Sapphire:Sessions:20140510
Chalker writes in his journal: Aliana, I hope you're well. We are now exploring the gate. There is a wizard hunting us on a gryphon. He could be hunting you, too. Be safe. Let us know where you are so we can find a gate to you. - Chalker
Rory activates a gate and he and Chalker step through. His sense of direction indicates that he is somewhere in the plains between the Coastal Kingdoms and the Troubled Lands, east of the mountains. This is an office, possibly used by the supply master of a castle. Papers are scattered everywhere, chair cushions slashed, light spheres pried from the ceiling, and there are even some dried bloodstains here and there. The other exit from the room is a smaller gate with a single crystal slot. Chalker finds that the papers are written in Venettian and are dated between 1430 and 1560 AF. Noticing that the desk has two crystal slots in it, he uses his penetrating vision and finds a secret drawer; opening this, he finds it lined with dark blue silk that retains the imprint of a small box.
Around noon, the guardian stops twitching; its eyes open, scanning the room. Trace, who had placed himself within its peripheral vision, rises and speaks loudly, "Ah, Malcolm, you're awake!" The construct sits up and asks, "Who are you?" "You *are* Malcolm, are you not? You are the guardian? What is the password that Danilon gave you? ... You were in the astral plane... I have been trying to bring Danilon back; he's been gone a thousand years." The construct mutters, "There was a major threat. I am... third." The guardian repeatedly asks for "the artifact," which Trace determines is the strange wooden mask found attached to the construct's face after the battle with the orcs. "The mask has been sent to the gods," Trace explains. The guardian resists Trace's reprogramming, but accepts that Trace is an ally for the time being.
Chalker tries a new pattern of crystals and steps into a room carved from rock. Dried blood is splashed about. A steel-banded oaken door stands in the wall opposite. He asks Rory to step in; the latter immediately determines that this room is located in the northernmost part of the Verde Mountains, about 250 miles from Sapphire. The room and the hallway beyond the door appear to be dwarven work. They have ventured some 250 yards down the corridor when Chalker hears movement behind a closed door. Chalker: "Normally I would leave well enough alone..." Rory: "...but then it would be behind us." Chalker leaps into the room. Bones lie scattered over the floor. In the back of the room an armored humanoid construct paces back and forth. It immediately pulls out a sword and knife. Chalker calls out, "Hold, warrior." Warrior: "This is under my protection. Leave." It responds tersely to Chalker's questions; it is here protecting its maker's treasure; it has been there "moments, for one who lives forever." The construct steps menacingly forward, its weapons glowing; Chalker asks Rory, "You got any ideas?" Rory: "I'm leaving!" The construct halts as soon as Chalker steps back out into the corridor. Rory: "We're trying to leave. Which way is out?" The construct points in the direction they had been going, then the door slams shut.
Trace follows the guardian as it roams through the manor. It examines the repairs Trace had made in the room with the spinning gear and pronounces them acceptable. It proceeds to inspect every room in the manor, including two secret rooms, seeming more accepting of Trace as it goes.
About a mile of tunnels later, Rory and Chalker reach an exit leading outdoors into an overgrown box canyon. They conclude that the complex had been created and inhabited by dwarves, then abandoned; later, humans occupied a small section, but moved out some time ago. Chalker: "At least we know we can get to the surface now."
On their way back, Rory picks up a sturdy chair and carries it into the warrior construct's room. Setting the chair down, he addresses the construct. "You're drawing attention to yourself, pacing like that." Chalker tries his power on the construct's weapons, but his 'grasp' slides right off. After the door slams behind them, they can hear the chair being dragged to the back of the room.
The guardian of the manor knows instantly when Rory and Chalker return, and announces this to Trace. "Any that chase you into the manor, I will help in killing." Chalker locates Trace. Guardian: "What is your designation?" "Chalker. What is your designation?" "Malcolm the guardian." Again Malcolm asks for the mask; Chalker says that a 'Second Chosen' has it. Chalker: "I met another guardian." Malcolm: "That is of no interest to me." Malcolm cannot go through a gate because it would cut him off from his power source in the manor.
Rory spreads out his maps and studies them. About 5:00 Malcolm completes his inspection and goes to stand near the front door of the manor. Around 6:30 Chalker gets Trace to come to a particular room he has found. It is empty but 'feels funny'. Its bare walls are painted with pleasant pastel colors; there are ventilation grilles near the ceiling. The room itself is not magic but it has a slightly (+1) elevated mana level with an unknown aspect. The room feels 'sanctified, but spooky.' There is a gate with twelve crystal slots. As they are examining the room, Trace realizes that an 'ancient, powerful, very old' archmage attempts to cast a Location spell on them, but is warded by the room itself. It's as though one of the First Chosen had created a Do Not Disturb room. Trace checks with Malcolm; he had known when they went through the gate, but he wasn't the one who cast the Location spell. Trace guesses that it must be the mage that knows they've been using the gates.
Rory passes the evening matching the coordinates on some papers he had found to the known locations of gates. Trace attempts to divine the activation word for the magic knife. Chalker tries several more gate combinations.
Trace is unable to sleep that night. Several times he senses that Cor is "around." Rory also feels Cor "hanging around." Chalker becomes aware that Mensep, Roo, and Jax are in the room, watching him. He asks Roo, "Who are you protecting me from?" Roo seats herself on the edge of his bed. "There are so many to choose from." "Lay down by me and tell me." Roo does so, propping herself on one elbow. "Envy is allied with Asseraah. Maybe you're learning wisdom, or maybe you're just tired. Don't forget to give your observances; it's a holy day."
In the morning, Chalker asks Malcolm why he let "those three" in; Malcolm insists that he sensed no one except Chalker, Rory, and Trace. Chalker tells Rory, "I talked to Roo. She is gorgeous and scary."
Trace checks on the animals. Nancy's leg is completely healed. He fetches in some firewood.
Chalker takes Rory to the sanctified room, but Rory's direction sense isn't able to determine its physical location (which seems to be fluid).
Chalker and Rory return to the dwarven complex and go the opposite way. They find an entire dwarven city built around an underground stream. Eventually they find another exit to the outside, hidden in the side of a valley. This was the "looters' highway." Deadfalls and traps are still scattered about, and not a few skeletons. There are signs of deserted settlements in the valley, which opens out onto farmlands.
On their way back to the manor, Chalker mutters his observances to the First Chosen.
Rory brings Malcolm (who is still standing by the front door) a chair. "The thought is appreciated."
After lunch, the gate investigations continue. One combination leads to a particularly interesting room, artificially illuminated with bright sunlight, with gates on all four walls, each with six crystal slots. In the middle of the tiled floor is embedded a powerstone over a foot in diameter. When Chalker looks into the powerstone, he hears the ocean's waves lapping on a sandy shore; he sees sand beneath his feet and a forest rising beyond the beach. He recognizes this place as a pleasant memory from his childhood. Rory can see it, too. Chalker breaks the connection easily, and the illusion disappears. Rory touches the stone and thinks of Aliana; he gets a memory of her from the past.
That night, all three men feel strongly that they are being watched. Chalker asks Jax, "Are you guarding me from your father?" Jax: "Father's not mad at all." Jax replies "Interesting" when Chalker tells him they're being tracked. "Things are getting complicated for me..." Jax seems on the verge of telling Chalker something, but from the shadows Mensep shakes his head. "I walk a very fine line... There is a concern, and I would take action if I weren't being watched. You carry two messages, so I have to be careful about how I interact with you. You are doing things --" Mensep: "Okay, Jax, I'll let you get away with that one."
Malcolm walks in on the three at breakfast and asks how much longer they will stay. Trace asks if there are books or documents to help understand the magic in the manor. Malcolm responds that the master took most of that, muttering that he would need it to survive the next days and cursing some mage guild. Trace: "I'm trying to figure out how to bring him back." Malcolm: "You are declared an ally and will be allowed to stay." Malcolm again asks for the return of the mask so that Trace can bring back the master. At Trace's request, Malcolm draws a portrait of Danilon.
Malcolm: "You are no longer considered a threat, so this guardian will sync back into the ritual." A little later, when Trace opens one of the secret doors, the first guardian appears. "He did not tell us how to summon him." "Oh. Call my name, Malcolm."
While Trace helps Rory with his gate mapping, Chalker finds another 25 crystal combinations that lead to different rooms. He feels he's getting a good idea of the structure of the virtual castle. Three times he senses a spell trying to 'lock on' to him but failing. But then a spell succeeds in locking on, and fifteen minutes later Chalker hears a rumbling sound like earth shifting overhead. He watches through the ceiling as dirt is removed and then three robed mages descend. "We found it, Master Rinaldo." "Excellent. Is he still there?" "Yeah, I still have a lock on him." Chalker 'hooks' that mage's knife, pulls it out and stabs him, but barely gets through the robes. "He's a mage!" The three wizards levitate upward; Chalker stabs again and this time the mage screams in pain. Lightning and fire fall, shaking the room. Chalker stabs once more as he slips out the door and pulls the crystals. He makes a note, "This gate is not safe."
That evening, Chalker, Trace, and Rory step through the gate. A small Wizard Eye zips past them; Chalker strikes it with his sword and it pops. Rory determines that they are in the Troubled Lands on the coast of Wicera. Before they can retreat, Rory's feet are rooted to the floor, and Trace notices several small carvings with triggerable spells on them. Trace throws Acid Ball at the symbols around Rory's feet, grabs Rory and pulls him free. Rory steps back through the gate. A man wearing robes over leather armor teleports into the room. Lights beam down from overhead, and another man is descending into the room. Trace casts Teleport Other on the first mage, who blocks the spell. An older mage appears beside the gate and lays his hand on the frame. Trace shrugs off Sleep and Stun spells and retreats. Chalker dives back through the gate, and Rory pulls a crystal. Rory: "Well, I know where it is." Trace: "Maybe I'd better work on that dagger." Chalker tries another 45 crystal combinations before turning in for the night.
Chalker asks Roo, "Is it okay if I kill Rinaldo?" Roo: "He gives minimal observance." Mensep: "It is fine with me if you kill Rinaldo Canana and the Circle."
Chalker adds to his journal: Eating Chalker, Day 13. I have a correction. I said there was one wizard; there are four. I tried to kill one; he got away. Be safe.
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