Back with Vin and Gewyn, one of the two visible monks gives Gewyn a nod, "hound was agitated already, we'll have to escort it off the district if you guys can't keep it under control, it's not safe right now and you're right, we have better things to be dealing with" he snaps his fingers and the bolas turn into shadowy smoke and dissipate, freeing Neferox. As the monks step back into shadow they disappear completely from sight but vin and grey still feel eyes on them. Neferox whimpers and bows her head low in a shameful gesture tail tucked firmly between her legs, vin's blood still dripping from her maw.
At the portal room sergor sighs, the wolf stalks closer to Sam baring its massive teeth. "Sam I'm not an arcanist, so when I tell you to follow Elthana to go and have the situation explained to you, don't stand here and play dumb, it lowers the IQ of everyone else in the room... Alternatively you could keep threatening this portal Infront of its ancient 'long thought to be mythical' guardian and see how many limbs it leaves you with. It's your choice, this thing is not under my command."
Muir steps next to Sam and looks at him tense, ready to fight. Muir lays a hand on Sam and tries to talk to him "You see the portals around the realm here are all opening at once because its the first time in eons that the planes are all aligned. If you stop this portal from opening, another will open somewhere else in this city causing terrible damage no doubt. The portals opening are inevtiable and cannot be stopped. Mr.Sergor here had someone working on fixing the sinking treasury. That is where Elthana has gone...To help figure out that problem. This wolf is like Yen who we saw on the way here. The big white bear that I spoke to. If you want to help keep this treasury floating, Elthana and Mr.Sergor's associate are in the other room working on a solution. I hope that answers your questions."Muir takes a step back and allows Sam to do what he feels he must
Elthana stares at the lodestone. She can't take her eyes off it. She really wants to touch it and can't explain why.
Finally at Sigrid's voice, with the panic in it, she turns towards the dragonborn. "Air spells? The few I have...are more shadow spells. I can silence the air if that will help?"
Elthana steps outside the door for a moment, and shouts towards the portal, "MUIR!! YOU ARE NEEDED!!"
Looking back to Sigrid, "Knowing when a crash is going to happen is all well and good, but can we avoid it?? Any way we can stop this from happening??"
“You pompous pricks,” Sam snarls and his two animal companions bristle, ready for action.
“You,” Sam says pointing at Sergio “sent Elthana away to someone doing calculations. If you think I look the type to help with math then you’re the stupidest one here.” Òrga lets out a yawning growl at that and Sam shrugs. “Barring Boris, sure…” Boris doesn’t seem to comprehend the insult.
“You have just been insulting and unhelpful entirely, your Whiteness,” Sam directs to the wolf. “You two are just standing get eyeing each other up and I just asked what is going on. If you’re doing anything useful we’re happy to help. If you’re just standing around insulting each other then let us know that so we can find something useful to do…”
“And you…” Sam says, finishing with Muir. “You’re seemingly dead sure about stuff once it happens. The fact you never tell us this stuff ahead of time is what’s got me unsure what I can and cannot trust…”
“So again, for those hard of hearing… What the hells can we do to stop this place from crashing down? In simple words. Please!”
Muir rubs his head "Sam I have told all of you that these portals are inevitable when we sat and talked about Griff's fate. I tried my best to explain it all. Regardless, I have tried my best to shar what I know....Do what you must, I won't stop you but I cannot help you here either....." At that Muir hears Elthana yell his name, he bows his head to everyone in the room and departs to aid Elthana
Sam looks back suddenly when Elthana’s voice can be heard. He’s half a step running out the door before it registers she called specifically for Muir. Must not be trouble then…
Turning back to the others Sam kind of leans against his maul and does his best to look comfortable and ready to wait all day…
"Muir, good. Do you have any air-type spells? Sigrid here is saying they may help? I'm not sure." Elthana is looking quite worried about the whole situation.
Muir nods his head with a worrisome look on his face "Air, earth, fire, water.....indeed I have them all...What is it you require of me? The other room has become quite tense....Sam is ready to fight everything and everyone. I have done my best to calm the situation but it seems to me I have failed.
Since Sam has stopped acting directly aggressively toward the portal itself Sergor goes back to trying to argue some kind of ownership over it with the wolf, the wolf itself does not look away from Sam but does growl a little back at sergor.
In the other room Sigrid hastily greets and bows at Muir and then asks him to direct any air type spells at as many of the spell circles in the room, she quickly casts detect magic on herself before he begins and makes notes of reactions and flows of arcana as and when they happen.
"We have to figure out if this will stop of its own accord first, and if magic from this realm can perhaps create some kind of equilibrium that will slow the descent, right now this lode stone is the only thing holding the treasury up, once we have these final calculations we will not only know how long we have but also if it is possible to do something from this side without replacing the lodestone..." Sigrid flashes a set of glowing eyes at Elthana and quickly looks back, "shadow magic likely wil not help, but you are free to try" she mutters
"Why does it matter who has ownership if it's going to go crashing down to the ground any time now?" Sam asks curiously. "It's open. Shit is going to shit. And you two are arguing over... Who gets to pick up the rubble?"
Sam turns back to the door when he hears Elthana's second call, this one beckoning him. "In a minute!" he calls back to her. "Busy making friends with Sergei and Wolfy..."
Seeing Nef's predicament, Gewyn runs ahead of Vin a few steps, hands out in front of him. "Whoa there, hey fellas, what seems to be the problem here? I see you've got the hound a little agitated, but it's okay, we can help figure this out. Relax"
Gewyn's speaks with confidence and calm (persuasion 20), but layers his last word with magic directed at one of the monks, so as not to take chances. "There's a lot going on here. and your attentions are surely needed elsewhere, so let's let Vin here diffuse this dog situation. Vin?" He waves Vin forward, watching for the monks' responses
Vin notices Gewyn go over to intercept the man with the mask. He looks very nervous and sad. Vincent heads his way over to Nef but instead of using their telepathic link he's making a show for everyone. He goes over them her and places a hand on Nef. Not immediately freeing them but rather assuring her.
"Neferox. You haven't failed. You hurt me. Yes... but... if I'm honest... I would rather be hurt then lose my friends. I want to protect them Nef. I really enjoy their company. Gewyn, Muir, Elthana, even Sam. I stood in the way of your attack because of that."
If allowed he will start freeing her from what she is trapped in but will continue talking. A lot of pent up and hidden emotions from him being revealed to the black hound.
"I love you Nef. You're the only family I've ever really known. It's almost always been just you and me but I still felt lonely. Isolated. Afraid. I was keeping folks at bay telling myself they don't like me. I thought, maybe its best it is just you and me. In truth... I didn't want them to get hurt."
Vin continues to work at the Bolas around her legs. If he frees her during his speech he frees her and whatever she chooses to do now he let's happen. He hopes with all his heart she stays and listens though.
"You keep me safe and I want you to stay with me. I want you to be in my life. Even if I get hurt. Especially, if I get hurt... but... we need to change Nef. I've been working sk hard towards changing myself that I failed to notice you were getting left behind. That you were struggling to change with me."
Vin is crying now and will hug Nef at this point if she'd been freed from the bolas and still remained close to him. Either way, as long as she can hear hear him he continues to talk. Shouting if he needs too.
"Nef, stay with me! Let me help you change too! They don't have to be only my friends. When is the last time anyone has ever tried so hard to help us? When was the last time anyone has stuck with us? When was the last time you remember anyone trying so hard to be our friend?"
Vin is quiet a moment and says something only Nef can hear. Spoken words, sealed with a thought to her.
Neferox looks to Vin from a cowed position, tears welling up in her big black eyes. She licks Vin's wounds as she has done in the past, and lets him embrace her as much as possible, communicating something back to him. After the monks disappeared Gewyn is left watching this scene alone and unable to hear Neferox's side of the conversation, but he understands that she will likely not run away again.
Sigrid gives Muir a nod and moves everyone closer to the center where the lodestone hangs, chained to each wall, "if you can wrap it around so that it touches all walls and the ceiling for the maximum output that would make calculations easier, just don't touch the floor or we will all be caught in it."
Sergor ignores Sam and continues trying to get the wolfs attention, but the wolf is in turn ignoring him. Sam feels a presence in his mind once more...
Elthana catches the look from Sigrid and something clicks about the woman in her mind. Not a matter for the moment, she thinks. She moves as the woman suggests, watching the lodestone. "I am not going to waste my spells if you don't think they will work. Let me know if there is anything else I can do to help this. Anything to hit?" She says this last part sort of as a joke, she really wants to hit something.
Sigrid looks confused as elthana asks to hit something, "there are no hostiles here, only arcane instruments. These spell circles strengthen the lodestones effect acros the base of the entire island, I need to now if the residual arcanum can be strengthened with similar magics and then record how this has effected the slow loss of arcanum in the lodestone afterward. Do Not hit Anything in here."
Muir casts his wall and wraps it around the inside of the room touching each of the three circles on the walls and the one on the ceiling. The three of you within this side room are deafened for the duration of the spell and it becomes difficult to see as the winds from the spell pushes you all toward the center and begins to whip your clothes and hair (and big ears for one) about your faces. Sigrid remains as steadfast as possible noting what she can as the circles light up with a pale blue glow and spark a crackle of arcane which seems to flow around the lodestone and back into the walls. When the spell is over Sigrid takes a moment to look over everything in absolute detail.
Back with Vin and Gewyn, one of the two visible monks gives Gewyn a nod, "hound was agitated already, we'll have to escort it off the district if you guys can't keep it under control, it's not safe right now and you're right, we have better things to be dealing with" he snaps his fingers and the bolas turn into shadowy smoke and dissipate, freeing Neferox. As the monks step back into shadow they disappear completely from sight but vin and grey still feel eyes on them. Neferox whimpers and bows her head low in a shameful gesture tail tucked firmly between her legs, vin's blood still dripping from her maw.
At the portal room sergor sighs, the wolf stalks closer to Sam baring its massive teeth. "Sam I'm not an arcanist, so when I tell you to follow Elthana to go and have the situation explained to you, don't stand here and play dumb, it lowers the IQ of everyone else in the room... Alternatively you could keep threatening this portal Infront of its ancient 'long thought to be mythical' guardian and see how many limbs it leaves you with. It's your choice, this thing is not under my command."
Muir steps next to Sam and looks at him tense, ready to fight. Muir lays a hand on Sam and tries to talk to him "You see the portals around the realm here are all opening at once because its the first time in eons that the planes are all aligned. If you stop this portal from opening, another will open somewhere else in this city causing terrible damage no doubt. The portals opening are inevtiable and cannot be stopped. Mr.Sergor here had someone working on fixing the sinking treasury. That is where Elthana has gone...To help figure out that problem. This wolf is like Yen who we saw on the way here. The big white bear that I spoke to. If you want to help keep this treasury floating, Elthana and Mr.Sergor's associate are in the other room working on a solution. I hope that answers your questions." Muir takes a step back and allows Sam to do what he feels he must
Elthana stares at the lodestone. She can't take her eyes off it. She really wants to touch it and can't explain why.
Finally at Sigrid's voice, with the panic in it, she turns towards the dragonborn. "Air spells? The few I have...are more shadow spells. I can silence the air if that will help?"
Elthana steps outside the door for a moment, and shouts towards the portal, "MUIR!! YOU ARE NEEDED!!"
Looking back to Sigrid, "Knowing when a crash is going to happen is all well and good, but can we avoid it?? Any way we can stop this from happening??"
“You pompous pricks,” Sam snarls and his two animal companions bristle, ready for action.
“You,” Sam says pointing at Sergio “sent Elthana away to someone doing calculations. If you think I look the type to help with math then you’re the stupidest one here.” Òrga lets out a yawning growl at that and Sam shrugs. “Barring Boris, sure…” Boris doesn’t seem to comprehend the insult.
“You have just been insulting and unhelpful entirely, your Whiteness,” Sam directs to the wolf. “You two are just standing get eyeing each other up and I just asked what is going on. If you’re doing anything useful we’re happy to help. If you’re just standing around insulting each other then let us know that so we can find something useful to do…”
“And you…” Sam says, finishing with Muir. “You’re seemingly dead sure about stuff once it happens. The fact you never tell us this stuff ahead of time is what’s got me unsure what I can and cannot trust…”
“So again, for those hard of hearing… What the hells can we do to stop this place from crashing down? In simple words. Please!”
Muir rubs his head "Sam I have told all of you that these portals are inevitable when we sat and talked about Griff's fate. I tried my best to explain it all. Regardless, I have tried my best to shar what I know....Do what you must, I won't stop you but I cannot help you here either....." At that Muir hears Elthana yell his name, he bows his head to everyone in the room and departs to aid Elthana
Sam looks back suddenly when Elthana’s voice can be heard. He’s half a step running out the door before it registers she called specifically for Muir. Must not be trouble then…
Turning back to the others Sam kind of leans against his maul and does his best to look comfortable and ready to wait all day…
Muir comes into the room "Hello there....You called for me, I am here to assist. What can I do?"
"Muir, good. Do you have any air-type spells? Sigrid here is saying they may help? I'm not sure." Elthana is looking quite worried about the whole situation.
Muir nods his head with a worrisome look on his face "Air, earth, fire, water.....indeed I have them all...What is it you require of me? The other room has become quite tense....Sam is ready to fight everything and everyone. I have done my best to calm the situation but it seems to me I have failed.
Elthana's eyes widen at Muir's words. She isn't sure what she would do if Sam and Sergor started fighting. The idea sends a shiver down her spine.
Leaning through the door again, "SAM!! GET IN HERE!!"
Since Sam has stopped acting directly aggressively toward the portal itself Sergor goes back to trying to argue some kind of ownership over it with the wolf, the wolf itself does not look away from Sam but does growl a little back at sergor.
In the other room Sigrid hastily greets and bows at Muir and then asks him to direct any air type spells at as many of the spell circles in the room, she quickly casts detect magic on herself before he begins and makes notes of reactions and flows of arcana as and when they happen.
"We have to figure out if this will stop of its own accord first, and if magic from this realm can perhaps create some kind of equilibrium that will slow the descent, right now this lode stone is the only thing holding the treasury up, once we have these final calculations we will not only know how long we have but also if it is possible to do something from this side without replacing the lodestone..." Sigrid flashes a set of glowing eyes at Elthana and quickly looks back, "shadow magic likely wil not help, but you are free to try" she mutters
Muir nods and quickly asks before casting "Would a wall of wind wrapping around the room suffice?"
If Sigrid believes it would
wind wall
Muir casts the wall wrapping around the room
IF NOT
dust devil
"Why does it matter who has ownership if it's going to go crashing down to the ground any time now?" Sam asks curiously. "It's open. Shit is going to shit. And you two are arguing over... Who gets to pick up the rubble?"
Sam turns back to the door when he hears Elthana's second call, this one beckoning him. "In a minute!" he calls back to her. "Busy making friends with Sergei and Wolfy..."
Vin notices Gewyn go over to intercept the man with the mask. He looks very nervous and sad. Vincent heads his way over to Nef but instead of using their telepathic link he's making a show for everyone. He goes over them her and places a hand on Nef. Not immediately freeing them but rather assuring her.
"Neferox. You haven't failed. You hurt me. Yes... but... if I'm honest... I would rather be hurt then lose my friends. I want to protect them Nef. I really enjoy their company. Gewyn, Muir, Elthana, even Sam. I stood in the way of your attack because of that."
If allowed he will start freeing her from what she is trapped in but will continue talking. A lot of pent up and hidden emotions from him being revealed to the black hound.
"I love you Nef. You're the only family I've ever really known. It's almost always been just you and me but I still felt lonely. Isolated. Afraid. I was keeping folks at bay telling myself they don't like me. I thought, maybe its best it is just you and me. In truth... I didn't want them to get hurt."
Vin continues to work at the Bolas around her legs. If he frees her during his speech he frees her and whatever she chooses to do now he let's happen. He hopes with all his heart she stays and listens though.
"You keep me safe and I want you to stay with me. I want you to be in my life. Even if I get hurt. Especially, if I get hurt... but... we need to change Nef. I've been working sk hard towards changing myself that I failed to notice you were getting left behind. That you were struggling to change with me."
Vin is crying now and will hug Nef at this point if she'd been freed from the bolas and still remained close to him. Either way, as long as she can hear hear him he continues to talk. Shouting if he needs too.
"Nef, stay with me! Let me help you change too! They don't have to be only my friends. When is the last time anyone has ever tried so hard to help us? When was the last time anyone has stuck with us? When was the last time you remember anyone trying so hard to be our friend?"
Vin is quiet a moment and says something only Nef can hear. Spoken words, sealed with a thought to her.
Neferox looks to Vin from a cowed position, tears welling up in her big black eyes. She licks Vin's wounds as she has done in the past, and lets him embrace her as much as possible, communicating something back to him. After the monks disappeared Gewyn is left watching this scene alone and unable to hear Neferox's side of the conversation, but he understands that she will likely not run away again.
Sigrid gives Muir a nod and moves everyone closer to the center where the lodestone hangs, chained to each wall, "if you can wrap it around so that it touches all walls and the ceiling for the maximum output that would make calculations easier, just don't touch the floor or we will all be caught in it."
Sergor ignores Sam and continues trying to get the wolfs attention, but the wolf is in turn ignoring him. Sam feels a presence in his mind once more...
Muir does as asked casting the wall of wind
Elthana catches the look from Sigrid and something clicks about the woman in her mind. Not a matter for the moment, she thinks. She moves as the woman suggests, watching the lodestone. "I am not going to waste my spells if you don't think they will work. Let me know if there is anything else I can do to help this. Anything to hit?" She says this last part sort of as a joke, she really wants to hit something.
Sigrid looks confused as elthana asks to hit something, "there are no hostiles here, only arcane instruments. These spell circles strengthen the lodestones effect acros the base of the entire island, I need to now if the residual arcanum can be strengthened with similar magics and then record how this has effected the slow loss of arcanum in the lodestone afterward. Do Not hit Anything in here."
Muir casts his wall and wraps it around the inside of the room touching each of the three circles on the walls and the one on the ceiling. The three of you within this side room are deafened for the duration of the spell and it becomes difficult to see as the winds from the spell pushes you all toward the center and begins to whip your clothes and hair (and big ears for one) about your faces. Sigrid remains as steadfast as possible noting what she can as the circles light up with a pale blue glow and spark a crackle of arcane which seems to flow around the lodestone and back into the walls. When the spell is over Sigrid takes a moment to look over everything in absolute detail.
Muir fixes his ears and clothes asking Sigrid "Is there anything else I can do here to help? If not I will return to the other room"
"return both of you, you have been helpful, I will be out shortly with news." Sigrid states, glowing eyes still fixed on the lodestone.