As everyone seems ready to explore the House of Glass and Mirrors, Leelan will quickly jot down the message of the graffiti in his notes and make for the entrance with the group.
This post has potentially manipulated dice roll results.
Cosette listens to the boys converse, nodding in agreement and smiling along to some points. She couldn’t help but glance over the field of stumps on her way through towards the College.
From this distance, the university and magical college buildings are impressive but nothing stands out as unusual. Except...
Leelan:
Examining the exterior of the House of Glass and Mirrors, you see evidence that suggests a magical battle was fought here recently. The main door has been burned, and the ashes are warm but not hot, this happened recently, within the last couple of days. Additionally, there are a few spots on the wall near the door which show scorch marks, as if fire was hurled at it.
Cosette:
Scanning across the dead field of roses, you can briefly imagine what it must have looked like when the city was alive... a vast plantation of rose bushes, as large as a city block.
As you take a moment to imagine the colors and scent of the garden as it appeared a century ago, you catch a bit of movement in the distance. It looks like something, several hundred feet away, ducks behind the stump of a giant rose bush. It was just an instant out of the corner of your eye, so you can't be sure what you saw... but for all the world it looked to you like a big cluster of eyeballs.
Looking through the open doorway of the Magical College, you can all see a long hallway running the length of the building. Doors branch off in regular intervals, some open, some closed. The entire hall is lit with lanterns, spaced evenly down the hall and filling the corridor with warm, rich light.
Most of the interior that you can see is free of the debris and detritus found out in the street, but 20' inside the door, a life-size stone statue of an elf warrior lies broken upon the tiled floor.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
PC - Ethel - Human - Lvl 4 Necromancer - Undying Dragons * Serge Marshblade - Human - Lvl 5 Eldritch Knight - Hoard of the Dragon Queen
DM -(Homebrew) Heroes of Bardstown *Red Dead Annihilation: ToA *Where the Cold Winds Blow : DoIP * Covetous, Dragonish Thoughts: HotDQ * Red Wine, Black Rose: CoS * Greyhawk: Tides of War
Cosette was quiet, a little lost in her own daydream about how beautiful this place would have been back in it's prime. However, there was something that tickled her out of her reverie. She blinks. Her maladaptive daydreaming was always pleasurable to the senses. This... this was just bizarre. She doesn't just think up big clusters of eyeballs poking out of a bush. That just reminded her of the eyeball, aberration, thing that they killed for the wererats. That's what everyone keeps referring to these type of creatures as, aberrations, right?
"Sooo..." Cos breaks her silence. "Remind me. Whut was that creature we fought fer the wererat 'kingdom' again?" She asks a bit nonchalantly. "That one of o' kind er...?" Cosette trails off a bit before casually gesturing over her shoulder towards the field of stumps. "They play outside?" she adds. "'Cause unless I'm hallucinatin' from sum sour mornin' berries, an' on my way to a bad trip... I could swear I just saw a big cluster o' irises, an' not the flower kind."
Leelan considers Cosette’s warning, and then points at the main entrance door.
"And look over there. Scorch marks on the door. Rather fresh ones too. I would sumerise that an altercation of the arcane variety occurred here no more than a few days ago." He then turns back to Cosette. "I would advise caution. Either another group entered this place before us, or they suffered a truly dreadful fate."
This post has potentially manipulated dice roll results.
"You mean the shocking tentacled aberration the wererat clan sent us to eliminate? I believe Leelan aptly named it a death kiss, isn't that right Leelan?" The young noble says and looks bewteen the archaeologist and the erudite gnome. "A cluster of irises sounds like something slightly different than a death kiss though, but quite worth our attention."He continues and immediately redirects the ethereal Furvus to take a closer peek at what hides in the field of stumps.
Furvus perception: 21
Aubrey then listens with interest at what Leelan had noticed and deduced. "It is unlikely the abrerrations that infests Amnifortis are responsible for the scorch marks. It might have been a magical confrontation between Deinochlorodon and those he wants us to find." The young noble suggests, looking around at the others while waiting for a report from Furvus, also stepping closer to the nearest building should the many-irised aberration Cos spotted in the stumped field suddenly turn aggressive.
Raqisat draws his swords to be ready for whatever may come. He looks to Cosette for a direction towards the eyeball-thing and then slowly starts in that direction, happy to let Aubrey's pet-thing take the lead.
"Lots of strange here," he says over his shoulder back towards the others. "I wouldn't be shocked if the different aberrations can do different things. Scorch marks could be anything..."
The former rose garden is a massive field, the size of a city block. The stumps of the rose bushes are roughly 10' cubes, spaced evenly across the field. Near the far southwest corner, 250' away, Furvus locates something lurking behind one of the stumps.
It is almost too large to hide behind the stump. As Cosettedescribed, it appears to be a cluster of eyeballs. As Furvus observes it, the eyeballs each independently look around, straining in all directions.
Then, a voice appears inside the link shared by Furvus and Aubrey.
"Hello? Is someone there? I cannot see you. But I can hear you thinking. How do you hide yourself from me?"
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
PC - Ethel - Human - Lvl 4 Necromancer - Undying Dragons * Serge Marshblade - Human - Lvl 5 Eldritch Knight - Hoard of the Dragon Queen
DM -(Homebrew) Heroes of Bardstown *Red Dead Annihilation: ToA *Where the Cold Winds Blow : DoIP * Covetous, Dragonish Thoughts: HotDQ * Red Wine, Black Rose: CoS * Greyhawk: Tides of War
This post has potentially manipulated dice roll results.
"Furvus has located the many-eyed entity, it seems to want to communicate telepathically for now but stay alert."The young noble informs the others in the team, then turning his attention to the conversation with the weird-looking globe of eyeballs.
"It is magic that hides me, forgive the precaution but this place is filled with dangers. What are you and what is your purpose?"Aubrey messages in a formal but polite tone.
Persuasion to possibly establish peaceful contact: 19
Hearing that contact has been made Raqisat pauses his advance but remains ready... And his eyes keep scanning to try to catch sight of whatever this may be. If trouble is avoided, great. If trouble happens though, Raqisat wants to know where it is coming from.
The eyeballs continue to look around in all directions at once.
"Iyszor, am I called. My purpose is to observe. I deduce you are with the manlings gathered in the street. Tell me, what is your purpose here? Things such as yourselves do not linger here long, lest they perish."
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
PC - Ethel - Human - Lvl 4 Necromancer - Undying Dragons * Serge Marshblade - Human - Lvl 5 Eldritch Knight - Hoard of the Dragon Queen
DM -(Homebrew) Heroes of Bardstown *Red Dead Annihilation: ToA *Where the Cold Winds Blow : DoIP * Covetous, Dragonish Thoughts: HotDQ * Red Wine, Black Rose: CoS * Greyhawk: Tides of War
"Yes, we are aware of the dangers in Amnifortis. Our purose here is not unlike yours Iyszor, to oberve and gather information. Is it possible we can share information for mutual benefit?" Aubrey continues to message in a polite but formal tone. "Who do you serve insightful Iyszor?"
"Iyszor serves no one... I serve only my own purpose. Today, that purpose is to observe the events unfolding here and below."
... "Iyszor would not be averse to an equitable exchange of information, yet is doubtful that you possess any knowledge of interest to Iyszor. What can you tell of this place that would be worth Iyszor sharing with you?"
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
PC - Ethel - Human - Lvl 4 Necromancer - Undying Dragons * Serge Marshblade - Human - Lvl 5 Eldritch Knight - Hoard of the Dragon Queen
DM -(Homebrew) Heroes of Bardstown *Red Dead Annihilation: ToA *Where the Cold Winds Blow : DoIP * Covetous, Dragonish Thoughts: HotDQ * Red Wine, Black Rose: CoS * Greyhawk: Tides of War
"You might be right Iyszor, but I will share what we have gathered and we will find out."The young noble starts messaging back, deciding there would likely be nothing to lose by telling this entity what they knew. "North of the ruins there is a place where people are kept that have been struck with a mysterious disease. Not far from here but underground there is a clan of manlings that can transform to ratlings. West of there is a hill where manlings pray to their gods. To the southeast there is a group of manlings with destruction and stealing as their purpose. In the castle to the south a very powerful entity resides that we think might have visited these parts recently. And finally we know that this area has other visitors that we are looking for. I am prepared to share more information about anything I mentioned but first I would want something in return."
"All of that is... accurate. If superficial and purposefully vague."
"Very well. Iyszor will share this much: the creature in the castle is but one of the powers sequestered here... a lesser power. It hides behind curtain walls, self-assured of its own supremacy. That it is allowed to remain there, unmolested, is proof that it is worthy of no real notice to the true powers here."
"The manlings and their comings and goings are of no consequence. Iyszor would be willing to share more... if you divulge all that you know of those 'visitors' you believe are in this area."
Aubrey:
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
PC - Ethel - Human - Lvl 4 Necromancer - Undying Dragons * Serge Marshblade - Human - Lvl 5 Eldritch Knight - Hoard of the Dragon Queen
DM -(Homebrew) Heroes of Bardstown *Red Dead Annihilation: ToA *Where the Cold Winds Blow : DoIP * Covetous, Dragonish Thoughts: HotDQ * Red Wine, Black Rose: CoS * Greyhawk: Tides of War
Grugga looks anything but relaxed as he awaits the outcome of this communion with a breach aberration. He takes Zap out of its cage and draws his sword, keeping his wits about him.
"The truth is Iyszor that we only know of the visitors because the creature in the castle is disturbed by their presence and mentioned them to us. I can assure you we will share with you what we find out when we locate them. I can only assume you have observed them coming here and you could make our gathering of more information for you easier by divulging what you yourself know about them so far, particularly their numbers and which building they are currently visiting. There seems to have been a recent altercation outside that building where the manlings are waiting, was it between the visitors and the creature in the castle mayhap?"
Satisfied she wasn’t hallucinating, Cosette was more than happy to let the boys take the lead on doing the investigation work. Habitually she’d gradually move along gravitating towards Raqisat, essentially maintaining a back to back formation. This assured a combined full field of view with a combined range. That being has more eyes than they do combined. She could appreciate pausing to smell the flowers, but if there was a skirmish relatively recently, Cos rather reduce the opportunity of anything getting the jump on them while Aubrey negotiated with the cluster of irises amongst the roses. Honestly though, each time they came across a garden or affected land, she felt the nudge of desire to revitalize it and restore it.
"That's a lot of eye, eh?" Raqisat says quietly to Cosette as she comes up next to him. "Gross but... That can't be a very effective monster, can it? I mean eyes are about the weakest part of a body... right? But definitely gross."
"So you're gathering your intel from the thing in the castle, then. Do you hope to serve it? To gain something for yourselves in the process? Foolish. Such a worm can hardly sustain itself, let alone provide for groveling manlings. Or are you trying to manipulate it? Use it in some way? Doubly foolish. As weak and miserable as that creature is, the thing in the castle is still as far beyond you and your kind as Iyszor and others like Iyszor are beyond it. If it sent you here, then know that you are its pawns. Expendable.
"None of that concerns Iyszor. Of those visitors here, we know them not by form, but by activity. They have come from somewhere else, and disturbed things here. Awakened energies here. Some have come to investigate them... Iyszor has come to observe. If you choose to meddle, Iyszor will observe what happens to you."
"Should you somehow survive, we could continue this scintillating conversation. Doubtless, you will have learned something worth talking about."
PC - Ethel - Human - Lvl 4 Necromancer - Undying Dragons * Serge Marshblade - Human - Lvl 5 Eldritch Knight - Hoard of the Dragon Queen
DM -(Homebrew) Heroes of Bardstown *Red Dead Annihilation: ToA *Where the Cold Winds Blow : DoIP * Covetous, Dragonish Thoughts: HotDQ * Red Wine, Black Rose: CoS * Greyhawk: Tides of War
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As everyone seems ready to explore the House of Glass and Mirrors, Leelan will quickly jot down the message of the graffiti in his notes and make for the entrance with the group.
Perception: 23
Cosette listens to the boys converse, nodding in agreement and smiling along to some points. She couldn’t help but glance over the field of stumps on her way through towards the College.
Perception: 20
just an unstable unicorn.
From this distance, the university and magical college buildings are impressive but nothing stands out as unusual. Except...
Leelan:
Examining the exterior of the House of Glass and Mirrors, you see evidence that suggests a magical battle was fought here recently. The main door has been burned, and the ashes are warm but not hot, this happened recently, within the last couple of days. Additionally, there are a few spots on the wall near the door which show scorch marks, as if fire was hurled at it.
Cosette:
Scanning across the dead field of roses, you can briefly imagine what it must have looked like when the city was alive... a vast plantation of rose bushes, as large as a city block.
As you take a moment to imagine the colors and scent of the garden as it appeared a century ago, you catch a bit of movement in the distance. It looks like something, several hundred feet away, ducks behind the stump of a giant rose bush. It was just an instant out of the corner of your eye, so you can't be sure what you saw... but for all the world it looked to you like a big cluster of eyeballs.
Looking through the open doorway of the Magical College, you can all see a long hallway running the length of the building. Doors branch off in regular intervals, some open, some closed. The entire hall is lit with lanterns, spaced evenly down the hall and filling the corridor with warm, rich light.
Most of the interior that you can see is free of the debris and detritus found out in the street, but 20' inside the door, a life-size stone statue of an elf warrior lies broken upon the tiled floor.
PC - Ethel - Human - Lvl 4 Necromancer - Undying Dragons * Serge Marshblade - Human - Lvl 5 Eldritch Knight - Hoard of the Dragon Queen
DM - (Homebrew) Heroes of Bardstown * Red Dead Annihilation: ToA * Where the Cold Winds Blow : DoIP * Covetous, Dragonish Thoughts: HotDQ * Red Wine, Black Rose: CoS * Greyhawk: Tides of War
Cosette was quiet, a little lost in her own daydream about how beautiful this place would have been back in it's prime. However, there was something that tickled her out of her reverie. She blinks. Her maladaptive daydreaming was always pleasurable to the senses. This... this was just bizarre. She doesn't just think up big clusters of eyeballs poking out of a bush. That just reminded her of the eyeball, aberration, thing that they killed for the wererats. That's what everyone keeps referring to these type of creatures as, aberrations, right?
"Sooo..." Cos breaks her silence. "Remind me. Whut was that creature we fought fer the wererat 'kingdom' again?" She asks a bit nonchalantly. "That one of o' kind er...?" Cosette trails off a bit before casually gesturing over her shoulder towards the field of stumps. "They play outside?" she adds. "'Cause unless I'm hallucinatin' from sum sour mornin' berries, an' on my way to a bad trip... I could swear I just saw a big cluster o' irises, an' not the flower kind."
just an unstable unicorn.
Leelan considers Cosette’s warning, and then points at the main entrance door.
"And look over there. Scorch marks on the door. Rather fresh ones too. I would sumerise that an altercation of the arcane variety occurred here no more than a few days ago." He then turns back to Cosette. "I would advise caution. Either another group entered this place before us, or they suffered a truly dreadful fate."
"You mean the shocking tentacled aberration the wererat clan sent us to eliminate? I believe Leelan aptly named it a death kiss, isn't that right Leelan?" The young noble says and looks bewteen the archaeologist and the erudite gnome. "A cluster of irises sounds like something slightly different than a death kiss though, but quite worth our attention." He continues and immediately redirects the ethereal Furvus to take a closer peek at what hides in the field of stumps.
Furvus perception: 21
Aubrey then listens with interest at what Leelan had noticed and deduced. "It is unlikely the abrerrations that infests Amnifortis are responsible for the scorch marks. It might have been a magical confrontation between Deinochlorodon and those he wants us to find." The young noble suggests, looking around at the others while waiting for a report from Furvus, also stepping closer to the nearest building should the many-irised aberration Cos spotted in the stumped field suddenly turn aggressive.
Raqisat draws his swords to be ready for whatever may come. He looks to Cosette for a direction towards the eyeball-thing and then slowly starts in that direction, happy to let Aubrey's pet-thing take the lead.
"Lots of strange here," he says over his shoulder back towards the others. "I wouldn't be shocked if the different aberrations can do different things. Scorch marks could be anything..."
Aubrey sends his familiar off to scout.
The former rose garden is a massive field, the size of a city block. The stumps of the rose bushes are roughly 10' cubes, spaced evenly across the field. Near the far southwest corner, 250' away, Furvus locates something lurking behind one of the stumps.
It is almost too large to hide behind the stump. As Cosette described, it appears to be a cluster of eyeballs. As Furvus observes it, the eyeballs each independently look around, straining in all directions.
Then, a voice appears inside the link shared by Furvus and Aubrey.
"Hello? Is someone there? I cannot see you. But I can hear you thinking. How do you hide yourself from me?"
PC - Ethel - Human - Lvl 4 Necromancer - Undying Dragons * Serge Marshblade - Human - Lvl 5 Eldritch Knight - Hoard of the Dragon Queen
DM - (Homebrew) Heroes of Bardstown * Red Dead Annihilation: ToA * Where the Cold Winds Blow : DoIP * Covetous, Dragonish Thoughts: HotDQ * Red Wine, Black Rose: CoS * Greyhawk: Tides of War
"Furvus has located the many-eyed entity, it seems to want to communicate telepathically for now but stay alert." The young noble informs the others in the team, then turning his attention to the conversation with the weird-looking globe of eyeballs.
"It is magic that hides me, forgive the precaution but this place is filled with dangers. What are you and what is your purpose?" Aubrey messages in a formal but polite tone.
Persuasion to possibly establish peaceful contact: 19
Hearing that contact has been made Raqisat pauses his advance but remains ready... And his eyes keep scanning to try to catch sight of whatever this may be. If trouble is avoided, great. If trouble happens though, Raqisat wants to know where it is coming from.
Aubrey:
The eyeballs continue to look around in all directions at once.
"Iyszor, am I called. My purpose is to observe. I deduce you are with the manlings gathered in the street. Tell me, what is your purpose here? Things such as yourselves do not linger here long, lest they perish."
PC - Ethel - Human - Lvl 4 Necromancer - Undying Dragons * Serge Marshblade - Human - Lvl 5 Eldritch Knight - Hoard of the Dragon Queen
DM - (Homebrew) Heroes of Bardstown * Red Dead Annihilation: ToA * Where the Cold Winds Blow : DoIP * Covetous, Dragonish Thoughts: HotDQ * Red Wine, Black Rose: CoS * Greyhawk: Tides of War
"Yes, we are aware of the dangers in Amnifortis. Our purose here is not unlike yours Iyszor, to oberve and gather information. Is it possible we can share information for mutual benefit?" Aubrey continues to message in a polite but formal tone. "Who do you serve insightful Iyszor?"
Aubrey:
"Iyszor serves no one... I serve only my own purpose. Today, that purpose is to observe the events unfolding here and below."
... "Iyszor would not be averse to an equitable exchange of information, yet is doubtful that you possess any knowledge of interest to Iyszor. What can you tell of this place that would be worth Iyszor sharing with you?"
PC - Ethel - Human - Lvl 4 Necromancer - Undying Dragons * Serge Marshblade - Human - Lvl 5 Eldritch Knight - Hoard of the Dragon Queen
DM - (Homebrew) Heroes of Bardstown * Red Dead Annihilation: ToA * Where the Cold Winds Blow : DoIP * Covetous, Dragonish Thoughts: HotDQ * Red Wine, Black Rose: CoS * Greyhawk: Tides of War
"You might be right Iyszor, but I will share what we have gathered and we will find out." The young noble starts messaging back, deciding there would likely be nothing to lose by telling this entity what they knew. "North of the ruins there is a place where people are kept that have been struck with a mysterious disease. Not far from here but underground there is a clan of manlings that can transform to ratlings. West of there is a hill where manlings pray to their gods. To the southeast there is a group of manlings with destruction and stealing as their purpose. In the castle to the south a very powerful entity resides that we think might have visited these parts recently. And finally we know that this area has other visitors that we are looking for. I am prepared to share more information about anything I mentioned but first I would want something in return."
"All of that is... accurate. If superficial and purposefully vague."
"Very well. Iyszor will share this much: the creature in the castle is but one of the powers sequestered here... a lesser power. It hides behind curtain walls, self-assured of its own supremacy. That it is allowed to remain there, unmolested, is proof that it is worthy of no real notice to the true powers here."
"The manlings and their comings and goings are of no consequence. Iyszor would be willing to share more... if you divulge all that you know of those 'visitors' you believe are in this area."
Aubrey:
PC - Ethel - Human - Lvl 4 Necromancer - Undying Dragons * Serge Marshblade - Human - Lvl 5 Eldritch Knight - Hoard of the Dragon Queen
DM - (Homebrew) Heroes of Bardstown * Red Dead Annihilation: ToA * Where the Cold Winds Blow : DoIP * Covetous, Dragonish Thoughts: HotDQ * Red Wine, Black Rose: CoS * Greyhawk: Tides of War
Grugga looks anything but relaxed as he awaits the outcome of this communion with a breach aberration. He takes Zap out of its cage and draws his sword, keeping his wits about him.
"The truth is Iyszor that we only know of the visitors because the creature in the castle is disturbed by their presence and mentioned them to us. I can assure you we will share with you what we find out when we locate them. I can only assume you have observed them coming here and you could make our gathering of more information for you easier by divulging what you yourself know about them so far, particularly their numbers and which building they are currently visiting. There seems to have been a recent altercation outside that building where the manlings are waiting, was it between the visitors and the creature in the castle mayhap?"
Satisfied she wasn’t hallucinating, Cosette was more than happy to let the boys take the lead on doing the investigation work. Habitually she’d gradually move along gravitating towards Raqisat, essentially maintaining a back to back formation. This assured a combined full field of view with a combined range. That being has more eyes than they do combined. She could appreciate pausing to smell the flowers, but if there was a skirmish relatively recently, Cos rather reduce the opportunity of anything getting the jump on them while Aubrey negotiated with the cluster of irises amongst the roses. Honestly though, each time they came across a garden or affected land, she felt the nudge of desire to revitalize it and restore it.
just an unstable unicorn.
"That's a lot of eye, eh?" Raqisat says quietly to Cosette as she comes up next to him. "Gross but... That can't be a very effective monster, can it? I mean eyes are about the weakest part of a body... right? But definitely gross."
Aubrey:
"So you're gathering your intel from the thing in the castle, then. Do you hope to serve it? To gain something for yourselves in the process? Foolish. Such a worm can hardly sustain itself, let alone provide for groveling manlings. Or are you trying to manipulate it? Use it in some way? Doubly foolish. As weak and miserable as that creature is, the thing in the castle is still as far beyond you and your kind as Iyszor and others like Iyszor are beyond it. If it sent you here, then know that you are its pawns. Expendable.
"None of that concerns Iyszor. Of those visitors here, we know them not by form, but by activity. They have come from somewhere else, and disturbed things here. Awakened energies here. Some have come to investigate them... Iyszor has come to observe. If you choose to meddle, Iyszor will observe what happens to you."
"Should you somehow survive, we could continue this scintillating conversation. Doubtless, you will have learned something worth talking about."
PC - Ethel - Human - Lvl 4 Necromancer - Undying Dragons * Serge Marshblade - Human - Lvl 5 Eldritch Knight - Hoard of the Dragon Queen
DM - (Homebrew) Heroes of Bardstown * Red Dead Annihilation: ToA * Where the Cold Winds Blow : DoIP * Covetous, Dragonish Thoughts: HotDQ * Red Wine, Black Rose: CoS * Greyhawk: Tides of War