Ylis circles the mount trying to stay out of view, keeping her staff charged. Then rises on her broom to just peek over from the north. If violence starts she will activate her butterfly cloud.

OOC: Not trying to lone wolf, just that Ylis primary defense has a 30 foot radius heavily obscured effect. Don't want to screw the party.

As Jack and the others reveal themselves to the old man and the little girl, Vazo'yn inches forward as well. He is less overt than Jack and Joy, but his golden eyes are trained intently on the two figures atop the summit, searching for the little signs that might reveal their true intent. His keen ears listen for the rises and falls in their voices, the slight pauses and the hurried phrases that can say more than the words themselves.

Insight: 31

The man turns with a start, sweat flinging from his face as Jack introduces himself. His mouth hangs open for a moment as his weary eyes are pulled back to where the little girl was a moment ago. She is no longer there. To Jack and Joy however, she is still there, merely invisible and glaring at the arriving people. He grabs his mouth a moment, then pulls down to wipe away some of the sweat. "Hello. Uh, you want some help? Here? Who are you? What do you need help with?" He glances around the top of the mountain, seeming to be baffled by Jack and Joy's presence.

Lily easily can sense that this person is feeling exhaustion of the mind, body, and soul. He is also feeling confusion by the sudden appearance of Jack, more confusion that the elderly Jack would seek help at the top of a mountain, and he feels an intense sense of grief and loss. There is also desperation, fear, hope, and... buried guilt. His alignment is neutral good. Vazo'yn, you should be able to see written on his face and in his body language all that Lily can sense.

Joy can see the confusion in the man's eyes. The only revelation from the See Invisibility is the presence of the ghostly little girl, currently invisible, watching the newcomers with a death glare.

Ylis begins to make her way north. It is a fair stretch for her to get there however and by the time Jack introduces himself, Ylis has not quite made it to the north end.

DM: Jack, Joy, and Vazo'yn. Please access the map and place yourself appropriately. I did what seemed logical for Jack and Joy, but make adjustments as you see fit. Others, if you are approaching in a stealthy way, roll for it and RP it. If you are going with Jack and Joy, post it and I will put your token wherever they decide to make their appearance.

"We the Fellowship of the Wind and want to stop another purple wave washing over the world from this place that would likely exterminate many races from this world. It has probably something to do with these pillars and that pulsing pattern. If you help us then perhaps we can help you." Jack suggests to the exhausted warrior. "I sense that you are here to help the young girl, tell us what we can do to help." He also takes a look at the pillars and the pattern, trying to discern their purpose.

[Giles is still trying to stay near Joy and all her magics, for lack of any other plan. I moved him on the map, LMK if I moved him too far or anything!]

 "The purple wave..." Vazo'yn can see a haunting realization wash over him. "Exterminate whole people, you say?" He looks to the pattern and stumbles back a step before he catches and steadies himself. His world slows and becomes hazy. He looks back up to Jack with glassy eyes, then sharply turns away to vomit. 

"Yes, apologies for apparently giving you a revelation, I agree it is quite difficult to swallow but unfortunately it is the truth. Whatever role you might have had with this is only important now because you might be able to help reversing the effect, it is not too late to set things right, but time is quickly running out for this world." Jack goes on with equal measures of empathy and urgence in his tone.

Joy hurries over to the man and pats him on the back comfortingly, trying to ignore the icy glare from the ethereal girl.

"There, there. It was quite shocking to us too." She gives him a few moments to recover before continuing where Jack left off. "I'm Joy. What's your name? And if you aren't here to stop the waves, what brought you all this way?"

((She'll use Lay on Hands to heal him if needed and use 5 extra points each for Restoring Touch to end any of these: Blinded, Charmed, Deafened, Frightened, Paralyzed, or Stunned))

Jack knows that the pattern and the bubbled pillars are connected somehow. They pulse together. The pattern itself is not familiar to Jack, but he does understand that the creation of the pattern is part of an ancient ritual, the specifics of which are lost to time. But there are similarities to this and a transportation circle, but instead of a location, they transport a person through time and space. This ancient magic was from a time when mages were far more powerful than they are now. The pillars seem like a kind of modification, as they were not depicted or described in any ancient text he can recall where it was mentioned. Jack does not know how they have modified the ritual.
 
Walking the path almost kills a person every time and even if it does not kill you, it takes you as close to death as a person can get physically and mentally. No matter how strong a person is, they are taken to the absolute point of death just to complete it. It never gets easier; it is always the most awful, exhausting experience one can have. Once you complete it though, you can travel anywhere you wish in time and space. Falling from the path or deviating from it once started will immediately kill the walker without exception, but only if you enter at the starting point. It is harmless at any other point on the pattern. Only a Wish spell (or more powerful spell) could bring the killed person back to life.

Joy can sense her healing power flow into the man. He looks up at her with grateful eyes and nods. "My name is Sue, er, Susan Tineye." He stiffens a moment before forcing his developed response down. "Father left when I was three." He looks down at himself and shrugs at his armor. "Only one kind of life a man named Sue can find. One that makes a person good at soldiering."

He stands up straight again and wipes away the spittle on his mouth. "I'm here to bring my daughter back to life. I was fighting for the Empire on the frontier when bandits hit my home. Burned it to the ground months before I could make it back. My daughter..." he chokes a moment, then swallows hard and continues. "I made a deal with a man claiming to be a god. He said if I freed him, he would bring my daughter back to life, but... I didn't... I didn't know..." he looks back at the pattern again.

"You did know, Susan Tineye. Or at least, you knew that I am a Betrayer God who does not lie, so you didn't ask the questions." The image of Otbium appears at the center of the pattern. The little girl stands at his side, draped in his arm and glaring at the party.

DM: Ylis would now be at the north side of the summit. If you are being stealthy, give me a check.

"What did he task you with, Sue?" Vazo'yn asks as he steps out of the shadows of his hiding spot. He spares a glance for the Betrayer God at the centre of all of this tragedy but has no words for the deity.

"How were you to free him?"

Vazo'yn moves closer to the pillar nearest him, curious as to the bubble surrounding it. A practiced hand pulls a card from his faithful deck.

The Wizard. The Master of Stars.

The Wizard craves magical knowledge and arcane power. Vazo'yn feels his senses heightened as they trace the flow of the Weave.

OOC: Casting Detect Magic and inspecting the pillar to see what the bubble is and/or how the pillar might be magically connected to the pattern. Using a charge of his Ring of Puzzler's Wit for advantage on an Intelligence roll. Arcana: 30.

 Sue looks to Vazo'yn, the question one he seems reluctant to answer. "I just needed to walk the path five times, and he would have the power to free himself and bring my daughter back to life." Sue looks back to Otbium. "But I didn't know you were killing people to do it."

"YOU were killing people to free me, Susan, but is that really so hard to accept as a professional killer?" Otbium shrugs as he looks down at the little girl and smiles. She looks up at Otbium and returns the grin, though hers is twisted.

"That is what good people do. Good people kill, are selfish, and most often are cowards. Good people allow unimaginable horrors to occur to other good people if you allow them to turn a blind eye to it. They rationalize it, excuse it, pretend they do not see it, so long as they are able to distract themselves from it. It is not uncommon at all for a good person to allow murder so they can enjoy small comforts. The Dwendalian Empire was doing exactly that on the frontier, killing Goblinkin and Drow for simply being different, and the people of the Empire just pretended it was not happening. A good person might be selfless when confronted with a clear good or evil choice, without the ability to look away. They might even sacrifice themselves when such a decision must be made. But most 'good' people will simply allow atrocities to happen if they can convince themselves that they are powerless to stop it, or feign ignorance to it after the fact like Sue did just now. That is the nature of good people; goodness is simply a matter of time, need, and perspective."

He continues to monologue, offending the ears of the others, but Vazo'yn's eyes subtly examine the pillars and the pattern. The spirits of the deep and distant past whisper to him and fill in whatever gaps in knowledge he might have and the Detect Magic helps further. He knows everything Jack knows, but he understands the purpose of the pillars. They are covered in a series of runes, some of the currently deactivated runes pervert the ritual and instead of transporting a person in time and space, they harness the magical energy of 11th level magic and project time across the globe. Additionally, other deactivated runes on the pillars siphon off the souls of the dead before they can be ferried off to the domains of their respective gods. The pillars house the power of those millions of souls now. The runes that are active now are directing the next wave of a completed walk at the Divine Gate, a firmament that covers the globe, in what would be a rough approximation of a massive Dispel Magic casting. It would not free this god from his prison, however, but it would free other Betrayer Gods who are trapped behind the Gate. Apparently, Otbium is expecting a returned favor for freeing them.

Destroying the pillars would release all the siphoned power. Explosively. Which is likely why they are covered in magical protective bubbles. 

Joy shifts in front of Sue protectively, giving Otbium a frown of disapproval that only deepens the more he runs his mouth. The gears in her head start to piece together his unthinkable plan; to use one man's grief and guilt to doom everyone else. To trick him into doing all the dirty work for him.

"I thought you were a simple deal maker, Otbium, not a judge or philosopher. Good people make mistakes, especially when empty gods manipulate them," her grip on her shield tightens, "This is why so many think the kind gods are too distant. They give mortals choice. Yet, when we doom ourselves, they reach out to help. They send champions."

Ylis flies along trying to keep the flapping of her robes to a minimum. She can hear the burble of conversation and not the staccato thumps of combat so she knows that everything is fine for now. She continues to circle the mound out of sight.

Stealth check 25

I forgot to say she'll keep here ears open to outside threats.

Perception check 25

Vazo'yn's sharp eyes move from pillar to pillar and then to the pattern traced in the middle of the stone summit. Then they flick to Otbium. He shakes his head in disgust and disbelief.

"This pattern is a path that must be walked exactly or it will take the wanderer's life. It's original purpose has been perfected by him. If the journey on the path is completed, it sends the purple wave across the world, carrying with it unimaginable levels of power to distort time," he sends through their mental link. His companions can feel his anger building.

"The souls it extinguishes are not allowed to go to their gods. They are drawn and trapped in these pillars to fuel the next step of the ritual. Millions of souls are trapped here. Upon the next walk of the ritual, the power of their collective life force will be directed at the Divine Gate, shattering it. The gods will be free to act upon our world again. It will not free Otbium, but perhaps his kin will do that for him."

There is a brief silence where Vazo'yn struggles to keep his thoughts even and measured.

"Destroy the pillars. It will reverse the horrors done by this ritual."

OOC: What are the chances of getting two "3"s in a row?! argh!

Otbium eyes Joy, carefully considering his response. The little girl looks to Sue, now standing behind Joy's protective wall of armor. "Father, walk the path. Please. The cold hurts me."

As Joy and Jack step into the summit and engage the weary warrior, Riven remains crouched in the mist just below the ledge. From his vantage point, he watches the spectral child vanish the moment they arrive. His narrowed eyes linger on where she stood.

“Vanished too clean,” he mutters under his breath. “Either she was illusion… or she’s still here, invisible.”

Then the image appears.

Otbium.

Riven’s entire body tenses. He draws low, fingers resting on the fletching of a black-feathered arrow, his longbow rising ever so slightly. 

Then Vazo’yn’s voice filters through the link, calm words cloaked in fury.

Riven’s eyes track to the runes, to the pattern, to the four pillars encased in arcane wards.

"Traps souls… divine gate…" he mutters. "Mad bastard's trying to pry open the heavens with corpses."

In the shared link, Riven's voice comes through, quiet, gravel-lined.

“I can break bones, not barriers. Those shields won’t fall to steel alone.”

His gaze sweeps the summit’s edge, locking onto each of the four runed pillars in turn.

Jacaranda mused as the most annoying god in existenced droned ever onward, "  Yes, with the defenses gone Moonlight could certainly bring down one of those...."

Seeing that Otbium is at a loss for words, Joy turns toward Sue, tears beginning to form in her eyes. She meets his gaze unwaveringly. "Sue, what happened to you daughter...It wasn't your fault. It wasn't." She reaches out to hug him. "She hurts because Otbium is keeping her from going where she needs to go. We can fix it all, reverse the waves' effects, if you help us. Please."

Persuasion w advantage from perfume: 16