Saralas: Session 73

23 Elient

• I wake up, still not trusting anyone
• Karthos looks like hell. So do Min and Korag.
• Karthos realizes that the magic of Ythryn is turning the party into nothics by the horrible magic field that pervades this city. If it completes, nothing short of a Wish can save them.
• Karthos asks how the scroll works, but Kingsport the penguin doesn't know. Scrivenskry used it and apparently didn't let Kingsport know how it worked.
• We decide to go to the tower, but not before a long debate about a pit we see on the map.
• As we approach the tower we see a roving patrol of 7 cultists. We debate engaging them to appease the daggers, but stick to the shadows.

The Last Tower (Divination)

• Silver light flickers from a high window, above which a large eye animates and blinks. Parts of the roof are missing.
• Korag finds the door and sticks his head inside.
• Karthos studies the eye, and tells us that it appears to be related to an orb of divination. The tower indeed exudes divination magic, he tells us.
• Inside there are stairs leading up. I go up the stairs
• Large gashes in the roof allow us to see the dark icicle festooned roof of the ice cavern beyond. A glass orb sits on top of a stone plinth in the center of the chamber. Eyeballs drift inside the orb, and all turn and gaze at us as we approach.
• I recall that a crystal ball filled with eyes is the symbol of Savaras, the god of divination
• Looking around we find no inscription on the tower. In fact, part of the tower wall is missing. Something is written on the plinth.
• Resda asks Skant to translate. He says it reads "Ask and we shall find". Then he explains that to use the orb you must place your hands on it and speak the name of an object or a person. If that thing can be found in the current plane you will experience a vision of it and its whereabouts.
• I guess we are expected to use the orb to search for the missing inscription
• We argue for a while about who should use the orb. Eventually Resda volunteers to use the orb. While she tries to use it we argue about what she should say.
• Resda says she found the remnants of the tower with the inscription next to a distinctive building to the north. No one else seems to want to look in the orb...
• ...Until Baerwin says he wants to look for the pirate ship we heard a rumor about. He steps up to the orb and grabs it. After a few moments he falls to his knees screaming, clutching his face. Looking more closely we see one of his eyes has been torn out, and there's a new eye in the orb.
• We help patch him up. "Was it worth it?" asks Karthos. "NOPE" says Baerwin. Karthos fashions an eye patch for him.

To the Grove

• We exit the tower and head towards the nearby grove of trees in search of nether oak from which to craft a wand.
• A canopy of golden leaves crowns the trees inside a sunken basin. The trees grow in stark constrast to their bleak surroundings. They sway even though the air is deathly still.
• An illusory hemisphere projects are artificial sky. The spell is failing and it flickers between a brutal storm and a night sky full of stars.
• The oaks scattered around the arboretum appear rather normal looking, but the gnarled tree looks quite distinct. It even seems to have something of a face.
• I look closer at the gnarled tree, and this is a nether oak. It has become so imbued with profane magic that it has become sentient. It is undoubtably evil. It appears to be asleep.
• I look around the ground, there are no dropped branches or anything.
• We argue about what to do. Min sneaks over to the tree and climbs up, reaching for a wandlike branch. She falls to the grown right in front of the tree, which begins to shake and groan and stretch its limbs.
• It asks "who goes there". Min introduces herself and says she wants a piece of wood.
• The tree bends towards Min, who appears quite small below it, looming over her.
• "I like those daggers," the tree says. "What evil do you hope to do with them."
• "So much evil, so much killing," she replies.
• "That sounds wonderful." Min takes some wood. The tree laughs "go forth and wreak havok."
• Min comes back and hands over the wood. "Here's your wand."
• "That was pure luck, let's get the hell out of here," I say.

The Other Last Tower

• We make our way back north to a tower near the domed building with the blood machine.
• This conical tower is held relatively upright by a ring of arched buttresses. Expressionless humanoid figures stand in silence around it. The room has a large ragged hole in it where something large smashed through.
• We hear a telepathic warning, a demand that we immediately leave the area.
• There are no apparent entrances other than the main doors. We back away until the warning stops and discuss options.
• We talk about possibly flying in through the hole in the roof. Korag appears convinced the piece of roof is upside down, but Resda never said she saw that, just that she couldn't read the inscription.
• Karthos suggests he goes with Resda. Resda is wary, worried we're setting her up to fail. More likely she'll get the clue and refuse to share it and trap us in this city.
• Min seems to be conversing with her daggers.
• Eventually Karthos says he'll go up alone. Highly suspicious.
• Karthos becomes invisible and seems to disappear.
  • A large telescope dominates a 30-ft diameter circular chamber at the top fo the tower.
  • Gazing into the telescope's eye piece is a hulking froglike biped in wizard's robes
  • A large chunk of stone has crashed through the roof and embedded itself in the floor like a jagged stone knife
  • Karthos floats quietly over and sees an inscription in Draconic
  • He copies it down and heads back outside
• Third, a burnt palm loosens the tongue. Shed a secret about yourself for all to hear.
• I walk through the spell/poem. We seem to have everything we need except maybe poison. Karthos says he can use his alchemy jug to make poison.
• As we talk, the creature from the tower walks outside to talk to the magen. It points at Min. The daggers giggle.
• The magen advance. We hear a commanding voice telling us to remain where we are. We hear the daggers hurl back a terrible insult.
• The magen keep approaching. Karthos turns Baerwin into a mammoth and we ready ourselves.
• The magen attack, the ones that have lightning powers focus on Korag, who's metal armor works against him. He goes down.
• Another attacks Karthos, and suddenly Baerwin reappears, the mammoth gone.
• Baerwin rushes forward and unleashes a blast of cold air. The magen stagger, one falls.
• I knock an arrow and strike true. A second falls, one of the lightning magen.
• I target another lightning one, as they appear to be the largest threat. I hit, but it is still alive.
• We kill a few more, until only two of the weaker ones are left. Min has still not used her daggers. I kill one of the last guys, and leave the final enemy for her. She gets a stab in with both daggers, but doesn't kill it.
• Resda kills it, but the daggers do appear happy to have done some stabbing. I heal Korag a little.