Some point in the early Second Age...23 hours left
SpelltowerThe group appeared on a circular platform surrounded by five runic pillars. They were greeted by a circle mage, a road-worn wizard in muddy robes and boots. However the scions barely noticed him, caught up in the sights of Spelltower...
You might be polite and answer the man, but you're probably taken up in the sight of center city. You're in the middle of a hexagonal square of evenly-paved gray stone flecked with bits of quartz to give a shimmering quality. Six small green parks with elven statuary and baths filled with a colorful assortment of birds buffer the first of the towers.
Rising hundreds of feet in the air, the towers are riddled with windows and ledges. Their bottoms are white-washed, with the spaces above windows and doors painted gold, rust, yellow and red. The doors and window shudders themselves are striking blues and indigo.
As the eye continues to wander up through a web of bridges and arches, the tower tops are different sky hues, some shingled in tin, others stone parapets. Flags flap in the breeze, dozens on every roof, prismatic and making faint whipping sounds.
After the ring of towers, connected by white stone archways and bridges, are various keeps and walls down four cardinal main streets marked East, West, North and South. Small houses, some not much more than cottages, crowd these ways. Behind them is a rise and fall of hundreds of roofs and tower tops, with an occasional citadel or glass-roofed temple.
And the people! You've not seen this diversity ever before. Elves and half-elves walk side by side with men of all kinds, halflings and dwarves between them, and half-giants of several ancient lines above them. Occasionally a raptoran swoops between buildings carrying a satchel or package.
The city is bustling, filled with thousands just from what you can see in the square, and with them comes the music of city life, rude calls of merchants, laughing, yelling, music down side alleys and all of it drowned by the constant conversation and footsteps.
Split UpCiir shooed everyone off the platform and refused Relic's lengthy ritual to repair his torn garments, which exposed the back of him to thousands of gawking Spelltowerns every second he stood there. He paid a laughing circle mage and vanished to a place called Dwinalea.
Serren also vanished after long, promising to consult the head of his order, Master Ulwe, about time travel and returning the group home.
Filias wasn't going anywhere as long as Selja had something to say about it, hanging on his arm with a gaga look. The bird boy didn't seem to mind. Elewoon asked the young raptoran to escort the group to The Seven Swans while she reported to the lord mayor. With monsters on the plain, better-equipped hunting parties would need to be sent out. She promised to meet them later.
Still not believing the time travel story, Elewoon seemed uneasy leaving the group. "And don't get into trouble," she warned, though it sounded just as much a plea.
Filias' TourBoggart in arm, Filias navigated the crowded square toward North Street. But not before Thamior asked the circle mage how much it would cost to go to Glorian. Five gold was a very acceptable price.
The raptoran dropped bits of information here and there, trying to be a good guide, and Selja swooned. Thamior hung back, but Kaylan made sure to wait for him every time. Portia was captured by the sights of the city, though admitted feeling out of place. Relic, too, seemed out of sorts. Diana simply loved it, wondering about the operetta. She began to tell the group about her favorite one, Triaria, which had everyone poised to go that night (despite Diana having no idea what was playing, when or how much). When she explained the lengthy story a second time to Relic, she had everyone twitching with something other than anticipation.
Near the end of North Street, they came to the city limits. There was a balcony in the high wall, beyond which no horizon could be seen. Filias led them onto the balcony only to find Spelltower was flying! Floating might have been the more apt word, as it hovered over the Saindoron, casting a shadow on a large town along a river below Filias mentioned as Dwinalea. From this height, the group could see the distant Black Forest and the Dormuds beyond even that. Filias mentioned five runic shrines kept the city afloat before moving on down Pond Street, a row of nice houses and boutiques, until at last coming to The Seven Swans.
The Seven SwansA three story house with dark wood roofing, a pretty flower garden, a wrap-around porch, and large windows proved a welcome sight to the weary group. An elven teen worked in the garden, while another swept the stairs. As Filias opened the gate for the group, the sweeping girl dropped her broom and ran to the bird boy. It was quickly apparent she was Selja's competition. Diana managed to divert the girl, whose name was Monique, and Relic flat out scared the fight out of her. Diana commended her friend's accidental efforts, while Kaylan and Thamior met the inn's owner.
Acantha was a beautiful elf with raven hair. After quipping with the two on the porch, she invited them inside. It was a beautiful home converted to an inn, with pale colors, wicker and wood, an abundance of oil paintings and a clean feel. Kaylan paid for the rooms, though the owner questioned the mint. "In Nor We Trust" spurred some coloring of the truth by the two party members.
When asked how many keys they needed, Kaylan hinted she'd like to share her room with Thamior. The man seemed oblivious, inspiring Acantha to only give Kaylan five keys. It seemed the plan had worked until the others came inside, at which point the clueless Relic mentioned how he didn't need a room, setting a chain of events which involved key throwing and kicking.
A mopey Kaylan went upstairs to her single room, while Diana explained the subtleties of horny people to the warforged. Selja returned outside to be close to Filias. Everyone else eventually found their rooms and began to get ready for a day of shopping and relaxation.
Getting ReadyThamior went up to his room and changed into his finest. Likewise did Diana, dragging Relic along to zip the back of her evening gown and give her an honest opinion of how she looked. She already knew, though, spinning in the mirror to admire herself. Relic seemed a little out of it still, inspiring Diana to comfort him. He felt like a mockery, so out of place in the large city scene. She tried to allay his concerns, giving him a kiss on the faceplate and assuring him he was her best friend here.
Portia got to her room and checked to see what was nailed down. Nothing, which inspired her to take one or two trinkets before deciding to nail everything down as a favor to the nice lady Acantha. However before she could drive one nail into the floorboards, that elven gardener from earlier knocked. He had complementary lemonade, though as he offered it to Portia he spilled it all over her. He apologized, even as Portia got out of her sticky leathers, inspiring him to ask if she was a goblin. It seemed the people in this time didn't know a thing about boggarts, so she informed him. He apologized for offending her, in the process knocking over the rest of the lemonade glasses.
Talk moved to feeling out of place, which he could relate to. Apparently the boy's parents had died when he was young and his aunt was now taking care of him. When Portia mentioned that she'd just assumed it was because he was so clumsy, the elf blushed and left the room. Portia gave her name and asked his in a call down the hall, which brought the elf back long enough to answer Fread. A few moments later Portia heard breaking glasses. causing her to wince. She finished getting ready in some plain, but clean, clothes and headed downstairs.
She discovered an intricate wood carving over one of the fire places depicting elves fighting goblins. It was obviously made by an elf, considering the improper way in which the goblins were set up (to say they were actually in a formation). They wielded pots, rocks, branches, clubs, and one even had a chicken, which made the boggart smile. She planned to come back in the night and break a few goblins off for her collection of odds and ends.
A Girl and a WomanKaylan slipped out of her armor and went outside to garden with Acantha, having promised she would. While digging in the earth, be began to feel at ease. Acantha asked what went wrong that she wasn't upstairs with her boy. What followed was a sad admission of her feelings and his unwillingness. Acantha suggested spelling it out for him, equating men to clueless. She also asked Kaylan her age. When she answered sixteen, Acantha rued that was a difficult age for a girl. Kaylan corrected her, labeling herself woman. The innkeeper couldn't help but smile.
They gardened a bit more before Acantha asked why a young woman like herself wasn't preparing to go out with her friends. Before Kaylan's melancholy took her again, Acantha shooed the priestess up the porch steps to get ready. A little darkness seemed to lift from her and she smiled, hurrying upstairs to get prettied up. Acantha wiped her hands, grinning, then looked around and wondered where Monique had gotten to.
Change of Heart, Change of MindKaylan quickly got ready and excitedly came down in her green pixie outfit. However, on seeing Diana's striking beauty in her evening gown and the fine way Thamior was dressed, her heart sank and she decided not to go. The group was upset and confused by her decision, but nothing they could say would make her change her mind. The darkness had one again. Relic decided to uncover the source of the half-elf's melancholy as everyone else resigned to go without them.
Doubt and the general malaise of all that had transpired since Kaylan left Etheria was finally getting to her. She would not be convinced to come and Relic accepted she needed rest. As he went outside to join the others down the road, Thamior carefully slipped inside and up to Kaylan's room.
Kaylan wrote a little in her journal, and answered a knock on the door. Expecting Relic, she was taken aback by Thamior. He lingered in the doorway, spinning a yarn of how much he wanted her to come out with him on a date. Clerical insight was enough to know he was lying, which only pained her more. As Thamior undid his sword belt and asked her to join him as his date, not as his ward, the ruse was up. Kaylan called Vilthanos out for what he was.
Despite some initial denial, during which he slipped a frightful comment to the effects of, "If I were Vilthanos, wouldn't I have tried to kill you by now?", the dark half eventually admitted his control. He swore Kaylan would not seem her precious ice elf for some time and fled out of the room, regarding her disdainfully as half-human before leaving.
The terrified cleric slammed the door, locked it and barricaded it with furniture.
SpellforgeFilias led the group down East Street, to the rows of guilds and smiths. The sounds of hammering, tinkering, and hard labor mixed with steam and smoke and the smells of leather and fresh-cut wood. At the end of the street stood a plain, one-story stone building with a large, circular middle. The sounds of hammers and an orange glow escaped from the windows and doorway. Occasionally, someone LARGE would yell.
Filias wished them luck and hung outside. Selja tried to coax him inside, but the boy would not be swayed. Pouting, she followed the others inside. Diana couldn't help wondering why the he wouldn't enter with them, and boy did she find out. Beyond a very small common room was the wide, circular Spellforge. And the central figure pounding a huge anvil was a ten foot tall half-giant with bright purple skin scrawled with golden, mystic symbols, with a red beard and glowing eyes. Lehm, the famed forgemaster. Dozens of dwarves toiled in small workshops set around the half-giant, shaping metal, tinkering with doodads and sewing various leather, dipping weapons, assembling armor, referencing over-sized tomes or else observing the big fella at work.
As the party approached, Lehm's head snapped to the side and he came storming up to within a few inches of Diana's face, roaring how much he hated to be bothered. It took some very skillful diplomacy to earn a look at his wares, but the Saspish girl had been raised in what many suspected the birthplace of politics. And she was an Il'spanian...
He barked and blustered a bit more, even as Selja fled underneath Diana's skirt to hide, but begrudgingly he allowed the group into the showroom, though there was no telling how long.
Sold!Entering the shimmering, shiny room of magic items, the group was met by a wide, old dwarf. Hobbling out from behind a table, he proved to be balancing on TWO wooden legs! The name Stilts wasn't too pretentious, was it? He offered the group a look around.
Portia's jaw hit the floor with all the eldritch crafts and everyone perused with a certain energy only shopping could bring. However Lehm roared after not to long for them all to be quiet, pounding on the forge hard as ever, followed by the smaller pings of his dwarves. Selja flew under Diana's skirts and it quickly became a popular hideout...
Thanks largely in part to Diana's command over the baser sex and an unsubtle mage hand, the group came away with some very fine goodies at a discount price. Serren appeared in time to cover the rest of the costs, as well. Relic was especially happy, having found a miraculous hat that could mask his mechanical exterior under illusions of other races. It seemed to greatly lift his spirits, especially after having had that talk with Diana earlier.
The DeceptionThose leaving the Spellforge ran into Thamior, who looked panicked. Something had happen to Kaylan back at the inn and she was hurt! The group wasted no time hurrying back, even as the feladrin slipped inside. Little did he know how disagreeable Lehm was, especially after having just tolerated visitors. As the elf went to open his mouth to speak, the half-giant roared for him to get out. Thus concluded Vilthanos's time at Spellforge.
Meanwhile, Portia stayed behind, noticing Lehm and his dwarves were working on some sort of portal. She also spied another leather-bound tome just like the one she'd gotten in the Wild. After creating a distraction with some tools, she stole a hammer and the book in one fell swoop. Rushing back out, she noticed Thamior hurrying for the square. She kept calling out to him, but he only ran faster.
VillainousPortia finally caught up to the ice elf on line for the teleportation circle. He turned and wove another lie, explaining he was going to the town below to set up a surprise picnic for the priestess. Portia was overjoyed, knowing how much Kaylan was in need of cheering up. He asked the boggart to fetch his things for him and meet him down below in Dwinalea. She agreed, speeding off.
When his time came in line, he paid the circle mage five gold and whisked to Glorian, golden capital of the Elven Combine, none other than High King Gloriandel's royal city.
The RealizationReaching the inn, Relic crashed through the door and barreled up the stairs, calling the cleric's name. Selja tried to catch all the falling paintings, vases and furniture, but to no avail. The warforged stomped through stairs and shouldered pieces of wall in his hurry.
When Kaylan recognized her friend's voice, she pulled away her barricade and opened the door. She was fine, a little frightened, but fine. It quickly became apparent that Vilthanos, impersonating Thamior, had fooled them all.
The IncidentJust then Diana returned with two of the Scepter Guard, peace keepers of Spelltower. In Relic's rage, he seemed the offender, resulting in a very large misunderstanding. The guards assumed Kaylan's golem had gone crazy. Relic and Filias tried explaining the situation, which only confused the guards even more. They sat everyone down, all the while Vilthanos was escaping, to get to the heart of the matter. Kaylan, in a terrific performance, related her side of the story with enough conviction to not only get everyone off possible jail time or fines, but to inspire them to leave entirely. It helped that Acantha, seeing the front of her inn wrecked, still offered to take it out of the law's hands, proving her one of the more understanding people they'd ever met.
The guards left and Kaylan assured Acantha that they would fix the damages and go. Acantha nodded, more than a little upset about the state of her inn. Some of the paintings and pottery had been hers, as in she made them, one-of-a-kind pieces.
As dusk settled over Spelltower, Filias jolted. He was late getting back to the Academy! He dashed down the stairs and out the door, wincing at the scolding he'd get. Selja stood there looking dejected. He hadn't even noticed she'd turned into a blue jay raptoran during the commotion, and now this! Suddenly the bird boy came running back up the stairs and planted a kiss on the boggart's lips, hoping he'd see her tomorrow. Then he left, leaving more than a few people going
aww and Selja herself lovestruck.
No Time LeftAs Relic arcanely mended the inn with various potions and rituals, and Kaylan was about ready to fly out the door, Serren asked the group gather. The hurried cleric told him to talk on the way, and the Azerbadi flinched at the sound of thunder. "You make it sound as if we have any time left..."
Those looking out the window saw a tremendous fragment of some long-forgotten citadel, large as the city, pass through an equally large tear in reality. Like some low-hanging moon, it cast a shadow over Spelltower, but it wasn't the only anomaly. Another section of nearby city had formed a ring of jagged ice peaks, with large, many-armed shadows drifting behind the semi-translucent blue. Screams, spells and the sounds of battle erupted across the entire city only moments later.
Serren explained he and his master had discussed the possibilities of time travel with artifacts like the Tesseract, and the theoretical consequences of their improper or accidental uses. This was the worst of those scenarios. It was quite possible the group tore fragments of their history back with them to this time. People and places from across time were crashing into the Second Age as they spoke.
When frantically asked how to stop it, Serren, for once in his long life, did not have an answer. Elewoon entered the inn and slammed the door, breaking the silence, but bearing no good tidings. She looked to have just come from a battle and was bleeding a little. "I told you not to get into trouble!" She collected herself and explained the Lord Mayor wanted to see them. As things were, she was beginning to believe their time travel story. It was too dangerous to travel conventionally in the city anymore, so she wasted no time preparing a magic circle.
Acantha came rushing into the room, urging everyone to get into the cellar, but stopped short when she saw Elewoon. One look told the innkeeper just how bad things were. The two embraced and shared a passionate kiss, before Acantha pulled away and started to cry. Elewoon put on a brave face, assuring her things would be righted, and Serren took up finishing the magic circle while the women held each other.
Once completed, the exasperated group stepped inside. Elewoon gave one last goodbye to her love, while a dumbfounded Fread gave a small wave to Portia and Monique trembled. Acantha's sobbing sent them off, though in the last possible moment of the ritual, Selja realized poor Filias was somewhere in the chaos! She tried to leap out, but was snagged by her older sister, and the party whisked away.
The AnubiansThey materialized in a posh office on the top floor of a tower, with a view of the city in turmoil. Sitting at a large desk, in a high-backed chair, was an aging elf with hints of gray streaking his slate hair. Lord Loradan, mayor of Spelltower, had a worried look on his face. The shadows behind him seemed particularly dark then, and the office was only lit by dim candles. Relic attempted to illuminate the room, as did Kaylan, but neither of their effects worked.
Elewoon began introducing them, but Loradan stood and ushered the invoker out, saying they'd done all they can. The group was more than a little panicked, especially when the two left the office and the door was shut behind. The party stood in a silent chamber with a muted view of the city's destruction. The shadows behind the chair seemed impossibly deep.
Relic demanded whoever or whatever was there to stop hiding. Suddenly dry gasping voices answered telepathically that they weren't hiding, but in fact waiting for the rest of you. Suddenly Vilthanos was thrown from the shadows into the office, befuddled how his teleportation could have possibly led him here. Not long after, Kriznob fell quite literally into Diana's lap from some unseen teleportation.
At last the two beings revealed themselves, stepping into the dim light. Each of them stood seven feet tall, with impossibly thin bodies, black torsos and limbs grotesquely emaciated, and supporting the weight of elaborate, golden mantles from which overly-long necks sprouted. Their heads could only be described as jackal-like, with tall ears and narrow snouts lacking mouths or nostrils. Their eyes were tiny, black beads that occasionally reflected the candle light. There were no records of any sort of beings, not in all the libraries of the world, but Portia knew what they were in a few seconds' time. Her father had told her of these extraterrestrial beings, what he called Anubians, from near the end of the Demon War. They had been working for Shalraza creating doomsday weapons, one of which trapped the Saviors' in their worst nightmares.
Expressing no emotion and conveying only the cold, grim facts, the Anubians proved eerie and frustrating to the emotional group. Relic headed negotiations, his mechanical nature helping to treat with the outsiders. That didn't stop Selja from speaking out on more than one occasion, mostly to try and get the Anubians to cure Thamior, but it was very clear they weren't here to do any favors. Quite the opposite, they were here to make the group fix what they had wrought.
The Tesseract was actually an unstable creation of theirs, stolen and lost in time. They'd been searching an eternity for it, hoping to avoid what had now occurred, a time storm. Kaylan plainly noted that such measures had clearly failed, so what now. The group, in improperly operating the Tesseract, had done what Serren and Master Ulwe suspected, tore fragments of the time stream back with them. A sort of spiral effect was occurring, as larger and larger pieces of different times were drawn into the Second Age.
The Anubians questioned how the party came to operate the Tesseract and where it was located in their time, which some didn't want to reveal, but which Relic was willing to divulge. The Anubians were unable to travel time during the storm, but they made it clear they would eventually be reacquiring the hypercube.
With knowledge of Reedthagn and the Wild, topic turned to Kaylan's initial query. A small, jade pyramid materialized in Relic's palm, a device that could heal the rifts in space-time. Nine rifts in all, they would grow until the time storm reached its height and literally devoured all Creation. The universe would be erased, leaving only a starless Void.
The party was overwhelmed by the prospect. The Anubians hardly noticed, explaining they could hold the rifts static for twenty-four hours, in effect delaying the end of all things long enough for the group to use the pyramid and close the rifts. Failure was simply not an option.
Vilthanos, ever concerned with his revenge, refused them until it was convenient for him, provoking the Anubians to deliver unimaginable pain upon him through intense psychic feedback. As he writhed (and probably peed himself), the rest of the group agreed to close the rifts. There really wasn't much of a choice. The Anubians faded back into the shadows.
Time StormWhen the group opened the office door, the eavesdropping Elewoon and Loradan fell forward onto the floor. Serren was sitting in a waiting room chair examining his dagger casually.
Tensions rose and fell regarding Vilthanos. The group wholly despised him, though perhaps none more vocally than Selja. However her temper was quickly matched by Relic, who uncharacteristically blew a gasket and reprimanded Selja. As the little one began to cry and hold onto Portia, the weight of all Creation on their shoulders, Relic turned and punched Vilthanos against the wall.
Eventually the scions collected themselves enough to address the two worried-looking elves, Diana passingly saying something to the effects of, "We're the Lord of Chaos and we're here to help", which made even Serren smirk.
After questioned on the rifts and their locations, Serren turned the flat of his blade toward the group. Inside flashed images of eight of the nine rifts, showing dangers and wonders from across the span of time...
1. Fire and earth elementals wreaked havoc at the base of the Tower of the Nightingale, battling for the territory. Half the street was blasted and blackened, while the other half was torn up by roots and rocky spurs.
2. Demons bearing Shalraza's standard erected an icy ring near the Temple of Raya, killing priests and followers with bloody revel. Some looked like dwarf-sized living pustules with horns, stabbing and biting as they swarmed around giant, icy mantises with frozen great-spears.
3. Pale, fanged vampires with pulsing, purple octopi latched to their heads blocked the opera exits, killing the terrified patrons in the aisles and chasing the actors across the slime-dripped stage.
4. In the dormitories of Scepter Academy, a team of feladrin ninjas led by a demon-masked katana wielder systematically exterminated all the non-elf cadets. Most children fled, but those that stood their ground were quickly cut down by the elite ice elves.
5. Squat, slimy frog monsters with flecks of emerald on their backs terrorized the docks along a river, sinking moored ships and setting fires.
6. A black bishop of Laz, corpulent and pale, commanded his undead minions from the rooftop of the sorcerer's guild. Ghasts and flying zombies jumped from tower to tower, ripping open roofs like paper and pouring inside to devour the sweet meat of their inhabitants.
7. A team of warforged soldiers looking eerily similar to Relic fired their canons into the streets, their backs to Spellforge.
8. And last but not least, a jumbled collection of the Saviors of the North fought back to back against all manner of Shalrazan demon! Among them were the younger versions of Sev, Finduilas, Matthias, Tasha, Victoria and Serren himself!
The ninth rift was hidden, purposefully blocked from scrying by something Serren's magic could not overcome...
Calm Before the StormThe group was exhausted. They hadn't been able to rest since escaping Reedthagn! Loradan put a fatherly foot down, insisting the group rest in his private quarters before undertaking a potentially suicidal marathon of rifts.
Elewoon and Serren summoned food and drink and the group, resistant or not, found chaises and couches. A few journals were scribbled in, as well. None of them fully trusted the Anubians, and brooded over all that had happened in the few short hours since they'd arrived on the Saindoron.
Experience: 300 (
13,791 total)
Magic: Gloves of Agility (Diana), Bracers of Mighty Striking (Portia), Cloak of the Walking Wounded +1 (Portia), Robe of Quills (Selja), Hat of Disguise (Relic), Linked Portal Ritual (Relic)
Money: +1000gp each, - expenditures
Loot: Hammer (Portia), Leather-bound Tome Vol. II (Portia), Jade Pyramid (Relic)
New NPCsMaster Ulwe (mentioned), head of Spelltower's wizards guild in the Tower of the Moth; Serren's master
Acantha, elven owner of The Seven Swans; a beautiful and crafty woman; Elewoon's partner
Monique, elven girl working at The Seven Swabs; has a crush on Filias and as a result is Selja's rival; afraid of half the group
Fread, clumsy elven teen in the midst of puberty; handyman at The Seven Swans; befriended Portia
Lehm, eldritch half-giant blacksmith and artificer; purple skin, fiery red beard, and glowing arcane sigils across his skin; the most skilled magic maker in Spelltower; even dwarves come to apprentice under him; has a violent temper
Stilts, a dwarf apprentice under Lehm in charge of item sales; had TWO wooden legs and two eyes for young ladies
Lord Loradan, elven lord mayor of Spelltower
The Anubians, alien beings from another plane or planet looking like impossibly-tall, impossibly-thin jackal men; have strange psychic powers and an understanding of technology and science far beyond any Othyrian; makers of the Tesseract; currently sustaining time for its last twenty-four hours before annihilation; gave the group the jade pyramid to heal the time rifts before its too late
New Quest:
Time Storm (priority 1)
The Tesseract has damaged all of time! Places and people from across Othyr's past and future are crash landing. Close the nine rifts before all Creation is swallowed by darkness.
