Pax Viginti Team 2 IC [5E]

[TriciaOso]

Long ago on a world called Daesic, there was a great war of mages. The fae of the south set their enchantments against the shadowkin necromancers of Blackreach, and in the human lands a Council of Mages led by the wizard Myrddin aided the Sun King in his conquest of the continent of Solus. Beings of great power, twenty times the capacity of mortal men, bestrode the land. Continents sank. Men became giants. Planes transformed. Gods ascended.

And afterwards, the heroes looked down at what they wrought and wondered if it had been worth it.

At the end of the Heroic Age of Daesic, a great piece of the Western Continent was torn away and set in the sky; one last catastrophe of the mages, to promise there would be no more. And the great powers withdrew from the world--to other planes, to other worlds, or to the city in the sky. The City of Lights. Thereafter, when power began to wax in heroes and villains of the mortal world, they were extended a quiet invitation, a promise and a threat. To leave the world in peace, and live among their equals. Or have their peers--all of them, innumerable--turn against them. This was the Pax Viginti, and Daesic was neither the first nor the last place where it arose.



These were the laws of the Pax Viginti:

1. There must be a law, even for us. Especially for us.
2. Let us all among us decide the law, and all among us enforce it.
3. Here among our wealth let none hunger or suffer.
4. Let none rule another except by mutual consent.
5. In the world beyond we will not raise our hand except by mutual agreement.

These laws, a compromise between Law and Chaos and Good and Evil, were simple. Of course, all things are simple in their conception; it's the execution that makes a mess, as the hangman said to the midwife.



The Pax Viginti allowed for--required--the creation of a paradise, a republic fueled by magic and beyond hunger and disease. The republic required a governing body, a latter-day Council of Mages. Not everyone wanted to concern themselves with these matters, and a system of proxies and vote delegation developed. And as the worlds with similar pacts united, a Council of Councils emerged.

Interventions remained rare, because of self-interest and compromise and the complexity of the world outside. If Myrddin wants to solve a famine in Solus, he must convince not only those who don't care about starving peasants, he must also convince the partisans of other continents that this will not give Solus a conqueror's edge in centuries to come. If there was much good the Council could have done that came to nothing but bickering and bureaucratic maneuvering, there was much evil the Death Lords and Enchanters and Khans were restrained from by the same mechanisms.

But interventions did happen, and not everyone was ready to hang up their staves and warhammers and settle in to parliamentary tricks or artisanal spellwork. If individuals were recruited when their power first grew threatening, they still had far to go to match the greatest of the Council, and some were ambitious. Some believed in the Pax and wanted to serve. And some were simply bored.

The Adventurer Corps arose. Recruited from across the worlds and serving the Council of Councils, they were made up of the waxing powerful from across the astral sea, thrown together and mentored by those who still took more interest in the world aside; a rough and ready lot, not yet absorbed into the separate culture of the Pax. A multiversal diversity, with headquarters and strongholds across the worlds of the Pax Viginti.

This one is in the City of Lights.



Daesic is a small world, small enough that the Inner Planes are physically continuous with the Prime. The Plane of Air is visible overhead, the great blue vault that the moon and sun chase each other across.

This conference room, the Aerie conference room, looks out into the Plane of Air. The view isn't as good as the Worldscape (https://forums.giantitp.com/showthread.php?633824-Pax-Viginti-Team-1-IC-5E) room, but only comparatively; the blue infinity spreads out to indigo at the edges. The sun isn't visible--it's beneath the Material Plane right now, travelling through the Plane of Fire--so there are billions of stars out there, some far off, some closer. The ones closer are flaming balls about the size of a house, and you can see Celestial beings fluttering around them.

The view inside the room is almost as impressive, a big burly centaur with chestnut flanks and flowing chestnut beard. He's not wearing anything but a sort of satchel, and a couple of bracers. One bracer has a badge pinned to it, a gold disc with a sword struck through it; the other shows has a different badge, an open palm flanked by semiprecious stones. There are several green ones and one red. He looks... boisterous isn't quite right, and neither is cheerful. He's here on business. Jolly, maybe. Master Volas of Brink (https://www.dndbeyond.com/profile/TriciaAltum/characters/53863063) looks rather jolly. Maybe it's the laurels in his hair.

[tonberryking]

Compared to Master Volas, the next centaur to arrive seems almost his exact opposite. Svelte, silent as a grave, with a dull black flank and a medium length wheat colored tail that was cropped recently, she wears everything from a hooded leather armor jack with black studs, to wrappings over her hooves; most of her upper body is covered, including her upper face, hidden sullenly by the hood and bushy bangs. Most curious of all, she has a broken sword slung over her right shoulder in a modified shealth, easily mistaken for a wide knife.

She actually starts at the sight of Master Volas, her hooves finally betraying her with a half dozen clicks against the hard floor. From her reaction, this burly, underdressed centaur may well be the first of her kind she's seen in ages, or possibly ever, owing to how piecemeal her memory is. She slowly approaches, encircling him rather than directly approach.

"Ah... Are you Master Volas? ...They told me to report here." she remains about twelve feet away from him, looking nervous.

[TriciaOso]

He chuckles. "Yes, indeed! I am Master Volas of Brink. I'll be assigning and delivering your missions for now. The rest of your team should be here soon!"

He has a merry, booming voice that is honestly a little much for an enclosed space. "I've got something interesting for your first run, I think, Miss Rush!" He gestures with one of his meaty hands at the papers on the large, glossy wooden table.

[tonberryking]

Rush backs up at first and keeps her distance from Volas, her face somewhat red as she circles around towards the table, trying to occupy herself with the papers, expecting a series of maps or reports.

"Thanks..."

[Thokk_Smash]

The door opens to admit a tall woman, head turned back saying goodbye to someone in the hallway. When she turns fully to enter the room, Rush and Master Volas can see a tanned woman with silver hair, mostly braided and kept up but with some bits hanging loose. She is wearing a cloak that falls close to her body, colored in deep purple. Under the cloak is a dashing outfit of lilac and green, comfortable trousers whose legs are tucked into well-worn boots. The outfit covers an obvious suit of heavy plate mail.

"Oh, hello," she says with a confident smile. She adjusts the pin on her sky-blue scarf, as if she's not used to wearing it. "Sola Vale, reporting for her first mission. Master Volas, and..." She trails off as she looks between the male and female centaurs. The most striking part of her appearance, though, is the pitch black eyes that lack both iris and sclera.

[TriciaOso]

The first few pages you look at refer to a world called Thelyss. The papers describe it as epsilon-vi and delta-x, whatever that means, and a lot of other verbiage that must make sense to the Adventurer's Corp.

Volas allows you to read in peace. You manage to digest from the top papers of the file that this is a peaceful little world, barring a bit of a lich problem, but that the Corps is monitoring the situation and offering indirect support to 'local forces.' An intervention has not been approved. Next to the underline phrase 'local forces,' a bold, confident hand has scribbled: The Gledes!

When the black-eyed aasimar enters, Volas turns to face her, with another booming laugh. "Indeed I am. I will be assigning and delivering your missions for now, and Rush will be one of your companions! We're just waiting for one more."

[tonberryking]

The female centaur tugs at her hood as she pours over the documents, only turning to look at the newcomer (and possibly wonder what she is for a brief moment before it would become obvious that she was staring) when Valos introduces her by name. Shifting her legs, a foreleg pawing at the floor for a moment, she gives a polite nod to Valos.

" 'm Rush... that was me he referred to..." she says awkwardly before turning to Valos, "Sorry, but you're going to explain what this underlined word means, right? I don't know what Gledes are..."

[Thokk_Smash]

Hearing Rush introduce herself, Sola marches over with a friendly smile. "Pleasure to meet you, Rush," she says. "Looking forward to working with you. Where do your talents lie? I'm a Paladin, centered on melee combat."

[tonberryking]

Rush takes a step back, looking skittish for a flash before calming. "Um... I don't..." Nope. You have to tell her (at least the basics of) the truth. Otherwise, Rush tells herself, she's not going to be a reliable in a fix for the team's benefit.

"I mostly kill people. ..I mean.. I'm a stealth specialist." her face turns redder; this was perhaps the worst impression she's made yet.

[TriciaOso]

Volas inserts himself, gently, into the awkward silence. "The Gledes--in this context--are an adventuring party. A rather inexperienced one, compared to you ladies. We would classify them as Iron Half. Of the Fifth Rank, as you are of the Twelfth." His voice is still booming, but relatively--relatively!--muted. As if the topic is a somewhat sad one.

He chuckles. "And yes, I shall give you a much more clear and concise version of the situation, once your third joins us. But I did not want to stop you from examining the documents, either."

[Wuff]

Opening the door with as little noise as possible, a wood elf slinks in. Her frame is sleek, although for an elf she looks quite well built and full of life, with a healthy flush to her face. There's a mark of ferocity about her, amplified by the full-sized owlbear cloaked draped about her shoulders, which makes a dwarf of her figure.

Other than her cloak, she is covered in toughened animal hides, sewn together with great care and attention, made to last and to take a few heavy blows too. She examines the room carefully, her eyes flicking from Volas, to Rush and then to Sola as if identifying threats. After a moment, she takes a few long strides forward, covering a frankly alarming amount of distance and thrusting her hand out roughly in nobody's general direction.

"My name is Zarah, is this the new pack?" Her voice is slightly gruff, perhaps a little unusual for an elf.

[tonberryking]

Rush was nearly facing the door when it opened, out from the corner of her eye she spotted the savage looking elf heading their way... and she glides a few steps from the table, immediately assuming she was here to see Volas.

She doesn't flinch at the hand thrust between her and Sola, but she probably wanted to, her resolve finally shaping up after having already screwed up as much as she already good when making a first impression.

"I think I'd prefer the term herd, but it seems that we are that group..." she eventually retorts.

[TriciaOso]

"Haha!" laughs Volas, at his most Brian Blessed. "Welcome, child!" he says in Druidic to Zarah (although everyone understands it), and taps a hand on the papers. "We have much to discuss!"

And eventually, after some forced jolliness via team building exercises, he does begin it.

"The world we are taking an interest in today, my friends, is called Thelyss. It is--well, there are many metrics we use to discuss these things, but the fact of the matter is, it has blessed few adventurers of even the middle rank! We have been keeping an especial eye on a group called the Gledes, who have achieved the fifth rank, because that makes them some of the most powerful folk in that world."

"They are good-hearted folks, according to our local agents, and we have need of them! There is a certain nasty lich... well, that's neither here nor there! For the Council, in their infinite wisdom, do not believe this lich rates our intervention. We are rather depending on the Gledes.... which is why it is so unfortunate that they have disappeared!"

"They stumbled across an old planar ship, an artifact left behind on the ship millennia ago, and have gone off on a rather bigger adventure than they expected! One rather over their heads." He wags his head and great bushy beard.

But then he grins, a flash of white in the chestnut beard. "But while we cannot battle the lich, not being authorized, we do not require authorization to rescue the Gledes, as they have wandered out of their own world and into the wider Astral Sea! Politics, ahahaha!"

[Thokk_Smash]

Sola takes in the mission details, nodding along. The politics are irritating, but she's used to it. Even with a unifying threat, such as the Wellspring, it took years for the cities and countries she had liberated to fully come together as a whole. She hopes they are still working together.

"Okay, I've got all that, that's good. Now, for the important bit: what can we do to leave the Gledes stronger than they were before?"

Sola knows that there is a difference between the letter of the law, and the spirit of the law. But with this kind of decision from the Council, smite the spirit of their decision, and let's do everything we can to make the Gledes strong enough to help their world.

[TriciaOso]

"Haha!" Volas exults. "I like your spirit!"

He clears his throat. "There are limitations on the materiel we can provide to a group like them, of course... but how often do we see, that when a group returns from a dangerous experience like this, outside the world they know, they return with equipment they picked up along the way? The WBL is monitored, of course, but I rather think the Gledes are due for some upgrades. We will have to wish them luck on their expedition."

Volas trying to look cunning looks like... like an enormous shaggy dog tries to curl up in a cat bed three sizes too small for him, and looking enormously pleased with himself the whole time.

"That reminds me--we must make sure you are properly equipped for the mission!" he booms, trying hard to seem as if this entirely separate issue just occurred to him. "It does not do to enter a beholder's lair unprepared!"

Vastly, tragically, he winks.

You can make an Arcana or History check to see if you have heard of beholders.

[tonberryking]

Rush quietly stands a ways away from the others, listening to Valos with bobs of her head, though his last statement gives her pause. Again.

"...How...generous of you, sir." she deadpans, but at least she understands what sort of subterfuge is being asked of them. "Were you going to give us any specific going away gear? That we should familiarize ourselves with?" if she knows anything about beholders, she's not showing it.

[Thokk_Smash]

Sola blinks in surprise. ”We’ll be facing a Beholder, sir?” she asks. She’s never seen one before—Venger wasn’t nearly strong enough a world for a Beholder to deign to make a appearance. But she’d heard tales.

“It can float, and it can shut down magic that it’s staring at. Some way to blind it would be ideal. Then there’s the smaller eyestalks that shoot out other magic stuff. I don’t know if the antimagic eye will shut down our magic items, though.”. She looks at Volas at that last bit questioningly.

[TriciaOso]

Volas strokes his chin. "Yes, I'm sure we can put together a care package of the appropriate kind.. Tuatua, can you take care of that?"

The kobold attendant lurking by the door salutes and vanishes.

To Sola, he says, "Indeed! Or more correctly, you are rescuing the Gledes from a beholder's lair! If you can avoid the beastie itself, all the better! Their lairs are dangerous enough, always trapped and often patrolled by beings in service to it, and they do not suffer the intrusion of others gladly."

"But above all, a beholder wishes to preserve its own life; I have been told each one believes it is the only really real being in existence, and it as good an explanation as I have heard for their ways. It will expect you to have come for its miserable, paranoid life--that will lead it astray, and you may be able to use that to simply escape with the prisoners."

"One ability of beholders is to turn living things to stone, and this particular creature has made a hobby of artistically arranging such prisoners in its 'sculpture garden.' That is where you will find the surviving Gledes."

"And yes, its gaze is inimical even to magical items, Sola."

[tonberryking]

"Surviving, sir?" Rush grows pensive, "How many were there to begin with, and what were their vocations?"

[Thokk_Smash]

Sola grimaces at the clarification that this will be more of a sneak-and-grab rather than smash-and-hit. She's not really made for sneaking.

"I'm not so good at sneaking around. I could be a mighty good distraction, though, while Rush and Zarah un-petrify them and get them out.

"And do we have a layout of the beholder's lair? Or any other intel on this specific creature?"

[Wuff]

Zarah steps forward and in a bizarre motion, is suddenly holding a massive wooden stave which looks to have been detached from a tree. "I can get us in there nice and sneaky, and if push comes to shove, I'll teach it a lesson on staring into the sun, in each of its big ugly eyes."

She doesn't really seem to pay attention to Volas' smug behaviour, either not fully comprehending it as unusual or perhaps too much in awe to really care.

By her ready language, she looks like she's ready to pounce or spring already.

"I'm not sure what magic would be best suited for the mission. I think I should have all I need at hand, regardless."

[TriciaOso]

"Haha, yes!" Volas is loving this energy.

"We have a rough map of the asteroid, but beholders are known to constantly rearrange their lairs, so any intelligence we have is probably out of date by now. The asteroid serves as a waystation for spelljammers passing through that area of the astral sea; rather than tunnel into a barren rock and hope no one comes nearby, B'xenon has allowed some of its servants to set up a small trading post. The entrance in hidden somewhere behind that facade."

He looks more somber as he speaks of the petrified adventurers. "The Gledes were five; a cleric, a ranger, a sorcerer, a rogue and a warlock. The warlock was killed outright, and we were actually tipped off about where they had gone by her patron. When we attempted to scry, we had trouble seeing through B'xenon's abjurations, but we confirmed that that the cleric, the rogue and the sorcerer were petrified."

[Thokk_Smash]

"Okay, so three of them need to be turned back to flesh. Volas, could we bring scrolls of Greater Restoration to use? Or would Zarah have to prepare those herself?"

Thinking on it, Sola continues, "Volas, how discreet do we need to be? And does time to faster or slower in Thelyss than us? I ask this because, well, you mention politics and all. So, my plan--keeping it simple, as is best--is to make a ruckus that draws B'xenon out, while Zarah and Rush infiltrate and depetrify the Gledes and get them out. Although, if B'xenon won't come out of the lair, then it might be easier to infiltrate, then I lead B'xenon on a chase through the lair while Rush and Zarah free the Gledes."

"If the Pax could spare any sort of item to resist Petrification, that'd be swell. That way I can keep going even if it tags me with that eyebeam."

[tonberryking]

Rush looks between the others, flicking her tail again but when there's a break in the discourse, holds up a hand.

"Wait. What about the Gledes' Ranger? What happened to them if the Warlock is dead and the others have been turned to stone?"

[TriciaOso]

Volas chuckles. "Since we're operating outside of Thelyss itself, we have a little more latitude about equipment. Tuatua, in addition to the equipment we were discussing, let's pack a few potions of basilisk blood, yes?"

A little female kobold none of you noticed standing there suddenly moves and is, very obviously, standing there. She tosses Volas a casual salute and makes a note. (Zarah, you noticed something in that corner of the room but you thought it was a lamp. No one else noticed her at all.)

"For the same reason," Volas says, "we can get a little louder than usual; the Pax does not apply to wildspace. The politics are less, if not gone."

When Rush speaks he does not laugh, but mm-hms along as you speak.

"Oho, well that is a mystery. Not petrified. Not able to be scried. We've tried a commune but it wasn't successful--it's always tricky cross-pantheons. He could be alive or dead, escaped or imprisoned. A mystery,"

[Thokk_Smash]

Sola flinches in comedic surprise when Tua reveals she's been standing there the whole time. "Damn, Tua, give a girl a heart attack," she says with a laugh.

"So! We've got a general plan of attack. Maybe we'll stumble across the Ranger while we skulk around--in fact, do we have the names of the remaining Gledes? Might as well call them by their names if we've got 'em. And do we have a list of that equipment you were discussing handy?

"My plan is we sneak in, find the statues, if they can't be extracted without causing a scene then I'll make the distraction, otherwise fingers crossed we can get them out without attracting B'xenon's attention. I'm assuming that the statues will be in its throne room, though, so I'm preparing myself for being a distraction."

[TriciaOso]

"It's got a display space," Tuatua pipes up. "A sculpture garden. And there's a file there on all the Gledes. Put it together myself."

Volas nods. "Tuatua can take you to the Crossroads for transport. We have a local contact in a spelljammer hull docked right now for maintenace. Tuatua, get what we need from the quartermaster--you know what kind of upgrades the Gledes could use--and make sure to take them past the infirmary to take a tissue sample for cloning, if there's any desire."

After a short flurry of activity, the kobold brings you to the busy Crossroads, a football-field sized square, tiled edge to edge with teleportation circles. "Teleporting into wildspace takes some extra juice, but we maintain a few ships out there just to have points of contact. This one goes to a cargo shipper--no use in a fight, but lets us keep a circle on his deck. He'll be able to bring you back, too."

All around you, people step into portals and zip off; the transport hub is busy this time of day, and Tuatua is jostled by taller commuters constantly. It seems to put her in a hurry to get you out of here. "Off you go!" and she completes the circle with a lash of her tail.



Rod's Flow 16 Breathe 'n Gulp is what the magically illuminated sign extending into the phlogiston says; there is a flaming, mile-wide cartoon of a buck-toothed hippo in-between the two rows of words, directly above the 'n.

Less than ten spelljammer hulls are docked at the asteroid; they look like sailing ships of your era, or a little older, but with shimmering glassy layers coating their hulls and spreading tendrils to the deck. Put together, they take up more space than the exchange itself, a funny little wart of stone and metal that takes up, in turn, probably a tenth of the surface of the asteroid. Behind it, almost as big as the post itself, are complicated magical mills spinning in the phlogiston churning Element Air and Water into regular air and water. The rest of the asteroid seems to be barren greybrown rock.

You have never seen anything that looked less like the lair of a vicious, megalomaniacal aberration.

The ship you are on is small, a little dinghy or yacht, and the nervous-looking elven fellow rubbing his hands together must be the captain. You're standing on what looks like a dusty carpet, curling up at the corners like it's been rarely unrolled, embroidered with arcane sigils.

[tonberryking]

Rush nearly starts, all four of her legs wobble until she focuses silently to ward off any more skittish reactions, even if it's reasonable to be startled by time and space warping so suddenly...yet with such an underwhelming destination it's easy to sober up.

"...This is an evil lair?" she's seen much better going by the sound of her confusion. She notices the elf and awkwardly waves, "Um, hello...?" she makes another stellar first impression, "Is that the only building here?"

[Thokk_Smash]

"Uh, wait, what?" Sola asks, first Volas then Tuatua as they walk. "What was that about cloning?"

"It wouldn't be much of a front if it looked sinister," Sola says with a shrug, seemingly unfazed by the teleportation.

Noticing the elf, Sola nods at him. "'Yello," she says with a friendly smile. "We're new; how much do you know, or want to know, or need to know, about why we're here? Mind if I ask your name?"

[Wuff]

Looking markedly uncomfortable by all the spelljamming and teleporting and fancy tech, Zarah takes a long moment to fully adjust to her surroundings, taking in as much detail as she can, before whirling her staff in the air. She slams the base of it into the carpet as if to steady herself. "This... Is so far removed from nature. I can't feel..." She scowls suddenly, as if having eaten some kind of sour fruit.

"The gall of... Clones... Blugh, yes, I don't like it here at all, and I don't like all of these... Machinations!" She splurts out the last word.

She turns her attention to the elf, who she inclines her head to, still looking very uneasy.

[TriciaOso]

The already nervous elf looks even more startled by that. "I'm, uh, I'm Zandt. I'm just a jammer, I do runs back and forth between a couple of spheres. Those guys from Pax Whatever asked me to carry this carpet in case they needed a door out here, a long while back. I never had to use it before."

"Look, just, let me get off-rock before you start any trouble, right? You, uh, you take the carpet, I guess? So you can get back?"

[Thokk_Smash]

"Oh, did they only pay for the one time?" Sola asks. She doesn't move to pick up the carpet until the elf answers.

When they do leave the ship, looks around to try and guess what might be the place to enter the lair proper.

[roll0]

Or Insight, to guess based on the employees' movements: [roll1]

[tonberryking]

Rush lifts a foreleg up, trying to get used to the lesser gravity with a childish curiosity marking her movements.

"Let me take care of that rug; I'm not carrying much," she says, glancing around again, trying to determine if anything seems... deliberately out of place, like a leaning sign or sheet metal that may be covering a secret entrance, or perhaps some unusual sculpturing. She's fairly certain her own captor had such things; why wouldn't another monster have cheap knockoffs with the same idea?



[roll0] Perception
[roll1] Insight to see if anything seems out of place

[Wuff]

Zarah sticks close to Zola on the carpet, looking highly uncertain about all this magical carpet nonsense. She scans the same places that Zola and Rush had, her eyes flashing over where key entry points might be, like an animal might compare caves to rest in.

It's clear that she's still uneasy about this whole thing and the flying carpet particularly, but with her staff in hand, she's also fully prepared. As soon as the group begins heading towards a location, she'll jab her staff against the ground and begin to chant under her breath, a soft energy beginning to gather about her form. After a moment, she sweeps the staff about herself, sending the energy out in a circle.

For a second, all sound is muffled, senses blurring together violently, and then the world snaps back into focus.

"Let's do this."


Zarah Larkfall makes a Perception check!
1d20 (14) + 13 = 27

Zarah Larkfall casts Pass Without Trace, granting herself and allies within 30ft +10 to Dexterity (Stealth) checks for up to an hour.

[TriciaOso]

"Yes, now get off my ship, please."

Zandt is definitely lying and not trying to hide it. He shoos you off the ship.

Between you, you scrutinize the hell out of the outside of the Breathe 'n Gulp. There are 6 ships here, not including Zandt's little yacht; there are several different kinds, but only one really stands out. This is a bashed-to-hell ship even smaller than Zandt's, and much more antiquated looking. If these ships are clipper ships, this is an outrigger canoe. The spelljammer hull is cracked and clouded.

It's almost certainly the ancient ship the Gledes found and flew out of their world.

You are extremely confident, after your look around, that there is no entrance to a lair or to anything but the trading post out here. It must be either inside the structure, or elsewhere on the asteroid. Since you do not have your own air to bring, looking inside the trading post first seems like the next move.

Perception and Insight checks will carry over, but please roll Stealth with the +10 from Pass Without A Trace.]

You go inside the trading post; it looks similar to structures you've seen on your world with a similar purpose, but this one is made mostly of metal and glass, and it's quite large. There are shelves and shelves of pre-conjured food and drink and various supplies; breathing masks, ropes and rigging, hull patch kits, ammunition for starwheel pistols and ballistae and the like.

Of course, the main things that bring people here are the metal casks of air and water in big racks along the walls. Looking around the room, you see one of the racks of casks of air in the back has been closed off with HAZARD signs and tape. The shelving seems bent and damaged. A closer investigation might be interesting.

There's a long, polished wooden counter where merchants can stand, but only one is there right now; a large humanoid hippofolk creature you now know is called a Giff. She is wearing a name badge that says HI! MY NAME IS KOHN. Despite the sparse number of ships outside, she has a long line of impatient customers. She is dealing with them slowly, because one of her arms is in a sling.

You can hear the customers--a diverse lot of spelljamming travellers from all over--grumbling; a tiefling with spikes down the back of his legs says, "Where is the other one?" irritably.

You deduce that the battle with the Gledes has probably left the trading post understaffed, and this particular injured. You feel she is probably distracted.

Perception (Disadvantage):

[roll0]
[roll1]

[TriciaOso]

Perception at Disadvantage:

[roll0]

[roll1]

[Thokk_Smash]

Detecting the obvious lie, Sola leans towards the man with a grim smile. "Sorry, Zandt-y boy," she says, voice cheery despite an aura of menace oozing off of her. "Without you, the rug stays wherever we left it. And I don't think our higher-ups would appreciate us leaving a teleportation circle in the middle of nowhere. So, I'd kindly ask that you stay here with the rug until we get back. If you don't, well, we'll get back to them one way or another. And they probably wouldn't take kindly to you abandoning your agreement. So...Stay. Here."

Staring at the elf for a few seconds, she waits to make sure the man gets the message.



Inside the pit stop, Sola taps Zarah and Rush and points to the empty shelf. "Let's check that out," she whispers, just loud enough for the two to hear. She will help Rush, who seems the most investigative.

Rolled a 25 to Intimidate Zandt to honor his agreement and keep the rug on the ship.

Will give Rush advantage on Investigation on the empty shelving.

[Wuff]

Speaking in an attempt to approximate a whisper, Zarah grumbles"Stick close to me or you'll lose the protection of my spell. And, I normally go for the full shelves when I'm looking for something to borrow, we should check out some of those masks while we're here, just in case."

She'll follow along with her companions, remaining close enough sometimes that her feathery-furry owlbear cloak brushes against them at times.

[tonberryking]

Rush looks unassuming, hands in the pockets of her hooded attire as she slides across the floor, only to stop if any heads are turned her way. But once she gets within reach of the shelf, she looks it over with a practiced eye of a rogue used to working sneakily.


I love +10 advantages
[roll0] Stealth
[roll1] Perception

[TriciaOso]

Rush becomes invisible, for all intents and purposes. Even her companions have trouble focusing on her when she's so still.

As you examine the rack, it's clear a battle was fought here. Nicks and dents in the shelf are obvious, and leaning forward into the space between the racks, you peer into darkness. But squinting, leaning a little closer, projecting your will into the shadows, you see...a pair of piggy red eyes. Someone is on the other side and they're looking back.

They don't see you, though. You're just that good.

[tonberryking]

Rush begins to peruse the chip section, her tail flicking idly but she keeps both Solas and Zarah in her sights. Though no telltale signs appear over her visage, Rush sees literal red for a moment and even *hears* the color too for an instant.

And then...

{{{So, um... I may have forgotten to mention this... But I can communicate with my mind. Please don't be mad! I've been alone for so long I had little cause to use it! We have 8 hours of this as long as you're within a mile of me. ...But see that broken shelf? Someone with a bad case of red eye is standing behind it, watching this place. I can't tell what it is beyond that."}}}

[Thokk_Smash]

"Oooh, this is neat. Haven't talked to anyone else in my own head before!" Sola sounds giddy in their shared mindspace. "If you hear a deeper, evil voice coming from my head, just ignore it."

Keeping as quiet as she can, Sola tries to look for the eyes, and for ways to get past them.

Rolled a 16 Investigation for looking for ways past the lookout.

[TriciaOso]

Sola steps forward and feels along the shelves, looking for any irregularities. Now that you know it's here, it doesn't take a hugely long time to figure out the mechanism, although the line is getting pretty short.

One of these shelves, although perfectly sturdy and resilient to the weight of the heavy iron casks it normally holds, shifts when you push it up. After wiggling it a bit, you realized that when one end goes up, the other presses down, and you can feel the contact allowing a minimal flow of magic. As you wiggle the shelf around, it's almost equivalent to picking an arcane lock. You probe gently, and feel an ephemeral shock go through the shelf as something locks into place. You're not sure at first how many 'tumblers' there are, but with more experimentation, you are able to identify that there are six, and to carefully, carefully, lock three into place. There are three more you need to find to open the lock, but you can feel that if you fumble too much you'll do something irretrievable to the lock.

You also have to worry about attracting attention from the cashier. You're hiding pretty well, but standing next to the CAUTION sign with your hands on a shelf is a little suspicious.

You make an attempt, but the right answer eludes you, and one component seems irretrievable now. You got one more, though. There's a quiet buzz coming from the shelf now.

You wave Rush over and have her try.

Rush, something about this feels much more intuitive to you; perhaps there's some affinity with your psionic abilities. You are able to click the other two magical 'tumblers' into place, but the shelf still buzzes quietly. But with a click more felt than heard, the whole shelving unit seems suddenly light, as if you could swing it outward.

There is one last customer at the register.

[tonberryking]

Rush waits to strike.

Let the customer start talking or the cashier say how much it all is, and when the first syllable is uttered, she flicks her wrist as some fait red line goes through the shelves and her own image seems to fade out, line by line, in two blinks of the eye. And shortly there after, she reforms, hopefully behind whatever figure watches the store, and as quietly as she can, she flicks her wrist, forming a cutting crystal blade of an angry red to be gripped by her waiting hand. She thrusts her arm out with it and then, assuming she's quiet enough, grabs the body before it can fall or cry out...


Bonus action to teleport.
[roll0] Stealth

[roll1] [roll2] Attack w/ advantage
[roll3] Damage, with [roll4] Sneak attack

[Thokk_Smash]

Realizing Rush's intent, Sola thinks to Zarah, "Follow me and close the door behind us."

Then, she opens the door and slips into the hallway behind. Raising her blade, she slashes out twice, hoping to bring it down quickly.

Movement, however much to get into melee with the sentry.

Attack 1: [roll0]
[roll1] + [roll2] from Improved Divine Smite

Attack 2: [roll3]
[roll4] + [roll5] from Improved Divine Smite

[TriciaOso]

The space behind the shelves is not very large; just a 15 x15 box, with some kind of hatch or panel on the back wall. The floor underfoot is a kind of strange soft mat.

The sentry, already skewered on Rush's knives, is another giff, a muscular hippo-like humanoid. In stark contrast to the cashier's checked shirt, he is wearing a breastplate that is part of a military uniform, and is armed with both familiar and unfamiliar weapons. Yet he is wearing the same nametag. His says HI! MY NAME IS ROD, and he is in fact the spitting image of the hippo on the sign, except that one didn't have his arm in a sling.

You take two slashes at him while he is still caught offguard, but miss.

The cashier is chatting with the last customer and is oblivious to the open door for now.

[Wuff]

With all the meekness of a forest mouse, Zarah scurries forward, using her long wood elf legs to close the distance quickly. She closes the door behind her and hisses at the giff: "Hello, my name is Zarah."

A long moment passes as she raises a prayer to the spirits of nature and in an extremely fast sylvan murmur, calls upon fire to attend her. With that and firm gesture to illustrate her intent, her hand seems to erupt in flames, lighting up the room for a brief second, before she lets the flames roar free, attempting to incinerate the poor giff where he stands.

Before the fire burns away, Zarah makes sure to thank it and bid it well, again, in swift sylvan, made even more indiscernible by the stealth spell she still holds up.



To Hit: 1d20 (14) + 11 = 25
Damage: 3d8 (6, 1, 8) = 15

Fire Damage

[TriciaOso]

Caught completely flatfooted, in a matter of seconds Rod is skewered and burned in addition to his lingering injuries. He looks desperately injured, but retains just enough presence of mind to follow through on his readied action and stomp on the panic button.

It's so weird; he's been repeating to himself, over and over for hours, "If someone gets in, hit the panic button," not daring to shift from his post. But he didn't actually expect it to happen. Not twice in one week.

One huge heavy foot stomps down a spot that looks like any other spot, but is not. Several things happen:

A metal wall slams down behind the shelves, completely the transformation of this room into a 15 x 15 box. The room begins to shake and move downward. A klaxon goes off somewhere.


And an enormous amount of enchantment magic is discharged from the mat. Rod's specially-made boots ground him but Sola and Rush are knocked unconscious by the juiced-up sleep spell. Zarah, however, doesn't sleep, and Rod looks down at her with an expression of dismay.

[Wuff]

"Spirits darn it, Rod. Look what you've done!" Zarah shouts over the noise.

Looking quite angry at this point, Zarah raises a hand towards the sky in a dramatic flourish, and calls out loud, no longer caring for stealth.

"SPIRITS, BRING ME A STAR!"

A coin-sized glimmer of light seems to soar in from... Somewhere, and collides hard with Rod's head. His body continues to glimmer after being struck.


1/4 Guiding Bolt Uses
To Hit: 1d20 (15) + 11 = 26
Damage: 4d6 (6, 1, 1, 1) = 9

[TriciaOso]

Rod is unconscious; so are Sola and Rush, although not from damage.

The large metal room continues to descend, rumbling and rattling.

With your excellent perception, Zarah, you notice that a lower panel of the door (the large metal wall that descended) is damaged. It looks like it's been kicked or battered slightly off-track. It might interfere with the door opening properly.

As you noticed before, there is a small metal hatch on one wall. The hatch is closed and locked with what looks like a very new padlock.

You also notice that it's getting hot in here.

[roll0]

[Wuff]

Zarah leans down and scruffs Rush, trying to roughly drag her out of sleep and into a waking position. It's... More difficult than it looks, and with little time to waste, the druid instead delivers a ringing slap to the face.

"Get up! We don't have time to waste!"

Zarah scans the panel on the door and the hatch, wondering which one is the more strategic option. And... Whether it's worth trying to just burn the lock open, or even trying to blow the door out. For now though, she is just roughly handling her companion, attempting to violently shake her into wakefulness.

[TriciaOso]

The room continues to whir downward, then comes to a stop. The wall begins to rise again, and at the same time, the damaged section of catches and the door's movement is slowed to an agonizing creep, accompanied by the sound of shrieking metal. Finally it gives way, and the wall jumps open a foot wide.

Immediately crushing heat invades the box. Through the foot of clearance at the bottom of the door, you can see only flames, although none are making it into the box right now.

As the heat washes over you, you all feel ill (those of you who are conscious), but take no harm.

Con Saving Throw, DC the height of the door (right now, 1).

1 in 10 chance of a gout of flame (rolled a 3, higher than 1).

Death Saving Throw for Rod: [roll0]

Init Order: Sola (asleep), Rush, Zarah. Rush is up.]

[tonberryking]

Though it's an awkward thing, standing on her hind legs and rearing up to reach the panel, Rush struggles to keep her forelegs pressed against the metal as she withdrawls some black metal tools and attempts to break the panel open.


[roll0] Lockpicking check?

[TriciaOso]

You open the lock without difficulty. Inside you see a panel with several flat polished metal buttons in concentric rings, each of which has a small semiprecious stone in it.

The outer ring is segment into four quarters. The red stone in the lower left is glowing. The other stones are blue, green and orange.

The second ring is solid, and has a purple stone.

The third ring is split in two, one black stone and one white.

The center button is marked with a diamond.

There is also a keyhole inside the hatch. It is empty. Your knowledge of locks tells you the key for it will look... strange, and the lock will be very difficult to pick.


https://i.ibb.co/z4X3KVX/Capture.png



Meanwhile, Zarah wakes up Sola, shaking her roughly and pulling her to her feet.



The door grinds, screechs, and jerks up another two feet, then sticks again. The heat gets worse, although still not debilitating.

A gout of flame flares through the door and crisps you all; you each take 12 points of fire damage. Rod does not look well. Sola searches his pockets for keys, but the one she finds first definitely doesn't look like it would fit the hatch keyhole.

[tonberryking]

Rush falls back, hooves striking the floor.

{{{Guys? I've NEVER seen anything like this before! What do we do?}}}

[Wuff]

"Just press buttons!" Meanwhile, Zarah leans down and begins to chant frantically in sylvan over the fallen man. Her hands glow with an intense green light for a moment, and after a powerful clapping motion, she presses her free hand to his head, near where her guided bolt had struck him.

She mourns her expended bolt and the spell she's casting now, but the situation is different now, and plans rarely survive contact with incinerators.

His wounds close near instantly, and as soon as he stirs, she shouts into his ear:

"GET UP ROD, WE'RE ALL GOING TO BURN TO DEATH IF YOU DON'T START PRESSING BUTTONS NOW!"


7 HP restored.

[TriciaOso]

Rod stirs as you heal him and groggily takes stock of the situation. He folds his arms over his massive chest and brakss:

"Name: Rodifex Pareem.
Rank: Seargeant First Class of the Giff Mercenary Fleet, on permanent assignment to Rod's Breathe n' Gulp.
Serial Number: 1FTEW1CF5GKD34372"

As you plead with him to help with the hatch he repeats:

"Name: Rodifex Pareem.
Rank: Seargeant First Class of the Giff Mercenary Fleet, on permanent assignment to Rod's Breathe n' Gulp.
Serial Number: 1FTEW1CF5GKD34372"


There's another tortured shriek as the door jerks up; it's now halfway open.

The heat becomes even more oppressive, but with Sola's paladin blessings, you are all all right. Rod is not protected, but is sturdy enough to shrug it off for now.

Another gout of flame rolls in under the door, this time even less shielded. Your party is more than agile enough to dodge the worst of it, but still take 21 points of fire damage. Rod, however, is dead. And cooked.

Door height is 5 feet, meaning a 5 in 10 chance of Firestorm and Save DCs are now 5 (Con for exhaustion, Dex to halve firestorm).

[tonberryking]

Hiking back up on her hindlegs, Rush looks desperately at the buttons and in her innocence tries pressing the blue one, equating it with water/cold/crap not on fire and presses it more than once. Failing that, she hits the red button b/c it's lit up...


If all else fails...


[roll0] Pick the lock!

[TriciaOso]

The door shrieks again, and slams back in place, and suddenly the room is moving again. There is a dark gap of a few inches at the bottom, though. The heat is suddenly relieved.

Your efforts to pick the lock tells you that this a complex magical lock that will definitely not be activated without the key. Fortunately not every location is locked, as the swift passage of the elevator proves.

[Thokk_Smash]

"****, this is not great," Sola says as she drinks a healing potion.

[roll0]

"So Rod stomped on something, then the red button got pressed and sent us to hell. Blue could be ice or water, ummm..."

Sola slashes at the rug-like fabric on the floor, then rips it open to try and uncover the floor and other potential buttons.

[TriciaOso]

There are no obvious buttons under the mat, only a complex magitek gadget that administers the mega-sleep spell.

[Make an arcana, investigation, or general intelligence check to try and pry it loose.]

[Wuff]

Feeling... Somewhat safer than before, Zarah takes the time to check the crisped corpse before pulling a mirror out and gazing deeply into it, envisioning Rod. She's sure that the other two can handle themselves for now.

[TriciaOso]

Sola, you wrench free a rod-like device from the guts of the machine. It's actually relatively undamaged, and you wonder if it can be made useful with a little tinkering. Tinkering that is probably outside your arcane knowhow, but still... 50d8.



Zarah, you gaze into the mirror and see a variety of cryptic scenes from Rod's life. You see him growing up on the muddy banks of his home planet. You see him recently, fighting against a group of five avian adventurers in this same elevator-room. You see his lovely giff registered comrade ceremony with Cohneria. You see a long montage of him and Cohn and occasionally other giff manning the counter in front. You see a young Rod waiting eagerly for his first posting, and showing up on an empty asteroid with nothing but a paranoid eyeball and a dream.

You see Rod press the black button on the elevator, headed back to the barracks, and when the door opens all his squadmates have a surprise party waiting for him. That's sweet.

In these visions you get your first glimpse of the enemy you've come here to fight--in fact, several glimpses. Its appearance is disgusting to your love of the natural and wild; a hideous aberration. A huge slavering eyeball wrapped in skin like a ball clutched in a pitcher's mitt, if a pitcher's mitt had sharp teeth that that muttered and gnashed continually. At the end of tendrils all over its body more eyes look ceaselessly in every direction, terrified and furious at the idea of a world outside itself.

It ages visibly as you watch, its paranoid vigil putting wrinkles in its flesh and its teeth growing longer and sharper. And sometimes, even older, and beginning to be encrusted with crystalline plates, like a shell building around it. In a memory that seems very recent--Rod is bandaged--it's seated in a throne room surrounded by mirrors similar to this one. It could--should--be watching its lair, but it's breathing heavily, central eye closed. For a moment it seems to be blur, to be three atrocities, but then it snaps back together.

You see Rod, younger, staring into a tiny rift in space in dismay. The stone around it seems to be turning into... pudding? That can't be right, there's no elemental plane of pudding.



The elevator stop moving and the door, once again, jerks up a foot or so before getting stuck. It's not hot here--in fact it's a bit chilly--but no water comes in. Instead, wind whips around your ankles through the gap. You hear distant thunder.

[Thokk_Smash]

"Good job, Rush," Sola says, pocketing the Super Sleep Symbol.

She begins to strip Rod's body of its breastplate, and in the process searches his pockets for anything else that looks important.

[tonberryking]

Rush blinks back the stupor of someone who isn't quite sure of how they succeeded, or what they even succeeded at, but she rolls with it.

"Well, we're safe for the moment, but do we want to push any other button? The lock on here is too complex for me to crack, and I'm not sure we want to face what's out there... Unless..." she drops back down on all fours, unable to maintain balance comfortably on her hind legs. "I don't know much about elevators...or dimensional magics, but do you think the missing ranger may be on one of these...floors?"

[TriciaOso]

As Sola searches Rod's pocket and steals his breastplate, the door moves up several notches. Beyond, you can see the planar rift in the mill above the asteroid. You realize you are inside that bubble, and the rift is spewing Elemental Air at you. The wind is powerful and cold but not harmful, at least not yet; you can see pockets of storm out there, but the wind you are getting seems safe enough.

Zarah, your powerful perception makes out a small speck out there in the maelstrom, beating tiny black wings against the air and fighting the winds to reach your box.

Sola, searching Rod's body you take a +1 breastplate, some Rod's Bucks! proprietary cash, and a ring of keys other than the first key you found. You find one that looks like it fits the lock in the hatch, strangely shaped, as if it exists in multiple dimensions.

[Wuff]

"There's... Something out there. Don't touch any more buttons, it might be one of our friends. But... I can't really make it out from this distance. It's struggling to get here." Zarah lifts her hand to point towards it, narrowing her eyes and focusing as intensely as she can.

"But as soon as it gets here, we should move out. I don't know a lot about planes but I know about storms and that one is building."

[Thokk_Smash]

"As long as I get a few minutes to put this thing on, then I'll be golden," Sola says, starting the process of putting on the breastplate. It's lucky that it's a magic breastplate, and so reshapes to conform to her body and not the body of a humanoid hippo.

[tonberryking]

Rush decides to investigate and immdiately regrets it. Oh sure her hooves can keep her aloft as she 'runs' across the sky, even if she's spun around and otherwise disoriented in the process but she makes her way to the avian like creature. Calling out to him and getting him in tow keeps things from getting any more chaotic but... Oh crap. She can't teleport carrying someone...

"Just hold on!!!" she cries as the winds pull her hood off, "I can get us back..." and she can, though she's very ruffled by the time she's clawing her way into the elevator, her hair looking even more of a fright than normal before she jams her hood back over it and her eyes.

"So... Start talking you." she glances at the bird man while patting down her own horse hide...

[TriciaOso]

The hawk-man lies on his side and pants for a while. "My name is Khim," he says.

He's the ranger from the Gledes. He looks like he might be a handsome enough bird-man, when he's not exhausted and battered. He has sleek brown and red feathers, and bright black eyes. His wings are huge, and his arms end in talons.

"I came here with my friends and things went... they went bad. Please, can you... can we shut out the wind? I was out there for two days."

That storm is getting closer, too.

[Thokk_Smash]

"Let's see if touching the same button closes the door." In between strapping up plates and pauldrons, Sola presses the glowing blue button.

When the door closes, Sola looks kinda pleased with herself. "So. We've come to lend a hand to you and your friends. While I get this on, tell us what you know about this place. Also, two days? Sh*t! Glad we came as soon as we did."

[TriciaOso]

"My friends?" Khim says bitterly. "My friends are dead."

"If you stay here you will be, too. We found this part of the store by accident, but then, Tombli's patron... Tombli got really upset, really passionate. She said her patron told her there was something wrong here, terribly wrong. Something about the elements. You'd think a genie would be into a bunch of elemental rifts in space, right?"

"But he got Tombli all wound up and then she was the first one to die." His hand tightens on the satchel he's been holding close since he got here.

[Thokk_Smash]

"Don't be so hasty, guy," Sola says, though not unkindly. "Tombli's gone, and that sucks. I've lost more friends than I can count, so I know. But the rest of your friends are just petrified. That's why we're here, to get the rest of you guys out.

"So," she says and pulls a strap decisively, then puts a bracing hand on his shoulder. "Take a breath. Take a minute to settle from your two days of nonstop flight. And focus on what you know that can help us. How far in did you get? What happened here? Take your time."

[TriciaOso]

He looks back and forth from face to face to face. "Wait... you're powerful enough to do that? You can... you can do that?"

"C-can you bring back a dead person? I mean, if you have the body? Zok could, but not if it had been this... I mean not if it had been too long." His talon clutches again, convulsively, on his bag of holding.

[Thokk_Smash]

Sola barely keeps herself from wincing at the question. She should have anticipated it. She really, really should have thought it would come up. But it's been hardly any time since she had left the Wellspring, she hasn't had this level of power very long, and her own world didn't have any priests nearly powerful enough to raise the long-dead.

"I can't," she says shortly. "My powers don't run in that direction. Best I can do is short-term revival, like Zok. I've got tremendous power I can bring to bear, and enough healing to keep me in the fight 'till it's done. Rush, who got you out, focuses on stealth, like Tri-Ni, and Zarah--the elf over there--specializes in nature magic. I don't know much of anything about nature magic."

She is quiet for a moment. "I'm sorry."

[TriciaOso]

Khim sags, and nods. His grip on the bag loosens.

He tells you the story:


The Gledes found the old ship in a dungeon and came here just joyriding.
Their rogue noticed the secret door, and started fiddling.
One thing led to another and like you, they found themselves in the elevator
They discovered the asteroid is built around/comes from 4 elemental rifts.


"Do you know about the crystal spheres?" he asks.

Each different world is inside a crystal sphere, and wildspace is what lies in between the spheres. Tombli believed this asteroid was a world that never fully formed, and was being exploited by the beholder. But her patron told her something was terribly wrong, and she insisted they stay and try to figure it out.

She said that a world was still trying to form here, and B'xenon had put himself at the center of it. Every beholder wishes for a universe where they are the only real being; B'xenon was trying to create one. In addition to the Inner Planar rifts, Outer Planar ones are beginning to form inside the asteroid; storms of Chaotic Evil and Lawful Good as powerful as the one raging outside the elevator.

While they were exploring the asteroid trying to figure out how to stop this, B'xenon found them and petrified most of the party. Tombli was killed outright, and Khim managed to escape. He has been hiding in the Air rift ever since.



Blue is Air
Green is Water
Red is Fire
Orange is Earth, a very boring room in the heart of the asteroid
White goes back to the trading post
Black goes to the Giff barracks
Purple goes to the interior of the asteroid, maintenance tunnels and traps around the lair of the beholder.
The Diamond button goes to a throne room for the beholder.

It doesn't live there, though, Khim explains. It's just where it makes public appearances. It teleports in and out, and does the same for its rare guests.

[Wuff]

"Thank you for the information and... If I can, I'll be happy to bring your friend back, although I fear she may come back in a new body if I perform the ritual." Zarah ponders the spheres as she fastens the mirror back into place, making sure it's easy to reach in the future in case she needs it.

[TriciaOso]

"I don't care if she's an ibis or an owl or a squawking kenku," he says fervently. "She's my best friend."

[Wuff]

"I'm saying that she might not have feathers at all. Maybe scales or fur. But, I understand. And I guess on that note..." She looks down at Rod's corpse, a disturbed expression on her face.

She leans down, resting her hand on the scorched flesh for a moment, a slightly pained expression on her face. A few seconds pass as she closes in to whisper something in the ear of his corpse, whether anyone can hear her or not, she delivers her message in Sylvan.

In the next moment, her hand has slipped into Rod's mouth to grasp one of his tusks and roughly, efficiently pull it from his mouth with the same rutheless efficiency as someone might skin an animal.

She stands up, wipes her hands on her owlbear cloak, and fastens the tusk securely to herself without a word of explanation.

[Thokk_Smash]

Finally finishing with the breastplate, Sola palms her face at Zarah's actions. "By the Wellspring, Zarah," she says, tone making it clear that it's a curse and invective. "As your teammate, I would ask that you not defile the corpses of our enemies, Zarah."

She sighs. "But yeah, there's more species than owlfolk, Aven, Kenku, and the others on your world. We'll try to help the culture shock as much as we can.

"For now, though: the beholder's lair, the throne room. What was in it?"

[TriciaOso]

He looks at Zarah in shock. "You mean like one of these hippo people or you monkeyfolk? Yikes." He shudders when she harvests the tusks, not following her plan.

To Sola:

"A teleport circle, so it can get there and its guests, I guess. That's how it came at us. It seemed to know when we came in."

"And then there was a weird art collection in the rooms around the center. A lot of different stuff, all of it horrible."

[Thokk_Smash]

"Okay, so we should keep the throne room until last to avoid getting its attention," Sola mutters. "Would your friends be in the throne room, I assume? When the beholder appeared, did they call for reinforcements immediately, so that the hippos swarmed you? I was thinking we could thin the herd by going to the barracks before going to the throne room, but I'm open to suggestions."

[TriciaOso]

"He didn't need reinforcements," Khim says fervently. "We saw some giff, but it wasn't really a priority."

[Wuff]

"He will need reincorcements to deal with me." Zarah claps her slightly calloused hands together threateningly, and the smell of a particularly sweaty bear seems to emanate outwards from her.

She looks... Incredibly pleased with herself all of a sudden.

[Thokk_Smash]

"Let's bring this thing back to the shop for now, then take a quick rest to recover from almost being grilled alive," Sola says, pushing the gem to take them back to the trading post. "Then we can storm the castle--er, I mean, throne room."

[tonberryking]

Rush stays silent for the entire elevator exchange; though she chews at her lip when accused of being a 'monkey', her sympathy lies with the bird man.

"I guess, I'll be sneaking into the sculpture rooms; should I grab each of his friends and deposit them here in the elevator for safety before joining back up with you two? If the beholder doesn't know there's three of us or four, if Khim participates, "Then we can use that to our advantage."

[TriciaOso]

The elevator rattles and hums as it returns you to the trading post.

The door begins to jerk up again haltingly. As it does, you realize that the shelf/door is open. You can see many booted feet under the door, and there's a clink clink clink as a metal canister rolls under it.

You all leap out of the way of the explosion, taking 10 piercing damage, except for Rush, who avoids it entirely. Khim, who was already pretty ragged, falls to the ground.

"Come out with your hands up!" bellows a voice from outside. Someone kicks the door, and it begins to slide up much more smoothly.

Moving quickly, Sola lays hands on Khim and heals him, then casts Shield of Faith.

Khim rises from the ground and squints out of the elevator, putting his Hunter's Mark on one of the Giff and firing two arrows. On the heels of the second arrow, a swarm of tiny humming birds fly out of his sleeves and buzz around the Giff.

[Wuff]

Something seems to visibly click about Zarah, not in her attitude, but in the energies about her. Instead of blood, starlight leaks from her fresh wounds.

Her eyes close for a moment, and then open again filled with a deadly luminosity. Wings of stars erupt from her shoulderblades, and a draconic presence seems to settle down upon the druid with little warning. She roars her pain out for the Giff to hear, and then with a whoosh of her wings she rises to the top of the elevator to gain a better view over her foes, gliding towards the closest cluster.

"THAT WAS NOT VERY POLITE OF YOU!"

And with that, she roars again, louder this time, a thunderous sound echoing for a long time after and causing an eruption of force which smacks into the nearest grounded Giff.


Activate Starry Form: Dragon

Fly and cast Thunderwave as a 5th level spell, deals 30 damage to Giff 2 and 5, pushing them into the walls by the entrance. Deals 15 damage to Giff 3 and 4.

[TriciaOso]

The two Giff in the front of the group fly forward and slam into the racks of casks to either side of the elevator; the one who was shot by Khim collapses unconscious, while the other rises dizzily. The other two grunt and take the damage, looking up warily at the starry dragon.

[tonberryking]

Rush charges out, not even giving any pretext to stealth as she swings a broken sword in her primary hand. However when she reaches the first giff, an angry red blade forms over the shattered steel and she swipes a mean hook of a swing with it. Her left hand's follow up with a red blade formed over her knuckles doesn't have much effect but she sure felt the first connect.

[TriciaOso]

The surviving giff thrown into the racks rushes into the elevator and attacks Sola, his longsword bouncing off her shield. One of the two giff flanking Zarah swings his sword and misses as well, and Rush parries the one who attacks her with a red energy blade.

The remaining six giff open fire on Zarah and Rush; but only one of them hits the mark. It's a headshot, though; or at least it is until Sola raises a hand in reaction. It still stings.

7 damage to Zarah.

[Thokk_Smash]

"OI! FOCUS HERE, BOYS AND GIRLS!"

Sola yells, furious that her allies were attacked while she hid in the elevator-thingie. She slashes out twice...missing both times. She roars in rage that is only slightly feigned, doing her best to attract as much attention as she can. She shifts around the giff harrying her, pitch black eyes never leaving its face.

"I said..."

With a shimmering silver mist, Sola disappears from in front of #5, then reappears right in front of #6.

"FOCUS! HERE!"

Standard action: Attack Giff #5, whiffing just barely both.

Move action: Circle #5 without leaving its range.

Bonus action: Misty Step to U19, trying to Intimidate at least one of the Giffs to attack Sola.

[Wuff]

Zarah claps her hand to where she'd been struck, and whirls her staff about in the air in elaborate motions, calling on the spirits of nature and wrath to punish those who had harmed her.

The ground erupts into a writhing mass of thorns in a line before her, forming a wall of scratching painful briars which seem to lash out instinctively, screaming in plantlike fury as their thorns bristle and cut away into the flesh.

Then, the wall settles, a writhing mass of pain and sharpness. Zarah's staff seems to wither a little when she finishes casting, and she looks very worn out from the fight so far.

"Thank you, nature." She takes a deep breath to centre herself and refocuses her attentions on the battlefield.


Cast Wall of Thorns, using up 6 charges from her Staff of the Woodlands.
Deals 26 piercing damage to those who fail their save and half to those who succeed. Enemies take damage on passing through it and movement through it is slowed.

[TriciaOso]

The female Giff you have appeared in front of, roars back at you showing her tusks, and throws down her rifle to drag out the starlock pistol at her belt.

Khim, left face to face with the Giff in the elevator, squawks and fires two more arrows into him, shifting his hunter's mark. The hummingbirds swarm around his head as well.

Zarah's wall of thorns takes most of the Giff by surprise, and three of them become entangled in the surface; the one furthest to the north rolls out of the way, mostly clean. Two of the three rip free, scrambling backwards, but the one engaged with Rush screams and becomes a grisly part of the barrier, dead.

[tonberryking]

Rush just up and hurls a spinning red blade at the giff approaching Khim before hurtling forward, running down the other giff near Sola with her broken sword. Another slash and she skids to a halt just as the first victim of her blade falls...

[TriciaOso]

The two giff to the north launch themselves into the air and directly at Zarah, taking advantage of the low gravity to deliver their Headfirst Charge against the druid. The first one slams her into the ground, and then the second lands on her full force.

In the same way, the giffs behind the wall float to the top of the shelves and open fire on Rush, loosing four rounds from their rifles. Only one hits, the other richocheting off the linoleum.


The giff pinned down by Sola and Rush fires her pistol twice at the paladin; one shot goes home.

7 and 6 damage to Zarah from two hippos. 4 damage to Sola. 8 damage to Rush.

[Thokk_Smash]

One bullet ricochets off of her shield, and Sola grunts in pain as the other bullet sinks into her shoulder.

"I highly suggest pissing off, unless you fancy losing your life!" Sola roars, slashing deep into the Giff in front of her. She twists it in the wound, viciously, before ripping it back out. "Is this job worth your life?"

Two images of Sola flicker back into life, mingling and overlapping each other so that it is hard to tell which is the real Sola.

Action: Attack, rolled in the Discord.

Bonus action: Intimidation with the vicious attack, wanna make it reconsider its position here? More fluff than anything.

AC: 19 (with Shield of Faith up)
Attacks on Sola have Disadvantage. If she takes damage, the illusion drops until the start of her next turn.

[Wuff]

The starry wings Zarah wears shift, moving to support her arms and legs. A bowstring of glowing light forms on her staff. She's down, but definitely not out.

She pushes herself back onto her feet, like an upturned feline, and then slinks backwards as the wall of hungry thorns dies next to her, hissing as the Giff manages to strike her on her retreat.

In the next moment, she calls down a raging beam of moonlight on the Giff who had so rudely body slammed her, and slings a bolt of celestial power straight into the face of the closest hippofolk.

"Just surrender already!"

[tonberryking]

Rush stays on the move, galloping towards the giff near Sola and slides to a halt before she tries to laser shiv them.

She's taken fire damage and been shot. It's frankly a little concerning she doesn't seem to register that she's been injured since they got here...


[roll0]
[roll1]

[roll2]
[roll3]

[TriciaOso]

The giff attacking Sola goes down with the first hit, so Rush is able to move five feet and attack one of the giff in the moonbeam with her second strike. He and his friends retaliate with their pistols, but none of the bullets hit.

The four giff lined up on top of the shelves open fire on Zarah, trying to break her concentration and help their friends caught in the cylinder of pearly light. Two of them manage to hit their target.

Still huddled within the elevator, Khim fires his two arrows and sends out his swarm once more. He targets one of the giff on the shelf, the one who looks most injured, and as the arrows strike home the mercenary topples over and drifts slowly to the ground.

With half of their troops dead and more than half the survivors injured, still largely unable to hit the well-armored enemy, the giff assess the situation and sound the retreat, fleeing north along the tops of the shelves. You haven't identified an exit in that direction, but they must have gotten here somehow.

11 and 7 damage to Zarah, and two DC 10 Concentration Checks. Zarah and Rush get opportunity attacks on #8.

[Thokk_Smash]

"Don't let them get away!" Sola shouts, running down the hall. With a shouted clarion call of a word, she disappears in a silver mist and reappears next to one of the fleeing Giff.

"But don't hit the one furthest away!" she yells. She glares venemously at the furthest Giff, her voice dripping with divine challenge. "That one's mine."

Move action + Bonus Action: Move and Misty Step into S8.

Standard action: Cast Compelled Duel on Giff #10. DC 17 Wisdom save or else it cannot move more than 30ft away and has disadvantage on attacks against anyone but Sola. Sola's Shield of Faith drops in order for her to concentrate on the Duel.

AC: 17
Attacks against Sola have Disadvantage until she takes damage.

[Wuff]

Zarah goes for a swing, and misses the escaping giff. The stars about her shift again, until a starry chalice forms. Her chanting fills it with starlight after a moment. When it is completely full, she thrusts it upwards, sending sparkles raining down in area, comforting herself and her allies.

"Now I'm ready to get you!" Zarah growls, standing taller as her many wounds rapidly begin sealing up.


Heal Zarah for 18+14. Rush and Khim for 18.

[tonberryking]

Rush obliges Sosha as she darts around, now in front of the next giff who gets a sword sandwich offered to them. She's in her element, clearly, but her efficiency at all this doesn't leave much to the imagination. She's clearly done this kind of thing before...


[roll0]
[roll1]

[roll2]
[roll3]

[TriciaOso]

Rush catches up with one of the fleeing Giff and cuts his head clean off. The other of the two bellow and flees full-speed, risking an opportunity attack in his zeal to escape. At his full run, he is able to reach the far wall and open another hidden door, disappearing behind it.
(Unless Rush kills him.)

The ones atop the shelves, except for the one Sola challenged, follow him. The Giff challenged to a duel resists the spell, yet even so leaps down from the shelf and draws his sword, slashing at Sola. Giff love duels.

Sola takes 5 damage.

[Thokk_Smash]

Hefting her shield and letting loose a fearsome bellow, Sola delivers a devastating blow that shines with radiant light. Another chop, and her sword is pierced through his side.

"Surrender! I won't be this kind again."

[TriciaOso]

The Giff quails, and discouragedly drops his sword, after the heavy blow he took.

The combat is over.

[Thokk_Smash]

Sola stands back up from setting down Leniscus Mire down, neatly tied up, next to the door of the Breathe 'n' Gulp.

"So," she says, turning back to the others. "They'll be waiting for us in the throne room. But if we make a distraction in the purple maintenance area, it'll draw them there and we can double back to the throne room."

Unless the others object, she'll corral them into the elevator and then press the purple stone.

[tonberryking]

Rush nods and seems to agree with this plan:

"Wait... do any of us know if the maintenance room has the powersource or controls to this elevator? Whatever kind of distraction we make, let's..um... not have it be a breaky breaky one."

[Thokk_Smash]

"I've got no idea. I was hoping things would be clearly labeled, honestly, so even the stupidest employee could figure stuff out. Think we should ask Len about it? Not sure how much more info he'll be willing to give, though."

[tonberryking]

Rush silently waits, not feeling comfortable with the interrogation, but at the same time, feels awkward approaching her comrades or to tell them to stop. She's not exactly the good cop in a good/bad scenario.

"Not that he seems the type, but if he's fibbing in any capacity, let me go through maintenance first; I can try to sneak around, see if anyone's waiting for us before we make our distraction known. ...Also, if you can knock him out, at least, that may be for the best."


Rolling this now, but the moment we get to the maintenance floor, Rush is just going to slink around and check everything out.

[roll0] Add ten to this if Zarah reactivates on the lavender floor.

[Thokk_Smash]

Sola nods as she comes back from Len, rubbing her knuckles gently. "There'll be a system called 'Life Support', we need to avoid that one."

She will hang back as Rush (and possibly Zarah, so Rush can keep the Pass Without a Trace?) sneak around and assess the situation in the maintenance level.

[Wuff]

Zarah nods to her companions and draws upon her power and the spirits, raising her staff as she bids that nature obscure her path. The familiar energy builds up in the air for a moment, before a muffling effect falls down on the group, along with the sensation of tickling leaves.

"Remember to stay close to me, we can't afford too many more ambushes." Zarah nods, and pulls her cloak about herself a little, shifting her stance to walk on the ball of her foot.


Cast Pass Without Trace

Stealth Roll of 35 (17+18).

[TriciaOso]

You send Khim out to safety on the yacht with Zandt, which might ensure you have a ride waiting when you come out. Then you load into the elevator before the Giff can regroup and punch the purple button.

After the usual vibrating and grinding travel--this elevator really needs some maintenance anyway--you disembark on the Maintenance level. For the first time you can see the elevator as a free-standing cube, and it looks... not great! It is covered in glyphs and filigree that seem to allow it to phase through the asteroid, but it is looking quite bashed up. A sort of gel oozes out of a nozzle overhead and begins to engulf it, smoothing away scuffs, burn and imperfections, but seeming unable to touch gross physical damage like the dent in the door. Still, it forcibly readjusts the door back onto its track.

The maintenance level seems to extend in two directions from here, not a terribly complicated layout. Unfortunately the two directions are not labelled; presumably anyone down here should know what they're doing.

[tonberryking]

Beckoning Zasha to stay close, Rush opts to just pick a direction and stick with it.

She turns right and tries to sneak as quietly as her hooves will allow her, which oddly, is quite alot, also silently drawing her broken sword and inverting it in her hand, into an icepick grip, ready to shiv a guard in an instant. ...Or, possibly, scare the willies out of an innocent repair man who was taking a nap, wondering what all the ruckus has been about.


[roll0] +10 to this for stealth

[roll1] And an intimidation if she DOES run into somebody, she's just going to come off looking scary AF. Might help.

[TriciaOso]

You proceed down the hallway unmolested. It's dim down here, but down lights click on as you move through the space, making stealth a little harder. Still, you're good at this, and the spell is on your side. This corridor is carved into the living rock of the asteroid, traced along with metal pipes as thick as a Giff's arm and studded with vents.

You round a curve into a straightish area. Several open doorways are here, all on your right, towards the center of the asteroid. The noise of laboring machinery--clanks, whirs, wheezes, gurgles--happen around you.

As you proceed you feel faint flimsy touches, like walking through cobwebs or very fine strands, but nothing happens as a result.

You also smell a faint sulfurous smell.

[Wuff]

Zarah raises a hand to halt the group, making a show of sniffing to try and indicate the problem. After a moment she just whispers. "Sulfur. Something might be nearby, be prepared." She holds her staff in a better position, sliding into a combat ready stance as she walks.

[tonberryking]

Rush nods and continues to sneak forward, eyes and ears up, without saying a word. Flashes of her previous career as a trained killer intrude upon her thoughts but she tries hastily to push them away. This is a matter of survival now, and putting down an even bigger threat than she ever was.


[roll0]+10 stealth

[roll1] Perception

[TriciaOso]

As you come to the first doorway, Rush, you peek inside and see a being standing in front of some machinery of incomprehensible make and function. It does not appear to be armed. It is of incredibly bland humanoid appearance, its features perhaps human or elvish; not distinctive in anyway. It has green, slightly shiny skin and is on the small side, although not actually Small.

It wears a green khaki uniform, with a two brass pips on the breast. It is staring straight ahead, at the doorway, but does not seem to notice you.

[tonberryking]

Like a shadow repelled by an errant beam of light, Rush slinks away and reports back to the others that she found a technician.

[Wuff]

Zarah steps up, her Owlbear cloak making her figure much larger as she positions herself in the doorway, drops her stealth spell and points her staff directly at the humanoid.

"Decide quickly whether you are going to help me or become my prey. If you choose wrong, it will be the last decision you ever make." Zarah's palm begins to fill with a spiritual power, the shape of some beast seeming to form within her palm.

Zarah will ready an action to cast Polymorph if he makes an aggressive action, and will give him a bad omen -1d6 to the save.

[TriciaOso]

The smell of sulfur is much more pungent in this room.

The uniformed being tilts its head and smiles--and shrinks, compressing and retracting. The polymorph spells hits, and its shape distorts, but it continues shrinking, vanishing into a tiny nozzle extending from the wall. Gurgling sounds sluice all around you in the walls.

[Thokk_Smash]

"Dammit," Sola curses as the creature dissolves into muck and leaves. "Zarah, stay alert for if that thing comes back. I'm going to check this stuff out."

Sola goes over to the panels and blinking lights and starts to investigate it.

[TriciaOso]

You hear extremely soft footsteps in the corridor, and turn in time to see the same creature--or perhaps the same type of creature--as before. It lobs a viscous green ball into the alcove with you, which explodes into acidic pain.

24 damage, or half that on a save. If you fail the save, take half the damage again at the end of your turn. DC is 18.

[Wuff]

Zarah hisses aloud as the acid burns her, spinning on her heel with a furious look on her face, the constellation of the dragon roaring back to life with a flare of light. Her staff is already spinning as she turns, glowing with a mystical radiance, the outlines of lesser spirits seeming to wreath about it for a moment.

Then, she calls down the furious, burning light of the moon to burn her foes to the bone, whispering a prayer to the stars to empower her magic, and then strides forward to block the escape of her assailant.

"Will you people ever get the message? I am not to be messed with."

She maintains her furious gaze on the creature, and holds firm to her spell as the acid continues to burn away at her.

Zarah casts a 4th level Moonbeam and Shillelagh, dealing 22 damage on a fail, 11 damage on a save. As this enemy is a shapechanger, it rolls with disadvantage to save and reverts to its true form if it fails, it cannot transform while in the light if it fails.

Zarah also uses Cosmic Omen as a reaction to grant it -4 to it's saving throw.

She passes the constitution check from lingering damage to maintain her spell.

[TriciaOso]

The oblex centurion hisses and sizzles, melting slightly into an amorphous upright pile of slime, but still stands.

[tonberryking]

Not caring that this may not have the effect she hopes for, Rush's form blurs out in a haze of black and red before she reappears behind the slimeball, her red blades scissoring out in two deft slashes. She didn't even take damage from the acid attack, having leapt out of it's way before prancing back into teleporting line of sight...


Blade 1 [roll0]
[roll1] Keeping sneak attack dice separate in case this doesn't work: [roll2]

Blade 2[roll3]
[roll4]

[TriciaOso]

The psychic blades slash and disorient the amorphous attacker. Even as the moonbeam scorches you, you can see your attack is causing him to lose mass and shrink visibly before your eyes, until he dissolves into a puddle that sizzles away in the ray.

But just beyond him are ranged five smaller copies of the same creature, and behind those another big version. They all fire on you in a volley of acidic sludge.

Three of smaller attackers hit, as well as the bigger one; one blast catches you fully in the face. Some of the slime remains on your skin after the attack.

22 damage from the Moonbeam, and 34 damage from the acid; you will also take 6 more damage at the end of your next turn.

[Thokk_Smash]

Sola curses for bungling so hard. She shouldn't have gone into the damn room, but she had thought it would be longer for the thing to come back. Her shield medallion gleams as she points at Rush, just barely diverting what would have been a second sludge to the face.

Charging out of the room, she rips off a sliver of skin from her hand with her teeth. Slashing the blood into the air, she lays down a spell of debilitation upon three of the creatures. "Come at me, you goons!" she yells, standing tall and presenting a good target--well, except for the illusory double of her standing a foot to her left. Or is it the illusion's left, her right?

Move action: Into M8

Standard action: Cast Bane on the guys in R7-9. DC 17 Charisma save or else subtract 1d4 from each attack or saving throw that they make while Sola concentrates.

Bonus action: Make a ruckus.

[TriciaOso]

Back in the alcove, two more of the uniformed creatures emerge from the nozzle in the wall, squeezing out of a tiny hole and slashing at Zarah with the long blades that their arms have become. They each miss once and hack at her with their offhand, leaving behind a stinging coat of acid in addition to the slashing damage.

The five lesser centurions in the hallway look at Sola and then collapse into each other, merging into a single more powerful individual. This uses their turn, but the other one in the corridor fires another two acid arrows at Sola. One goes wide, but the other hits.

14 damage to Sola, and another 7 at the end of her next turn. 22 damage to Zarah.

[Wuff]

Zarah lets out a pained howl, seeming almost defeated for a moment, before the stars in her form glow with a powerful renewed blaze of glorious celestial light. Her wounds rapidly close, and with a growl, she throws out a hand, her starry blood spraying to spatter across Rush's face a little unceremoniously. The light glows where it lands, restoring her health.

She stands firm against her two attacks afterwards, holding her staff before her, ready to strike if they attempt to move past her, or to defend herself if necessary.

Casting a 3rd level Cure Wounds, restoring 23 health to herself and 14 health to Rush with her Starry Chalice.

[tonberryking]

While being sprayed with someone else's blood still gives her nightmares, it also confuses the heck out of poor Rush when she realizes the gusher has a healing effect. Not one to not return favors, she canters and encircles one of Zarah's attackers and it's two more swift strokes of her crimson blades.


[roll0]
[roll1]

[roll2]
[roll3]

[Thokk_Smash]

Cursing, Sola summons divine energy to hasten her movements. She sprints forward, suddenly fast as a bullet, stopping when she is next to both slimes.

"You! You shall be struck down for the good of the light!" She points at the slime to her right as she says this. She swings at the slime...but misses.

Action: Cast Haste on self. Doubled move speed, +2 AC, adv on Dex saves, extra Action for stuff.

Bonus action: Vow of Enmity on slime in Y9, Sola has advantage on attacks against him for 1 minute.

Move action: Move 55ft into X8.

Extra Action: Attack the Vow of Enmity'd slime. Got a 13 with advantage.

[TriciaOso]

Alone in the alcove with two angry warriors, the uniformed Tier Four Centurion explodes in a spray of sticky slime, filling the space with acidic webs. Rush leap clear of the spray, but Zarah is not so lucky, and is engulfed in the slime.

The two Tier Five warriors attack Sola four times, but only one strike even nicks her. The two warriors glance at each other, then slam together, merging into a Large figure with four blade-shaped arms.

Zarah takes 22 acid damage and is restrained; she will take 16 more damage at the end of her turn unless she can break free with a DC 16 Str Check.

Sola takes 1 slashing and 3 acid damage.

[Wuff]

Zarah focuses intensely on herself, feeling incredibly worn down at this point, the spirits seeming distant and her wounds starting to overcome her. She looks on the verge of defeat, barely holding herself up. But still, she manages to gather enough energy to herself to channel more life, sending out a weakened plea into the spirit world, calling on the very vital energy of nature, the warmth of the sun and the light of the stars.

She pulls a potion from somewhere beneath her cloak and imposes the sign of the chalice over it, calling upon all her healing energy. When she raises the potion to drink down the whole thing, it glows with a bright celestial light, the chalice on her lips instantly restoring her nearly broken form. She tosses the chalice aside, ignoring the sizzle of acid upon her skin as she glares down her remaining enemies.


Zarah casts a 3rd level cure for 19.
Zarah applies Starry Chalice for 11.
Zarah drinks a great potion of healing for 17.

Zarah takes 16 damage from the acid restraints and will apply omen to the next enemy to attack her, reducing the attack by -2.

[tonberryking]

Rush, though she's not exactly looking too hot herself after sustaining friendly fire and further acid damage just does not seem to actually care! She runs down one of Zarah's attackers with her red blades silently, trying to hack them apart from under their arms as if there were actual humanoid vitals or arteries there...


[roll0]
[roll1]

[roll2]
[roll3]

[Thokk_Smash]

Sola stands her ground against the suddenly-larger creature. "You face your end! Have at you!" Sola lashes out thrice at the monstrously-large entity.

Action: Attack 1: [roll0], [roll1]
[roll2] + [roll3] radiant wow, crit and got a 1 on the die, feels bad :/

Attack 2: [roll4], [roll5]
[roll6] + [roll7] radiant

Extra Action: [roll8], [roll9]
[roll10] + [roll11] radiant

Move action, Bonus action: Meh

[TriciaOso]

The Oblex centurion retaliates with four slashes, but only one is able to land on the high-speed paladin. The sting of acid on the blade does more harm than the actual slash.

The centurions in the alcove are gone, fled or destroyed, but the burning webs of acid still entangle Zarah.

6 slashing and 7 acid damage to Sola.

10 points of acid damage to Zarah at the end of her turn unless she gets free.

[Wuff]

Zarah rolls around in the acid webbing uselessly, trying to use her staff to throw it off in some way. The constellation of the dragon settles on her as she thrashes to no avail.

"A little help please, Rush."

[tonberryking]

With a gasp, the banged up centaur apologizes profusely under her breath as she anxiously encircles Zarah. With a surgeon's knife precision she eyeballs parts of the net and flick, flick, swish, cuts at them in hopes of freeing her coworker.

[Thokk_Smash]

The blades come in, and Sola dances between them--with aid from her illusory double. She flourishes her blade as she begins her counterattack. "I will still accept your surrender! You are no match for me--let alone all three of us!" she roars, slashing and thrusting thrice with her longsword.

Move + Bonus Action: Meh.

Action: Attack with advantage.

Attack 1: [roll0], [roll1]
[roll2] + [roll3] Crit thanks to Advantage

Attack 2: [roll4], [roll5]
[roll6] + [roll7]

Extra Action: Attack 3: [roll8], [roll9]
[roll10] + [roll11]

All told, I believe the second attack misses, so the total damage is 36

Status: AC: 19 after Haste +2, Concentrating on Haste
Cloak of Displacement forces Disadvantage on attacks against Sola until an attack hits. If it drops, it restarts on the start of her next turn.

[TriciaOso]

The Centurion slashes at her with his bladed arms in turn, landing a few hits. His eyes look past her to the other two, though, very aware the numbers of the battle are shifting.

"What a funny coincidence, I was just about to ask you if you wanted to surrender and come to terms. Employment here is beginning to pale."

26 damage to Sola.

[Wuff]

Zarah nods to Rush in appreciation for a moment, before sliding past her on light elven feet, glowing fiercely with the power of the stars as she strides purposefully towards her target, crossing a surprising amount of distance in a very short time. When she arrives at her destination, she raises her staff, once again using it as a sort of bow limb, pulling back a string made of starlight.

Her breath catches as she fires, and then the two orbiting miniature stars soar towards her target like an omen, portending pain.


Zarah fires a starry arrow at the Centurion, dealing 11 Radiant damage on a 22 to hit.
Zarah fires a guiding bolt at the Centurion, dealing 17 Radiant damage on a 24 to-hit.
Her target glows with starry light, granting the next attack on the target advantage.

[tonberryking]

Rush rears and wheels around, up and charging down the enemy fighting Sola with her broken blade held low. The centurion doesn't even see her coming, bringing her now red, fully formed blade down in a vicious chop before she up and kicks out with her hooves as she touches down.


[roll0]
[roll]7d6+5/roll]

Hooves from a charge:
[roll1]
[roll2]

[Thokk_Smash]

Sola grunts as she takes another slice. "Your employer's sanity is slipping, and you stand alone against three of us--and Rush has already single-handedly slain a handful of you. I do believe the odds favor us, so I shall say it once more--SURRENDER!"

Sola caps off her demand with three further slashes, her illusory double slicing along with her.

Action: Attack 1: [roll0], [roll1]
[roll2] + [roll3]

Attack 2: [roll4], [roll5]
[roll6] + [roll7]

Extra Action: Attack 3: [roll8], [roll9]
[roll10] + [roll11]

[TriciaOso]

When you're done slashing, the creature standing before you is reduced to the pale green, smallish figure you first encountered. It sighs, and a thin tendril of slime running from it into a nozzle on the wall snaps and it shivers, then pops like a soap bubble, leaving a slimy sizzling puddle.

[Thokk_Smash]

"Curses," Sola swears, still breathing heavily.

Becoming slightly impatient, Sola strides down the halls, looking in each room as they come. They stumble across a room of magical surveillance that Sola is unfamiliar with, but it shows other places.

"This seems like a good place to rest. We can keep an eye on the rest of the place while we recuperate."

Sola sits down heavily, setting her shield to the side.

[TriciaOso]

As you rest, you have time to familiarize yourself with the security system and what it shows.

None of the arcane eyes show the beholder. You see a LOT of different maintenance alcoves; the elevator; the four elemental rifts; the barracks; the sculpture gardens and other art; the throne room, which has a teleportation circle in it. Several of them are focused on rifts that you can't easily identify. One chamber holds a small, fast-looking spelljammer ship, and you see the Oblex Centurion commandeer and escape in this. The giff seem concentrated in the throne room and the barracks.

The books are novels; apparently this was a boring job sometimes.

Eventually you see one of the rifts begin to flex and sputter, then pop out a creature. It looks like an imp. It sniffs around the stone room it seems to find itself in, then turns to begin to claw at the edges of the rift.

[tonberryking]

{Were we supposed to be taking that skiff?} Rush has returned to using her psychic communication, the centaur seemingly shrugging off her wounds with varied flicks of her tail, as she brushes her lower body down with the sides of her hands.

{The lack of a big eyeball monster is worrying me, though. Whatever you want to sabotage, I say we do it now and then strike for the art gallery, grab those kids and flee before it realizes it's dealing with intruders AND desertions all at once.}

[Thokk_Smash]

Sola barks out a laugh. "Nah, we have the teleport and the kiddos have their junk ship," she says with a grin. "I think the slime-guy just pulled a runner."

She grunts as she gets to her feet. Taking her time, she inspects the alcove and the surrounding area, though not too far. Surveillance stuff should be fine to mess around with, if Lens said to just avoid life support. Sola motions to the others to back off in the direction of the elevator. Then, taking the frag grenade in hand, she pulls the pin, sets it down, then books it away from the imminent explosion.

[TriciaOso]

The grenade explodes, sending shards of crystal and arcane elements into the hallway and a reek of smoke.

Unfortunately, with the surveillance equipment destroyed, it's not clear how the giff are reacting to this action, but the bleating alarm and the way the elevator suddenly lurches to life is a clue. The door slams down and the box glides away, phasing through the wall on its way somewhere else.

[Thokk_Smash]

Sola watches their exit disappear with dismay. "Well, that's unfortunate," she thinks out loud. "I was hoping they'd use a different way to get here. Zarah, put up a Pass Without a Trace, please, and let's hide near the elevator. We'll take it to the throne room after the Giff come out."

[Wuff]

Zarah nods, calling upon nature and the spirits to cloak them from the approaching Giff. Her magic dampens all the sound around them, every step muffled as if muffled by a layer of damp leaves. She pulls her cloak around herself at the same time, appearing like a bundle of feathers and fur from a distance.

She follows along with Sola's instructions, slinking behind her, holding her staff ready to bash a few skulls in if it comes to that. With the celestial glow having now long faded, she has returned to looking like her grizzled, worldly self.


Cast Pass Without Trace
Stealth: 29

[tonberryking]

Rush just follows along dutifully, tensing up subtly and keeping her broken blade ready in an ice pick grip if she needs to make use of it...



Stealth: [roll0]

[TriciaOso]

The elevator ghosts back through the wall and announces its presence with the grinding opening of the damaged door; you hear the giff kick it vigorously to get it to open. That elevator is not doing great.

Then a large group of giff--maybe ten or a dozen--tramp out and march past your alcove in double time.

They don't see you at all.

Once they are around the bend, you all pile into the elevator; but even as you reach for the panel, it lurches into life again, the light for the barracks flashing.

[Thokk_Smash]

“No, no, that is not part of the plan,” Sola mumbles with murderous invective. She slams a finger on the stone for the throne room. Her heart skips when nothing happens for a second, and her eyes light up when the keyhole lights up. “Oh, so that’s what you do,” she grins as she slips the key into the keyhole. She presses the stone for the throne room again, just in case.

[TriciaOso]

There's a subtle jerk as the elevator redirects and brings you to the throne room.

The throne room is large and circular, with arched doorways around it. There's no actual throne--eyeballs don't need chairs--but there is a sort of raised dais with an audience receiving space in front of it. The ceiling is high and delicately painted with grotesque things. The lighting actually comes from the ceiling, from behind the distorted and screaming figures.

As soon as you leave the elevator, two things happen:

First, it departs, returning to the call in the barracks presumably.

Second, a teleportation circle on the far side of an arch lights up, and something comes through. It's spherical, and has tentacles tipped with eyeballs dangling from its crown. A nasty little mouth screams behind a huge eyeball. The whites of the eye are stained black and the pupil is blood red. As the cone of the eye opens fully, everything blacks out. No light; you are plunged deep in darkness.

[Wuff]

Zarah strains to see in the darkness for a moment before just unleashing her celestial power with a dramatic flourish, the stars alighting about her form to hopefully illuminate some of her surroundings, her staff glowing with celestial power.

As she raises it high, it burns brighter, a miniature sun seeming to form atop it, attempting to burn away some of the darkness as it fires towards the last place she had seen the beholder with a furious blaze. As the beam flares up and out, a pair of celestial arrows fire out from her staff in the same direction.

"Let's put out some of those eyes!" Zarah motions for her companions to move forward.


Cast sunbeam, deal 31 radiant damage and blinds for 1 turn on a failed con 17 save. Half as much on a successful save and no blind effect.

Celestial arrow deals 14 radiant damage on an attack roll of 24.

[TriciaOso]

The starry power spreads through your form, but can't seem to shed any light into the outside world. In the same way, you feel the miniature sun kindle on your staff, but you can't see it. You can't see anything. No power seems to extend from the sun; indeed, it feels like all you can do to maintain in it in the face of the darkness.

[tonberryking]

Instinct kicks in for the dark centaur; Rush had globes like this dropped on her when she was a mindless killing machine and with one arm feeling against the wall she gallops around the room until she emerges and spots the Beholder. Unable to stand still, shifting on her hooves, she nearly bolts for cover but in her heart she recalls she has allies now... and that big eye is shooting the darkness out from it.

She takes a wild guess and hurls a shrieking red blade at it from across the room.


[roll0]
[roll1]

[TriciaOso]

The blade of psychic energy slashes into the pallid grey skin of the Blind Eye, and one of the eyestalks stares directly at you, firing a beam of pale greenish energy. You feel instantly, horribly, ill. Your stomach churns, your muscles ache, and your head rings.

As you dwell on your sudden sickness, the beholder moves away to the left, pivoting to swing the cone back over you, and all three of you are engulfed in darkness again as it fires a salvo of eyebeams into the cone of shadow.

Zarah and Rush jerk out of the way of the beams; Sola, you feel a spell trying to settle over you and steel your will to resist.

"How dare youuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu!" howls a petulant, insane voice. "In my hooooome! Murderers! Betrayers! Monsters! Get out get out GET OUT!" You hear a choked sob. "Why is everyone so horrible to meeeeeee."

[Thokk_Smash]

Sola hears the whining voice and shakes her head in disbelief. Her mouth is full, so she sprints to the left. She is relieved to break through the darkness. Spying her target, she breaks the vial of Displacer essence and is teleported directly next to the beholder.

"Maybe it's because you're trying to play god and steal your own world, and it's definitely because you petrify people and put them up as morbid art displays!" She readies her blade and says, "Let your wickedness blind you." Her sword is limned in a faint, radiant glow, and she strikes at the monstrosity twice.

Move: To the left, enough to break through the darkness.

Reaction: Use the Displacer Beast essence to Dimension Door adjacent to the beholder in K12.

Bonus action: Cast Blinding Smite.

Action: Two attacks
Attack 1: [roll0]
[roll1] + [roll2] Radiant damage

Attack 2: [roll3]
[roll4] + [roll5] Radiant damage

The first one of those that hit deals an extra [roll6] Radiant damage, and forces a DC 17 Con save. On a failure, the target is blinded for the duration.

[TriciaOso]

The Blind Eye screeches and fires another beam into the darkness, and a tentacle erupts from the painting covering the dome of the room, lashing out for Sola. It snags around her ankle, but she activates her ring of evasion and escapes it. More tentacles begin to tendril out from the walls on both sides, and blind staring red eyes open as the lair defenses activate.

[Wuff]

Zarah runs to her left, holding her staff out before her until she breaks out into the light, her feet carrying her further than she expected. When free, she tries again, swishing her staff through the air for a few moments as her magic blazes up again into the glory it should have had.

With a flick, she attempts to send the beam of light out once more, aiming directly for the beast. This time, she's more certain of herself, the celestial arrows spinning around her figure before darting out with a certain radiance.

"If you don't want to be attacked then just stop being so evil!"

Sunbeam deals 39 radiant damage if it lands, half if the save is successful.

Her star archer arrow does 18 radiant damage if it hits on a 15.

[tonberryking]

Rush pivots right, letting her flying horseshoes take over as loops around the cone of darkness, trying to help flank the beholder, not knowing if such a tactic can be employed aerially... She doesn't offer any comment, no smart aleck comment, she just flicks her red blade into being and takes a devastating swing at it with a death glower.


[roll0]
[roll1] [roll2] if SA is applicable

[roll3]

[TriciaOso]

The Blind Eye screeches even more hideously, and fires off another round of rays from its eyes. Zarah is hit with a devastating necrotic blast, and Sola is slowed, but Rush shrugs off a telekinetic grasp.

The creature dodges away from both Rush and Sola, pivoting the cone of shadow to catch all three of you. Then the shadow drops, and you can see again, but the Blind Eye is nowhere to be seen.

Neither is the throne room.

You find yourselves in a leafy, cool forest; the smell of jasmine from the trees is lovely, especially for Sola and Rush, perched in them. You are in a circular clearing, about the same size as the throne room. There is a tall stone menhir where the throne once stood. Animals chatter and play in the distance.

In the lower southeast corner of the room is a blazing ball of multicolored light, hovering over the grass. It greets you with a laughing voice.

"Hello, children~"

[Thokk_Smash]

Sola groans, in slow-motion, as she spies another beholder. "Don't...tell...me..."

She moves as slowly as she speaks, moving towards Zarah. "Are you...a literal...split personality...of B'xenon?" she yells, still feeling like she's moving through molasses. "Zarah...get close...to me!"

As she readies herself, she pushes out her senses to tell if the creature is a fiend or otherwise.

Move action: 15ft down to L15

Action: Use Divine Sense, Sola can sense anything affected by the hallow spell or know the location of any celestial, fiend, undead within 60 ft. that is not behind total cover.

End of turn: Dex save against Slowing effect: [roll0]

[tonberryking]

With the stupefied expression of an equine based lifeform suddenly stuck in a tree, Rush shoves off the branch and gently fly/floats down, preparing an energy blade to hurl at the first sign of aggression.

"Don't call me a child. What did you do?!" she demands of the sentient orb.

[Wuff]

Zarah shakes for a moment from the shock of the necrotic power, then glows with a spiritual light, a green force seeming to envelop and then radiate from her. The damage done by the evil force falls off her like a shrugged cloak, as well as her slowness.

She takes in her surroundings for just a moment, moving closer to Sola obligingly, more out of confusion than anything else.

Curiously, she slides her staff of the woodlands into her magical quiver, and, on an instinct, pulls her pan pipes from her belt, eyebrows raised at the eye creature.

"Are you a friend?"

[TriciaOso]

"I...."

The Súile Nimhe revolves suddenly on the spot and fires an eyebeam of faerie fire--not at the party, but north, at thin air. The spray of light outlines and illuminates the shadowy form of the invisible Blind Eye, which shrieks. The Súile Nimhe shrieks back and they both exchange a vigorous fire of profanity and of of eyebeams--colorful and eye-searing from the fey beholder, dark and darker from the shadowy one.

Due to the damage you already inflicted, it's not contest. When the Súile Nimhe turns back to you, its glossy cocoon of light is dinged and scuffed, but the Blind Eye is a greasy smear on the grass.

"~Ahem.~"

"Dear children, I am not B'Xenon... but perhaps I am what he might have been. And perhaps I might be your friend too~ :smile:

"Did you know? Something wonderful is happening here~~~~~~~~~

"I do hope you don't intend to interfere."

[Thokk_Smash]

Sola places a hand on Zarah's shoulder and pushes a burst of radiant healing to close more of her wounds. Then she grips the woman's shoulder tighter as a nonverbal warning.

This is getting weirder and crazier. Is this thing a product of the beholder's madness? Is it real? It seems real enough. Maybe she thinks she remembers something about beholders thinking they're the only things in the world? Did this thing actually make a world on its own?

"Well, pleasure to meet you, I suppose," Sola says with a good enough smile. She's smiled through worse things. "I'm curious, what exactly is happening here? I can't imagine two beholders being in the same area at the same time normally."

[TriciaOso]

It laughs hysterically. "No we hate that!"

"B'xenon has become a vessel... this rock was a still-borne universe... filled with the potential for being. A beholder coming here... B'xenon is becoming. Becoming a world! A world I will rule!" It giggles joyfully. "I will be their only god, their only soul!" And suddenly rageful: "I will not share it with the others."

[Thokk_Smash]

While the creature is expositing, displaying a frankly disturbing number of distinct personalities and mood swings, Sola connects to the mental link Rush had forged between them all. "Rush, the statues are in the upper left corner of the room. Find the bird party and start unpetrifying them while we talk to the thing."

Outwardly, Sola just nods at the beholder's words. "Well, that sounds incredible." The first word is meant as a swear, but by all accounts sounds like an exclamation of being impressed. "I'm not given much to reading, sadly, so forgive my confusion. If I can ask, who are you? What should we call you?"

[tonberryking]

Rush seems... confused, and frustrated, her hooves stamping, tail raising in anger, but with her psychic link as an anchor, she takes Sola's advice and heads for the arch, shaking her head and trying not to cry out...

[TriciaOso]

Once again, as soon as you break line of sight with the feyholder, the illusion drops. The room beyond the arch is a large curving space with a fountain at one end and another arch at the other, leading into another gallery. Gravel pathways wind between statues of humanoids with expressions of horror and distress. (In the illusion, they look like chattering monkeys.)

At the end of the room by the arch are three statues of bird-like humanoids of different kinds. One of the statues is damaged, an arm broken off.

"Excuse me!!" trills the Súile Nimhe. "Where is she going? I was SPEAKING."

[Thokk_Smash]

Sola goes, "Hmm?" and looks over towards where Rush was. She blinks owlishly. "Maybe she's having trouble being in the presence of a being that will become a god," Sola offers with a confused smile. "I hope you understand, that kind of thing doesn't happen every lifetime."

[Wuff]

Zarah moves in with her pipes. "Don't think it's happened in my lifetime, that's for sure." She grunts briefly before closing her eyes and measuring the ambience. A small bonfire flares to life before her, lending some warmth and a friendly orange glow, and then she begins to play, raising a soft windy tune in the area.

As she plays, a soft corona of light settles about her, fireflies appearing from the ether to accompany the performance. She pauses to adjust her playing, and uses the break to speak. "Allow me to play for you, for a while. You musn't have many visitors here. I could entertain you in other ways, too."

And then she brings the pan pipes back to her mouth blowing out a gentle, windy noise in the hopes of drawing some attention. Glow worms and click bugs joining the fireflies already about her, a party of luminescent bugs lending some much needed attention-attracting light to the performance.

[TriciaOso]

"Ooh!" As you no doubt know, fey creatures are rarely able to exist the opportunity to get funky, and the Súile Nimhe is no exception.

It begins to dance, cycling through a bewildering array of colors, and singing a little nonsense rhyme as it does. With each change of color, the illusion cast over the room changes, although it retains the same basic shapes: an amphitheater on a beach! a glass room on the top of a tower in a great city of brass and marble!! a dark and glistening cave of crystalline stone, like being inside a great geode!

"B'xenon is becoming, becoming, becoming
and the rifts are yawning, yawning, yawning
and the ones that aren't controlled
are beginning to behold
and soon they will be spawning, spawning, spawning!"

"Oh but there should never be, be, be
Another being as grand as me, me, me
The spawn must be undone
until there is only one
And I can be a diety, -ty, -ty

It giggles and stops singing, still shimming back and forth. "First were spawned the Blind Eye and me, and the Blinker! I've killed them both! The Elemental Planes are under control! But other rifts, Outer Planar rifts, have formed, and more beholders are spawning! They are young and weak now and must be destroyed! And when they are gone I will rule the universe within B'xenon, I alone!"

"My minions have betrayed me! But I'm sure I can trust you to help me! If I try to destroy all four by myself, one will surely escape before I can make it! But if you help me--if you nice ladies help me, yes, yes, we can destroy them all!"

Make a Wisdom saving throw at disadvantage.

[tonberryking]

Rush makes a show of looking around for the arm. The poor dear is just so fascinated by the sculptures on display that she forgot to give proper respect to the Beholder. ...Really. Don't read into it as anything suspicious. Facing away from the monster and others she light finger tugs out a shapeless sack from her leather armor as she continues to lightly hoof around the statues...


[roll0] Crappy deception roll to appear like she's just and obsessive art critic
[roll1] Perception to find the missing arm
[roll2] Stealth
[roll3] Sleight of Hand--she's only going to try to nick one statue into the bag of holding at a time...

[Wuff]

Zarah is completely on board with this magical beholder show and is ready to go murder some beholders already. She scoots on over to the paladin and nudges her while still playing, glancing over to where Rush is. When Rush comes on clopping back over, she removes the pipes from her lips, the illusions slowly fading out in a series of winking lights.

"I'm all for it! Point the way, I vote that we take the fiendish and chaotic realms, our paladin would be better suited there. But what do we think, pack?" Zarah looks really unusually pleased with herself, much in the same way she did when yanking the tusk out of Rod's mouth, much like a domesticated animal who has hauled in a fresh kill to the dismay of their owner.

[TriciaOso]

Rush is able to scoop up all three statues into a bag of holding and quietly return to the throne room without attracting further attention from the distracted Súile Nimhe.

"Yes! Yes! The Gibbering Orb! The Ojo! Make them your prey!"

The Ophanim and the Talionis I will destroy!" It giggles joyfully as it continues to dance, and one of its eyebeams begins to fire, creating four portals.

[Thokk_Smash]

Sola nods along with the Beholder's last statements after her song. It's a great idea--they need to get rid of all of the Beholders, after all, and now they've got help. "I'm almost dry on spells, but hopefully what I've got will be enough to get by. Let's take those damn things out," she says with a confident nod.

[tonberryking]

Rush sort of boggles at her two friends, trying not to look the beholder in the... well... you know. Not that her own eyes aren't still partly hidden by her bangs, but the centaur seems caught in headlights, unaware of what either Sola or Zarah are up to.

{...Girls? Are both of you okay?} Um, well, gee... I'm kinda just hanging out with...um... my friends here so I'll follow them?" she sends two different messages one after the other, nervously smiling.

[Thokk_Smash]

"Yeah, I'm fine. The Feyholder just made a really good point, we can't beat five Beholders by ourselves." Sola's mental message is as confident as it ever is, no indication of hesitation or wavering. Which is kinda odd, y'know, it's even odds that Sola would be plotting to take down the Feyholder as well because, well, she hasn't seemed very partial to Beholders previously. But gosh, Sola just seems so convinced by the Feyholder's plan.

[tonberryking]

Her tail drooping, no longer flicking about, Rush carries a double burden of both confusion and desperation, not trusting her luck to hold out before the beholder realizes they've been ripped the hell off, before the centaur tries to shepherd her compatriots in the direction she thinks the elevator's in.

"Well.. um...what's the phrase?" her hood hides it rather well but she's started to sweat, "No time like the present? Um... come on girls, we should get going to deal with this pesky problem."

[TriciaOso]

Your friends gently steer you away from the wall where the elevator had appeared, and towards one of the four rifts the feyholder had opened.

The space on the other side of the rift is... uncomfortable. Any of you with an experience confronting pure, elemental evil will recognize the prickling of your skin and the churn of your stomach. The space is vast and dark, the ill-defined surface underfoot and overhead studded with tortured spikes of firmament. The air is freezing to your lungs even as the heat is oppressive. Overall, you would say that this bubble of space... hates you.

It is quite small and unfinished, and floating in the center is the reason why; an orb, with channels of malignant energy flowing into it instead of out into the rift. The Evil beholder is absorbing the planar energies that should be shaping this rift into a Hell. It is uglier than a normal beholder, which is saying a lot, with thick chitinous armor. Instead of eyestalks, it has thorns that pierce the plates of its armor and are covered with eyes that look crazed, fearful, or filled with hate. The central eye is closed.

It's also quite small, comparatively, about the size of a human head.

[Thokk_Smash]

"C'mon, Rush," Sola says as they enter the Evil portal. "We came here to kill a beholder, after all. What does it matter if we have to kill two instead of one?"

Once they are inside of the rift, Sola draws her blade once more. With a clarion cry, she rushes at the monstrosity and cleaves into it twice.

Move: Into Close range of it.

Action: Attack
Attack #1: [roll0], [roll1] + [roll2] Radiant Damage

Attack #2: [roll3], [roll4] + [roll5] Radiant Damage

[Wuff]

Zarah charges into the rift, stars forming about her staff as she moves. As she comes to a stop, she sends the celestial magic out with a flick, sending searing light forward in the general direction of the beholder. "Die, fiend!" She yells, almost threateningly.

Perhaps the forming hellscape startled her a little, since her aim is... A little off.

12 Attack (nat 1)
15 radiant damage.

[TriciaOso]

All the blows deflect off the armor of the Evil Eye, which to be fair is curled up like an armadillo, offering almost no weak points.

The clanging of blows seems to awaken it, though, and the central eye opens, blasting out a cone of energy. Those of you who have been witnesses to pure incarnate evil recognize the feeling. In the bewildering cone of hatred emanating from the creature, it seems impossible to tell friend from foe.

There are no visible eyestalks on it--but then three spiky horns or growths punch through the armor from within, studded with rolling, terrified or maniacal eyes that search in all directions. One of the horns fires a beam at Sola.

[tonberryking]

Rush is inwardly bemoaning their luck, wishing little more than to scram with the petrified party in tow, but she can't leave the other girls behind. So here she is, galloping in a wide arc before pivoting and bringing in two swings with her angry red blades.


[roll0]
[roll1]
[roll2]
[roll3]

[Thokk_Smash]

Sola is barely bothered by the ray of necrotic energy that lances out at her. With a cry of righteous fury, she lashes out at the creature twice more with her flashing blade.

Action: Attack 1: [roll0], [roll1]+[roll2] Radiant damage

Attack 2: [roll3], [roll4]+[roll5] Radiant damage

[TriciaOso]

Between the two of you, you easily hack apart the beholderspawn.

The moment you do, the knot of Evil energies it was absorbing unravels, and the space around you flexes and expands. The darkness is vast now, and stirring. The portal created by the feyholder is still close at hand, however.

You don't currently see or sense anything further to fight, but you recall seeing imps crawling out of
a rift on the security eyes. As long as B'Xenon is continuing to birth its universe, this rift will remain as a locus of evil. It will no longer spawn a new beholder, though.

[Thokk_Smash]

Sola shakes the blood off of her blade with a decisive slash in the air, then sheathes it. "Now, let us be off to the second portal," she says, turning to leave the way they had came.