Song of Sorrow
Log Info
- Title: Song of Sorrow
- GM: Aftershock
- Characters: Thoth, Gramarye, Carver
- Location: The Swamp of Sadness
- Summary: Thoth, Gramarye and Carver head into a mysterious swamp to retrieve another Memory Orb, but are faced with a great sadness.
The person who had requested this mission had not been there to give any details about the mission itself, and the bored individual at the guild had only informed them that they were to retrieve an item called a 'Memory Orb' from within the location which they were being directed to. A small map was provided, but it was... in truth practically useless. In fact, close examination of it suggested that it was little more than an intricate picture of a tree with a broken branch and a 'x'.
A powerful spell sent you on your way, at the edge of a wet forest with instructions on the use of an item that would supposedly bring you back when you complete your efforts. An hour later sees you walking through the knee-high water sur rounded by waterlogged trees that obscure the sky so thickly that the thought of sunshine seems like a dream.
GAME: Thoth casts Mage Armor. Caster Level: 4 DC: 16
GAME: Thoth casts Dancing Lights. Caster Level: 4 DC: 16
Gramarye is here. The bronze mannequin-like war golem seems unhappy about going through a swamp. Mostly because she's announced: 'Warning: system diagnostics have indicated continued exposure to moisture may damage my components,' several times.
But she's not exactly giving up. Although she does intone her own spell for protecting herself as she wades in the water, keeping herself hopefully safe from what might be in the wet forest-water.
GAME: Gramarye casts Mage Armor. Caster Level: 4 DC: 15
Thoth has been 'listening' to the quests coming a round. Every morning, checking on the board of quests. A request in with the guild master to warn it of anything coming through with the term 'Memory Orb'. Certainly, it should aid the unusual man in retrieving them. Yet, there's still something that is bugging it about them.
Mismatched memories. Memories that do not seem right.
The little thing is now sloshing through knee (or in its case, almost waist high) waters. Watching the trees that hide the skies from them. A group of dancing little lights hover and bounce arond it, as it walks along with the team.
The 'map' has been committed to memory, and it is looking for a tree that could possibly match that which they seek. But it wonders; "This one wonders, a picture of exactly where it is, but no way to retrieve it. What is occurring a round this orb?"
It then, as Gramarye warns them for the manyeth time of the risks of moisture exposure, and notes; "This one will prestigitate you dry once we are done. And will aid in performing full maintenance."
"Waah-waah, system dye-nog-sticks." Carver grumbles in the wake of the third such announcement. She is currently leading her steed by foot, careful to not lead the poor thing into a hidden bog that will suck them in to their doom. She is wise to keep her bow as dry as possible, the weapon's state more important than her boots or furs.
GAME: Carver rolls survival: (14)+11: 25
GAME: Gramarye rolls Surival: (12)+Surival: 12
GAME: Gramarye rolls Survival: (15)+2: 17
GAME: Thoth rolls Survival: (16)+1: 17
The swamp is... thickening. The water growing dangerously deep in places, though thankfully you are able to avoid anything that might be truly hazardous. The buzzing of insects is prevalent, most of which seem highly interested in Carver and her mount - not surprising really when their other options aren't so... fleshy.
GAME: Gramarye rolls Will: (13)+7: 20
GAME: Thoth rolls Will: (11)+5: 16
GAME: Carver rolls will: (7)+4: 11
GAME: Carver rolls 2: (13)+2: 15
As the swamp thickens, Thoth's pace slows. And slows further. It's kind of getting stuck in its own head. Memories coming up that remind it of how this place reflects upon itself. Trudging slowly through life, claiming to have purpose... but lacking its master anymore.
The insects ignored, following Carver and Gramarye more than anything. Following their movement as its beak dips. Slowing down further, until it finally stops for a moment and just... goes quiet. Looking at the sorrowful state of this place. No light touching it but its magics. Traveling with people it barely knows.
It clicks its beak a few times, then begins to just bob its head up and down, looking a round. Trying to find... something that isn't there.
Buzz. Buzz buzz. Gramarye might be grateful for the fact that she is made of steel and not of flesh and blood. But she's not expressing it--instead apparently more focused on Thoth's slowing down, as her head pivots in the bird-golem's direction.
"Inquiry: why have we stopped the movement of our expedition?" she asks. Then she intones, "Spellcasting module initiated: detecting magic." Her eyes glow blue as she surveys the sur roundings for magic.
GAME: Gramarye casts Detect Magic. Caster Level: 4 DC: 14
GAME: Gramarye rolls Perception: (12)+2: 14
Carver was, at least, being useful for a while through the march. Giving some advice where to step or how to best avoid getting too bogged down; even as insects feast on them. For awhile, she ignores them. Then occasionally slap, or slip a curse at a stinging bite. Soon even token resistance is surrendered and she huddles up tighter into her muddied leathers and furs. Her steed gives a slow, deep whinny and then stubbornly sets her hooves, refusing to take another step. This surprises Carver, whose sullen gaze has firmly settled on the earth, one foot after the other.
"C'mon, we not the time to spare to you throwin' fits." Carver grumbles, her cheeks strangely shiny, streaks of tears through the mud. She grips the reins and gives another tug, trying to get the mare to obey, only to find she can't and she won't.
She's so wrapped up in thoughts of the past, and the tension between her formerly stalwart companion, to make sense of the world a round her.
Gramarye assesses the world a round her and she comes to one conclusion. Her voice intones it in a proper manner.
"Announcement: my analysis of the local environs by means of a detect magic spell has revealed the following results. The environs are mildly magical. The amount of environs that contain magic are: one-hundred percent. The margin of error is: zero percent."
Gramarye's head pivots to Carver, the horse, and Thoth, all in order. There's a blink of light in her eyes as she seems to be processing what she's seeing. "It is wise to account for the magical environment and to not succumb to any magical effects that are present or ongoing." Easier said than done, Gramarye.
"This one..." Thoth thinks about this for a moment, then adds; "This one is missing its master. This appears to have affected its mobility. Please hold while this one performs a diagnostics of its faculties." The bird remarks.
It then looks to Carver's steed, and the way she looks. The tears coming down her eyes, and to complaints about throwing fits.
It then starts to move, slightly, but keeps nervously bobbing its head. "This one will follow Gramarye." It then decides... and grabs onto the lower section of her robe with one hand and clutches onto it, and follows.
Carver gives another pull, only to be stymied again. There is a very long pause, a few deep breaths gathered.
"It's okay to be scared." She rubs her cheek against the mare's nose nuzzle, "I know it seems too difficult for you. We'll follow them. All we have to do is one foot after the other, righ'? Clip-clop. Thas' what mada said right? Keep movin' even when you're sad." She wipes her face, smearing gunk everywhere, and then gives one last gentle pull of the reins.
GAME: Carver rolls animal handling: (14)+animal handling: 14
Slowly, the mare takes a step, and then another. Guess Grimarye is the leader now.
A light fog begins to slip over the top of the water, obscuring much of the swamp from view. It rolls in slowly and then clings to everything with thick almost tangible fingers.
GAME: Gramarye rolls Perception: (13)+2: 15
GAME: Gramarye rolls Knowledge/Arcana: (6)+11: 17
GAME: Gramarye rolls Knowledge/Arcana: (17)+11: 28
Gramarye spends a moment studying the environment again, eyes glowing blue. "There are two sources of magic that are stronger from within the swamp," she says. "Analysis shows that the magic in the swamp is a curse-based enchantment. Unfortunately, I lack the tools to lift the effect of the curse."
She looks to Thoth. "If we stay here a moment more, I may be able to study the sources of magic to determine our next course of action. The alternative is to select a direction and to continue on the path."
As the sense of sadness begins to increase, Thoth's movement keeps being hampered. It tilts its head, trying to find something. Witnessing gnarled woods, wrought branches. It was raised in floating cities. It was brought to the 'downlands' by its master from time to time, but a place like this is alien to it.
It isn't experiencing 'fear' in so much as loneliness. A trembling pull of its broken wings shift them and pull them tighter to its body. A spoke snapping, causing a loud metalic 'twang' sound.
It's small fingers holding onto Gramarye's robes tremble, as it is getting harder to move with those thoughts intruding on it. "Master." It whispers with a sad chirping sound.
When Gramarye speaks, it manages to reply. Her voice sounding distant for a moment. "This one lacks curse-lifting tools as well. But this one can aid in studying the sources of magic." It then remarks, as it clutches at its chest and pries open the 'cage' of its chest. Ra, the magical owl living within it, quickly hops out and lands onto Gramarye's shoulder.
Carver stops. Stopped because, once more, her horse won't take another step. This time no manner of ply or tricks gets it to take another step. To cajole, to beg, it is met with stone cold silence and the wide frantic stare of her friend. One she cannot have a conversation with, sure, but a trusted friend all the same. "Nami, please..." She tugs, pulls harder, her own frustrations budding forth. "Jus' cause it's hard don't mean you quit. You have to carve ye path." Pull. Whinny. Absolute, unyielding refusal. 'Nami' sinks a little deeper into the mud. So Carver pulls harder. "If you stop moving, you're dyin'." She's so wrapped up into her drama, that she isn't even aware that the distance between the more resilent constructs are leaving them behind. "Oi, come on dammit, stop not startin' we got to keep going."
There's a little jerk on Carver's reins as the g round gives out a little under the horse. A pocket of water and air that causes the water to froth up into bubbles and the horse to sink a few inches.
Meanwhile, Gramarye seems to have found something. "Analysis shows that the left path's magic source is a strong divination spell. The right path's magic source is an enchantment spell that is weaker than the divination spell. If the orb is the same type of magic as the orb that has been presented previously to Thoth, then we should select the left path."
It's only now that she finally turns to look at Carver. There's a blink in her obsidian eyes, before she intones, "Do you require assistance with your equine companion?"
"This one agrees... with your assessment." There's a quiver of fear at the Memory Orb for some reason, intermixed with all this sadness. Hope doesn't manage to peer through. "This one understood that the last Memory Orb was also being used to power a Curse of some sorts." Though it never got to the full details.
It then notices that Carver's steed is starting to sink, and considers for a moment that... it has little in the ways of anything to assist. "This one has no manner in which to assist, except to perhaps pull on its reins." With its small body.
"She won't move!" Carver yells back, a hint of rising panic in her voice. She sets her feet, sinking in an inch or two herself, and heaves with all her strength. The tendons in her back pop, pulling taut as she throws all the youthful vigor she has to spare into the effort. Herculean or not, it does not seem to be enough. 'Nami' or 'Lambchop' seems almost a passive spectator to its own doom. Sinking.... Sinking....
"Stupid horse!"
Maybe the horse understands Carver better than she thinks. Looks at her with hurt, morose eyes at the exclamation... And sinks another inch. It's up to it's shoulders in mucky water now. Slipping into its doom without the sort of struggle that you'd normally expect of such an animal.
Gramarye's eyes blink several times. And then she goes to retrieve rope within her pack and ties it a round her own waist before tossing out the other end to Carver. "I am a sufficiently heavy anchor point. Please secure the rope around your horse and I may be able to help drag your horse out."
As for the horse known alternately as Nami or Lambchop, Gramarye looks at the pitiful thing and says, "Activating consolation module."
There's a blink in her eyes.
"Please feel better soon," she says so softly and warmly that it's almost certainly copied from a person who said it.
And then Gramarye intones in her regular voice, "Please indicate if you would like more consolation."
GAME: Thoth rolls Perception+3: (3)+5+3: 11
GAME: Thoth rolls 10+3: (3)+10+3: 16
Thoth and Gramarye are perhaps the two /worst/ people to be assisting Carver in this matter. As Gramarye offers to assist in pulling out the horse, Thoth reaches out its hand to offer to help tie off the horse and help pull it out...
But at the same time, it looks towards the waters themselves. It is sinking, certainly, but why are they not sinking? Is it just that particular spot?
Yet, it and Ra look. Nothing seems to stand out beyond the horse just... 'giving up'.
It reminds it of when it gave up. When it was crushed, and gave up on anyone ever finding it. It reminds it of hoping its Master would call out to it. Hoping to hear his name, to be saved by him... by a Master who never came.
"Call its name." It suggests to Carver. "Call its name like you do when you are happy to see eachother..."
GAME: Carver rolls athletics: (7)+6: 13
GAME: Thoth rolls Athletics: (12)+0: 12
Carver is in a rush. She takes the rope from Gramarye, after the robot has tied one side about the waist, and attempts to give as good a knot as she can as she runs it across what little remains of 'Lambchop' above the mud. She wouldn't trust it but she's quickly running out of a few things. Time just happens to be one of them. She gives a sullen stare at Thoth's suggestion but tries her best anyhow. "It's sad, an' easy, to quit. It might even be th' right answer." She's up to her own waist in the muck at this point. "If you can find the strength to take another step, though, the nex' one probably won't be easier. Or the one after. Maybe you're tired an' that's okay. I'll get you the most comfortable bed money can buy a horse... but this ain't it. This bed won't be the kind you wake up to carrots an' apples from, okay? Fight. 'cause it's better than not, innit?" She smooths back the muddied mane. "One step, Nami. Gimme that an' we can drag you out."
GAME: Thoth rolls Will: (20)+5: 25 (CRITICAL SUCCESS)
GAME: Carver rolls will: (17)+4: 21
GAME: Carver rolls 2: (1)+2: 3 (EPIC FAIL)
GAME: Carver rolls 2: (18)+2: 20
A wave of despair deepens, the sorrow is thick on the air. Like a weight. For one horrible, sickening moment... Nami gives up. It's clear in the horses eyes. The water laps at the horses neck and then... A tiny step is taken. It's like a sliver of sunshine catching in the fog. A glimmer of hope. Yet the fog of sorrow does not fade. It lingers. It holds on making that tenuous step the hardest thing that Cavers horse has ever done.
"Yes," Gramarye says, in her flat and neutral voice. "Come out of the water. It is safe. Everything is okay."
If Gramarye is silently grateful that she's a rather heavy war golem, she's not really expressing it. The rope tied a round her holds, however, nor does she have any intention of wavering in this place.
After all, she has her Father to go back home to--and to pull him from some drinking establishment on her way back home, too.
Nami. Its name is Nami.
Thoth tries its best, with its small arms. But when Carver pulls, Thoth is pulled 'up' from its feet and lifted out of the swampy water partially for a moment, before it can put its feet back down again to try and pull out the horse.
"This one implores Nami, please, come. You will feel happiness again." It offers to it, giving it the words it had hoped to hear itself. "This one declares, your Master is still here. Your Master needs thee."
Pull! Wiggle wiggle feet.
GAME: Thoth rolls Athletics: (7)+0: 7
Carver nods, approvingly. "Good girl." It's praise heavy with relief. She lifts her own muddy fingers from the earth, balling into a fist. "Up-Up!" It's a command heavy not only with authority, but also enchantment, releasing a spell on her companion to make the next few steps easier. To shake off not the gloom of this place but the heavy weight of so much mud she had settled in.
Wading herself, she moves to the rear, and then braces herself against the flank of the creature to start pushing so that they are not simply yanking on her neck. "So... many apples, gods you're HEAVY, and... carrots."
Nami's ears fold back flat, eyes big and brown and so very sad. To Gramarye and Thoth it is clear even if it isn't to Carver. She wants more consolation pat-pats more than apples and carrots.
GAME: Carver casts Liberating Command. Caster Level: 5 DC: 14
There's a harsh sucking sound as the horse is suddenly, and radically freed from its muddy prison.
GAME: Gramarye rolls Reflex: (7)+3: 10
GAME: Thoth rolls Reflex: (6)+4: 10
GAME: Carver rolls reflex: (14)+8: 22
GAME: Thoth rolls Reflex: (12)+4: 16
GAME: Carver rolls 6: (10)+6: 16
GAME: Gramarye rolls Reflex: (1)+3: 4 (EPIC FAIL)
An eye for an eye. Or that's how the quote goes. Except... This time it's a war golem for a horse.
Gramarye dips down into the water and muck and, despite her cry of "Please assist, I should not be submerged for--", the environment doesn't much care about her perceptions of her metal body.
Thankfully, she doesn't need to breathe. That's a small mercy.
Thoth, having helped in pulling out the steed, wobbles and backpedals a bit. Trying to grab onto Gramarye for a moment just as she just...
PLOP.
Disappears into the mud and the rest. It quickly tries to grab hold of the rope again. "Being beneath stone and mud is unpleasant. This one will seek to assist." As it tugs with some measure of desperation.
It bids to Nami and Carver; "This one requests, please assist."
GAME: Thoth rolls Athletics: (20)+0: 20
GAME: Carver rolls ride: (8)+10: 18
"Up-Up!" Carver says, as bad becomes just as bad. One soul for another. She leaps up onto her steed's back and gives the command to pull, so Nami will pull, trusting in some very haphazard knots tied in the midst of an emotionally draining scenario just a few minutes past.
The sadness is still there in the Dran mare's eyes, but glinting there beneath it is steely determination that makes up the backbone of the Dran people. Once more the ears fold back, laying flat but not with fear this time but confidence. Of a need to save. One step at a time.
Thoth heaves with everything it's got. The rope goes taunt, and Nami assists. Maybe it's magic, maybe it's just pure desperate determination, but Thoth is... actually pulling the rope so hard and so firmly that water sprays upwards at the force of the pull. Only... Gramarye is not coming up. Something has her pinned tightly under the water. Holding her there. Something unseen through the murk.
The rope, breaks.
GAME: Aftershock advances the initiative order.
Round One - Init 23.
It is now Carver's turn! Gramarye is next!
Carver does not hear the rope break so much as sense it, turning to look over her shoulder. Her expression says, well, we tried but Nami gives a sharp toss of her head and the ranger just accepts that a favor is due one in return, desperately seeking out sight of the strange construct stirring beneath the deep. "Oi, iffin you're alive down there, give us a sign!"
GAME: Carver rolls perception: (9)+11: 20
GAME: Aftershock advances the initiative order.
Round One - Init 22.
It is now Gramarye's turn! Thoth is next!
GAME: Gramarye casts Acid Arrow. Caster Level: 4 DC: 16
GAME: Gramarye rolls ranged-4: (15)+3+-4: 14
GAME: Gramarye rolls 1d20+4+4: (19)+4+4: 27
GAME: Gramarye rolls 1d20+4+4: (16)+4+4: 24
GAME: Gramarye rolls 2d4: (7): 7
GAME: Aftershock advances the initiative order.
Round One - Init 14.
It is now Thoth's turn! NOTHING is next!
GAME: Thoth rolls 10+3: (10)+10+3: 23
GAME: Thoth rolls Perception+3: (12)+5+3: 20
GAME: Thoth casts Shield. Caster Level: 4 DC: 16
GAME: Aftershock advances the initiative order.
Round One - Init 9.
It is now NOTHING's turn! Carver is next!
There's something happening under the water.
Gramarye is blinded, held, stolen from the adventuring party. She has to stop it. She has to prevent whatever it is holding her down from claiming her. She has to go back to Father.
No one will save him from himself if she can't go back.
Obsidian eyes turn red. Somehow in the muck, she unleashes something that really shouldn't hit. Except it _does_. It serves as her little way of protesting against what's got her.
Down, Gramarye goes. And Thoth is left at the top of the swamp in confusion. The rope snapped in its metallic hands. Staring at this frayed piece, it hears a hoot. Ra vaguely motions in the direction of the frothing goop in the muck.
"This one understands." It remarks, and touches its chest. A series of intricate patterns released onto its body from a center plate near its chest. Preparing for battle, but first, trying to figure out a pattern.
GAME: Aftershock rolls 1d20+8: (14)+8: 22
GAME: Aftershock rolls 1d6: (6): 6
Beneath the water that froths and foams, Gramaye feels the sting of pain as something... something in the water with her rips and tears at the metal of her body. Claws digging in seeking... FLESH. Flesh it will not find.
GAME: NEW ROUND!
Aftershock advances the initiative order.
Round Two - Init 23.
It is now Carver's turn! Gramarye is next!
GAME: Carver rolls perception: (18)+11: 29
GAME: Carver rolls knowledge/dungeoneering: (12)+6: 18
Carver exhales, the quiver from enchanted sorrow now rushed by a wave of adrenaline. Finally, just the shadow of something. Dangerous. Unfamiliar, but predatory... but wait, maybe... not so unfamiliar.
"Aw, tits! It's a muddy tart 'ere to steal our menfolk with its warbling!"
She'll show it what she thinks about the theft of their nonexistant menfolk by drawing tight her bowstring and firing a pair of rapid shots. Even as she does so, though, her steed is moving and carrying them alongside the perimeter in a cautious circle.
GAME: Carver rolls ranged-2: (12)+9+-2: 19
GAME: Carver rolls ranged-2: (4)+9+-2: 11
GAME: Carver rolls 1d8+3: (2)+3: 5
GAME: Aftershock advances the initiative order.
Round Two - Init 22.
It is now Gramarye's turn! Thoth is next!
GAME: Gramarye rolls 2d4: (5): 5
GAME: Gramarye casts Hydraulic Push. Caster Level: 4 DC: 15
GAME: Gramarye rolls 1d20+4+4: (13)+4+4: 21
GAME: Gramarye rolls 1d20+4+4: (11)+4+4: 19
GAME: Aftershock advances the initiative order.
Round Two - Init 14.
It is now Thoth's turn! NOTHING is next!
GAME: Thoth rolls 10+3: (5)+10+3: 18
GAME: Thoth rolls Perception+3+2: (11)+5+3+2: 21
GAME: Thoth rolls Knowledge/Dungeoneering: (10)+12: 22
The acid from Gramarye's last spell lingers on her assailant, but the war golem has to get creative with how she's approaching the situation. Try to push it away--
Red eyes glow and another spell is cast underneath the water. A powerful gust of water, but the thing that's keeping her grappled is remaining quite strong and firm in its insistence.
GAME: Thoth casts Blindness-Deafness. Caster Level: 4 DC: 17
GAME: Aftershock rolls 1d20+7: (14)+7: 21
GAME: Aftershock advances the initiative order.
Round Two - Init 9.
It is now NOTHING's turn! Carver is next!
GAME: Aftershock rolls 1d20+11: (10)+11: 21
GAME: Aftershock rolls 1d6: (4): 4
Gramarye, Thoth thinks it can see her. Ra then squawks and points. Its wing motioning, allowing Thoth to follow the motion. There! "This one understands now. A Swamp Siren." It nods its head. "It must be using sound to spot us."
It doesn't move, and instead places its fingers together and draws complex sigils in the air that begin to glow, then grips the sigil in the air and tries to send it through the waters and to the Siren, only for the Siren to push through the influence of the spell.
Thoth taps its beak. Darn.
The creature below the water first spied by Carver continues to rend and tear at poor Gramarye. Blackness seeping into the water and muck and mud rising up from the intensity of its thrashing.
GAME: NEW ROUND!
Aftershock advances the initiative order.
Round Three - Init 23.
It is now Carver's turn! Gramarye is next!
GAME: Carver rolls ranged-2: (11)+9+-2: 18
GAME: Carver rolls ranged-2: (11)+9+-2: 18
GAME: Carver rolls 1d8+3: (3)+3: 6
GAME: Carver rolls 1d8+3: (8)+3: 11
GAME: Aftershock advances the initiative order.
Round Three - Init 22.
It is now Gramarye's turn! Thoth is next!
Carver admits that tracking the thing through the grime would be harder, if it was not so deadset of eating one of them. That it chooses to so stubbornly hang on means that the next pair of shots sink into its hide. "Go on, git, ya stupid thing!"
GAME: Gramarye casts Acid Arrow. Caster Level: 4 DC: 16
GAME: Gramarye rolls 1d20+4+4: (1)+4+4: 9 (EPIC FAIL)
GAME: Gramarye rolls 1d20+4+4: (4)+4+4: 12
GAME: Aftershock advances the initiative order.
Round Three - Init 14.
It is now Thoth's turn! NOTHING is next!
GAME: Thoth casts Magic Missile. Caster Level: 4 DC: 17
GAME: Thoth rolls 2d4+2: (5)+2: 7
GAME: Aftershock advances the initiative order.
Round Three - Init 9.
It is now NOTHING's turn! Carver is next!
The longer that Gramarye's submerged, the harder it is for her targeting modules to work. She was never designed to be an underwater combat by First Father. She is supposed to be an artificer's assistant. She's supposed to be a helpful and courteous creator of beautiful things. (Who occasionally goes on dangerous missions.)
The problem is that the the siren targeting Gramarye doesn't much care for this. Gramarye tries to unleash another acid arrow into the siren's grasp but simply goes wide.
GAME: Aftershock rolls 1d20+11: (3)+11: 14
GAME: Aftershock rolls 1d6: (3): 3
Thoth is starting to better follow the motions of the Siren. Moving in the swampy g round. That sense of sadness still over it, but it's being pushed out in favor of protecting Gramarye. A mixture of duty and... well... Thoth appreciates Gramarye's presence.
It's comforting.
It then motions its hands out, spreading its fingers, and fires two pale arcane missiles from those fingers and lets them slam into the swampy Siren being!
"This one will attempt to aid thee, Gramarye. Please wrest thineself free in the meantime."
Gramarye's day hadn't started out on the best of notes, but the tearing and clawing at her body is slowly making it worse. The poor war golem surely can not withstand this kind of abuse much longer...
GAME: NEW ROUND!
Aftershock advances the initiative order.
Round Four - Init 23.
It is now Carver's turn! Gramarye is next!
GAME: Carver rolls ranged-4: (10)+9+-4: 15
GAME: Carver rolls ranged-4: (2)+9+-4: 7
GAME: Carver rolls ranged-4: (9)+9+-4: 14
GAME: Aftershock advances the initiative order.
Round Four - Init 22.
It is now Gramarye's turn! Thoth is next!
GAME: Gramarye rolls melee: (20)+4: 24 (THREAT)
GAME: Gramarye rolls melee: (8)+4: 12
GAME: Gramarye rolls melee: (14)+4: 18
GAME: Gramarye rolls 8d6: (35): 35
GAME: Gramarye rolls Fortitude: (15)+5: 20
GAME: Aftershock removes the timestop.
Timestop by Aftershock has left.
It's critical now. Gramarye doesn't have much longer left. Yet the golem-wizard doesn't give up.
She has one ace left in the hole.
No one can hear Gramarye pray under the water. Praying to Vardama that her First Father's gift would serve her well, that she could use the little arcane spark within it to use a spell she knows but doesn't have memorized for the day. The little spark jumps from within her amulet into herself.
She turns it into lightning that's within her palm one moment and surging through the siren the next. Electricity everywhere. Gramarye's made of metal herself. It's horrible. Convulsing, convulsing, until the magic's stopped, and the siren's floating up to the surface.
And Gramarye watches, barely there. Dazed. Maybe her processing will return to normal soon or shortly. But for the moment: she herself is still, just as she's made the siren still, save for the bob of the woman's body in the water.
If Thoth was the type to do so, they might have thrown their hands in the air as Gramarye devastates the marsh Siren with her lightning power. Instead, it wathes as she eradicates the thing and ends up floating up onto the surface along with the siren.
It slowly approaches, waiting for the 'lightning' to stop coursing near Gramarye. It doesn't want to get fried.
It then celebrates by declaring; "This one believes you have proven yourself an adequate 'Adventurer'." It remarks, then, offers out its hand to help her up. In as far as the small bird-like War Golem can actually help her up.
"But this one still misses its master. And we have not yet completed out objective." It adds, before tilting its head and biting its beak at some of its broken wing-feathers.
Carver keeps her distance, observing the pair. Watchful for a second helping of mudslathered sadness.
It's so hard for Gramarye to comprehend right now. The fact that her world isn't fully water anymore is confusing to her. Like a part of her system processing thinks that she should still be submerged entirely underwater. Her ball-jointed hands, with those fingertips that have been so carefully molded to resemble the manicured nails of a young lady... One of the hands takes Thoth's.
Gramarye says, “Complete the objective," Gramarye intones after a moment. It's the only way forward. "Left... path."”
It's so hard for Gramarye to comprehend right now. The fact that her world isn't fully water anymore is confusing to her. Like a part of her system processing thinks that she should still be submerged entirely underwater. Her ball-jointed hands, with those fingertips that have been so carefully molded to resemble the manicured nails of a young lady... One of the hands takes Thoth's.
"Complete the objective," Gramarye intones after a moment. It's the only way forward.
It doesn't take long to follow Gramarye where she leads. To a tree that looks remarkably like the one in the image. Close examination of the tree however, reveals that it is not in fact a tree at all. It's a sculpture. Made to resemble a tree in every tiny, minute detail. Beyond the tree, where the 'x' lies on the map, there is a stand upon which sits a glowing orb. How long its been here... there's no way to tell. It just sits in the swamp... waiting.
Arriving before the statue-esque tree... no... the /statue tree/, Thoth pauses for a moment. The Memory Orb is just sitting there. Just, it's right there. Within grasp. Is it once again one of its own? Or is it someone else's memory?
It looks to Gramarye in that moment, then to Carver. There is a deep hesitation there. One that Gramarye no doubt would recognize from the last time Thoth touched one of these.
"This one requests someone else review it first." It offers.
Dazed and weary still, Gramarye is maybe not the best candidate. But her obsidian eyes flicker blue again as she assesses the orb with a magic spell.
"Analyzing... for magical traces. I apologize for... the inconvenience of... waiting." Words come slowly to Gramarye, in fits and bursts. But at least she can still cast magic.
GAME: Gramarye casts Detect Magic. Caster Level: 4 DC: 14
GAME: Gramarye rolls Knowledge/Arcama: (14)+Knowledge/Arcama: 14
GAME: Gramarye rolls Knowledge/Arcana: (8)+11: 19
"Doesn't seem like a lot of anythin'." Carver says as the three pause before their prize. She takes a canteen, and after a moment's struggle, finally manages to open the container. A trickle of water, still pure and clean, is used to clean her face. Of helpless tears and the grimes of war.
It's at least time for the more magically inclined to probe it from a distance.
Something about analyzing the object returns some sense of herself to Gramarye. Her words come quite a bit quicker than before.
"Analysis shows that the object presents with a divination aura," Gramarye intones. "Furthermore, the curse in this area is using the orb to power its curse. Taking the orb will affect the curse, but I am unable to determine how at this time."
Her head pivots to Thoth. "Take the orb," she says.
Thoth waits patiently for Gramarye to analyze the orb, while the avian War Golem ponders it. It trusts in the other War Golem to analyze this accurately.
And when it is told this may change the Curse, and is told to pick up the orb, it does so dutifully. "This one understands." As it steps forward, takes the orb, and lifts it off of the little statue-altar-tree.
The world does not end as the orb is removed. Instead, the world seems... lighter. Not so miserable as it did a few seconds ago. Breathing is easier. Sorrow easier to push back. The light doesn't break through the trees, but it doesn't need to. The darkness and murk are easier to bear.