The State of Affairs: All
Two hours passed quickly after the crash of the Eludicate, following violence and near ruin of the Arcanosphere. In those following two hours the members of the expedition gathered themselves and took proper stock of their situation. The time passed quickly and it seemed only moments later that they were reassembling at the top of the Eludicate once more. Based on the grim expressions, it seemed no one had good news to share. There was a milling about of those assembled, an uneasy of uncertainty. Then someone pushed through the crowd.
"Ahem, well it seems my formal introduction is going to be different than I envisioned," began a man with a large curled mustache and robes of layered white and silver. "I am Eldreth of Rencor, I was appointed to lead this expedition by the Paramount of the Tower of Mages. Now, we were meant to join together upon our arrival and be formally introduced to one another. But it seems we no longer have the luxury of time. Our goals remain the same, we will tame this place for the glory of Aleteros, but it seems we will not have the luxuries we hoped for at the start. Magic here does not behave as it should, but it still functions. We still regain our footing. Now, have we taken account of our situation?"
"Eight people are dead," spoke up someone from the crowd.
Eldreth frowned beneath his well manicured mustache. "A tragedy. That leaves eighteen of us still alive."
"And two traitors," the voice did not speak loudly, but it carried nonetheless. All eyes turned towards the robed figure of the Head Navigator.
"You saw these acts of treason yourself?" Eldreth asked.
The cowl of the robe shook ever so slightly, "No, but I know the Elucidate, there were fail safes to prevent what has happened here. And my co-navigators were absent their posts once we landed-"
"Then for the time being we account them missing. When we find them we will revisit the matter," Eldreth cut off. "For now, there are more pressing issues. Such as our supplies," the expedition turned and look quizzically over the crowd and someone spoke up.
Someone spoke up, "The Conjuring Kitchen was destroyed in our landing. The tower isn't able to conjure food or water. We have three days of stock, mostly sweets and liquor intended as luxuries. We can manually conjure more, but it will be full time work and will only be enough to subsist on."
"There's also the Healing Quarters, they're disabled too. We can't heal our wounds till it's back up," added another.
"I can assist," rasped another voice. The crowd parted to allow a badly burned figure through. The woman who had so very nearly died hours ago. She was back on her feet, but she wore terrible scars from her encounter. "I was to operate the Healing Quarters. My abilities will be limited without proper resources and with how magic is working, but I can provide aide." Her voice struggled to raise over a rattling whisper. Eyes averted away from the disfigured healer, clearly everyone thinking how easily that could have been them.
"Very good, Taelyn," Eldreth acknowledged.
"The Arcanosphere will also destabilize again, the magic of this place is unruly. Right now it is keeping our own energies reliable within the tower, but we'll need to set up an arcane weave surrounding the tower to keep it stable," spoke up another mage. Eldreth nodded.
"There should not be surroundings for this tower. All of this is wrong," spoke up the Head Navigator again. Pushing her hood back roughly revealed her silver hair and white pupils. She waved a hand expansively towards horizon. "There is ground out there, and look, do you see that smoke on the horizon? Smoke! This is supposed to be an untouched plane for us to shape, but it does not even appear that we're the first to arrive! We must understand where we are before we have any hope of dealing with this situation."
That was a fair point as well. While the sky was a featureless gray, yet somehow it still illuminated, out surrounding the tower there was what looked like muddy fields. Further out yet was distinguishable terrain, what looked like rocky outcroppings which hid the source of what was indeed a dark plume of smoke rising up.
"Ahem, there's also the matter that the Elucidate seems to be continuing to fold space upon itself." Some spoke up, "It seems someone on the sixth floor set up rather expansive chambers, well within parameters mind you, but now in its current state the Elucidate seems to be still expanding those quarters. It's difficult to say just how far they got now. This is drawing a signficant amount of power and will compound as they get bigger."
Eldreth stroked his mustache and gave a thoughtful nod of his head. "Well it seems there is no shortage of tasks requiring our attention."
The Trials of the Elucidate
OOC: Below is a simplified list of the various things demanding attention. Some of these may be solved by engaging in a project, others may require an adventure. You may discuss amongst yourselves what you would like to prioritize.
Three Days of Food and Water
Healing Quarters are Disabled
Two Members of the Crew are Missing (Accused of being traitors)
Elucidate's Spatial Warping is running wild
The Arcanosphere remains in danger of destabilizing
There is smoke visible on the horizon.