Heavy is the Head - Campaign thread

Hemlock looks up at the others from his crouched position, and explains what he has noticed.

"Whatever came through here did not walk upon the ground. Some of the squares on the grid show signs of damage by fire or lightning. I believe you are right to want to avoid the floor, Sha-Gravis. The inner wall does seem to have a bit of soot on it though. I am not sure if it too is trapped, or the flames emanate from there", he says before he takes in exactly what Saoirse had said.

"Oh, we are being followed? Did anyone shut the door?", he asks, feeling a little foolish that he hadn't thought of that earlier. "Should we deal with that before moving on?".

As he waits for an answer, his feels a call to use his innate ability to see magic, and allows his vision to be enhanced by it.

He takes another look around to see if it highlights the correct path.

Action: Cast Detect Magic
Special: Concentration Detect Magic 10 minutes

When Hemlock reaches for his magical senses, and opens his metaphorical third eye, he feels almost blinded by the immense number and amount of signatures of magic. The entire room is bright with countless overlapping auras of Evocation magic, and it seems as though every one of the tiles on the floor has the same aura to it. It is nearly overwhelming.

The image of the elven wizard lifts a finger and wags it across the room at you, although Hemlock can not see her through the overlapping auras of magic flooding his field of vision. "Ah-ah-ah. That would be cheating. If you do not know the path through, you should really wait for one of our ARTS wizards to help you. A wizard is scheduled to arrive in ERROR, NO ON-DUTY WIZARD SHIFTS IN CALENDAR." 

Hemlock winces and covers his eyes as he is overwhelmed.

"Oh my, it seems seeing magic is not allowed in here", he says to the others.

Saoirse, still lowering her voice, answers back:

- I'm afraid not, we didn't close it. But I'm not really sure that would have helped? I have a feeling whoever has come inside is a friend of Eliza, and with her knowing the passcode... - she shrugs - Call me crazy, but Eliza belongs to the Thieve's Guild. Same as Saffi. And do you remember Eliza said that she had a score to settle with the HMC. Saffi said those very words, too. And now someone sneaky has entered this tower? Too much of a coincidence, don't you think?

She pauses for a moment, trying to listen again, but no more sound comes from the lower floor. Then Hemlock casts his magic and the hologram instantly wags a finger at them and Saoirse exclaims:

- Well, I'm sorry but we cannot wait until "ERROR, NO ON-DUTY WIZARD SHIFTS IN CALENDAR" o'clock! Damned image! I guess no one thought of implementing a fallback to terminate the ilussion in the event event of every ARTS wizards disappearing.

She thinks for a moment and adds:

- Ok, why don't we just do a couple of tests to see how the room works? I could step on the cell that isn't marked, then throw a boiled egg a couple of squares ahead of it and ... see what happens. If there is a fire explosion, I will resist part of the damage. I won't be so lucky if it is lightning, though... In any case, I think it's better that the rest of you take a few steps back in the stairs just in case. It would perhaps be a good moment for someone to take a quick peek on the lower floor, just in case the newcomer has left any kind of trace.

Hemlock nods and takes a few steps back, trying to shield his eyes a little. He doesn’t want to lose his ability to see magic just yet.

Special: Concentration Detect Magic 10 minutes

Lam raises his eyebrows when Saoirse suggests that Saffron is possibly in the tower. He nods when Saoirse suggests someone to take a peek on the lower floor, and he tiptoes back down the stairs, still holding his axe, to take a look around.

At the mention of Saffron Sha heads back down to find out.  He’s not sneaky so he just heads down...

Seeing everyone's approval, Saoirse then proceeds to remove her backpack and hide it in the stairs (she might be resistant to fire, but her equipment definitely isn't). She takes the boiled abyssal eggs with her, to use them to test the grid's behaviour.

Then, after checking that her friends are safe, she positions herself in front of the unmarked cell and ... steps on it.

Nothing happens when Saoirse steps forward. You're just standing on the tile. 

The floor below appears to be empty at first glance. Neither Lam nor Sha sees anything moving down there.

Seein that nothing happens, Saoirse will then throw an egg three tiles in front of her, to check if the grid reacts by movement or weight. 

The egg sails unremarkably through the air above the tile directly in font of Saoirse, in an arc that looks like it would lead to the tile three spaces in front of her. When it passes above the square two tiles in front of Saoirse, however, a frostbite suddenly bursts out from the tile, followed by a thunderous sound. It is hard to see exactly what happens as it happens so fast, but Saoirse is hit by a frozen egg flung back in her direction. It shatters with no serious harm to Saoirse, although it fells like somebody just threw a pebble at you and it caught you by surprise. 

"It seems that you uave stepped on one of the tiles of the Evocation room. We regret the pain caused to you, but it is quite dangerous to proceed unless you have been informed of the route or wait for an ARTS wizard."

The image's expression shifts to one of kind, though patronizing, concern, and freezes in that.

Hearing the thunderous sound, Hemlock rushes towards Saoirse.

"Are you ok?", he asks, still squinting from the glare of his magical vision.

Once he determines she is unharmed, he looks at the floor and frowns. "Let's try and get rid of this dust", he says and proceeds to send little gusts of wind across the closest squares in the grid to Saoirse to see if it revelas any markings or symbols.

Special: Concentration Detect Magic 9ish minutes

- Ouch! - the genasi says as she puts a hand on her forehead where the frozen egg hit her - Yes, I am. It definitely could have been worse - Imagining that the thunderous sound is related to the fact that the egg has been pushed back instead of falling on the grid, she says - Looks like the third tile in front of me deals freezing damage. And I guess the grid pushes you back if you step on one of the "bad" tiles?

Saoirse doesn't move from where she's stepping and waits for Hemlock to try to get rid of the dust. While this is happening she adds:

- Also, did the image just say "unless you have been informed of the route OR wait for an ARTS wizard"? - she looks back at the woman and asks - And wouldn't you be so kind so as to inform us of the route *since there are no ARTS wizards left*, would you? - she shrugs, knowing that she won't receive an answer to that - I had to try...

The image does not respond to Saoirse's question.

As the dust clears, you can see that every one of the tiles is marked with the symbol shown in owlbear. (The symbol wizards and artificers use to denote Evocation magic). However, there is still no visual difference between the tiles, except for the small scorch marks on a few of the first ones, which Hemlock saw earlier.

A faint sound can be heard coming from the narrow staircase leading upwards. It sounds like blowing air - but oddly continuous. (Modern humans might say it sounds like a small electric fan, but such things do not exist in this world).

Downstairs, there still seems to be no sign of the other intruder.

“Saffi are you here?”  Sha looks to be sure the body to be buried is still present, then does his best to look around granting himself a bit of guidance sinto sua falta açafrão

“If you are down here- come out.” Lam growls this, and his voice is made rougher and angrier-sounding by its unsteadiness- his eyes are wild with fear as he looks around, trying to notice anyone or anything out of place.

When Hemlock removes the dust and they see no difference in the tiles, Saoirse frowns.

- What a pitty, it was a really good idea. Perhaps the marked tiles at the beginning are just trials made by intruders, who got pushed back and then surrendered and didn't try anymore. And since none of us will be able to fly across , the only idea I have is go to keep trying different tiles until we see a means of crossing? The problem is we are going to need to make a lot of tries. Do we have anything else we can throw? I still have a two or three more eggs - she stops for a moment and thinks - What about magic? The wind you have produced hasn't activated the tiles. But what if we try something more ... explosive?

As she says this, she produces a flame in her hand:

- Step back again, Hemlock.

When the druid is far enough, Saoirse hurls the flame at the same tile she threw the egg to, to check if it reacts again, and crouches just in case it is sent back to her.

If nothing happens, then she will try another egg, throwing it next to the frostbite tile (marked it in the owlbear).

Hemlock retreats away again, “You be careful. I am just going to see if I can spot anything on the floor below whilst I can see the effects of magic”.

With that he heads down to the lower level and has a quick look around, giving Lam and Sha a little wave when he appears.

Special: Concentration Detect Magic 8ish minutes

The flame flying from Saoirse's hand passes easily through the air and hits the tile that had just produced a frostbite - but nothing happens. When she throws another egg, it lands with a hard crack - cracking the shell, but not splattering the egg - on the tile 2 south of her and 1 east. The egg just sits there.

Downstairs, There seems to be no sign of anyone at first, until Sha notices a long green, scaled tail curved around one of the remaining statues in the room. When Lam speaks, the tail slides away, positioning itself so that from your position, Sha can no longer see it, either. There is no answer to your call to Saffi, or to Lam's request that whoever is down here reveal themself. When Hemlock joins them, he can see through the statue - an outline of a bow. Someone there has an enhanced magic weapon, and they are poised halfway up the statue on the opposite side. (I have put the ground floor back in Owlbear as well - though I am afraid that it will be a lot to load on mobile browsers.)

Owlbear Rodeo

"Please lower your bow and show yourself. We are no threat to those that do not threaten us", Hemlock says, motioning to the statue so Sha and Lam are aware of the interloper's position. If there is no answer, he will speak the same words in Elvish, and then Giant, and finally Druidic, just in case.

All the while he will stay still with his hands where the creature can see them, but he is wary.