The Vagrant Tower (Part 4)

After accidentally completing an unstable magical ritual, the group have once again taken the time to regroup- and transport the rest of the books from the library out to the base camp. But let's rewind. The base camp is a small but growing settlement of scholars, archaeologists and arcanists who are actively researching the mysterious appearance of a portal. Initial forays by the guild of explorers have discovered that this portal leads to what seems to be a wizards tower- or one floor of a wizards tower, at any rate- which is suspended in, or perhaps drifting through the void between the planes.

In addition, they have found that the tower draws upon elemental energies as it passes through the various planes in order to continue powering its own enchantments. It has been adrift for more than a thousand years, from dating the books that have been recovered so far. But where the rest of the tower is, or to what end it was cast into the void, remains a mystery.

And back to the present- after regrouping, the exploring party have taken a moment to not only rest, but also to replenish their ranks with more adventurers drawn to the call of mystery. Traversing the portal is a singular experience, one which Sloan, Crik and Magpie are well accustomed to by now, but which may come as a shock to Jacob, Magpie and Tlanexhuani. Passing through the shimmering blue light of the portals threshold, they find themselves drawn through a weightless and timeless void, buffeted by the sensation of rushing winds and a journey that is at once impossibly long and instentanious, they find themselves deposited one by one in the central chamber of the Vagrant Tower.

Having indeed become used to the teleport at this point, Sloan's feet touch down on the other side with the butler already shifting his weight to move towards the hallway. Dressed as before in soft soled boots, Grey woolen pants, and an un-dyed woolen shirt, gives the others that may need it, a moment to recoup.

The Goblin appears both fascinated and horrified at the journey. The acquisition of knowledge was all she could talk about before the portal, especially considering what has been collected so far, as well as the tower's disposition.

The horror part comes full circle as the room comes into view, and the group finds themselves standing on solid ground. Simony immediately turns away, as the sound of lunch returning is heard. The length of the sounds indicates it's a particularly big lunch. "W.w.what was that?", she croaks, spitting something out, while still looking away. "That is not mentioned in the marketing materials.", the Gobbo grumbles.

"That *never* gets old," Magpie says as she steps away from the landing point. "But it *does* get less existentially terrifying, which helps!"

"So okay!" she says, clapping her hands as the sound of retching abates. "Right now we're in the void between the planes! We're about to go to the other side of a room which *had* a summoning ritual going, but um... well we tripped it, and beat the elementals it was summoning, so they're gone and everything's *probably* okay. Probably. Things are weirdly self-motivating here."

Magpie will never be half as reassuring as she wants to be, mostly because she can't seem to shut up at the right point.

Tlanexhuani has only ever stepped through one portal, that being the one from Am'shere to Alexandria. This is... not that. As he arrives in the here and now, he crouches low to a knee, even it complains with creaking. There he waits a moment for his tail, stomach, and senses to catch up return to where they are supposed to be. "Iss ... sstrange." He finally blinks away the after-flutters and looks to Magpie as he stands up a bit more straight, still leaning on his spear like a walking staff.

One curious adventurer happened to be Jacob Ben-Hassid, a cleric of Serriel. Dressed in armor and shrouded by the robes of the Guiding Light. The portal was a strange sensation - yet it's somewhat similar to the chaos of the Vast, where his people learned to traverse in similar ways on their horses. Yet this was still different.

His feet hit the ground and Jacob takes slow breaths. He stands up slowly, looking around. "That was...slightly unpleasant."

A black beak, a bundle of robes and a slight hop - and off Crik landed back onto his feet. Tilting his head up and about, then turning his head towards the less-fresh lunch - don't do it - he flutters his black wings out. "Do not be afraid," The corvid reassures the party. "It will not get better." His beak opens apart and he glances around the team.

A moment later, the bundle of rags points at the exit. "... I will scout ahead."

GAME: Crik rolls perception: (6)+11: 17

As Crrik heads up the corridor, he sees the doors they previously left open, remain open. The bloodstains from their first foray into the tower remain, too, but are now completely dried into the flagstones- they will be a nightmare to remove. At first, it seems as though nothing has changed, but Crik notices a few minor inconsistencies. Something has passed through here, something other than the party, in the time they have been away. The door is slightly further ajar, some of the crystals have been picked up and moved around, the magic circles in the ritual room are smudged.

Those that have been here before will also note that the sound of thunder- a pervasive sound here, on the edge of the plane of air, is louder still than their last foray. Each peal resonates through the stonework and rattles the windows.

Moving behind Crik, Sloan leaves the Egalrin to do his thing as he looks down the hallway towards the outside, checking the priximity of the storms they saw on their first trip. "I must admit to having a slightly uneasy feeling. Does the storm seem closer?"

Simony is presently cleaning her face with a small cloth, wetted by water from a small waterskin. "The sensation ... through the nostrils is not one I wish to experience again if I can help it. Is... that what teleporting across the planes usually feels like? If so, I may be relieved to not have to go through the trouble of learning how to do that.

She glances around at the others, and straightens, putting the cloth and waterskin away in her pack. The reassurances from others falls flat, as her skeptical expression may inform. "Oh. Goody. I was hoping it would get worse, actually." If that's sarcasm in any way, it completely lacks all the auditory cues.

To Crik, she nods once. "Do let us know if you've found anything. If it's bad, scream at least three times, then we'll know..."

"That would follow, Sloan," Magpie chirps up. "So oh yeah, one thing; during the fight last time, the windows all along the curved side of the room got broken. So, like, if you get the urge to jump through the empty window, well um... Don't. Seriously we have *no idea* what'd happen, but y'know... probably bad. We don't even know how the *tower's* moving through, because it seems to be *physically* traveling the void!"

Despite the dire implications of her words, Magpie seems generally unruffled by the idea of a yawning non-existence, not even held back by any kind of physical barrier.

"Stay safe my friend." Jacob tells Crik as the fellow moves as swift as night to investigate the paths that lay ahead. It gives the cleric a further moment to regain his composure further from the effects of the portal.

He turns his eyes to Sloan. "Sloan. A man of many adventures." He teases the fellow as he pats him lightly on the shoulder as he moves.

"Why three and not once?" He asks of Simony, apparently teasing her about the sarcasm. He turns to Magpie. "..understood." he clears his throat. "No windows."

Crik doing his 'thing' means basically looking up about in sharp, jutting twists of head and odd walk. Once, he stops - taps the wall with his beak - but his attention is diverted towards the floor. Sloan can see him staring at the floor for a long, paused moment - before he slowly trails his gaze over towards the magic circle.

A brief flutter of wings, and he twists about in his place to face the human. "The storm, and the something that lurks here." He makes a vague gesture towards the floor. "Traces we did not leave behind."

Magpie just gets a black, beady eyed look. And a little ruffle of feathers.

"This one prefer ground under claw," Tlanexhuani snorts lightly as he eyes the hall out. "Not jump. Must go somewhere, though?" He looks from the doorway to the others. "Know the way?"

Taking a moment to stare out into the abyss, Sloan turns back and heads back towards the room with the Summoning circle. waiting for Crik to give an all clear before moving forward, the butler looks towards Jacob and offers a slight smile. "One does what one can, yes?"

Sloan's gaze out into the void confirms his suspicions- those distant vortices they first saw upon peering out into the void are much closer now than they were previously. And it is clear now that they were not moving slowly, as they seemed to be. But their distance and scale simply made it seem that way. Now they are closer, it's clear that the dust and plasma caught up in them is whirling around at incredible speeds. Bolts of lightning leap between their strata, giving rize to the frequent peals of thunder. The tower is definitely moving closer to the turbulent outskirts of the plane of air.

The library, too, shows signs of having been rummaged through in their absense- although the party themselves did a thorough job of pillaging its troves of ancient knowledge, something else has been in there and broken some of the clay urns that held scrolls and scattered the blank quires from some of the shelves.

Heading into the summoning room, Crik will at once notice that its southern door is slightly ajar. That was definitely not like that when they left.

"This gets better and better.", Simony deadpans, after Magpie's cheery explanation of DOOOOOM. "Does this place naturally compel people to consider jumping through broken windows, or is this a hypothetical situation?"

She cants her back a little at Jacob's question. The Gobbo holds up a finger, "First scream is to indicate that something horrifying has been found." A second finger goes up. "The second scream is to indicate said horrifying thing is coming right for them." A third finger is indicated. "The third scream is to indicate that one is being chewed upon. I'd suggest a fourth scream, but most people can't scream when they're dead."

She peers at the left over books not taken, and begins reading titles.

GAME: Crik rolls stealth: (17)+10: 27

GAME: Crik rolls perception: (5)+11: 16

"Actually from what I hear, it's just something that happens to people!" The gnome chirps, strolling along behind the more heavily-armored contingent, cheerfully examining everything that crosses her field of vision, for a moment. "Like, a thinking person's brain spends *so much time* trying to just automatically figure out possible dangers and prepare for them, sometimes they just leak into normal thoughts! Weird, right? I ran across it while doing research in Arcanist's, and it's even called The Call Of The Void!"

Magpie glances at Simony, head tilting to one side. "...Question! Why're you so nervous? It's *probably* dangerous to be here! That's why *we* got hired, because you don't pay money for adventurers to pick flowers! ...Unless the flowers are in someplace dangerous. Anyway. Point is, threats to life and limb are, like, a given!"

GAME: Simony rolls perception: (15)+9: 24

GAME: Simony rolls stealth: (10)+3: 13

GAME: Sloan rolls stealth: (13)+9: 22

GAME: Sloan rolls perception: (6)+7: 13

GAME: Jacob rolls Perception: (9)+5: 14

GAME: Jacob rolls stealth: (3)+-1: 2

"Fascinating." Jacob remarks to Magpie, looking visibly enamored by the topic. "The Call of the Void...interesting." He tilts his head to Simony. "Insanity is a common danger in this line of work, but if we work together, you'll be more than fine." He chuckles at her explanation of the screams.

"I understand...I think. But what if they die on the first scream?"

Then he falls silent, as best as he can, his eyes narrowed and his cloak lifted over his head. Problem is armor makes noise.

Still gotta carry on towards the south door.

"That was not there before." Crik makes his way across - briefly bowing down to look at the circle - before stopping by the door. Instantly, the party can see him near to the wall, and he slowly sneaks his way towards the door. Carefully, he reaches out to try and open the door just a crack. His shape ripples as he touches _all the things_ inside his cloak.

As the group follow the trail of whatever else has paid the tower a visit in their absense down south, they come to another room- in this one, a pedestal stands in the center. Carved into the pedestral is a draconic head, it has four faces each pointing in a cardinal direction. And between the teeth of each of the reptillian maws is a single large, cut crystal, almost clear but with a pale blue tint. No immediate threats present themselves, but they can hear something- coming from the corridor headed off to the east. Distant sounds of scraping, tittering, the beating of wings, things breaking.

Tlanexhuani shuffle-taps his way in with rustling steps and use of his spear. He eyes the circle with some suspicion, blinking at Crik's mention. "Was not here before?" That is worrisome, if things can just appear when not looking... So he starts looking around more, and harder. Maybe that will stop more things appearing?

Following after Crik, Sloan frowns and looks to the east. Kneeling beside Crik, the butler points towards the sounds once more. "Would you prefer that I take lead from here Crik? I would have you follow me so I do not step on something untoward and possibly explosive."

GAME: Magpie rolls knowledge/the planes: (2)+9: 11

GAME: Simony rolls knowledge/arcana: (9)+8: 17

GAME: Crik rolls knowledge/the planes: (16)+3: 19

GAME: Jacob rolls Knowledge/the planes: (13)+5: 18

A small pince-nes is retrieved from a small pouch on her belt, and sticks it to Simony's nose. "Then you know to get the heck out of there before whatever got your companion comes to get you.", she replies to Jacob.

An eyebrow raises as she looks to Magpie, trailing along behind the front line as the Gnome does. "You don't have to tell me that, this isn't my first exploration of some dusty thing in some forgotten place. However, knowledge of possible impending danger does nothing to assuage one's fear. Even experience does nothing to dull it. I can not and do not begrudge anyone being afraid in this situation, including myself. If you're afraid, it means you're still alive."

The albino peers over at the circle Crik speaks of not being there previously. "Probably a good idea not to touch them or step near them.", she offers, helpfully. Shuffling forward, but staying well away from touching distance, Simony squints. "Uuuuuhm. This is a summoning circle. A /used/ summoning circle."

Crik turns his head towards Sloan. "... best way to find a trap is to step on it." Beak opens again. "Or opening summoning circles." The corvid egalrin gestures for Sloan to move on ahead of him. "Tread carefully, herald." He hops on forward and takes a better look at the room once more, trying to see if there were any traps around the pedestal, above them, below them, or just in the air in general. "... do not let any imps fall on you."

closing his eyes and sighing softly, Sloan leans closer to Crik and mutters quietly. "One time Crik...I stepped on one summoning circle...It is not like one makes a habit of it."

Stepping through the door ahead of Crik, the butler stays close to the wall as he turns his attengion towards the sounds.

GAME: Crik rolls reflex: (4)+7: 11

GAME: Sloan rolls reflex: (14)+6: 20

GAME: Subduction rolls 5d6: (20): 20

GAME: Jacob rolls Reflex: (3)+5: 8

As Sloan steps out into the room, that four-faced dragon pedestal crackles into life. In a blink of an eye, a bolt of lightning leaps from the crystal in one of its maws and hurtles towards the group. Sloan is fast enough to get partially out of the way, catching the bolt to his shoulder, but Crik and Jacob are not so lucky- the ark of electricity continues its course through the corridor, slamming through Crik and Jacob's chests and then continuing past them until it hits the far wall, exploding into a scorch mark and fragments of shattered masonry.

The tittering noises from further east stop, then a few short bursts of chatter.

As Jacob moves, he hears the flapping of wings and things breaking, tell-tale sighs of a creature at least somewhat nearby. "Mephits, I think. Mischievous imps."

He takes a long look at the structure with the dragon, a frown touching his face as the gems radiate with that strange void-light.

"Seems cold." He remarks to Magpie. But he looks at the used summoning circle. "Then I imagine the mephits were summoned...or something much darker is in this place."

Just as he says that, a trap is triggered and electricity slams into his chest, knocking him backwards. He tumbled along the ground and ends up on his feet, but it's clear that it /hurt/.

"....ow."

GAME: Crik rolls constitution: (16)+0: 16

Crik's beak just keeps opening wider, and he cannot resist letting out a weird creaking sound from his throat... until he falls silent.

A moment later, there is an awful sounding cry of doom, a collapse and a floofed up, twitching mess of an egalrin on the floor. A faint scent of crispy egalrin lingers about him. On the other hand, his collection of bombs strapped on him is completely safe and sound.

"I find this completely shocking.", the Gobbo says, as the lightning bolt crackles and shocks those in the front. As Crik topples over, Simony gasps. Her hands come together in a light clap, and the holy symbol hanging from her neck glows. Her voice is low and scratchy as she prays, entreating her Deity to intervene. Pale white lines emenate from her hands, touching all those who are present nearby.

GAME: Simony rolls 2d6: (6): 6

GAME: Magpie rolls 2d8+3: (8)+3: 11

GAME: Magpie used a Potion of Cure Moderate Wounds.

"Oh no I *totally* get being afraid!" Magpie says with a reassuring smile. "I just didn't know that's what you were doing, I thought you were *surprised.* Which is why I was so confu--WHOA!"

The electric lance shooting down the hallway, and crashing against the door has Magpie pelting into the corridor, heedless of any residual danger. "HANG ON, GUYS!"

Sliding to a halt on her knees, the gnome fishes in her satchel, and brings out a potion vial just as Simony's healing wave brings the poor bird back to consciousness. "Hey buddy," she says gently, pulling the vial's stopper. "Just have a drink, you'll be right as rain, okay?"

With that, she starts to tip the liquid into Crik's beak.

Tlanexhuani is looking at the circle and startles at the sudden burst of electricity. Well, no one stepped on a summoning circle this time? "Ah! What is..." He moves towards the recently-injured, but slows to allow the healers access. "This one can help..." he offers, looking to the shocked ones as they are treated, then adds, "Maybe best this one walk first."

GAME: Simony rolls 2d8+4: (10)+4: 14

While the group are tending to the wounds caused by that trap, a set of wingbeats draws nearer. An angular, hook-nosed head, with alabaster skin and cyan eyes peeks out from around the corner, swears at the group in Auran, flashes its behind and then flies back off down the corridor.

GAME: Subduction rolls 100: (10)+100: 110

GAME: Subduction rolls 1d100: (35): 35

GAME: Subduction rolls 1d100: (89): 89

GAME: Subduction rolls 1d100: (36): 36

GAME: Subduction rolls 1d100: (80): 80

GAME: Subduction rolls 1d100: (74): 74

GAME: Subduction rolls 1d100: (64): 64

Sloan was not an adventurer. this much was becoming apparent as he steps into the room and gets zapped. It stung his shoulder, but that was the least of his worries. Turning back to Crik, the butler frowns as the Egalrin gets dropped. Greatful that there are clerics nearby,

looking back to the trap, then after the crude creature, Sloan kneels next to Crik once more as he is revived, speaking quietly once more. "I apologize Crik. It was my intent to shield you from when may be waiting to attack...after consideration though, I have decided that either your advice, or my intent was lacking. I did not wish to find traps by setting them off. I would prefer that we live."

Jacob is still sizzling as he hunches over, the electricity scorching him harshly, but even still, the healing energy from Simony, letting his wounds heal almost as if it had never happened. Hd takes slow breaths. "Thank you." He flashes a warm smile towards Simony as he stands tall.

Then they get mooned.

"Likewise." Jacob tells Sloan. "With that in mind, let's avoid any other traps, yes?" He rubs at his chest.

Crik sputters and gasps as he is brought back from the void. "... haa, this one saw mother... the big dark..." He mutters incoherently, sometimes slipping into his native tongue - before he suddenly jolts upwards. Head turns towards Magpie, then back towards Sloan. "It's a trap!" He looks back down at himself, and the scorch mark left on his leather armor. "... It was a trap." He collapses back onto the floor, gesturing towards the sith-makar who offered to walk first, to go ahead. "... just a wingbeat more. Thank you for pulling down the veil, Magpie."

When the butler kneels besides him, the corvid rogue looked legitimately confused. Then there's a bit of a twinkle in his eyes and his beak opens. "Curious is the trapfinders art; the only sure way to success is to die trying." A hacking sound. Then he glances at the dragon pedestal - back towards Sloan. "A pedestal staring in cardinal directions. Thunder around us. It should have been obvious to me. Traps are always laid in cardinal directions."

First zapping, and now ...zipping? The bluescale only catches a brief glimpse of the winged ..behind(?) before it is gone. "Sssa. No more traps. Watch for enemies, alsso." Tlanexhuani, with Crik's blessing, moves ahead down the hall into the room. He is aware and does not rush in, though may not be as good at discovering hidden things as some. Aside from stepping on them.

nodding to Crik, Sloan looks the birdman over quietly for another moment before standing once more. "Curious indeed. I shall endeavor to remember that advice." Looking to the Makari, the butler nods as well "It is not as though you could have lower success than I have." As Tlanex moves out, Sloan falls in step behind him.

Getting to her feet, Magpie grins up at Tlanexhuani. "I'm just glad it didn't end up worse than it did. We're probably gonna need your help too, *real bad,* soon... But for now--"

Her eyes are caught by the electric-blue moon waxing at the other end of the room. "...Wow, that's just... *shockingly* ugly. Don't worry you little jerk, we'll get you too."

Edging out of the path of the draconic mouths, Magpie approaches the column, trying to get a sense for how it works, and if there's more ightning to come. Say, when the other doorway is used.

GAME: Simony rolls knowledge/arcana: (4)+8: 12

GAME: Tlanexhuani rolls knowledge/arcana: (15)+7: 22

GAME: Magpie rolls knowledge/arcana: (11)+10: 21

"Please be careful. Also, possibly it rotates?", the Gobbo offers. She is hesitant to step into the room. Friends bitten and she's shy.

GAME: Crik rolls knowledge/dungeoneering: (3)+7: 10

Tlanexhuani is initially searching for the winged one, but when that is not apparent his eyes shift to the column. "Mmm..." He walks up to it, claws scratching under chin. "This one thinkss is not done. Will shock again... but some hourss before then." The retreating form continues off down the hallway as the group move to press onwards- pausing briefly to examine the pedestral to see if it's likely to shock them from behind while pressing onwards. Deciding it is safe for now, they head further along- the corridor leads to one final room, the southeastern corner of this level of the tower. And it is bedlam inside from what they can see- there are a number of short winged humanoids, each with long hooked noses and pointy ears, that same alabaster and azure coloration. There are books all over the floor, tossed around haphazardly, a chair is overturned.

THere is a large statue with a gemstone in its forehead, and one of the critters has its feet planted on the statue's face as it tries to pry the gemstone out. Another one is scribbling all over a book on a lectern set before the statue with a pilfered pen. The one that mooned them smacks its backside and sticks out its tongue, openly taunting the group.

"....Well, isn't that one friendly."

Jacob's surprisingly deadpanned expression is perhaps somewhat surprising to those who know him, considering his normally warm demeanor.

"What is...." He looks more closely at the statue. Tgen he notices the Mephit with a book scribbling all over it. "Perhaps that one will have information about this room?"

GAME: Simony rolls knowledge/religion: (3)+8: 11

GAME: Sloan rolls knowledge/religion: Trained Use Only: 0

"Hey! Hey hey hey!" Magpie shouts, upon crowding into the room and spotting the imps at their chaos. "What d'you think you are, adventurers! Knock that off!"

"Yeah, what she said!", yells the Gobbo.

GAME: Subduction rolls 1d8: (3): 3

GAME: Subduction rolls 4: (7)+4: 11

GAME: Jacob rolls knowledge/religion: (1)+5: 6 (EPIC FAIL)