Samir starts by looking at the marks Andra had made. He had intended to allow the power out, albeit in a different fashion and a different target. With some mental calculations, and references to his notes, Samir suspects he could use part of the function, and then only need to add one or two marks himself. Vilus mends a few of the shattered symbols while Ashley destroys some intact ones. Samir takes out his tools and prepares to start carving the necessary symbol in the unfinished part of the circle.
Vilus watches and helps Samir, but something seems to be bugging him. He flits between helping with the runes and going back to Andra's body. The anger he felt before completely gone.
Vilus sits for a few moments calculating. He touches a fresh looking tattoo on andras body and then the same place on himself, wrong. He feels his own stomach, then chest, finally and hesitantly a finger drifts to the middle of his forehead, "I can feel it..." He mutters more to himself than anyone else. "The connection he forced was a tiny fraction of what I have... But I'm suppressing it somehow, is that why I can't sleep? I have to be forever vigilant or I'll snap?" He looks to the group, to each of their faces. "I can feel it, within me, writhing and chaotic. I can feel a mass of power that I can't access or this will happen. I need... I need more control over it, I need to keep it in check and to learn how to use it safely... But this..." Vilus gestures to Andra, "I can feel this. It's just a second away... Always just a second away, I hadn't realised until I saw it for myself."
Samir chips away carefully, double and triple checking his work. At last, he feels ready to make the final stroke. He turns his chisel perpendicular to the line he'd been carving and gives it one good whack. There is a sudden pressure change in the room, and everyone collectively feels like their ears popped.
But there is no big tidal wave of magic like last time to knock them all unconscious. Instead there is just a slow but tolerable building of pressure. There is a tingling warmth on everyone's skin that lingers for a few seconds before dimming down. Samir feels like the hydaelym's glow is just a bit dimmer than before. It looks like it worked. In theory, the magic should now be slowly leaking out, free to return to its source of a gradual course.
Joren keeps watch at the door while listening to the conversation behind him as best his tired mind and body allow. He tries to push aside his sorrow for what befell Jean-Lou, his father's friend, and what might be transpiring on the surface with the council members and Marion.
At the apparent controlled release of magical power from the hydaelim, he breathes a sigh of relief. His voice remains a laconic drawl:
"Well done, friends. So what I am hearing is we are safe from suddenly burning buildings and people morphing themselves into alligators as with the magic surge in Tensmith. Now all we are having to worry about is Marigold, the invading fleet, and of course Vilus becoming a black goopy eye-face?"
Samir bends himself to the task with all the intensity and precision that he has honed over the years in labs and workshops. It comes almost naturally to him to direct the others in assisting, pointing out places where Vilus or Ashley could alter, remove, or add something to the mix of symbols and diagrams. He nods along with Vilus as the goliath reads descriptions and makes suggestions, using his tools to enact their plans. Eventually, with the last tap of chisel on stone, Samir sits back, dropping onto his backside with a slight thump. A bead of sweat rolls down his temple as he surveys their combined effort. The feel of gently flowing magic is like the brush of a light wind on his subconscious and he allows himself a faint smile.
"I certainly hope so, Joren. So long as we did things correctly then this should gradually drain out into the world without the attendant side effects of the earlier... eruption."
Malachi strokes his chin as he considers the information from Vilus “Corruption, thirst for power, yes, we could potentially work with those. Stroke some egos, try to fracture their cause. Andra out of the picture is certainly in our favor, but we don’t yet know if Marigold is still a true believer.” He pauses “you know, there is probably some bit of irony in the fact that our foibles and weaknesses may be the very things that save us as a people from this invasion.”
He watches over Samir and the others as they work, releasing a breath that he did not realize he was holding as they finished. “Well done, but we are no closer to answers than we were before. What next? Should we continue down these hallways to see if they connect to the tunnels below? To find this heart of fire?” He looks over at Ashley to see if she is still having the same feelings as before, then turns to Joren as he lists out the challenges ahead. "Gloazworms, Joren, don't forget about the gloazworms." he adds with a small smile.
Ashley looks at Vilus with concern. "Would it make sense to carve some runes in your skin? More tattoos to prevent whatever happened to Andra..." and she breaks off not wanting to continue the sentence, "Samir? Does that make sense to you?"
She feels the magic release, but she doesn't really react to it. Instead she holds her head. It's hurting again. "Do you not all feel that?? The ground.. its rumbling. Whatever it is is getting closer. We need to act. I just don't know what. But yes, I do think we need to find this heart of fire." She squeezes her eyes close against the pain.
"that might work actually, I'd never though of that." Vilus gives a bit of a chuckle of realisation to Ashley's idea.
"We should likely keep moving, if everyone is ready. I'll keep a handle onnot becoming a black goopy eye-face for now." Giving a nod in agreement to Malachi and Joren, "if Ashley can feel and focus on this heart of fire then we can root out it's location. Getting and destroying their prize will neuter their plans."
Standing there with her eyes closed and her hands holding her head, Ashley draws within herself and can feel something akin to a second heartbeat echoing through the earth. Feeling the pull, she slowly opens her eyes and looks down out the door. Walking past Joren, she slowly puts down her hands and stands in the hallway outside the Hydaelym room.
She closes her eyes again and slowly breathes. Then opening them up, she winces as another shock of pain runs through her head, but she does her best to ignore it as she points to the east, "We need to go that way."
A look of thoughtfulness comes over Samir's face at Ashley's question. After a moment he gives a bit of a nod combined with a bit of a shrug. "Theoretically, there is some logic there. It would take a better understanding of the Godrunes and some time to experiment with them. But, theoretically, yes."
Samir pushes himself to his feet, dusting off the seat of his pants and adjusting his satchel, glasses, and other various bits and bobs of his clothing and equipment. Following Ashley out of the chamber, he looks in the direction the genasi was pointing, as if he could somehow see their destination if he only tried hard enough. "I can't help but worry about the state of us all at the moment, but I suppose time waits for no one."
Joren grimaces as Malachi reminds him smilingly about the gloazworms as another problem on the list.
"True, Mal, I of all people should not be forgetting them, after nearly being stuffed down the gullet of one of their larvae. I am wondering if the gloazworms have anything to do with this Heart of Fire. Or perhaps their awakening is a consequence of it. Heat is seeming to rouse them..."
The Khirian echo knight looks far better than he had just an hour before, though still injured and a bit drained. The instant Ashley points the way, he simply nods wordlessly, summons his echo to take the lead, and follows eastward, Jean-Lou'sgreatsword in hand.
The dark hall slopes gently downward. Some wall sconces are still lit, others have burnt out. After about a hundred paces, the hall opens up into to a larger chamber with walls of dirt and stone. Loose dirt and rubble rests along the walls along with a few pick axes, wooden beams, and an overturned mining cart. At the far end of the chamber is the beginning of a set of rails leading into a dark tunnel pointed to the east, heading presumably toward the center of Cambria.
"well I never went in this far on my last visit, I was preoccupied with getting out instead" Vilus grunts as he starts making work of righting the minecart.
Ashley grins at Vilus's comment but looks around the chamber. As Vilus works on the minecart, she heads over to where the rails start and with her darkvision, looks down the tunnel.
Samir finds that he has little enough in the way of assisting the others to move the minecart. His own physical prowess is nothing to write home about, and anything else he might attempt would be more likely to interfere than to aid. So he keeps a light burning nearby so everyone can see what they're doing and tries to keep an eye out for problems that might arise.
“My. my, they have been busy here. No wonder they wanted the mining rigs from Tensmith.” He joins Ashley at the entrance to the tunnel. “How far do you think it goes? And to where?”
He looks over at Joren and Vilus as they struggle with the minecart with one eyebrow raised.. “Why bother, what are you going to do with that?”
"I ain't walking to the center of the continent, not when the enemy is already at the gates" Vilus grunts in response as he frustratedly realises that Jordan is actually doing most of the heavy lifting.
Peering into the gloom, Ashley and Malachi see the tracks disappear into the darkness at the end of the tunnel. Stalactites drip their mineral water down from the ceiling, making it clear that a good portion of the tunnel is part of a natural cave network, which would have saved the cultists much of the work of excavating a path all the way to Tensmith and the Opportunity's Knock.
She hears a pair of grunts and the creaking of metal behind her. Turning around, she and Malachi both see that Joren and Vilus very quickly managed to tip the cart up onto its two right most wheels, and are now trying to keep it at that angle while they wheel it over to the tracks. They are moving, but slowly.
Ashley rushes over and pushes the back while the other two continue to support a good chunk of its weight, speeding up the progress considerably. When the first wheel makes contact with the rails, Joren taps Vilus on the shoulder and tells him to hold there. Vilus keeps his hands on the upper rim lets his body weight do most of the work of keeping it tipped while Joren runs to the back end. He squats down, cups both of his hands under the back corner and puffs heavy breaths a few times before lifting just enough to scoot the back end in toward the rail as well. Then he gives Vilus the signal to start easing up. The cart slowly tips upright, nearly in line with the tracks. Vilus grunts and puffs as he struggles to slow the descent, but Joren has the time he needs to grip the bottom edge, center himself, and and shift the back end fully onto the tracks. He moves around to the front, and and calls for Vilus' aid. Together, they give the front end of the cart a mighty lift and set it in place as well.
Altogether, the job only took them 2 and a half minutes.
Looking into the minecart, they see that there is enough room for 7 or 8 people to stand. Not comfortably though. Built into the side of the cart, they also see a lever inscribed with runes.
Ashley stares down the open mouth of the tunnel, feeling the heart of fire, attempting to get a real sensation of it...what it is, what is happening.. so much to try and comprehend. The pain in her head, she knows is connected to it, these shocks, these sudden explosions.
"I don't know how I know, but I know. These bursts of pain in my head is somehow connected to the heart of fire... something is happening to it and it can't be good. They have been coming in random intervals, no more than 20 minutes apart. Don't ask me how I know, but I have a very strong feeling that we have only five explosions left...we gotta move, now."
And without another word, assuming Samir and Vilus will figure out the runes, she climbs into the minecart.
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Samir starts by looking at the marks Andra had made. He had intended to allow the power out, albeit in a different fashion and a different target. With some mental calculations, and references to his notes, Samir suspects he could use part of the function, and then only need to add one or two marks himself. Vilus mends a few of the shattered symbols while Ashley destroys some intact ones. Samir takes out his tools and prepares to start carving the necessary symbol in the unfinished part of the circle.
Vilus watches and helps Samir, but something seems to be bugging him. He flits between helping with the runes and going back to Andra's body. The anger he felt before completely gone.
Vilus sits for a few moments calculating. He touches a fresh looking tattoo on andras body and then the same place on himself, wrong. He feels his own stomach, then chest, finally and hesitantly a finger drifts to the middle of his forehead, "I can feel it..." He mutters more to himself than anyone else. "The connection he forced was a tiny fraction of what I have... But I'm suppressing it somehow, is that why I can't sleep? I have to be forever vigilant or I'll snap?" He looks to the group, to each of their faces. "I can feel it, within me, writhing and chaotic. I can feel a mass of power that I can't access or this will happen. I need... I need more control over it, I need to keep it in check and to learn how to use it safely... But this..." Vilus gestures to Andra, "I can feel this. It's just a second away... Always just a second away, I hadn't realised until I saw it for myself."
Samir chips away carefully, double and triple checking his work. At last, he feels ready to make the final stroke. He turns his chisel perpendicular to the line he'd been carving and gives it one good whack. There is a sudden pressure change in the room, and everyone collectively feels like their ears popped.
But there is no big tidal wave of magic like last time to knock them all unconscious. Instead there is just a slow but tolerable building of pressure. There is a tingling warmth on everyone's skin that lingers for a few seconds before dimming down. Samir feels like the hydaelym's glow is just a bit dimmer than before. It looks like it worked. In theory, the magic should now be slowly leaking out, free to return to its source of a gradual course.
Joren keeps watch at the door while listening to the conversation behind him as best his tired mind and body allow. He tries to push aside his sorrow for what befell Jean-Lou, his father's friend, and what might be transpiring on the surface with the council members and Marion.
At the apparent controlled release of magical power from the hydaelim, he breathes a sigh of relief. His voice remains a laconic drawl:
"Well done, friends. So what I am hearing is we are safe from suddenly burning buildings and people morphing themselves into alligators as with the magic surge in Tensmith. Now all we are having to worry about is Marigold, the invading fleet, and of course Vilus becoming a black goopy eye-face?"
Tanis(Ranger1): Shiverquill's Tempest City | Xarian(Fighter2): NioNSwiper's Tyranny of Dragons
Dyson/Eleo(TwilightCleric4): Vos' Beyond the Veil | Soren(ShepherdDruid5): Bartjeebus' Ravenloft | Ophelia(WildMagicSorcerer4): Ashen_Age's Risen from the Sands
Joren(EchoKnightFighter6): NotDrizzt's Simple Request | Sabetha(MercyMonk3): Bedlymn's Murder Court | Seri(NatureCleric3/DivineSoulSorcerer1): Bartjeebus' Greyhawk
Samir bends himself to the task with all the intensity and precision that he has honed over the years in labs and workshops. It comes almost naturally to him to direct the others in assisting, pointing out places where Vilus or Ashley could alter, remove, or add something to the mix of symbols and diagrams. He nods along with Vilus as the goliath reads descriptions and makes suggestions, using his tools to enact their plans. Eventually, with the last tap of chisel on stone, Samir sits back, dropping onto his backside with a slight thump. A bead of sweat rolls down his temple as he surveys their combined effort. The feel of gently flowing magic is like the brush of a light wind on his subconscious and he allows himself a faint smile.
"I certainly hope so, Joren. So long as we did things correctly then this should gradually drain out into the world without the attendant side effects of the earlier... eruption."
Malachi strokes his chin as he considers the information from Vilus “Corruption, thirst for power, yes, we could potentially work with those. Stroke some egos, try to fracture their cause. Andra out of the picture is certainly in our favor, but we don’t yet know if Marigold is still a true believer.” He pauses “you know, there is probably some bit of irony in the fact that our foibles and weaknesses may be the very things that save us as a people from this invasion.”
He watches over Samir and the others as they work, releasing a breath that he did not realize he was holding as they finished. “Well done, but we are no closer to answers than we were before. What next? Should we continue down these hallways to see if they connect to the tunnels below? To find this heart of fire?” He looks over at Ashley to see if she is still having the same feelings as before, then turns to Joren as he lists out the challenges ahead. "Gloazworms, Joren, don't forget about the gloazworms." he adds with a small smile.
Ashley looks at Vilus with concern. "Would it make sense to carve some runes in your skin? More tattoos to prevent whatever happened to Andra..." and she breaks off not wanting to continue the sentence, "Samir? Does that make sense to you?"
She feels the magic release, but she doesn't really react to it. Instead she holds her head. It's hurting again. "Do you not all feel that?? The ground.. its rumbling. Whatever it is is getting closer. We need to act. I just don't know what. But yes, I do think we need to find this heart of fire." She squeezes her eyes close against the pain.
"that might work actually, I'd never though of that." Vilus gives a bit of a chuckle of realisation to Ashley's idea.
"We should likely keep moving, if everyone is ready. I'll keep a handle on not becoming a black goopy eye-face for now." Giving a nod in agreement to Malachi and Joren, "if Ashley can feel and focus on this heart of fire then we can root out it's location. Getting and destroying their prize will neuter their plans."
Standing there with her eyes closed and her hands holding her head, Ashley draws within herself and can feel something akin to a second heartbeat echoing through the earth. Feeling the pull, she slowly opens her eyes and looks down out the door. Walking past Joren, she slowly puts down her hands and stands in the hallway outside the Hydaelym room.
She closes her eyes again and slowly breathes. Then opening them up, she winces as another shock of pain runs through her head, but she does her best to ignore it as she points to the east, "We need to go that way."
A look of thoughtfulness comes over Samir's face at Ashley's question. After a moment he gives a bit of a nod combined with a bit of a shrug. "Theoretically, there is some logic there. It would take a better understanding of the Godrunes and some time to experiment with them. But, theoretically, yes."
Samir pushes himself to his feet, dusting off the seat of his pants and adjusting his satchel, glasses, and other various bits and bobs of his clothing and equipment. Following Ashley out of the chamber, he looks in the direction the genasi was pointing, as if he could somehow see their destination if he only tried hard enough. "I can't help but worry about the state of us all at the moment, but I suppose time waits for no one."
Joren grimaces as Malachi reminds him smilingly about the gloazworms as another problem on the list.
"True, Mal, I of all people should not be forgetting them, after nearly being stuffed down the gullet of one of their larvae. I am wondering if the gloazworms have anything to do with this Heart of Fire. Or perhaps their awakening is a consequence of it. Heat is seeming to rouse them..."
The Khirian echo knight looks far better than he had just an hour before, though still injured and a bit drained. The instant Ashley points the way, he simply nods wordlessly, summons his echo to take the lead, and follows eastward, Jean-Lou's greatsword in hand.
Tanis(Ranger1): Shiverquill's Tempest City | Xarian(Fighter2): NioNSwiper's Tyranny of Dragons
Dyson/Eleo(TwilightCleric4): Vos' Beyond the Veil | Soren(ShepherdDruid5): Bartjeebus' Ravenloft | Ophelia(WildMagicSorcerer4): Ashen_Age's Risen from the Sands
Joren(EchoKnightFighter6): NotDrizzt's Simple Request | Sabetha(MercyMonk3): Bedlymn's Murder Court | Seri(NatureCleric3/DivineSoulSorcerer1): Bartjeebus' Greyhawk
The dark hall slopes gently downward. Some wall sconces are still lit, others have burnt out. After about a hundred paces, the hall opens up into to a larger chamber with walls of dirt and stone. Loose dirt and rubble rests along the walls along with a few pick axes, wooden beams, and an overturned mining cart. At the far end of the chamber is the beginning of a set of rails leading into a dark tunnel pointed to the east, heading presumably toward the center of Cambria.
"well I never went in this far on my last visit, I was preoccupied with getting out instead" Vilus grunts as he starts making work of righting the minecart.
Ashley grins at Vilus's comment but looks around the chamber. As Vilus works on the minecart, she heads over to where the rails start and with her darkvision, looks down the tunnel.
Glad to have his strength back after the feebleness from the shadows' attacks, Joren works with Vilus to right the mine cart and set it on the tracks.
Joren Athletics: 22 (with or without help)
Tanis(Ranger1): Shiverquill's Tempest City | Xarian(Fighter2): NioNSwiper's Tyranny of Dragons
Dyson/Eleo(TwilightCleric4): Vos' Beyond the Veil | Soren(ShepherdDruid5): Bartjeebus' Ravenloft | Ophelia(WildMagicSorcerer4): Ashen_Age's Risen from the Sands
Joren(EchoKnightFighter6): NotDrizzt's Simple Request | Sabetha(MercyMonk3): Bedlymn's Murder Court | Seri(NatureCleric3/DivineSoulSorcerer1): Bartjeebus' Greyhawk
Samir finds that he has little enough in the way of assisting the others to move the minecart. His own physical prowess is nothing to write home about, and anything else he might attempt would be more likely to interfere than to aid. So he keeps a light burning nearby so everyone can see what they're doing and tries to keep an eye out for problems that might arise.
“My. my, they have been busy here. No wonder they wanted the mining rigs from Tensmith.” He joins Ashley at the entrance to the tunnel. “How far do you think it goes? And to where?”
He looks over at Joren and Vilus as they struggle with the minecart with one eyebrow raised.. “Why bother, what are you going to do with that?”
"I ain't walking to the center of the continent, not when the enemy is already at the gates" Vilus grunts in response as he frustratedly realises that Jordan is actually doing most of the heavy lifting.
Peering into the gloom, Ashley and Malachi see the tracks disappear into the darkness at the end of the tunnel. Stalactites drip their mineral water down from the ceiling, making it clear that a good portion of the tunnel is part of a natural cave network, which would have saved the cultists much of the work of excavating a path all the way to Tensmith and the Opportunity's Knock.
She hears a pair of grunts and the creaking of metal behind her. Turning around, she and Malachi both see that Joren and Vilus very quickly managed to tip the cart up onto its two right most wheels, and are now trying to keep it at that angle while they wheel it over to the tracks. They are moving, but slowly.
Ashley rushes over and pushes the back while the other two continue to support a good chunk of its weight, speeding up the progress considerably. When the first wheel makes contact with the rails, Joren taps Vilus on the shoulder and tells him to hold there. Vilus keeps his hands on the upper rim lets his body weight do most of the work of keeping it tipped while Joren runs to the back end. He squats down, cups both of his hands under the back corner and puffs heavy breaths a few times before lifting just enough to scoot the back end in toward the rail as well. Then he gives Vilus the signal to start easing up. The cart slowly tips upright, nearly in line with the tracks. Vilus grunts and puffs as he struggles to slow the descent, but Joren has the time he needs to grip the bottom edge, center himself, and and shift the back end fully onto the tracks. He moves around to the front, and and calls for Vilus' aid. Together, they give the front end of the cart a mighty lift and set it in place as well.
Altogether, the job only took them 2 and a half minutes.
Looking into the minecart, they see that there is enough room for 7 or 8 people to stand. Not comfortably though. Built into the side of the cart, they also see a lever inscribed with runes.
Ashley stares down the open mouth of the tunnel, feeling the heart of fire, attempting to get a real sensation of it...what it is, what is happening.. so much to try and comprehend. The pain in her head, she knows is connected to it, these shocks, these sudden explosions.
"I don't know how I know, but I know. These bursts of pain in my head is somehow connected to the heart of fire... something is happening to it and it can't be good. They have been coming in random intervals, no more than 20 minutes apart. Don't ask me how I know, but I have a very strong feeling that we have only five explosions left...we gotta move, now."
And without another word, assuming Samir and Vilus will figure out the runes, she climbs into the minecart.