General Summary
The Collective find themselves face to face with one of the Obelisk, broken and hidden deep within the forgotten city of Cerinthus. Still stuck within the time loop that befell the arcanists of the library, the party struggles to find the answers they are looking for, and by association the path they are meant to walk. Pitted between the apathy of the Master Registrar and one of the Aboleth, the party enable a near-fervent Wakane to reignite the ancient Obelisk. This triggers a chain reaction throughout the space that now homes Cerinthus and its library, collapsing once and for all the time loop which befell it thousands of years ago as well as the cavern that has been holding it. In a mad dash through the city and up the High Tower, the party manage to finally escape the library, but with many more questions than when they arrived. To add to this, upon their exit back to the Sandsea Desert, they spot a massive landmass floating in the far distance. Where will they go from here? What will the repercussions of their actions involve? How does it all tie into the Prophecy?
Scidrix and the Aboleth
Scidrix felt the ground give below his feet as he haphazardly slid down the steep incline. The water near the shore was glowing brightly now, and if he strained his eyes he could almost make out a fuzzy shape hidden beneath. He reached the bottom, stumbling to a halt a few feet from the waterline. A massive tentacle tentatively broke out of the surface, coming up to meet him at eye level.
Terra and Endar were shouting something at him.
“Aboleth, you call to me, do you not?” Scidrix said. In response, the tentacle gingerly moved towards his hand. Without hesitation, Scidrix took it.
Suddenly, he was falling. The sensation was familiar, as if he had done it a thousand times before. It lasted an eternity while simultaneously only a few seconds. Then he splashed into water. Somehow, he knew it was a vast ocean. Immense. Bigger than any he had ever been in. The thought should have been terrifying, yet he felt comfortable, protected. He let himself sink into it, drifting towards the distant bottom.
The water darkened. Even his seasoned eyes had trouble making anything out. Then without warning, there was movement all around him. Strong currents pulled him in every direction, threatening to yank him away. He stayed in place, resisting the unnatural pull, and as quickly as the currents started, they ceased.
Before him, out of the darkness, three colossal eyes blinked into existence. They were frighteningly knowing, with an edge to them that spoke of being older than time itself. They glowed with an iridescent hue unlike anything Scidrix had ever seen, and the light from them slowly seeped into the rest of the creature’s body. It was a hundred paces long, with tentacles and fins that dwarfed Scidrix by comparison.
From nowhere and everywhere at once, a deep rumbling voice resounded into the depths of his being.
“WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE. WHY HAVE YOU COME.”
After reeling for a second, Scidrix steeled himself against this being and shouted, “We were sent to research the obelisks!”
“THIS MAGIC ENTITY – IT IS DEFECTIVE.”
Defective? “How so?”
“IT HAS BEEN ATTEMPTED. THE CREATURES HAVE PERISHED.”
Scidrix’s mind spun at the implications. If the creature was saying what he thought he was…
“What creatures? Who are you speaking of? Do you mean the one which was trapped inside the Obelisk?” Scidrix shouted back.
“INSIDE NO. OUTSIDE, YES. CREATURES LIKE YOU. SMALL, DIMINUTIVE. PERISHABLE. CREATURES THAT ARE FRAIL.”
Scidrix felt a stone the size of a fist settle in his gut. The words of the Master Registrar rung in his mind.
“We have spoken to the Master Registrar about you!” Scidrix shouted.
To this, the Aboleth seem confused. An edge? Scidrix thought. Best to compare what they both had to say.
“Should we activate the obelisk, Aboleth?” Scidrix shouted both in his mind and in the water.
“THE MAGIC IS INDIFFERENT. I AM INDIFFERENT.”
“Indifferent? How can you be indifferent to the sake of other mortals?” Scidrix shouted back.
“NOT MY CONCERN.” The booming voice resonated.
“Then what IS your concern!”
The Aboleth eyed him at this, blinking slowly. Scidrix suddenly had the overwhelming urge to squirm, but he held strong. Without warning, he felt himself get sucked out of the water at a tremendous speed. Bubbling up to the surface with the haste of the Gods themselves.
Scidrix broke through the surface and was blinded by light. It was warm, welcoming even. As his eyes adjusted, he realized where he was. The palace. There were a group of people, 5 of them, in the near distance. Just within earshot of him. Words floated up from their conversation, and he caught distinct ones between murmurs. Usurp. Power. Replace. The people suddenly looked incredibly familiar, yet he couldn’t make them out. Scidrix took a step toward the group, calling out, but the words died in his throat.
He got sucked back down into the water, with the same speed and ferocity as before. He opened his eyes to the Aboleth again.
“I recognize this place, the palace! Why?” Scidrix shouted.
“YES, THESE ARE PARTS OF YOU. YOUR INTELLECT. YOUR CONSCIENCE.”
“Then why do I have no memory of it?” Frustration from deep within his chest began to leak out, seeping into his voice. “Why is it all so hazy?”
“YOU SIMPLY DO NOT. YOUR MIND IS FRAGMENTED – MINE, IS NOT.”
Panic suddenly tore at frayed edges of his mind that Scidrix didn’t realize were there.
“Can you fix my mind Aboleth?” Scidrix shouted in desperation. The great leviathan simply blinked each of his piercing eyes.
Once, twice. Thrice. And then again, water rushing all around. The feeling of being sucked out of the ocean by the winds themselves. Scidrix broke the surface, this time gasping for breath. Light. Palace walls around him. Standing in front of him, a person. No – a king. The king. Dressed in pauldrons and decorative armor but worn with the kind face only a truly humble person could manage. The king reached out, shaking Scidrix hand, and then rushing water again. Being pulled back to the dark depths.
Scidrix found himself floating, right where he’d been, with the Aboleth in front of him.
“FIX YOUR MIND, AND MORE, I CAN DO FOR YOU.” The rumbling voice said.
“What more?” Scidrix shouted. The panic that had sparked inside him before had bloomed into full hysteria, and it bled into his voice. There was something wrong. Something very seriously wrong. Before he could get an answer, all the water around him was pulled away. Slowly at first, but then all at once. It left him levitating in a vast, unending space, without sign of the Aboleth. Before he could register what happened, Scidrix fluttered his eyes open and saw the outskirts of Cerinthus around him. The tentacle was unwrapping from his arm and retreating, but everything else seemed exactly as it had been before he had been pulled away.
There was a thin layer of sweat on his skin, and he barely heard Terra’s voice over the pounding of his own heart. I need to regain my memories. Now. Scidrix thought. It was the only way.
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