(S06) The Planar Beacon

Realizing that Arya had not followed Effie and Siax returned to the main chamber without disturbing Thalivar's Journal in fear of it being trapped. Using the portal to return they found that their companion was not there either. However before they could start searching they were joined by Gallio Elibro who looked worse for wear, seemingly having been attacked by the Wretched creatures. His ritual completed he was now able to translate some of the writings in the tower, the marble chunk Siax had found and even the journal they found, assuming it was not written in code.

It was then Arya came from downstairs, walking with a strange gait. Everyone but the sleeping Idris and Gallio Elibro braced themselves, recognizing that something was wrong and indeed, Thalivar had possessed the Eladrin, wasting no time to attack them. Fire flared out from Arya coupled with powerful counter-spells that shut down attempts, the feral Idris waking up from the commotion and trying to grapple her in vain. Thankfully the party did not hesitate and she was knocked unconscious which made the spectral entity appear beside her and for once it seemed vulnerable to attack as seen by Arya burning it to cinders after she was healed by Effie.

Taking a moment to reconvene Arya told the party about the fourth floor, partially ruined but still containing numerous cages lined along the walls. She also saw a massive skeleton of a creature with a blade sticking out from it's head. In the creature's jaws lay a partially ruined humanoid skeleton, likely the wielder of that blade. While she was possessed she had flashes of insight about Thalivar who had great hate for all of them with a special focus on Siax who he seemed to think of as a traitor. However underneath that hate lay fear and confusion, as Thalivar did not know what had happened to his tower.

Effie went to retrieve Thalivar's Journal for Gallio Elibro to read but as she was handing it over Arya noticed that the ink that had written in the journal matched the stains on Gallio's robe and fingers. She informed the party and then told Gallio, the construct shocked that he had been used this way for several days. He did not think Thalivar had truly perished and warned the party to stay on guard while he read from the journal.

"This journal was written by the arch magus Thalivar. He conducted studies here, using the tower as a beacon to the Planes.  Apparently they were able to capture creatures trying to enter this plane, and instead of letting them enter they were drawn here, perhaps to one of the cages that you, Madam Arya, have seen. There was supposed to be a lowed ground level where the bigger creatures could be stored.  It's surprising that they summoned such a creature to the top.

"There's more here.  It says there was a great discovery on the body of a Fey creature actually.  A stone, capable of changing reality as the user deemed fit.  There are quite a few pages that go over and over studying the stone, until it was apparently taken away by… it's unclear.  It looks like Thalivar was very bitter about this.  The last older entries, it says that he was going to try and find another stone by doing the same thing, and that's the last of the old entries.

"The latest entries describes that explosion happened and since then that the tower is blurry and that Thalivar was confused and hurting.  It appears he took my body to the fourth floor to find something...but every time he attempted to get close to it he was pushed back by a feeling of dread.  He also writes here that he 'prays that these nightmares will end soon', so he could resume his studies.  And he speaks of a servant called Soapworth and wishes he was here. The last entries seem very frantic."

Arya inquired if he could find out more about the paralyzing spell outside and if the explosion caused it.

"It seems the paralyzing effect around the tower was meant to be for inside the cages and the places below the ground to paralyze the creatures captured.  I do not know why it is now outside the tower, but yes it seemed that there was an intentional function for this." Finally Gallio Elibro translated the marble chunk that Siax had found. It said:

"This is the shield…"
"That protects the…"

Armed with this information the party decided that they needed to get access to the fourth floor. Arya decided to go as she had been there before and with enchantments and blessings from the others was able to resist the overwhelming power of the shield that was keeping people out and walk up the stairs. Finding herself on the fourth floor again she noticed that the skeletal body had a few items looped around it, a massive belt with a inscribed face of a dwarf radiating runic magic and a wand that still had an aura of enchantment magic. The sword in the skull was alas, illusory, in a similar state that Thalivar. Leaving it all as it was, Arya brought her attention in the broken ring in the center of the room. 

This ring contained glowing rocks that were warm to the touch. As Arya had enchanted her eyes in order to be able to detect magic she saw that each emanated a different type of magic but notably a few types such as Necromancy and Conjuration were missing. The party decided to look in the debris and see if they could find some. 

However it was Idris who had joined in the digging when he saw everyone else doing it, who found another glowing rock, this time brown. He started playing with it until the rest of the party took it off his hands. This rock had Conjuration magic in it and was soon next to the others, held in place by Effie's magic.

With another stone present Arya is able to tap into the workings of the tower somewhat and realizes the whole thing is a gigantic magical item of sorts. Several more floors existed but were now gone due to whatever had befallen the tower. She decided to try and switch off the aura stopping people from entering, focusing her intent into the towers systems. The tower started trembling again, the stones flickering wildly as if connected badly. Something had gone wrong but Arya lacked the knowledge to say what. However when Siax attempted to go upstairs he found that she had managed to disable the shield that kept them from ascending. The fourth floor was unlocked. Soon the whole group made their way upstairs. While investigating the room Gallio Elibro informed them that he had found relevant entries in the journal that may explain what had happened to Idris.

"So I have a theory for what we could do to help your friend here.  There is mention of this thing called the Elucidator.  It is intended to take knowledge from here and from other Planes, and imbue it in a single individual instantly making them have the knowledge of countless libraries. From what I read here it seems that they tried several times, but all the subjects died.  The last relevant entry mentions that they were looking for tougher subjects, especially of the devil or demon type that could survive the process. 

It seems that what has happened to Idris is not that his mind is destroyed, but that there is too much in his mind, and he does not know what part of that is him.  I think we can use the tower to show him the way.  To show him what part of his mind is his own.  The only problem with that is that it would require us to activate the planar beacon.  Think of it as shining a light in a dark room.  We do not know what is in this room."

The party decided that it was worth a try but that they should rest first as they were in bad shape especially if they had to face any unknown horrors from beyond.

Meanwhile Siax investigated the room, kneeling before it and then attempting to touch the blade only to find it translucent. A Moonblade like the one he carried but longer and curved. Attempting to commune with his blade Siax was told that ""Our blade feels sorrow.  It grieves for this blade." by his bow. Seeing his efforts   Arya suggested that because the tower exists in multiple planes, maybe the sword had somehow gotten stuck between planes as well. Siax nodded but didn't seem to fully understand the concept.

Earlier, while he was aiding with the digging, Siax found a new stone chunk, similar to the one he had found. Gallio Elibro translated it and found it was the names of two of the elven Kingdoms:

• "The Arrows that Pierce"
• "The Guided Path"

Siax realized that these two, as well as The Blazing Sun and The Ravens of Shadow were all kingdoms that formed the Enclave Of The Evergreen, which seemed to have been behind the construction of not only this tower but also Icespire Hold. It seemed that they had truly sprawled all across the Sword Coast.

Armed with that knowledge he attempted to investigate the skeletal body, jerking his hand back as it suddenly animated and tried to bite him. It spoke in ancient elven at first, but then swapped to common albeit with a heavy accent.

"You speak my name, but you are not worthy of it.  Servant of the eternal foe.  Begone from this place or I shall slay you all. You come from other Planes. Seek to invade us, destroy us, and for what?  I shall not rest until you are all destroyed.  Until my last breath I shall fight you you damnable servants of the Fey."

When Siax told him that he was from this plane the specter was angered.
"Yes, I believe you.  But that makes it worse.  Traitor to your own kind.  Who are you a citizen of? Merdelain? And you betray it?  Where were you when Aeogwathren fell?  Did you lead them here? Traitor."

The party tried to convince him that he was mistaken and that his empire was long dead but the creature did not budge.
"That cannot be.  Something happened to the tower, but not lose that much time.  I'm just confused.  I need to rest.  Recover my strength, and then I shall free the tower. It is the year 91 of our glorious Empress not whatever nonsense you mention."

Arya had heard of the same title being used in legend. Back when the material realm and the Feywild were closer, there were elven kingdoms that existed in both. It was those elves that eventually became the Eladrin. Their ruler was called the Empress for a long time. The party debated trying to restore the fey remains they had found, apparently Thalivar's servant Soapworth but as the remains lacked a mouth Pine could not speak with it.

Siax kept trying to reason with the specter explaining that they were simply trying to turn off the paralyzing spell as it prevented proper settlement of Leilon. The specter confirmed that it had activated the paralyzation effect in order that none of the creatures in the tower could escape to savage the surrounding area but when Effie asked if he can turn it off, but the specter refused. "You shall not trick me into helping you." It seemed like they had reached an impasse.

Siax wondered out loud if the research that Zatharius had been conduction in Mount Hotenow was related seeing at the multiplanar nature of the Beacon here. With a flash of insight he thought ""What if there was another tower like this on the volcano?"

Stumped on how to proceed, Effie spoke out loud that she wanted to retrieve the spirit of the dead Soapworth. To her suprise a mischevious whisper sounded next to her ear telling her to wish for it. In a burst of curiosity she spoke "I really wish for the servant Soapworth, Thalivar's servant, to come back so he can prove that we are friendly and help deactivate the petrification so that the townsfolk can move back into the town and everybody lives happily ever after."

When she said the word 'wish' it echoed, and a small buzz came from her side from the ring she had taken for herself. A green glow appeared closeby, followed by a high pitched war cry "Attention!  Get into position!"  Several tiny humanoids but with exaggerated features stepped out of the flow, eight of them being Sprites dressed as guards and one of them a Pixie. One of the sprites spoke. "You are honored to be in the presence of princess Kalula, third of her name." Kalula spoke now, her voice akin to a tinkling of bells. "We are here to make your wish happen true, now that you have freed us.  Ah, everyone, please calm down.  So, you have summoned us here, and we will stay here until your wish is completed.  What was it again?  We've been stuck in that ring for far too long."

Eventually they disappeared, only to come back carrying the bones of the long dead Soapworth, using them to make a crude pantomime. Wincing at the ineffective approach that seemed to only confuse the already fading Thalivar,Effie asked them to instead find another one of the glowing rocks. And before long they produced a similar rock but instead of Necromantic energy it possessed energies found in the Feywild. Effie tried to trade her name for another one of the stones but after giving her nickname the Fey gave her a glamoured but otherwise normal rock, and vanished from this plane, their contract fulfilled. 

Pine uncharestically, let his attention wander, allowing Idris to climb down the scaffolding and vanish deeper into the lower floors. Arya went to bring him back but to her surprise she found him back to normal, his mind restored seemingly by itself. She swore she had heard a deep rumbling voice speaking to him before she found him though...or perhaps it was her imagination. Climbing up to join the others it was clear that the young man was changed. While his normal affable nature was still there he seemed to know things about...everything. A single look at the creature bones was enough for him to identify it as a Behir to an incredible, if unhelpful, degree of detail. Gallio Elibro was flabbergasted that Idris had been restored informing him that he is the first and only survivor of a machine that is basically thousands of years old.

With all that knowledge in his mind Idris attempted to reason with what he saw. He realized his knowledge was faulty, seemingly giving him two equally valid but completely contradictory answers on some subjects. For example, on the subjecto f the missing stone he knew that Necromancy was outlawed and thought of as a dark power, and anyone found using it was to be put to death but also that Necromancy was how things got done.  It was how the Empire it was so common that it wasn't even considered something special.  Every citizen could do some necromancy, with the older relatives, rather than being interred, being brought back to serve the family. One of those answers was not true. Or maybe both.

Still he decided that it was worth the risk and attempted to find out how they could shut down the tower, now that all eight stones had been gathered. Gallio Elibro was sent away, to rest safely away from Thalivar, while the party rested in the tower. Thalivar attempted to slay the party once again, possessing Siax. While he was able to knock the ranger unconscious the now restored Idris quickly destroyed his spectral form allowing them all to rest.

My dear readers, I hope I have held your attention for this long for as much as there was drama there was a lot of information packed in but a mere few hours. It seems that The Leilon...Some? have stumbled upon events and machinations far more complex than a lever with the "off" label that was hoped for. Can it be that the ruins of Leilon are more than meets the eye? And will the Sword Coast survive the next attempt at using this ancient tower? I, and my career, do hope so!

- Tarbin Tul