GMDQ's Forces of Nature (Inactive)

Game Master DeathQuaker

Ariston chimes in, "To be clear, I didn't mean challenge in terms of confronting it with words. I meant dealing with the threat it poses in one way or another. If you have a suggestion, make it... so long as it doesn't involve me jumping down its throat and punching it from the inside."

The footsteps halt at Mira's apology. At this point, you can all see a cloaked figure, a shadow standing amid shadows, as the invisibility protecting him begins wearing off, peeling off like a translucent skin. You can see opalescent eyes assess you beneath a black hood. It is almost impossible to see his face otherwise, and he may have part of it painted black.

At Ariston's comment. "Vell, I don't know, now. I'd like to see that. No. What seemed easiest was find something strong enough to kill it and try to kill it. But you see how that vent." He sighs. One foot remains pointed into the direction of the corridor.

He gestures toward Mira. "Sealing is the easiest thing. Ve could just fix the Door to the Shadow Plane. The problem is that it will remain on the other side, and draw the disasters here. Vhich are being collected by that Machine, to all descend on the land at once once it breaks again. Vhich just delays the threat of this whole thing, which seems irresponsible. My own God, capricious though he may be, does not vant to lose the vorld. It's vhere he keeps his stuff.... Anyway, the other problem is my Brother hid the key to the Door, and I haven't found it."

He spreads his hands. "There's another, maybe better option." He sighs. "I have been trying to piece together a ritual that could send it into the planes. The problem is it involves going into the Shadow Plane, binding it before it can attack, and then opening a new portal to exile him. It will be drawn toward greater forces of Apocalypse than would be here. If it worked, he would be shunted to a place that is doomed anyway and he is no longer our problem. If it didn't work, he would try to obliterate all present. And I know if I tried it myself, I would die in vain."

Mira, you can basically just read the entry on the Shadow Plane in Planar Adventures

So, I calculated Liber's skills wrong:

A sage can attempt all Knowledge checks untrained and gains a bonus on Knowledge checks equal to half its master’s class level.

It's fitting that the fox Arbiter has a +39 Planes. Axis is literally their boss and patron.

Krowys Planes: 1d20 + 29 ⇒ (8) + 29 = 37
Liber Planes: 1d20 + 39 ⇒ (14) + 39 = 53

"Ah, the Shadow Plane. Spells should be unaffected," Liber notes, "as long as they aren't light or fire-based. Isn't that place basically impossible to map out, though? How would you suggest we navigate the plane to do anything in that case?" She speaks with far more emotion, oddly, than Krowys does.

Ack paizo stop eating my posts gfdi!

Lazur smiles and says "I had a feeling that it is this creature that is causing all of the islands problems from what you said earlier. It would be best to remove it. I don't know if it can be killed or if we can do it but moving it elsewhere is we can probably do with the right information and preparation. Why don't you join us and talk us through your plan? We can add anything we have knowledge of to it. You certainly know more about this thing than us. We only knew of it's existence recently."

Brother Abyss gestures to Krowys. "Being unable to map and being able to navigate are two different things. But I am not certain I can find a way to explain it to one bound to Axis. Suffice, I hope, to say that finding him will not be a challenge. He leaves a... trace that is easy to follow."

"As for the plan, we need to as always bind the creature and then gate it. The latter, a spell of plane shifting would suit. The hard part is binding something so powerful. You could try simple spells. But I was developing a ritual that would raise the chances of success. If you want more than that, it would be easier if I show you..."

He gestures back toward to the room he opened. "Unless you wish to rest first..."

"I think we should rest first... in case the plan goes wrong."

Mira grins widely, A ritual you say, how fascinating! Please, tell me more, I am always interesting in experimenting with new forms of magic.

She floats forward and links arms with him. Maybe we can help strengthen it. You have a workshop yes? We may well want to make our approach tomorrow so that Ariston and Krowys can adjust their spell selection. We werent really expecting to have to head into the Shadow Plane to fight an ancient horror down here.

"While I may not need sleep," Liber says, "I'm in agreement that the rest of you should get some rest. I'll discuss spell selection with Krowys once the rest is over."

Krowys nods, affirming that his familiar is saying the same thing that's on his mind. "I can confirm. Rest is a good idea, if only to rearrange spell selection now that we have some idea of what we're going up against."

"Very well. Perhaps I should do the same. I shall see you at sporetide. I will meet you here."

He waves a hand, and casts a standard nourishment spell. A large chitin filled with fresh water and smaller chitin bowls filled with what appears to be a variety of roasted mushrooms, lichens, and insect thoraxes appear. All very edible. Whether it is to your taste is another matter.

He casts invisibility again and his footsteps recede into the corridor.

Spell list updated. I should save the Death Wards until we are about to possibly tangle with the baddie.

Mira doesnt have any preparations as such, save for casting long duration buffs on the group.

Everyone gets:

Darkvision (if you dont have it)
Mage Armour (in case of incorporeal enemies)
Life Bubble (to deal with environmental issues)

Mira does indeed construct her Magnificent Mansion to provide more comfortable quarters for everyone. They now mirror the building of their manor house.

As she potters around she reminds everyone of the conditions we are likely to experience of the Plane of Shadow.

OK everyone, the Plane of Shadow is an eerie, colourless, depressing place. Everything is in black, white and shades of tedious grey. Its dimply lit and lies close to the negative material plane so we can expect to find undead there. That reminds me, we had best ask our new friend how close we will be to this horror on arrival. The place will impact your magic. Spells that use light or fire are impeded there and light sources are less effective but as we will all have darkvision that shouldnt be a problem. Spells that use shadows, especially the conjuration and evocation spells, are much more potent there. If we are likely to face undead then we might want some restorations and lesser restorations available, maybe remove paralysis, curse and/or disease as well. Basically, anything that can counter the various horrible afflictions they can impose. Anyone got any questions about the planes?

Lazur nods and listens to Mira and when she finishes he asks "Is there any effect on positive energy? If there are many undead channeling positive energy might be helpful."

Mira shakes her head, No, I dont think so. Shadow suppresses light and fire effects.

If you need to continue your conversation please back-tag as needed

You rest for as long as you need to, though it's hard to know what time of day it is. Liber, whether due to residual animal instinct or an inevitable's clockwork-like sense of time, believes it is early dawn.

As you are readying to leave, there is a knock on the invisible door to your magical sanctum. Beyond stands Brother Abyss--not invisible--still black-cloaked with just his pale eyes showing beneath his hood.

"Goodness me! That vas a good trick," he chuckles. "For a minute I thought you'd left. Of course, I vas thinking it would be funny if I locked the door once you vent inside... of course, I vould never trap you on purpose, I am vell aware you could likely turn to me ash vith but a thought. So here, the joke is on me." He chuckles again, apparently very (and genuinely amused) by his train of thought. His manner seems far more relaxed than it was previously.

"Come, come, ve have vork to do!" He gestures for you to follow, and heads toward the central corridor back toward the staircase where you arrived.

Lazur smiles at the Brother's joke and says "Good morning brother. Sleep seems to have done you some good."

Maris grins at the dwarf. Good morning Brother she says as she makes a small twisting gesture with one hand. You now have access to the Mansion, please feel free to make use of it if you need to. It will last a while longer and the caviar is quite excellent.

She floats along beside him, Now, tell us more about what you want us to do.

That night, Krowys and Liber lost a bit of sleep discussing spell selection, but they prepared a minor variation on their usual spell selection. However, for once, the pair has actually decided to utilize the ability to call on the forces of Axis for their aid, with a price of course. Or, if it's to deal with a Protean, the cost would be heavily reduced.

"Well," Krowys deadpans upon the group waking up, "we may not be able to turn you to ashes with a mere thought, but we could transport you to someplace that can do it for us." Krowys silently notes to remember the ability to merely planeshift threats away, since it's not something he usually remembers to do. Liber, somehow still the more emotional creature of the pair, lets out a laugh that sounds oddly reminiscent of a fox at the joke, before responding, "nice one! But as Mira asked, what do you want us to do?"

Spell list updated. Finally time to 'sic Axis on something.

I am going to assume for now Ariston is also still here.

The duergar leads the party back toward the staircase area. "So, a bit of a tour." He points at the three corridors you did not explore earlier, that are, for lack of a better way of describing it, to the north, east, and south.

"My brothers took over and reinforced this temple generations ago, but it vas built by gnomes before the cataclysm. A temple to the Titans. In each direction there is an old shrine. North was to the titan of Earth. East to Air. South to Fire. Far vest, there was a shrine to Vater, but it was destroyed. In its absence, the scar created by its destruction is where the rift to the Shadow Plane grew. It was my ancestors who built the doorway to seal the rift, but as I mentioned, I have lost the key. That remains a problem if ve vant to open it on purpose--or strengthen the seal--but otherwise we could just wait a veek or so until the seal breaks. If you want to help me find the key, that could be step one."

"Othervise..." He gestures for you to follow him northwards. He shows you one of the shrines: a large stone edifice, carved entirely out of the cavern wall. The bottom forms a large bowl clearly intended for offerings. Holding the bowl is a statue of a baleful looking creature growing out of the wall, with a giant scowling head hovering over the bowl about five feet over your heads. The statue is cracked in places and missing an ear, and ancient damage suggests someone long, long ago attempted to defile or destroy the whole thing (with only minimal success).

"The divine conduits these served as went dead when the Titans vere drained of their power and exiled to the moons. But there is nonetheless much residual power. Ve tapped into that power vhen ve raised the Ravener in the chamber on the surface. That means particularly, negative energy flows through these. For our current purposes, that is not a bad thing, as it helps also establish a connection with Shadow. Since the Ravener destroyed my Brethren, I was already trying to come up vith an alternative in case he failed us. And, he did. I began treating these shrines with consecration spells, trying to balance the dark forces to shift their creative energies toward something I could use that was not destructive... but binding.

"So: there is magic that could send a creature to another plane. That exists readily enough. But the Vengeance is so strong it is likely to just shrug it off... or even just come back from where it was sent. So..."

"I have come up with a ritual that will weaken the Vengeance's resistance to such magic. We need someone able to cast plane shift.. And we need various items to infuse using the shrines..."

He pauses, as though distracted. "Oh! Items! You did come here for treasure, yes? I forgot. I have something for you. It is not a dragon's hoard. But seee... I have not forgotten what you seek. A show of... good faith. A thank you, for hearing me out..." He produces from his robes a shellacked darkwood box about one foot by six inches by six inches. He opens the lid. Inside is an exquisite device made of gold, platinum, and semiprecious stones polished into spheres. It looks like an orrery, but it does not depict Scrithengard's planetary sphere and its moons and sun. It instead shows a quartet of four spheres set within a disc, forming a core around which at least a dozen or more other spheres rotates along different discs and rings. "It depicts the Great Wheel, one way sages have tried to understand the the Great Beyond. At its base, you see these rings of different inlay... these are the Inner Planes." He points to the base, which indeed contains white and black rings of the energy planes and four colors representing the elements, blue, yellow, green, and red.

He holds the box out to you. "It vas made by Khyber Mercane, the Vorldseeker. He came here a centure or two ago. He made the Machine I believe you are familiar with. My understanding vas that he vas a complete ass. But he made a pretty thing, yes?"

"Now, vhere vas I?"

Lazur takes the box and looks at the item. "Yes. It is pretty. I know plane shift shouldn't be a problem. What else do you need."

Lazur then examines the statue and room with the help of his lantern and makes sure what he is being told so far is consistent with the statue. Lazur doesn't doubt his truthfulness just wants to make sure he is right.

Kn: Arcana: 1d20 + 17 ⇒ (2) + 17 = 19 + Inspiration (better of 2d8): 2d8 ⇒ (3, 2) = 5 22
Spellcraft: 1d20 + 27 ⇒ (20) + 27 = 47 + Inspiration (better of 2d8): 2d8 ⇒ (4, 8) = 12 55

Mira floats alongside, paying rapt attention.

A key you say. Can you describe it, perhaps provide us with a picture of it? That might make it possible to locate with magic. Plenty of spells can do such but they generally need some degree of description of the item. You say you lost it. Do you think someone took it or was it mislaid in all of the, chaos, of recent weeks?

As he shows her the various states she muses, Hmm, I dont really do positive and negative energy, that is more Aristons area. Plane Shift certainly isnt a problem, either of us could provide that. What sort of items do you need for your ritual? We can generally get hold of most things if we really need to.

Mira also takes a look at the box, It is indeed a pretty little thing. If he made this then it may well be possible to use it as a focus item to scry out his current location. I have a great many questions for the ma, most of them starting with "Why, dear lord, why!". Of course, if he is as powerful as I suspect then he is probably mind blanked.

If we have to go into the Shadow Plane, I’ll cast Death Ward on the four of us and Mass Planar Adaptation (Cold) on the whole group. I’ve updated my Status with the spells that are active when we deal with the gate.

I’m still here! Apologies again for the delay.

Ariston listens intently nodding at the ‘Mercane was a complete ass’ sentiment. It may not be entirely justified but it did mirror Ariston’s current impression of the mage. ”I’d vastly prefer the let’s weaken the powerful enemy course of action.”

He hands the box to whomever will take it, and then turns back to the shrine.

Lazur can tell the shrine is very old--the claim of it being pre-Cataclysm is believable, and of course the fact that you are in the Hrifgard makes this likely as well. He does not recognize the figure, necessarily, but the markings around it resemble various runes used to represent earth and stone in gnomish and dwarven traditions.

Examining it with detect magic reveals strong, mixing auras that seem to flow of various conjuration and necromancy magics, including layers of positive and negative energies sometimes working together, sometimes fighting with each other.

"To enact the ritual, I need four items. Objects, but objects that that hold power in their meaning, that relate to why the Vengeance was brought here, what draws it--but also what it is beholden to:

"The Titans' var on Tria drew it here. The conflict that caused the Cataclysm. So the first item needs to be something of the Titans. If it is something from living flesh... all the better, but you can't exactly find a living servant of the Titans these days... But something imbued with their power. A piece of these altars, even could vork, but... it would be better if it vere something else, since ve have also used these to serve the Vanderer's Eyes.

"Likewise, we need something representing what drove the conflict: A desire for vengeance. Control. Ambition. It could be a spell that alters emotion... or maybe a poem you wrote one day when you vere very angry. I have tried... I am a bad poet. Now, these two things are what draw the Vengeance to us. Then, two things that can control and weaken the Vengeance:

"As a creature born of pure Void, the power of the Sun is its nemesis. I don't even know vhat the sun looks like, so I've struggled vith that one. But there are spells that duergar have tortured people with that are supposed to be bright as day, or there is the god Leokh... a holy symbol, perhaps? Or sunlight caught in a mirror box? Is that possible? And finally...

"An object representing binding. Chains, the obvious option. An entrapping spell. A rope. Ve could get fancier... kytons dwell on the Shadow plane... cut off a piece of them and use that chain, it vould be most powerful."

He spreads his hands: "Again: something of the Titans, something representing destructive vengeance or power lust, something representing the sun, and something for binding. Bring them here, we put them in the altar bowls, and I consecrate them for the ritual. Now: you could, between magics and looking around here, find something that suits. Probably in a very short period of time. But: the stronger the pull of the item, the better the ritual will go. So if you have ideas of what would fit... you can travel more freely than I can. For example, I would not like to test if Tria will strike me dead if I leave belowground, as many often believe. I think the door vill hold...

He points upward and then at Mira. "Ah! The key. My brother hid it. I can't find it here. Maybe he put it in the cherufes' chamber up the stairs. But I can't find it. It looks like a key made of the void itself. Quite difficult not to recognize. If we don't find the key, the door will break and the Vengeance come through I vould say... in a fiveday or so. If ve do find it, we can restrengthen the door and that vould give more time if you need it."