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The Heart of Varunmund

by Steel Claw

We investigated the mystic forge a bit longer before we had to stop; Murg reasoned we needed to find something -- instructions or a container -- before we could learn more. Theo decided the blue sword would be made into a crossbow body -- and handed it to Steel. Murg tossed in a spare magical item (a +1 mace). Out came the same weapon, yet somehow improved by magic (now a +2 mace).

The mystic forge triggered something in Argbarr: he remembered that he had previously been in the generator room with a male dwarf. "We came for treasure, but found something else."

We heard a sound from the mystic forge. Murg had consulted Abbadar, and with his god's blessing threw his divine gavel into the arcane flux. Light and sound engulfed the room. The forge seemed to react with the radiant energy, and as Abbadar's cleric pulled his gavel from the pool, it reforged into a weapon greater than before (a holy avenger mace, in a way).

There was a porticullis off to a side hallway that Theo found, and we all crowded inside. Our wizard forged forwards, finding a door cloaked in arcane shadow. It spoke to him, and as he tried to attune to the door, the dark forces seemed to press on Theo.

Leaving this room alone for a moment, we followed Theo back down the hallway to another room. Inside an antechamber a ten-sided blue crystal floated in midair; approaching caused the gem to "explode", each panel floating outwards to create panes of colored glass. Theo reached out, and a voice spoke to the wizard asking for a command. The device was an arcane assistant, and explained it was attached to the tower as a sort of greater intelligence. As for the previous room (to the south), the soul of an abboleth is tied to the entrance as a protection; interfering would at the very least result in madness. It identified itself simply as "Varunmund". Steel stepped in to ask questions, learning that the tower was at least six hundred years old, and that the material was called "mythicite". It told Theo that it would open the way forward through the paradox staircase. But instead of a staircase, we found a series of teleporters.

Through the rooms

The next two rooms, Theo noted, "seems like the inside of a warforged". As we all stepped through, most of the magic-users noticed a high pitched, consistent, droning tone. Like an engine running in the background. The room led to another large chamber, with a pool of liquid weave underneath a teleportation circle (pad). The Varunmund intelligence had a room here, and it told us this floor had a backup weave generator (to the primary downstairs). Also, we learned the boneclaw's home is the fabled third floor, and had killed all other living things in Varunmund.

Varunmund enlightened us that Adaralmus was friends with Kreethi, and helped him fetch the shard of his blade that struck down the giants' ordnung. It spoke as well (to Murg) about the tower's fate and purpose, which it notably was not allowed to explain. This... made us suspicious.

We moved to the southern room, full of skeletons, and liberated more mythicite armor from them. Farther still, Theo found a giant language inscription: "What can't you see that is always ahead of you". "The future," we agreed, and the door revealed a teleportation pad. The hallway to said circle was flanked by statues of giants, wearing finery and clothes that seemed like royalty of a time long passed.

Visions

As Theo passed the statues, he was struck by another vision, like the giant shaman had told him before. "

Argbarr saw the vision too. And then he lost it, screaming and clutching his head. It took all four of us to calm him, with Theo and his sight "entering" Argbarr's psyche to soothe him.
"I remember."
Argbarr's mind had been crushed by the sight (the same as Theo's), and the cause of his madness. It grew rose when he and his five companions came to Varunmund. The other five were killed by the boneclaw, and miraculously Argbarr survived.
His name, by the way, is Argus Barellion.

Theo passed through the teleporter, and confronted with a dangerous red weave-mist attuned accordingly. The next room was small, with a read flame seal on the ground. Unsurprisingly, Izol lit the seal to discover yet another teleportation.

In the next room, we all pressed against the walls. In the small space, white beams of arcane energy crisscrossed the room threatening to rip us to pieces. Steel failed to reache betwene them, burning his tricep and ruining part of his arm. Yet between Argus and Theo, with the mythicite dagger, our group managed to open a nearby mythicite panel and switch off the trap. The room after was a kind of control room, with dials and switches and the like all labelled in giant. One wall held a mural: a night sky with a black star that magically glittered. Beneath it stood a robed wizard, holding a scroll and a wand as he looked "into" the mural to the star.

From the gauges, Theo read that the center of the tower was labelled "the cradle". He remarked about how parts of mythicite circuitry looked broken or incorrectly placed. Steel, feeling bigger than himself, nodded along as he listened and fiddle with his tools. But when he put his artificing instruments to his mythicite crossbow body to try and create a fix for the tower's inner workings, his artificer's tools promptly snapped and broke from the sheer hardness of the blue material.
"Fuck."

Meanwhile, the party put together that the mural referenced the calamity that was to befall Ibrithil. On the mural, the wizard's wand and scroll as well as the moon lit up when touched. A magic revealed the cloaked wizard, a red-spined dragonborn or lizardman. Then the mural moved, and a room materialized behind it.

We were now in a room with a shallow pool of liquid weave. The ceiling was domed, and the perimeter held lenses (four; one in each corner) on swivels or axes that could move their direction. The dome in this room held a mural, a giant warrior shielding himself from a dragon breathing red fire on the hero. A firebolt conjured magma from the pool, but to no effect. But casting at the lenses, the magic imbued the lenses with red arcane energy, reflected off of each to create (after a time) a circuit of energy. Above, this split the mural in six pieces, revealing the intelligence crystal of Varunmund. In turn it "activated" the pool of liquid mana in the room, and the pipes in this room filled with the stuff to turn the tower on and open a door for us.

Varunmund, in some way, is back to life.
But no doubt the boneclaw has been alerted as well.

And now for either the core and the tower's secrets, or to Adaralmus' tomb and the end of the tower's (and the boneclaw's) existence.

Six hexagonal seams

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The Heart of Varunmund

Through the rooms

Visions

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