Not from what Srim has been able to work out There are some which are equilateral, some obtuse and some sharp-angled.
Finding the Spark (Pathfinder 1E Quest)
- Thread starter DragonParadox
- Start date
- Fantasy
-
- Tags
- pathfinder open voting
Not from what Srim has been able to work out There are some which are equilateral, some obtuse and some sharp-angled.
Vote closed.
Arc 10: Post 89: Stone by Whit and Wrath Moved
New
Stone by Whit and Wrath Moved
20th of Abadius 4708 A.R. (Absalom Reckoning)
After casting a spell to keep in mental contact with the others and Sirim casts one to keep an 'eye' on your headband, both of you delve into the confusing mess of stone as you send further fingers of shadow skittering through the gaps to find... something rather odd indeed. "Some of this stone is newer, packed shards instead of all one piece."
"Where?" your companion asks as he peaks up from the upper part of the void in the stone just as you had from the bottom.
"There," you point to the inner side that had been filled in. "Bedroom's on the other side of that, not the strange wardrobe, regular old rock all the way to the back wall. My shadows can get all the way through, though nothing thicker than the blade of a knife could and it would have to be a particular twisty knife beside."
"More than I was able to find, didn't think to check for the consistency all around."
His mind-voice sounds as close to sheepish as you had ever heard it. "Good thing you didn't or we'd be here for hours."
You keep finding more and more of the filled in spaces, seemingly without rhyme or reason. There is nothing entombed in any of the ones you had checked, the construction is just newer and cruder. As you go along the corridor you do find one set of triangles that are even and spaced the whole way around with none of the filled in spaces, which means the room on the other side would have to be triangular too... except of course there's no room on the other side that you can see, only a blank stretch of corridor, which should mean the only thing on the other side is rock, right?
You look at Sirim and he looks at you and then, on a mental count of three, you dive in.
On the other side you find a chamber like any of the others covered in the remains of furniture of which only the stone worktables had survived, walls covered in the faint tracings that were the Nexian version of Osiriani pictograph script. But there was someting off about the shape... no, still squarish. The position then. Instinctively you pace with insubstantial feet along one side and to note that arrayed at an angle that would mean the door has nothing to point at but empty stone.
"What's to the other side of us now?"
"A blank corridor," Mina answers through your spell. "You're thirteen paces further south than the library..."
In the next little while you learn what must be quite a few Nidaless curses, though you'd struggle to master those glottal stops and nasal fricatives: "The doors lead to empty stone because the rooms aren't aligned, that would bypass most passage finding divination since the actual mechanism to move the doors isn't here and there is no magic involved. At least not here, hence you couldn't see an aura."
"But the other rooms are aligned," you point out.
"Seem aligned, the constructs filled in some of the gaps in places and carved them out in others to make the rooms to either side of the corridor seem in their proper place. While the places they removed stone wouldn't have been notable due to the use of stone smothering magics they must have run out of materials at some point, filling in the inner gaps, hence the remaining triangles. "
"So we just need to figure up which one of these should have been the upper room into which the constructs would drop their burdens..." you begin.
Sirim cuts you off. "What makes you think this is the only ring of moving rooms? My guess is you can't access the deeper parts if the tower at all until all of these are in alignment."
"But there's only one set of rooms that hasn't been altered with new construction, which means it's the only one that can still move, that has moved recently. We just need to find the seams and apply force, then again on the next and the next if there are more layers."
Alas, that is far easier said than done, even though you can pass freely through the stone and have mapped out the edges of the room there is no sign of the mechanism that would move whole roo...
Akorian Perception (DC 20): 1d20+11 = 19 (Failure)
The stone around you grows teeth and bites down on your left leg with crushing force, which is really quite odd as neither your leg nor any other part of you should be vulnerable to anything so mundane as force should be able to affect you when you are living shadow. Belatedly you realize the mouth is quite odd... other than being made of stone-inside-stone of course. It seems to be three sided and filled with three sided teeth. Bloody Triangles.
"Sirim, there's something in here with us..." you start. "Big mouth... swimming though the stone, I'm getting back so the others can help us...?"
"Xorn, likely bound, very likely not the only one."
There's a pause then before you had made it even ten feet towards the corridor through the rock, he adds. "Wait!"
Despite the temptation to keep going to preserve your spectral self, still very much capable of feeling pain in limbs or at least ask if you are waiting to be eaten, you do as he bids and, much to your surprise, no further bites come.
Moments later, another message: "Bound and rather unhappy to be so. Head directly outwards without deviating until you are in the corridor, do not draw a weapon or make a hostile gesture when they emerge "
Only one creature emerges from the stone behind you like a swimmer slipping out of the water, though that is quite enough as far as you're concerned. It's as wide as it is tall, possessing an alien symmetry: three arms, three legs, three eyes, and one huge mouth filled with golden rune-etched teeth. Sound issues forth from its maw, though it is more like the grinding of boulders than Common speech.
"Hmm..." Mina says, a little uncertainly. "It wants to grind Nex's bones to powder as recompense for its long imprisonment, or barring that his next of kin. Says once we get to the control chamber we should be able to free all of them to... er, go hunting "
There are more ripples in the stone, more of the strange creatures listening in.
Without really meaning to you look at Anippe, who gives a hopeless shrug. "Far as I know, the Founder had no descendants and no one's been able to find him since..." she motions around the ruined corridor. "Since."
"Once we get to the middle we might find some clues."
"Do we really wish to send a pack of vengeful xorn after the mage who made all this?" you ask rhetorically, or at least that's the tone you tried for. The others appear to be considering it.
"They most likely will not find him," Sirim notes.
"And if they do it will probably be in no position to retaliate against us," Mina agrees reluctantly. "These... it's strange to call them creatures, what's your name? Little Rock, right?"
The creature in question appears to outweigh Warty, but you do not comment.
What do you do?
[] Promise the Xorn any information on Nex's current whereabouts so they can hunt him down
[] Make another offer
-[] Return to their plane of origin
-[] A share of the loot
-[] Write in
[] Write in
OOC: Please excuse my paint skills, hope that pic gets the point across.
Last edited:
Goldfish
Friendly Spider-Fish Abomination
- Location
- Formerly of the Far Realm
Yeah, it is a clever way to trip up common Divination magic if you can manage the mechanical end of it. Neat stuff, and really fitting for what we've seen of Refuge so far.
How many bound Xorn are there, @DragonParadox?
I'm glad they weren't completely hostile. I can't remember the name of our first Xorn friend from ASWAH. She was fun.
Seven of them.
Goldfish
Friendly Spider-Fish Abomination
- Location
- Formerly of the Far Realm
Perfect, that means we can easily transport all of them to the Elemental Plane of Earth using one of our Janni's Jaunt scrolls, if they are willing. Once we retrieve them, and assuming Planar travel out of Refuge isn't blocked.
I'm not adverse to giving them the information, if there ends up being any information to share. Nex bound them here, and they've been trapped for thousands of years. That sucks. It's not like Xorn are Demons, who innately deserve shit like that.
But it's probably better to try to send them home. That way they don't spend who knows how long on a fruitless search, one that might get them killed for nothing. Also, we might make some friendly contacts we can interact with later.
[X] Promise the Xorn any information on Nex's current whereabouts so they can hunt him down, if that is their preference, but offer them an alternative, to transport them to the Elemental Plane of Earth, if they would rather return home than seek vengeance.
-[X] Ask them to assist us with bypassing any further obstacles, if they are able, and to pass on any knowledge of this place they can share.
Last edited:
Massgamer
Advance toward the Future
- Location
- The Future
Wow, that mechanical setup is pretty dang smart and a good way to trip up magical means of finding directions.
@Goldfish could we ask Xorn if they are willing to help us bypass the mechanical stuff and move around easier? Maybe give us knowledge about how place is mapped out?
As for Xorn themselves, always great to see them and happy to help them out and get out of a bad deal.
[X] Goldfish
@Goldfish could we ask Xorn if they are willing to help us bypass the mechanical stuff and move around easier? Maybe give us knowledge about how place is mapped out?
As for Xorn themselves, always great to see them and happy to help them out and get out of a bad deal.
[X] Goldfish
Goldfish
Friendly Spider-Fish Abomination
- Location
- Formerly of the Far Realm
I have some bad news guys, there might not be any updates until Sunday-ish. Just had a death in the family, not really unexpected but I'm going to be busy and not in the best state to write anyway.
Goldfish
Friendly Spider-Fish Abomination
- Location
- Formerly of the Far Realm
My condolences, dude. Take whatever time you need. We're not going anywhere.
Vote closed.
Lets see if this goes as well as when Viserys met the Xorn. I could use some good memories about now to think about.
Lets see if this goes as well as when Viserys met the Xorn. I could use some good memories about now to think about.
Arc 10 Post 90: When Stone Speaks
New
When Stone Speaks
20th of Abadius 4708 A.R. (Absalom Reckoning)
Though at first quite suspicious of what seems to be another arcanist bearing bargains, the 'xorn' quickly grasp that Sirim bears no kinship or patronage to the vanished Nex and indeed it quickly becomes apparent they are no strangers to trade. Rather than being bound in this section of the tower like a guard-slurk they had been given the run of the tower, narrow as that might have been compared to the glittering of their native caverns of which they speak with tears of awe and reverence. The tears of xorn, as you soon find out, are agates that accrete into spherical geodes as soon as they strike the floor. And almost just as soon, Little Rock collects them.
Sirim Diplomacy: 1d20+14 =
Over the ages, he explains once you had all put your weapons away and takes a seat or leaned against the wall to listen, the Rumblings had taken to serving as traders and messengers between the various dwellers in the lower and upper halls. The lift which you had taken is the province of the servitors who would not allow what they see as squatters to take advantage of. So any non-xorn who wished to ascend the tower would have to do so through the Quick Stair up to the alchemy laboratories.
"It is," Little Rock allows, "quite poorly named, a meandering and treacherous thing, so named for its most common inhabitants, the rain of quicksilver teardrops that flowed down that way when the alchemical containment drums gave way. Oh, not all of them, just the low priority ones. Lord of Sand and Stone knows what the Binder put in the other ones."
The anger is back, but not as harsh as it was before. You are almost reminded of the way the people of Fusil had taken to travelers, weary at first, then intrigued almost despite themselves. That those furtive looks are from three eyes and not two each doesn't change the meaning all that much.
Either way, in the course of negotiations for their aid you discover that the lower levels opposite the garden had once played host to games of chance meant to amuse the guests of the arch-mage, though long since taken over by the 'Luckherd of the Ceru'. Alas, it had proven less than up to its name with the coming of the undead with its dozen or so surviving members forced into the heating ducts and warding wanes to likely fall prey to the wild oozes and leftover traps.
Of greater interest to you is the murder of cruel but canny crows that had arrived here with their master many years ago. Their master did not survive a run in with the servitors, but the crows themselves had proven both clever and powerful enough to claim the old scribe's quarters where they are using the automatic scroll-scribber, oh how Sirim's eyes had lit up at that one, for their own. Continuing the corridor from the prison you're likely to run into their patrols and some kind of... 'parchment golem' the xorn do not know much about since they have never tried to invade the scriptorium. Alternatively, if the mechanism is coaxed in place you can almost certainly find your things if you do not mind falling after them.
That takes a bit of back and forth from Mina and the xorn, but eventually you discover that the reason the spider constructs can drop things into the ceiling is that when those doors are aligned properly gravity itself briefly reverses along that shaft, dropping the goods into a enormous pile of scrap that sometimes spits out new constructs else they would have all been destroyed long ago. Given the offer to carry them all back to their home realm as well as give them information about Nex the xorn are more than happy to realign the doors by force, though they do warn that they have never seen anything alive come back from that shoot.
"Our weapons are there, our tools likewise, that is where we must go," Gorok declares and none of your company gainsay him, though Mina does argue that it might be safer for Anippe to stay here now that you had actually found someone friendly to keep an eye on her.
"And if you die then what do I do, learn how to eat rocks?" the girl demands hotly, trying to hide the tremble in her voice behind the anger.
So... here you are about to fall upwards into some kind of elevated scrap pile that sometimes makes lethal constructs.
What do you do?
[] Cast feather-fall to slow your des... ascent
[] Cast flight, more costly, but also more controlled
[] Write in
OOC: Glad the rolls worked out for you guys and I had the chance to write a friendly interaction.
Last edited:
Goldfish
Friendly Spider-Fish Abomination
- Location
- Formerly of the Far Realm
I've had a soft spot for Xorn ever since ASWAH. They're such alien creatures, but you write them to be very relatable, DP.
I hope you and your family are doing all right, dude.
Does Sirim need to change his Smokeshade underwear? I sure do.
If we can swing by that room before we leave, assuming we won't have to fight through an army of Construct, Undead, and monsters to do it, that could be some prime loot. Hell, if that's the only loot we got from Refuge, it could be more than worth the time and investment.
I hope you and your family are doing all right, dude.
Holy shit... 🤯
Does Sirim need to change his Smokeshade underwear? I sure do.
If we can swing by that room before we leave, assuming we won't have to fight through an army of Construct, Undead, and monsters to do it, that could be some prime loot. Hell, if that's the only loot we got from Refuge, it could be more than worth the time and investment.
These things are freaking terrifying. I'm so glad we are avoiding those by taking this route. Even one of them would be absolutely deadly.
Goldfish
Friendly Spider-Fish Abomination
- Location
- Formerly of the Far Realm
Time for Sirim to flex his Wizard muscles.
This is the perfect place to use an Imbue with Flight spell. He can cast it at 9th level, so it will be able to hold 4,500 pounds, more than enough for our party and the weight of the stone.
He still has four Mythic power remaining, while Kori only has two and Mina doesn't have either of the spells on her spell list. Hopefully the Xorn can help with the platform to save us some effort, but if not I think spending two Mythic power will be worth it compared to one for a Feather Fall spell.
[X] Sirim asks the Xorn if they can fashion a stone platform large enough to fit our group, or just find a suitable slab of nearby stone. If not, he will use Wild Arcana to cast Stone Shape to create one himself. He then uses Wild Arcana to cast an Imbue with Flight spell on the platform.
This is the perfect place to use an Imbue with Flight spell. He can cast it at 9th level, so it will be able to hold 4,500 pounds, more than enough for our party and the weight of the stone.
He still has four Mythic power remaining, while Kori only has two and Mina doesn't have either of the spells on her spell list. Hopefully the Xorn can help with the platform to save us some effort, but if not I think spending two Mythic power will be worth it compared to one for a Feather Fall spell.
[X] Sirim asks the Xorn if they can fashion a stone platform large enough to fit our group, or just find a suitable slab of nearby stone. If not, he will use Wild Arcana to cast Stone Shape to create one himself. He then uses Wild Arcana to cast an Imbue with Flight spell on the platform.
- Location
- St. Petersburg
Was this the route we'd take if we went to the lake instead of straight to the tunnels?
I don't suppose they know where the controls for the mechanism are?
Apparently they do not often hurt the other inhabitants, but they can be very frustrating to deal with according to the Xorn
Yes
The mechanism to move the rooms? The central control room, or the constructs can just move them by being constructs somehow.
Last edited:
- Location
- being near locations is my passion.
[X] Goldfish
I think we're in a room with "which only the stone worktables had survived"
@DragonParadox Are the worktables large enough for one to support our group?
I'm assuming that if they're attached to the floor, the party (maybe with the help of the Xorn?) can break one off and turn it upside down.
I think we're in a room with "which only the stone worktables had survived"
@DragonParadox Are the worktables large enough for one to support our group?
I'm assuming that if they're attached to the floor, the party (maybe with the help of the Xorn?) can break one off and turn it upside down.
Oh sure the Xorn can chew one loose and you would fit.
- Location
- St. Petersburg
Yes. Do they know which one that is, where to find it, if there's anyone guarding it, etc.?
I am wondering if the mechanism to control construct behavior is also somewhere in there.
They do not, the Xorn are now allowed in there by their bindings.