Into the Temple - Part 8

Log Info

• Title: Into the Temple - Part 8
  
• GM: Whirlpool
• Characters: Rune, Harkashan, Eztli, Bryn, Silmeria
  
• Location: Felwood
  
• Summary: The lost temple of Eluna stands revealed, its grounds consecreated, and the the exterior secured. Now all that's left is to begin its exploration.

GAME: Rune takes ten on bluff: (10)+31: 41

GAME: Rune rolls weapon1+1+1: (19)+26+1+1: 47 (THREAT)

GAME: Rune rolls weapon1+1+1: (9)+26+1+1: 37

GAME: Rune rolls weapon2+1+1-2: (5)+26+1+1+-2: 31

GAME: Rune rolls weapon1+1+1-7: (16)+26+1+1+-7: 37

GAME: Rune rolls weapon2+1+1-7: (11)+26+1+1+-7: 32

GAME: Rune rolls weapon1+1+1-12: (14)+26+1+1+-12: 30

GAME: Rune rolls weapon2+1+1-12: (10)+26+1+1+-12: 26

GAME: Rune rolls damage1+damage1+1d6+9d6: aliased to 1d6+4+1d6+4+1d6+9d6: (6)+4+(5)+4+(6)+(27): 52

GAME: Rune rolls damage1+1d6+9d6: aliased to 1d6+4+1d6+9d6: (2)+4+(4)+(28): 38

GAME: Whirlpool advances the initiative order.

Round Four - Init 20.

It is now Maeva's turn! Eztli is next!

With the floor cracking beneath her feet, Rune takes a couple of quick steps back, trying to move away from the worst of the damage, but to no avail. The floor crumbles out from underneath them and sends everyone tumbling down onto the next floor below, leaving them in what appears to be a large expanse of quicksilver.

With the Golen and its contained demons still a very real threat, Rune scrambles to her feet and clambers up onto a bit of fallen debris closest to the crystaline creature, trying to shake off a bit of the quicksilver in the meantime. "Everyone okay? Call out if you're not dead!"

"Hey, over this way. Pay attention to me, not them!" She waves one of her blades threateningly, using it as a distraction before stabbing with the other one. Many of the slashes seem to glance off the hard exterior, but two seem to take advantage of the existing cracks in the outer structure, digging them wider and most likely releasing more of those demonic contents into the surrounding area.

Maeva is leaning over the gap that the golem opened up as you fell into the quicksilver. She's staring helplessly down at you, unsure of what to do next at just this moment.

GAME: Eztli casts Scorching Ray. Caster Level: 13 DC: 20

GAME: Eztli rolls 1d20+13+2: (9)+13+2: 24

GAME: Whirlpool advances the initiative order.

Round Four - Init 19.

It is now Eztli's turn! Bryn is next!

GAME: Whirlpool advances the initiative order.

Round Four - Init 17.

It is now Bryn's turn! Silmeria is next!

Eztli, recovering much better from the fall than the others, but still covered in the silvery liquid, was looking none too pleased. "Why'd you go and do that?" They grumble, flapping their wings a few times, kicking up more of the stuff, but getting free and high enough out of it where they can lauch another trio of flaming bolts at the golem, only for them to fizzle harmlessly again.

GAME: Whirlpool advances the initiative order.

Round Four - Init 12.

It is now Silmeria's turn! Harkashan is next!

GAME: Whirlpool advances the initiative order.

Round Four - Init 11.

It is now Harkashan's turn! Little Opals is next!

GAME: Harkashan casts Holy Aura. Caster Level: 17 DC: 27

GAME: Harkashan rolls Cleric+Wisdom+4: (20)+17+9+4: 50

GAME: Harkashan rolls 11d6: (36): 36

GAME: Whirlpool advances the initiative order.

Round Four - Init 11.

It is now Little Opals' turn! Opal Golem is next!

As the group falls, Harkashan makes for a bit of a rough landing into the Quicksilver, making for an awkward roll and moving his arm outwards to catch himself. A pulse of silvren-red immediately cascades outwards from him, healing himself and those who are harmed at this time, and then brings forth holy light around himself while bearing witness to Rune... doing Rune things.

"Keep it up. It cannot bear such an onslaught for much longer!" He calls out to the group, before glancing up to Meava for a moment. "Stay on guard up there!"

GAME: Eztli rolls fortitude: (13)+11: 24

GAME: Harkashan rolls Fortitude: (9)+23: 32

GAME: Rune rolls fortitude+4: (15)+14+4: 33

GAME: Bryn rolls fortitude: (7)+4: 11

GAME: Silmeria rolls fortitude: (7)+10: 17

GAME: Whirlpool rolls 1d20+10: (11)+10: 21

GAME: Whirlpool rolls 1d20+10: (6)+10: 16

GAME: Whirlpool advances the initiative order.

Round Four - Init 6.

It is now Opal Golem's turn! Rune is next!

GAME: Whirlpool rolls 1d4+1: (4)+1: 5

GAME: Whirlpool rolls 1d20+30: (10)+30: 40

GAME: Whirlpool rolls 1d20+30: (6)+30: 36

GAME: Whirlpool rolls 1d20+13: (6)+13: 19

GAME: Whirlpool rolls 2d10+13: (5)+13: 18

GAME: Whirlpool rolls 1d20+33: (15)+33: 48

As the great opal golem rises, the screaming faces of the demons visible in its reflective surface are further distorted by the quicksilver now oozing down its form. There's a sharp sound, akin to a great breathbeing drawn in before being exhaled sharply. Not unlike the Iron Golems adventurers have faced before, it lets loose a cloud of poison gas that seems to cling ot the surface of the quicksilver, leading to much coughing as it seeps into your nostrils. So far, no one has been too impacted by it.

Still more of the smaller opal beings rise from the shattered bits that hjave been chipped off it, them too covered in qucksilver...

... which seems to merging with it, in some way, suffusing their being in a manner that it isn't impacting the larger one. Twice, now, it has rained blows on Harkashan, but thanks in part to the sternness of his armor, the protection of his deity, and Rune's chipping away at the strength of its body and magic. It is, perhaps, surprised when Harkashan leans into one of its blows and simply tanks it. The force is such that it lifts the lizard up off the ground with a tremendous clang and sends him hurtling into the wall, hard enough to indent into it as stone crumbles around his person, leaving a distinctly Harkashan-sized impact crated that it is also not so surprisingly shaped like him.

The golem pauses a moment and then stomps its foot on the ground once again, absolutely revealing that the consciousness behind it is capable of frustration.

GAME: Whirlpool rolls 1d28+12: (4)+12: 16

GAME: Whirlpool rolls 1d8+12: (1)+12: 13

GAME: NEW ROUND!

Whirlpool advances the initiative order.

Round Five - Init 20.

It is now Rune's turn! Maeva is next!

GAME: Rune rolls weapon1+1+1+4: (11)+26+1+1+4: 43

GAME: Rune rolls weapon1+1+1+4-2: (10)+26+1+1+4+-2: 40

GAME: Rune rolls weapon2+1+1+4-2: (12)+26+1+1+4+-2: 42

GAME: Rune rolls weapon1+1+1+4-7: (5)+26+1+1+4+-7: 30

GAME: Rune rolls weapon2+1+1+4-7: (6)+26+1+1+4+-7: 31

GAME: Rune rolls weapon1+1+1+4-12: (15)+26+1+1+4+-12: 35

GAME: Rune rolls weapon2+1+1+4-12: (8)+26+1+1+4+-12: 28

GAME: Rune rolls damage1+1d6+9d6+4: aliased to 1d6+4+1d6+9d6+4: (2)+4+(3)+(23)+4: 36

GAME: Rune rolls damage1+1d6+9d6+4: aliased to 1d6+4+1d6+9d6+4: (4)+4+(4)+(22)+4: 38

GAME: Rune rolls damage2+1d6+9d6+4: aliased to 1d6+4+1d6+9d6+4: (1)+4+(3)+(28)+4: 40

GAME: Rune rolls damage1+1d6+9d6+4: aliased to 1d6+4+1d6+9d6+4: (5)+4+(6)+(29)+4: 48

GAME: Whirlpool advances the initiative order.

Round Five - Init 20.

It is now Maeva's turn! Eztli is next!

Up above you, Maeva looks up towards something. Staring across the gap, eyes wide. Her skin goes incredibly pale for a moment before she can be heard uttering.

"...yes. Yes, I understand. Of course. Of course."

... who's she talking to?

GAME: Whirlpool advances the initiative order.

Round Five - Init 19.

It is now Eztli's turn! Bryn is next!

GAME: Harkashan rolls Sense Motive: (4)+28: 32

As the Golem breaths out the noxious gas into the room, Rune raises one arm and tries to block it from reaching her face as she coughs once, trying to hold her breath. It is only for a matter of a few heartbeats before irridescent butterfly wings sprout from her back, propelling her in the air and away from the quicksilver and poison below.

The rogue seems about to lay into the creature a second time when she sees it rear back and slam Harkashan into the nearby wall. Her brows furrow and her teeth show in a distinct expression of rage. She slams herself into the crystaline golem's back, stabbing four times in hard succession, each one piercing through the tough outer shell.

"Do not. Fucking hit. My man." She snarls, seemingly oblivious to whatever else may be going on elsewhere.

GAME: Whirlpool advances the initiative order.

Round Five - Init 17.

It is now Bryn's turn! Silmeria is next!

GAME: Whirlpool advances the initiative order.

Round Five - Init 12.

It is now Silmeria's turn! Harkashan is next!

GAME: Whirlpool advances the initiative order.

Round Five - Init 11.

It is now Harkashan's turn! Little Opals is next!

Seeing as how most of her magic was having little to no effect on the golem, Eztli instead decides to flap her way back up out of the hole in the ground. "Hey, all good up here?" Eztli asks hurriedly, looking around for whatever was causing the muttering. "Sorry, I'll be back down in a moment!"

GAME: Harkashan casts Mass Inflict Critical Wounds. Caster Level: 17 DC: 27

GAME: Harkashan rolls Cleric+Wisdom+4: (8)+17+9+4: 38

GAME: Harkashan rolls 4d8+Cleric: (17)+17: 34

GAME: Whirlpool rolls 1d20+12: (2)+12: 14

GAME: Whirlpool rolls 1d20+8: (3)+8: 11

GAME: Whirlpool rolls 1d20+8: (13)+8: 21

There's a heavy OOPH that comes from Harkashan as he gets slammed in the chest by the massive Golem. And though Rune's strikes have weakened it, the hit still clobbers him towards a wall. He feels his back crack a bit, but his armor protects him. At the same time though, a bright holy flash erupts from that very spot where he was touched, and engulfs the Golem in its light.

"You have only served to quicken the inevitable." He grunts at the Golem, as he approaches again. A small tremmor in his steps, but he'll get over it. He then lifts his hand, and begins to use his divine magics to create further Cracks in the various Golems on the battlefield. Starting to shatter them as he slowly closes his fist and begins to sing a deep ominous song.

"You will all return whence you came."

He then looks up at Maeva and asks; "Who are you talking to? We've got this, what's with the fear I am smelling on you? Is it because these crystals were left here by your people?"

GAME: Whirlpool advances the initiative order.

Round Five - Init 11.

It is now Little Opals' turn! Opal Golem is next!

GAME: Whirlpool rolls 1d20+9: (12)+9: 21

GAME: Whirlpool rolls 1d20+9: (12)+9: 21

GAME: Whirlpool rolls 1d8+3: (7)+3: 10

GAME: Whirlpool rolls 1d8+3: (8)+3: 11

GAME: Eztli rolls will: (8)+13: 21

GAME: Whirlpool rolls 1d20+8: (12)+8: 20

GAME: Whirlpool rolls 1d20+8: (17)+8: 25

GAME: Whirlpool rolls 1d100: (31): 31

GAME: Whirlpool rolls 1d100: (99): 99

GAME: Whirlpool advances the initiative order.

Round Five - Init 6.

It is now Opal Golem's turn! Rune is next!

GAME: Whirlpool rolls 1d20+18: (2)+18: 20

GAME: Rune rolls reflex: (12)+24: 36

GAME: Harkashan rolls Reflex+1: (12)+14+1: 27

GAME: Rune rolls fortitude+4: (19)+14+4: 37

GAME: Harkashan rolls Fort+1: (16)+23+1: 40

GAME: Eztli rolls reflex: (8)+10: 18

GAME: Eztli rolls fort: (13)+11: 24

GAME: Bryn rolls fort: (16)+4: 20

GAME: Silmeria rolls fort: (2)+10: 12

GAME: Whirlpool rolls 1d4: (3): 3

Smashing its foot into the floor as the little-mini-golems fire up at Eztli leaving her showered in shards of gemstone not unlike Rune was earlier, the opalline creature sends a wave of quicksilver splashing into the rest of you after taking a swing at Rune.

More of the demons seem toi have winked out of the surface of it, as well, their souls returning to whence they came. Flames of hellfire surround it it and it begins to glow ever more intensely. Like its charging up somehow. Probably not in a good way.

GAME: NEW ROUND!

Whirlpool advances the initiative order.

Round Six - Init 20.

It is now Rune's turn! Maeva is next!

GAME: Rune rolls weapon1+1+1+1+4: (17)+26+1+1+1+4: 50 (THREAT)

GAME: Rune rolls weapon1+1+1+1+4: (15)+26+1+1+1+4: 48

GAME: Rune rolls weapon1+1+1+1+4-2: (13)+26+1+1+1+4+-2: 44

GAME: Rune rolls weapon2+1+1+1+4-2: (19)+26+1+1+1+4+-2: 50 (THREAT)

GAME: Rune rolls weapon2+1+1+1+4-2: (17)+26+1+1+1+4+-2: 48 (THREAT)

GAME: Rune rolls weapon1+1+1+1+4-7: (19)+26+1+1+1+4+-7: 45 (THREAT)

GAME: Rune rolls weapon1+1+1+1+4-7: (5)+26+1+1+1+4+-7: 31

GAME: Rune rolls weapon2+1+1+1+4-7: (2)+26+1+1+1+4+-7: 28

GAME: Rune rolls weapon1+1+1+1+4-12: (15)+26+1+1+1+4+-12: 36

GAME: Rune rolls weapon2+1+1+1+4-12: (5)+26+1+1+1+4+-12: 26

GAME: Rune rolls damage1+damage1+1d6+9d6+4: aliased to 1d6+4+1d6+4+1d6+9d6+4: (4)+4+(5)+4+(6)+(28)+4: 55

GAME: Rune rolls damage1+1d6+9d6+4: aliased to 1d6+4+1d6+9d6+4: (6)+4+(2)+(35)+4: 51

GAME: Rune rolls damage2+damage2+1d6+9d6+4: aliased to 1d6+4+1d6+4+1d6+9d6+4: (1)+4+(5)+4+(4)+(32)+4: 54

GAME: Rune rolls damage1+1d6+9d6+4: aliased to 1d6+4+1d6+9d6+4: (1)+4+(4)+(30)+4: 43

The golem moves to swing at Rune, trying to swat her away like the annoying, stinging butterfly she seems to be at the moment, however, the monster's movement seems to have been significantly slowed by the number of stab wounds that are already causing a splintering series of cracks along the crystaline form.

"What's going on up there?" She seems to have finally realized that there is something happening up above. However... "I can't hear shit over the sound of me kicking this monster's ass." The rogue has a flare for words...

Flapping her irridescent wings, Rune weaves underneath the creature's flailing arms and dives forward, stabbing upward underneath one arm and then the other, causing the existing cracks to widen and first one arm tumbles to the ground, and then the other, falling with a splash into the quicksilver below.

Then, flying up right in front of the golem, she hovers there for a second before stabbing both blades forward, right into the monster's chest. There is a flare of energy, as if the last structural integrity were failing on the crystals around it, and then it begins to crumble, piece by piece, raining crystal shards into the lake of silver below.

GAME: Whirlpool removes the timestop.

Timestop by Whirlpool has left.

With the golem shattered for the moment, and all of you having come through the other end of this with only more or less a chance for quicksilver poisoning later if the feast you ate doesn't cover it, there is silence for a moment as Maeva's singing faded when she stopped to talk to whatever it was she spoke to. Her eyes are glazed over, and then she looks down towards the hole and begin wordlessly unspooling rope into it.

There are also further areas to explore down here -- two doors on either side of you.

Maeva, however, says, "Up. Quickly, now. We won't have long and your spell will only block him from his full power for so long -- I've waited long enough for this."

That's not Maeva talking, pretty clearly, too direct, too knowing. "I'm sure you all have many questions, and I will do my best to answer them while I borrow your companion's voice. She consented." Yep. Not Maeva.

"I am Linneia."

"From his full power?" Harkashan inquires, as he gazes up at the broken floor. Eztli and Rune can fly right now, but Harkashan isn't so lucky. He cast his spell of flight earlier upon entry. Perhaps a foolish move upon reflection. But this is now, and now is when he has to deal with it.

"Someone cast me a rope down... I need to be lifted up."

GAME: Harkashan rolls Climb+2: (17)+Climb+2: 19

Halfway on her way down, the golem shatters into several large pieces, the smaller makari finds a spot to stand on the other side of the hole. "You sure you didn't get stabbed by any of those crystals and they're messing with your head?" Eztli asks rather bluntly. "Just, yeah, you in charge here or something? And whos full power are we talking about? I'm going to assume someone or something bad here."

She looks down to the hole, and sighs. "Sorry, something's fucking with my ears, so I don't know if I could carry anyone out of there. And Hark was out of the question to begin with."

It takes the sound of splashing golem parts finally dying to a dull rumble before Rune can make out what is happening up above. She cants her eyes upwards, then over at Harkashan. "Looks like you've got a rope. See you up-top." She leaves it to him to figure out how to get there. Lifting a massive Makari in plate armor is not on her to-do-list for the day.

Instead, Rune just flies upwards through the hole in the ceiling/floor before landing, the butterfly wings folding behind her and disappearing back into her armor. Seeing Maeva moving away from her with some intention, the rogue just folds her arms across her chest and remains on the opposite end of the chasm.

"I'm afraid that I never spent much time looking into the history of these towers, so... care to fill my ignorant ass in on who you are and what you're doing using our priestess as a mouthpiece?"

After some time, Harkashan makes it upstairs. It seems that he can actually make it, when he tries. Though no doubt he gets some help. His mythril infused Plate is a lot more beareable than previous generations of his armor.

Once upstairs, he bows to Linneia-through-Meava. "We have been hard at work to remove the Demon presence from this place. But please, tell us your tale. So we can understand how to deal with this once and for all."

"Bear in mind, I can only understand you through my union with Maeva. Some of the things you say or I say may not translate well. It has been ... centuries." She glances down at the golemn's remains, which seem to be vibrating for the moment.

"Yes, the demons. Your magic interfered with it in some way. How, I can not say, but it is good to see that our efforts were not wasted even if your ways are unfamiliar. I knew the Sea of Mana has returned but not to that extent."

Maeva lets out a breath -- Linneia does -- and moves away from the edge, circling around the gap towards the door that the golem stood. She presses her hand against it.

"We don't have much time," she reiterates, "I've been watching you. You've seen what became of this holy place."

She grimaces, briefly, with Maeva's face.

"The demons are the least of our worries. It is Aneidis that you must know. He first absorbed souls of the demons that fought here, spent a century slaying each and every one that lingered when the temple was sealed away. I know Aneidis well. The war took everyting from him, even me in the end, and so he went mad first with grief, then with power. I do not have much longer before he notices my spirits absence. He sits now in the heart of this place. You know that we made these to harvest magical power, to allow us access to magic again after the Breaking of Tide," it must be her name for the Sundering, "He has placed himself at the heart of this place. Every spire that has been activated has made him stronger -- but he is broken. Of two minds. He does not want you to find this place, and yet, he does -- so that he can be praised and empowered. He has become an empty husk of the man I once loved. He feasts on the Sea, and now believes that in the absence of The Animus that he can arise into it to take his rightful place amongst the Eidolons, as the ones who made the Breaking of the Tide once did."

Maeva's going paler as her mouth moves. Her reaction.

"A thousand years of power and prayer at his fingertips, and now he seeks yet more."

Under normal circumstances, Rune is all for a good story, but this doesn't have a storyteller's flare for the dramatic. Instead, it is a long stream of information, some of which doesn't make sense to her, and others she doesn't have the right context to frame it in her mind. So, a puzzled expression finds her features.

"So, you're a spirit trapped in this place, somehow." She shifts, starting to tick off bits of knowledge that she can get out of what is being said. "There's someone named Aneidis that is still somewhere in this tower, gathering power from from the towers." She ticks another finger. "This fellow is your former lover." Tick. "He wants to become a god." Tick.

Then, she lowers the final finger on her hand, "And this has now become our problem." She raises her brows, "Did I sum that up right?"

Eztli was, not too happy to listen. "Oh for gods sake, and actual, not delusion of grandeur gods sake, I guess I shouldn't be surprised there're power hungry people back then too. I guess given this place I shouldn't be surprised. Sorry, not really putting it in the best light."

"So, what in the hells are we supposed to do? Are we supposed to somehow kill them? I know Hark and Rune are pretty great, but I'm not entirely sure about our chances in a fight."

"...everyone's problem, mine most of all. I am responsible for the design -- and he thinks himself honoring me through his 'protection'." Linneia lets out a breath, or perhaps Maeva does, "I know I'm rushing over some things but I don't have much time, as I said. He's mad. He can't accomplish what he aims for, but most of all he just wanmts to be loved, and he thinks he can make everyone do so with the power at his disposal. He was never good at handling changes, and its even worse now that he's a spirit of sorts, bound to the magicite at the heart of this place. No, Maeva, none of this is your fault. You did nothing wrong -- none of you did. How could you know? The only way to find out was to act as you did, and even if you had done nothing, in time he still would havbe absorbed enough power to make the attempt anyway. I am sorry if I seem brusque, or urgent, but I did not expect to come across individuals *so well prepared*, and with such power and skill at their disposal. I ask your aid, free me from him, free this place, and lets its gifts benefit the people I have left behind."

With a glance over to Eztli, Rune seems to show her own uncertainty. "Well prepared, perhaps, but we've also just gone through most of the building and I'm sure a few of us are running on fumes. If what lies between there and here is anything like the rest of this place..." She doesn't want to agree with something without the consent of the others.

"I can fight, but I can't speak for everyone." The rogue rests her hands on her weapons, taking a slow breath. "If time really is of the essence, I'm ready." For now, though, Rune leaves it to each of the others to speak for themselves.

"Well, shit." Is all the sorceress can say for the time being, taking a look at the others. "Don't worry about it. S'my fault as much as anyone's, messing around with old towers not knowing what I was doing. Guess that means I'm on the hook to fix it, not that I'd really want to leave it undealt with."

"So, well, at least for now, can we clean this stuff off? Not the most pressing matter, but I'd at least feel a bit better." Eztli suggests.

"It's *not* your fault. You did what was I presume asked of you by my descendants," says Linneia, "I can feel them beyond this place, now, and Maeva you are amongst them. It gladdens me -- I have to go," she says, and then Maeva stumbles forward, about to fall into the pit.

Fortunately, you have each other.