"Well, wizards, which school of magic tower should we visit next?"
Earlier, you saw inside the tower of abjuration, but I pretty am sure you did not see an inscription there. On the off chsnce I'm wrong about that, it's in the spoiler below
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.
Inscription:
The inscription on the ceiling is in Draconic and reads “First, shield thy heart with a wand from the Nether Oak.”
Divination is the damaged tower. It's still there, though. The others are all still standing.
If you can't decide, maybe try the House of the Arcane. It was the academy for novice mages. Eight tusk-like towers are embedded in the walls of this monumental building, their spires arching over its shattered roof.
Otherwise, think of something a city has and this place likely had something close.
"Back at the library, I recall seeing something about a 'Wellspring of Answers'." Morwena comments. "Perhaps you should start there. I think it's that way, past the tower of Divination, or what's left of it, anyway." She tells Angus and company as she gestures lazily toward a narrow tower to the west. The walls of this thin tower are etched with intricate designs of hands and eyes. Silver light flickers from a high window, above which a large, carved eye animates and blinks. Part of the tower’s roof is missing.
"Avarice, thank you for the generous offer of the use of this fine floating crown, but I intend to see myself to the Tower of Enchantment. Perhaps I'll tske you up in your offer upon my return. If you're still waiting about." Morwena concludes before flying out of the glass chamber and toward the lone tower far to the city's East.
"Have fun!" She calls back as she speeds toward her destination.
To get to the tower of Divination and the Wellspring of Answers you'll pass the tower of Conjuration (completed) , tower of Abjuration (visited, not completed), the library (completed) the House of the Arcane and the arboretum.
Cursory descriptions in spoilers
Tower of Abjuration
This tower reaches upward like a talon, its stonework studded in chiseled runes. A blue light shines from its highest window
House of the Arcane
Eight tusk-like towers are embedded in the walls of this monumental building, their spires arching over its shattered roof.
Arboretum
A canopy of golden leaves crowns the trees inside a sunken basin. The trees grow in stark contrast to their bleak surroundings, their branches swaying even though the air is deathly still.
As you ascend to the top of the tower you find 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.
<sorry if I'm doing some railroad here. It's just moving slowly and there's more interesting stuff to do, so I'm just going to assume since you've seen from a high tower that there is an arboretum this way and you just read about an oak tree, you're going to go there.>
... you continue on the path the the tower of Divination and come to the Arboretum.
A canopy of golden leaves crowns the trees inside a sunken basin. The trees grow in stark contrast to their bleak surroundings, their branches swaying even though the air is deathly still.
The grove is nestled in a hollow in the city floor. Vents spaced around its perimeter wall emit puffy gray vapor, which rises above the treetops and disperses as rain. An illusory hemisphere above the arboretum projects a false sky; now malfunctioning, the vista flickers between a wild storm and a vast field of stars.
A tree called the Nether Oak grows at the heart of the arboretum. For centuries, Netherese mages crafted their wands and staffs from the wood of this oak. Saturated in profane magic, the tree developed a brooding sentience and a gnarly face.
When you arrive, the Nether Oak is in deep slumber. To complete the Rite of the Arcane Octad, you must craft a wand from the wood of this tree. Gathering wood without waking the tree requires a successful DC 20 Dexterity (Stealth) check.
<I would suggest anyone take a stab at it. I could have an NPC or plot device cover it, bit this is one of 8 pieces of a puzzle that locks a time machine more powerful thsn the goddess of magic's efforts to prevent this kind of thing, specifically so the peo9le who made it can't kill her in an effort to usurp her power, again. But Mystra be damned, a global magocracy led by an evil necromantic lich that's opening a bridge to the far realm, ultimately bringing about planetary destruction by the cycle of night is just too great a threat to ignore.>
Gathering wood without waking the tree requires a successful DC 20 Dexterity (Stealth) check. If the characters wake the tree, they can convince it to part with some of its wood with a successful DC 15 Charisma (Persuasion) check, but only if it believes they intend to perform nefarious magic with it.
"A rightful place awaits you in the Realms Above, in the Land of the Great Light. Come in peace, and live beneath the sun again, where trees and flowers grow."
— The message of Eilistraee to all decent drow.
"Run thy sword across my chains, Silver Lady, that I may join your dance.”
"A rightful place awaits you in the Realms Above, in the Land of the Great Light. Come in peace, and live beneath the sun again, where trees and flowers grow."
— The message of Eilistraee to all decent drow.
"Run thy sword across my chains, Silver Lady, that I may join your dance.”
Earlier, you saw inside the tower of abjuration, but I pretty am sure you did not see an inscription there. On the off chsnce I'm wrong about that, it's in the spoiler below
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.
Inscription:
The inscription on the ceiling is in Draconic and reads “First, shield thy heart with a wand from the Nether Oak.”
Divination is the damaged tower. It's still there, though. The others are all still standing.
If you can't decide, maybe try the House of the Arcane. It was the academy for novice mages. Eight tusk-like towers are embedded in the walls of this monumental building, their spires arching over its shattered roof.
Otherwise, think of something a city has and this place likely had something close.
7
"Back at the library, I recall seeing something about a 'Wellspring of Answers'." Morwena comments. "Perhaps you should start there. I think it's that way, past the tower of Divination, or what's left of it, anyway." She tells Angus and company as she gestures lazily toward a narrow tower to the west. The walls of this thin tower are etched with intricate designs of hands and eyes. Silver light flickers from a high window, above which a large, carved eye animates and blinks. Part of the tower’s roof is missing.
"Avarice, thank you for the generous offer of the use of this fine floating crown, but I intend to see myself to the Tower of Enchantment. Perhaps I'll tske you up in your offer upon my return. If you're still waiting about." Morwena concludes before flying out of the glass chamber and toward the lone tower far to the city's East.
"Have fun!" She calls back as she speeds toward her destination.
To get to the tower of Divination and the Wellspring of Answers you'll pass the tower of Conjuration (completed) , tower of Abjuration (visited, not completed), the library (completed) the House of the Arcane and the arboretum.
Cursory descriptions in spoilers
Tower of Abjuration
This tower reaches upward like a talon, its stonework studded in chiseled runes. A blue light shines from its highest window
House of the Arcane
Eight tusk-like towers are embedded in the walls of this monumental building, their spires arching over its shattered roof.
Arboretum
A canopy of golden leaves crowns the trees inside a sunken basin. The trees grow in stark contrast to their bleak surroundings, their branches swaying even though the air is deathly still.
<Any interest in the locations mentioned in the previous post?>
Might as well finish the tower of Abjuration before moving on to a new one.
As you ascend to the top of the tower you find 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.
Inscription. The inscription on the ceiling is in Draconic and reads “First, shield thy heart with a wand from the Nether Oak.”
<sorry if I'm doing some railroad here. It's just moving slowly and there's more interesting stuff to do, so I'm just going to assume since you've seen from a high tower that there is an arboretum this way and you just read about an oak tree, you're going to go there.>
... you continue on the path the the tower of Divination and come to the Arboretum.
A canopy of golden leaves crowns the trees inside a sunken basin. The trees grow in stark contrast to their bleak surroundings, their branches swaying even though the air is deathly still.
The grove is nestled in a hollow in the city floor. Vents spaced around its perimeter wall emit puffy gray vapor, which rises above the treetops and disperses as rain. An illusory hemisphere above the arboretum projects a false sky; now malfunctioning, the vista flickers between a wild storm and a vast field of stars.
A tree called the Nether Oak grows at the heart of the arboretum. For centuries, Netherese mages crafted their wands and staffs from the wood of this oak. Saturated in profane magic, the tree developed a brooding sentience and a gnarly face.
When you arrive, the Nether Oak is in deep slumber. To complete the Rite of the Arcane Octad, you must craft a wand from the wood of this tree. Gathering wood without waking the tree requires a successful DC 20 Dexterity (Stealth) check.
Angus is not particularly stealthy, what with the plate armor and all. Samogri?
<I would suggest anyone take a stab at it. I could have an NPC or plot device cover it, bit this is one of 8 pieces of a puzzle that locks a time machine more powerful thsn the goddess of magic's efforts to prevent this kind of thing, specifically so the peo9le who made it can't kill her in an effort to usurp her power, again. But Mystra be damned, a global magocracy led by an evil necromantic lich that's opening a bridge to the far realm, ultimately bringing about planetary destruction by the cycle of night is just too great a threat to ignore.>
It’s a just an normal roll don’t have pass without a trace on
Perhaps Akame is our best candidate, then.
Gathering wood without waking the tree requires a successful DC 20 Dexterity (Stealth) check. If the characters wake the tree, they can convince it to part with some of its wood with a successful DC 15 Charisma (Persuasion) check, but only if it believes they intend to perform nefarious magic with it.
Chadderlay's Stealth: 19
Chadderlay's Persuasion: 21
Ok, maybe the paladin should have tried the persuasion. Does Angus want to use a help acrion to grant advantage there
(@Brian_Avery, I think you can assume a yes there)
Chadderlay creeps up to the tree and carefully begins to gather small branches from around the roots, staying just at the edge of the dripline.
"CRACK!" a twig snaps underfoot. The leaves overhead rustle as the Nethwroak stirs.
"Who disturbs my slumber?" asks a booming voice
Chadderlay fumbles a response: "...<placeholder>..."
The ancient tree's branches bough as the anthropomorphic expression on its trunk becomes a scowl.
*kinda waiting on anyone to address the angry orchard.
Failure here results in combat.
Opposing initiative is 13.
Akame will Help with persuasion and even grant Guidance if you allow it.