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"Discern Location, Scrying, one of your Miracles. They're all spells I simply don't know. Worst case scenario, we should make camp and try to find out what happened and where are we tomorrow morning." Jacob started towards the outcropping. The shade looked like an inviting reprieve from the harsh and constant sun. "All things go well and we should rid ourselves of this desert soon enough. Hopefully."
The mage shrugged. "Can't say I'm familiar with any planes sporting two suns. Maybe this is a custom job? Would probably take some powerful magic to replicate this, though."
Jacob paused, weighing how to respond to his old friend without losing too much face. "Right, one of those... Val, could you explain that a bit more, the heat is making me forget things. What's coterminous with what now? Are you saying we shifted planes?" Jake looked around further. Besides the outcropping and and rock formation, there was only sand as far as the eye could see. "Not like we have much to work with in identification. Might as well say this is the land of sun and sand and be done with it until something pops up to correct us." He gave a sigh, leaning against one of the fractured rocks jutting from the ground. "Which makes me wonder what the chances of any rescue really are in this new light."
"Did anyone else notice we have more stars visible right about now? When'd that happen?" He points out to the sky, lifting the strap of his goggles to make sure he wasn't being deceived by a trick of the glass. "As if it weren't hot enough. Now something is messing with us, too."
"Err, that would also be very appreciated if you could give it a try, Lady Nagato. Let's set down by the rocks to get you a better position for that sort of thing."
Sadly, Jacob shook his head. "Would've tried that earlier. But the Venture Captain of the Grand Lodge told me that all Divinations in the area had failed..." He had stopped, nearly stunned stupid. Within moments, he buried his face in his hands in varied parts of revelation and shame. "But that SANDSTORM could've knocked out all the sensors! Oh, for crying out loud, I had USED Greater Prying Eyes upon my first night in Manaket! Ack, I could kick myself, this heat has made my brain soft!" He looked up at the setting sun at the horizon, staring at the sun and uttering some of the worst curses his magic could bring forth. Obviously, the spells could not reach their intended target, but the casting of them made his disposition slightly better via catharsis. "Validk, did you ever meet your friend's wife? If so, please, please, please tell me you've prepared Discern Location today. On the off chance this doesn't work, the only backup I could think to find these people is trying to survey campfire signs in the middle of the night, and I'm relatively certain nobody else wants to pull a double shift."
Jacob examined the outcropping to the best of his abilities from the air. "Think they may have set up camp down here?" He hoped greatly that the search may have come to fruition. It looked as though the desert was wearing upon the party greatly by this point, if not just upon Jacob himself.
Jake looks on at the view below, disturbed by the news. "I guess you are right. Still, it's a shame." Keeping his form for the duration, he resumed the trek due south. "We do have more urgent matters at this moment."
"I'm thinking either trying to bait it towards the surface or cover it with Reverse Gravity. But help would be nice." He thought over more thoroughly. "Speaking of help, does anyone happen to know of a way to 'see' underground as well?"
"Our destination," Jacob reiterated, "is south. This is a rescue party without a clue to where the people we're rescuing are." He hated to say it, but the situation did look grim. "What's it been, two, three days so far? Conjuration's been getting shakier and shakier the further we get into this desert. If the Mansion gets dispelled and we're all shunted out in the middle of the night, who's to say that thing won't decide to come around then? Especially if we're shunted out still asleep. I'd rather deal with this sort of problem as it lays before us, Mr. Orsenn. Unless you wish we keep camp in shifts in the future. Or don't even stop at nights." He looked over the shifting sands again, a furrow deepening in his brow. "Plus, it seems to me that there's a good chance this thing was released on Manaket. Maybe even before the sandstorms. Could you imagine what would happen if we were to let it search for any other desert towns?" He grabbed his Metamagic Rod from his robe pockets and worked his magic. Soon enough, another great beating of wings came forth as Jacob shifted his form into a huge Brass Dragon, clutching the Rod between his teeth like a scoundrel would do with an errant toothpick. "If anyone else recalls, we were first and foremost tasked with the protection of the world. I would believe that this constitutes reason for a slight detour from the rescue mission. If anyone would like to join me, I've got a few forms that could probably get you down there."
Jacob gulped. "Well, who wants to guess this made the crater in Manaket?" Even without directly seeing it, he knew a creature that displaced that much sand had to be large. "Anybody know of a way to fish that thing up?"
Jacob realized that whatever was down there probably wasn't good for anyone if Nagato jumped to an elemental of that size, especially a giant Earth one. With a panicked twitch, he began reciting the words and gestures for Haste. However, the once familiar spell felt different to him. The voice at the back of his mind seemed to be speaking through him now. He didn't ever remember feeling as spry after casting this before. He attempted to target as many of his teammates as possible.
As the bulge in the sand moves forward, many questions come to Jacob's mind. However, only one comes to his lips. "Nagato? What exactly was down there...?" However, even as he was saying it, he was worried he already knew the answer.
Jacob looks at her bewilderedly. "What, the thing underground? Nagato's checking that out, why Di you need to be so high up for that?" He scratched his head, but quickly pulled his hood back up to protect him from the harsh sun. "Are you saying there's something else, now?"
"Katja, wait up, don't head so far!" Under his own power, Jacob could only follow her up 40 feet in the same time period. As he climbed, he ceased concentrating on Telekinesis, letting the sand fall where it may.
"Val, if you wanted to see more of that, you just had to ask. Though maybe after we find whatever is down there." Jacob attempts to further scoop sand away under his spell's effect. "You were right about the sand, Kat."
Even though he didn't see anything, Jake couldn't miss the fervor Katja put into unearthing whatever she observed. He did his best to help with a casting of Unseen Servant and Telekinesis. "What'd it look like? he asked while sifting through the sands. He did his best to keep wary for whatever caught the dragoness's attention.
"Good job, everyone. Nice hustle..." He strained his eyes to check over the scene. Jagged glass and filled out fissures lay before them. As far as he could tell, the dunes were no longer collapsing. "Um... Did we get it?"
"Well, seems like Nagato's got it right on the nose. Probably is excessive, but I don't know any spells that would be able to hit that thing except MAYBE this. Whatever that thing is down there, chances are we caught it's attention." Jacob examined the scene, smirking at his handiwork. "Plus, at the very least, maybe it'll be cooler in the aftermath of those explosions."
"I'm going to take that as a 'yes'. Let's see if we can get a bead on this thing from here." With a flourish, Jacob casts Meteor Swarm upon what would appear to be the next dune to collapse. With his connection to the Dark Tapestry, opposed to the stars themselves, the ensuing explosion coats the area in cold instead of fire. Reflex save 33:
The sun beat down on them for days on end. The night, however, was a boon upon Jacob during the excursion. Jacob had no qualms about using another casting of Mage's Magnificent Mansion. However, the properties of the spell to bring out food and drink seemed to be blocked. This weighed heavily upon them, but at least the group had significant shelter. It seemed that he was alone in wanting to explore during the night and sleep during the day. Reasonable enough, he thought. Weather, no matter how bad, was not that great a reason for messing up with everyone's sleep schedule. Still, it would've been nice. The next day, the group examined a strange phenomenon. The collapse of several dunes seemed... odd. Jacob never often stayed too close to deserts, but he was rather sure that sand dunes didn't necessarily start falling over at a moment's notice. Sand, unless being acted upon by an outside force, did not tend to move like that. He turned back to the group. "Is anyone else noticing this? I think there might be something under the sands. Seems roughly the size of what caused that crater closer to town." He raised a hand, gesturing it not unlike an Alkenstar native would brandish a pistol. "Would anyone mind if I blasted it?"
"Are you sure that's entirely necessary? We just need to find out if we're actually going the right way. Plus, at the Grand Lodge, they mentioned divination spells weren't working up here. Seems like we're just in it for our own merits right now, Nagato." The sands seemed to stretch on forever. Whatever secret held within the River of Sands, it was more well hidden than previously thought. All the desert seemed the same to Jacob.
Jacob swore at his pocket watch, trying to wind it again mid-flight. "Damn watch, must've got something stuck in it. Could've sworn night would be soon." He gave a sigh as he flipped his hood up, trying to keep the sun from beating down on him too hard.
Overall, the heat didn't get to Jake. At least, not to the point of exhaustion. Internally, he was surprised he found himself in a situation where he would rather be in Irresen. "For the moment, I'm alright. Maybe later. Does anyone happen to see anything?"
"Good hustle today, everyone." Jacob cheers on for everyone as the sun starts to sink. "I think we've got a couple choices from here, though. Seems like we could either keep going during the night or we could set up a camp. I'm not opposed to setting up another Mansion if anyone's ready to bed down. Though, we may cover more ground easier if we travel at night than day. This heat's something oppressing, alright. " He looked out amongst the group, trying to gauge the general reaction to his proposal.
"I'm not sure, I think I... Tripped? This place is getting particularly weird, magics just deciding not to work or shorting out. Is everyone entirely sure we didn't make a wrong turn and head into the Spellscar Desert?" Jake's flight seemed to be working just fine at the moment, but these disruptions in magic were worrying to say the least.
"Seems like we may have hit a break, finally." Jacob muses, before nearly toppling into the sand, in front of everyone. "That was odd. Anyone else feel that?"
"If she was headed to the Napsune mountains, she may not have necessarily made it, Validk. We could try due south. Could end up cutting her off on the pass. If we don't get any headway, we could make a sharp eastern turn. What do you think?"
"Two is a reasonable lead, as far as I'm concerned. Just thank goodness that a third of us didn't mention it. That would surely spell certain doom." Jacob squinted past the sands, trying to make out any mountains and how far away they would be. "A week is too long. We should already be moving. And fast. Just a shame that my Shadow Walk idea didn't seem to have quite the best outcome last I tried." He rubbed his chin, hoping someone would provide an alternative means of quick transit. If not, he was prepared to push himself via his own Overland Flight.
"I believe we have an impasse here. We can either head down this tunnel or continue towards the River of Sands. Seeing as the two have got to be connected somehow, I wouldn't be surprised if we would see whatever caused this as we get closer. On top of which, I'd rather try to save who I can before dealing with giant monsters." Jake began to fly his way over the gigantic hole. He was unsure how far the mystery area was from the city exactly and feared it may already be too late to save the Venture Captain.
Jacob simply couldn't wrap his head around the sheer size of what he was seeing. "Could someone tell me what all this is about? What in the world could've made this kind of thing?!" Judging by the sheer scale alone, this beast had to possess incredible strength. "I'm not sure if this by itself could have caused the storm, but I'm beginning to think that there may be more to what we thought about this River of Sands. Messing with it may have summoned this sort of beast to reek havok. We'll need to be terribly careful moving ahead."
While Validk and Katja focused on the anomalous sand, Jacob's attention took to the sky. "Heads up, you two, huge elemental coming in from the northeast." He couldn't tell from the ground if the elemental was friend or foe, but regardless he readied himself for any possibility. He left the ground again and reached for his Rod of Absorption, just to be safe. However, as the creature gained ground, he did begin to make out a familiar face. "Mira? Oh my, I take it that must be Nagato. Pardon, you two, we're a bit on edge over here."
Jacob tilted his head and squinted. "You think? What would want to eat a wagon? Barring the possibility something was in the wagon worth eating, I'd say wagons make for absolutely terrible foodstuffs." He tilted his head in the opposite direction and rubbed his eyes. "Though I guess I can see something like that when you point it out..."
Jacob pulled on the stick as well as he could.
"Well, that's pretty well stuck in there. Maybe there's a tree down there. Or something big." The desert ahead seemed too strange to him, however. "For a blustering storm, it seems just a little TOO smooth out there for my tastes. Plus, why aren't there any signs of buildings at all?"
"Oh, what do you see, Val?" He just caught a glimpse of the debris himself. However, from his recollection, none of the eyes picked it up earlier. "Very strange. I don't remember seeing this before. I wonder why..." Jacob landed and approached the debris for a closer inspection.
"Curious" Jacob stopped midair near where the road ended. "I could've sworn this was some kind of illusion I was seeing through. It doesn't seem like this is anything a normal sandstorm should do." "It's possible that one of our mysteries has it's solution somewhere around here. Should we investigate here first or start off to the supposed origin of the River?" He looked out amongst the landscape ahead. "We are here already, though."
"Oh, and watch your steps, everyone. The route seems to have quite the nasty dune that built up recently. Katja, are you quite certain you can keep the winds at bay?"
He had let out a long sigh over reviewing the images from his spell. Thirty eyes dispersed and only twenty return, and those that did come back to him did not carry good news. It wasn't impossible for the ten missing eyes to have been overcome by venturing too far out, but Jake held suspicion of an outside force preventing him from investigating. One is acceptable loss, two is a fluke, even three can be attributed to general carelessness, but ten eyes gone missing did not sit right with him. Nonetheless, he felt the need to press on. Maybe it was the whispers or the headband reminding him if his promise to a certain council, but he certainly couldn't bail out now. And staying proved no use to anyone. "Katja, Validk, Mr. Orsenn, it's time to head out. We're not getting any answers from out here in the city. We need to head past that sand dune to get things rolling." He pointed to the southwest. "Somewhere, this 'River if Sands' holds the center of all this trouble. I'm sure of it. In finding that, we could start to solve all the problems plaguing this place." Jacob placed his daily spells upon himself and led the group march. Or rather, it would have been a march, were he walking. Enough time had been wasted upon reconnaissance to not keep aloft. Caster level augmentation:
"Well, well, well," the mage posited. "So it seems to be anti-teleportation and high desiccation. Sounds like what one might expect from a place called the River of Sands. May wish to be careful when we start traveling. We wouldn't want to get caught off guard by sudden bouts of thirst. Though it does seem like we have a place to sleep for the night if we wish to wait any longer."
Upon the realization of the discrepancies, Jacob was quite displeased. "Validk, please tell me that's not one of mine that you've managed breaking." "Actually, scratch that, why would you be siding with the competition? I'm hurt." He let out a heavy sigh, examining the jug his companion's familiar was working. "I was afraid this may be the case. We may have a problem on our hands. Seems as though not only teleportation spells are out of commission here, but the whole conjuration school seems to be floundering. Let me try something, hopefully this will prove a bit more effective than a standard Create Water spell." Jacob righted himself and pulled some ivory charms from within his cloak. With the words and gestures, he had attempted calling forth a spectral door via Mage's Magnificent Mansion Possibly relevant information:
He shook his head at the prospect. "I've never been one for spellbooks, per se. Compendiums have uses for others, but I tend to look at them more like shopping lists where you can only rarely make it to market. Though it did speak to me about spells. Or at least about Shadow Walk." He laid down on nothing, still merely hovering above the pavilion. He had no intention of going without his flight for a long time after such a trudgery for ten hours. He decided to change the subject from the voice he had heard, now barely louder than a whisper. There was quite the coincidence that Validk had brought up. "Oh, that does remind me why I'm here, though! Seems as though the River of Sands is southwest of here. VC Obo reported searching for it back before he had went missing. In fact, Katja and I were going to make our way over after I checked for any survivors or sources of the storm in here." Jacob started to worry a tad. If the three of them were drawn here, two if which specifically looking for the River of Sands, then they may be losing precious little time. He hadn't ever heard of this legend or city beforehand, but he was willing to be this eye teeth that the cause of this storm lay there, not within Manaket. "It may be wise to get moving soon. The eyes shouldn't take too long. With the number I counjured, each only needs to survey one tenth of a square mile. I do hope that the laypeople made it out alright before all this. We'll be having quite the trouble with our own search party." A smile returned to his face. "Unless your wizard friend happens to be married to Obo. Then we only have half as much work as we thought!"
"Ah, yes, well, that takes care of this as well. Certainly makes this a more enjoyable outing, wouldn't you say?" Jacob punctuated his question with a sip from his coffee. He picked his words carefully for his next, however. Obviously, this wasn't something he could ask anyone, but the current company would likely be good confidantes in this sort of matter. "Validk, Katja? Have either of you noticed something... odd since last week? Besides the obvious augmentations to arcane powers, of course. Have the two of you been happening to hear, say, whispers? Of any sort?"
Jake hovered, legs crossed, just above the chairs Mr. Orsenn had set up. "So why not remove the fog and join us?" He mused over draconic etiquette momentarily before offering a follow up possibility. "Or would you rather me and Val here join you? You know Form of the Dragon right, Validk?"
"Well, the sand commodities are doing well today." Jacob mused with the sound of authority on his voice. "Were I in this market, I'd suggest to bottle it and sell it to Irresen. Of course, getting there seems like it won't be easy. Join us, Val. We don't have the greatest reconnaissance going on, but I've sent some Prying Eyes on the matter." Jacob pulled a large ceramic jug from his pocket. The sides were adorned with feathers and ravens. He laid a hand on it and squawked before pouring a brown liquid from it into a small porcalin cup. The drink gave off a strong, earthy, yet slightly bitter aroma and steam rose from it as he sipped. "They should be back before sometime tomorrow, but if you want to explore with your own eyes, I'll be happy to come with. But if we do wait, I'd suggest trying some of this. Mwangi blend. Clears the head, you know."
The mage brushed off some of the excess sand that had stuck to him as the dragoness touched down. "Thank you, Katja, I appreciate it. In the meantime, let's get started with getting a look around." As the fog started to clear, the two started to search for any sign of life or magic in the ruins of the city. To aid them, Jake called forth a league of glowing orbs, tasked to find living people or powerful magic and return back to him. Surely something had to have survived to help them find the River of Sand. However, probably the largest find was one not from the city itself, but the sea. "Well I'll be. Looks like we may have company, Kat."
"I think question one would be 'Where did all this sand even come from?' I'd like to get a look from above, maybe check the winds out, Kat. Plus, VC Valsin told me about a disappearance of Captain Obo that had to do with a 'River of Sand' somewhere roughly southeast of here. I'm starting to think there may be a connection. May be best to get moving."
Rustling through his pockets, everything he had was drenched with seawater. Jacob's robes had drenched him to the bone, his pocketwatch had taken on too much water to function properly, and everything paper based on him had the consistency of sackcloth. With the extradimensional space of his robes having taken in so much water, he wasn't sure when he would stop dripping, much less when his gear would start to dry. All in all, this was not a red letter day for him. However, it wasn't until he found himself underfoot an ancient dragon that it dawned upon him that he had even reached the shore. "Katja? I knew that the bubble in the storm was something of note. Didn't think I'd see you again so soon." He surveyed the scene. Sand as far as the eye could see. Outside of the near quarter mile radius, Jake could tell the winds were picking up. "It's a damned shame. This town used to be quite something to look at. Come on, let's see if we can find anything out of the ordinary." So far, Jacob's permanent spell hadn't picked up any magical auras. He would need to search harder if he wanted to find a reason for the city's destruction.
The voice he had heard earlier came back to him, but this time all it told him was to "". Though he wasn't used to shades that seemed attracted to his presence. He quickened his pace, though the spell kept him at a constant velocity. However, he had become so preoccupied with his surroundings and the threats of the shadow plane, he didn't realize when the spell suddenly ended. He didn't quite realize he was in the middle of the ocean until the water reached his neck. The mage thrashed around in the water a bit before remembering that he still had the effects of Overland Flight upon him. The dip in the drink, however brief, still filled the extradimensional pockets of his robes with salt water. As he floated towards the storm, he had dripped brine from his damp clothes all the way to shore. Such a trip was certainly going less than fair. He assumed that the anomaly of the storm would hold some sort of answers, but he didn't quite understand who he would find controlling the weather at it's center.
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