Some point in the early Second Age...
16 hours 48 minutes left
A Short Rest
On the insistence of Lord Loradan, the group took an hour to catch their breaths, accepting Elewoon's hospitality as they prepared for the monumental task before them. Save all Creation in twenty-four, er twenty-three hours? No sweat. However the battle din and rift thunder outside made it difficult to find any true peace of mind within the suite.
Serren sat in the waiting room, scrying through his dagger blade. Selja asked if he could find Filias, which he eventually did, but warned her of the image. She braced herself and looked, seeing her bird boy huddled under his bed with tears in his eyes praying not to be found. At least he was alive.
Seizing the moment, Kaylan, ever the priestess of joy, sought to reclaim a little happiness and found Loradan in his bed chambers for a special meeting. At least that's what Portia told Selja when she asked. The little boggart tried to sneak inside, but the door was locked. Faint moaning marked vigorous discussion, she was sure. Diana gaped and Vilthanos chuckled darkly. When Kaylan finally walked out, she startled, thinking everyone's plan had been to go to sleep.
Unapologetic, Kaylan proved opposite Lord Loradan, who was absolutely red in the face when he followed out after into a crowd of onlookers. He coughed nervously, inspiring an innocent remark from Selja to the effects of, "I think his coughing means he wants someone else to go in for a special meeting." The older elf turned right back around and hid in his room. "Good luck!" he called from behind the door.
Kriznob crawled out from under the couch and commented he smelled sex, provoking an inevitable question from the naive Selja, "What is sex?". When the kobold offered to show her, Diana swiftly kicked him across the room, and Portia assured her little sis that she was much too young to know (despite only being a year older).
The party resolved to discuss their plan of action, quite unable to rest any longer. With nine rifts, there were options aplenty, from docks and operas to tower tops and city squares. After some debate, the group decided to test out the Anubian pyramid on the Nightingale rift, which was the closest. It was also on the way to the Saviors. With any luck, they'd seal a rift and go on to enlist their legendary predecessors to help with the rest of the time storm.
Elewoon was mostly silent, consumed with thoughts of Acantha as she looked out upon Spelltower in flux. Vilthanos, of all people, tried to comfort her. The two found some heartfelt commonality.
Incoming!
Any lingering doubts about the plan were quickly dispelled by a high whistling and a growing curse. BOOM! A young King Matthias, rugged and dashing, crashed through the side of the tower. He wedged a glaive between the jaws of a bloated, white crocodile demon licked in electricity. Those that knew him in his later years cheered and wondered, but Matthias didn't recognize any of them (despite his eyes lingering on a few of the girls). Relic fired on the demon, enough to knock it off balance and give Matthias the window he needed. The king took a running start and speared the beast out into the open air, yelling for everyone to find someplace safe.
Escape from the Mayoral Tower
The integrity of the tower top was severely compromised, but matters were made worse when a giant, two-headed vulture perched on the roof. Parts of the ceiling came tumbling down, spurring the boggarts and Relic to flee down a spiraling stairwell and into the street. Diana started to do the same, before remembering the kobold. She fought to pull Kriznob back out from under the couch, while Kaylan did much the same for Loradan as he hid under his bed. The mayor turned a magic ring on his finger and vanished with an apologetic look, leaving Elewoon and Vilthanos pulling the cleric onto a conjured nimbus.
The two-and-a-half elves flew out the blasted side of the tower, chased by a panicked sorceress and a screaming wyrmpriest. The street trio's suppressive fire kept the mighty vulroc busy, and it eventually launched back into the air. Unfortunately, it's lift off caused the roof's total collapse. Diana had but seconds to act before being crushed and, in a tremendous leap of faith, jumped off the twelfth story, hugging a screaming Kriznob. With the aid of an arcane sirocco, the Saspish girl found Kaylan's open arms. A little shy about it, Diana was quite shocked when Kaylan passingly called her friend.
The Vulroc
Selja's careful sniping prevented the nimbus from being crushed by falling debris, while Relic and Portia continued to occupy the vulroc. Their firing was so effective, it provoked the beast into a death swoop, double beaks snapping, talons ready. Portia and Relic took cover, but Selja, in a truly wondrous display, focused her canary-styled magic missiles into a beam of yellow, shrieking light. It pierced through one of the vulture heads, killing it instantly. The remainder of the monster crashed into the street many yards shy of the trio where it died in a spasmodic warble.
The group cheered and Elewoon marveled at Selja's wizardry, as the party reunited. Selja was quick to point out she was a DRUID, leaving the elf a little confused. Kriznob was still screaming, claws over his eyes, despite everything Diana did to quiet him.
Tower of the Nightingale
It wasn't hard to find the bard's tower, plumes of black smoke rising several blocks away, coupled with heat, light and the sounds of battle. The further they moved from the mayoral tower, the smaller the houses got, and the nearer they came to the rift, the more ravaged they became. Even the street had been shredded by gigantic roots and vines, and all was blackened and covered in thick smoke. It stunk of burning.
The party came upon a scene of total chaos, finding the Tower of the Nightingale under siege. The eighty-foot tower was built in three tiers, with pale stone walls, rich wood shingles, and a number of ledges. Gargoyles perched on all of them, some fashioned like pretty birds, others ugly monsters. Fire blasted out many of the windows and vines and roots choked the midsection, occasionally causing the whole thing to sway. On the highest ledges thirty or so bards balanced and scrambled onto the roof, desperately defending against living vines. Their instruments were converted to clubs, batting aside the serpentine vegetation whenever it tried to encroach.
At the base of the tower, the street was broken and great spurts of earth jutted into the air, creating several deep ravines between. A few surrounding houses were blackened skeletons of their former selves, almost entirely eaten away. Their yards and porches were charred. What wasn't ruined by fire was destroyed by the earth itself. Great roots covered the uneven ground, burst forth from a small park surrounding the tower.
And fighting amidst it all were two factions, green and red. The greens were comprised of mostly wormwood dryads, with gnarled bumps for faces and breasts and thick branches for arms, whose battle cries were loud creaks. They crushed and battered tower guards, but no ordinary tower guards. Their eyes, nostrils and mouths were burned out and spewing flames, corpses now possessed by fire elementals, like human furnaces. Sailing throughout the root system were two green apparitions looking similar to elves, vine haunts that attacked any that came within reach. When the haunts lifted their spectral arms, a root or vine lifted with them, likewise striking with devastating force. In one fiery section of park, burning down tree after tree, was a blood-painted Azerbadi woman with jawbones strapped to her head, screaming wildly and calling on firestorms, some sort of holocaust witch.
If that wasn't enough, a living maple tree was slowly lumbering over the difficult terrain toward the tower. The treant must have been forty or more feet high from roots to apex. He looked pained by all the destruction, especially to the park. And laughing behind a large, ruined tree was a fire giant shaman, twenty feet tall himself. Fire traced his black musculature, finding a home in his burning orange beard and hair.
Who're the Bad Guys?
The group just sort of stared a moment, entirely clueless as to which side to take. Though Selja was partial to the growing things, and the witch looked to be having too good a time, it was really anyone's guess. Elewoon has no great insight to offer, as unsure as the rest of them.
They decided to favor the green for any number of reasons. It hardly mattered when compared to closing the time rift, located in the park near the giant. It was large enough to have just squeezed out the treant, maybe thirty feet wide, traced in violet energy. Its innards were an infinite black interior flecked with stars, the Void.
How About A Little Fire!
Relic displayed the superior range with his arm cannon, lining it up with the witch across the battlefield and blasting her to the ground. The red woman snarled and leaped into a burning tree, vanishing in the blaze...
She appeared not long after on the rooftop of a nearby building. Blazing hands outstretched, she summoned a fire elemental within Relic's body, successfully dominating him. Losing all personality, the machine man became what the Creator had always intended, an unfeeling engine of destruction. Diana laid into the witch, but Kaylan unleashed the absolute fury of the noonday sun upon her. The red woman vengefully commanded Relic to shoot the priestess, turning a protector into an executioner. Relic fired without hesitation, then a second time, leaving Kaylan betrayed, wounded, and terrified.
The witch could only laugh and dance upon the roof, summoning up a firestorm which scorched Diana, Kaylan and Kriznob and banished Lavendar. By the time they made it out, Relic was breaking free of the witch's control. He had no recollection of turning on his closest friend and aimed for the roof.
Kriznob Grows Some
The green kobold, having had his limit of the vile woman, growled in a low voice, "Die bitch!" and managed to land a crippling strike! His poison orb sapped the strength from her legs and she fell off the roof. Paralyzed on the cobblestone, she pleaded in Primordial. Diana was unmoved, whispering a curse in her native Infernal before blasting the red woman with rime. The witch froze solid and shattered, only for the fragments to quickly melt in the heat of all the fires.
Treant vs. Giant
The treant continued his way over rubble. The giant looked ready to meet him, until he noticed the bards above. Laughing, he began to climb the tower instead. Occasionally he would sing or chime something in Primordial, undoubtedly wicked things, though the group could only guess. When he eventually cleared the top, he snatched one of the frightened singers, popped off his head with a thumb, and began scrawling some sort of primal circle on the round roof. The inverted corpse was like a crayon in his hand, send waves of terror through the stranded bards. When it ran out of blood, he scooped up a woman, popped off her head and continued.
Once the treant reached the park, he grew in size, his leaves and bark darkened, and he gave a great shout. The nature around him seemed to strengthen and the fires dim. He moved with renewed speed across the grass and demanded the giant, whom he called firestarter as if it were some terrible curse (and from the mouth of a living tree it was), to face him. The giant sneered and paid him little mind, continuing his mysterious work.
With the treant's burst of strength, the dryads looked healthier and hardier. They managed to pound the remainder of the human furnaces to pulp, and those they missed burned out without the witch's magic. The nearest of them then hopped onto the shoulders and hair of the fatherly forest shepherd.
Portia and Selja slowly made their way toward the treant and the rift, the rogue intent on somehow getting the elementals through the rift. The others moved toward the tower by a different route. However there was a nasty barrier in their way, a tangle of giant vines and green ghosts.
Haunting Vilthanos
The evil half moved for the tower with impressive speed. As he appealed to a dryad that got in his way, her face contorted and creaked. She attacked him, forcing his hand, and he cut her down. This proved to attract more dryads, outraged by the killing. He cut them down as well, with a little help from distant allies.
Vilthanos tried clearing the roots massed in his way, but was thrown down by the vine haunts. The spectral pair began attacking the elf, landing some heavy hits. One spewed a face-full of spores which dazed the swordmage long enough for the other to pound him mercilessly back. Again the party aided Vilthanos, Selja and Diana from long range and Kaylan with a healing word. Even Vilthanos, not prone to being taken off guard, was surprised.
How Rude! (or How I Saw a Giant's Dick)
The treant continued to shout threats and command the roots around the tower to shake the structure. Selja, looking to interrupt the giant from whatever he was doing, impersonated the treant's voice as she magically screamed, "....." The giant, and the treant with him, both stopped mid-action and looked at the little boggart. She felt very small just then.
Laughter suddenly exploded from the giant. He walked to the edge of the roof, unlaced his pants and flopped his member for all the battlefield to see. It was six feet long, at least. After jeering in Primordial a bit, he went back to work, though he kept his dick out...
The treant stomped over to Selja and picked her up by the scruff, like a man would pick up a mouse, leveling her with his glistening, amber eyes. He scolded her for her rudeness, demanding an apology for hurting his feelings and embarrassing him. She squeaked an apology when she was able to, but something lurking in the boughs of the treant's hair didn't believe her. A tiny, green gem with a mass of roots like tentacles scurried down a branch and onto the boggart. The treant spoke to it in Primodrial, calling it Dibs, as it perched on Selja's head. Suddenly it started flapping its roots in her face. She screeched and apologized again.
A Curse of Conscience
The treant ultimately cursed her with a conscience, or so he said, leaving little Dibs deposited on her head. He placed her back down, where a relieved Portia waited. Selja kissed the cobblestones and tried to puzzle out just what the treant meant, a curse of conscience. She called called back at the shambling maple, but he was again focused on the giant.
Dibs squirmed and scurried up and down Selja's person, causing her to shiver a little. After a little while, though, she didn't much mind, more curious than anything about the nature of the gem-headed rootling. It was animated and lively, and didn't seem to want to hurt her.
Another One Bites the Dust
Elewoon had begun sneaking bards onto her nimbus from an angle the giant couldn't see. She managed to get ten aboard before strange red light flared from the tower top. The primal circle complete. The giant stood in its center and began to chant, the runes burning hotter with every syllable. The increasing heat could be felt even from the battlefield and those poor twenty souls Elewoon couldn't manage onto her nimbus cried out and were incinerated.
Relic saw what little time was left and loaded the pyramid into his cannon. He yelled for Portia to go long. The boggart hadn't heard him, but the warforged's aim was impeccable. The little device cracked the rogue in the head. Realizing what it was and where it came from, she moved closer to the rift and found it was growing! No time to spare, she fiddled with the pyramid, slowly getting it to change shapes.
Bardic ashes dusted a furious treant who, with a Primordial curse of his own, dug his roots into the park and grabbed onto the vines wrapped around Nightingale's base. With the strength of a titan he pulled, willing the flora to help him. With a quivering creak and a terrible shout he tore down the very tower itself! The circle upon the roof was broken as the roof collapsed and came raining down with the rest of the building. The fire giant roared as he fell and landed with a sickening splat, only to be crushed and buried.
A massive cloud of dust blasted through the battlefield, obscuring the park and streets in a wide radius.
Death of an Ancient
As the air began to clear, the dryads were weeping. The treant near death, sprawled with his arms and legs shattered, face and torso splintered, amber eyes flickering in and out. He took slow, laborious breaths, and Dibs scurried to his side. He assured his allies it had to be done, certain he had averted some great terror on the tower top.
With the treant's weakening, the vine haunts became easy prey, and the remainder of the group rushed over. Kaylan tried to heal the ancient, but was waved her off, the treant advising her to save it. Vilthanos couldn't help criticizing him on his deathbed, suspecting his death could have been avoided had he just called off the greens. He spoke in riddles, then, or perhaps it was the last flickers of consciousness all jumbled. He said it wasn't that simple, that children could be unruly, and that she had to save it. Then he died, spurring Dibs and the dryads into crying fits.
Selja did what she could to comfort the little guy.
Locking the Rift
With the immediate threat passed, the Portia continued her manipulation of the pyramid. After long, Selja decided to help. Unfortunately she didn't have the slightest idea what she was doing, often reversing what Portia had managed. Worse, the rift seemed to grow with every mistake. The rogue eventually got the pyramid to become a key and, guided by the device, plunged it into the rift. The tear in space-time developed a film over it and seemed to be waiting for something. Almost with a smirk, Portia thought to turn it, and with that the tear blinked out of existence. The key reverted back to a small pyramid.
Little did Portia notice the commotion behind her, as Diana's belt went wild. Strangeheart wanted desperately to enter the Void, its corresponding plane. It began dragging Diana by the waist. She called out to Relic for help, but it seemed the more resistance, the stronger the gem's hunger became. It ended up dragging the sorceress and the machine man to within a few feet of oblivion. And when the rift was closed, things really got weird.
Tiberius Strangeheart
The Strangeheart's vehement desire to leap into the Void tore it from Diana's waist. It began to change! It had finally found its humanoid manifestation, that of a five year old boy with pale, purple skin dressed in a black suit fit for a funeral. His black hair was parted in the middle and curled up on the sides like small horns. He growled in a child's voice tinged with something much more, having a tantrum and crying over and over the word "No!"
The group was stunned, especially Selja, who thought Diana had just given birth. The sorceress was very quick to deny it, explaining it wasn't her baby, it was her... belt. Logic and magic never went together very well. Hoppers II, in an uncharacteristic reaction, hissed dangerously from Portia's pocket, surprising the boggart who knew him only to be gentle and pleasant. Vilthanos drew some of the boy's ire, and Relic leveled the cannon on him, but Selja really pissed him off. Diana had nearly gotten control of him through the use of blood treats, quite odd indeed and implying she'd fed the gem blood before, but the little wizuid had a way of inflaming situations, even after being warned.
A small galaxy formed over Strangeheart's head like a halo and his eyes took on the light of stars. Flickers of cosmic energy swirled and suddenly he fired a beam meant to turn Selja to dust. It would have, too, had Dibs not leaped up and deflected it with his emerald head. He landed back down in a tiny heroic pose, which had some wondering the exact nature of the rootling. Vilthanos and Selja both deduced it was a Heart, but couldn't figure which one. It greatly resembled the Wildheart, but that was impossible considering Portia had Hoppers II in her pocket.
A defeated little boy stomped over to Diana, who ended up naming him Tiberius after a long-lost pet trout. He shrugged. Lavendar's sudden appearance and unintentional slight provoked Tiberius into another gathering beam, but the strain of maintaining a humanoid form forced the boy back into a gem and onto Diana's belt.
A Longer Rest
Exhausted, the group holed up in the skeleton of a house.
Relic repeatedly attempted to uncover the source of Kaylan's discomfort with him, Diana finally spelling it out. Shocked, the warforged took his ward aside to explain himself. It didn't go very well.
Tensions rose even higher as Kaylan began to sing herself at ease, triggering something in Vilthanos he didn't like. Selja and the evil elf had a quick spat, but the severity of their mission doused any serious confrontation. She did end up giving the rusty katana Vilthanos liked so much to Relic for safe keeping, though, and the machine man placed it in his leg compartment.
Elewoon deposited the shell-shocked bards in safer neighborhoods away from the fighting. No trace of Serren or Loradan, though the group didn't really expect there to be. Dibs snuggled with Selja, still distraught over the loss of the treant. Kriznob snuck off and returned an hour or so later with a few salvaged items. He now wore the bloody jaw of the holocaust witch as part of a grizzly new necklace.
One down. Eight to go.
Experience: 350xp each (14,091 total)
Magic: Witchjaw (off the Holocaust Witch), Carmella's Comb (off a dead bard), Wilhelmina's Dress (off a dead bard, Kaylan), Audrey's Compact (off dead bard)
Money: 402 gp (67 gp each)
Loot: mandolin, tuba, flute, drum, violin and bow, trumpet (off dead bards)
New Familiar:
Dibs, rootling gem head (and suspected of being a Heart); closely linked to the Treant; thrust on Selja as a curse of conscience; the boggart comforted him after the Treant's death brought the gem to sweat (tears)
New NPCs:
Young Matthias, the future King of the Niflheimr minus the gray and plus an eye, sucked out of a time before the Demon War was won; a perfect specimen of Athar male; fought a pale, crocodile demon licked with electricity; warned the group to find safe haven before spearing the monster out the blasted side of the tower
Holocaust Witch (unnamed), a blood-painted woman with jawbones strung to her head; able to manipulate fire like a true elemental; dominated Relic and made him attack Kaylan, while dancing on a rooftop and burning half the group; brought down by a fed-up Kriznob and slain by Diana rime style (dead)
Treant (unnamed), a living maple with a hatred of firestarters and a keen sense of manners; scolded Selja for her rude, hurtful comment, despite being in the middle of a battle, and 'cursed' her with a conscience in the form of Dibs; his dying words were to the effects of 'not that simple, save it, children can be unruly' which resonates as being important somehow; died after toppling the Tower of the Nightingale and potentially saving everyone (dead)
Fire Giant (unnamed), a jolly shaman who climbed Nightingale Tower, killed a few bards to draw a primal blood circle, but before he could unleash its power was killed by the Treant (dead)
Tiberius Strangeheart, the humanoid manifestation of Diana's purple gem; a five year boy with pale lavender skin dressed in a black suit fit for a funeral; his black hair parts in the middle and curls upward like tiny horns; stubborn, willful and quick to anger; tried to kill Selja, but was foiled by Dibs; kind-of listens to Diana, especially when blood treats are involved
New Monsters:
Vulroc, Treant, Fire Giant, Human Furnaces, Holocaust Witch, Dryads, Vine Haunts
Current Quest: Time Storm (1/9 rifts sealed)
Witchjaw
The jaws of a bear woven in blackened leathers and studded with iron creates a menacing headdress that bolsters will.
Level: 12
Price: 13,000 gp
Item Slot: Head
Property: You gain a +2 item bonus to Intimidate and Endurance checks.
Power (Daily): Immediate Interrupt. You can use this power when an enemy makes an attack against your Will defense. Gain a +2 item bonus to Will until the end of your next turn. If the attack targeting you has the fear keyword, gain a +4 item bonus instead.
Carmella's Comb
This intricate comb is carved from red wood and fashioned with ivory teeth. It's meant to be a girl's best friend and subsequently worn.
Level: 2
Price: 520 gp
Item Slot: Head
Property: Gain a +1 item bonus to Bluff and Diplomacy checks.
Power (At-Will): Minor Action. Change the length, color, consistency (curly, straight, wavy, etc.) and style (braided, cornrows, Afro, etc.) of your hair from as short as stubble to as long as five feet.
Wilhelmina's Dress
Made of fine white silk, this simple one-piece threatens to put tailors out of business!
Level: 2
Price: 520 gp
Armor: Cloth
Enhancement: +1 AC
Power (At-Will • Radiant): Minor Action. The gown radiates colored lights, illuminating like a torch. You can end the illumination as a free action.
Power (At-Will): Minor Action. The garment changes color.
Power (At-Will): Standard Action. The simple dress changes into comfortable traveling clothes, a skimpy lingerie number or a fancy ballroom gown.
Audrey's Compact
This small pearly case contains a mirror, face powder, a puff and some rouge. A little dab will do you.
Level: 1
Price: 360 gp
Wondrous Item
Power (At-Will): Standard. You powder your nose and everything from your eyes to your lips is decorated to order, saving you the drawn-out process of manual makeup application.
Property: Gain a +2 bonus to Bluff and Diplomacy checks as part of a seduction.
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