Spark to the Flame - An MtG Game (IC)

[spinningdice]

Seeing the golem start to topple Liandra throws herself forward, trying grab Juri.

Spoiler: OOC

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I'm assuming Strength/Athletics (1d20+7)[25] is relevant, if it's Dex them I'm only at +2 rather than +7, please adjust accordingly

[Xiagu]

Dawn-Fang skids to a stop as the fear releases its iron grip on their mind. They stand panting in the tunnel, gathering their bearings.

Hubris. Inexcusable. They clench their fists in anger, disgusted at themself for letting self-satisfaction lower their guard. You know charms to ward against mind-magic. You could have stopped this! With a snarl, the fox whirls and sprints back toward the landing, claws clicking against the stone. Too caught up in seeking your own glory...

They burst back onto the landing, tails lashing and teeth bared. Knowing things can change in an instant, they quickly survey the situation, seeing what's happened while they were gone.

Spoiler: OOC

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Just running back. I figure whatever's happening with Juri and the golem will be over before Dawn-Fang is relevant.

[Jangoose]

There is a gasp as Juri is yanked for the edge, still caught in the golem's stony hand. She struggles against the fist, but to no avail, and is unable to break free, even as the golem's body buckles and slides over the edge.

In the split second as the others wake themselves from their fearful stupor, Liandra is already moving.

@Liandra: Time seems to slow for you as you hurtle towards the edge, seeing the lines of possible action. You reach out for Juri, even as a niggling doubt worms its way out of your subconscious. Even through the smoke you can see that Juri was unable to escape the Golem's grip. You were fast enough to get to her, and are strong enough to hold on, but doing so may pull you off the edge as well, weighed down by the thousands of pounds of artifice. For a fraction of a second, you meet Juri's eye.

Spoiler: OOC

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@Liandra: A sliver of your vampiric influence is rearing its head. you may:

+1 White: Commit to stand your ground and hold on, even if it means you might be pulled off as well.
-- or --
+1 Blue or Black: Hesitate in a fleeting reflex of enlightened self-interest and be unable to help.

[spinningdice]

Liandra brain feels like it's working slowly, though her thought process takes barely seconds. The golem's too heavy, it's grip too tight. Even if she manages to grab Juri and not be pulled off the ledge one of their bodies would likely break before the golem's grip. Her hand hesitates long enough that the option is taken away, she quietly mouths an apology and forces herself to watch as Juri falls from view.

[miinstrel]

Darevod Transmuter, 8th Level From his position on the bridge, Darevod carefully pokes his head up enough to see the landing and... the golem was gone? Curiosity gripped his rapidly beating heart as the fear faded and he stood a little more. A few moments later the sound of stone crumbling against stone met his ears. "Well done, well done!" he shouts gleefully at the others, oblivious to the comrade that tumbled over the cliff in its grasp. After a few moments of catching his breath he adds, "Come come, let's be gone before another one drops from the ceiling. You there... Radek was it? Swirl those switches again and let's make this bridge a bit more functional, eh?" he suggests full of pep.

[Xiagu]

Dawn-Fang sprints across the platform as Juri falls from view, but they already know they're too late. They stop next to Liandra and wince at the sound of the crash. Squeezing their eyes shut, the kitsune sinks down on their knees, tails limp on the ground behind them. Damn... too slow. This made two people already they hadn't been able to save.

[Majin]

Radek Radek's Powers HP: 59/59 AC: 17, Save DC: 16, Psi Points: 29/44, Psychic Focus: - Radek doesn't even have time to react before Juri falls, slipping from Liandra's grip. He nods to Darevod, and touches the symbols he thinks brings the bridge back to the cliff. Then he walks to Liandra, and hesitantly touches her shoulder. "Nothing you could have done, the golem was too heavy. Better only one fell, rather than two." Radek's not sure if that was at all comforting, but at least it made sense. "I agree with the old man. No reason to wait for another attack. I think down's the way to go?"

[spinningdice]

Liandra's face looks stormy as she turns back to the rest of the group. "Our first real challenge and we've already lost someone. we need to do better if we want to get out of here."

[Xiagu]

Something about Liandra's words makes Dawn-Fang's anger flare, their self-condemnation finding a new outlet. The fox rises to their full five foot height and whirls to face her, furious.

"We need to do better?" they snap. "You could have grabbed her! I saw you hesitate!" They glare up at her, body still coursing with momentary fury.

[spinningdice]

Anger flashes across Liandra's face "And what good would it have done! The thing weighed more than my uncle's forge and it gripped her like a vice, at best I would have her arm as a souvenier as it wrenched from her body and more likely I would suffer her fate alongside her." Liandra carefully puts her blade away as she a moment to reign in her indignation. "I will put my life on the line for you - and have done, I could after all have stayed up on the bridge, but I will not throw myself away without purpose."
Her voice drops quieter, cleared of indignation "I would rather face this place alone than have someone at my back I can't trust, are we good?" she offers her arm to Dawn-Fang.

[miinstrel]

Darevod Transmuter, 8th Level It's only as the argument breaks out that Darevod realizes something's wrong. "One, two, three, four, five... oh dear," he counts sadly. Rubbing his brow furiously with the palm of one hand as though scratching an itch, he hops down the bridge toward Radek and inspects the sigils on the control pillar with the mystic. "Archive or Arcanarium if you please. Whichever you please. Both please me," he suggests, trying at all costs to avoid getting involved in Dawn-Fang and Liandra's commotion.

[Xiagu]

While Dawn-Fang listens, they feel over their left paw, the one they'd hurt shielding Juri from rocks. They squeeze it, and hiss as pain blossoms. "Fear of death didn't stop me," they say, with a fang-baring sneer.

And it wouldn't have stopped me here, they realize, as Liandra continues. For a moment, Dawn-Fang sees themself hurtling through the air, the golem's weight yanking them off the landing after Juri. Their anger collapses into shame.

The fox stares at the floor, and lets out a long sigh. Their ears flatten and lashing tails still. "I never doubted your allegiance," they say, looking up to meet Liandra's eyes. The fire behind their eyes is gone. "I was only... asking the impossible. I'm sorry. Were I in your place, I would have ended up down there with her."

Dawn-Fang takes Liandra's hand with their good paw. "We're still good."

[spinningdice]

Liandra nods as she grips Dawn-Fang's paw. "I'm no saint or angel, I have lost too many people under my command and have plenty of deaths on my conscious." she thought to the look in Juri's eyes as she watched her fall. "It doesn't get easier to lose someone though." she smiles ruefully, a grim expression with no joy or happiness in it. "Perhaps that at least proves I've not fallen so far. When it gets easy you're probably lost."

She steps back and straightens up, "Enough of this pity and philosophy, while the archives may give us some answers - we don't know how long we have before this place starts shaking itself apart again. The arcanum is more likely to have tools or means to escape. Lets try there first."

[Xiagu]

Dawn-Fang twitches their whiskers. "As a healer, believe me, I know," they say, briefly showing the weight of years. After a few moments of silence, their expression lifts, ears perking up. Like other fox-folk, Dawn-Fang couldn't stay dour for long. "If you're in danger of falling any further, I'll be there to catch you." They half-grin and squeeze Liandra's hand with their short stubby claws.

As Liandra returns to the others, Dawn-Fang lingers near the cliff and intones a short prayer for Juri. They sigh again, then turn and rejoin the others with a purposeful stride.

[Jangoose]

When all is said and done, a silence descends over the group. Each of you process your grief and worry in your own ways - with a prayer, with an eye to moving forward, or by burying yourself in the task at hand.

With deft fingers, Radek manipulates the rings, checking his notes as he does so, realigning the bridge with the Arcanarium on the far wall of the chasm.

------------------

On the far side, the bridge lets out onto a smooth stone landing, devoid of the ornamentation of the platform you left from. Thick grooves are cut in solid straight lines in the floor, leading back to a darkened entry way cut into the rock face. As you get closer, you can see a slow trickle of blood stains several of the grooves.

Beyond, in the shadow of the entryway, you can just make out the silhouette of a humanoid body collapsed against the wall.

[spinningdice]

Liandra moves to investigate the body, keeping one hand close to her blade.

[Jangoose]

As Liandra approaches, the body lets out a sputtering cough. Calling out in a raspy voice.

Is someain thaer? Git back ye bloody cultists, cannae ye see am dyin' awreddy. Don't need no halp frae th' likes a ye.

As the man manages to tilt his head up ever so slightly, those of you with eyes accustomed to the dark notice that the man is blind, his eyes poked out in a brutal bloody fashion.
At his waist, a bony trembling hand grips a dagger.

[spinningdice]

"Easy there sir, we're friends, not cultists. If you can put away that knife of yours we can tend to your wounds." Liandra's voice is calm and reassuring, though her eyes are darting around - expecting an ambush.

Perception - (1d20+2)[13]
Persuasion - (1d20+7)[16]

[Xiagu]

Dawn-Fang rushes to inspect the body, but skids to a stop as the man brandishes a dagger. They glance at Liandra, then raise a paw. Maybe this will help ease his fears, they think, and speak a magically charged word of healing.

Spoiler: OOC

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Cast Healing Word on him. Whoops, there go all my 1st level spell slots!
Healing - (1d4+5)[8]

[Jangoose]

Wary of a potential ambush, Liandra eyes the surroundings as she speaks to the wounded man, but she sees nothing out of the ordinary.

Och aye, that's whit they said innit. Friends, they said, fellow researchers, curious travelers.

He seems to pause as if anticipating your attack, then sighs and lets go of the knife. Whether convinced of your good intentions or his own death is unclear. Dawn-fang uses the opportunity to whisper a quick prayer, and the man shudders as the magic washes over him.

Ah tauld Markham. Ah didne loich th' look a them. They waur too organized, too intent oan somethin'.

Plottin' blasted cultists! They brooght only death an' destruction. Mah friends, mah colleagues, mah life's work. Awl gone in a mess a blood an' darkness.

If'n ye arenae cultists, 'en who ar ye? When they turned oan us, one a their magi destroyed th' keystone an' sealed th' mines. Ye cannae be from the surface.

[Majin]

Radek Radek's Powers HP: 59/59 AC: 17, Save DC: 16, Psi Points: 29/44, Psychic Focus: - Radek quickly takes the rambling man's knife away after he drops it. Better not to have anyone waving a knife around, especially if that one is blind and somewhat incoherent. Radek wasn't sure if the man had hit his head really hard, or just had the thickest accent he'd ever heard. "What do you mean? Of course we're from the surface. And I think we all are victims of these cultists here as well." "Now you did mention your 'work'. What might that have entailed? Because if it involved kidnapping people and performing creepy experiments, I might get a bit cross here."

[Jangoose]

Ye don understand lad. These are Onnake ruins. Nae yer ordinary ogres. Thas why we were here, ma colleagues an I. Tae study their art, their culture, their artifice. Its their bloody magic whats worked intae th' very stones. An wi' th' keystone gone, nobody could possibly enter... or leave.

Ye cannae come frae th' surface, but mayhap you're from somewhere else. Somewhere beyond this world, beyond Shandalar.


He pauses to take in a raggedy breath.

As fer th' cultists? They claimed they were pilgrims. Followin' th' leylines tae places a "spiritual convergence." A load a jobby if ye ask me. I'd a told em so myself, but one look frae their leader and Markham would hae given them anythin' they asked for. A telepath in their midst, aam sure a it.

[Xiagu]

Dawn-Fang nods. "The ogres where I'm from lived in mountain keeps, but could never have built anything so... orderly."

"All the cultists we've seen were dead. Whatever they were trying to do, I don't think it worked how they hoped."

They spend a moment looking down at the injured man and a thought occurs to them. "Are there any other survivors? I'm a healer."

[miinstrel]

Darevod Transmuter, 8th Level Darevod chimes in, "Magic in the stones... sounds like aether to me. Concentrated along the leylines means more spectacular results. We must be on a nexus or something here. Maybe too much energy? They tried to tap in and it blew away their brains. Serves them right for snatching us up," he says with a huff. "We found a map that shows different worlds too. Strange, strange, strange to us... but you seem to know. How do you travel between these worlds?"

[Jangoose]

@Dawn-fang: Good. That'd be a blessin'. Ah managed tae escape, but frae whit I saw, their plans were th' darkest kinds. Ifn they met thaer end, the world would be tha better for it, though I'm nawt sure I believe et. Somethin' abit their leader felt different. Th' kind a confidence what defies th' fates. A destiny.

As fur survivors, ah dunnae know. Ah member a light an' a flash a blades when they turned oan us. In mah yoonger days I was a champion oan th' duelin' circuit, but e'en at mah peak I doubt I coods hae escaped unscathed. Thaur waur too many. As it was. Well. Ah suspect they woods hae come after me if they expected me tae survive mah wounds.

@Darevod: True 'nuff, 'cept th' nearest leylines lie several miles tae th' north. Whatever th' bastards waur up tae it pulls from beyond these lands.

Some texts tell ay mages who could travel tae other worlds. Planeswalkers they call em. Th' theory goes that th' walls atween worlds ar less like walls an' more an infinite void. Cold. an' Hungry'. An' only these magi - these Planeswalkers - could survive crossin' th' blind eternities unscathed. If ye lot ar frae worlds beyond then ye must count yourselves among them, whether ye know it yet or nae.