From behind the door, they could still hear the bleep-bloop-ooooeeeee-blip of some outlandish technology at work. This time, Kerplak deactivated the magical trap on the door and then opened it.
Inside they found a room lined with arcane devices humming and flickering with energy. Connected by copper pipes and hoses of some strange material, the multitude of devices were linked to a 40ft tall stone and metal ring at the end of the room. Glowing with runes, the ring surrounded a rippling image, like a tapestry of light showing a view of a magnificent city. In the image, races of all kinds walked the broad and golden streets of a mighty metropolis, shining with precious metals, glittering with jewels. Pennants fluttered from spires high above the streets before a back drop of the Mhar Massif. The party were viewing Xin Shalast as it once was at the height of Karzoug’s empire. The scope of the view was, all at once so large that it showed the vastness of the city yet also so detailed that they could make out interactions between its inhabitants.
All of this technology was not unattended. Quite the opposite, a dozen robed Men of Leng flitted between devices, tapping unlabeled buttons, shifting levers slightly and tweaking dials here and there. The party tried to get some kind of response from them, Ron being diplomatic I believe, but they barely glanced at him as they continued whatever weird science this was.
Tersplink decided to put some fear into these men… the same men who will cut their own throats just to prove a point. The gnome stepped forward and in an intimidating way demanded that they – … They charged him.
Tearing off face scarves, the men revealed their complex jaw arrangements which seemed to involve more joints and barbels than the traditional human arrangement. Their tongues, certainly, were non traditional, being several barbed tentacles with which they sought to tear the skin from the interlopers. En masse, the MoL crowded the party at the entrance to the room, howling and shrieking in anger.
Arradin managed to get a hit in before the Angel swept her Holy longsword around in a graceful arc and annihilated a MoL that had stepped up to her. He literally flew apart, gobbets of his flesh turning to motes of light and whipping towards the portal at the other end of the room. One of the runes on the outer ring of the portal went dim and the party became aware of something getting closer on the other side of the portal. Albedon cast Icy Prison on one of the men, trapping him in 14″ of ice, which is… kind of badass. Tersplink brought up a Wall of Ice behind the men, bisecting the room.
The Angel and Arradin, meanwhile, continued swinging around swords, the Angel reliably carving her Holy weapon through these evildoers with considerable ease. Spellcasters stole a couple of kills with low level spells. Kerplak, invisible as the Men rushed them, nimbly ducked between the oncoming attackers and arrived behind them. Dagfinn, finally taking a break from answering all his fanmail and returning to adventuring took up a Frightening song, scaring all but one of the Men away, causing them to run 20ft to the Wall of Ice then turn and resume fighting. Ron had been flicking shuriken at the Men to good effect, but as the fight started to wind down he successfully grappled and pinned a MoL, with Arradin stepping in to gut the alien with her sword.
As all this was going on, two things were happening; Albedon were quickly interrogating the MoL trapped in ice and MoL were being slaughtered left right and center, flying apart at the point of death and into the increasingly unstable portal. The mech-magic items that powered or regulated the portal were in bad shape now too; boiling over, imploding, sparking dangerously or bursting into blue flame. At first all they got from the trapped MoL was screaming, but Albedon and Tersplink persisted – what will happen if that portal is destroyed? The MoL eventually calmed down enough to scream that Karzoug would return to this world.
So as the last of the fighting MoL died and the portal device began to rapidly deteriorate, (helped along by Kerplak dicking around with the mechanisms), they girded their loins for the emergence of the Runelord from the portal.
What actually emerged wasn’t the Runelord, which is good news. The MoL wasn’t lying, but what was probably more important was what would not happen if the portal was destroyed. As only Ron appeared to recall, what would not happen was that the entity Mhar would not be released by the redirected soul energy and the world would not be eaten as the nourishing caul of the newly reborn Elder God.
So they just saved the world. That’s pretty great, right?
It’ll make Karzoug happy too, because now – or at least in 35 hours – he’ll have a world to tyrannize. I imagine that his gratitude will extend as far as having the party and everyone they know dipped in boiling Platinum, rather than some lesser metal that wouldn’t show his full appreciation.
Except that the destruction of the portal had caused the image to shift to that of a shattered and crumbling Xin-Shalast, far beyond its current decrepitude. And when you fuck around with that much time-viewing, as Dagfinn knows, you attract things. Things that seek to prevent the manipulation of time for reasons entirely their own. The Hounds of Tindalos. In his Liao-inspired visions, Dagfinn had seen a towering Hound tearing apart the mountainsides with his very gaze. Now, stepping from the collapsing portal, the Hound of Tindalos filled the end of the room with thick blue fog. Tersplink Dispel-ed that and the party saw the huge creature advance, its gaze causing the remaining equipment and considerable amounts of masonry to fly apart. It swept its gaze over Arradin, but she stood resolute and the powerful warping energy passed over her.
Arradin, Ron, Dagfinn and the Angel moved in to tackle the thing. Tersplink found that he was unable to find any kind of mind to affect with his spells. The Hound attacked, clawing at the attackers. Its thin, bladelike tongue passed right through Ron’s head, incorporeally flaying some of the smarts off of Ron’s brain. But the Hound was no match for the now phenomenally outfitted Arradin, who is a gleaming golden tank. The Angel is a handy ally to have around too, at least when you’ve agreed ahead of time that Evil Must Die. The Hound collapsed in on itself, weighed down by the multitude of attacks. Kerplak hurt himself, and his crossbow, but when doesn’t he?
With that, I think, they started to think about resting with only two unexplored areas of the tower to go.
Sean brought macaroons this week and Rolland brought cookie dough cupcakes last week. This means my long plan to have baked goods brought to my house isn’t just working, it is working reliably! I think I’m giving the CA award to Ben for Tersplink’s build. He has created a great utility-sorceror who can pretty much help out in any situation, often in creative ways. You tend to see it making a difference when everyone else is running low on spells, so that’s why I’m noticing it more.
Also, people are losing track of what they are doing. That’s understandable since the goal hasn’t changed much recently, but there have been many obstacles. And the goal is complicated. But that’s what the blog is for…
Here is 9000xp in a pot. That pot will be divided by every player who responds to this post. Only one person responding? They’ll get all 9000xp. Two people? 4500xp apiece.
Boom. I win all the xp.
So far, YES!
Can I get in on the reward if I didn’t show up last week? If it helps I have a bag of what I think it Chinese beef jerky for Thursday.
4500xp each so far…
Hey hye-
i love the blog! can i HAZ xp?
You move back to Minnesota and I’ll give you all the XP I can!
How is it going Dave? We miss you!
meh…muncie still blows!
I cast Bigby’s XP Gaining Comment.
3000 each now…
Alright, closing this contest, well done Jim, Ben and Rolland. And, in spirit at least, Dave B.