Pizazz's Myth Drannor

"Let's check this guardian first. Who knows how long would it take. And then I would check Mythallar. If we free it from the corruption and Larloch influence, we can explore the full city as long as we like. If not... It would not matter whether we die with or without exploration?"

On the way to the tower, she too answered Thyrius's question. "Never mind Toc's obsession with Netheril empire. Sure, it would be great to find 22 other cities, but you just said - you saw the way to the main Mythallar, the one that is in the hands of Larloch. We destroy or inactivate this - we don't even need to search for others. There were some hints on how to find Larloch lair before. With your information, it might be the way to go."

"Yes, dying would make exploration after the fact irrelevant, however by exploring first we may find or learn something that may keep us alive for that much longer. Oh that's the other thing I wanted to ask. Say we kill the liches, but since we have no research of any kind they'll be back. How soon will your allies be here to secure this and perhaps just as important will the be able to withstand the lich counter attack." A little while later if answered yes to counter attack... "Sooo... I was wondering, why are the protectors not with us?"
Outloud though reasonably quiet "Sooo... looks interesting, do you think there's an worthwhile treasure in there?" Simaal asks while balancing with his javelin and shield while staying low.

Toc glances at the tower, then back at Simaal. "The Liches did not counter-attack when we took over the Thulthanthar Mythallar that was within the ruins of Myth Drannor. I have my theories but am not entirely certain. First....both Liches at the location were destroyed by forcing them into the Mythallar. I suspect....that it did not just destroy their bodies, but perhaps their souls completely. This means they wouldn't have been able to report back to Larloch about why his connection to the Mythallar was gone. But, secondly, Myth Drannor is shrouded by something called a Mythal. Basically a magical field surrounding the city. Mythal's are actually the elven version, or elven precursor to Netheril Mythallars. Anyway, the Mythal by Myth Drannor, even though damaged, prevents teleportation in and to the city, unless you are attuned to it. It's possible the Liches have no easy way back in, now that they've been expelled." 

He sighs, "That's a lot, and the whole topic is worth discussing, but not right now. We should move. The guardian is certainly in there. Judging by the sense of it, it's on the first floor." 

Toc moves forward, his leather fur lined boots padding lightly along the icy rock as he crosses the bridge and heads into the tower. The first room inside the open door is fairly plain. Across from front door is another wooden door. The door is ajar, and flanking it are two identical stone statues of a human wizard looking woman. Across from the statues are sconces with blue magical flames burning in them. It is similar to the upside down tower the group had been to, but of course...not upside down. The statues are of a different Netherese wizard. The ceilings here are 15 feet high. Toc strides through the room into an icy hallway. There is a door on the left and a door on the right side of the hallway, while the end heads into a blue flame lit stairway that curves upwards.  Toc pushes open the left doorway.  Tall bookshelves affixed to the outer wall sit undisturbed for a millenia. A large table sits in the middle of the room with chairs settled around it. A carpet spans the floor beneath. Standing in one corner of the room is a twelve foot tall metal automaton that looks much like a large suit of armor. Not waiting for anything else, Toc strides forward and clutches the amulet. The rest of the group quietly moves into the tower, through the hall and into the library with caution.  Russel, the shadow that he is, slips into the room and finds a shadow to stand within silently. It's quiet and nothing moves for a few moments.

Then the automaton shudders and groans. It shivers and flakes of frost sift slowly to the floor from its body. With what sounds like horrid cracks, the creature shifts its limbs and steps forward, breaking the ice that has held its limbs still for so long. The thing is ancient looking, though, for all that, its magic has held true and the automaton looks fully intact. After a few motions, the groaning and creaking seems to settle down. Toc places his hand on its cold metal forearm, then removes it and nods to himself.

He turns to the group, "I believe it is properly bound to this amulet. I don't think its control can be wrested away without it. Of course...we're talking a deity, so who knows, but....this is the defender we have come for. Ironically....it has no shield."  

Toc seems to suddenly give up any desire to lead the party forward and glances at Mirica and Xemnez.  "Well, we got the guardian. That was....surprisingly simple. Shall we head to the Mythallar now? Who will lead the way?"  

Nuzej looks around the library that is clearly focused on magic and magical research and opens his eyes wide at the treasures that Toc seems to have all but forgotten for the moment. Many of these books are likely priceless, if the can be recovered intact. 

While items are normally of greater interest, books could be useful as well. Assuming super old looking and dusty. "Amazing these have survived for so long, certainly there must be some magic at work to preserve them. Can anyone read these without expending much power and if so can you look for something that's likely useless for instance dammit.... if things are so old I can't think of anything that I'd like to see if it gets destroyed if I pick it up. I mean even something like cooking rats could potentially be fascinating to read." Simaal appears in awe... Mentally "I dare say I'd hate for these to be taken into battle, but if the whole thing collapses as I believe it will, it would be disastrous. Sadly I have nothing to really store these in and be certain they would not be destroyed."

"Good." Mirica just stated the fact. "It was surprisingly easy.... Can it follow us? Can you check if it obeys your commands?" While Nuzej lost himself among the books, "I guess we can add a few more to our relatively bottomless bags" she just briefly looked around. "I'd say those never dying lights are even more impressive. Unless they are Auril's doing. And speaking of her... How about the simple straight walk to the Mythallar's chamber to see, at last, what are we up against? The Guardian can lead the way and work as a trap finder and a distraction in case someone is around. Though, if so, they hide well."

Simal gets a perplexed look on his face that he has a hard time to hide, then shrugs to no one, and carefully handles some books, keeping them closed, but carefully wrapping them and putting them in his hoversack, taking out some crap out of there so it the books fill out the center portion of the backpack. He'll read the titles and pick ones that focus on magic/magical items/mind/constructions/bestiaries. Afterwards he just shrugs again waiting at the ready, his shield and javelin out.

Though ready to lend a deciding vote earlier should one need to be made, Xemnez seemed to be content with letting conversations play themselves out to their natural conclusions. And while he had intended answer earlier questions of who would take point with action, Toc beating him to it left him looking mildly surprised for a moment or two, before brushing things off with a chuff. The trek to follow is one taken without comment, mental or otherwise, out of the wary Leonin. Apart from some idle curiosity seeing yet another living grove in the oversized graveyard of a city, none of Simaal's curiosity or ethusiasm appeared to shared by Xem beyond an increase alertness around points where the gargoyles roosted or open structures.

But nothing comes to pass... As far as they were aware...

"If those Netherin of yours are so smart, I doubt construct will trigger an, if many traps. But better it then us in the end." He then looks to Toc. "It is yours though to do with as wish. I will not presume to make any of it beyond your will." Turning next to the others, or more accurately to Miricia. "There is yet the manner of the wall. We can go and see if still up. And if so, it could be we can try that strut a ways back, scaling that, and from there over it. But either way, if that machine is not to walk ahead, I will gladly take the honor for at least the trip to it." 

If Xemnez is mostly quiet during the walk to the tower, than Thyrius would judge it best for him to remain silent as well. The Leonins' new companions were clearly better informed in regards to this necropolis than the brothers, so it should indeed fall to them the decision on how to navigate its many wonders. That, and the black cat was feeling a bit calmer once Mirica pointed out that dealing with the hungry Mythallar sphere alone should suffice. Thyrius hoped Ajani would agree with that strategy, wherever the white cat now was.

Once they are in the library with the activated automaton, Thyrius agrees with his brother's take regarding the strut: "It extends outside the protective wall and it seems to lead us into the structure immediately above the Mythallar. I wasn't sure it was a viable strategy for us to approach our target from above when I mentioned it last, but apparently my instinct was not playing a trick on me. This avenue is indeed possible, it seems, and perhaps our best chance to surprise this Auril, the lady of the the frozen goats."

Pointing at the golem: "You all surely knew exactly where to come for your prize. That is quite impressive. Could you remind me how you knew this golem would be here, available for the taking and ready to aid us? That amulet is clearly a big part of it but something doesn't sit right with me. The lady of snowy owls has show her ability to control stone golems before. Ones that looked like the children of the fallen giant with a mouth in its stomach by the frozen bridge entrance. Why wouldn't she be able to control this one too? I don't dislike your optimism on this, Toc, but I am still concerned."

If the group is spending some time in this room, even just an extra minute as they seem to be doing, Thyrius will browse some nearby tomes for keywords related to the last conversation he had with his ancestor.

-> Thyrius' investigation check: 4 (this warning banner screwed me deeply here... the original roll was a 19.)

"It was the medallion," explained Mirica. "You see, we are not walking blindly in the hope to stumble upon the needed ruin. We search. Using magic too. To find that particular city we had to use many other clues and objects until they brought us to one of the towers - just like the one around us - that broke off of the city disk when it was plummeting to the earth. There, inside the tower, we found that medallion and it led us here. Toc would know better, but I believe the medallion fully controls the machine and allows the owner to know its location. Maybe Auril collected all other medallions to make her army of machines here? Who knows. Good point about not triggering any traps, though." She looked at the machine with even more disappointment. Say what you want, but those automatons are just overgrown toys - amusing, but mostly useless. It was up to living to do something about anything.

She enthusiastically agreed with the idea to go through the building above. "Those force walls can be open from above sometimes. Truly, sounds like the easiest way. You know, we need to get there and see." Obviously, ten more minutes or even an hour would not hurt the cause, so Mirica patiently waited for others to finish sightseen, absentmindedly checking the shelves too. (Perception:  29 )

Toc nods, "I'm unsure what manner of creatures that statue with the mouth chest is. Or whom they respond to. But this thing...is a mages guardian, also sometimes called a shield guardian, and they are specifically keyed to be controlled by whomever possesses this amulet. So, though I'm not totally certain that Auril can't take control of it, I feel somewhat better about it." 

As the group begins poking around the library, Toc seems to stop staring at the guardian and realizes where he is. He also begins looking around. He quickly begins a ritual spell, that when complete, will allow him to read some of the texts here. 

Much of the library is written in the language known as Loross. The character set looks like Draconic, using the character set also called Iokharic. Even the brothers have seen these characters before, though dragon script is quite exotic. The words are all different though, not Draconic words. Many of the books pages are fused together into a solid block after such a long period. Even some who clearly have been held together by protective magics. The magic for others though has been sufficient, and when carefully defrosted a bit, the page become unstuck and be turned. All manner of ancient books are here. You find 43 intact books covering topics from cheesy romance adventure to complex meta-manipulation of magical weave. The basis for several complex spells can be found here. Toc and Nuzej find the magical theory archaic though, and inefficient compared to their modern approaches. There are four books focused entirely on focusing magical intent on distant locations, extending the distance of a spell far beyond what is normally possible. 

Nuzej meanwhile has had Detect Magic cast on himself while he has traversed the city.  Magic seems infused into everything here, and waves of magic seem to wash out from the center of the city. He can see the waves of magic get caught by each magical street light or flickering magical torch, subtly powering their magic. In the library, the guardian gives off several types of magic. The flickering torches on the walls likewise catch the waves of Mythallar power and continue to function.  Of course the brothers and the rest of the group also give off overlapping waves of magic. Then there is the mental bond spell on all of you. In general, trying to locate anything specific with detect magic in these circumstances is challenging.

Xemnez finds a dusty, frost covered horn at the top of one of the bookshelves. When he grasps it he feels the tingle of magic within. Brushing off some of the frost from the curved animal horn he sees an inscription in Loross scribed into it.  The inscription, when translated, reads "Hear my silent call".  The horn when identified is a Horn of Silent Alarm. 

The rest of the tower is left unexamined though as the group is quick to focus on their primary mission. You walk back away from the edge of the city, passing by the tall thin tower, the grove of trees, and then turning into one of six distinct districts of the city. Dark gaping windows and empty doorways glare at you as you move down the street. Stealth is all but impossible with the heavy "clunk clunk clunk" of the twelve foot tall metal robot walking alongside Toc. There are all manner of buildings that you pass. Some clusters of homes, others are clearly administrative buildings, while many appear to be businesses. You even pass a large structure that must have been a prison. The presence of such a harsh building in amongst an enclaves district raises some stark questions about the Netheril society.  

As you approach the long extending strut that extends into the district from the central tower, you see the arching strut of dark stone rises from this ruined district to a junction high up on the central spire. A gate engraved with arcane sigils is set into the base of the strut. The arcane sigils clearly represent the eight schools of magic. The gate stands closed and Nuzej picks up a strong magical barrier that seems to extend out from the center of the city to enclose this gateway.  Quick observation seems to indicate that the wall of force that protects the center of the city, seems to encompass the entirety of the huge central building, and out to this gateway. Toc attempts a spell, nothing happens. He tries another spell.  Nothing happens. He frowns and points a finger. A green ray extends striking the field. Nothing happens. He sighs, picks up a rock, and tosses it. It bounces off of the field.  "Hmmmm.  Not so easy then. Teleportation and disintegration didn't work"

Nuzej's eyes greedily take in all the waves of magic as the group passes through the city. When Toc had provided the summary of the problem, and asked Nuzej if he'd covered everything well, the human replied that he could not have put it better himself. In fact, he benefitted from hearing it all put in one place. His mind ranged widely, but it helped to have focus.

As he explores the building, he looks around for anything specific that isn't necessarily arcane. Investigation: 18

If he finds a chest or compartment or device, he'd back up and try knock to open it.

Once they are outside and Toc makes his attempts to get in, Nuzej tries his magic detection to see if he can find out if the barrier seems solid enough the whole way along the span. He also tries to use mold earth to try to see if the barrier extends below the ground. Assuming it doesn't work, he begins thinking aloud, over the link.

"If we can't get in this way, and a disintegration ray doesn't work, and we assume the barrier is everywhere, then do we try communication? We've been opposed to this goddess for a while, and we won't be friends, but perhaps we need to try to make her understand she is being used by Larloch, and it's in her best interests to act against his agents?"

Nuzej didn't have too much time to explore, aside from in the library along with everyone else. He keeps his knock handy for the next opportunity to use it. 

Once at the barrier, Nuzej sense the barrier. It's quickly obvious that the field extends down this strange archway from the main building, and that otherwise it surrounds the whole central structure. He attempts to mold earth the black stone of the city but it resists his attempts to shape it. With a frown, his keen minds looks at the situation in front of him.  This is CLEARLY meant to be the entrance to the central tower. And in fact, the protective field extends down to this gateway. The gateway is part of the field's shaping. It MUST be an entrance. He glances at the arcane symbols around the gateway, and notices a circle engraved on the ground before the gateway. The two seem linked in his mind. There must be some way to open this gateway, and probably it must be done while standing in this circle.  He shrugs, might as well try. He steps into the circle and casts knock on the gateway.  The eight symbols briefly flash with a dull red light and then go dark once again. 

Russel crouches nearby in the shadows, a silent ghost, watching but saying nothing.

While the others busied themselves further rooting around the library, Xemnez remained content to stand on watch nearby, only really assisting where it came to grabbing things from higher shelves. Though even that was bound to prove unlikely an event with so many mages among the group. Regardless, he cannot help but smirk at the novelty discovered by his brother, only to look all the more interested in overhearing its properties(should any be able to divine it).

But it was his brother's prize. Even if offered it out of some obligations, Xem would refuse it, citing the age old rule 'Finder's Keepers' while patting him on the shoulder. After which, it is back to keeping a passive eye on things until it was time to officially depart the tower...

Present...

"Curious. Know not much of arcane. But understand I think that.. it seems to... hmm... Try a different, uhm, spell? Many different ones. From the circle. Perhaps the way will open then?" He suggest, though not without looking at least a touch discomforted over the prospect. 

Thyrius is thankful for Mirica's and Toc's continued explanations.

Palming a couple books himself, Thyrius hopes that luck is on his side and that a future potential translation of the texts would give him a lead on his own interests. Being able to only judge the books by their covers, quite literally, the black cat picks a few that feel studious but melancholic.

When the magically silent horn is found, Thyrius approaches his brother for a quick conversation in their mother tongue. Finding it difficult to say 'no' to his brother, Thyrius hooks the horn onto one of his many belts and promises to use it as need in his scouting ventures.

Later, at the gate, Thyrius is the first one to try out his brother's suggestion. The black cat is no intellectual scholar, but some basic magic does come naturally to him. He enters the circle once Nuzej points it out to him and tries a few cantrips: Eldritch blast, Mind sliver, and Spare the dying.

Thyrius displays some magical ability as he steps into the circle trying his spells. The spells align to the evocation, enchantment, and necromancy schools. Basic knowledge of the arcane Thyrius certainly knows. He is able to focus some of his magic energy towards the gateway as he casts the spells, but each time, the runes flash a dull red and then extinguish.

Toc examines the runes, "They seem to be linked to the 8 schools...but also....not, they have strange working and iconography in them I don't understand."  He likewise attempts to target several spells from the Transmutation and Illusion schools at the gateway, but gets the same results. "It seems we must do something, but I don't think it's just cast school based spells at it. I think...I think we must find the key to this if we wish to enter through this gateway." 

Simaal lets out a small sigh "I don't think I have anything that could be of help here, I have no means to enter, to destroy or to take others. Would etheral work?"

"Save your strength. If extreme destruction did not work, doubtlessly they prepared for such leaps over their walls." Xemnez said. It is then it occurs to him that he'd been speaking aloud for much of the trip so far, and rather awkwardly tapped at his temple as if testing something. 'Right, so, uhm... Human, uh... Nuzej, was it? Uhm... I do not recommend communion at this time, least she pay more heed and decide to make things more difficult. Not without securing whatever magical keys are needed for this barrier... Which on topic, it seems Simaal lhere will get to explore city more. As I doubt keys are kept at the door. Though, not sure where start.'

"You mean the barrier is part of the city and not placed by Auril? Interesting. I am too curious if Etherial works. We do not have to go through the gates, just get to the upper level of the tower and enter through the floor then. Or are there any reasons to suspect the whole tower is covered by the field? Would be sad if it is. Of course, if very thoughtful netheresians left a key nearby for the visitors we can go to exploring the city and search for it."

Toc looks about, "Very well. We shall try the ethereal route. If it doesn't work, we won't be sure where to start."   He glances to the two brothers, "Do not be alarmed, we are entering just the edge of the ethereal world. We can fly, move through things, but only see a short way through the ethereal fog so ensure you stay close. Things in this world usually can not see or hear you, but....that is not an absolute."  

With that the wizard looks at the group, and without any pomp or ceremony, and certainly no ritual, he instead just says, "Etherealness."  

The entire world around you shakes and shimmers abruptly, but only in your minds, and then you find yourself in a dense fog. You can see perhaps 60 feet and then the fog takes everything. The world has become a hazy blue and grey. Your body feels....weightless, formless...though you can see the others as though they were there, in full color and solid.  The ground feels...like thin mud...and you find you can easily press your foot into and through the solid surface. 

Toc floats off of the ground and drifts over to the gateway and the magical field. He presses his hand up against it. Unlike the floor, it is completely solid and he's unable to press through it. He looks down then submerges beneath the rock, vanishing. He re-emerges a few moments later.  "The field extends through the rock, but begins to bend towards the middle.  Wait here, I will check the extent of the field."  He hovers upwards, following the field...and vanishes into the fog.  Moments turn into minutes as you all wait. Then Toc emerges from the fog and floats down to the group. "The field extends seemingly up and over the entire tower. Like an obolong egg. I followed it to the peak and then over a bit...but have not done an exhaustive search of every point of its surface. That would take some time.  Speaking of time, we can remain in the ethereal for up to 8 hours." 

Simaal appears thoughtful, though hard to tell if thoughtful at looking for a place he could hide when things go sideways, or thoughtful about how to get in. "Could each rune be identified or would any spells be effective in discovering the key? Or perhaps cast spells at them in a specific order, maybe where schools ranked in order of importance at the time, failing that alphabetical and reverse alphabetical. Assuming of course it can be done via cantrips as opposed to completely exhausting our spells." I can read the language, did we find any books on barriers or more specifically eight school based locks?