sabotage the tank machinery, they head-spinning spells, the submerge the vehicles in waves of water or oil (they invite Arlo to an area of disabled tanks where he finds the Arlo sword can cut through the armor of the things...). They can't hold out forever but they are only very slowly giving ground if at all.
Some of the Sarmidal think that the crystals are naturally by the lake and those Sarmidal that went up to the surface seeking aid accidentally expelled the crystals.
As the Terex questions the Sarmidal, a group of ten others approach him and halting put forward the idea that they would like to go deeper into the lake to fight The Traders more on their home turf. The group shouts slogans in ancient languages and is volatile and emotion like nearly all Sarmidal (apparently) and actually puts forward three plans for the venture but the general idea is there...
Terexaltherin is... a little surprised at how well the Sarmidal are doing, all told. That said, if the Dark Traders can keep bringing in reinforcements, they'll be ground down eventually.
Well, I'd say that we have two options here, Terexaltherin shares with the rest of the party, Either we do as the Sarmidal want and go strike deeper to cut off the Dark Traders' reinforcements, or we try to seal off this plane first and then go deeper. Honestly, going on the offensive as soon as possible may be our best bet. We don't know how long we have and any seal would just be a stopgap measure.
So, I'd say what we need to do is get close enough to the version of the lake here to see what looks different, try to identify where the Dark Traders are bringing reinforcements from, and then prepare for a deep strike. Thoughts?
He lets the Sarmidal know they're considering what plan is best.
:That's the spirit, Terex! Let us issue some Justice to those Dark Bastards!!: Arlo roared in the hivemind.
As the party observes, the battlefield around the lake is dangerous and bizarrely chaotic. Arlo naturally wades in and destroys dozens of zombie tank drivers and soldiers in one sally but the surge of battle makes analyzing the lake itself difficult and he is swept back as Dark Trader reinforcements arrive. At that point the tank battalion seems to be surging and the Sarmidol group retreats and one Sarmidal somehow summon a titan kitten (110' tall) which tosses the tanks about like bits of fluff for ten minutes...
Then for period that lasts at least ten minutes, the lake has only two tanks guarding it while the Sarmidal heal their wounded, argue and sing songs of war and sorrow pieced together from multiple languages...
(Note, that it only the ten particular Sarmidal who propose the plan of going deeper. The strange creatures seem to seldom agree on anything...)
Stella pauses, and whispers "I can drop boulders on them? They won't bounce though, or at least... I don't think they will. I might be able to roll it, but I dont know where it will go if we do."
::"Do what you can to help Dad, he's itching to hit something. I'm sorry I have to go to war now"::
Her manner changes, gone is the bright teen, is its place is a war mind, linked your own. Her mind is now Voices commenting on key events happening all around. Like lissoning to a command beige of a battle ship in full action mode. These Voices must be what she meant when she said she was a hive mind herself, these must be the others who reside in her, each of you gets comments on action around you. Pointing out dangers and options of attack.
Suddenly everyone gets a overlay in there mind of the battle landscape.
battlesense 28 mins and she will renew. Range plane.
You link the minds of your allies, dramatically improving their coordination. When you manifest this power, a type of heads-up display appears in each target’s mind, improving their coordination and group awareness. Each affected target can use the Aid Another action as an immediate action. Creatures that move out of the 30 foot range after the power is manifested are still affected by the power.
Additionally, all targets that are also willing members of your collective (if any) gain one special ability of your choice from this list. Your choice affects all members equally.
* +1 circumstance bonus to attack rolls
* +1 circumstance bonus to AC
* +2 circumstance bonus to weapon damage
* +5 circumstance bonus to base speed
Augment: You may augment this power in one or both of the following ways.
Done PICK +8pp x4 spend So +5 Max
1. If you spend 2 additional power points, you can choose a second special ability from the collective bonus list. You may choose the same benefit again; if you do, it stacks with itself (up to +5 for attack rolls or AC, +10 for weapon damage, or +25 for bonus to speed).
PP13 spend.
-----
As the battle starts Gift psionic power explodes up in a tower of blue light. As it fades you see her scintillating with walls for force around her. Tank round bounce off the globe of power as she asends to the lake surface high over the battle field.
Once close to the surface she slows and hovers there, Pulling power around her from reality itself power by which to Feel the surface.
::"Azzim and going to give you a feed of what I am experiencing here. There is too much going on for me to analyse this, can you try?"::
Arlo relies on his more airborne party members. The dwarf paladin does his best to rid the lake of stragglers.
Azzim tried to interpret the raw feed from Gift, but there was so much chaos it difficult to make much sense of it. So he called for assistance, ::Terex what do you make of this? Should we risk trying one of the other planes connected to the lake?::
Terexaltherin is not surprised at the lack of agreement among the Sarmidal. They kind of remind him of an old book on war, that talked about how the "pinnacle of military strategy approaches the formless". He'd thought before about just how difficult something like that would be to fight against.
It just hadn't occurred to him how annoying fighting on the same side as it would be.
Terexaltherin darts among the tanks while giants battle, using his small size and speed to stay unnoticed. But when, here and there, a tank's treads suddenly sieze up or a round goes off before being fired, his presence can be felt.
Really, however, he's trying to make his way to the lake. So when the battle calms for a little bit, he's well-positioned to take a look himself, and he combines his own observations with what Gift is sending (not to mention her obvious approach means his stealthy one is much easier to pull off). He tries to perceive where the Dark Traders are bringing their reinforcements from.
He also looks for any kind of active magical effects.
Terex looks for any opening to analyze to the Dark Traders path to the Sarmidal's through the Black Lake but after ten minutes, the combat restarts and he realizes his caution in not approaching the Lake prevented any certainty about the Dark Traders' approach.
Meanwhile, after just a few minutes, the Dark Traders bring in a company of mechanical horsemen who confuse the Sarmidal for twenty minutes 'till the strange parrot people summon an equal number of giant cats who shreading the majority of the company and playing catch many of the others.
But with this success, Sarmidal take a break leaving maybe ten of the Dark Trader company still guarding the lake. In desperately One thing Azzim and Terex' quick planar research determine is the Traders seems to have a powerful advantage near the Lake and the Sarmidal are thus reluctant to approach with 100' of it. However, all of the party member attuned to Black Lake and so might be able to command it to remove it's protections.
Thus after another half hour, the party finds itself with the similar challenges - while the Sarmidal compose songs of the last hour of hyper-violence, ten Dark Trader death knights on mechanical monstrosities patrol the quarter mile area of the Black Lake's shore - their strong life sense means you'll have to eliminate at least some of them to be get even a few minutes to fully analyze the mysterious Lake.
gift came back down form the lake, it was no good, Azzim and Terex needed to get up there.
::"Bad, Bella, we have to make an opening for Azzim and Terex"::
Soaring over the battlefield, Azzim sent a mental note to Terex, ::Think we're going to have to take the fight to them!::
Azzim's plan was to wait until Gift and Arlo (and perhaps Bella) closed into engage the Traders before casting a powerful spell. But first he wondered if he could tip the balance in their favor by disabling the lake's protections via sheer willpower. He swooped down and steeled himself for the chaotic assault that would no doubt come the moment the lake was within reach.