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In a world without stars, what are constellations? In a space with no planets, what are orbits? Spinning patterns of shining objects, nothing more. Old gods fall and new ones rise, and perhaps Gems can become Stars.
**
Up in the clouds, past amber-lightning and sapphire rainshower patrols, you hurtle toward...
floating islands of gems, all spinning around each other in perfect shining patterns. They seem to wink and smile at you even from several brutbreve fields' distance away. There are at least a dozen of these miniature biomes circling around - you see mostly greens and reds on the outer perimeter.
Now the distance is quickly closing --- the giants and brutes have little control over this last arc of their flight, and you are falling straight toward ruby-garnet fields of flame.
Gabe holds tight to his ride through the clouds, his grip threatening to give out on multiple occasions. Only through sheer willpower does he hang on to not get separated from the group and land on Volc knows what.
Gabriel, your fire resistance proves useful --- the ruby fields do not seem to hold you back as you begin traversing the gem-studded terrain.
Beneath your feet, within each and every huge gemstone, there is an elen frozen in some pose of horror, rage, ecstasy, or pain. They are all ifrits. There must be hundreds of these damned souls just upon this current island, and more still on each successive island.
Gabe feels a chill run down his spine from the shadow he thought he left behind as he observes the horrors beneath his feet. Shoving down his revulsion, he checks to make sure the others aren't getting ambushed before he leaps to the next floating island, intent to clear a path for his hampered companions.
Maintaining cloud form, Samen does a double move to follow after Gabriel.
Focusing once they get closer but the fire makes Qizzlvutz flinch. Looking over at one of the giants with wide and slightly panicked eyes. Pointing at their shoulders, "Ride? Please?"
Little red dots cover them and Kallik steps out. Growling at the fire and grabbing her axe then the little mycos to put on her shoulder. Though she looks up at the giant, waiting on a response.
Qizzlvutz, the stone giant looks down at you quizically, then with delight as Kallik the warrior manifests in front of him. He nods, mossy beard swaying, and grabs you before he begins lunging through the silent crystalline fields.
One of the giant-princes makes sure Abnaki is secure. Another of the princes, a younger sibling, attends to Wamblee.
As the giants tromp through the fields of ruby and garnet, you all have the chance to see the hundreds of dead ifrits that lie entombed beneath. You have the sense that these bodies, and the suffocating manner of their deaths, is what powers the islands and their repellent magicks.
**
...
Moving significantly slower in the new terrain, Gabe keeps low as he navigates the gem landscape. A positive of having to move slower is being able to keep an eye on his companions.
Each giant makes a mighty leap, unconcerned by the jumps, but
the giant prince is grabbed leafy tendrils spilling out from one of the smaller islands; as the rest of the giants are carried on by momentum, the prince is bound, and unable to move.
Samen will gracefully double skip through the air to get over to the green islands.
Qizzlvutz, your phantom advises you to stay in contact with the others--you catch a few memories of horrible, sickening unease when Kallik did not know where "Egret" was--and so you cast Message. Gentle clouds of brown-blue spores follow each of your companions, and allows you to talk with one another regardless of distance.
As the giants sail through the air to the emerald island, you all catch glimpses of other battles - mountains of pink tourmaline to east, and some kind of molten, swampy orange landscape to the west - where others of your brethren were not so accurate with their spells and jumps. You see a hill giant fall into a bright orange quagmire, bellow fading to gurgles as it sinks out of view.
A buzzing sound brings your attention back to your own location. From further inland, swarms of jeweled bugs rise from the landscape. The buzzing reaches a high, fevered pitch as the clouds converge upon you-
The buzzing rings in his ears as Gabe fights to keep his last meal from showing up again. Seeing the source of the sound, he assumes a stance as he creeps closer to see if he can find any pattern to exploit in the swarms movements. How am I going to deal with all these now. Hopefully fists and feet still work.
Samen realigns his thoughts to match the cacophony, no, harmony of the crystalline bugs. He floats over toward the closest pair of them and unleashes an unholy shriek, cutting asunder their collective vibration.
Wince at the noise and going inwards where its quieter. Focusing on calling for aid.
Growling at the noise then screaming at the bugs in rage she can't act on yet. Keeping Qizzlutz in place with her legs, one hand keeping ahold of their ride, and the other in a knuckle whitening grip on her axe.
Seeing the prince's need, Abnaki begins a grand speech to inspire his ally to break his bonds. Stories of ancient barbarian-kings roll across the battlefield, and the giants all cheer with bloodlust.
As the giant jumps from standstill with no momentum, Abnaki smiles and utters one large word,
which slows the giant's descent just enough for him to grab the edge of the island. His nails make an ugly scraping sound against the emerald cliffs.
Samen will move around to get both of the new swarms into his area of effect and yell at them too.
The jeweled bugs attack, spitting a tiny hailstorm of gem shards at Qizzlvutz and Samen
Wamblee and two other giants spend their round pulling the prince and the storyteller away from the cliff and the sheer drop.
Finally spotting an opening, Gabe unleashes a flurry of punches and kicks, trying to knock the jeweled bugs out of the air. With every strike, he moves to keep the swarms pinned between himself an allies.
Keeping a watch for anything that comes near to lash out at. Fighting on the back of another creature is not the way to do things. Can't chase anything down or even move much. Growling at the situation doesn't do much but it does make her feel a little better
[url=https://www.d20pfsrd.com/bestiary/monster-listings/animals/birds/eagle/summoned-creature-eagle/]eagle[/ooc]
Three eagles answer Qizzlvutz's call for add. And they ready their scythe should anything come into rance
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Abnaki stops performing his inspire competence, and changes to using inspire courage instead! By using 2 rounds of performance to start, he enhances it to be a fey performance, meaning it spreads 60ft from him instead of 30. He waves his banner. Then he casts a burst discordant note dealing and requiring a DC 18 fort save or be staggered for 1 round in a 10ft radius
Kallik's attacks strike true, destroying one of the swarms (deleted)
Gabriel manages to shatter enough dazed bugs that the remaining members scatter as they awaken. (deleted)
The giants do not notice the small scene playing out to the southwest. They know that time is of the essence, now that the enemy surely knows of their presence.
With a bellow of defiance, they pick up Abnaki and Wamblee and start running toward the northwest - you are one blue island away from your goal, and the giants do not wish to tarry.
Gabe chides himself when he sees that his assistance probably wasn't needed. Gave myself away for nothing. Observe, assess, make good decisions. He feels another chill as the persistent shade mocks him from the recesses of his mind. He races off after the giants heading toward the next island, his exposed skin starting to show the acidic effects of the green gems.
Samen looks sadly at the defeated allies to their flank. There was nothing to be done for them now, and stopping to attempt to aid them would render their sacrifice moot.
If we are victorious, I must remind Abnaki to immortalize them in his tales.
Without another glance, he float/skips along the gems, keeping pace with the giants.
Abnaki, you hear a crystalline voice vibrating through the green stones beneath you.
Ah, I remember that strong voice. Have you come to fill my ears with your lovely words, sweet bard? The self-satisfied, purring tone of Julian Opal.
"Onwards! Press on! Break them under your heels!"
==
Julian Opal! My old friend! Why don't you come out so that I can introduce you to my new friends! I've brought you a... gift in the form of the remaining fey resistance forces. Come on out so that I can betray them safely, and deliver them to you!
Laughter in his tone now. I have a warm fireplace and a snifter of brandy waiting inside, darling. Just leave your gift on the doorstep and they'll be turned into statuary, then you can join me. No word on whether he believes you or not. The green gems dim, and Julian's voice is heard no more.
Another series of leaps by the giants, supernaturally spurred by Abnaki's very words.
You finally see the center of this vortex of gems - a huge citrine, blazing with inner light. Samen immediately recognizes this as an abomination - a false Sun.
After the gloom of the equal world, the radiance of the huge gem is a wonder to behold. Despite his attunement to the shadows, he is able to shield his eyes before serious damage is done.
Creating some distance from his companions, he attempts to resume his role of ambush ambusher.
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Samen will follow Abnaki's lead, but stay alert for any threat that approaches.
"Samen, should we break that blinding light?" Abnaki asks? He doesn't seem to be facing Samen properly, almost like he can't see the warlock... but that's ridiculous. A blind man wouldn't move with such confidence.
"It seems to be at the center of this conflict, yes. It's a monstrous facsimile of Sun's true glory."