"Damn! That hurt!"

Arzin had not gotten very far along on his exploratory trek down the corridor outside his chamber before the disembodied voice started talking about "Transdimensional Dislocation" . . . or "Dimensional Translocation" . . . something like that.

~Hope that the Bookworms have got this all under control,~ the ex-soldier thought to himself as he turned on his heel and returned to his room. He had never been Dimensionally-Whate'er before, but he had been tossed around on a troopship during a storm, and he reckoned that he had best be sitting down when whatever was going to happen . . . happened.

Dimensionally-Whatevering proved to be a lot rougher than Arzin expected. When the Tower ceased shaking he was curled up in a ball against one of the walls of his room, upside down -- his weight was resting on his shoulders, and his arse was up in the air. His bedroll and blanket were all jumbled up, perched on top of his butt.

"Damned Bookworms got it all wrong," he muttered under his breath. Then his head -- which was down on the floor, under his shoulders -- started to hurt . . . a lot . . . and he felt woozy.

Arzin might have passed out for a while . . . he wasn't certain. When he opened his eyes again, his head still hurt, but at least the room wasn't spinning. ~Good thing I was still wearing my breastplate. That could have been a lot worse. Too bad I had taken my helmet off, but whining about it won't help a bit.~

". . . emergency . . . first floor hall . . ."

The Voice was back again. It seemed to be fading in and out, and Arzin assumed that the blow to his head must have affected his hearing. But something related to the hard landing seemed to be going on . . . something that had the Bookworms in a tizzy.

~That Voice sounds . . . nice. I wonder if I can figure out who she is, and ask her out for some drinks? Assuming that this place has a bar . . . and that the casks and bottles didn't all get broken -- what a tragedy that would be!~

Slowly and carefully, Arzin unrolled from his cramped position up against the wall. After shaking his head his hearing seemed to have returned to normal, although his head still hurt . . . a lot.

He had taken off his greaves and bracers, but it took only a moment to push them into place and buckle their straps. His longsword and dagger were still in their scabbards, not having been dislodged during the landing. After picking up his shield and putting on his helmet, he was ready to go and see what this emergency was all about.

~Mayhap some of the Bookworms' feather beds were damaged . . . or their pillows.~

The outside corridor now had a slope to it, where there had been none before. Using the hand-rail that was placed on the wall to pull himself along, Arzin made his way to the room that (miraculously) moved between the different floors of the Tower -- it had a special name, but for the life of him he could not recall what it was.

He had no idea where this hall that supposedly had the emergency was located, but when the doors to the moving room opened on the ground floor, Arzin followed along behind someone who was moving in a hurry and who seemed to know where they were headed.

His eyes widened when he saw what was going on inside the hall. It took only an instant to take in the scene, and decide what needed to be done.

Drawing his sword as he moved towards the fray, he yelled "Book . . . Mages! If you can't fight, stay out of my way!"

---

OOC: 13:26, Today: Arzin rolled 3 using 1d6.  Crash Landing!

Result: Deadly Damage. Arzin is now at 5 of 10 Hit Points.
This message was last edited by the player at 18:33, Wed 31 Jan.

The transition happened and there was nothing for a moment. Aurland was once again impressed by the sophistication of the Elucidate. Then things went terribly wrong. The room was pitched to the side violently. All of his belongings flew from their places and smashing into what was once a wall, now the floor. He too went flying but as if by an act of divine favor he was able to push off the tumbling form of Saint Florin at the last moment to land in the comparatively safe heap of his bed's mattress. That was when he felt the metaphysical fabric of the world stretch around him, tearing. He knew that he would tear along side if he did nothing. So he focused on his power and he made hard choices, excising fragments of the pattern that made him a mage and allowing them to be cannibalized. A price paid but a steep one.

When the forces of the world reasserted themselves he was surrounded by his steadily dissolving room, his notes a flame from errant magics released by failing enchantments. He'd mourn for them but the stalwart expression of Saint Florin, the last intact remnant of the stone statue, spoke to him of his real purpose. Hail of body he moved out of his room with alacrity, moving into the translocator that had thankfully survived the transition; somewhat.

Emerging into the main chamber he saw that the flying blobs were attacking people, leaving burning welts on their bodies. One of the soldiers called for the mages to clear way and he took that as a good opportunity to play his role.

"I'll cover you with defensive spells!"

He was a defensive specialist and even diminished he could conjure shot-lived planes of force to intercede in an attack.

OOC: Going to use defensive generic spells to cover Arzin's push against the Flying Oozes
This message was last edited by the player at 21:27, Wed 31 Jan.

Steorra gritted his teeth as the dimensional transfer took place. He could already feel that something was off, but he couldn't put his finger on it. He just had no experience that could ever help guide him at a time like this. What was happening was a historical event not only for humanity, but for Steorra himself.

At first, the Grey outer light that suddenly had other aspects, like a horizon? - were clues that things had already begun to deviate from their calculations. And then the whole tower itself suddenly began to shake, like someone had picked up a rattle and waved it around a few times before setting it back down onto the ground, now bored. He was flung all over the place, but he quickly used wide-area time magic to create a field of slowed time, while he himself was hasted. This allowed him to avoid most of the hailstorm of furniture, decorations, and so on that were suddenly flying around after the tower-quake.

And then...then, as he sped toward the exit of his chambers, he suddenly feel to his knees as his time-warping magic was forcibly dispelled! No, not dispelled, but...shredded! There was some sort of dimensional wave or force that suddenly rippled throughout the tower - including through Steorra himself! And it shredded all his his active magic, while beginning to tear, warp, and stretch him from the inside-out on a metaphysical level! He felt it physically too, and thought for a moment his insides were going to rupture and that he would start to bleed in a mass of gore. But he would not have that! Not after having some so far, successfully, to a new reality. And so he fought back against the force.

However, pure dimensional energy was not something even he was acquainted with. It was something way theoretical, even for a mage like him whose powers were already pushing the bounds of arcane theory. This was way beyond that! So instead, he gathered all of his mystical power inward and used it to reinforce his physical and spiritual center, before wordlessly willing it to push back against the dimensional wave and instead try and take control of it, so that he could then make it stop.

And...that's where things really began to go wrong.

He fell to his knees, winded and gasping for air. He was able to repel the dimensional wave from himself and remain physically unharmed, but since he didn't understand what he was working with but merely threw all his power up like a coat or a buffer, the wave shregged and rended that instead!  He cried out inn surprise as his power left him! and the exertion of it all caused a feedback surge to course through his body, which weakened him severely! And in the end, as he wobbled and shakily scrambled to his feet, he could feel that the vast majority of his innate magical foundation was simply gone. Not expended, but shredded and gone! And his physical body had grown enfeebled as well, as the effort of expending his inner magical core of power to save his life burnt him out.

And so he was alive and physically undamaged, but he was far from unharmed. But thankfully, he could feel the embers of his inner magic had survived. But he was now a shadow of his former self. A magister in name only.

". . . emergency . . . first floor hall . . ." he heard suddenly. And he knew he had to react. To do something. He had to reconvene with his magely colleagues, and figure out if they were okay. And so he stumbled onto the teleporter plate, and translocated down to the first floor.

17:07, Today: Steorra Tellurian rolled 5 using 1d6.  Crisis Roll.

Result: No damage from crisis roll, but in some sort of precarious position soon.

"What on Earth..." he muttered as he saw the 4 prismatic slimes attacking the mages. He tried to cast a spell that would dislocate the slimes from time and shred them, but...nothing happened. His power really had diminished! At the very least, he called forth the power he had left and stoked the embers of his inner magical spark. The space around the slimes began to ripple slightly as he willed for them to become unnaturally slowed!

OOC: Utilizing generic defensive spells on this round, first to protect himself from any impending threats but if he was not in threat of immediate damage he would "defend other" on a different mage that was being targeted by the slimes, or Azrin otherwise.

The flashes from the translocators around the edges of the reception hall announced each new arrival to the fray. It was hard to say how many people were there in the chaos. Taking account of the towers crew would have to wait. Those aggressive morphic... things were more pressing. Other mages had the same idea and were raising their hands, some of them wands and... having limited effect. A few of them sent out sprays of ice or jagged splinters of offensive magic, but most simply got no reaction at all. There was disbelief written across many of their faces, others lets out anguished cries. The already tense atmosphere of the chamber took on an underlying note of hysteria.

Breaking into the fray was an unexpected figure. "Book . . . Mages! If you can't fight, stay out of my way!" called out a man wearing thick layers of metal and brandishing a sword? There had been talk that a soldier had been allowed on the expedition, but he had only arrived the day prior to departure and this was the first many were seeing of him. His head was bleeding from a wound hidden beneath his hair and the red had transformed his face into a grisly mask, but it did not stop him from leaping into action.

The soldier caught one of the blobs in the air with his blade. It cleaved neatly into two, the bisected halves tumbling two different directions and letting out a spray of... whatever substance made up these entities. Another of the blobs flew at his exposed back and nearly made contact, but at the last moment its corrosive body was deflected. The soldier caught a glimpse of translucent energy, like glass, and saw a mage nearby, looking far less battered than most, but a furrowed brow of concentration who was watching him.

There was another flash of a translocator and one mage has the unfortunate luck to emerge directly in front of the other two flying blobs of magic. Their misshapen wings fluttered and they immediately dove at the mage. He reacted quickly, raising his hands there were flickers of energy at his finger tips. One of the blobs wings seemed to slow while the other sped up and the creature flew itself into a circle, but the other still crashed squarely into the mans chest. There was a hiss of burning flesh at the impact. (-2 HP Steorra)

"Emergency, emergency. All members of the Elucidate please gather in the first floor receiving hall. Emergency, emergency. All members of the Elucidate please gather in the first floor hall." the voice continued to drone in the background.

Combat

Flying Ooze Thing - Dead
Flying Ooze Thing
Flying Ooze Thing
Flying Ooze Thing

Arzin felt a surge of relief when his sword killed one of the flying attackers, cleaving it neatly in twain. As he had advanced into the room, he had noted that, given the reaction of  many of the mages in the room, their magicks were not having the desired effect in fighting off the attacking jellyfish-looking creatures. As a result, he had been uncertain whether he would be able to harm their foes -- but apparently cold steel was just as effective against these things as it was against more common opponents.

As he looked around for his next foe, Arzin heard one of the mages call out that he would cover him with defensive magicks. The man was as good as his word, for the man-at-arms both felt and saw, out of the corner of his eye, a flash of magicks behind him -- apparently one of the creatures had gotten around on his blind side, and Arzin felt certain that he would been wounded if not for the mage's support.

Arzin momentarily raise his sword in salute to the mage who had aided him, then sprang forward to support a late-arriving mage who found himself hard-beset by two of the flying creatures.

~I wonder if my ally has more magicks to hand, and can continue to keep that thing from reaching me?~ he pondered.

Whether or not that was the case, the mage who was facing two of the creatures would be in trouble if they managed to co-ordinate their attacks against him, Arzin reasoned . . . he needed to act quickly in an effort to even the odds.

And so it was that the ex-soldier slashed at the creature that was moving slowly, reasoning that the mage should be able to dodge the one that was flying around in circles by anticipating its movement . . .

---

OOC: Arzin will attack the Ooze that Steorra's magicks have slowed.
This message was last edited by the player at 01:21, Wed 07 Feb.

Steorra stumbles back, grunting as the prismatic slime's touch burned him in the chest. He needed to try and boost his survivability for now, and since at least 1 slime was nearby he was still a likely target! But perhaps he could use that to his advantage, and act as a sort of distraction to give the others a chance to attack!

Yes, that was what he'd do. But his basic magic was far weaker than it used to be now, after his inner power got mangled by the dimensional warp wave. But he had a little magic left still, and it might just be enough to keep him out of harms way!

Steorra gathered his reservoir of power, and imbued himself with a boon that only a Time Mage could grant! It was also his most fundamental spell, but sometimes going back to the basics was best!

OOC: Steorra Casts the Haste spell on himself, boosting his speed!

Steorra then focused on pure defense for now, using his hasted movement to help keep away from the slimes, but if possible he tried to distract the one nearest him and kite it around. If he was able to still, he used Defensive General Magic to enhance this strategy by slowing down any slimes that got too close, while using his Hastes movement to remain out of their reach.

OOC: If he judged this to be a superior strategy that gave him the upper-hand on mobility, he will instead kite at least 1 slime around to try and "draw aggro" away from the others, but rely on Haste and his defense general magics to avoid being actually hit.

OOC: Posting to rebuild some momentum here!

The metal clad soldier strode over to where the newest mage arrival was fending off the two flying sludges. The mage raised a hand and made a motion and suddenly he was moving faster than before. At the same time, when his fingers sparked with magic the air shimmered and writhed, and then suddenly another one of the colorful blobs took shape! Steorra could feel that he hadn't lost control of the spell, this was not a side effect of magic, this was something different.


Reaching the mage, the soldier expertly caught another of the blobs in the air with his blade. As before it was easily dispatched. Newly sped up, the burnt mage now nimbly darted about the field and continued to harry the flying blobs and prevented them from doing any more harm for the moment. Further over a frosty lance of ice skewered another of the blobs. A mage with a clearly broken arm was holding up his other hand and looked grimly satisfied with the results of his spell.

Suddenly, someone else called out, "The Arcanosphere! The weave is unraveling in here, we must get to the arcanosphere, something is wrong!" The Arcanosphere, heart of the Elucidate, located at the top of the Spellspire. It was the beating heart of the magical marvel. Without it the tower would simply be a building of brick and mortar.

The revelation had sent several mages running to the translocators. "Somethings wrong, the locators won't go there," called a woman as she stood inside the inert alcove. She raised a hand and flicked her fingers and seemed to mouth a few words. Whatever spell she was casting, it seemed doubtful that it intended to call up a huge colorful slug, but that's exactly what happened. Another entity, similar to the blobs, but larger and without the wings, materialized on the ground in front of her, then lunged forward and subsumed her one surge of motion.

Things were going from bad to worse.

Somehow these monstrosities seemed to be multiplying, the Arcanosphere was reportedly failing, and the lifts to get there were currently inoperable.

Combat

Flying Ooze Thing - Dead
Flying Ooze Thing - Dead
Flying Ooze Thing - Dead
Flying Ooze Thing
Flying Ooze Thing
Great Ooze Slug

Utility Goal - Fix the Translocators

Arzin could hear some of the mages chirping about something in the background, but it all went into one ear and out the other, as the old saying went. The man-at-arms concentrated on what he felt that he could do something about -- the flying jellyfish-like creatures that were assaulting the mages.

Then, suddenly there was another jellyfish-creature in the room -- a much larger one . . . one that, as Arzin looked on, suddenly engulfed the female mage who was attempting to fight it.

~That thing looks like Trouble. I'd best try and cut the head off of the snake,~ he reasoned.

~Assuming that it doesn't gobble me up, first.~

With the thought of cutting the head off of the snake fixed in his mind, Arzin closed with the larger of the monstrosities, his shield positioned so as to attempt to block the creature from reaching him.

The thing did not appear to have a head, but Arzin spotted what might be internal organs of some kind. Aiming for that spot, he slashed with his blade . . .

---

OOC: Arzin will close to melee range with the Great Ooze Slug, and will employ his Starting Move ("Exploit the Weakness") in an effort to inflict a significant amount of Damage.
This message was last edited by the player at 20:41, Thu 08 Feb.

Aurland did his best to cover the swordsman as he seemed the most experienced combatant on the battlefield. Even as the situation evolved from bad to worse he maintained his focus. That was why he decided to cast a proper spell to cover his advance when he pushed forward towards the main beast.

"I'll cover your flank. Dodge to the right if you have to."

When the time seemed right Aurland called on his magic, passing arcane power through is Pattern, still raw from its earlier scouring.

"Wall!"

Aurland attempts to cast Wall to cover Arzin's flank as he advances towards the Great Ooze Slug
This message was last edited by the player at 17:12, Fri 09 Feb.

"It's the magic!" Steorra suddenly shouted to everyone in the area.

"The space is warping and twisting our magic. Solidifying it into these slimes. Not generic casting, but true spells seem to trigger it!" he shouted again as he sped away from the slimes.

They needed to figure out how to access the arcanosphere, except...the alcoves were in operational. Maybe killing the slimes would help restore the local flow of magic enough to re-activate it? Whatever the case was, Steorra knew they needed to kill them before they gobbled them all up!

In a blur of unnaturally fast motion, Steorra sped away from the slimes all together, before turning and causing the localized time near the nearest normal slimes to twist in an unpleasant manner, as the air shimmered for a moment like a mirage in a desert, before snapping back to normal!

OOC: Steorra is using Haste to keep his distance from enemies, and will use offensive general magic on one of the normal slimes to try and thin them out if possible so they cannot interfere with whatever Aurland and Azin is trying to do. Especially since the wall spell will probably create another slime. He doesn't want them to get swarmed.

OOC: A bonus post before I turn in for the night! We'll get things moving along!

Spotting the predicament of the mage, the lone warrior in the crowd charged through the fray and towards the newly formed slug. It had wholly consumed the mage, there wasn't even a bulge to hint that she had existed. Pausing a fraction of a second to assess the creature, the warrior brought his blade in a straight overhead sweep. It ran along the length of the creature and opened up a deep slash along its back. The flesh parted readily to the sharp blade and colorful ichor sprayed out, though the liquid dissolved nearly as quickly as it emerged. (-5 HP to Great Slug) The massive slug was still moving, but greatly wounded. Inside that new wound the swallowed up mage could be made out, still thrashing. The slug reared back and turned, swiping a thick tendril at the warrior. It caught him in the just, but his armor absorbed most of the impact. Only a few burning trickles of colorful slug seeped into the cracks. (-1 HP Arzin)

The flying oozes were darting about the air, some of them seeming to move towards the battle between the slug and the warrior. The mage who had defended the warrior did so again. At a flick of his wrist a wall appeared where none had been previously, ensuring that many fewer angles that were now vulnerable to attack. At the same  time, above the wall colors swirled then congealed and a new flying ooze joined the fray.


That new ooze had no sooner formed then it was split in two as magic for one half of it greatly sped up while it slowed down on its other half, the end result being the thing came apart as though it had been twisted sharply between two hands. It seemed like a good guess that the blur of a mage in the background was responsible. His quickened feet were doing a rapid shuffle to ensure that none of the oozes got close enough to add more burns to the first he'd received. He shouted something as he moved, "Thespaceiswarpingandtwistingourmagic.Solidifyingitintothese slimes.Notgenericcasting,buttruespellsseemtotriggerit!" The word poured out as rapidly as he moved.

Several other mages had now gathered around the translocator were seeming in deep discussion about how to solve the matter of the malfunctioning device. Their efforts were helped by the fact they were constantly craning their necks back to double check that they were still safe before returning to the work at hand.

Combat

Flying Ooze Thing - Dead
Flying Ooze Thing - Dead
Flying Ooze Thing - Dead
Flying Ooze Thing - Dead
Flying Ooze Thing
Flying Ooze Thing
Great Ooze Slug - HP 3/8

Utility Goal - Fix the Translocators

Irene knew well and good that during teleportation she would feel nothing. But that didn't stop the nerves. She'd whisk out her note book and quill, making a scratch mark next to 'nullify emotions'. She had once experimented with this spell idea when she was ripe and fresh faced at the university, and it ended terribly. She couldn't figure out how to only nullify emotions and not emotions plus morales. After some intensive research, she had discovered this was yet another 'evil overlord attempt' cause for not just necromancers but several different mages. In an attempt to detach themselves from the things getting in the way of their work, they detached themselves from... well everything. Thankfully Irene had been sloppy with the spellwork so one of the professor's was able to quickly undo it a recommend a few history books.

Her nerves were unsurprisingly unfounded. Soon they were in the blank plane-and the they weren't. Irene saw the horizon, the terrible, horrifying horizon as the building shook. Irene felt as if her insides were being shredded, she screamed as she was thrown into the arm chair and then back across the room. The chair shielded her from most of the impact but now Irene was stuck under a pile of splintered wood and fluff. As if that wasn't bad enough though, it felt like everything inside her was burning. Irene was gulping more air into her lungs then she had in awhile her heart was beating steadily. Had-Had her suppression spell worn off? Impossible.

"Emergency, emergency. All members of the Elucidate please gather in the first floor receiving hall. Emergency, emergency. All members of the Elucidate please gather in the first floor hall." Irene groaned, she could barely hear the words over the steady lub-dub of her heart. It was distractingly loud. However its bothersome noise gave her the encouragement she needed to get out of the rubble. Hopefully once I'm out I'll be hearing screams rather than this vomit inducing rhythm. Irene would think to herself as she finally made it out.

She'd head to the the Translocator to gather with the other mages but it wouldn't work. Irene would sigh and begin searching its rim for a panel or input of some sort. True, she had hardly any skill with rune magic. Thankfully though Irene had recently transformed her house into a large deathtrap so she'd had some recent practice with it. So she had confidence she could put some semblence of it back together; at least enough to get to the first floor.


Rolls:18:34, Today: Irene Fortuna rolled 5 using 1d6.  late to party.
OOC:Irene searches for a panel, input, or break in the runes she can use to fix the translocator. [sorry that took so long! I should be more active now]

"Help is on the way! We'll get you out!" Arzin shouted to the female mage whom he could see thrashing around inside the big Slug. He had been surprised to see movement inside the creature when his sword-stroke had cut it open right down the centerline of its back, and he hoped that the mage could hear him -- and that it would inspire her to keep struggling and fighting to stay alive.

A moment later the man-at-arms grunted -- more so in surprise than actual pain, as some of the ichor from the Slug found found its way through a joint in his armor and burned him -- but the pain was not nearly as bad as what he had experienced earlier during the Tower's rough landing.

Rather than get burned again, Arzin moved to his right, having heard the mage who had aided him before calling out that he would cover his right flank. ~Just like in a shield wall,~ the ex-soldier thought, remembering well how the man standing to his right in a line of battle would use their shield to help deflect weapon-strikes against him, just as he would use his own shield to help protect the man to his left.

~I need to find that mage after the battle and give him my thanks.~

Out of the corner of his eye Arzin glimpsed one of the flying jellyfish being wrenched asunder, as if two powerful invisible hands had grabbed it and twisted until it broke apart.

~Nicely done, whichever mage did that. That's one less to worry about.~

Arzin turned his attention to finishing off the big Slug -- and hopefully freeing the engulfed mage before she either died from suffocation or from the internal fluids of the creature, which burned upon touching raw skin.

Suddenly, a thought occurred to the man-at-arms. Without turning, he raised his voice and called back over his shoulder, "Mage! You who are aiding me . . . the swallowed-up mage still lives! Can you protect her?"

Arzin reasoned that if anyone could do it, his new mage ally could, since the man seemingly knew how to wield shielding magicks.

Then Arzin concentrated upon striking a killing blow to the Great Slug, being careful to aim his sword-stroke away from the mage who had been engulfed by their foe . . .

---

OOC: Arzin will employ a second "Exploit the Weakness" sword-strike against the Great Ooze in an effort to kill it (and hopefully free the female mage whom it had engulfed). This will zero-out his Reservoir capacity (until it is replenished).
This message was last edited by the player at 17:37, Fri 09 Feb.

Steorra has heard, through the Magister grapevine, that a skilled non-magical swordsman was joining the expedition. There was some initial debate over it, actually, in The Tower, and it ended up coming down to a vote in a Magister council. One side was against anyone without even an ounce of magic being on the trip, given that space was limited and it obviously requires mages and magic to get this tower operating.

The other side - which also was the faction Steorra was a part of by the way - thought that the mages going on the Elucidate were an elite group of patrons of the project, and that sometimes unforeseen things could happen where having elite bodyguards and helpers was not only beneficial, but necessary! Naturally, they should be selective but Steorra had voted for Azrin right away when he heard at the council that the man was some sort of experienced war hero or battle veteran or something who was also loyal to the kingdom and protective of mages.

Basically...like a dog, but wrapped elegantly in steel. But that wasn't a bad thing; Steorra was, after all, a dog person. And some of these individuals even knew special combat techniques that were beyond the ken of normal men. The Tower liked these individuals especially when considering them for the project.

And he was so glad that the Magisters decided to let them on, because Azrin was doing great and was doing a fabulous job showing these slimes that he had teeth.

"The mage is alive in there? Good job soldier! Work on cutting her out then! I will continue to try and thin out the other lesser slimes. The Rest of you mages! No more true-spells! Just use the basics! Now go, and let's keep those little slimes off their backs while they retrieve our comrade!" Steorra shouted as a command to the general area, as he spun around in place unnaturally in a blur and made a quick wordless mudra with his hands in the direction of another of the smaller slimes.

The air warped slightly as localized time-space began to rend and tear right on and around one of the little slimes, although with a final gesture the local  time-space snapped back into place. Steorra was not trying to cause any more dimensional instability for sure so made sure to clean up after himself, but even this quick of a warping would be like the slime being passed through a lawn mower...

OOC: Same as before, because it's working well, Steorra relies on his Haste to avoid being damaged by the enemy slimes while he uses Offensive general magic again a small slime.

Aurland's attention snaps to the trapped mage when the soldier calls out to him. Bending his magic to the purpose he attempts to shroud them in a protective bubble of defensive magic.

"Saint Florin strengthen me."

Aurland casts generic defensive magic to protect the engulfed mage.
This message was last edited by the player at 00:01, Sun 11 Feb.

OOC: Bonus post today since everyone has written up their responses!

A later arrival appeared through one of the translocators, an emaciated woman the pallor of death, she must have been gravely injured during the Spellspire's crash. Despite her wounds, she took in the situation and went to join the mages gathered at another translocator panel. She did not regard the panel with the familiarity of an expert, but she seemed to have an idea of where to start. Leaning towards the controls, she held out her skeletal fingers and made a few motions. Energy arced through the panel, the magical giving an temperamental flash at the tinkering. The backlash left burns up her arms, (-2 HP Irene) but the translocator hummed to life. The jerryrigging had done the job, though now that translocator would no longer function for any other floor and would only go from the ground level to the top floor and back.

Meanwhile the coordinated efforts to end the threat of the congealed magic blobs was well under way. Three of the crew coordinated together, now with a unified purpose to rescue the woman who had been swallowed up by the slug. A plan was throw together and the group went with it. A shimmering second skin appeared on the woman, it helped to mitigate some of the contact between her flesh and the caustic fluids of the slug. Not wasting any time, the warrior brought his blade down again and neatly cut the rest of the slug open allowing her to slide free. She was no longer writhing, her skin looked terribly burned, but she seemed to still be breathing. The crude surgery had extinguished whatever animated the great slug, it was rapidly losing cohesion and melting into a hissing puddle.

The number of arcane globules flying about the air further thinned as another was shredded, quite literally reduced to a prismatic spray.

"It's fixed, quickly, the arcanosphere!" One of the mages called out from the now functional translocator. There were several flashes to punctuate mages darting into the translocator, whisked off to the uppermost level of the tower.

Combat

Flying Ooze Thing - Dead
Flying Ooze Thing - Dead
Flying Ooze Thing - Dead
Flying Ooze Thing - Dead
Flying Ooze Thing - Dead
Flying Ooze Thing
Great Ooze Slug - Dead

Translocator Repaired

OOC: Moving the scene forward as otherwise everyone is just going to write "I enter the translocator,"

The translocator sent electric crackles across your skin as you step through. Yet another sign of the extensive damage that permeated the Spellspire. But it worked. On the far side one stepped out onto the top of the Elucidate.

The top of the Elucidate was an open air floor, it made the gray sky even more jarring than it had been when looking out the window. But there would be time to take in the scenery later. Everyone's attention now was focused on the spinning orb that rested in the center of the rooftop plaza. The crafted orb of brass and silver was spinning wildly in its berth and giving a dull roar. A robed figure was standing before it, their arms held out and open as they tried to weave spells upon the orb, but were clearly struggling with the erratic spinning of the orb.

"Where are the other navigators?" called out one of the other mages who had arrived first. Their voice difficult to make out over the spinning.

"Deserted." the robed figure replied with strain. "Sabotaged... the sphere." The sphere was picking up speed, wild arcs of energy were lancing off of it. There were only moments to spare before the heart of the Elucidate would  explode and the render the tower inert.

Stabilize the Sphere: The Sphere will require 10 points of HP to stabilize, you can determine how much you would like to contribute to the effort. You can mitigate part of the HP you contribute based on your Finesse stat (So if you donate 4 HP and have 3 Finesse, you only lose 1 HP)

Aurland was one of the last to file out to the translocator, seeing to the injured as best he could manage. When he did finally proceed through he was shocked to see the Sphere in such a state of disrepair. Then to hear of sabotage. It was too much. Yet he knew what he had to do.

"I see now why Mercy preserved me. Please everyone stand clear. I will stabilize the Sphere."

He then extended his hand to the apparatus passing the arcing flows of magic into himself and through his pattern. There was a balance of all forces. The arcane forces of the world demanded equilibrium. He used his life force to provide said equilibrium.

Aurland contributes 10 HP. With his Finesse of 1, he loses 9 HP; just narrowly still in there.

Arzin quickly reasoned that he would almost certainly be of little use in fixing the arcano-whatever. And it appeared that there was a great rush of mages who were dashing off to do just that.

And so it was that the man-at-arms remained behind in what he had heard described as "the first floor receiving hall" to (hopefully) finish off the last of the flying jellyfish creatures.

~If I can get this one, with any luck that'll be the last of the bastards,~ he thought to himself.

~Then, I'll do what I can to comfort that poor mage. Her burns must be very painful, and it would be very discouraging if everyone dashes away and leaves her alone in the room, stretched out on the cold, hard floor.~

---

OOC: Arzin will first try to kill the last (hopefully) flying Ooze, and then will keep the wounded mage company, rendering her whatever comfort he can (considering that he has no medical training, other than what would be common knowledge in our campaign setting.)

I changed the color of Arzin's unspoken thoughts to a lavender that is easier to see against the black background than the gray that I was previously using.

The plan worked! They were able to save the female mage who got engulfed! And now, also, somehow the translocator was working again. Well...kind of. working enough, anyway.

But he still did not want any of these slimes lurking in their tower. So turning to face the last slime, he saw that Arzin has the same idea in mind. So using his haste to keep himself safe, he decided to use his own magic to try and protect Arzin, while Arzin went after the remaining slime

He knew he couldn't full-cast lest they generate more slimes. That, and his reservoir was expended already! Rediculous, that a Magister of the tower was magically spent like this! Well, that was dimensional warping for you!

"Go get it, soldier! Quickly now! Let it taste your blade." Steorra called out as Arzin took hold of his blade and proceeded toward the remaining slime.

Suddenly, Arzin would notice that his body was suddenly moving extremely fast...just like Steorra's Haste! However, this was a "mini-Haste" though, and would wear off after a few moments as it wasn't a true Haste spell, but it would be enough to allow the soldier to enjoy Steorra's protection.

OOC: Steorra uses defensive general magic to boost Arzin, since Arzin is taking an offensive action against the remaining slime.

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

After they resolved the slime, Steorra flitted across the field in a hasted stride and entered the teleporter. He arrived at the Arcanosphere room atop the tower after Aurland and Irene, although was there to witness Aurland taking the brunt of the impact.

"Ugh you religious fool! You're no use to anyone, gods or men, if you martyr yourself to death! Now stand back before you're sucked dry and wind up a shriveled prune or something!" Steorra snapped as he sped over to the Sphere, grabbed Aurland, and pushed him (in a non-damaging way LOL) away from the sphere. He then placed his hand on it and winced, as he used a bit of his own vitality for the remaining charge the sphere needed.

OOC: Steorra will donate the last hit point. As I also have a base finesse of 1 so the first hit point is free lol so Steorra takes no damage lol.

EDIT: Steorra actually is at 8/10 hp not 7; I caught that fact after re-reading about the finesse thing lol.
This message was last edited by the player at 14:14, Mon 12 Feb.

Irene immediately pulled back, wincing at the pain but fighting to not make any noise. As she began to see mages rush in Irene rolled her eyes. Did none of those actually experienced mages seriously not think about that before I came along?! She would grump and gripe to herself for a momment. Her displeasure was not apparent on her face though, which seemed as neutral as ever. With that said in done she'd head into the transporter to see if there was anything she could do to help with the Arcanosphere.

"Rwrlgrx Krth!" Irene would cuss [not curse cause that's another matter entirely with mages about]. "How? did they sabotage then jump into the blank plane while we were sent flying?" Irene wouldn't ask this directly but she said it loud enough somebody could answer.

Irene would roll up the sleeves of her night gown and march into position near the Arcanosphere. Originally, she had been fine with letting the religious idiot dry up, he would likely make the sphere more manageable and they'd have one less fool on their hands. With him out of the way though Irene would hold out her hands and push magic into it, using it to try and clamp down on the sphere, but not too hard of course.

Action:Irene is donating 8 HP. With her Finesse of 2 shes hanging in better than Aurland.

OOC: As Aurland jumped to opening his veins first, his contribution will take priority. Everyone else can keep their HP where it was!

Atop the tower, several mages were examining the spinning sphere and deciding the best course of action when one of them strode forward decisively. Without hesitation he extended his hands and reached out with his energies. It was the equivalent of grabbing the thing with his bare hands. The energy thrummed through him. In his already weakened state from the crash the mage didn't have his normal acumen, the energies of the sphere were running wild through him. Blood began to seep from the corners of his eyes. The sleeves of his robes ignited into violet fire and burns radiated up his arms to form whirling and twisting patterns. But gradually the Arcanosphere slowed, its frenzied motion easing into a steady spinning. Then it was done and the mage collapsed into a heap.

Below it did not take much more work to see to the disposal of the last errant magic. The rescued mage remained unconscious, but alive. With the present danger passed, the survivors had the chance to take stock of the situation. It was already evident that things had gone very wrong. Thankfully, some things could be salvaged from this catastrophic start.

Magical Detritus

OOC: Sometimes the loot will be limited to first come first serve, sometimes not. On this occasion anyone can pick any loot. You may choose one reward from the selection below.

Scattered Pages: Arcane tomes were treasured relics, the carefully guarded prize of mages everywhere. This made it all the more heartbreaking to see pages scattered across the floor like common debris, their books the victim of the crash landing which had devastated so much of the Elucidate.
Additional Spell Slot: Gain 1 additional Spell slot to take more Spells (or Moves) with you on adventures.

Salvage: Waste not want not so they said. So many things had been reduced to their base components in the violence of the crash that there was no shortage on materials that could be put to use by an enterprising individual.
Loot: Gain 3 Materials that can be put towards a Project.

Live and Learn: The crash of the Elucidate has reduced you. There's no denying it. But through the harrowing experience you take a deep breath, compose yourself, and regain some of your lost composure.
Enhancement: Gain 1 Stat point to spend.

Wild Magic: Seeing first hand how the arcane weave distorted and brought forth those amalgamations of magic, you see how you could replicate the effect. Though precisely why you'd want to remains to be seen. Perhaps the spell could be augmented to be more useful in the future.
New Spell: Gain the spell "Wild Magic" this creates a magical amalgam that runs wild, good for creating chaos, but unable to be controlled in its present form.

Battered Relics: A few magical items have also survived the crash. Most are damaged in some way, their magical effects dulled or limited, but that didn't mean they were useless and right now every tool was valuable. There were several sets of black gloves in particular that looked to be in good shape. Mages were not known for their physical acumen, so these had been commisioned in case any climbing had been required.
Gain Enchantment: Gloves of Climbing - These allow you to scale a vertical surface without fail. (Note: Enchantments can only be used per adventure, you begin with one slot available for enchanted items.)

Aurland was fading in and out of consciousness after allowing the rampant energies to run through his body. He was still alive, having maintained enough control over himself that he'd escaped death. It wouldn't have done to commit suicide after all; there was still much to be done and much to live for. Still he felt something in his Pattern shift under the onslaught. Some portion of the errant power was stolen by his Pattern to restore itself, if only marginally.

Claiming Live and Learn

Steorra was near the fading Aurland, making sure he didn't touch the sphere again. Or hell, even trip and take a point of damage and die or some such! But as he was tending to the masochistic conjurer, he reflected on all that had happened. The magic of this dimension was...weird. Slippery, like an eel. He could grasp it, but with much more effort and focus than before lest it ran wild. But as crazy as this experience all was, it was a valuable learning opportunity! Because he got to test first-hand the flows of magic of this new place. And in doing so, he made a realization.

The Scattered Pages that he saw strewn about the place were a testament to the chaos and damage that the trip had wrought. But he was used to time magic, which itself was normally as slippery as an eel. He made do before, though, because he used to be a shark amongst those eels. But now he was closer to a Flounder or maybe - just maybe - a barracuda with really dull teeth. But he did notice the flow that the magic here had, and realized that if he went with the flow when possible rather than against it, that it would allow him to retain more of his magic at any given time. Sort of like a Flounder and swim real fast all of a sudden if it went with the ocean's tides rather than against it, resisting only strategically as needed.

He would bend and become more flexible, until once more he was a shark.

He then heard the mage discussing the various issues with the tower, and blushed slightly when they mentioned the out-of-control spatial warping caused by an elaborate set of chambers. He totally knew that was his fault. And he also totally knew he had to fix it since 1.) he wanted his freaking chambers back and 2.) the out-of-control spatial folding was drawing power away from the tower's other systems, and would slowly but surely continue to do so more and more. Theoretically, it could drain the arcanosphere faster than it could replenish itself, which would be a disaster for the tower overall and the expedition.

Claiming Scattered Pages.

Arzin sat cross-legged on the stone floor of the room where the fight had taken place. He had busied himself with cleaning his armor and sword, using a rag that he had pulled from a belt pouch.

~People soon lose interest in a one-trick pony~ he thought to himself.

~And, not to be dismissed lightly, there is the conclusion that this place -- wherever it happens to be -- looks to be dangerous.~

~Methinks that I ought to spend some time working on another maneuver, to add to the one that served me so well in the just-ended fight. It will take some time -- first, I must think on what I wish to achieve, then I must practice it relentlessly -- even fiercely -- so as to teach my body to be able to move just so, without the need for conscious thought . . . other than when I first make the decision to set my new maneuver in motion, I suppose.~

His decision made and his equipment cleaned up somewhat -- at least the worst of the blood and ichor had been wiped away -- Arzin rose to his feet. Now that the danger and concentration required in battle had been removed, he could feel the ache of his wounds -- those inflicted when the Tower crashed to the ground being much more noticeable than the relatively minor burn that he had suffered whilst fighting the Slugs.

The female mage whom he had thought to comfort after having cut her free from the innards of the Giant Slug had thanked him, then departed -- impressing the ex-soldier mightily with her ability to still function in spite of having suffered grievous burns as a result of her ordeal.

~No reason for me to remain here, I suppose~ the man-at-arms thought to himself, glancing around the now-deserted room.

~I guess that I should figure out where the Bookworms -- those who are still walking around, any way -- have hied themselves off to. I remember someone shouting about an Arcano-Something-Or-The-Other needing attention. I doubt that I can do much to remedy whatever has gone wrong with it -- whate'er "it" is -- but if more of those Slugs . . . or something else that lives hereabouts and might have a taste for mage-flesh . . . drops in amongst them, I should probably try and make myself useful.~

~If nothing else . . .~ Arzin thought to himself as he set his feet in motion, following the same path as the now-departed female mage . . . ~faugh -- bestir yourself, fool! Enough sitting around and indulging in dreamy wool-gathering. I should take care . . . by doing thusly -- but for my armor and blade, I suppose -- I might be mistaken for a Bookworm, myself.~

---

OOC: After some PM discussions with the GM, I have come to understand that in Arzin's case, Spell Slots can be used to learn a new martial Maneuver/Move. That being the case, I shall claim "Scattered Pages" on the erstwhile solder's behalf. :)

After all was said and done, Irene was thankful that she hadn't needed to contribute. In the end though, her arms still burned with the backlash of fixing the transporter. Immediately she'd look down for a distraction to busy herself with while still remaining within earshot of everybody. It seemed they were planning a meeting of some kind and Irene wasn't going to miss out. As much as she despised being around all these people at once, in close proximity, she understood the necessity.

Her search proved fruitful when she noticed scattered pages flying about. Who in the world had brought an ancient text up here and thought it was a good idea? Irene would tsk picking up the papers, hoping they belonged to one of the so could traitors since that would be better than them belonging to one of her fellow prestigious mages.

claiming scattered pages