Panic, fire, betrayal

Participants

• Tingle
• Kaladan of Norixius
• Arden Rook
• Zeek the Zapper
• Iria

Recap

As the little of what consisted of the Tin Gemeni's storefront magically folds unto itself as if never existing, the blare of the alarms pierces through all other sounds. A panic starts building in the streets as ravers quickly hurry down the tight avenue. Suddenly a voice, distorted by a series of rapid tearing sounds, calls across the area, the voice sounding shaky:

"Sub-sector 6-11, you have no Autorus checkpoints blocking your nearest sector artery, Goliath raiders were last reported in west regions of your subsection, quickly moving nor-ssgsssshhhtttszz" - the voice cuts off as one of the nearby gnomish novi-lamps burst apart and you notice the closest pair of guardsmen suddenly tense up.

Two enormous men round the nearby corner, their swollen muscles tearing through bits of clothing, their skin marked with tribal coloring. They approach the guards, both carrying large bundles in their arms. They quickly break into a sprint, and hurl what they carried at the Autorus.

Several horribly mangled bodies tumble and slide across the dark street-way. Glancing at the carnage at their feet, the steady, yet wide-eyed Autorus peacekeepers draw their weapons in perfect unison.

The group began to ready for anything, the gravity of the situation suddenly becoming much more urgent, when they heard a male voice call out from up the street, "Nabomai, come on! We've got to go! It's not safe!"

As the nearby crowd began to run in the opposite direction, JKS sees a familiar-looking elderly elf peering at them from farther down the narrow street.

JKS immediately leapt into action, casting defensive spells while moving towards Nabomai and away from the Goliath.

The man with their old brewer-friend was recognizable to them. Obtu, he was called, a known freelancing wizard with some remarkable abilities. It appeared as if he and Nabomai had been drinking. He seemed to desperately be trying to get her to flee with him.

As the enforcers scrambled up the road, the Goliath cranked a small mechanism among the many tubes flowing into their necks, sending a surge of chems into their bloodstreams. With roars of unbridled aggression the hulking barbarians began tearing limbs from the Autorus like that of wings off flies.

Facing this carnage head on, Arden braced against the immediate throng of panicked ravers, bellowing out a call to safety for all those within earshot. Those nearby began following his guild away and up the narrow street. The later Autorus reports read that the groups who quickly reacted to this recorded far fewer casualties.

Catching up to Nabomai's position, Zeek turned to obscure their retreat with a thick bank of fog rising between those fleeing and the enraged and charging Goliath juicers. The old elf urged Zeek and his friends to join her at Obtu's house, as it was the closest, safest option.

The enforcers matched pace, running as a pack away from the sounds of pain and death occurring within the fog behind them. The sounds were getting closer. Tingle desperately tried a simple trick of light as a means of additional distraction, just barely slowing to place his luminescent decoy.

Nabomai slowed to encourage everyone to make haste as they approached Obtu's large, private estate. "The Autorus have been cracking down on looters with all the raids, we best get quickly", she warned.

Zeek could smell the ale on her breath, confirming earlier suspicions. The cleric watched Nabomai slam Obtu's door behind her, somehow managing to be the last to arrive inside to relative safety, despite Zeek's better intentions. As Obtu worked his way past the enforcers, striding towards Nabomai, she wore a sly grin "Ha. Now I owe you one, Obtu". The olive-cloaked Wizard grinned broadly. He then informed those nearby he was casting his protective wards on the front door.

Tingle paused to watch a master wizard for a moment, and the two casters talked shop briefly about the wards Obtu was placing. After the brief, yet informative conversation, Tingle drops a cluster of caltrops near the entrance. Anything to help.

As the paranoid gnome turned to join his friends bunkering in the study below, Nabomai and Zeek led from behind, the elf's long arm slung around the stout dwarf's broad shoulders. She was talking excitedly about a new brewing technique that would "change everything" she said, casting her arm across Zeek's vision as he listened intently.

Nabomai slid off Zeek's arm as they approached the stairs. With his friend close behind, Zeek began the steep descent down the well-lit, polished stone stairway leading to Obtu's study. After a moment, he turned to assist his aged friend. The little smile that had crept across Zeek's face during their conversation suddenly vanished. Nabomai was not a few steps behind him, but still at the threshold above. Before he could react, the tempest cleric heard her utter "I'm sorry" before closing the door between them.

Zeek ran forward, the door was sealed, magic likely at play. He slowly turned and faced down the long staircase again, the faces of his comrades slowly glanced back upwards, sensing something had changed.

Ice began to run through the veins of JKS as Zeek informed them of what happened. Their situation had seemingly turned from salvation to peril. With little option, the group slowly descended into the unknown.

Gleaming metallic walls lined the long corridor ahead before a space to the left opened up into some kind of shrine-like area. Here, the white stone tiles on the floor gave way to an intricate mosaic portraying the four basic elements of magic; fire, water, earth, and air. Each corner of this art piece finished in a raised metal tile, boasting individual intricate designs of the elements forged onto them.

Seeing an immediate pattern, Zeek strikes the fire-tile with a simple flaming bolt. The design in the metal began to glow with a bright orange light. Arden sees what his friend is doing, and creates a smear of dirt across the earth tile. The metal has no reaction, but the mosaic in the center swirls, and a rumble of moving earth echoes across the chamber. An enormous vaguely humanoid mound of rock and earth rises from the disturbance.

Iria and Kal, bows at the ready while watching their allies tackle this arcane puzzle, managed to rip off shots immediately as the monster's threat became apparent. The arrows merely bounced to the side, as the creature barreled forward Zeek stepped up, clapping his hands together and producing a thunderous wave that tore and shattered large chunks of material from the earthen elemental. Tingle contributes by slowing its progress, lining the pathway with a slick of grease. The creature lurched back and forward, struggling to keep its balance.

Getting close to finally righting itself, the enormous hulk attempted to lunge towards the enforcers. While his foe was still exposed, Kal seized the fleeting moment, sprinting forth to strike a savage blow, but found himself sliding into the feet of the creature, slipping on Tingle's trap.

Seeing his friend fall into the area of his spell, Tingle ran to the front, gripping the dragonborn and pulling with all of his might to drag his ally back to safety. As the gnome struggled with Kal's weight, his tiny frame made good progress, but the elemental's long reach slammed into the scales of Kal's ribcage. Tingle could only watch in horror as Kal's eyes glowed red with fury, as his axe's curse took hold.

The battle then took two forms, defeating the monster of dirt and rock, and controlling and directing Kal's rage away from the rest of JKS.

Through illusions, fits of laughter, and thoughtful retreat, the enforcers managed to contain Kal long enough to reduce the monster to a pile of rubble. With no more target, Kal's rage found Zeek before a new distraction could prevent him from giving chase. His axe tasted the cleric's flesh, delivering a near fatal blow to his friend, before a new illusion hid Zeek from view, allowing Kal to settle from the rage. JKS collapsed at their feet, exhausted.

Desperately needing to regroup. JKS withdrew back up the stairs, resting in the tight confines of a panty-like room in the midst of construction. Before bedding down to rest his aching body, Kal consumes the first treatment vial from Sindri, keeping the effects of his curse at bay for at least a day. While setting down, the group's lullaby was the muffled sounds of explosions and the rumbling echoes of crumbling buildings above. The fury of the raid on the surface continued until the last of the enforcers fell asleep.

Upon waking, the group set off further down the corridor, passing the mosaic and continuing down the chrome hall. Around the corner was an assortment of rooms housing display cases and bookshelves filled with various literature from the mystical arcana to brewing beer. The group paused to collect some capsules of earth from the nearby Spires of Indominus and Ultimus which were proudly displayed along the wall near the doorway to the back office.

Inside the office, a keg of cooled wine won the approval of Zeek, as he sipped and perused some of the books on brewing, stuffing a few into his bags. Reaching the end of a large bookcase while dragging his finger across the old leather spines of Obtu's library, Zeek came face to face with an ornate suit of armor, holding a broadsword pointed downward, resting between its steel boots.

As the cleric inspected the finely forged albeit "display" quality armor, he began to frown. Bits of frayed rope lay at the feet of the display. Additionally, the blade the suit gripped firmly in its gauntlets showed signs of an abrasive motion on the bottom third, as well as a few drops of what appeared to be dried blood. Zeek began to theorize there may have been a prior captive held here, and this decorative piece was their means of freeing their bonds.

Joining in on the quest for any information, his companions dove into the other bookshelves, making note of a few items that stood out above others. The first was a series of books following the adventures of an intrepid warrior-druid called "Gorgorons adventures". They came in the following: Volume 1: Finding the island through wave and storm, Volume 2: Mountain of magma, souls of ice, Volume 3: Taming the widest of oceans, controlling the brightest flames and listening to unending Skies, Volume 4: Gods of of the earth, hells, and heavens. The reading seemed to have a focus on bombastic entertainment.

Inside volume 1 there was also an inscription: "For Obtu - Good luck on this journey of yours - Remember, find joy in the creation, listen to what the spells tell you, lose yourself in good books, trust those who deserve it, and of course, always leave yourself a way out."

While making sense of this Arden also heard Iria stumble across a letter stuffed between volumes of reagent recipes. Previously opened, the official looking envelope had the Nellulon guild symbol on it. The contents read:

"Greetings Professor Obtu, The Nellulon division of Acana-Influenced Research is requesting a contract for your time in a consultation with Nellulon A.I.R.-team 12. We are in need of your experience in determining compatible reagents concerning the alteration of spells. Our work on a novel school of arcane casting would greatly benefit from your expertise in this area, possible collaboration in publishing available. Yours, Drif Gellaghan, MA.s"

After further discussion, and theorization, the group headed back in the direction of the mosaic and tiles. Through several new attempts of placing books on the metal, and retracing their steps with activating the fire tile, a different attempt at satisfying the criteria of the earth tile led to another battle with a rampaging pile of debris.

Learning from their previous encounter, the group launched into a quick series of effective attacks and tactics against the creature. Their onslaught was so furious that by the time Iria's arrow found its target from across the hall, the creature had taken such extensive damage the single bolt was enough to send the monster crumbling.

While resting from the battle, the group sat a long while in contemplation. Tingle began spouting all the seemingly-relevant pieces of information they have uncovered from their search. Something in the gnome's muttering made an idea click in the minds of Iria and Zeek. Feeding off each other, they excitedly explained that the Gorgoron's Adventures books all being titled after the four elements was just too coincidental. The volumes each portrayed three of the four elements in their titles, and the JKS theory was that the missing element in each volume represented the order in which the metal mosaic tiles needed to activate.

Within a few moments of baited breath, the proper element was magically infused onto each of the chrome-like tiles in the order Zeek and Iria directed. Immediately after the last spell was cast, a loud thud was heard from up the stairs. Exploring the sound, they found a new passage within the half-finished pantry upstairs. They wasted no time in making their escape upwards.

Popping open a heavy trapdoor, the group found themselves within the kitchens of a large estate. The nearby windows all seemed to be blacked out with some kind of strange substance, giving the large space an unexpectedly claustrophobic feeling.

Just as the last of the enforcers were up the ladder they noticed the smell of smoke in the air. As if the situation did not seem tense enough, screams of help pierced the room, coming from the upper levels. Tingle sent his spider ahead, navigating around some kind of webbing on the stairways. Cresting the top, it saw Obtu pleading for help in the hallway "You said we would be safe!" he cried. Something then latched onto his legs and the wizard is dragged into the adjacent room, out of sight. Even from downstairs, Obtu's screams were horrific to listen to.

With their attention firmly on the commotion upstairs, the enforcers barely noticed when flames began to roar through the front of the house. They leapt quickly across the room, consuming the expensive decor in their path. JKS ran for the stairs, flames continuing to encroach behind them. Zeek led the way, with Tingle clearing the webbing with bolts of magic, melting the silken strands, and allowing the tempest cleric to reach the doorway of the room where Obtu was dragged.

The door burst open in a spray of splinters from Zeek's spell. Inside, an ornate bed was covered in the same webbing, stretching across to the nearby walls. At the foot of the bed lay Obtu, eviscerated in a pool of his own blood. His panicked eyes were still and wide, his neck looking backwards out into the hall at a sickening angle.

With no time to react, something thin and black slashed down from the ceiling at Zeek, drawing blood. Looking up in horror Zeek saw the giant body of a spider with a woman, some kind of elf, attached at the torso. The monstrosity spit and hissed at Zeek, quickly retreating back out of reach toward the ceiling. The cleric felt sweat collecting on his brow as the heat of the inferno downstairs washed over his back. He took a long breath, and gripped his hammer...

Live Notes

• The Tin Gemini folds into itself as if it never existed
• A voice with tearing sounds, shaky, says
• Subsector 6 you have no autorous checkpoints blocking... goliath spotted
• 2 massive creatures with tribal markings
• They hurl what they are carrying at the guards - a pile of bodies
• We overhear someone calling for Nabomai
• JKS moves to protect Nabomai and people in the street from the juicers

Initiative!

• Buffs up
• Nabomai spots us, beckons us to come with
• The dwarf with Nabomai is named Obtu
• Arden tries to scurry some citizens to safety
• Tingle desperately urges Arden to hurry the fuck up
• A goliath trots forward and one-shot uppercuts an Autorus guard
• Another goliath approaches with a mangled pipe club and annihilates the other guard
• Zeek creates a fog cloud between us and the goliath
• Nabomai urges us to this guy's study in the sub-level, says its the safest around
• Everybody runs
• The goliath continue unabated into the crowd, gruesomely leveling everyone in their path
• Nabomai keeps moving, suggests its best we go inside because folks have been overly suspected of looting. Zeek notices she's got a little sauce on the breath, like they just left the bar
• Tingle forms a humanoid figure of light to distract the brutes while everyone flees
• JKS successfully flees to Obtu's house
• Nabomai jokes to Obtu "Now I owe YOU one"
• Nabomai tells Zeek she's got a new brew method she wants to share
• Obtu casts a protection spell, Tingle assists with some caltrops

Clear, fled successfully

• Obtu and Tingle get into a chat about spells
• Nabomai says she has something better than NSB
• Nabomai then shuts the door in Zeek's face, in heinous and unexpected fashion
• The party starts to mildly panic not knowing what's going on, starts to explore the adjacent rooms
• Descend to lower levels
• Statues carved in shapes of Wave Flame Plant Cloud, then a fancy relief in the back
• Zeek conjures some flame and the Fire pedestal lights up a bit
• Arden conjures some soil on the earth pedestal and a rock monster rises from it
• Iria's and Kal's shots ricochet off
• Zeek uses a ferociously destructive wrath from his diety and super shatters the rock monster
• Tingle casts grease, taking the monster down
• Kal tries to run in to attack, but slips and falls
• Tingle starts to drag his buddy out, but Kal takes damage and the berserk set in
• Arden reduces Kal to hideous laughter. Tries to grab the axe, unsuccessfully
• Zeek sends a bolt into the rock monster
• Tingle creates an illusory
• Rock monster advances
• Kal swings with his axe at the rock monster for a critical chunk of damage
• Arden somehow undermines the monster's confidence in itself
• Kal delivers a good hit
• Zeek explodes a shockwave from himself, crumbling the monster
• The party tangles with a berserking Kal for a while, but ultimately hides from him enough that he calms down, after only barely almost killing Zeek

JKS decides to bunker down in the constructing pantry for a long rest

• Upon waking, JKS proceeds down the longer hallway away from the pedestals
• They find a couple of rooms, one full of bookshelves, the other full of a display case of spire rock and dirt samples
• Samples include: Spire Primus a red sand, Spire Indominus a obsidian rocks, Spire Ultimus a brownish clay
• The group ventures into the room, finding a status of a knight and an ice-cooled barrel of wine
• Zeek samples and realizes the wine is pretty damn good
• Tingle fills his bag of holding with loose wine
• Zeek inspects the status and succeeds critically, learning much from it
• Zeek determines someone was tied up in the room and used the sword part of the statue to cut their bonds
• In this room,
• In the second room, the group finds a journal, a letter, and among them a notable book series
  • Gorgorons adventures
    • Finding the island through wave and storm
    • Mountain of magma, souls of ice
    • Taming the widest of oceans, controlling the brightest flames and listening to unending Skies
    • Gods of of the earth, hells, and heavens
  • Note
    • "For Obtu - Good luck on this journey of yours - Remember, find joy in the creation, listen to what the spells tell you, lose yourself in good books, trust those who deserve it, and of course, always leave yourself a way out."
  • Letter
    • "Greetings Professor Obtu, The Nellulon division of Acana-Influenced Research is requesting to contract for your time in a consultation with Nellulon A.I.R.-team 12. We are in need of your experience in determining compatible reagents concerning the alteration of spells. Our work on a novel school of arcane casting would greatly benefit from your expertise in this area, possible collaboration in publishing available. Yours, Drif Gellaghan, MA.s"
• The group tracks back to the hallway with the pedestals
• Tingle places the "Gods of of the earth, hells, and heavens" book on the earth pedestal. Nothing happens.
• Zeek casts some fire on the fire pedestal. It lights up again.
• Zeek then lays down some tobacco leaves on the plant pedestal. Another rock monster emerges from the floor.
• Arden reduces it to hysterics on the floor
• Tingle greases up the joint
• Kal breath weapons and lights that shit on fire
• Arden causes psychic fear damage
• Kal chunks in for some good damage
• Tingle regreases
• Kal gets another good piece of damage
• Iria sinks the finishing arrow

• Zeek and Iria put their heads together and come up with an updated plan
  • Zeek casts fire on the fire
  • Arden casts a puff of wind on the cloud
  • Zeek places tobacco leaves on the plant
  • Zeek sprinkles holy water on the water
• Zeek leads us up to the pantry where there is now a passageway with a ladder

• The party finds itself in a large estate, the smell of smoke in the air
• Screams and calls for help coming from upstairs
• Webbing on the stairwell and a floating ball of light
• Tingle sends his scouting spider up, spots Obtu on the ground, pleading "you said we would be safe!"
• Flames begin to encroach all around
• The squad makes their way up the webbed stairs, clearing what they can on the way
• Zeek is up first and inspects the cracked door. He magically blasts it open, seeing a bed covered in webs
• Everyone else comes up. Tingle fire-clears the rest of the webbing
• Further into the bedroom, we discover the savaged corpse of Obtu
• Zeek steps in, gets slashed, spots a spider thing on the ceiling

Loot