"So this is an altar, of a sorts?"
Alice steps forward, curious, but her body stops naturally and she peers at it without realizing she's stopped.
"It certainly seems to be something." She continues speaking slowly, feet rooted, turning her head sideways, glancing at the altar this way and that trying to understand. "Almost like soot? Or smoke? And cold. A cold mist?"
She takes a step back and shudders.
"This, thing, isn't right, although how I know I couldn't explain. There is" She trails off, uncomfortable.
"Yes," Efti concurs with an unmistakable gravity in her voice, "this is one of the offering pools of the Tarragon Lord Cendis-Xirgit; here, the priests of the Smoking God would drown those with the blood of the Stronghold of True Fire in the lava, devoting their souls to the hunger of their malign patron. Uncountable numbers lost their lives in this manner during the Typhoon Struggle."
She shudders,
"I can almost feel the agony of the victim's souls being ripped apart by the power of the Tarragon Lord."
As Efti speaks of souls torn asunder, Alice shivers. ”I must admit, I have recently had a rather profound reason to believe in souls and that sounds terrifying.”
Grateful for something normal, Alice turns away from the horrifying feeling of the altar. ”Did you have to wear a wig? Are you in mourning? I have a friend who is prelaw and she had the strangest stories but they all came out while we were dancing and you know how stories change over drinks and music. I don’t suppose Sarah would believe any of this either.”
Alice, Lasciel, looks around once more, birdlike, before turning back to T’karra, Naomi, and smiling, shyly. It looks out of place amidst the elegant woman’s features, but sincere.
”We should keep moving, but tell me about it as we walk?”
The elf lord listens to the drow and human priestess (?) talk about their old lives.
Goodness. Lawyers. Not your normal isekai protagonists. It's normal shlubs like me that get plucked out of their humdrum lives.
Lord Azanoril sighed to himself.
I wonder how much money this 'lord' has?
The aristocratic elf follows the others, using his secret sword cane to navigate the lava tunnels. It felt..normal to him to do so.
Azerwal huffy, as he focuses on the energy. " Some sort of Psyhic residue or something is here? My host body can apparently do that sorta thing"
Jennifer then speaks while probing. "I was a college student going to go into physics, fell on hard times became an exotic dancer'
Axerwal continued feeling mentally through the area.
Exotic dancer..?
The elf lord's mind wanders to dusky dance rooms and tassels that barely cover areola mounds. Mmmm.
Bringing himself out of revelry, Azanoril commented, "Um, well..I spent most of my professional life in retail and customer service.
Not defending people's lives like you two, but it got me out of the shell public education encased me in."
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well, I grew up with a chance to be an Olympic Gymnasts, got a college scholarship and turned it into a law degree where I joined a prestigious firm and was on my way to partner working on environmental cases all over the United States but primarily in California. I helped with lower emissions cases most recently and addressing adding more bicycle lanes to reduce traffic with inducements from the government to help defer bike costs. T'karra/Naomi says.
"Well you won't have to worry about that here. I doubt combustion engines exist here?" Azerwal says as he concentrates on the area a bit more.
"It's strange just this world, this room, this body. Honestly, I hope somewhere in this world can at least turn me back to a woman!" Jennifer says looking at the others.
"Well you won't have to worry about that here. I doubt combustion engines exist here?" Azerwal says as he concentrates on the area a bit more.
"It's strange just this world, this room, this body. Honestly, I hope somewhere in this world can at least turn me back to a woman!" Jennifer says looking at the others.
Efti's round ears perk up, "Luckily, I may be able to be of some assistance in this regard -- the divine patron of my people the now-departed deity Mercury of the Swift Wings, was a mischievous god, and several myths about his divine pastimes mention his change into a feminine form. Miracles concerned with the representation and alteration of the self were a portion of the divine bounty with which Mercury's priesthood was graced, and some measure of these mysteries have been preserved among the adherents of the Gnostic Cabal of the Mask and the Veil, a noble sodality amongst whose numbers I am most pleased to be counted."
[QOUTE]
Efti's round ears perk up, "Luckily, I may be able to be of some assistance in this regard -- the divine patron of my people the now-departed deity Mercury of the Swift Wings, was a mischievous god, and several myths about his divine pastimes mention his change into a feminine form. Miracles concerned with the representation and alteration of the self were a portion of the divine bounty with which Mercury's priesthood was graced, and some measure of these mysteries have been preserved among the adherents of the Gnostic Cabal of the Mask and the Veil, a noble sodality amongst whose numbers I am most pleased to be counted."
"Interesting Efti, it was Efti wasn't it? I shall wish to know more. However, we must continue on. We shall talk of this Mask and Veil once we are truly safe. I fear we may need to prepare for some creep to leap out the ally soon. Those guys always meant to take not only your money but much more!" Azerwal says the grip on the spear changes from a walking stick to being carried as a weapon with the spear ready to thrust at something.
As the group continue their conversation, a strange noise is audible somewhere in the halls adjoining the offering chamber -- something like a high pitched whine that is also a scream and a loud buzzing...
Efti, Urstin, and the rest of the company start at the sound.
"By your reactions, I assume that is not supposed to happen" Awerzal says as he swings his spear point towards the sound and then asks his crystal.
'Okay, what sort of tricks do we have should this go south, I don't see armor so I assume we have stuff for that?'
'Yes many options I can give you some starting meditations should you need it? Otherwise let those with more combat capable abilities be between you and it"
'Obviously the latter makes sense'
Lasciel, Alice’s, body jolts at the sound and she is moving towards the screaming before she has a moment to think. ”That sounds like someone needs help. Another interdimensional-voyager?”. Alice seems unsure, yet her steps, still strangely graceful, continue in the direction of the noise. ”Hello?” she calls in several languages, one after the other, each as natural as breathing.
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Just as Naomi is about to talk about the series of lefts and rights that her familiar shared with her the sound breaks out near by and as if in response to danger she vanishes from sight with out so much as a sound.
Naomi flattens herself against the wall naturally hiding from where the sound came from.
Efti responds with a sharp intake of breath -- "Mother of Mercies, it must be one of the psionic geists that remain from the victims of the Tarragon Lord Cendis-Xirgit -- we are in great danger. These entities, which are also known as possessors, cannot be harmed by physical weapons."
"Fun!" Awerzal exclaimed as he sighed and looked about.
"Yes, you should implement one of your many Energy-based attacks. You have several at your disposal as well as defensive capabilities as well. Should you need there are several less taxing attacks you can pull off. Though I would not deplete such powers completely as you may need them later!"The crystal as it then crawled back up onto the turban to rest.
"So my crystal informs me that I am capable of utilizing some Energy attacks? I will probably use them."Jennifer says shifting her spear back into a lovely simple hold.
Efti responds with a sharp intake of breath -- "Mother of Mercies, it must be one of the psionic geists that remain from the victims of the Tarragon Lord Cendis-Xirgit -- we are in great danger. These entities, which are also known as possessors, cannot be harmed by physical weapons."
"Then I shall use my magic, as paltry as it is." The elf lord strides toward the mental malevolence.
Efti responds with a sharp intake of breath -- "Mother of Mercies, it must be one of the psionic geists that remain from the victims of the Tarragon Lord Cendis-Xirgit -- we are in great danger. These entities, which are also known as possessors, cannot be harmed by physical weapons.""Then I shall use my magic, as paltry as it is." The elf lord strides toward the mental malevolence.
The elven lord is unable to perceive any tangible phenomenon in the tunnel ahead -- but the earthly sound does increase considerably in intensity as he moves forward.
" what do these things look like? It'll help us in the long run" He asks as he then looks around the area.
' Mastress I believe that you should continue to focus on psionic energy'
Skylar shrugs, following along and mostly staying silent as to observe her surroundings. The dream was... vivid, more so than she was used to, but it probably meant she was just more tired or something like that.
Upon hearing that their supposed enemy was apparently immune to physical attacks, Skylar just scoffed. "I'm sure we'll be fine! Maybe they resist some highschooler's lil' punts, but they haven't felt my moves just yet!" She says confidently, raising her fists and punching the air a few times.
The screams continue unabated from some distance down the hall. Efti gasps,
"Beware, these entities can seize the minds of their victims."
"I think we should help. Terrifying doesn't begin to cover what I'm feeling right now, or what I imagine all of us felt when we first heard that, whether we'll admit it or not. Whoever is there? They're feeling worse. We should help."
Suiting action to word, Alice, Lasciel, moves down the hall, slowly. Each step carefully placed.
I wish I had someone to tell me how magical powers and spooky religions work. Or even a good blaster, I suppose, if I'm quoting movies.
"I think we should help. Terrifying doesn't begin to cover what I'm feeling right now, or what I imagine all of us felt when we first heard that, whether we'll admit it or not. Whoever is there? They're feeling worse. We should help."
"Don't worry. We're together. Numbers help against the supernatural." Lord Azanoril said in a voice not his, hoping it will inspire courage in others. "Find your faith in the gods once more and we can overcome!"
Azerwal stands and begins to think.
'So Crystal, oh knowledgable Crystal any ideas what these 'Phantoms' could be?'
"Hopefully Crystal here will help me figure out what these things are?" Azerwal says with her spear leading.
Azerwal stands and begins to think. [dice= Psionic]1d20+9
'So Crystal, oh knowledgable Crystal any ideas what these 'Phantoms' could be?'
"Hopefully Crystal here will help me figure out what these things are?" Azerwal says with her spear leading.
" Nothing is jogging the memory" he says as he looks at the others.
"Let us not doddle then, but gird your minds and ready your spells" Awerzal says as she relaxed a bit and continues onward
Efti gasps with an unmistakable intake of air,
"Does any of you have offensive abilities that can affect creatures without corporeal forms? The advance of this enemy will not be halted by normal physical barriers."
"I have scorching ray and two magic missiles memorized, apparently", Lord Azanoril states.
"I have scorching ray and two magic missiles memorized, apparently", Lord Azanoril states.
Efti frowns slightly with an expression of concern, "I am very doubtful whether those enchantments will be sufficient to defeat this entity -- it is a powerful psychic being that can pass through walls and control the minds of its victims. It is formed from an amalgamation of the tortured, disembodied consciousnesses of the sacrifices of the Tarragon Lord. Their minds are shriven from their bodies in the dread rituals performed in the offering chamber, within the molten baptisteries you see before you -- they are driven mad by this torture, and then cling to one another and increase their torment and confusion -- their souls are divided from their minds and depart, or at leased used to, to the Elemental Strongholds and the Abodes of the Gods. Of course, there have been no such offerings since the sealing of the world from the Tarragon Lords with the Veil, so I am not sure what would occur now, since minds cannot be thus divided from the soul in the present age."
"My Crystal has informed me My powers in telepathy and Psychic attacks, But I can manipulate energies with my mind. As well as Space-Time." Azerwal says Jennifer is trying to figure out this man's abilities?
Alice shudders at the thought, loss of self has always creeped her out, but strangley her body steels itself and a wave of calm washes away from her spirit.
"I...I think I can provide some protection, although I do not understand why I am so certain."
She feels around inside herself, the talk of others speaking to strange entities prompting a quiet thought Hello? but all that answers is a strange feeling of being held safe in the arms of her mother.
"I suppose, given no other explanation at this time, I shall have to say I have faith?"
She blushes, then looks around quickly and takes a deep breath.
"Still. From my point of view that person screaming needs help, and we should not leave them wanting."
Alice shudders at the thought, loss of self has always creeped her out, but strangley her body steels itself and a wave of calm washes away from her spirit.
"I...I think I can provide some protection, although I do not understand why I am so certain."
She feels around inside herself, the talk of others speaking to strange entities prompting a quiet thought Hello? but all that answers is a strange feeling of being held safe in the arms of her mother.
"I suppose, given no other explanation at this time, I shall have to say I have faith?"
She blushes, then looks around quickly and takes a deep breath.
"Still. From my point of view that person screaming needs help, and we should not leave them wanting."
Without any warning, the screaming suddenly ceases. The ensuing silence is so profound, it impugns the reality of the previous cacophony -- it is almost as if the ambient noise is devoured by its absence.
Then, a sense of a new presence emerges in the offering room -- an alien and hostile presence. As this new presence is felt experientially, a strange voice manifests within the consciousnesses of everyone of the recent arrivals -- the tone is strange, modulating between a high pitched whisper and a deep baritone in a curious, just-off-key lilting pattern, like a tune that is always one key off.
"Who is it that dares disturb this many-hallowed sanctuary of the Great Lord of the Everburning Fires?"
Alice shudders at the thought, loss of self has always creeped her out, but strangley her body steels itself and a wave of calm washes away from her spirit.
"I...I think I can provide some protection, although I do not understand why I am so certain."
She feels around inside herself, the talk of others speaking to strange entities prompting a quiet thought Hello? but all that answers is a strange feeling of being held safe in the arms of her mother.
"I suppose, given no other explanation at this time, I shall have to say I have faith?"
She blushes, then looks around quickly and takes a deep breath.
"Still. From my point of view that person screaming needs help, and we should not leave them wanting."
Without any warning, the screaming suddenly ceases. The ensuing silence is so profound, it impugns the reality of the previous cacophony -- it is almost as if the ambient noise is devoured by its absence.
Then, a sense of a new presence emerges in the offering room -- an alien and hostile presence. As this new presence is felt experientially, a strange voice manifests within the consciousnesses of everyone of the recent arrivals -- the tone is strange, modulating between a high pitched whisper and a deep baritone in a curious, just-off-key lilting pattern, like a tune that is always one key off.
"Who is it that dares disturb this many-hallowed sanctuary of the Great Lord of the Everburning Fires?"
Another unsettling period of profound quiet ensues, the passing seconds seeming like ages, and then the strange voice intrudes once again upon the individual consciousnesses of the other occupants of the offering chamber -- the voice assumes the same unnerving, intermittent modulations, descending to the nadir of a baritone and the heights of a counter tenor within each word, changing now faster, syllable by syllable,
::::"Know that you have trespassed upon the sacred premises of the True Master of the Consuming and Undying Flames of the Purest Fire -- only the sacrificiants and those who shall be offered unto the Great and Terrible Lord of the Seven and Seventy Heats are permitted to enter this Offering Chamber. I have no knowledge of any of your persons -- the servants and slaves and offerings, living and dead, of my master have departed from the Chamber of Offerings, but your strange bodies have come upon this sacred place. You will justify your presence, or I will destroy you for this act of desecration."::::
"I am Lord Azanoril Silkenleaf, and I am not Lord Azanoril Silkenleaf", the elf mage called pout to the empty. "Mentally, I was taken from my world, to this one. Being in this cave is a strange twist of faith. And it would be a shame for those of us trasported to another world, into other bodies, for our story to end here in your caves before we ever got a chance to look at this world's surface."
"I am Lord Azanoril Silkenleaf, and I am not Lord Azanoril Silkenleaf", the elf mage called pout to the empty. "Mentally, I was taken from my world, to this one. Being in this cave is a strange twist of faith. And it would be a shame for those of us trasported to another world, into other bodies, for our story to end here in your caves before we ever got a chance to look at this world's surface."
[dice=Diplomacy]1d20 + 18
The strange voice imposes itself once again,
"An elven lord who is not an elven lord? How curious. What mean you by this utterance?"
The elf took another deep breathe. "One moment, I was..possibly galaxies away, on my former world, relaxing after a long day of taking and delivering food orders to patients in a hospital, nursing a arthritic knee, in an overweight nearly 50 year old human body. Then, I close my eyes, and I'm in the body of an elf noble, who is apparently very rich, surrounded by other people taken from their world in a similar state. I can't explain further because that is the sum of my knowledge on the subject", Lord Azanoril ended in a huff.
The elf took another deep breathe. "One moment, I was..possibly galaxies away, on my former world, relaxing after a long day of taking and delivering food orders to patients in a hospital, nursing a arthritic knee, in an overweight nearly 50 year old human body. Then, I close my eyes, and I'm in the body of an elf noble, who is apparently very rich, surrounded by other people taken from their world in a similar state. I can't explain further because that is the sum of my knowledge on the subject", Lord Azanoril ended in a huff.
[dice=Diplomacy]1d20 + 18
Another pregnant pause.... then the strange voice intrudes again upon Azanoril's mind, this time beginning at a shrieking tone that reminds him of a death metal solist or a the roar of a supersponic jet breaking the sound barrier,
"An orphaned soul or mind, perhaps both... lost to the streams of time, riven from its native body, tongue, and land... We are many such. We once enjoyed the warmth of the sun and bathed in the lustrations of the sea, and then we were changed by the hands of the Speakers of the Lord of Ten Thousand Smokes. Many minds, made one, joined only in misery and our forgetfulness of the fulness of our previous days when our thoughts were not joined, one to another. And unseen tears descend, unceasingly for those lost days of mortal youth and pleasure."
"But know that your home is not safe -- nay, the Lord of Ten and Ten Thousands Smokes and the Rain of Ashes and his brethren among the Council of the Exalted Masters of the True and Holy Strongholds of the First and Purest Elements have glimpsed Earth and many other mortal worlds through the veil of the oracles of Godschall, and surely they hunger for the richess that might be cultivated from your peoples -- from their minds, and bodies, and souls, their fields and habitations, their treasure stores and hidden gardens. They hunger greatly and, having been denied their rightful due, the final consumption of this pitiable world, they have turned their gaze to other prizes. But they are vain and vainglorious, and wish to complete their vengeance before renewing their conquests -- to devour the last of the souls that bear words and songs upon these lands, and so they scratch and scrape and gnaw at the veil between this realm and theirs, seeking a point of entry, seeking fitfully the attention of the great maker of keys, and opener of the ways, that they might pass through once again and claim their prize."
"But know, oh mortal, elfen lord who is not, that once the Masters of the Hidden Sources have accomplished this aim, when the Typhoon Struggle has finally ended and all songs and all souls of this realm have been relegated to the deepest storehouses of the Fonts of the First and Truest Sources -- then will the legions of these Great Lords of the Final Firmament direct their withering gaze upon your homes and hearths, and your fate, and the fate of all you love, shall be worse than then fate that met those who once held our separate minds before we were consumed within the fire of the offering pools of the Prince of Cinder and Flaming Ashes."
Azerwal looks to Azanoril and the others. With a quick use of Missive sends them a message.
' Okay so from what I can gather these guys are bad, and if possible we run? But have spells and other things at the ready!'
Holding his head, the elf lord grunts, "GET..OUT..OF..
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I am she who dances in shadows and darkness and also she who deals in law for nature and of my nature. I did not ask to be here any more then you or the sacrifices or supplicants or any other soul and my wanderings seek to depart your place faster then I found it. Ask a task and name a place above where you might be remembered by us and I shall do it T'karra says
Holding his head, the elf lord grunts, "GET..OUT..OF..
[dice=Intimidate]1d20 + 5
The only reply is a bone-rattling cacophony of laughter -- the skull-throttling decimal level is higher than anything Azanoril's current consciousness had encountered in their Earthly existence, and its after-current reverberations produce a tingling sensation that is somehow a mix of an itch, a tickling sensation, and the pink-prick arousal of skin by the sympathetic nervous system.
The only likely conclusion from this peculiar reaction is that the elf's attempt to intimidate the psychic entity was not successful.
[dice=diplo]1d20+13
I am she who dances in shadows and darkness and also she who deals in law for nature and of my nature. I did not ask to be here any more then you or the sacrifices or supplicants or any other soul and my wanderings seek to depart your place faster then I found it. Ask a task and name a place above where you might be remembered by us and I shall do it T'karra says
A long, pregnant pause ensures, and then the voice resumes its strange cadence, now apparently tinged with a distinctive tone of curiosity and amusement,
"Hmmm... another mind or soul or spirit that has wandered far from its former abiding place upon one of the many spheres that shall, in time, draw the implacable attention and unquenchable hunger of the Great and Terrible Lords of the Fonts of the True Sources... this is indeed a most curious discovery..."
Another pause,
"The many minds that compose our shared experience of unrelenting torment wish only to be sundered one from another, to rejoin their souls, and a new body, and continue, once again, their striving within the unending turning of the wheel of the fates. The key to our freedom lies elsewhere upon this lonely atoll, and we cannot leave this place of offering to seek the means of our collective freedom."
"During the era of the Great and Final Struggle, the servants of the Lord of Smoke and Cinders raised several monuments of homage to their dread patron upon this half-forgotten isle. The shrine in which you presently stand is but one of these sites of power -- it was raised within the remnants of the ancient channels of magma whose interlaced threads extend for uncountable miles within this firemount."
"The servants of the Ancient and Abiding Prince of the Consuming Fires of the True Flame sensed the presence of a yet more ancient source of power beneath this mountain -- a black pyramid of vast dimensions which resembles those found in many other climes deep beneath the lightless depths of the seas. The mount of fire had grown above this unimaginably ancient monument by a process of eons-long sedimentation, the silt and rock and ash slowly collecting into a tooth-like summit as the continent plates ground and sheered against one another in a hidden combat for days without number and nights without counting."
"The officiants of the shrine offered our bodies and those of other victims in an attempt to awake whatever ancient and dark power might reside within this black pyramid with no name. The shrine was built at its doorstep, and its innermost reaches touch upon the bottomless shafts that open upon the lightless depths of the hidden places of the earth where the ancient monument has rested, unknown and unremembered, for time without years."
"But the source of the power that imprisons our minds is vested within the cursed regalia of the high and exalted sacrificiant of the Tarragon Lord Cendis-Xirgit, which is held within an ensorcelled vault deep within the Temple of Coals and Cinders, the great fortress of the Prince of Smoke and Ashes from which his servants planned and prepared for their campaigns during the Time of the Typhoon Struggle."
"If you were to cross the accursed sands of the Desert of Discheshu and descend to the vaults of the temple, and destroy the regalia of the High Sacrificiant, the tortured minds that compose our shared suffering would be freed to pursue their individual destinies once more upon the endless cycles of the Wheel of Lives and Fates."
"I just wanna get outta here and head back to civilization. If these beings of great psionic power can't do that then I'm gonna just head on down the trail and leave them to their own devices" Azerwal says as she turns to their guides.
"Which way do we need to go? I would like to be down with these creatures" Azerwal says not paying too much attention to the being of psionic might.