Lucien looks over the new Hex. "I like what you've done with it, Gift. Not as useful for getting us places, I guess, but we can handle that, and this is a lot better for having it with you all the time." he says, nodding appreciatively. "What all does it do? Knowing you, it's got plenty of hidden depths."
She smiles and staps the Hexqin drone.
"Your right, shimmer gave me the idea, he's wee tricks with Demi-planes. I wanted a big craft because I need a work shop. You know to fix things and play. But with spaces in space..
A bead of light projects in front of Hexqil and widens to make a portal.
Gift steps throw. Inside is 40m3 space that is set out like a workshop, with racks of stuff benches and tools. There is a large old sofabed and lots of comic books, posters, and teen girl stuff.
It's Gift's bedroom, a big sign on the wall says.
"NO PARENTS ALLOWED"
A soft voice speaks from overhead as the lights come on.
"Welcome home mistress GIFT, I hope your day is pleasant. Would you like me to make some refreshments for your gest?"
Gift looks at Blue.
"Mum and Dad are doing my head in with all the love-duvey stuff. Yes it's nice there are into each other, and my brothers will be along anytime soon. But ya have to have space your know. O trie these."
She hands blue tin of biskets while an old try hovers over with a steaming mug of tea on it.
"Got the furniture from clearing out the nursery room. Old junk room. Mum gave me most of the tools, as dad gave her the cash for a lab update. She's found a great business running a Construct reaper clinic. Those she seems to do most of the work for parter, she likes it."
She flops down into an old armchair. Gift has taken a liking to Blue from the 1st moment they meet. It could be the fact he was so cool and all. Flying in air and all that, or it could have been their liking for guns. she just felt as ease talking to him. She did not have to live up to the family name, when around him. And most of all, he was always a real gentleman. She saw some of her father in him. She leaned her head back.
"So you been contacted about this new mission. I'm heading over in a short while. Want to do some shopping before then? Spider has small demi-pockets on the outside as well. Was going to stock up on things that go BOOM!"
Lary was laying in bad her belly uncovered as she rubbed oil over the stretch makes. By her side was a letter.
"They want you to go on another mission"
She held her hand up before he could object.
"I know you said you were off the roster until the babies come, but this is important. What you and the others did has put the Enemy on the back foot. Just as they seem to be changing tactics and going for Hub planes. I read your and Gifts reports. You know it's true if we don't strike them now, don't push them back, trillions upon trillions will die. Hole worlds that could have been saved. So even thous I want you to stay with all my being, I have to ask, I'm I being selfish?"
She stopped talking and looked at him. It was written all over her face, just how conflicted she was.
The dwarf bolts up from the bed, still in full rant mode.
"What about you? What about the boys? Where will you go when the time comes? The delivery might be dangerous for you. There are so many unforeseen variables! I told those bastards I needed the time off. I mean, GODS!! Arlo lifts his head to the ceiling. "I just help destroyed Draxus! Will this damned universe give me a break!"
"I mean, yes, I want to crush those Dark Traders under my boot. But you, Lyra. My love! You are focus! I don't want to leave you. Now of all times!!"
She could see he was worked up, but she also felt a longing for him to be safe as well. He was worried, and that mean his heart was the same after Draxus. The sullen lost dwarf was gone and here was the dwarf he was meant to be.
She took a deep breath.
"Sweety, I have at least 3 more months to go, I'm on the dwarven biological clock here, not the human one. You forget you're blest with longer lives, and by default much longer gestation pirodes. I talked to doctor Hopper down at the clinic a street over and he said he and Nuse Agnes will come when it's time. I have a birthing nest as per dwarven tradition, and he being a fully Qualified Dwavis and human doctor along with being a cleric. Mean if you are not back by then all will be well. But knowing you it will not take you long to get to the bottom of things. Gift will go with you and Ill give you this."
Lyra held up and small pocket witch.
"It has a transdimensional reserver. If it starts to chirp and the dial flashes orange you will know it's time and find a way back, Gift does not know this but the is a secret door in that Done-demi-bedroom I made for her. Take this watch into the drone room and it will open a gateway back here. One use and just for one."
She smiled at him.
"See, I think of everything"
You know, I knew it was different, but I hadn’t really given solid thought to how you saw the world before, Terex ‘says’ to <Shimmer>. It must be so interesting… though, well, I suppose the way I see things is probably just as strange to you. Maybe.
He falls silent for a bit, lost in his own thoughts, until he notices something. In spite of dropping the telepathic connection, he still has a sense of <Shimmer>’s state.
Ummm… <Shimmer>, are you doing that? This… it’s not quite telepathy, but connection thing?
******************************************
Terex, as usual, has purchased quite the selection of books (and spend roughly 1000 gp doing so). In addition to books on planar theory, higher-dimensonial mathematics, and spaces outside of the normal three dimensions, he also gets some new books on different creation stories (after talking with the creation spirits it’s become an area of curiosity to him, and he thinks the chaos ‘before’ creation may have a connection with <Shimmer>), his usual ‘latest theories of magic’ sampling, a few books on different planes that catch his fancy, a few history texts, a half-dozen novels, some accounts of planar explorers, a couple math texts, and a handful of just random books that caught his fancy. As he sorts and stores his most recent acquisitions, it occurs to him that the small apartment he rents is getting quite full, resembling more a very cramped library than somewhere someone lives.
In between his intellectual feasting and chatting with <Shimmer>, the little dragon writes his report. As usual it’s lengthy and detailed, and even written in his tiny, neat script it runs to many pages. It gives a thorough account of their experiences getting into Syrinax, including their encounter with the Dark Trader agents (giving a detailed description of both of them), their assistance to Rhea, and meeting <Shimmer>. He proceeds to detail the plane of Syrinax, including its multi-leveled structure and the means of passing between levels that they discovered or had detailed to them. He writes as much as he can on the hidden politics of the Gandolfos, the spirit trade (he can’t keep his revulsion out of this part of the description), and the plane’s access to the Wall. He spends a particularly large number of pages describing the end of their operation, particularly the phylactery, the creatures that appeared to try to claim it, and its destruction.
Terex also makes sure to detail his viewpoint on the performance of the new members of the team, Minna and Armaund, complimenting them on the use of their many talents to advance the mission, with only a few suggestions as to how they might improve. He’s much more brief in speaking of the regular members of the party, figuring the Organization knows them pretty well already. He turns a somewhat more critical eye towards himself, pointing out places where (with the benefit of hindsight) he could have acted differently or places he took unjustified risks. He also includes an appendix detailing the Dark Trader devices the party disabled, with all of his observations on them, including sketches of them.
He finishes off his report with a request for any assistance the Organization can render in helping <Shimmer> get back to their plane/dimension of origin, as well as a suggestion that friendly contact be kept with Rhea if possible (he volunteers for this). Additionally he recommends that it would be good to continue monitoring Syrinax if possible.
******************************************
Terex is just barely finished with his report by the time the next assignment arrives. He says a brief greeting to each of the members of his team, having not seen them since he holed up to read, then listens intently to the briefing. He asks a few questions about the plane once it’s done.
Does the destruction of the ruling class coincide with our destruction of the Dark Trader phylactery, given the differences in planar time flows? Do we have any evidence of current Dark Trader agents there?
He also resolves to search for some books on Wanthalia after the briefing is over.
Rollo wades into the meeting, wearing flipflops, a Hawaiian shirt and speedo. He even has sunscreen on his dark nose.
He smiles, waves, takes a sip of his umbrella drink and takes a seat at the table.
Once the briefing ended, the dhampir nods, takes another sip (sounds empty), and excuses himself.
Off to the library!
He cast Dimensional Door.
"Quickie?"
Lyra's tender goodbye raised Arlo's spirits for only a limited time, since it only served to remind the dwarf paladin all he was leaving behind. Arlo stomped his way through the streets of Sigil with GIFT walking in his wake.
"You know, my lovely daughter, if there was ever a day, you could ask your 'old man' to kick the crap out of anyone you disliked, I would think today would be that!"
Most beings on the street of Sigil that had an ounce of sense in their heads, stayed away for Arlo's menacing aura. Once, when rounding a corner, Arlo stood feet to feet with a hamatula devil walking the other way, and both dwarf and devil nearly collided. Both stood about 2 inches away from each other, neither one moving first for about a minute. Both staring into each others eyes to make the other move first. Well, after a minute of this intense staredown, the hamatula devil must have seen the I-don't-give-a-flying-fu<k in the dwarf's eyes, because the evil outsider moved out of the way first.
Arlo loudly barged into the meeting chamber as Bethia's halfway mark for the mission objectives were reached, much to GIFT's mounting embarrassment.
"Will the team have access to endure element magic similar to those offered with the Oomsata!?" Arlo barked.
** spoiler omitted **
"I'm not usually much for shopping. But I do like a well-placed explosion." Whether he'd admit it or not, he's also looking forward to spending more time around Gift. Despite the seriousness of their line of work, she always seems to be having fun. It's something he doesn't see enough of anymore. And her abilities with tech really were impressive.
But he's still not quite sure what to make of her. Technically speaking, she was a child. Wasn't she? Are androids ever really children? Do they count as adults immediately? He'd never been much of a philosopher, and that way lay dragons. Metaphorically. Some of his teammates were actual dragons. Also, her dad was part of their team. There's no way this could go well. Is there? It's not something he was really ready to confront his feelings on. Yet.
Earlier, it should be noted that Cordelia from The Organization is in fact making an effort to actively recruit Rhea and her sister, who will have hard to returning to their homeland and have unique talents.
In the presentation, Terex asked: "Does the destruction of the ruling class coincide with our destruction of the Dark Trader phylactery, given the differences in planar time flows?"
Aranuna resplies: "We are certain of this, yes"
Later, when Arlo stalks in, Bethia, startled by his outburst, flutters a couple of tenacles and sinks down a couple of feet before catching herself and smiling. "I should hope you get all of these tools you think you need for this mission. The Organization's resources have increased significantly lately, to a fair extent due to your efforts. If there's something you feel you need, you can let any of us on your know and we'll do what we can to find it. And spells below 5th are easily available."
Researching Wanthalian geography, history and culture...
The climate is warm on average but still with 1-2 months of cool-ish winter with occasional snow. Most areas are quite wet but there are some deserts. The area is a mythic plane, not a spherical planet or other more materialist forms. Land area stretch indefinitely away from The Wall in much the same form. Small seas can be found far enough away.
The society has a medium length of history, stretching several thousand years (shorter than other worlds you've visited, in fact). Over that period, a variety of groups of humans appeared, living mostly in nomadic groups but also forming agricultural societies which lasted usually several hundred years at a time. It is thought that all the groups came originally from the planar entrances in The Wall, with The Wall being closed by a large mound and ritual spell "The Compact", approximately 1000 years ago (all time local). The societies generally had no unified religion but there are myths of god-like elemental actors who offered various gifts to the people (the gieshal, hunting animals, agricultural knowledge and magic).
Approximately 300 years ago, a plague of undead appeared across the land, to the point that the majority of these previously nomadic people's built simple walled cities for their protection and tended fields only in daylight. Maybe 150 years ago, the Borjuran dictatorship began, an obvious creation of the Dark Traders. The Borjuran only intensified the plague of Ghouls, while claiming to offer protection. 100 years ago, the Borjuran took 100,000 people from the various towns near The Wall, marched them to The Wall and sacrificed the entire in a horrific spell to once again open The Wall. From that point, the plane served as an a giant interplanar military base. It has only been months this entire enterprise collapsed to literal dust. Some portion of city dwellers have deserted their cities to attempt to herd the gieshal, a camel-like herd animal. Others remain in cities, organizing however they wish. It is Spring in this world and so the season for sowing has begun. The followers of Narsod the Prophet have conquered seven villages in the South. The Wall is open and several groups of random adventures have come through as mentioned. The Dark Traders employed various slave races - dwarves, tiefling and others. Some of which have settled in villages over the hundred year occupation. Some village are more welcoming than others.
Magic is known but most practitioners hid their talents during the time of Borjuran rule. Most humans speak the crude dialectic of common imposed by the Borjuran but local dialectics vary.
It is quite possible the Dark Traders are now using Narsod or others to regain influence - this would be those factions not destroyed in the destruction of the Phylactery.
Bethia also notes:
Your aim will be to secure The Wall area - the first goal is preventing interlopers and making the plane safe for it's inhabitants. If we, The Organization, gained free use of this area ourselves, it would be a bonus and help us strategically but that is a secondary goal (just closing this to others serves out purposes, makes other worlds safe). Searching the areas once controlled by the Traders and gaining information and resources might be useful but isn't necessary.
We can place you anywhere on the map we have secured but the village Valash suggests itself. But there is not a big rush, continue your research and planning and take care of whatever business you have. I can slow the relative time stream so no further time will be lost - at least for several weeks.
Gift had spent the day with Blue, looking in weapon shops and talking to some Alchemists. She had really enjoyed it and when the day was over, she bid him goodnight with mixed feelings.
======
Lyra sat cooking breakfast, well watching the devices she had made rehydrate and heat it. Gift was sat at the counter looking at her mother work. When her mother asked her.
"Gift dear, I wanted to say how proud my and your father are of you. Must of all me. When we decided to have you I did not know how it work out or who you would develop. I have to say you have astonished me in your level of growth. But I will wanted to ask, as you came into this world a near-adult, is there anything your unhappy with. I ask because your brother will have to take the long way to get to your point of development and I worry you may envy them."
Gift thought on this a moment before responding.
"Its hard to really feel like I missed something, you know mum. Its hard to miss what you never had. And the whole poopping yourself and learning to walk."
Lyra intajected
"You know what I mean Sweety, a childhood with friends and memories of growing up. It's why I gave you a child's body, so you could experience what it's like. But as you have grown so fast, I have to ask now. Would you like a more mature one, something more fitting your growing mind? "
Again gift spent a moment thinking.
"I thought about it, you know, Being seen as a kid is fun and all, and dad seemed to bond with me soon as he knew who I was. But it has limited, So yes mum please if you could."
Lyra nodded,
"Good then, once we have eaten we can go into the lab and age you a few years."
Gift grinned.
When it was time to go to the mission briefing Gift had on a hooded cloak. Walking with her father she said nothing. She wanted to show Blue her new look. When they get to the meeting she stakes it off and her new look is revealed. She is a little taller, some 5'2" and looks now around 18/19
Terex thinks over the information for a while.
This sounds like a mission that will take longer than the others. At least, if we're going to do a thorough job of it. Sure, we might figure out some magic way of sealing the plane from easy planar incursions, but if we're really going to keep things safe from the Dark Traders we're probably going to need to help organize and train some locals in recognizing and resisting them. Speaking of which, I do have a bit of a wishlist... I'll write it down and get it to you later.
He does just that later in the day, delivering a long list in his usual neat, small handwriting.
Upgraded headband and belt: belt of incredible dexterity +4 and headband of vast intelligence +4
Lighter armor: Preferably +2 darkleaf cloth leather armor, though bracers of armor +4 would also be acceptable
A 7th-caster-level wand of scorching ray
An improved amulet of mighty fists--+3 preferably, +2 if not possible
A list of about a dozen difficult-to-find texts, dealing with multi-dimensional planar travel, theories of planar creation, and one on psionics
Some scrolls of plane shift
Suggestions for mission gear for the group:
Several copies of multiple texts on philosophy and good government, translated into Wanthalian Common
10,000 GP worth of orichalcum or diamond dust to be kept in reserve for <Shimmer>'s more unusual powers
Lucien is a bit startled when the hooded person next to him turns out to be Gift. "Oh, uh, hi Gift. Wow. You look good." he nervously glances in Arlo's general direction, and his voice drops a few decibels "I mean, uh, really good. I like what you've done with your, uh, hair." he says, noting to himself that it's a remarkably similar color to his own. "How, uh...how did you do that? You grew really fast." Nethys preserve me, she's beautiful! I'm going to have to tread carefully here. Don't want to screw this up. And quit sounding like an idiot.
Armaund strokes his chin. "Hmm, I have skill at leading humans, as you saw when you met me. But I couldn't do it long term, I become patient... The situation itself seems delicate and dangerous. If things go badly, there could be a two way or a three way civil war here. And each side might be willing to take on dubious allies. A single threat to the entire might be actually useful. We should not create one but one may well appear soon without our efforts - and we can make it's urgency obvious."
"A lot depends on whether these people can revive old, individualistic ways, in my opinion. Also who the "interlopers" are. So, I believe we should investigate the state of towns, then learn of whatever interlopers we can find. Terex, do you think you're impressive toy could put up a temporary barrier to access to the wall? Alternatively, could the Organization craft some spell or device for the purpose? We need to at least temporarily limit more meddlers from arriving."
Lucien is a bit startled when the hooded person next to him turns out to be Gift. "Oh, uh, hi Gift. Wow. You look good." he nervously glances in Arlo's general direction, and his voice drops a few decibels "I mean, uh, really good. I like what you've done with your, uh, hair." he says, noting to himself that it's a remarkably similar color to his own. "How, uh...how did you do that? You grew really fast." Nethys preserve me, she's beautiful! I'm going to have to tread carefully here. Don't want to screw this up. And quit sounding like an idiot.
"For a Mecha like myself growing is not the same as you Orga do, your minds grow with your bodies, leaning to use them and discovering things by rote and example traditions in your cultures. But Mecha like myself take raw data and be means of 1st principle thinking craft the same things but at a much faster rate. Hence being a child did not take long. What we lack however is wisdom, Iteligance for us is easy, learning what Adult means is easy, learning to act LIKE one is hard. I have moved on to that growth phase now. So my body has to match that."
She smiles and dose a spin
"Do you like it?"
Arlo, still deep within his sour mood, catches movement out of the corner of his eye. GIFT had move to his eyeline and spin around, showcasing her new mature body, a development the stern father conceded need to happen eventually.
The dwarf looked from his android daughter to Blue, then to the air genasi to GIFT. And comprehension dawns.
Oh, [u]this[/u] is need right now! Arlo internally fumes.
The classic feeling all fathers feel when their daughter start getting suitors. Great.
Perhaps due to the fact that dwarves are so closely associated with the earth element, and Blue possessing a heritage based on the element of air; Arlo never gave the young magus much thought, even though they played together on the 3-Ball courts among other missions in Syranix recently.
Perhaps it's time to give Blue a closer look, especially if what I think is happening is happening.
As the others were still discussing possible mission objectives, Arlo did his best to look like the dwarf was just non-nonchalantly scoping the room and just so happen upon the two teammates talking.
As he approached, Arlo noticed something new about the air genasi. The young magus appeared to be constantly floating above the carpet, without much effort on his part.
"GIFT. Blue. Nice to see you. You seem different today, Blue. Have you too undergone some kind of personal transformation as well?" Arlo asked.
Rollo returns in a puff of smoke from the Library. The Sage is carrying numerous books, along with his signature magical knapsack. The dhampir nods at Arlo and Blue starring at each other, as Gift seems to be giggling a bit.
Gift, Blue, Arlo. You all look ready for the information that I have uncovered about our next mission!
Rollo winks at Gift. The dhampir even grants the beautiful woman an appreciative nod of approval. He then glances at the scowling dwarf. He bursts out laughing!
Arlo, my friend, she is a matured woman with amazing gifts.
The Sage smiles.
His blue eyes then turn their attention to Blue.
You do something different to your hair?
As her father comes over, Gift stops spinning and waits to he how he will react. He was normally hyper-protective of her, in fact, he has just coming said he would smash anyone if they upset her. So she was a little shocked when he was NICE, positively NICE to blue.
Then when he mentioned Blue hovering she bent down and looked at the gap between Blues feet and the floor, Giggling.
She bent back up when Rollo came, and blushed, looking away when he blinked at her and said she had amazing gifts. She was just not used to this kind of praise and attention.
Being more Adult really was a complicated thing.
Rollo winks at Gift. The dhampir even grants the beautiful woman an appreciative nod of approval. He then glances at the scowling dwarf. He bursts out laughing!
Arlo, my friend, she is a matured woman with amazing gifts.
"Yeah! You can stop staring at her 'gifts' anytime! Rollo!" Arlo barked.
In the awkward pause after Arlo (thankfully!) turns his attention on Rollo, Lucien speaks up. ”Ah, yes. I’m not sure if it’s Sigil’s directly link to the Plane of Air or something else, but I seem to have developed a stronger connection to my roots. I could fly before, but now I do it practically without thinking” as he says this, he sinks back to the carpet, the better to be on a level with the others (though he still towers over Arlo and Gift*). ”Also, it’s...hard to say how precisely, but I know I’m more resistant to electricity than I was. Also, I can do this.” he says, before holding up his hands, which crackle with electricity. He snaps his fingers, and the electricity stops. He looks around nervously, suddenly aware that he is much more in the spotlight than he prefers to be.
"Well, congratulations, Blue." Arlo turns back to the air genasi. "It must feel very rewarding." The dwarf feels like he could say more, but fumbles for any more meaningful to say.
"Well, Rollo!" Arlo turns back to the dhampir, scowl returned. "Don't keep us all in suspense! What have you learned?!"
Rollo's electric blue eyes mirror the electricity emanating from Blue's hands with laughter.
Arlo, I have plenty to tell of our newest home to be! But, I am thinking of having lunch out on the veranda with our fellow members.
The dhamphir bows to the dwarf; nods to Blue; and graciously takes the hand of Gift, lifting it only an inch from is lips, before bowing low to her as well.
Perhaps, we meet in an hour. Refresh yourselves; and, can someone find Terex and let them know.
The Sage then cast Dimensional door to his suites to bathe, research and jot down a few more jokes at Arlo's expense....
Arms crossed, Arlo watches as Rollo cast his signature spell and leave.
Through gritted teeth, Arlo mutters "I swear. That dhampir is begging me to choke the half-life out of him!"
Turning back to GIFT and Blue, the dwarf awkwardly changes the subject. "Uh..well. I'll go see if we can find our psuedodragon. Uh, sorry to have interrupted your conversation earlier. I..guess I will meet you both in an hour on the veranda." Arlo nods to both teammates and leaves to investigate the rest of the meeting room to begin his search for Terex.
As the party mingles, Minna congratulates Gift on her new look and, at some point when they're alone, diffidently asks what sort of re-engineering it involved. Minna has acquired a collection of Adamantite disks that she can either use as armor or assemble into one medium automaton or a several smaller ones. She shows these to party at various in a somewhat awkward effort to break the tension. Armaund is unperturbed by any sniping and remains friendly and expansion. He has marked an area on the map where he thinks the party might try going.
After his research, Rollo reveals his findings with his usual style. Many texts casually mention Wanthalian but two critical - for those with discernment.
1) A travelogue by Etho The Younger describes the culture of the Gieshal Riders - in many ways typical for herding cultures but distinguished by two things. The gieshal tend to sizes of up to 12' (between a moose and a camel but actually very good tempered) and riders all kept a Surtesh, a uniquely dyed, painted and beaded cloth, which they believed provided them magical protection and which was often astoundingly beautiful - Etho provides a detailed description of the construction of these clothes. Artists capable of creating the best clothes were rare before the conquest. Whether they exist at all now is unknown.
2) The Book Of The Resistance. This book is text was created to describe and aid the resistance to The Dark Trader-agents that existed during their reign. It is maybe 50 years old - smuggled out of the plane and kept by the Organization. It describes how each has a mayor and other officials appointed by the Dark Traders but how the true power was from the network of hidden informers that existed in each town. These allowed just a few Traders to enter the villages yet know all of their enemies. These informers all had a tattoo of a spider somewhere on their bodies.
Of course there are a number of other details concerning the culture. You learn the ugly dialectic "Trader Common" and learn about which animal are reputed to still live in the wilderness (the Gieshal now supposedly have multiplied in this time, forming large herds indeed).
"More questions" say Armaund, "are human authorities attempting to salvage their power? Are reprisals happening? Should they? Knowing the secret of the Surtesh may help us"
Gift blushes even more as Rollo takes her hand, but she does not fight it. Once he is gone and her Dad heads off, she smiles at blue.
"You should know Blue that raw electricity can have a bad effect on me. I don't mind it but could I ask you to be careful"
Then Minna comes over and wants to talk about Mecha modification.
As she walks away with her she looks over her shoulder at Blue, and mouths.
"See you at lunch"
Sitting with Minna she explains that her mother has a lad that lets her heal constructs using tinny devices. Then it was a matter of uploading her core into a holding AI, taking a ninite build unit, and applying it to her Sceltial frame. Rescaling the synthetic organs and then skin overlay. She had designed her new form to be just a little larger than the one she had had, As she liked it. 5'2" seemed about right, thin and acrobatic with the power to punch throw a wall of needed.
Then at the meal, she listened to what the other grown-ups said.
"A lot depends on whether these people can revive old, individualistic ways, in my opinion. Also who the "interlopers" are. So, I believe we should investigate the state of towns, then learn of whatever interlopers we can find. Terex, do you think you're impressive toy could put up a temporary barrier to access to the wall? Alternatively, could the Organization craft some spell or device for the purpose? We need to at least temporarily limit more meddlers from arriving."
<Shimmer> isn't a 'toy', Terex protests, giving the larger (even in human form) dragon a glare, They're a being with a mind of their own, even if it's very different from yours or mine. That said, I was actually already thinking of asking that.
He turns his mind towards <Shimmer>. What do you think? Could you block planar access to an area for a time, while we're working on a more permanent solution?
The little dragon turns his thoughts back to the group. Uniting against a threat is probably a good start. But just a start. We'll have to be careful not to start our own witch hunt while we're at it.
Terex is surprised to get everything he asked for. He has to remind himself that he isn't just a curious little dragon any more--he's one of a group of heroes who's saved history and an entire plane, if not more.
The thought makes him feel just a little bigger on the inside.
********************
Terex compliments Minna on her ingenuity when she shows off her adamantine disks.
Later on, when Rollo gathers the party to display his research, Terex is of course the first to dive into reading the volumes he brought. He also plans to cross-reference things with a few other books after the meeting. He also tries to get some more up-to-date information on the plane, though he knows that will mostly come down to the group going there themselves.
And out of a little personal curiosity, he looks up anything he can find about whether or not there are Wanthalian dragons.
Terex never comments on Gift's new look. It's not clear if he just thinks it's expected of an android or if he's too distracted by all the books.
Things are probably happening fast there right now. We'll have to gather information as quickly as we can when we arrive, both to see where we can apply pressure to lead the local people towards building up their resistance to Dark Trader influence and to figure out what the Dark Traders are doing there at present. We'll also need to watch ourselves--by now they must know who we are, they'll probably try to kill us as soon as they can after what we've done to them.
The little dragon thinks things over for a little longer. As far as I see it we have two main goals. First is restoring the wards that keep the planar boundaries from being so porous. Rollo, you and I should work on looking into rituals for that. The second is to prevent the Dark Traders from regaining a foothold in the area. That part will take a lot more working with the local people, as we can't rely on wards to keep them out. They're as good at us at getting around such things, after all. I'm not sure how well we can plan that part ahead of time, since it depends so much on what the situation is on the ground when we get there.
He does make sure to look into rituals for creating planar wards, hopefully with Rollo (and possibly input from <Shimmer>).
***********************
During the remaining preparation time, Terex works on several things.
* Continuing research on Wanthalia and planar wards
* Continuing research on possible ways to figure out how to get <Shimmer> back to their origin
* Plenty of reading for fun
* He takes <Shimmer> on a couple tours through different parts of Sigil, thinking they might find the City of Doors fascinating
* If he can convince <Shimmer> to go along with it, Terex wants to create a library demi-plane using <Shimmer>'s "Create parallel Demi-plane" ability--one that's parallel to Terex himself and so always 'close' to him--and fill it with all the books currently cluttering his apartment
* He offers to help the Organization with trying to recruit Rhea before he leaves on his mission, if he thinks it would help to have a more familiar face meet her.
* Once he discovers it, exploring the familiar-like bond that's formed between him and <Shimmer>
As Gift leaves with Minna, Lucien smiles and winks at her. At lunch he tries to get a seat near Gift.
She sits next to Blue and talks about the mission and what the others are saying.
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In the meeting, Armaund apologizes for calling <Shimmer> a toy. "I am sorry my friend, I understand this is a potent, interesting and possibly crucial item. My time with humans left me with the habit of being rather dismissive of all things eerie and magical - hoping that such an attitude would keep them from noticing my own magical nature. Now, it is a different world for me but change is hard at my age..."
Regarding research on <Shimmer>; altogether, the artifact can a very frustrating entity to deal with. It sometime offers information and suggestions, even expresses desires. But it seems quite unconcerned with whether a person wants information - ask things and it may ignore you, not even out of disdain. <Shimmer> occasionally reacts with interest to things in Sigil but seems only slight more interested than average.
It does create a demi-plane library for Terex. Moreover, immediately before the party leaves and after Terex has loaded his books into it, he realizes that an occasional strange and often incomprehensible text will occasionally appear in his searches. Such texts vanish if removed from the library and always seem too complex for an easy study. Yet they're suggestive.
While Rollo's research is primarily on the history of Wanthalia, Terex looks at the properties of the trans-dimensional phenomena known as "The Wall". Little is fully agreed on by researchers concerning the thing. Most wizards considered it to be a inherent part of the structure of the multiverse, at least the "local" multiverse. Terex discovers a variety of methods that have used to seal off entrances to the thing - aside from it's size, it's not especially resistant to sealing and closing magic - even a massively enhanced version of arcane lock can work as can numbers of other spell. The problem is that actually destroying a manifestation of The Wall is virtually impossible. A given plane can be altered to remove it's connection with The Wall but this ultimately sends that thing elsewhere. The simplest in many ways is to recreate the barrier that existed before.
As you are discussing the situation, Minna makes one more comment, "It's surprising that we don't know of some order or sect that was originally devoted to maintaining the barrier. Surely, the original creators of the barrier didn't expect it to not need help. Finding some group of this sort would be important. We will need to find some group on this world that cares about maintaining the plane and avoiding a return of the Dark Ones. Without that isn't much hope and our alternative would be to turn the entire area into a barren wasteland. But surely we find such a group."
Armaund thinks some more. "For this enterprise, since we will need to recruit people and they need to have hope in us, we will need a name, I propose 'The Order Of Light Bringers'. We've come from a far world to prevent the return of the Dark Ones and we seek recruits, allies, seek to have villages sign a pact promising various things (That's not far from the truth). We should travel just a bit spreading this message, then seek the wall, ideally with a small, select following. Or perhaps gathering information in secret and only then appear as 'The Light Bringers', so we don't make any obvious mistakes. How does this plan sound? Perhaps we see if some original organization of this sorted existed"
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Gift taps her writs and a 3d holo projection comes into being.
It's a mass of lights, symbols and shapes moving and interlinking before breaking apart again. Stunningly complex.
"Me and mother have been working on a model of interlinked dimensions and the known conduit points between them. This wall seems to be at an apex of a number of linked interplanar junctions across higher dimensions. I can't help be think that it has been a long game by someone to craft a ten-dimensional path to all possible planes and possible points within them. A kind of getaway to possible everywhere and when. Whoever made it may have used it as such. Maintaining it may not be a here and now problem but a when and where one."
She moves it and the pathways can be seen in brighter forms.
"The traders put a LOT of resources into controlling this access point we are going to. I suspect they were seeking to or have used to glean information or even travel to locked-off planes hard to get to. I read about them at the university. The fact they had a spy network in every village, a ruling class at their beck and call, and did not destroy this plane means it had a greater value to them. I think it was one of thire main 'feeding' access points."
She smiles.
"As for a plan, we go in undercover, as has been suggested, then once we know the lay of the land, we start a moment to drive the traders out. And here is where it gets hard IF we are right and this is a feeling linked to the main trader planes. They will hit back with ALL they can, its going to get messy real fast. This we when we need back up. The organization has never had a chance to hit them this hard. If we can get them to field their forces on a mass scale here, we can bring to bear all we can to make them suffer a defeat they have never tasted. However, this could also be one big fat trap. And we will be walking into a defeat."
She smiles
"Well thats what my thinking is?"
It's okay, Armaund, I just... I guess from my past I get sensitive about people being dismissive of beings that aren't like them, Terex responds to Armaund's apology.
Later on during the discussion on plans:
It sounds like we're agreeed on going in quietly at first until we have time to gather the information we need to really plan out our actions, Terex begins. Minna, you're probably right that there was some sort of organization fighting against the Dark Traders already. The existence of the "Book of the Resistance" certainly suggests at least unorganized resistance against them. As for what to call our group, I'd wait until we've gathered some information to decide on a name--I want to get a bit better feel for the current culture of the area, see if there's a good symbol we can pick. Light is a common symbol, but not universal.
In terms of blocking off the Wall, our best bet is to rebuild the barrier that was there in the past. From my research it'd be a lot more work to create a new barrier of our own. So besides gathering information on the current state of society on the plane, one of our early goals is going to be gathering information on the barrier, how to rebuild it, and how to prevent it from being broken again.
He turns his thoughts to Gift's comments. I don't think they'll try a massed attack at first. If I had to guess, once they realize we're there the Dark Traders will start off with some powerful assassins. Though if we succeed in putting together a local organization they may resort to a direct attack. I'd expect infiltration and subversion attempts more, though. That seems more their style. Whatever the case we're going to have to be even more watchful than usual as soon as we get to Wanthalia.
He pauses, then adds, We might have to start watching ourselves more in Sigil, too. If we defeat them again on this mission, they might think it worth the risk to attack us here, if they can track us down.
On his own:
It's a good thing that Terexaltherin waits until after entering his own personal library demiplane to let loose his telepathic cry of exultation. It was a wordless exclamation of pure joy and excitement, one that he even accompanied with a verbal chirrup of happiness, and possibly just a little bit of prancing about.
Thank you, thank you <Shimmer>! Terex says to the planar oddity once he's gotten his thoughts together again. Any frustrations he might have felt working with <Shimmer> were immediately forgotten, swept away by his joy.
He immediately sets about getting the demi-plane furnished and organized to his liking, getting appropriately-sized shelves for his various volumes, transfering books over and carefully shelving them by topic (leaving plenty of room for more in each section), and sometimes just luxuriating in having his own personal secret library that isn't just his apartment.
It's this careful organization that makes it immediately obvious to him when there's a book that the little dragon hadn't acquired himself on one of the shelves. Curious, Terexaltherin flies up to it and looks at its spine, only to find its title seems to be in a language he's never seen before. He lifts it off the shelf and takes it to the reading nook he'd made sure to have in his library, opening it and flipping through it.
He finds it... strange. He can't decide if he's looking at an unfamiliar language or some kind of encoded text. Terex gets some scratch paper and a pen, picks out an early passage in the text, copies it over, and starts trying some different techniques to see if he can make any sense of it, or at least recognize patterns in it.
After half an hour of getting nowhere, Terexaltherin realizes he's running short on time. Idly he wonders for a moment if he could arrange for time to pass such in his little library that he could have more time to read and figure out puzzles like these, but he shakes his head. Time for that later. Now he has to focus on the mission.
Although...
Hey, <Shimmer>? You know how you made that copy of Meren? I've got some more Orichalcum here. Could you make a copy of me?
Her PSI-Drone comes down and hovers by her head.
"Terexaltherin, even if they do, once we start to pinch off a feeding pipeline like this, they will want to back on tap fast. Our models show there is a 66% chance they will change tactics and bring a larger force to bear. But there is also a 33% they will do as you said they will. Use the old and tested ways, So we will have to wait and see."
She jumps up
"Well if we are done, I want to head home and talk to mum about this."
She bows to all.
"Dad. I'll tell her you'er on your way"
And with that, she pops out of being
Rollo sips his Earl Grey as the Sage listens, discusses, and explains the upcoming logistics of this mission.
I happen to agree with the both of you.
The dhampir nods to both Gift and Terex.
I believe that Shimmer will play an enormous role in this venture. I fear that we will be barking up his tree for this one.
Rollo flips through A travelogue by Etho The Younger describing the culture of the Gieshal Riders.
Anyone here see the film Dune? I feel like we will need these people.
The Sage shakes his head.
We will need to meet them. But, initially, I would like to study The Wall itself once we cross over. I will spend a bit of time, along with Terex and Shimmer studying It from both sides.
Rollo looks at Armaund.
Perhaps, you could initiate introductions by traveling to the Gieshal Riders. How's your language skills, my friend?
The dhampir chuckles.
”Does it sound to anyone else like this place shares some similarities to Sigil itself, in how interlinked the planes are there?” Lucien asks, after hearing Terex and Gift’s discussion.
So, after a several week layover, the party has formulated a tentative plan. The final meeting of the group with The Organization is in a quiet and elegant restaurant high in a skyscraper overlooking the Green District (you have an entire floor yourselves and before starting, you can observe airships and flying carpets moving over the complex pattern of lights and fog below). Ari Shadow appears dressed in an emerald green bodysuit but with the rest of your usual handlers dressed very casually, things become relaxed quite quickly.
Ari is impressed with Gift's speculation, "Yes, one hypothesis is indeed the wall is complex system for weaving the destines of multiple planes together for the purposes of some higher dimensional being operating beyond our akin. Which means the powerful device (or creature) you have been investigating could extremely useful here - or also extremely dangerous." ... continuing ... "Since your first item is investigating The Wall, I can arrange your transport. There is a nearly empty world we will hike to and from there, there is a gate to The Wall on Wanthalia. We can give you a tuning fork for both this world as well as Wanthalia itself. Simple plane shift to Wanthalia is difficult since the 'entrance' to the plane is at least two thousand miles from The Wall and our objects of interest. Anyway, I will the pleasure of walking with your nearly to your destination and you will be able to see two sides of The Wall technically."
And she answers Blue's question, "You correct that The Wall shares similarities to Sigil. It shares similar to The Great (ring) River of the Outlands, to The Maze of Scargang, to The Tombs and several complex planar Nexis. The main the well-known plane-spanning complexes share is they have a certain neutrality to all the planes since must balance the forces they involve. Perhaps The Wall has this property though it is the least of the major complexes...
Also, among the equipment the Organization offers is a wand of arcane lock - The Wall consists of numerous gates and entrances and this can lock one of them against simple entrance. Obviously you'll more but it get be useful in a pinch. Either Terex or Rollo can take it.
So, the next day, early, Ari and Aranuna, dressed in functional adventurers' gear, greet party bright and early and you set off. First, you make your way through a maze of doors that leads you to the outdoors, somewhere in the Outland near a small stable, with horse, ponies and other riding creatures for the various party members. Then you ride through a deserted twighlight moorland and you notice the terrain, the vegetation, the landmarks and the sky all subtly shift. . Finally, after maybe four hours, the world stabilizes to a wintry temperate pine forest, with several feet of snow on the ground (offhand, Ari mentions "no creature more intelligent than a bear hear, I believe"). After riding for another hour without shifting, you then come to a small cave entrance, seeming to end after three feet - "Not impressive looking but this is what we seek" notes Aranuna. Ari invites Terex to investigate it - opening it up to a dark tunnel is child's play for the small dragon. Aranuna and Ari say goodbye to the Party, Ari hugging Armaund affectionately, and the party enters the dark, supernatural passage, feeling a certain disorientation. You emerge to your first view of Wanthalia. Here, the air is hot and dry but not parched. Various sharp herbal flavors, like and unlike Eucalyptus, greet you senses. The vegetion is tropical but obviously broken and uneven from the intervention of intelligent beings. You are a ledge half-way up a 400 cliff (which you assume is The Wall) and facing you, is a series of harsh stone structures...
Fast forward to two days exploration...You have determined where you are . This is the ex-Dark Trader Fortress (they accessed the caves using a variety of ladders and platforms). A portion of the inhabitants have crumbled to dusk but you determine a small number of humans were present but left in the intervening months... After two days, Armand find some strange, large foot prints leaving from one of the cave entrances on the wall. Following these for several hours, you spy a strange creature browsing on undergrowth - somehow like an enormous duck-billed platypus but more upright like a cat and seemingly moving in and out of "phase", so to speak.
Gift has a parting meal with her mother and father, they seem a little tense but her mother had told her of the key and means for one person to get back should there be an early birth. But her mother had to activate it her side and was only to be used in an Emergency. She did warn it may not work given how the wall was, so it would be best not to tell dad.
She kissed her mother and left them to say goodbyes without her.
At the meetings, Gift took the new information and added it to her database on the mission. She had placed the local language translator into Hexqin who would help her out once they got to the site. She would work to pick it up once there.
Then on the day they set off she came fully dressed for the mission, HExqin-Drone by her side, she was ready.
And nodded to all. Gone was the girl who hid behind her father's back. Now she was a woman on a mission.
Once at the stables Gift joined Blue in the air, She too could fly in a fastion, using force to keep herself off the ground. It was fun to fly with him, even if he was faster, and with Terx alongside it was indeed and fun jurny.
GIFT and Blue sat one chair away from The Hero of Žemėia. When looking down the table at the android and air genasi, the dwarf made an active effort not to scowl, for his daughter's sake.
Listening to Rollo, Armaund, and Minna's ideas, Arlo agrees with Armaund's idea of coming to the world as a cult of 'Light Bringers'. "Sounds down right paladinic", Arlo nodded approvingly.
Arlo became quiet and introspective when Terex discussed to possibility of a counterattack from The Dark Traders. Thoughts of two twin boys and their mother, lying dead on a laboratory floor sent a shiver down the paladin's back.
"Well if we are done, I want to head home and talk to mum about this."
She bows to all.
"Dad. I'll tell her you'er on your way."
And with that, she pops out of being.
"What!" Barks Arlo, before GIFT teleports away. After a few minutes of stunted silence, the dwarf yells into the air, "WELL, I GUESS I'LL WALK HOME, THEN!!" Yep. She's lost to me now. The dwarf thinks as he gruffly excuses himself from the table and begins his walk back home. During this time, Arlo dwells on what was discussed at the meeting.
For the rest of the night, Arlo tends to his pregnant wife as Lyra and GIFT talk excitedly about both the upcoming mission and both ladies work on dimensional theory and practice.
During dinner, again which Arlo wasn't really hungry for, the dwarf brought about the subject of Blue.
"GIFT, Lyra, what do you think of the idea of..inviting Blue over for dinner one night? Maybe..afterward Blue and GIFT could..I don't know..go out and see Sigil's nightlife? Maybe catch as show in Guildhall District or something?" The matriach seems to be concentrating on his meal rather than look up and meet the gazes of the two women in his life.
Terex suggests that Rollo take the wand of arcane lock--since Terex has <Shimmer> with him, he figures Rollo is more likely to need an alternate way of locking planar entryways.
Terexaltherin’s mind blazes with excitement and speculation as the group sets out to Wanthalia. Not only did he now have his own personal library, it was now having mysterious books appearing in it, and to top it off he was on another mission to fight back the evil of the Dark Traders which would involve seeing a new plane with new people.
He’d think he’d somehow discovered his own personal paradise, were it not for all the evil still in the multiverse… and a certain nagging feeling that he was missing something.
The little dragon was impressed to finally experience hellriding, even though he flew on his own wings for much of the journey (it was easy enough to perch on one of the riders’ mounts to rest his wings when he needed to). After a little while, however, his thoughts turn back to the mystery of the strange books in his library. How did they get there? He thinks over some possibilities...
The problem isn’t so much that he has no idea as that he has too many ideas. The demi-plane had been created to be ‘parallel’ to Terex himself, so maybe the plane was somehow tapping into his subconscious, and the incomprehensible nature of the books was because subconscious thought wasn’t organized enough for language? Or perhaps it was due to the library focus of the demi-plane, could the plane itself be generating ‘books’ that were ultimately just meaningless book-shaped objects? Or perhaps the plane’s connection to libraries ran deeper than that, and it was somehow pulling or copying books from somewhere in the planes, sort of like how the manifestation of the Wall in Syrinax allowed access to remnants of destroyed planes?
He didn’t have enough information. He had to do more research, to experiment, to try to decipher one of the books to see if it could be done. But at the same time he needed to be researching the Wall and Wanthalia and its culture and working on the current mission. This was, of course, why he’d asked <Shimmer> about making a copy of himself--there was just too much to do for one of him!
Terexaltherin drags his attention back to his surroundings and his companions. He takes the opportunity to chat with Ari and Aranuna--in spite of how long he’d been in the Organization, he felt like he hardly knew anyone in it other than his immediate group, and while he knew some of that was for security purposes, they’d had enough contact with Ari at the least that he thought it too late for that when it came to her.
He pretty quickly figures out the cave’s secret, feeling just a spark of pride at how much his skills have grown. At the same time, however, that thought echoed the feeling that something was missing he’d had earlier.
Terex doesn’t have time to consider this, focusing instead on his first view of Wanthalia. There’s a certain magic to an initial visit to a plane, no matter how much study of it he’s done before. Little details that don’t rise above subconscious notice yet somehow contribute to his understanding of the place abound every time, and now is no different. He raises his head on its serpentine neck and takes a sniff of the air, parsing through the scents, before spreading his wings and taking off from the cliff.
He spends a couple of days both exploring himself and asking <Shimmer> what sorts of planar oddities they could sense in the area, gathering information on how to temporarily block off the area of the Wall while they worked. He doesn’t neglect his personal mystery, though--in the evenings, Terex disappears into his personal library (without mentioning to anyone what he’s doing, until someone asks) and delves into the mystery of the strange books appearing within it.
When Armaund points out the tracks, Terexaltherin is quick to follow them and observe the creature that made them.
It's a chaos-plane herbivore, he explains to the others. It's definitely not safe to have around here. We should follow its tracks back to the entrance it came through, see if we can drive it through, then close that portal off. <Shimmer>, it's probably time to work on that temporary planar barrier. Think you can do it once we've got this thing back home?
She shot a look at Arlo,
"Well now that is a turn up for the books. You are positively mellowing in your dotage dear, but yes I think that would be a splendid idea. BUT he can visit but not stay, not yet."
She looked aft Gift, who nodded, she knew the house rules.
The dwarf takes half a bite of dinner then puts the utensil down, having lost his appetite. "I mean, I don't like it! At all! But..I'm trying to be supportive! And this is what all father's go through, I guess. And there's plenty of places in the planes to hide or depose of a body. That's all I'm saying!"
Gift has a parting meal with her mother and father, they seem a little tense but her mother had told her of the key and means for one person to get back should there be an early birth. But her mother had to activate it her side and was only to be used in an Emergency. She did warn it may not work given how the wall was, so it would be best not to tell dad.
She kissed her mother and left them to say goodbyes without her.
Both dwarf and former construct faced each other. Arlo looked around to see they were alone.
"You and GIFT and the boys are whole world." Arlo said to Lyra."I'll be back. No matter what. Protect yourself and the boys. If GIFT and I are successful, The Dark Traders will want revenge."
Arlo kissed Lyra tenderly, then bend down to kiss his wife's belly. "Be good, boys. Mind your mother."
Lyra bid her daughter and husband fond farewell with hugs and kisses. Then went back to her work at the clinic.
If walking with her Dad.
[b]"Did you mean it back there, I can ask Blue round for dinner once we have done this mission?"{/b]
She seems very happy about this
As the party observes the creature and speculates about courses of action, it stirs, perhaps vaguely aware of your presence and reaching out in various ways...
On seeing the thing responds to their being there. She brings up her personal force fields and pulls her two force pistols. Waits to see what the others do.
Arlo steps in front of GIFT and raises his hand to the creature, trying to calm it down.
When her dad jumps in front of her, her weapons.
'Ok Dad I hope you know what you're doing"
She ports back 30' and looks to the others.
"Seems Dad wants to know if it's Friendly, anyone know what it is?"
"It's a chaos-plane herbivore,"
"Well Dad may be right"
Taking his blue eyes off the beautiful view outside the windows of the suite, Rollo's gaze follows the entrance of Ari Shadow's reflection upon the clear glass. The dhampir smiles. His elongated incisors clearly showing in an amusement.
My dear, Ari, our appointment for yoga wasn't until later this evening.
The Sage smiles as his blue eyes appear pleased by the sight.
The Sage then returns his attention to the proceedings. He responds to Ari's words of There is a nearly empty world we will hike to and from there, there is a gate to The Wall on Wanthalia.
And, do we know who; or what, resides in this area?
Rollo places the wand of arcane lock inside his robes.
Once the group prepares to depart for the Neighbor World to Wanthalia, Rollo is seen arranging some new Wands that he has since acquired for this mission.
Fast forward to two days exploration....
Once Armand find some strange, large foot prints leaving from one of the cave entrances on the wall; Rollo takes out a new Wand.
He studies the tracks.
This is a beast native to one of the planes of chaos - it has a nasty tendency to mutate the vegetation around it and has a wavering/fading quality to it. It's not evil per se but it's not intelligent and it's an example of a harmful "invasive species", to say the least.
Did I leave anyone out...
Once the platypus-thing is sighted, Blue activates his ring of invisibility and flies in closer to take a look at the thing. But not so close that it can reach him (even if it can somehow detect him)-unless it's a whole lot better jumper than he thinks.