You can make out some of the text, amazingly, it's written in a language you can barely understand.
"..It was said throughout the cosmos from that time forth, those who entered the monolith either came saying they were of the faith, or never returned at all.."
"..that day did the river ran dry, the rains vanished, and the new black star burned into the land and everything withered from it's gaze.."
"..all that remains is it who tends the monolith with hopes that a soul would return to exist in between.."
THE MONOLITH, PART TWO TOMB OF THE DISMEMBERED HALL OF UMBRAL WORSHIP EAST AND WEST OFFERING HALLS <----
Two passageways from the Hall of Umbral Worship led to two more rooms which looked like offering halls. In each room, two massive eldritch statues presided over unmoving black stone supplicants on their hands and knees in silent worship. Everything in the room was made in black perfect unpitted stone - like watching a scene of worship frozen in time.
Vulcan and Father, you can read words on the walls. It depicts what you can only interpret as a story of how five Gods from one reality fought against an unnamed master. They lost, and retreated back to their realms. On the other side of the wall is a massive hieroglyph that explains a snapshot of a scene of battle. A dwarf with the power of heavenly light, a mighty armored warrior wielding a spear and shield, two elves: one with the power of the moon, one with nature, and finally a humanoid who wielded cold - all fighting against a massive, tentacled star. It is clear from the hieroglyph that these men and woman are no mere mortals, and it is a fight they are losing.
From the East and West Offering Halls, a passage led north, further deeper into the monolith.
Freya finally lets some of the fear of this place soak into her, and becomes visibly nervous. In a poor attempt to hide her fear from the rest of the group, she jokingly blurted out “Gosh, who is their interior decorator? I’d like to hire him/her to do a few pieces for my shanty...”
Vulcan studied the story, pondering deeper and deeper into the meanings of what transpired in history...and how much of it was simply a manipulation for a much larger game. He Kept moving north regardless.
Heading north, in the center of this thirty by thirty square room is what appears to be some sort of sarcophagus. It is perfectly black, rectangular, and has a stone lid. It is impossible to tell what is inside, and the sound of wet slithering can be heard further north deeper into the monolith via a long, lightless hallway.
This post has potentially manipulated dice roll results.
Freya will walk in a circle around the entire room, looking at the sarcophagus from all sides (Perception: 15). She'll then peer down the long, lightless hallway (she has Superior Darkvision - 120 feet - thanks to her vampness), to see if she can make any sense of the wet slithering sound (Perception: 25).
Finally, freaking out some more, she'll nervously polymorph back into her soothing Mist form...
THE MONOLITH, PART TWO TOMB OF THE DISMEMBERED HALL OF UMBRAL WORSHIP EAST AND WEST OFFERING HALLS GREAT WORSHIP ROOM <----
You can see down the long corridor, it looks to be another room with no exits but more details than that are difficult to discern. Every single one of the walls appear to be "moving" in this room.
LeBlanc would blink as she registers the explosion of the tentacle claws, feeling the entrails hit her on their way down. She'd do her best to hold back a shudder, but couldn't help it. With one swift motion of her hand, she'd wave away the eldritch ooze using Prestidigitation and follow Villanelle into the next area.
Exelda would glance up to the hieroglyphs but immediate begin to feel a burning sensation and look away. Agreeing with Freya, she didn't want to push her luck attempting to read them while others would be able to do that for her.
Moving further into the next room of statues worshiping, another chill rolled down her spine like she was witnessing an omen she couldn't understand. The blademaster couldn't help but mutter along with Freya, "Z'ere is a recurring theme hmm?" The black silky ink was everywhere, and so tempting to touch. I loved black before it was evil chic.
And north they continued, following zombie Vulcan through the maze of darkness, and this time, there's a sarcophagus. LeBlanc quickly missed the statues. She'd lean towards Feya to ask, "Qu'es tu voire?" only for her to puff into a mist again. Fickle Freya...
Suddenly, the walls became alive. It didn't matter where we stood, what form we took, what emotions we were feeling. Magic and reality failed and we were all grabbed physically by tendrils that lashed out as us from the floor and the walls - holding us in place - wrapping around us.
Madison screamed in terror.
THE FRACTAL OF INFINITY
The tendrils were more gentle with Father and Vulcan, but still, the tendrils had a purpose, dragging us into the walls or into the floor like tar. Like a jellyfish stinger, the touch of the tendrils had an effect on all of us, and we all felt strangely calm as our physical forms melted into the walls and entered a deeper part of this reality. As we became one with the space in between, all our vision could see and interpret was our body and minds spiraling into what looked like a dizzying descent into a dark fractal of infinity. What we saw and what was happening was unlike anything that ever happened to us before. We were being transported.
Like falling through black ink, the fractal of infinity shattered our minds as it took us further into a final destination. As we fell, we horribly realized we were no longer breathing, blinking, or our hearts beating. We were spiritual during our journey.
The only thing we could hear was the overpowering sound of what we could only describe as solar wind. If different planets could make sounds audibly, we heard something we had never heard before, the fractal of infinity causing our senses to overload, and darkness overcame us at the moment our minds were about to shatter.
THE UMBRAL PITS
We regained consciousness, and our earthly sense returned. We immediately panicked, for we awoke submerged in black fluid. The urge to breathe was beginning to burn and the liquid drained away, our senses dulled, and found ourselves on black stone, in a room with black walls. Madison weeped like a child, spit up black fluid, and was scared out of her wits, shaking and afraid. We found ourselves in the end of a black hallway, there were no markers or signs, just a hallway that went forward, sitting in a pool of inky liquid. What was this place? Some sort of maze? A trial? Some sort of test?
Dia suppresses a groan from the overload her mind just experienced. After a string of curses under her breath in Infernal, the succubus rises, offering Tora a hand up, and looks around. "Your god appears to have a sense of humor," she observes to Father.
Freya: “My head hurts....I’m not sure what makes it hurt more, though. That weird journey we just took, or Dia’s creative swearing....” (Freya understands Infernal)
Freya shakes her head to clear it, before mumbling a strange incantation....suddenly everyone in the group discovers that they can walk on top of the oil, just like it's solid ground! (Freya cast Water Walk on herself, which impacts everyone around her in the group for the next hour).
Villanelle shakes her head, trying to get rid of the aches that she's currently feeling. Once she's done so,she grabs Madison while she shakes and weeps and holds her head so that she looks into her eyes. "It overwhelms you because you reject it. Accept what lies beyond this world and the pain will stop. The horrors you're going through will stop. Accept the darkness. Accept Umbra." She lets go of Madison's face, pulls out a dagger, and drops it at her feet. "Or if not, take this and make it easier for yourself. The way ahead isn't getting any brighter."
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Xenophon: Topaz Dragonborn Fighter (ixi's Dragon of Icespire Peak)
In the moment of her panic, Madison felt Villanelle grab her. She didn't resist. She could feel her heart about to rupture in her chest. She sank to her knees when Villanelle let her go, kicked the dagger out away from her, and she pulled out one of her pistols, putting it against her temple. Her hands shook violently. There was nothing left to vomit. She sweat from the uncertain, from fear, from panic. Her hand tightening against her gun, trying to keep it stable, trying to get her finger around the trigger.
A terrible, deafening rumbling could be heard in her head. She wanted to scream. Her mind was having some sort of panic attack, some sort of allergic reaction to this reality.
Her body couldn't cope with what was happening.
She pressed the pistol hard against her temple and grit her teeth. Do it. Pull the trigger. Do it.
The constant rumble in her head softened. She opened her eyes and her heart rate slowed. Carefully, she lowered the gun. Sweat dripped down her temple, down her nose. She focused and re centered herself. Her heart rate slowed. She stood up and put her pistol away.
"We have no idea what this place is, or where we are." she said to no one in particular. "This is well beyond the scope of what I was destined to do. We are deep in the madness of..someplace. Someplace else. Every cell in my body rejects this place, this concept. This..overlord. How is it possible some of you know. Who is this..Umbra? The source of this Darkness? Or the..answer.."
The hallway we were transported to was a dead end. Wet, and slick with an oil that made our skin crawl, we noticed that the hallway had no ceiling. Madison reached up, and touched nothing. "What..?" she muttered.
Looking at where the ceiling should be, only darkness would be found. Freya, you can see the smallest hint of a starfield for a sky, it's barely visible.
We walked slowly down the hallway. Sometimes there was a fork in the path, and we randomly decided which way to go. It was like we were in a maze. Eventually, after what seemed like hours of walking, we came to a doorway. A perfect, black, stone doorway. It was cold to the touch, like the ground, and the side walls.
Madison opened the door and we carefully stepped inside, seeing as it was the only way to proceed in whatever otherworldly place this was. We entered a pitch black, dark, ceiling less, 30 x 30 room. A dreadful stench assaulted our senses. Enormous shadow abominations immediately attacked us as the last of us entered the room. They made no sound, it was extremely dark, and they tore at us with claws and tentacles of darkness. They all looked like something out of a nightmare.
This post has potentially manipulated dice roll results.
Vulcan stared at the door way, then closed his eyes, doing as he had much of this journey, and thought on what they had seen when they were brought under. He then opened his eyes again, and glared at Madison for what she seemed as if she was about to do. Death, death was the easy way out of this....and from what he was seeing, that wasn't even a guarantee. Still, he let out a mildly annoyed sigh when she lowered her gun, and walked up to the door, helping her pushed/pulled it open.
This post has potentially manipulated dice roll results.
Tora let's out a low snarl at the shadows, an ethereal mist beginning to wrap around her whole body until she was completely gone, only the mist remaining. After a few moments, a large ethereal white tiger steps out of the mist, growling and baring its sharp incisors at the shadows threateningly. It narrows its eyes and let's out a low growl roar.
Init: 23
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Nina Wildvale|Changeling|Wild Magic Sorcerer|Rise of The Reunelords|Active
Kai Loire|Water Genasia|Life Cleric|Road To Phandalin|Retired
Dia:
You can make out some of the text, amazingly, it's written in a language you can barely understand.
"..It was said throughout the cosmos from that time forth, those who entered the monolith either came saying they were of the faith, or never returned at all.."
"..that day did the river ran dry, the rains vanished, and the new black star burned into the land and everything withered from it's gaze.."
"..all that remains is it who tends the monolith with hopes that a soul would return to exist in between.."
Freya slinks up to the base of the statue, and stands there scratching her chin in confusion as she ponders just what the heck it says: 2
OOC: Yaaaaahhhhhhhhssssss
Instead, she goes light headed and passes out momentarily, collapsing to the ground.
”Oi! My head hurts just lookin’ at that writing!”
Last to know and first to be blamed...
As a free action, can I regret my life choices?
THE MONOLITH, PART TWO
TOMB OF THE DISMEMBERED
HALL OF UMBRAL WORSHIP
EAST AND WEST OFFERING HALLS <----
Two passageways from the Hall of Umbral Worship led to two more rooms which looked like offering halls. In each room, two massive eldritch statues presided over unmoving black stone supplicants on their hands and knees in silent worship. Everything in the room was made in black perfect unpitted stone - like watching a scene of worship frozen in time.
Vulcan and Father, you can read words on the walls. It depicts what you can only interpret as a story of how five Gods from one reality fought against an unnamed master. They lost, and retreated back to their realms. On the other side of the wall is a massive hieroglyph that explains a snapshot of a scene of battle. A dwarf with the power of heavenly light, a mighty armored warrior wielding a spear and shield, two elves: one with the power of the moon, one with nature, and finally a humanoid who wielded cold - all fighting against a massive, tentacled star. It is clear from the hieroglyph that these men and woman are no mere mortals, and it is a fight they are losing.
From the East and West Offering Halls, a passage led north, further deeper into the monolith.
Freya finally lets some of the fear of this place soak into her, and becomes visibly nervous. In a poor attempt to hide her fear from the rest of the group, she jokingly blurted out “Gosh, who is their interior decorator? I’d like to hire him/her to do a few pieces for my shanty...”
Last to know and first to be blamed...
As a free action, can I regret my life choices?
Vulcan studied the story, pondering deeper and deeper into the meanings of what transpired in history...and how much of it was simply a manipulation for a much larger game. He Kept moving north regardless.
Dia reads what she can, shaking off the headache and quiet dread trying to worm its way into her. She follows Vulcan north.
Stella Diamant, Human Rogue 17 (Swashbuckler), The Exploits of Misfit Company
Kat, Medtech, Cyberpunk: Red
Shi, Changeling Bard 4 (College of Spirits), Tyrant's Grasp
Dani, Human Artificer 9 (Armorer), Skulls and Starships
DM, Project Point (Teams Scimitar and Longsword)
Everything Else!
Heading north, in the center of this thirty by thirty square room is what appears to be some sort of sarcophagus. It is perfectly black, rectangular, and has a stone lid. It is impossible to tell what is inside, and the sound of wet slithering can be heard further north deeper into the monolith via a long, lightless hallway.
Freya will walk in a circle around the entire room, looking at the sarcophagus from all sides (Perception: 15). She'll then peer down the long, lightless hallway (she has Superior Darkvision - 120 feet - thanks to her vampness), to see if she can make any sense of the wet slithering sound (Perception: 25).
Finally, freaking out some more, she'll nervously polymorph back into her soothing Mist form...
Last to know and first to be blamed...
As a free action, can I regret my life choices?
THE MONOLITH, PART TWO
TOMB OF THE DISMEMBERED
HALL OF UMBRAL WORSHIP
EAST AND WEST OFFERING HALLS
GREAT WORSHIP ROOM <----
You can see down the long corridor, it looks to be another room with no exits but more details than that are difficult to discern. Every single one of the walls appear to be "moving" in this room.
LeBlanc would blink as she registers the explosion of the tentacle claws, feeling the entrails hit her on their way down. She'd do her best to hold back a shudder, but couldn't help it. With one swift motion of her hand, she'd wave away the eldritch ooze using Prestidigitation and follow Villanelle into the next area.
Exelda would glance up to the hieroglyphs but immediate begin to feel a burning sensation and look away. Agreeing with Freya, she didn't want to push her luck attempting to read them while others would be able to do that for her.
Moving further into the next room of statues worshiping, another chill rolled down her spine like she was witnessing an omen she couldn't understand. The blademaster couldn't help but mutter along with Freya, "Z'ere is a recurring theme hmm?" The black silky ink was everywhere, and so tempting to touch. I loved black before it was evil chic.
And north they continued, following zombie Vulcan through the maze of darkness, and this time, there's a sarcophagus. LeBlanc quickly missed the statues. She'd lean towards Feya to ask, "Qu'es tu voire?" only for her to puff into a mist again. Fickle Freya...
just an unstable unicorn.
DESCENT INTO THE VOID
Suddenly, the walls became alive. It didn't matter where we stood, what form we took, what emotions we were feeling. Magic and reality failed and we were all grabbed physically by tendrils that lashed out as us from the floor and the walls - holding us in place - wrapping around us.
Madison screamed in terror.
THE FRACTAL OF INFINITY
The tendrils were more gentle with Father and Vulcan, but still, the tendrils had a purpose, dragging us into the walls or into the floor like tar. Like a jellyfish stinger, the touch of the tendrils had an effect on all of us, and we all felt strangely calm as our physical forms melted into the walls and entered a deeper part of this reality. As we became one with the space in between, all our vision could see and interpret was our body and minds spiraling into what looked like a dizzying descent into a dark fractal of infinity. What we saw and what was happening was unlike anything that ever happened to us before. We were being transported.
Like falling through black ink, the fractal of infinity shattered our minds as it took us further into a final destination. As we fell, we horribly realized we were no longer breathing, blinking, or our hearts beating. We were spiritual during our journey.
The only thing we could hear was the overpowering sound of what we could only describe as solar wind. If different planets could make sounds audibly, we heard something we had never heard before, the fractal of infinity causing our senses to overload, and darkness overcame us at the moment our minds were about to shatter.
THE UMBRAL PITS
We regained consciousness, and our earthly sense returned. We immediately panicked, for we awoke submerged in black fluid. The urge to breathe was beginning to burn and the liquid drained away, our senses dulled, and found ourselves on black stone, in a room with black walls. Madison weeped like a child, spit up black fluid, and was scared out of her wits, shaking and afraid. We found ourselves in the end of a black hallway, there were no markers or signs, just a hallway that went forward, sitting in a pool of inky liquid. What was this place? Some sort of maze? A trial? Some sort of test?
Dia suppresses a groan from the overload her mind just experienced. After a string of curses under her breath in Infernal, the succubus rises, offering Tora a hand up, and looks around. "Your god appears to have a sense of humor," she observes to Father.
Stella Diamant, Human Rogue 17 (Swashbuckler), The Exploits of Misfit Company
Kat, Medtech, Cyberpunk: Red
Shi, Changeling Bard 4 (College of Spirits), Tyrant's Grasp
Dani, Human Artificer 9 (Armorer), Skulls and Starships
DM, Project Point (Teams Scimitar and Longsword)
Everything Else!
Freya: “My head hurts....I’m not sure what makes it hurt more, though. That weird journey we just took, or Dia’s creative swearing....” (Freya understands Infernal)
Freya shakes her head to clear it, before mumbling a strange incantation....suddenly everyone in the group discovers that they can walk on top of the oil, just like it's solid ground! (Freya cast Water Walk on herself, which impacts everyone around her in the group for the next hour).
Last to know and first to be blamed...
As a free action, can I regret my life choices?
Villanelle shakes her head, trying to get rid of the aches that she's currently feeling. Once she's done so,she grabs Madison while she shakes and weeps and holds her head so that she looks into her eyes. "It overwhelms you because you reject it. Accept what lies beyond this world and the pain will stop. The horrors you're going through will stop. Accept the darkness. Accept Umbra." She lets go of Madison's face, pulls out a dagger, and drops it at her feet. "Or if not, take this and make it easier for yourself. The way ahead isn't getting any brighter."
Xenophon: Topaz Dragonborn Fighter (ixi's Dragon of Icespire Peak)
More
In the moment of her panic, Madison felt Villanelle grab her. She didn't resist. She could feel her heart about to rupture in her chest. She sank to her knees when Villanelle let her go, kicked the dagger out away from her, and she pulled out one of her pistols, putting it against her temple. Her hands shook violently. There was nothing left to vomit. She sweat from the uncertain, from fear, from panic. Her hand tightening against her gun, trying to keep it stable, trying to get her finger around the trigger.
A terrible, deafening rumbling could be heard in her head. She wanted to scream. Her mind was having some sort of panic attack, some sort of allergic reaction to this reality.
Her body couldn't cope with what was happening.
She pressed the pistol hard against her temple and grit her teeth. Do it. Pull the trigger. Do it.
The constant rumble in her head softened. She opened her eyes and her heart rate slowed. Carefully, she lowered the gun. Sweat dripped down her temple, down her nose. She focused and re centered herself. Her heart rate slowed. She stood up and put her pistol away.
"We have no idea what this place is, or where we are." she said to no one in particular. "This is well beyond the scope of what I was destined to do. We are deep in the madness of..someplace. Someplace else. Every cell in my body rejects this place, this concept. This..overlord. How is it possible some of you know. Who is this..Umbra? The source of this Darkness? Or the..answer.."
THE UMBRAL HALLS
The hallway we were transported to was a dead end. Wet, and slick with an oil that made our skin crawl, we noticed that the hallway had no ceiling. Madison reached up, and touched nothing. "What..?" she muttered.
Looking at where the ceiling should be, only darkness would be found. Freya, you can see the smallest hint of a starfield for a sky, it's barely visible.
We walked slowly down the hallway. Sometimes there was a fork in the path, and we randomly decided which way to go. It was like we were in a maze. Eventually, after what seemed like hours of walking, we came to a doorway. A perfect, black, stone doorway. It was cold to the touch, like the ground, and the side walls.
"Like mice..in a maze.." Madison said to herself.
CHAMBER OF THE SHADOWGUARDS
Madison opened the door and we carefully stepped inside, seeing as it was the only way to proceed in whatever otherworldly place this was. We entered a pitch black, dark, ceiling less, 30 x 30 room. A dreadful stench assaulted our senses. Enormous shadow abominations immediately attacked us as the last of us entered the room. They made no sound, it was extremely dark, and they tore at us with claws and tentacles of darkness. They all looked like something out of a nightmare.
Everyone roll initiative.
Shadow1: 20
Shadow2: 16
Shadow3: 20
Shadow4: 12
Shadow5: 22
Shadow6: 18
Shadow7: 22
Shadow8: 23
Shadow9: 12
Shadow10: 18
Vulcan stared at the door way, then closed his eyes, doing as he had much of this journey, and thought on what they had seen when they were brought under. He then opened his eyes again, and glared at Madison for what she seemed as if she was about to do. Death, death was the easy way out of this....and from what he was seeing, that wasn't even a guarantee. Still, he let out a mildly annoyed sigh when she lowered her gun, and walked up to the door, helping her pushed/pulled it open.
Init: 10
Villanelle: 19
Father: 8
Xenophon: Topaz Dragonborn Fighter (ixi's Dragon of Icespire Peak)
More
Tora let's out a low snarl at the shadows, an ethereal mist beginning to wrap around her whole body until she was completely gone, only the mist remaining. After a few moments, a large ethereal white tiger steps out of the mist, growling and baring its sharp incisors at the shadows threateningly. It narrows its eyes and let's out a low growl roar.
Init: 23
Nina Wildvale|Changeling|Wild Magic Sorcerer|Rise of The Reunelords|Active
Kai Loire|Water Genasia|Life Cleric|Road To Phandalin|Retired
Willow Twilight|Swiftstride Shifter|Blood Hunter|Ebberon|Retired
Meephylia Polliwog|Grung|Dragon Sorcerer|Descent To Avernus|Retired
Ashryn Rairs|Changeling|Hexblade Warlock|Out Of The Abyss|Dead