Crimson Sands of Time

48

The city us dominated by a large central spire at the center.  Like spikes of a wheel, the roads of rhe city stretch toward to the ring of eight spires on tbe circumference, though two are now missing,having crumbled ages ago.

(Chadderlay & Co. have actually been inside the remains of both)

A stone walkway leads to a tower that claws upward and inward, its pointed roof leaning menacingly overhead. Narrow windows pierce its walls, gargoyles cling to its eaves, and a doorway at the tower’s base gapes open.

A large amphitheater sits in the center of the wide central street leading to the great central spire.  The air around this amphitheater is charged with static. Cracked steps descend to the stadium floor, where a tiny glittering object rests on a pedestal of black stone. Three metal masts rise from the arena like gigantic tridents, each one emitting a low hum. The branches of each trident are twenty-five feet off the ground and extend fifty feet into the air.

The spire to the north of the amphitheater reaches upward like a talon, its stonework studded in chiseled runes. A blue light shines from its highest window.

Akame.  Where to?

Chadderlay will walk down the cracked stairs and approach the black stone pedestal, "What have we here?" Chadderlay will take a closer look at the glittering object.

Perception: 9

Akame follows Chadderlay 

As Chadderlay sets foot on the feiod at the bottom of the amphitheater, a dome of crackling electricity encloses the entire stadium. The shimmering head and shoulders of a woman blink into existence above the arena floor. Electrical currents course over her metal teeth, and her form stutters and flickers as she speaks in a strange language.

Professor Skant begins ro translate her words: "So, a new challenger enters the arena! You have thirty seconds to choose your teammates for a game of Chain Lightning!"

As the woman vanishes, the Professor Orb explains that the ancient Netherese game was played between two teams of six, who threw a metal ball at onw another.  Little else is known of the game.

<everyone else can be on the team.  This functions like a low stakes combat.  Spoiler: if you dont join, the team gwts filled with NPCs.  You can take up to 1d4 + 1d6 damage before being eliminated, so no dire threat.  Early rounds start skill checks at DA because you didnt locate the rules, but after your first turn you can roll investigstion to figure them out and make further checks without DA.  The DC for the check to figure out the rukes will lower each round.  Once the first oerson has figured out the rules,  they can communicate thus to the itber players over the course of tbe next twelve seconds, such that 2 rounds later, no rolls are made with DA.>

...

Including Morwena (I haven't heard from @InkedBee in a while) you have 6 players.

Six human-looking figures appear, floating above the ground, dressed in matching black tunics.  Their skin is a blueish green and their irises are uniformly metallic grey.  They do not speak, but levitate apart into a diamond shaped arrangement, wordlessly, their expressions harsh and unmoving.

"We should probably mirror their arrangement." Posits Porfessor SKANT.  After thirty seconds, a 3 inch diameter iron ball magucally appears on the ground in the center of the arena.

ROUND 1

Step 1. Every player makes a Dexterity (Athletics) check. The individual with the highest roll gets the ball, and that person’s team is on offense. Resolve a tie with a Strength (Athletics) contest.

Black team: 17, 11, 11, 22, 23, 24 

Morwena 3 

Forgot to add DA.  Investigation 13 (DC 20), success removes DA next round for this PC only, but all PCs on round 3

<Quick note: this is a sporting endeavor, but that doesn't mean you can't just hit the other team.  I don't actually know what they'd do if you did.> 

(Catching up.   Tetrevess will take the cube of brimstone for further study, if ok with the others.).  He’s quietly contemplating, appreciating the architecture of this place.   He follows the others and will participate in the game.

  dex check 10 in game log.  

Tetrevess looks at Sam with concern:  “I hope there is a limit to your size, otherwise it will be a lot of work feeding you.”  

Chadderlay's DEX (Athletics): 9

Um... Do you mean DEX (Acrobatics)?  There is no DEX (Athletics) check....

You can use any stat thats relevant for a skill check. I'm quoting the book.  WotC is officially calling for that check.  Just use the Dex modifier and add proficiency bonus if you're proficient in Athletics.

It's lookong like black team is on offense first.

Step 2. To simulate the ball being passed around, every player makes a DC 15 Dexterity (Athletics) check. If the team on offense gets more successes than the team on defense, one player on offense can try either to hurl the ball between the metal tines of an electrified mast, hoping to impart an electrical charge to the ball, or make a ranged weapon attack with the ball against a player on defense. Each option is described below:

 It's basically electric Dodgeball.  Because thus is much slower than at a table, and because the stakes are rather low, this will be abridged. (Also the longer it goes on, the more total hp the oarty will lose, so best not to drag it out for 6 whole rounds)

Black team: 16, 8, 20, 18, 10, 24, 

Angus DEX (athletics) 13

You guys fins this mitigate kinda dull?  I do.  Can I just say you win?

When the game ends, the electrical barrier enclosing the stadium vanishes, and the trophy levitates from its pedestal and drifts over to the member of the winning team nearest to it. 

The trophy cup is made from mithral embedded with three blue spinel gemstones and is worth 1,800 gp. While carried by a member of the winning team, it functions as a stone of good luck.

Great.  Moving on.

Where to next?

 You can name anything thst is ir might be in this city.  Point to a building and explore it.  Anyone can name such a a thing, but to keep things moving im starting at the top of the list.  Please just post where you want to go if you have something in mind, otherwise it's up to Angus 

"Well, I suppose the first place to go to find some sense of where we are and what we are seeking might be an archive of some kind.  A municipal building, or a scholarly institute.... unless our comrades have already found such a place.  Chadderlay, Akame... Do you have a clear idea of what we seek here, and where to find it?" asks the paladin.

"I think much has been abandoned here or lost to time. Who knows for sure what we could find by just exploring this place."

Chadderlay will summon his familiar from it's pocket dimension, a cat with a black and white tuxedo pattern, and pet it a few times before putting it down.

"An archive or something similar would help, any place that could help us determine which places are high value. Either way it's going to take some exploring so I say we proceed and keep alert."

"I'll send Mister Fancy ahead to scout."

Chadderlay will have Mister Fancy go ahead of them into rooms. He will hold his action to dash back out the way he came if he encounters any danger or monsters. (Sort of a quick peek into rooms as opposed to exploring and investigating longer and in greater detail.)

Seeing the nearest tower. It is plain that the entire surface, every inch, is covered in runes, carved into the stone tower's exterior.  A blue light shines feom within the highest window.  Stepping inside, Mr. FANCY sees A huge anvil chiseled with vivid blue runes rests in the center of a thirty-foot-diameter, thirty-foot high circular chamber. Resting atop it is a hammer adorned with matching runes.

Six armored figures stand guard around the anvil. At the rear of the chamber, the frozen corpse of a wizard lies in a pile of rubble. Blue flames flicker from braziers spaced around the room, illuminating a carved inscription on the ceiling, written in Draconic.

Mr. FANCY, please make a DC 18 Int save

From behind the nearby rubble you hear the muttering of several feral voices.  The words are in the ancient tongue of Laross.  Professor SKANT, if asked, will note that the words are mostly gibberish and what is coherent seems a string of nonn-sequitors.  The voices are not in conversation so much as in concert, aware it seems of eachother's presence, but with no regard for the meaning of the other's speech.

Investigating the matter, if you choose to, reveals 2 one-eyed creatures, not unlike those just beside the pear orchard.

Listening for a short while you put together the following information:

Iriolarthas, a powerful Netherese archwizard, watches over Ythryn. He has lost not only his mind, but most of his body as well. All that remains of him is a floating human skull.

Giant floating hands made of magical force wander around in the city.

Ythryn’s mythallar won’t function properly as long as the Spindle—a powerful artifact dating back 40,000 years—remains in the city. The artifact is located within the city’s central spire.

One must perform a ritual to enter Ythryn’s central spire. 

Somewhere in Ythryn is a scroll that can summon the tarrasque.

<ooc: I can present you with plot threads and hooks, but ultimately it's up to you and your character's to decide what you want to do.  If you care about the Harper's quest, I guess you're looking fir a way to stop the Red Wizards from opening far realm portals and making thise batteries, etc.  Mostly it's because if you don't Szazz Tam will probably take over the world.  Even the Red Wizards among the group wouldnt want that, being aligned with Darlon Ma's faction and moreover their own personal interests.  Simultaneously, the Tenebrous Creed is trying to complete the Cycle of Night, which will destroy the world, as other worlds are being destroyed even now across rhe cosmos, as astronomers have been noting the recent spate of stars flickering out in the night sky.  So, those are the stakes, the real question is what had it got to do with you, personally?  For Angus, it's got a lot to do with Myth Drannor.  For Samogri, the ancient Sarrukh empire of Abeir/Toril, for Akame and Tetrevess, I really don't know.  Sam and Tetrevess were tapped by both Kwalish and Heward for mysterious purposes, but that's up to you to care about or not.  So if you're looking for purpose, there's some stuff.  If you want to know what the point kf this place is. It's getting into thst spire in the middle.  You need to collect some stuff to do it