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The road is increasingly easy to follow as you move away from the strange settlement, as the growth seems to have taken less and less of it. As the sun starts it's final descent towards the horizon you come across a crudely paved section that seems to have suffered no advanced decay at all. The trees on both side of cleared path are still twisted and strange but there's no sense of age to this place as the rest of travelled area gave you.
You easily pry him off now that he has calmed down, once you've put him down he hops around the group sticking close.
Arrahska manages to calm the little thing quickly, oddly enough it seems to have no magical aura, not even that of a living thing, making it's behavior and the locomotion of its gears a mystery.
not quite a "today" but its a post, hopefully you will forgive me XD
The parties caution seems unwarranted after a few minutes as nothing appears, the strange creature does not seem to want to let go though, as much as Selen flails. Upon closer inspection it appears to be wearing a ragged collar, possibly a lost pet or misplaced toy? Hard to determine it's true nature as it looks so odd.
You have been travelling nearly an hour. The road is visible every so often but the rapid growth of the vegetation has taken over most of it.
Perception Check DC 22: Something moves in the underbrush, a flash of blue grey heading straight for you 30 feet out. A strange creature, like a rabbit made of gears and springs is streaking towards you.
The little girl returns shortly and whispers to her mother. After a moment she frowns. "Mother is asleep at the moment so I will tell you what I can. She was sent through some sort of portal almost 80 years ago. She hasn't mentioned anyone else from the homelands. After a while she ended up here. She always said someone else would come... I didn't believe her." She looks at you hopefully, "Are we going home?" Knowledge(History) DC 5: The beast had not woken yet at the point she was sent back.
She looks a little relieved that you know what she is talking about, "Mother didn't like talking about it, but he didn't send her here to the rings. She was sent to a lush world. She was sent here from there. That was nearly 80 years ago." She shakes her head, "I've sent my daughter to see if she is up for visitors, she never really liked talking about it with me."
She gestures to some of the seating around the room, worn out and much repaired chairs. As she takes her seat she whispers something to the little girl and pushes her gently towards one of the doors. The girl leaves without a fuss but avoids your group shyly. "I learned it from my mother, the lady of the house." The last bit is clearly a somewhat ironic emphasis on the position. She hesitates a moment, "Silas Shoreborn sent her here."
You find little of value, some forgotten broken children's toys and a small bag of colourful stones. This place was cleaned out meticulously.
She leads you into a dark room with only a single candle burning. It looks like it was once a very well appointed den. Getting a good look at her she is a rather tall blond woman who would be attractive if she wasn't so dirty and frightened. She finally speaks, "I am Dalia. This is my daughter, Seery. How do you come to speak Taldan?" Her tone is hushed.
I've dropped her a pm and am hoping she responds
After about an hour Slobad does find a road that seems to have been made by many people passing about a year ago, unfortunately he loses the trail as it passes through the boundary as it seems to have overgrown since then. But it was headed north west.
Most of the goods have been taken, but your thorough search does turn up something interesting. A pair of well made buckets, their rope handles torn, had been left in a cupboard. With a little effort the handles could be repaired. As you are searching the cupboards you notice one seems shallower than the others. A few moments of prying and you reveal a hidden compartment. You pull out 3 linen wrap bundles.
Appraise DC 10:
Worth about 50 gp The second contains an oiled leather pouch filled with some strange looking powder. Knowledge Nature DC 10:
This seems to be some sort of ground flower petal, you've never seen any plant like it. Heal DC 15:
The powder seems to be some sort of hallucinogenic, might be useful as a painkiller. The last contains a belt pouch with some odd coins. Hexagonal in shape each has a hollow center. You estimate they weigh roughly the same as yours and are made of the same metals. 35:CP 10:SP 15:GP 5:PP
The woman looks astonished at the display of magic. "C-C-Come in, please, before someone sees you..."
The place looks like it was abandoned in an orderly fashion, but more than a year ago.
She blinks as if she didn't expect you to respond in the same tongue. Her jaw tightens a bit and she offers a traditional Taldan greeting, "My hearth is yours my guest."
As a young woman pushes the door the rest of the way open she looks you over in fear. A babe in arms, she does not look even remotely old enough to be the one you seek. Her lifeless brown hair falls around her face and the child clutches her leg. "Are, are you friend or foe?"
She nods and begins leading them through the estates. A number of them appear guarded, though the men doing to tend towards slovenly and lazy. Some of the compounds more run down than others, and some had no guards at all. Finally she leads you to one in ruins. The gate hanging from its hinges she leads you into the courtyard. Grass and weeds overrun it and the front door hung open. She nods at the building, "Old witch lives in there, forgive me if I don't want to come in." She turns to leave and as she goes you see a small child peek from out of the building. To your surprise she turns and yells inside in common, "Mama there's people"
She snorts out a laugh, "Betterment of this place? It's a prison! The only things people care about is their own comfort or escaping. And the only real way to escape is to get into the Master's good graces. He is the only one that knows a way off. There aren't any wardens or anything either because why bother guarding us?" She looks around. Finally sighing, "There's an old crazy woman nearby. She isn't right in the head but she's also pretty damn honest. Been here about 80 years and makes no bones about it like some. She says she belongs here, murdered a few dozen people she says rightly deserved it, but it was still murder. She might help you. I'll take you if you like but then I'm going to find myself somewhere to lay low."
Zero: The closest building seems to be a domicile, on this side of the barrier stuck in the infernal heat. You kick aside one of the smaller shrivelled up plants to get in. The building is humid and you quickly spot steam rising from a trap door in the kitchen floor. Moving down into this cellar you find the water feeds into a cistern here. But the intense heat and odd evaporation magic has caused it to boil. It is only half full you gauge from where the steam escapes through the rock. You see that the stone encasing continues on to next building and suspect that each building has it's own reservoir. As you leave the cellar you note that the kitchen also has a hand pump to bring water from that cistern up here as well.
She glances over there, "Thats a dead zone, don't go through it. Everyone who does dies. If you just put your hand through it is freezing. I don't know what causes it but I know the blue shield keeps it contained."
Looking about the area is similar to the one you came from with a few important differences. The area looks as if it once housed important people. Each building, though made of the same material, was ornately decorated if somewhat worn. Many of them had walls around them and it was clear that the light side could support living things as you catch glimpses of tree tops inside some of those walls. However off to your right a shimmering blue field separates and area that tells a different tale. The trees look dead, the buildings appear to be damaged and appear to be frost rimmed.
As the storm clears the outsiders seem to be eager to be off. As they prepare to set off they notice you seem to be indicating you are coming with them and they nod and chatter excitedly.
Well, this is a sandbox adventure, you guys are ultimately in charge of where you go and what you do XD I am waiting on some form of instruction here as to what you want.
She hesitates, "I'm not sure. Never been here before. But at least no one here wants to kill me."
As you reach the "top" of the other side the sight is overwhelming. You see the inner ring the light side looking green and fertile. You can see a number of sections on the outer facing that look as if they have been melted however. At the very center of the whole thing you see a massive crystal, so bright that it is impossible to look directly at it.
She shrugs, "The side that faces the crystal, it gets light, the dark side doesn't."
Your new friend moves quickly down, avoiding the buildings. She stops about halfway and thats when you notice something odd. The entire center of the ring seems to ringed with a sort of cage. As she enters she seems to float. Grabbing onto the side she flips herself upside down and pushes herself "down" As she exits the cage on the other side she now seems to be standing upside down. She looks back "up" at you, "Well, come on. The light side is much more hospitable."
You move into the strange field that separates the area and feel the tingle of the magic and feel the moisture almost being sucked out of you as the heat on the other side hits you like a wall. As you make your way into the windmill it seems to be in good condition, but inside is like a sauna. While it isn't hot enough that it should the water seems determined to evaporate, but there is so much of it even the magic of this place can't remove it all. The water itself is the same temperature as the room but it gives off clouds of steam. You note that it is pumped into a series of stone encasings just below the floor level, that presumably lead elsewhere.
It's mostly a feeling, nebulous, but there is power there and it responds. The outsiders seem to understand what you are asking but after looking about the camp a bit they seem to give up.
Although the camp is sheltered you can still feel the wind whipping about wildly above. Though the storm passes by within an hour the winds stay fairly wild.
The pipes don't come up anywhere that is obviously evident... Until you notice the windmill. Just on the other side of the dividing line that separates the dilapidated side of the ruins from the side that simply looks abandoned you notice a functioning windmill. Within, the pipes rise out of the ground and the windmill pumps the water into a cistern and irrigation system.
The men warm themselves at the fire and make exclamations at the drink that gives the impression that your drink is not something they have experienced before. As they sit one pulls out an instrument nearly identical to a flute and plays a hearty melody. As you watch the storm pass Aspen you can feel... something... respond to your prayers. It is not the hand you normally expect nor the response you are familiar with but there is something listening.
What remains of the stairs is a fairly difficult climb with the masonry crumbling making for uneasy footing and the angle of the natural cave being too steep and smooth to simply stroll out.
I find myself apologizing on here far too often lately. It seems my previous exhaustion had less to do with overwork than I though. I seem to have suffered several arrhythmia and was being slow to recover in part because I believed it was only exhaustion. I've been in the hospital and have now been released. This has necessitated some lifestyle changes which should hopefully let me keep posting here and not suffer any more. I hope I can make the lost time up to you!
I find myself apologizing on here far too often lately. It seems my previous exhaustion had less to do with overwork than I though. I seem to have suffered several arrhythmia and was being slow to recover in part because I believed it was only exhaustion. I've been in the hospital and have now been released. This has necessitated some lifestyle changes which should hopefully let me keep posting here and not suffer any more. I hope I can make the lost time up to you! as for the gear, go ahead Arrahska.
I find myself apologizing on here far too often lately. It seems my previous exhaustion had less to do with overwork than I though. I seem to have suffered several arrhythmia and was being slow to recover in part because I believed it was only exhaustion. I've been in the hospital and have now been released. This has necessitated some lifestyle changes which should hopefully let me keep posting here and not suffer any more. I hope I can make the lost time up to you!
As you move over the edge you find an odd sight. A series of metal walkways line the side of the ring. Many doorways lead into it's surface. The ring itself seems to be at least 20 stories thick. A number of building like protuberances are accessed by hatches on the "roof" that allow you to climb down into them.
The storm itself looks to be headed southward, while the winds do pick up it is clear it will miss you. The strangers respond to Patros, clearly agreeing with him. "Iso del Netara! Umen, umen." From their own pantomime you get the impression they are fishermen. Unlike the animals they don't seem to fear the fire, and it does dispel their blurring ability as well. Getting a good look at them they appear almost human, with the exception of a strange series of spines along their necks. They are dressed much like any peasant or sailor.
After an hour of travel you find yourselves at an odd sight, you have reached the edge of the ring. A hard 90 degree shift lies below you on ground level. Torres grins a little, " If we head down onto the ringside, we leave darksider territory. Don't know who runs that turf at the moment but at least they won't be actively looking for me. I'm going, you are welcome to come with. I do appreciate that you didn't just off me, or turn me over to them." she begins climbing down.
The tubes go straight up through holes drilled in the rock and are certainly hollow. As Arrahksa follows them down to the middle of the pool she finds they end in a sort of mesh basket, suspended just above te very bottom, she can feel water being pulled into them.
sorry been working myself half to death lately, literally it seems as im now off work after having collapsed. I'll try to post shortly. I'm looking for and may have found a co-dm to pick up my slack if you guys are still interested
sorry been working myself half to death lately, literally it seems as im now off work after having collapsed. I'll try to post shortly. I'm looking for and may have found a co-dm to pick up my slack if you guys are still interested
sorry been working myself half to death lately, literally it seems as im now off work after having collapsed. I'll try to post shortly. I'm looking for and may have found a co-dm to pick up my slack if you guys are still interested
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