Hunting Fiends pt19
You have captured Oinig, the bastard, and have seen to it that he's tied up. Now is your chance to ask him any manner of questions, which you've started to do, and he seems relatively forthcoming where he can be. He seems to have indicated that he's been operating under compulsion, but he's certainly a bastard -- make no mistake about that.
What you know is that somewhere in here is a Shard of Animus and you know Asumit is perilously close to obtaining it.
Morgan sighs "How do we stop a powerfull deamon from becoming even more so?" she asks the group as she looks a bit tired.
"We find the shard and then fight the demon, probably," Kore replies in a thoughtful town. "The first is the most important thing..." She breathes a soft sigh. "The question is: how do we proceed...?"
Iskandar says, "Asumit isn't a demon, from what I've understood." He goes on in an incongruously excited voice. "More akin to demigod. Which makes the tale all that much greater, when we foil him!"
"He's none of the above. HE's just a powerful sorcerer who's acquired things that make him /more/ powerful. He'd like all of you to believe he's a demon or demi-god. He sure wants to be the latter -- but he waznts to end all magic in the world except for himself. It's why he wants the shards." A shrug fr0om Oinig. "I've met him. He's an asshole."
Sasha sits down quietly and just...keeps quiet. it's obvious she is VERY tired.
Morgan does not look to Oinig "they do seem to have a sense for each other. But here is the thing we need rest, I am almost empty and Sasha are you almost out of spells?"
Hun'rar grumbles "Asshole or no, I am sure you realize that his victory bodes poorly for everyone, including yourself. We do need to be fresh if we are to face Asumit, it will be sure to be a very difficult fight if it comes to that. So how do we track down the shard?"
Sasha says, "Yeah. And nearly out of channels."
Iskandar looks at Oinig. "You've met him? What was he like? What sort of powers and abilities did he have?" He pauses and then seems to remember something. "Was he the one who ensorcelled you?"
Serraphine stares between them all for a moment, then gives a thin-lipped expression, "I don't plan on taking on Asumit /right now/. But I do plan on getting this shard before he gets it and then get the hell out of here." Serraphine looks one way, looks another, and tries to get a sense of exactly where "here" is or where this shard might be. Maybe a glimmer or something. She doesn't know.
Sasha is still trying to rest.
"...do I look like an exeprt in your stupid magics?" snaps Oinig with annoyance. "He throws magic at people. He has enormous bloody wings and he shoots lightning from his fingers. What do you want me from me? Ask him." He scowls. "What I know is that what he wants is here, and he sent me to make sure he got it. I've been providing things he requires, been eyes and ears. The geas he put one me is frustratlingly loose /and/ specific at the exact same god damn time." He looks at HUn'rar and asks, "Yes, well. I don't want to be working for him. Compulsions are a /dreadful/ thing. Me, I'd prefer a nice, comfortable life of, I don't know, piracy or something."
Morgan sits down and says "Maybe detecting magic but that is to easy, and the thing about this shard is that there are many of them most likely. And I think taking a esence of a god to absorbe in to your self is dangerous its a good chance to become the said god."
Iskandar says, "Maybe the reason he hasn't found it yet, is there is some challenge that has to be overcome, some riddle or puzzle that needs to be solved first. Something that would honor the memory of Animus. Something that a villain," he shoots a sneer at Oinig, "Would ever be able to overcome."
Sasha is still resting
Hun'rar taps his chin. "Possible but I wouldn't count on it." he turns to Morgan "Any ideas? Perhaps we can use detect magic to triangulate on a source of the like? Perhaps we can detect a gradient in the worst magic to determine a source?" he offers as suggestions.
"I mean, I don't know. What I know is that he wants it and he's getting close. We were really close when I lead you here. So, go take it and keep it out of the asshole's hands. I appear to be tied up and unable to obey my 'master's' commands. Oh nooooo." He drawls. Oinig rolls hsi eyes.
Morgan hmms "I dont think detect magic will help as it does not have a very long range but then it might work stronger here as this is a plane of magic... and then it might make your head explode." she is in deep thought trying to come up with a idea.
"I think I can get us to the center of things," Kore will call suddenly. "After getting lost in the, um,... Walls of this place. I am pretty sure I can follow the walls and navigate a little?" Shereaches out and places a hand against- nothing. A nod follows. "I am not sure getting deeper is where we want to be. But if no one else has better ideas?"
Hun'rar nods to Kore "Seems to be the best way forward. As much as I would like a break I think we have to buckle down and grab this shard, we don't have the time to waste."
Morgan says flatly "Give me and Sasha two hours to rest we are out of spells now, and you all could use healing I bet."
Sasha says, "yeah....All of us are exhausted...and we'll be going against a very very fresh wizard."
So, you spend a little time securing the chamber you're in and setting up a watch> There's not much you can do but that. Time seems to... stretch here. It /feels/ longer than the two hours it should take, even if yoiu're relatively sure that it was only two hours. It's just a matter of... stilted perceptions.
Still, it works...
GAME: Morgan refreshes spells.
GAME: Sasha refreshes spells.
GAME: Kore refreshes spells.
GAME: Hun'rar refreshes spells.
GAME: Serraphine refreshes spells.
Following that wall only she seems to be able to find or even touch Kore moves at a reasonable pace, picking her steps with care. She hums a soft tune as she makes her way, apparently satisfied with whatever she's found to lead the group.
Sasha doesn't feel as badly now, so she follows at a reasonable pace.
...it's a bizarre series of tunnels you're moving through. Despite Kore seeming to have an idea of where she's going, the rest of you soon lose all sense of direction. You're moving through tunnels that wind and twist at angles that don't make sense, climbing stairs that seem to lead... dowjn while you're moving up, crossing rooms across ceilings or alongside walls. Gravity is hopelessly confused. All the rules of movement seem suspended.
Eventualkly, however, you're able to reach a set of cracked doors covered in throbbing, black veins of crystal.
"This is it," says Oinig, "the heart of the plane. The shard. This is where it is. We sent demons to their death by the legions in an effort to corrupt it. Taara's agents too. They both want it."
Iskandar lurks back with Oinig, keeping a careful eye on him. Studying him, for any signs he's going to try and escape or to otherwise turn on them. When they reach the doors he finally seems to relax a bit. But then almost as soon as he's let out his pent-up breath, he forces himself to be on guard again. "You sent demons until...what, until you ran out? Or did Asumit decide to try another way?"
GAME: Kore rolls spellcraft: (11)+9: 20
Morgan keeps on the ground as she feels better "I hope they are out of them."
"I hope so too, but for now, we need to keep moving. I know......180 from what I said before." Sasha says with renewd vigor.
"I'd be dubious aobut doing anything with this thing," Kore mutters, eye the door s while she does. The tiny Half-Elven woma ncorsses her arms over her vchest. "Doors into potential other dimensions rarely end well."
A shrug. Oinig offers, "YOu may not have any more luck than the demons did getting the door open."|
GAME: Kore rolls sense motive+2: (15)+23+2: 40
GAME: Iskandar rolls sense motive+2: (6)+11+2: 19
Serraphine gives a little shrug within the armored confines. She's glad that she doesn't have to carry him, just walk and thing. She does blink, stare, tilts her head and heads over toward the door. "Maybe you couldn't get through because you were trying to force your way through a door that was trying to stop corruption. Whelp - it's worth a shot!"
The Arvek paladin glances back to the group, and plants her hand on it as she says out loud, "We want to save you."
When the paladin lays her hands on the door, it seems to start to...crack and splinter.
And then explode into a cloud of crystal dust, leaving a passage forward.
Iskandar's eyes open wide. He puts a hand on Oinig's shoulder so that he can keep track of the erstwhile prisoner, without taking his eyes off of the passage. A moment later he seems to think of something and turns in a quick circle, running his gaze over the tunnel they passed through to get this far.
Morgan hmms "We must remember that for other doors."
Sasha says, "We're likely being followed as well."
Serraphine looks back, gives a thin-lipped expression, and then starts forward. She was not about to stop, after all - she had to try and save this shard. Especially now that she put her word to it. "Let's just keep going, if they're following us, then they have to catch up. Which means we can just try to stay ahead of them." She clomps off down the newly opened passage.
You immediately feel something is different here.
V Ery different, actually.
First, there's the sense of palpable power. The kind that makes the hairs on your body stand on end, really. The second is the aura of /wrongness/ that eminates from it. You emerge into a towering chamber, massive in proportions, lined with floating crystals that spiral up into the sky and down deep into a darkening abyss. At its center if a massive crystalline, distorted figure, a great hooded being clasping a staff. An icon of Animus, no doubt, but gigantic in proportion to you. Lightning arcs between the crystals, the sky above a massive vortext of swirling energy expelling out into... something. The sea of Mana, perhaps? The abyss? Who can say?
But you are now /on/ a crystal, everything else having fded away as if it never was. You are in the heart of the storm.
"behold," whispers Oinig, "the shard."
Serraphine frowns, stares up at the icon, and yells out, "HEY! Can you shrink so we can carry you?"
Sasha takes a deep breath as she sees the shard. "And here I thought it was going to be small. Sooooo....I guess we're going to have to defend it. No way we can carry it. Not even to Daeus or Althea."
Morgan sighs as Serraphine yeals at it and sighs. But she walks closer to see if there is any text or script any where.
You are now on a crystaline rock, floating in ther middle of a sea of ether, circling around the massive shard of Animus. Walking towards the edge is certainly doable.
It doesn't appear to have any script, nor does it respond to being yelled at.
Serraphine frowns, then cups her hands around her mouth. "HEY! YOU'RE TOO BIG! CAN YOU GET SMALLER?" She shrugs, "Probably just can't hear me I'm guessing." She reaches into her pouch - pauses - and pulls it back out. Her hand twitching as it opens and closes reflexively on nothing but air. Drat... still no cookies.
Sasha tries something else. She kneels down and places a hand on the shard. "Can you please shrink, so we can get you to another that can safeguard you?"
Iskandar rubs the back of his head. He looks up at the vortex. Then he looks at the spellcasters, willing to follow their lead.
Iskandar does not count Serraphine as one of the spellcasters.
There continues to be no response.
Sasha shrugs. "Didn't hurt to try."
GAME: Cookie Monster rolls perception: (19)+5: 24
GAME: Sasha rolls perception: (14)+6: 20
GAME: Morgan rolls perception: (17)+14: 31
GAME: Iskandar rolls perception: (6)+11: 17
Morgan says as she is looking at the shards "I see the corruption starting." she is pointing to some black lines "So I think the ones we did not want to fight are here."
Iskandar grimaces. "Did we let them in?" He turns his head to look at Oinig. Then he uses his grip on the swordsman's shoulder to shake him, roughly. "Did you know about this?!"
Sasha says, "I don't think we were able to close the doors we opened behind us."
"Ha! What, are you blaming me now? I've never been in here either," says Oinig, looking up at the icon in genuine horror.
Then it moves. The icon /moves/. Great wings shatter from the crystal at its back, multiple sets of them, and it proceeds to blacken further. A great, howlingly thunderous sound, pain and vocalizations impossible to understand, almost maddeningly so, reach your ears. Lightning crackles all around you. The shard is animate.
And it's wrath is focused on /you/ as the corruption that's been leachign into it for years acts to defend itself.
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- ATTENTION -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
Whirlpoopin' has dropped a TIMESTOP!
Please +init, then cease all roleplay and actions immediately and wait for Whirlpoopin' to instruct you further. You may earn RPP by logging a scene for a GM.
For in-combat commands, type: +thelp.
-=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=-
GAME: Whirlpoopin' advances the initiative order.
Round One - Init 27.
It is now Kore's turn! Morgan is next!
GAME: Kore rolls weapon14: (11)+12: 23
GAME: Kore rolls weapon14+1: (2)+12+1: 15
GAME: Kore rolls weapon14+1-5: (12)+12+1+-5: 20
GAME: Kore rolls 1d2+1+3: (1)+1+3: 5
GAME: Whirlpoopin' advances the initiative order.
Round One - Init 23.
It is now Morgan's turn! Sasha is next!
GAME: Morgan rolls Knowledge/Religion: (13)+11: 24
GAME: Morgan casts Haste. Caster Level: 11 DC: 20
Morgan takes a stance as she waves her hands in the air as her voice gets a bit hollod as a blue energy energies every one "Ok this thing is a dead god so magic might be a no go... this will so suck."
GAME: Whirlpoopin' advances the initiative order.
Round One - Init 22.
It is now Sasha's turn! Iskandar is next!
GAME: Sasha casts Bless. Caster Level: 10 DC: 15
Sasha takes a deep breath as the lines begin to move. She can already tell she may not survive this, but she was going to try to get everyone else out. "Althea, blessed wife of Daeus, I beseech thee to aid my companions to combat this divine corruption."
GAME: Whirlpoopin' advances the initiative order.
Round One - Init 19.
It is now Iskandar's turn! THe Wings of AnimUS is next!
GAME: Iskandar rolls weapon6+2: (12)+13+2: 27
GAME: Iskandar rolls weapon6+2: (16)+13+2: 31
GAME: Iskandar rolls weapon6+2-5: (12)+13+2+-5: 22
GAME: Iskandar rolls 1d6+6: (6)+6: 12
Iskandar draws his bow and aims. "Aim for the hands!" he calls. "Maybe we can disarm it --" he grimaces at his own pun, "-- before it can attack us!" The figure is so big that such a precise shot isn't out of the realm of possibility. He fires a series of arrows but only one hits the intended target.
GAME: Whirlpoopin' advances the initiative order.
Round One - Init 18.
It is now THe Wings of AnimUS' turn! THe Shard of Animus is next!