Session XIX - Power
12th of Tororima, 560 AL
The shatter spell from Strattora echoes out as the Omniforge of the Sonapailes springs into action. The workshop technologists blast water spells into Strattora and Melinoe as Cornelius and Astra attempt to wrest control of the golden command scepter from Talessi Goldbound. Talessi, the Marid leader of the factory, greedily clutches the scepter. He uses it to command the unfinished Shardlight Colossus to kill the intruders. The creature rumbles to life and charges at Melinoe and Strattora in a terrible frenzy. It stomps them with colossal footfalls like quaking earth, knocking them to the ground and severely wounding them.
As the creature rages, the scepter is forcefully removed by a telekinetic wrenching from Cornelius. In a panic, the marid flees upwards as Astra bombards him with mortar bullets. Talessi teleports away from the party, plane-shifting deep within the tunnel on the other side of the Jade Gate. The use of such a spell implies at least that the area lies within another plane or extradimensional space.
At the same time, Kirasum floats above the workshop blackboats and utters a booming threat at the workshop's mages. She attempts to talk them down from fighting, but they seem resolute in defending the factory. Flint attempts a similar threat: a path of peace by Vedem's will, or the road of war by Synedda's might. The shell-shocked technologists take a moment, but with a glance from their leader Talessi, they steel themselves to fight until the end.
Kirasum raises an almighty hand and brings forth a rain of lightning spears from above. She skewers the remaining technologists, stunning them with calamitous power. Strattora and Melinoe fend off the remaining technologists as one of them summons a powerful water elemental to do battle. It engulfs Strattora and batters her around before being pierced by Kirasum's lightning. In a fury, Kirasum kills the technologist harrying Strattora with a powerful chain lightning spell.
Cornelius waves the command scepter. He miraculously pieces together the gestures and commands to bend the colossal war golem to his will. He then orders the Shardlight Colossus to attack the Omniforge furnace. It complies immediately, bashing into the contraption with the full force of its frame.
The "Dreadbane" tiefling takes action, summoning a magical spear to skewer the nearby technologists. He harpoons another and tosses them headlong into lava. The tiefling rushes to the Grand Gate to hold them off as reinforcements arrive.
Kirasum urges the party to venture deeper into the workshop following the Marid. That area should be the Crux: the very center of the plane of moss, now used to power the workshop's machinations. The party agrees and quickly gathers around her, with Flint tossed directly into the forge's lava by a technologist. They gather around her and collectively plane shift to the same destination that the marid used. The hallway beyond the door is guarded by a large glass golem of a similar but heightened make as the factory's golem guard force. It immediately rushes at them as Cornelius propels a wall of force into existence to bar its way. The golem smashes into the wall but cannot break through.
The party sees a portal at the back of the tunnel's terminal tower. It seems to lead to a mossy cavern. They shuttle in with Kirasum, "Oblivion", and the gnome's undead minion in tow. Within, the portal seems to pose a threat to the party. Astra offers to disable it with their armor's antimagic field. They also notice that the runes around the door could be remade to redirect the portal to a different plane of existence entirely. This would send their pursuers to another world, throwing them off the party's tracks. Kirasum looks up the runes to the plane of fire, displaying them to Cornelius. The astral elf takes his jeweler's tools and carves the new rune in place of the old one on the portal's inscription. The portal, silenced by the antimagic, glows a deep red to indicate the successful change. The portal from the workshop now leads to a death trap: the eternal flames of the plane of fire.
Venturing deeper into the cavern, the party sees two ways forward: a wide road, well-traveled and well-lit, and a small warren hole in the southern wall. Their map indicates that each passage leads to the same end goal: the planar Crux itself. They decide to take the southern hole and begin to climb through a narrow passageway that is used for animal nesting and rutting. Birds, marmots, and other small creatures seem strangely dense within the tunnel. The creatures within should not share natural habitats. Kirasum hypothesizes that the animals have been charmed. Flint confirms some facet of that when he spots strange, tampered-with food being eaten by the creatures. It is enchanted, magically conjured nourishment. Strattora surmises that a druid could be responsible for the magical enrapturing of these animals.
Deeper into the cave, sunlight streams in from a windy opening in the cave wall. A broad, bright scene stretches out before the party. The planar Crux, a well of ancient, eldritch energies, fills a huge swathe of the gargantuan cavern before them. Hundreds of feet below, a small army of golems and elementals guards an enormous contraption absorbing energy from the Crux itself. A collection of mages stands near the machine. Doctor Brineroot is among the mages, who all wear Hyrrite Sashes. Kirasum tells the party that this is an Attjandian anointment for their city's archmages. Half a dozen of the most powerful mages in Corporeus. They are joined by a druidic water genasi of some import. Talessi Goldbound hovers his liquid body above the collection of spellcasters.
When the party mentions to "Oblivion", whose real name is "Korrek", that the archmage "Doctor" below them can return to life, his face lights up. A devious smile forms as he withdraws a terrible dagger from his belt rope. He unsheathes it to reveal a wailing blade that warps the air around it. "Something to circumvent the rebirth process", according to him. Unfortunately, he needs to get close enough to the Doctor to use it.
Hatching a plan to surprise the army, the party agree to split into two nearby groups. Strattora, Melinoe, and Astra will storm the Crux. They will attempt to destroy the apparatus built within the Crux pool. The rest of the party -- Cornelius, Flint, Oblivion, and Kirasum will occupy the army below. Kirasum will cast her highest order of magic: a prismatic wall spell. The spell will encompass the caster's platform, sealing them in a nigh-impenetrable barrier. She suspects that a group of such archmages will be able to break the barrier, however, given enough time. In that time, her group will decimate the armies surrounding the Crux.
As the final plan is formulated, Kirasum tells Strattora,
Kirasum watches over the mages preparing to break free, ready to let loose another volley of lightning spears at them when they escape. Astra realizes that they can plug the geyser of magical energy with their antimagic field. They perch above the opening, the energy diverted away from the field and building up dangerously within the machine. It seems ready to burst. All at once, the mages break free from the prismatic wall. A flurry of action occurs as one of them casts time stop. He teleports to the upper pipe next to the party, separates them from Kirasum with a wall of force, and blasts the party with a cone of cold. Reeling, the party collects themselves as they prepare to do battle with the mages.
Kirasum again channels her divine lightning. She destroys the clustered group of mages and stuns the lot of them. Several of them nearly perish immediately from her salvo. The disabling of the mages buys the party more time to act.
Doctor Brineroot, already wounded from Kirasum's assault, is unable to take action as he glowers at the party. In his wounded state, he fails to notice Melinoe's arcane hand creeping up behind him. Shouting a curse at her, she commands the hand to crush him into a paste. With great surprise, the Doctor is flattened, dying for a second time. A second enemy archmage sees this brutality and immediately plane shifts out of the battle to save their skin.
Astra hops off of the plugged geyser of energy. Strattora sends a final shatter spell into the geyser's mouth. The machine breaks, groans, and begins to snap off from its moorings. A massive blast of energy from the apparatus catches Kirasum in the back and heavily wounds her. Kirasum stays behind to ensure that Astra escapes, and the party reunites atop the pipes.
The archmage that cast time stop is stunned once more as he attempts to counterspell Kirasum's spell. As the machine behind the party falls into the oblivion of the Crux pool, a brief opening to escape presents itself. The party gathers around Kirasum and prepares for her to plane shift them to safety. Cornelius teleports Flint's body to their group with the hopes of resuscitating him.
When Talessi Goldbound is finally free from the lightning's stunning power, he roars in anger at the party.
Strattora looks down at the genie in utter shock. Through the battle haze around her, her companions shout at her as they gather around Korrek. The gnome shouts that he can shift them out, but only a single time. There will be no do-overs. Strattora looks at the pool beneath her, and the marid above it. She proclaims,
Venturing deeper into the cavern, the party sees two ways forward: a wide road, well-traveled and well-lit, and a small warren hole in the southern wall. Their map indicates that each passage leads to the same end goal: the planar Crux itself. They decide to take the southern hole and begin to climb through a narrow passageway that is used for animal nesting and rutting. Birds, marmots, and other small creatures seem strangely dense within the tunnel. The creatures within should not share natural habitats. Kirasum hypothesizes that the animals have been charmed. Flint confirms some facet of that when he spots strange, tampered-with food being eaten by the creatures. It is enchanted, magically conjured nourishment. Strattora surmises that a druid could be responsible for the magical enrapturing of these animals.
"I am proud of you."Flint, Cornelius, and Kirasum cloak the party in sneaking spells. They spring out from the cave wall, gliding down to the pipes leading to the Crux apparatus. Kirasum reminds them all that a fall into the Crux will unmake whoever touches it. The party positions themselves, prepares, and lets loose their carnage. Kirasum starts the battle by encompassing all of the mages in a prismatic wall. They scream out, but the barrier prevents the powerful group from escaping. Flint glides down into a mass of elemental creatures, charging the lot of them. He cloaks himself in darkness and begins to pound into the glass golems with his warhammer. Kirasum and Oblivion both let loose powerful spells at the distracted army, destroying their ranks. Cornelius fires elemental blasts from Herod, his staff of fire, which catches several elementals in the blast. From above, Melinoe, Astra, and Strattora rush to the Crux. Green arcane energy rages around it in threatening bursts. Strattora shatters the thick glass protecting the relatively fragile machinery within. Melinoe conjures a powerful arcane hand to begin battering the insides of the apparatus. With the help of another shatter spell, the party breaks the apparatus around the crux. However, this causes unchecked arcane energy to flood through the apparatus like a geyser, which blows back those around it. More damage must be done to completely dismantle the machine. As the battle rages on, the mages within the prismatic wall slowly begin to break each of the prismatic layers. Flint faces a horde of enemies below the prismatic wall. They gradually wear down his defenses until they have him surrounded. Kirasum, from above, showers Flint's location with a hail of lightning spears. While the lightning rain destroys many of the enemies, it also sends Flint reeling into the ground. With yet more elementals on top of him, Flint falls as he is pierced by a multitude of thorns from the elemental creatures. He dies surrounded by the enemies that he kept busy for the party's safety. Flint awakens in a dreamlike state. A skyscape with the marble pillars of an acropolis stretched out before him. The hall seems to extend infinitely, curving upwards into the sky. A strange angelic creature with flaming hair and burning wings greets him warmly. It says to Flint,
"You are not meant to be here quite yet."Despite the proclamation, the angel leads Flint down the acropolis corridors until they reach an overlook. Gazing out into the wide-open skies, Flint sees a golden palace perched among the lofty clouds.
Kirasum watches over the mages preparing to break free, ready to let loose another volley of lightning spears at them when they escape. Astra realizes that they can plug the geyser of magical energy with their antimagic field. They perch above the opening, the energy diverted away from the field and building up dangerously within the machine. It seems ready to burst. All at once, the mages break free from the prismatic wall. A flurry of action occurs as one of them casts time stop. He teleports to the upper pipe next to the party, separates them from Kirasum with a wall of force, and blasts the party with a cone of cold. Reeling, the party collects themselves as they prepare to do battle with the mages.
"Do you have any idea what you've done?! It will take years to rebuild this! But… if I am to be defeated, I would wish for some recompense."With the genie's wish uttered into the air, a cosmic shift occurs. The party glances around and Kirasum has disappeared. Looking down, they see her in the grasp of the Marid. Talessi's own appearance seems to have changed. He has fewer fingers than before. Kirasum does not even seem to recognize the creature before her, asking "Who are you?". The marid grins, having successfully warped the fabric of reality with a wish. The marid drops Kirasum into the unmaking energies of the planar crux of moss. Shocked and seemingly unable to fly to safety, Kirasum is submerged by the viscous energies below her. Her eyes begin to bleed as the destructive energies take her. In her final moments, Kirasum Acari looks to her daughter Strattora and tells her,
"I will find you."The Archmage of the Vaulted Tower sinks into the Crux pool out of sight.
Strattora looks down at the genie in utter shock. Through the battle haze around her, her companions shout at her as they gather around Korrek. The gnome shouts that he can shift them out, but only a single time. There will be no do-overs. Strattora looks at the pool beneath her, and the marid above it. She proclaims,
"You weren't even worth the dirt on her shoes. There will be punishment.With her vow spoken aloud, the genie gazes up in unabashed fear of the storm cleric above. Korrek puts a hand on her shoulder gingerly and guides her to the group. The remaining party gathers around Korrek, interlock their hands, and are swallowed by miasmic teleportation energy as the gnome casts plane shift. They escape the Sonapailes having destroyed the factory's heart and devastated its leadership. They flee to Zivilon, the Storm's Eye. Their home in the plane of storms. Korrek takes them to the Northrock, where flying beasts are tamed for war and trade. Astra immediately revives Flint with a revivify scroll. Flint is pulled away from the Golden Palace and the flaming angel, who grins at him warmly. He hacks and coughs, but breathes once more. The party looks out upon the stormy skies of their home world. The deed is done. They have returned.
By all the gods old and new, lost and found -- I will end you."
