Zion: Light of the New Moon Part 2, Ch 1.4 Myrh
Zion - Light of the New Moon, Part 2 Chapter 1.4
Myrh Free Will
Sadly, only half of the group weighed in on the available options, which means there is a dramatic lack of viewpoints. Either way, it appears that the travelers from Myrh will be heading to the Wizard's Tower. Based on the choices thus far this chapter, the party's Event Arc modifiers are ++ Luck, +++ Delay, and + Danger, but this may still change. The Myrh group takes another big hit on Favor since two Contributing Readers failed to respond, losing another 2. Both Artemisia and Beo each lose 1 Willpower as their Contributing Readers did not provide input for the last post.
"SERIOUSLY?!?!" Beo demanded, standing at the front of the group gazing up at the enormous set of stone stairs leading from the ground to the floating tower's door, a good 30' above everyone's heads, "Why in the Eternal Flame would a wizard go to the trouble of having his tower LEVITATE only to give every mundane towns person the ability to visit by including stairs?"
"Maybe he's one of the more outgoing kinds of hermits." Ryan suggested, and began to ascend.
"That's just stupid." the black husky countered, passing Ryan on the stairs, jogging up to the first landing where the stairs stretched out across a small river separating the tower from the rest of town. Beo stopped to poke at one of a set of braziers placed on either side of the walkway, "Hmm... illusionary flame here too."
"We don't have time to play with illusions." Aretemisia noted flatly, passing by Beo as she continued up the steps without pause. The husky snorted, and turned to follow on at her heels. Jerard, still in his Moon Blessed form, loped up the stone stairs on all fours, catching quickly up to the black-furred magus.
"Beo." the albino werewolf noted, sliding into step with the eager husky.
"Hmm?" Beo inquired, continuing up the steps toward the large archway framing the grand entrance to the tower.
"From what I know of Valeraz, he doesn't tend to respond well to chaos, noise, or..." Jerard considered his next words before noting, "excessive enthusiasm."
"Relax," the husky waved the concern away, "I know how to behave around crotchety old--" his muzzle dropped open as they arrived at the top of the steps and gazed in through the open doorway, "--Great Goddess that's a LOT of books!"
The first level of the tower was one gigantic room, and that room was strikingly reminiscent of a library. The entire far wall as well as most of either side wall stood stocked to the ceiling with shelves, all full of tomes, librams, and books. Beo was inside a moment later, not just looking at everything, but sniffing around at the same time.
"Beo..." Artemisia called, stepping through the open front door, "There may be magical wards here... do not make us waste our prayers on reviving you after you blunder into one."
The blunt comment made the husky come to a halt. He shot her a dirty look, but complied, moving back to join everyone else as the rest of the group reached the top of the steps, "Jerard..." he spoke to the Moon Blessed white wolf, "We should see if he has any notes on rituals of imbuing."
"Well..." Thera noted, running a paw along the empty archway, "I can see the courtesy a host would extend to potential visitors by having a stairway available, but I certainly can't see any benefit to not having a door."
"Everyone stay close together." Brother Farstrider suggested, "There's no telling what we might find here."
"Like a magical rune of explosions..." Kell noted, sliding past everyone else, "Staying close together will allow it to blow all of us up... keen insight, Brother." and, with that, the leopard-wolf moved off to the side, starting up a small set of stairs leading to the next level.
"Spread out... but stay close together." the priest revised his earlier suggestion.
"Stay as a group and don't touch anything." Yearl noted.
"That works too." Ryan acknowledged, and started up the stairs after Kell.
Yearl held a paw out to Thera, who accepted it, and the two followed up after Ryan. Without a word, Artemisia followed the two of them, tailed by Anya, leaving the two magi alone at the bottom level having some discussion over the finer points of imbuing items with magical energy.
"You're troubled." Priestess Fanewatcher spoke quietly to Artemisia as she followed her up the stairs.
"You aren't?" the dragoness countered, then added up with a huff, "No... of course you aren't... nothing shakes Anya Fanewtcher." she stated flatly.
"I'm not referring to the tower... you've been troubled for quite some time now." the jackal offered, slowly turning as the staircase doubled back on itself, spiraling upward.
"Three Demons of Ashlai..." Artemisia growled.
"You are entirely unique... just like everyone else." Anya noted flatly.
The dragoness stopped and looked over her shoulder, "Was that a joke?"
"I wouldn't know." Anya replied, "I have no sense of humor."
Kell led the group up the stairs to the second level, hardly pausing at the endless rows of desks, scroll cases, and floating candles. Without comment, everyone else followed him up the next set of stairs. He passed the third level, and continued onward to the fourth.
"Yearl..." Thera spoke, stopping at the landing to the fourth floor. She motioned to the four torches positioned on the wall two by two, "Did you notice the lights?"
The lion rested a paw on her shoulder, "The first floor had one... the second two... three to the third..."
"But did you notice how they're arranged?" she motioned to the four in front of her.
"Like marks on dice." Kell spoke from the stairs, continuing up to the fifth level.
"There's more than six floors." Thera noted, then turned back to the stairs, "I wonder what happens after six."
"I suppose we'll find out." Yearl responded, stepping back into line with her behind Artemisia and Priestess Fanewatcher.
Although Kell continued ascending the stairs immediately after reaching the fifth floor, everyone else came to a stop once they noticed a distinct difference. "Is that moonlight?" Ryan inquired, stepping out of the stairwell and into the wide open space beyond. One by one the rest of the party emerged behind him, the scent of vegetation and stagnant water hitting everyone astutely; half-way across the enormous room things were dramatically different.
The tower seemed to end scarcely twenty feet from the party, a strange field of energy separating them from what appeared to be an ancient, overgrown building situated in the middle of a swampy jungle. The scene was somehow contained within the tower's fifth floor and, although it looked as though anyone could have reached out and grabbed something from the scene, a strange, ephemeral boundary wavered every few seconds, suggesting that such a feat was not possible-- apparently the magical effect creating the juxtaposition was merely for observation.
"It looks like an ancient Wayside." Anya commented, rubbing the end of her muzzle, "In the south lands..."
"It smells like we're there." Thera murmured, brushing her paw across the field. It glimmered slightly at her touch, but did not yield in the least, "It feels like glass." she added.
"Let's not mess with the magical fields of energy." suggested Jerard, poking his head out of the stairwell as he and Beo arrived on the same floor, "Come on... Kell's already far ahead."
Artemisia simply snorted and about-faced, heading after Jerard and Beo. Yearl led everyone else back to the stairs and the party climbed to the next level which, as expected, had six torches on the wall: two columns of three rows. "I think you're about to have your question about the torches answered, my dear." the lion noted, continuing up the stairs with the mouse in tow.
Once they reached the seventh floor,Thera stopped, gazing at the wall which held six torches arranged the same as on the floor below, plus a singular torch beside it, "Six and one." she noted, motioning to the torches arranged the same as they would be on their respective dice sides, "Hmm." she chuckled, "I guess that makes sense."
"Woah." Beo called from beyond the stairwell. The group stepped through the doorway and spread out around him, gazing out at another level of the tower separated by powerful magics, allowing everyone to peer out across a peaceful field of grass separated by a river. The stream appeared to fuse with the barrier separating the room from the scene allowing everyone to get an underwater view-- the water looked as though it came come from nowhere, flowing away from the room out of the barrier. A single tree was situated beside the river.
"Peaceful." Artemisia stated flatly, and turned around, heading right back to the stairs.
The group passed by the seventh and eighth levels, though some group members did bother to peek: the rooms were split with scenes from an underground mine and desert ruins respectively. As everyone ascended to the ninth floor Beo was just about to peek out of the stairwell but, all of a sudden, a curious noise caught everyone's attention.
"What's that?" Thera asked.
"It sounds like a bullfrog mixed with a thunder storm." Beo noted.
"Some kind of magical effect..." Yearl noted.
"It is a portal." Jerard explained, continuing up the stairs, "Valeraz is supposed to be a master of them..." and, with that, he passed everyone and ascended to the tenth floor.
"Oh, Goddess..." Thera murmured, "it's so hot!" Everyone paused, panting, sweating, and fanning themselves immediately.
"There's a glow coming from behind the door." Beo noted, motioning to the door leading from the stairwell to the tenth floor and, before anyone had anything else to say, he opened it. Everyone covered their eyes against the blazing light that met them.
"Sweet, merciful Tah'aveen..." Ryan Farstrider stated, gazing awestruck at the scene on the far side of the tower, "it's...."
"The Eternal Flame." Anya finished for him, and she quickly reached out and pulled the door closed.
"I'm not sure I want to be in this tower anymore." the wolf spoke quietly.
"One more level." Jerard stated, and continued up the stairs.
"I am really beginning to not like stairs." Beo noted, and headed after him.
The next floor was undeniably the last; the group had arrived at the top level of the tower, which had 9' high walls and no ceiling. The walls separating the main portion of the floor with the stairwell did not exist on the eleventh floor, though the unmistakable six and five symbols were present the same as the rest had been. Finally having caught up with Kell, the party saw the leopard-wolf kneeling on the ground, gazing at scorch marks and dried blood spread out before him like some kind of macabre art display.
"What did you find?" Yearl asked, approaching him.
"The body is gone." Kell whispered.
"Body?" Jerard questioned.
"Valeraz died here." the leopard-wolf noted, motioning to the empty floor.
"Well... the tower is open to the elements..." Ryan noted, looking up at the night's sky, "anything could have just swooped in and--" he fell silent when Kell threw a knife straight up. It struck a barrier, appearing to hover in mid-air until the cowled scout jumped the distance to pluck it out of the invisible field.
"Valeraz should be here." Kell's scowl was practically visible through his cowl.
"Perhaps a--" Yearl began, but he didn't get a chance to speak as an ear-splitting roar rolled through the night like the retort of a lightning bolt. Everyone's eyes went up to the sky as the stars were blotted out by an enormous shape. The figure only got larger, until it touched down atop the tower, large, red-scaled talons stretching through the invisible barrier, and everyone backed up toward the stairs as two glowing, lavender eyes gazed down at everyone... and the roar was repeated, forcing the party to their knees to cover their ears.... all except for Artemisia.
"...dragon." she murmured.
* * * * * *
The party has chosen to enter the Wizard's Tower. Other than numerous experiements, tons of books, and some amazing magical effects, the group manages to find one other thing of interest: a dragon! Here are the choices for the Myrhean Contributing Readers:
1) Attack! FOR THE GODDESS!!!! 2) Flee down the stairs-- it's too big to follow! 3) Approach the dragon respectfully and attempt to parley. 4) Speak neutrally with the question and attempt to get answers out of it. 5) Cower before the dragon and beg for your lives. 6) Wildcard. Each Reader Contributed Character has something special they can do in this situation and they may do so by spending 1 Willpower. Choosing this option means you cannot vote on what the group does as a whole.
As the group is facing a dragon, any combat will be considered all or nothing. Everyone will engage in combat with a Stance of 1, except Artemisia and Beo, who will be 5. All utilizations will be at 5.
This group has until midnight on Thursday, November 24 to vote. Happy Turkey Day!