Gnome's OOTA Story Thread [CLOSED]

The parapet is just as bare as the rest of the tower. With the exception of the bones and potions found on the ground floor and the ladders, the tower, including the roof and parapet, is exceptionally bare.

Khessa congratulates everyone once again for the easy victory. Having divided the forces had troubled her quite a bit... so, seeing now that the party seems nevertheless capable of coping with the challenges of the demon-infested Underdark is a welcome relief for her.

The blonde arcane warrior, however, remains perplexed due to the notable absence of everything inside the mysterious tower. There is no furnishings, furniture, food, water supplies... It's as if the tower had just been built and not yet furnished! Yet, the owner had referred to it as his house... There must be some magic at work... "Never met a person with a more spartan life than the owner of this tower..." she comments.

The tall adventuress looks at Horkas with curiosity. He is trying to identify the magic that permeates this bizarre construction... perhaps soon he will be able to reveal something more to the party.

Now that the tower was free of pesky pests that will try to kill them, the artificer walks around the structure, touching the walls, examining the metal of the exterior, rubbing a variety of liquids and pastes and course stones in several locations, and once even licking the door to the outside. "Hmmm...interesting..." he says several times as he determines the properties of the tower.

It is Daern's Instant Fortress. The word to activate the tower and deactivate it is "brillig".

Katryl continues to look around the place. 'It doesn't seem that bad to me.' She does wonder though about the owner. "Well, it seems we were wrong to think we'd find anything here. Shall we get moving along?" 

Khessa would be inclined to share Katryl's disappointment, but hearing positive comments from Horkas every now and then gives her hope...

"What have you discovered, Horkas?" the blonde arcane warrior asks him, when he seems to have finished "Is there anything interesting hidden by magic?"

It starts with a low chuckle, then grows into a full belly laugh from the gnome artificer. "Ye gods - this is a rare and wondrous magic! We are now the proud owners of our own adamantine tower." Horkas looks around for a moment, then exclaims, "But wait - there's more! We can speak the magic command word and shrink this entire structure down to a cube the size of a large die and carry it around with us, then toss it down wherever we want to take a night's rest! It's an Insta-Fortress - no water required!!"

He will explain how the structure works, the magic word to grow and shrink it, and warn them to not be near it when it gets big!!

Khessa listens with open mouth to the narration of the wonders of the object, alternating copious notes with summary sketches on her armored spellbook.

'Did you ever imagine something like this, Dawn!?' the blonde arcane warrior can't help but inquire 'An adamantine Insta-Fortress! You who have been wielded by who knows how many great heroes, have you ever seen one?'

"Considering I don't see much, as such, then no. But if is useful to our cause then all is well." There is a soft sound like a gentle laugh.

“Well, what do you think, friends?” Khessa asks the rest of the party, "Shall we take the fortress with us and continue our journey? Once we have it with us, we can use it to rest in relative safety whenever we need it. Or would you also take a breather just now?"

[[ OOC: If the party is ready to go on, Khessa is ready to resume cloud form... But if we prefer to take a rest now, fine, she also will ]]

"So we now carry a fortified home with us, that is excellent news." The noble drow chimes in, even smiling a bit now. "I would be honoured to be the caretaker of our new home." He offers, sending the earth elemental servant back in to carefully collect the remains of the former master of the adamantine tower, burying them closeby to hopefully give them peace. "We won't reach the Labyrinth today so I suggest we stay and rest in the tower before continuing tomorrow."

"Agreed..." Horkas replies to Traydark. "Too bad those gargoyles don't come with the tower...they would make excellent accoutrements!"

(Btw, just to interject: I am going to house rule using the fortress as not being a possible bomb. As in throwing it in a crowd to blow up and cause massive bludgeoning damage. It will push anyone in the area to the side around it. Just wanted to put that there. Still an extremely useful item!)

Katryl listens to what Horkas says about the tower. "Quite interesting. it sounds very sturdy," she says. "I don't see a problem with staying here. The fortress seems to have not been disturbed for some time. So, it seems safe enough here."  

Lulu folds her arms over her chest and looks up at the top of the tower. Truthfully, it felt like too much space--not nearly as cozy as the Tiny Hut, where she can keep all her companions within arm's reach. But perhaps they wouldn't mind a bit of room to stretch out in--and not having a bushy firbolg tail brushing under their noses whilst trying to sleep. 

"Aye. Let's get some rest then, friends." 

In any case, the tower would certainly come in handy. 

(You can all certainly take a long rest inside the tower and resume your aerial flight the next day. Unless there is something you wanted to do overnight/next morning we'll keep going.)

The tunnel you have been following gradually widens until it opens into a cave with a high ceiling overhead. Patches of glowing fungi cling to the walls and fill the chamber with dim light. Columns of stone support the ceiling, the rock marbled with veins of glittering crystal. Across the chamber, a great cleft is ringed by a profusion of sigils and glyphs. Stacked to either side of the opening are two mounds of severed heads.

Khessa raises an eyebrow, feigning a questioning look, as she observes the mounds of severed heads: "Is this the natives' way of making visitors understand how welcome they are?"

The blonde arcane warrior, together with the Gauntlet infantry, always takes care to stay between the group members and the great cleft. As she approaches, she first look for any immediate dangers... If she doesn't notice any, she takes a moment to examine the sigils and glyphs, trying to figure out their function, meaning, or at least some clue about it...

(Aren't you all in wind walk form still? Or are you taking time to shift out of it to take a closer look?)

[[ OOC: Oh, sorry, yes, forgot to specify - Khessa will revert to material form, both to take a closer look as posted and to be able to discuss with others how to proceed... whether to continue the exploration in cloud form or in material form.

In cloud form we can probably avoid many fights... but if we found someone or something that could harm us, we would be in trouble, because we couldn't defend ourselves without returning to normal and the transition is not immediate.

In material form, on the contrary, we would have no easy way to avoid encounters... but we would be ready to react immediately in case of problems. ]]

As the group stops and transitions back to material form, Katryl wonders aloud. "What do you suppose is creating all those skulls. We should be wary."