No problem. I get how it goes, some games really take off and others don't. For whatever reason, this one just didn't.
See you in our other games.
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"Cyclopes? Yeah, I think it was... Gol-ghan or something like that? It was a very, very long time ago, let's just say that. Long before Aroden ascended, probably before Earthfall even. But it was quite impressive, if I remember my readings right. But yes, you are welcome to leave, Aeroclyse, I just wish we could help you more."
"Of course, Aeroclyse. We'll do everything we can to help you." Tessa reassures the cyclops, "I wish we could even restore your eye, but I think that's beyond our ability, unfortunately. However, getting you out of these chains is something we absolutely can do." she raises her hand to work magic, then shakes her head, "Right, out of spells for today. Abigail?"
Question for the GM: does Sacred Geometry count as a metamagic feat for prerequisites? I figure it probably doesn't, but I may as well check.
"Let's see if we can convince him he's free." Tessa decides. She makes her way to the chamber with the cyclops, and looks at it, [b]"You've served here.... how long again? Do you want to stay, or go?" she asks.
"True enough. Any idea how we can convince him that he's actually free to go?" Tessa asks, "He seemed pretty thoroughly cowed last time we met him."
"So... What now?" Tessa asks, enraptured by the machinery, "Because I could stay here for ages. I really need to start trying to collect all of these things into one place. If only I knew the right spells...."
"This place definitaly feels older than that. This machinery is amazing, though." Tessa responds, running her hand gently over a part of the orrery.
"Sorry! It's a bit all-or-nothing. Tessa responds, sending another bolt at the hag.
"Okay!" Tessa says, casting her spell and attempting to immobilize the hag.
"Okay, so I was kind of lying when I said I was out of spells. I do have one more, but I'm not sure if it'll be useful. I can immobilize someone in webs, should I use it?" Tessa asks.
Tessa steadies her crossbow again and fires at the hag once more.
"You know, the future has been incredibly unpredictable for the last century. It's quite fascinating, actually." Tessa responds with a smile and an uncharacteristic sens of wit, sighting her crossbow and firing, reloading with a steady, if out-of-practice, hand.
Tessa converses with Azil for a minute, then explains to her companions, "That's a cyclops, descended from a race of very powerful seers and visionaries. The diagrams represent the Azlanti version of the cosmic caravan- the nine constellation signs of the night sky- and the center represents the Great Beyond, you know, Heaven, Hell, the Abyss, Axis, Elysium, and so on, and the inner spheres, the planes of fire, water, earth, and air, alongside the positive and negative energy planes and so on. Nothing terribly special, but it is interesting seeing it from the Azlanti perspective."
Tessa lifts her crossbow and prepares to fire.
Tessa shrugs, "Uhhh... A couple days, I guess? I've been working on it for a while. He 'talks' mostly through slight color changes, but it can express a surprising amount of detail. Plus, I've been working on strengthening our telepathic connection, so that probably helps. Anyway, the writings are mostly gibberish, but gibberish with the flair of divination magic."
Tessa takes in the room, and tries to study the arcane writings to try and understand them.
After a moment, though, her head perks up and she looks at her familiar, "You sure?" she asks, then shrugs, "Okay then. Azil says he hears something like chains on the other side of the door?"
Tessa nods, loading her crossbow, "Onwards and upwards. We can come back here later. There's so much history here...." she marvels.
”I do. And that was close to my thoughts, I was just warning you that I’ll be of limited help going forward.” Tessa explains
"Well, when I use magic, it draws on a certain level of energy I have every day, refreshed when I sleep- sort of like running a marathon. I've just used all my energy for today, at least that I can use in a fight. The hag, unless she's been casting, will still have her magic." Tessa explains, looking around the room for anything of note.
”They should stay down now, but just to be safe...” she pulls out her wand and summons an orb of fire, which she uses to scorch the fallen trolls, ”They’re defiantly dead now, and I’m out of spells. “
With the last of her combat spells, Tessa once again pulls numbers out of the air and pelts the surviving troll with hard numbers and logic. "I think these ones need water to regenerate, but I could be wrong. Still, let's just not get them wet."
We're just waiting on Arma, right?
Tessa focuses on the wounded troll, trying to bring it down before one of her friends fall to it. She summons her arithmancy magic, and uses it to send a trio of bright missiles at the wounded scrag!
Tessa easily identifies the giants, "Scrags! They're like trolls, but need water to regenerate. Pity I'm out of fire. Still.... go quickly!" Tessa casts a spell, and emerald lightning crackles around her hands, leaping out to the others and making them supernaturally fast.
"I honestly have no idea. But if we are taking a few minutes, I would like to look around a bit." Tessa tells them, poking through some of the alchemical items.
"Well, any powerful spellcaster can make their spells last longer, but essentially, yes. There's not much in the way of explanation as to why any given spell lasts for as long as it does- my magical armor lasts for hours, but trying to make a magical shield lasts for minutes. But yes, there are spells that last for just a few seconds, those that last for minutes, those that last for maybe an hour or two at most, and some that last for hours or days." Tessa looks like she wants to go on, but cuts herself off, "It all depends on how reactive of a spellcaster she is as to whether waiting longer will give us an advantage. What's more likely is that it makes no difference how long we take."
"Hmmm. Maybe? Give me a second. Besides, at this point, the hag knows we're coming. The difference between a spellcaster who has two minutes to prepare is just as dangerous as one who had two hours, possibly even more so, depending on how much magic they use on short-term spells." Tessa notes.
"Ehh... I don't think oozes can bite, but I know what you mean. Somewhere in the middle, I think. It can hurt us, but not much at all." Tessa speculates.
Tessa almost wasn't able to put her finger on it, then it clicked, "Well, there goes our element of surprise. It's a Hag's Eye Ooze- magically created by a hag, who can see whatever the eyeball sees. Don't think it applies to sound, but I'm not entirely sure. It won't attack, probably, but it will completely spoil any tricks we try to pull." Tessa says.
"I never have problems with water, I can go first, I guess? Not sure how good of an idea that is, though, if there's something with teeth down there." Tessa offers, "I can't do another flight spell until tomorrow."
"Abigail!" Tessa calls in shock, and scrambles to start clearing rocks, not making much progress, but at least doing something.
"You up to this, Abi? Ready to go?" Tessa asks, starting towards the tunnel.
"I'm nearly tapped out on combat spells." Tessa notes while Abigail is being tended to, "Surprise is already gone, if you give me a few minutes I can be battle-ready again."
Tessa flicks her hand around, summoning arcanic symbols as missiles of force appear from her fingers, the two melding into blazing arcane power and slamming into the surviving mist.
Tessa, eyes trained upwards as Arma descends, sees the blood mists come flying after her, and her eyes widen,
"Vampiric Mists! Burn them!" she works a quick spell, golden figures dancing around her arm even as her hands start burning with emerald fire
As before, the two merge seamlessly as the ray streaks from her fingers towards the closest of the mists.
Tessa smirks at Arma's excitement, "Okay. This will only take a moment, and will probably feel weird. Let us know what you see."
"Oh! I got this." Tessa notes excitedly, "I've been working on a new spell- I can make one of us able to fly for about five minutes. Who should I use it on?" she asks, "That way, we can at least figure out a bit about what's inside."
Tessa, as the crab flails blindly, raises her hand. Around her, the air shimmers and takes on a glistening hue and arcane symbols float around her hand, causing a barrage of magical missiles to blast from her hand, and as they pass through the numerological symbols, they are enhanced, each of the translucently green missiles suddenly glowing brighter with golden magic.
Tessa does her best to finagle the oars to bring them closer to the crab before it was too late, and with a wave of her hands, tries to blind the crab with thousands of glittering motes.
Tessa nods, "Agreed. I'll go first- if we're ambushed we'll regret it, but I am the best in the water." she notes, stepping carefully into the boat.
Level-up Highlights:
While her fire sphere pops out of existence, Tessa focuses on the last zombie, sending off another pair of magical bolts, trying to bring it down.
Tessa directs her fireball into whichever zombie seems the most injured, stepping back and invoking a spell of fire at the same target (if it's still standing), and a ray of sea-green flames streaks across the space between the wizard and the plant zombies, the heat, fueled by what had to be pure panic, radiating through the forest.
Tessa motions with her wand, bringing the sphere back around at the "zombies" again, and with her other hand, flicks her wrist, shooting off a pair of force missiles at the same one that the flaming sphere is angling towards.
Tessa, happy to have use for it again (but not terribly happy about another fight after the last one went so poorly), whips out her wand and mutters its command word, causing a ball of fire to materialize right in front of the closest of the corpses, rolling into it.
"Agreed. No point in picking fights that we don't need to. Still, best we mark this place on the map so we can take care of it later should the need arise." Tessa comments.
Tessa doesn't have much in the way of new insights about the plant, and shrugs.
"Most certainly. I'm certain that there is much to be gained from us sharing arcane knowledge, from both the land and the sea. Knowledge learned does little good if kept all to oneself." Tessa thanks the naga, giving a half-bow in gratitude.
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