Gabe trusts in the powers of Culkin's brew and let's himself fall, intending to fly to change his path once he's closer to the 'bottom' of this area.
Aisling tries to adjust his direction while falling, some places allow Will to direct the movement.
If that doesn't work, he drinks the potion and starts flying. While different feeling than physical exertion of his transformation, it is still air streaming and pushing on him.
He checks the area below for best way to land everyone safely. And checks that everyone has flight under control.
Only belatedly does he realize there might be barely visible air elementals around them and focuses on his surroundings
Benedetto holds off on drinking his potion until it seems like contact with the enemy is imminent.
The brown, tangled structure grows nearer, and you realize the scale of the thing is more like a city block, rather than a single building. On this chaotic plane, this is apparently a forest - branches, roots, and trunks sprawl in all directions, given freedom to run wild in the absence of reliable gravity.
The 'forest' is roughly cubic in shape, with networks of tangled tree-upon-tree all stacked up in the center. Landing near one of the edges of the cube, you see there are gaps between roots and branches, but an elen could easily get trapped in there.
Now that you have a chance to more thoroughly take in your surroundings, you see clear skies 'above' you, and dark ominous skies to the 'west'. You hear high winds and rumbling thunder from that same direction.
though you don't detect any ripples, signs or wakes of invisible creatures, something in the air around you gives the impression that 'something is there'. If you alert your companions, they can roll perception checks too
"We're not alone! Look for ripples in the air around us. Or other disturbances." Aisling calls out.
Glancing to Aisling, Gabe focuses on the air around him looking for the the signs mentioned. This is his area of expertise, he knows what he's talking about.
** spoiler omitted **
"We're not alone! Look for ripples in the air around us. Or other disturbances." Aisling calls out.
Samen barks back in agitation, "Of course we're not alone, we're here to end some elementals! If we were alone, we'd be doing it wrong."
Stretching their skin to mimic a flying squirrel's skin and corkscrewing in the decent. Twisting their head around to look around for the wind monsters.
Benedetto drinks his potion and flies up with the rest of the group. When there's mention of invisible elementals, he starts focusing on his paladin senses.
[dice=perception]1d20+20
Stretching their skin to mimic a flying squirrel's skin and corkscrewing in the decent. Twisting their head around to look around for the wind monsters.
Qizz, you sense the spiritual aspect of whatever huge creature is traversing the air 'above' you. It feels at least half like a ghost.
Gabe, you see distortions in the air, here and there, and you get a feel for the sheer size of the thing-- you imagine a manta ray from the depths of River, but measuring over one hundred feet long, swimming through the wind-torn skies.
Benedetto, whatever it is Qizz and Gabe are squinting at, you do not sense any evil.
"I'm not sensing any wrongness near us yet," Benedetto states, still looking around warily with his sword at the ready.
Benedetto, a sense of wrongness starts to permeate the air, like a spreading ink stain on parchment. You can feel it comes from around the corner of your current position. The distant, bare-branched trees clack together in the foul wind like scorpion's claws.
Aisling and Qizzlvutz, you feel invisible eyes upon you; the eyes of hungry predators. In this realm of shattered earth and wind, your gifts are particularly enticing to...whatever malevolent forces are slowly turning their attention toward you.
Broken windchime melodies, their sad music like jagged teardrops, spin fractured in the air; the noise quickly becomes grating and ominous.
Feeling an ominous pressure, Gabe calls into existence the mental shield of force once more.
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Samen will prepare by moving slightly away from the others and casting silence on himself to negate any potential sonic damage.
Aisling is so focused on being open to subtle signs and feelings around him to notice threats on time, he is totally blindsided by the mental pressure and sudden discordance.
He takes the opportunity to drink his protection from evil potion.
; - add +1 if this is death or negative energy effect
Gabe and Aisling, it is suddenly difficult--no, impossible--to take a breath. You wheeze, choke, and taste grave dust in the back of your throat.
Kallik senses a hateful ghost in the vicinity, but she can't get a bead on it. Wiping ichor from her eyes, she scans,
Benedetto tries to pinpoint where the sound is coming from by flying slightly to one side and then the other, comparing the volume and turning his head to try to nail down a direction, his sword at the ready.
[dice=init]1d20+1
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While taken by surprise initially, Aisling is a creature of air. After the initial shock, he takes a breath letting streaming air force itself into his lungs.
He drinks the potion after all.
Samen has no tools for countering invisibility, so he takes a defensive position, waiting for a threat to manifest instead of being simply foreboding.
He dreads the feeling this is giving him. But no, it can't be her, right?
Gabe's shield does nothing for the dust invading his lungs.
Qizz has not been paying attention to much. Fidgeting in the air is like fidgeting on the ground and that is second nature. It requires no thought to roll around in the air. There is a ghost here. This is what Qizzlvutz is supposed to do. The dead are what they are supposed to pay attention to.
Even if this one is a meanie and they cannot see it like they can see Kallik. Maybe magic can fix that. They have been mumbling to themselves with a stream of pale blue bubbles pouring out of their mouth.
Pointing at themselves, "Qizzlvutz. Spirt guardian. Want help death..." Huffing in irritation elen words are entirely hard.
Pressing their hands onto the side of their head and squeezing, "Who you?"
Samen has no tools for countering invisibility, so he takes a defensive position, waiting for a threat to manifest instead of being simply foreboding.
He dreads the feeling this is giving him. But no, it can't be her, right?
Just barely a whisper, carried to your ear by turbulent winds, 'Say-say, I am so happy to see you...I finally died, and I ended up here. So, so happy to see you, my love...
You feel a stronger winds starting to coalesce around you - an embrace from your former companion.
Qizz has not been paying attention to much. Fidgeting in the air is like fidgeting on the ground and that is second nature. It requires no thought to roll around in the air. There is a ghost here. This is what Qizzlvutz is supposed to do. The dead are what they are supposed to pay attention to.
Even if this one is a meanie and they cannot see it like they can see Kallik. Maybe magic can fix that. They have been mumbling to themselves with a stream of pale blue bubbles pouring out of their mouth.
Pointing at themselves, "Qizzlvutz. Spirt guardian. Want help death..." Huffing in irritation elen words are entirely hard.
Pressing their hands onto the side of their head and squeezing, "Who you?"
The large manta-ray creature stops in its invisible cycle of floating and bobbing. It gives a long whale-song response in Qizzlvutz' mind, a melody of meaning that requires no words at all.
[dice=Fort Save]1d20+7
Gabe's shield does nothing for the dust invading his lungs.
Gabriel collapses to the ground, and starts coughing up small specks of blood.
Qizz twists around to look for Aisling. Bright blue bubbles stream out of their mouth excitedly, "Aisling! Need Sky Priest!"
Spinning so they are now upside down, "Sky's Tear?"
Spinning back to the ghost with a too wide smile, "Sky Tear safe? Guide?"
"Qizz talk ghost. Questions?"
"Samen! Be careful, there's something near you!" Benedetto warns.
Then he sees Gabriel collapse and hurries to his side, checking to see if he can do anything for him.
"Qizz! What does it needs us to do? We're here to fight some evil creature. I'll gladly help, but tell it to talk to me directly if it can." Aisling is confused a bit, first there was an attack. Then warning. Now the group is talking in two different directions.
He re-focuses at Samen and his surroundings, drifting closer trying to spot the attacker. For the moment he ignores the peaceful elemental. If they deal with the enemy there will be time. He is curious though.
Tears! This might be a chance to do something about The Sky...but it will throw us quite a way from fighting on their world. Too distracted! Focus!
"Samen! Be careful, there's something near you!" Benedetto warns.
Then he sees Gabriel collapse and hurries to his side, checking to see if he can do anything for him.
Huffing in frustration and tucking their limbs in so they are as small as possible. Elen words dumb. Growling in a way that mimics the phantom that they have in their mind most of the time, "Detail..."
Waving their hands in a way to encourage more information, "Qizz needs information."
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Kallik moves behind Qizzlvtz. wrapping an arm around the mycos and feeling for the magic between them. She can manipulate Qizz's magic so maybe she can try talking to the ghost. Taking an unnecessary deep breath to steady herself, "Spirit, we can and will help but we need more information to do so. What are you after? We are here to slay a great evil. Do you know where or what that is? We cannot see you and most cannot hear you. Can you make yourself seen to all of us? And heard by all?"
Squeezing Qizz a little tighter when they start to wiggle and mumbling, "Details need detailed questions little one."
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Gabriel's thoughts are clear of all the complicated ghostly negotiations. Unfortunately they are filled with simply trying to breathe! Stopping his flight, he floats in place in an uncontrolled manner clutching at his chest as he gasps for air.
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Samen may not hear her words, but he knows well the feeling of voracious emptiness that approaches him. He turns toward it, expecting to see a familiar but distorted face. The formless ill wind is somehow less terrifying than he would've expected.
He remains calm, knowing fear and panic are seasoning for her meals.
Hello Abby. I don't know how you made it here, but it's clear you are the threat we've been sent to clear from this place. Would you kindly please release Gabriel before I am forced to prematurely inaugurate the hostilities? It would be a shame to not catch up before finishing this.
"Samen! Be careful, there's something near you!" Benedetto warns.
Then he sees Gabriel collapse and hurries to his side, checking to see if he can do anything for him.
"Qizz! What does it needs us to do? We're here to fight some evil creature. I'll gladly help, but tell it to talk to me directly if it can." Aisling is confused a bit, first there was an attack. Then warning. Now the group is talking in two different directions.
He re-focuses at Samen and his surroundings, drifting closer trying to spot the attacker. For the moment he ignores the peaceful elemental. If they deal with the enemy there will be time. He is curious though.
Tears! This might be a chance to do something about The Sky...but it will throw us quite a way from fighting on their world. Too distracted! Focus!
[dice=Perception]1d20+19
Aisling, you are unable to spot the evil attacker that Benedetto senses in the background.
Kallik moves behind Qizzlvtz. wrapping an arm around the mycos and feeling for the magic between them. She can manipulate Qizz's magic so maybe she can try talking to the ghost. Taking an unnecessary deep breath to steady herself, "Spirit, we can and will help but we need more information to do so. What are you after? We are here to slay a great evil. Do you know where or what that is? We cannot see you and most cannot hear you. Can you make yourself seen to all of us? And heard by all?"
Squeezing Qizz a little tighter when they start to wiggle and mumbling, "Details need detailed questions little one."
Kallik, the dense whale-song language of the manta creature fills you with knowledge: follow me to Sky's Tears and to the great battle ; see me now...
And with a ripple of jellyfish illumination, you see the outline of the vast, flat manta ray, all picked out in soft shifting pinks, violets, and light greens.
Samen may not hear her words, but he knows well the feeling of voracious emptiness that approaches him. He turns toward it, expecting to see a familiar but distorted face. The formless ill wind is somehow less terrifying than he would've expected.
He remains calm, knowing fear and panic are seasoning for her meals.
Hello Abby. I don't know how you made it here, but it's clear you are the threat we've been sent to clear from this place. Would you kindly please release Gabriel before I am forced to prematurely inaugurate the hostilities? It would be a shame to not catch up before finishing this.
A hungry maw suddenly flashes in front of you, shining red and raw. Squealing feedback screams in your mind as she forces her thoughts back down the same mental channel.
Her presence zips away, to the far side of the cubic forest, joining the rest of the thunderclouds.
Tallmind Theta still stands in the midst of the turmoil, seemingly unaware of the chaotic events that surround them.
That one smells of frying neurons. Why does it lap after your mind like a crazed wolf, Samen of One?