Now on the preferred side of Spearpoint's Shadowfell portal, the party begin to Investigate its workings. Edward points out that the modifications to the arcane runes on its arch are also present here in the Material Plane. Within the debris strewn room are the plinths with their bowl shaped grooves, this raises the interest of Mornington as he moves to take a closer look. He soon pieces together that the fragments of shattered glass across the floor are from orbs that once sat on each plinth. Amarion gets Crom up on his shoulders, wielding a hammer and chisel Crom attempts to change the runic symbols on the portal, hoping to close the way to the Shadowfell behind them. To their shock Crom is thrown back from a wave of arcane force and hits the floor hard as he slides through the broken suits of armour littering the floor. It seems they are trying to dabble in arcane workings far outside their knowledge, and far outmatching simple craftsman's tools.
They push on and traverse the corridor ahead, the only exit. They approach the twisted doors, damaged beyond repair, clearly suffering from attacks both brutish and magical. As they move through the blasted threshold they are confronted with even more bodies beyond. More defeated Tarnished lie here, their bodies more intact than those found in the previous room. Hollow bodies are piled up all along a rising stone staircase, a carefully trodden path must be found to ascend. At the top of the stairs the corridor narrows, now only five feet across, and the stonework on the walls changes to an intricately chiselled pattern. Forced into single file, Amarion leads, followed by Mornington, Edward, and finally Crom. Unlike any conventional art or decoration the patterned walls seem confusing to the eyes hosting deeply carved crevasses that could be hiding something. This narrower corridor stretches beyond the light of Mornington's Lantern of Judgment, even with panels oriented to function as a bull's eye lantern. They walk over a hundred feet before they have any perception of its end, a dark barrier seems to cap the end of the corridor, though from a distance had only read as further darkness.
As they approach the end, Crom's hair stands up on the back of his neck. Suddenly, the whole corridor is bathed in a searing, blinding light. Mornington and Edward duck and cover their eyes as they suffer terrible burning to their skin. Amarion is blinded, and worse still stumbles forward before falling. His heavy armour clangs as he hits the floor, the radiant damage enough to down the already weakened paladin. Edward thinking fast on his feet rushes forward and through his eldritch prowess casts dimension door to get him and Amarion out of there, back out of the narrow corridor the way they had come. Crom was not blinded, his helmet perhaps aiding him in this moment, but his exposed skin is prickly with pain from the spell trap. He paces forward to get to the end, stepping past a crawling Mornington who feebly moves in the opposite direction. Crom reaches a full sprint and collides with the dark barrier at the end of the corridor. His shoulder barges the huge slab of obsidian that tips past its balancing point, it slams down into the next room, shaking the ground with a thud. This newly revealed room is like the first one that hosts the portal, octagonal in shape with plinths set into its walls, orbs placed on top, Mornington's hunch confirmed. The bard's access to an exit makes him quickly pick himself up and join Crom, ending his suffering under the searing radiance.
Back at the Tarnished littered stairwell, Edward casts spare the dying on Amarion, stabilising him and saving his life. The warlock exhales as the immediate stress subsides. Then, an inorganic voice rings from the pile of tarnished bodies, making Edward jump. The voice questions if someone is truly there, and then asks for help. Edward stands and begins shifting the corroded bodies of the Tarnished, a leg here, a torso there, attempting to get to the voice's owner.
The octagonal room is well lit by the ever present light that cleanses the corridor behind them. There are doors in each cardinal direction, and orbs sit on plinths between each. The door opposite them seems to have been smashed down. Like the other two members of their party, a disembodied voice addresses them, seemingly emitting from one of the orbs. Ghost-like mouths shimmer across its surface, ears shimmer on another, and eyes on the remaining two. The voice that addresses them is clearly human, male, and well educated. It starts with interrogating questions about who they are, what they are doing there. Mornington screams at them to turn the trap off and that they should bloody well know who they are, figuring the voice belongs to one of the wizard's in The Woven Pillars, a Servant of the Weave. It is explained to Mornington that they have suffered attacks through the shadow gate and are currently on high alert, the grand masters are being informed. They continue having a very broken conversation that feels like they are not being listened to. Crom in frustration starts knocking orbs off their plinths, his grumbling voice cursing all magi as he does. The orbs do not break, but make concerning noises as they collide with the floor. Unknown to them there are different wizards attuned to each orb, making quick, clear communication difficult, senses split between individuals. The voice stressfully demands that they do not interfere with the orbs. Crom stops, but not in response to the voice, he notices the room beyond the smashed door. It is twisted, distorted, objects stretched and manipulated by some horrific magic. The light of the spell trap stops, and sight of the room ceases with it.
Edward finally finds the source of the voice in the debris, a fallen Tarnished. It's limbs have been blasted from its body, just a torso with a head. However, the faltering glow within it's eye sockets shines a soft blue, not the red that the Tarnished usually have. Edward recognises that the influencing evil of Karna-Kar must have passed, and he tentatively asks the being a number of questions. He gives a name of Gantrovius and explains he remembers little of his time as a Tarnished, but remembers his life as a Dargean. He confirms he was part of the sect that broke from the greater order and destroyed the first element stone, clearly he could be a great resource of knowledge for the party. Edward asks if he can detach Gantrovius' head without killing him, he confirms that he can, meaning they will be able to take him with them. Edward wishes to conceal him within the bag of holding as he does not need to breath like other creatures. But, before Edward does so, he asks the Dargean if he has any healing abilities to help Amarion, just enough for him to regain consciousness.
Amarion steps into the octagonal observation room along with Edward, his body aches with the prickling sensation left from the trap. Mornington and Crom catch them up on the communications with the Servants of the Weave. They are all puzzled by the room ahead of them, it's warped geometry as if observing a room through a drinking glass. A voice speaks behind them "Quite the daring intrusion you've made!", not a voice from the orb, but clearly a voice in the room with them! They jump at the sudden presence revealed when they turn around. Stood behind them is a man with long, white braided hair, and a similarly braided beard. His robes of green are lined with gold and feature finely crafted linings of arcane symbology. His eyes have an intensity to their stare, stern and accusatory, and a tiny storm cloud orbits around him, the pulsating of shrouded lightning within. He clearly has teleported into the room as no door has been touched.
He introduces himself, Saan, Grand master Conjurer, and expresses that they were informed of the intrusion from the plane gate. He restates their recent attacks and informs others will be joining him, a safety measure in case they must fend off any more dark creatures from the Shadowfell. Two more individuals approach, this time on foot through the twisted room, unlike Saan's dramatic jump scare. The first is Oloka, Grand Master Evoker, he is barrel chested with short dark hair and beard, he wields a flaming orb in his hand, helping him light the way. He wears fiery red robes and has a similarly fiery voice and general disposition. The second figure is Ichris, Grand Master Diviner, a hunched wizard of great age wearing white robes, his matching white beard drags along the floor with his robes and he wields a staff tipped with a fine ruby. Oloka is very hot headed from the get go and easily ruffles the feathers of the party, Saan is stern but controlled, and Ichris is calm, slow, and almost sleepy. Ichris is the only one to forego accusations and speak with enough respect to garner productive conversation with the party.
They learn that a huge wave of Tarnished and other horrors marched through the portal to attack the Woven Pillars. Clearly they had hoped to breach an important location within Spearpoint but were unprepared for the resistance they found. Understandably this is why everyone is on edge and overly cautious, much to the annoyance of the party. The attacking force had made it all the way up to their current location, passed various traps and spells implemented by the wizard's, and it looked like they would have made it into the Pillar of Truth if Omanor had not interfered. When the severity of the attack reached the Arch Mage's ear he teleported down into the hidden depths of the tower and in one fell swoop erased the attacking force, vanished, but leaving this room warped and disfigured. He forbade anyone from coming down here until further notice, he then retreated to his quarters, understandably exhausted after committing to such a feat of magic.
The party, along with the three grand masters move through the warped room, pointed tendrils spike from the walls, objects have melded into one another like melted candles, and adjoining doors are completely unusable. At the end of the room a set of stairs leads to a room with a large stone dais, arcane runes can be seen carved into its surface. The room has no visible ceiling as a shaft ascends hundreds of feet above them, Saan mutters a few words and the runes on the dais glow. A platform forms under their feet glowing with satisfying geometry from the weave, the levitation lift begins to take them upwards. Once at its apex the lift opens into a study, the seven of them step out and the wall's large stones shift across to hide the lift behind a secret door. The initial hostility between the parties has mostly dissipated by now and as they enter the hallways of the Pillar of Truth, Oloka and Saan excuse themselves as this was clearly a false alarm and Ichris has everything covered. The Pillar of Truth is the central tower of the Woven Pillars, one that connects to all others, Ichris invites the adventurers to speak with him further in his study, a short walk away.
As they take one of the walkways between the towers they can see more of the buildings structure through its windows, and start to get a sense of the miraculous architecture that comprises these connected wizard towers. One large central tower and eight smaller towers encircling it, each with several walkways, bridges and staircases connecting them to the central tower and their neighbouring towers. They begin to see why the Woven Pillars is such a fitting name for any who were to seek it from afar. They arrive at Ichris' study, a room full of apparatus for studying astrological events or divining futures, they settle and begin talking of current troubles. The old wizard tells them of the absence of the Arch Mage in recent affairs, long before the threat of Karna-Kar was at their door, aloof and mysterious, he has barely seen anyone, barely led all those he has dominion over. Further more, one of the Masters of his order, Malsuvius, has been captured by Risga's Enchanters, likely being interrogated with mind manipulating magic. All the various orders are on edge, paranoid, and in some cases like this one, at each others throat. All this alarms the party and they find themselves dropped into the middle of the guilds politics. Ichris finishes on a good note, he tells them of other Servants of the Weave that they already know within the pillars, Iravius was present at the defence of the shadow gate and has been injured, he can be found in the infirmary. Eilen and Yourcil are also present in the their respective orders if they wish to seek them. He encourages that they should go roaming and find out more, and if they choose, help to mend the wedge that has been forced between the various orders.
The party set out from the Grand Master's study and decide to go see Iravius in the infirmary, despite his wounded condition he seems pleased to see the heroes upon their arrival. He tells them about the attack, how he and many others were on the front lines defending against any that made it through the walls of light. Cultists and Tarnished were present, just like they were in the city, the powerful Tarnished broke through and Iravius was thrown aside like a doll. It was Arch Mage Omanor that saved him from death at the hands of the armoured creatures. But how he was saved has disturbed him, the spell that sent the invaders away, it was unlike anything he'd ever seen before. While he might struggle to contemplate the full power of the Servants' leader, he explains that the spell had no tell tale signs of belonging to the known schools of magic. What it did to the room as well, strange shapes dragging their enemies to an unknown beyond, and to make so many vanish like that, it's unheard of. And the noise, gods the noise. He moves on and tells them a surprising bit of news, Peyton is in the city! After the party went missing following their descent into Dundel's defunct iron mine, Iravius made another visit to the Faunar Watchtower and further studied the Element Stone present there. Peyton followed Iravius back, begging him to help him join the Servants of the Weave, while the boy has made it to the capital city with him, Iravius still has a ways to go before he can get Peyton even the lowest of positions available in the Woven Pillars. He let's them know that the boy is currently staying at the Rat's Castle Inn in the north west area of Spearpoint. Amarion sees how much Iravius is struggling with his wounds, and proceeds to heal him with his divine powers. The wizards aren't as adept at healing as the those backed by their deities. Very grateful, Iravius feels well enough now to leave the infirmary. He wishes to depart to his room in the Pillar of Adjuration, but tells them where they would find Eilen and Yourcil, and encourages them not to be strangers.
They decide to find Eilen in the Pillar of Evocation. He is found practicing his casting of scorching ray, stone statues sit as targets at the end of a long room, several evokers stand present slinging arcane fire down its length. The apprentice wizard is pleased to see them and more than happy to help them get more information, a fondness clearly developed during their adventures together. He suggests he takes them to see Grand Master Oloka and gives them a warning and advice about his Grand Master. He may be callus and harsh on first impressions, but if you get past his initial bullying without much resistance he is a fierce ally to gain. Eilen leads the party up a set of spiralling stairs to Oloka's quarters, at the top of the Pillar of Evocation.
Eilen departs as they are seen through into Oloka's study, a roaring fire blazes in the corner, bathing all in a warm red light that feels more red than any normal flame should be. Oloka is still rather belligerent and states how they've come crawling back, clearly needing his help and cooperation. They manage to get passed his ego and eventually find common ground and mutual respect, especially once sharing their tale of Karna-Kar Undeath to Death. They get more dirt revealed to them on the feuding pillars and learn that Malsuvius, the captured Diviner, has been one individual more involved with Arch Mage Omanor lately, where others have not heard from their leader in weeks. Omanor, along with his personal quarters, has also locked down the observatory at the highest reaches of the Pillar of Truth, with no reason given. Mornington devises the plan to get all the Grand Masters together, to force communication with the Arch Mage after this period of quiet, and encourage him to show leadership when it is truly needed.
After a time a knock comes at the door, Oloka answers and has to end their meeting short, though he seems reluctant to do so. The reason becomes apparent as they leave the study to find a dozen wizards and a handful of city guard are there to escort the party. The majority of the wizards are Enchanters, denoted by their deep blue robes, they demand Crom and Edward go with them, while the town guard are to escort Mornington and Amarion to take audience with King Dras Gura.
The adventurers can't help but sigh, they so desperately would like to just rest, but I guess the day is yet done.
Next Session. 110
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