The Wayfinders - The Wreck of the Archon

Midian Rightson, human druid

"I might be able to take a flying shape that can get some of up there. May take a few trips, but if Trannix doesn't work out, it may be our best bet," Midian offers.

It doesn't take long to locate the Trannick business. Passersby are quick to point you to a tall tower with numerous openings across its surface. As you get closer you can see figures working with winged beasts in some of the openings. The land surrounding the towers is lined with a thick stone wall. The large, ornate iron wrought gate depicts a hippogriff with wings upraised. Once through the open gate you make your way towards what appears to be registration offices. There are numerous people working the ground. There are several acres devoted to grazing pasture for the hippogriffs. Now that you are closer, you can see some of them in the fields being watched by herders. Their bodies are that of a horse, while the head is that of a fearsome bird of prey. Despite their appearance, you see them grazing grass from the field like a horse. Their beaks shear off the tall stalks and you decide they must have molars in the back of their mouths from the way they chew the grass.
Upon reaching the main office, you are greeted by a man wearing an official uniform. "Welcome to Trannick's Transportation, travelers. For nearly a hundred years our family has bred and raised the finest mounts in all of Khorvaire. Are you looking to purchase one of our animals perhaps?" You present him with the letter that you were sent and he looks it over. Uttering a trigger word, a blue symbol suddenly glows next to the signature on the paper. He nods in satisfaction. "Yes, of course, a reservation was setup for you several days ago. Come right this way and we will help you prepare." The man leads you into the tower and begins to walk up a winding staircase the circles the entire tower. Along the way he gives you instructions on Hippogriffs, though a great deal of it seems to be what not to do. "Don't look them directly in the eyes, that's a challenge. Don't move suddenly around their heads, or their backsides. Don't pull too hard on the reins." His explanations for their rules make sense. The animals are a merging of a predatory bird with horses of above average intelligence. They eat meat primarily, while grazing as well to aid their digestion of meals they were never meant to consume.
Near the top of the tower he stops and leads you into a rookery. There are rows upon rows of compartments where the animals can roost when not in use. Their stalls are sealed with strong gates to prevent the animals from battering or clawing their way free. The man whistles up a few handlers who quickly set to work leading out the animals one by one and saddling them with their riding harnesses. "Once you are mounted, there is very little you have to do. Their bridles are enchanted to fly you to the Nocturnas tower." The handlers help each of you mount and leads you to the edge of the tower. It is a dizzying sight as you look down nearly a hundred feet to the ground. Your animal lets out a raucuous scream and prances at the edge. Just as you are about to lose your nerve and try to dismount, the handler slaps the animal on the haunches and gives a shout. Your mount leaps off the edge and plummets towards the ground.
As the ground rushes towards you, your mount suddenly flings its wings out wide with a loud snap and suddenly you are soaring! The animal beats its wings hard and the land rushes past as it slowly gains altitude. Far above you the towers of the Arcanix slowly draws nearer. Looking over your shoulder you can see the rest of the party ascending behind you. As you look forward again you notice large glassy gems on either side of your mounts bridle. As it turns his head left and right the gems glow and fade. Finally when the beast is looking in the correct direction the gems glow brightly. Lining up with the creatures head you can now see the tower furthest from the village. Nocturnas.

From what you know of the Floating towers, two of them are devoted to training up the next generation of adepts and magewrights while the other two, Nocturnas and Skyreach, are the libraries and laboratories for the greater wizards of the Congress. Before long your flying mount has brought you level with the lower reaches of the tower. Without any input from you, it makes for a wide flat area marked with a circle of glowing magelights. They alight with a squawk and shake themselves all over. Your mount turns to glare balefully at you and you quickly get the hint: the ride is over, get off! The moment you are down the hippogriff turns and runs for the edge. Wings folded tight for best speed, the beast leaps off the edge and vanishes.
Moments after you land a man and woman in white robes trimmed in scarlet appear. Their clothing flows and shimmers as if the colors were a waterfall. The effect is distracting at first. "Greetings and welcome to Nocturnas, visitors. What business do you have with the great masters of the Arcane Congress?" Despite the warm voices greeting you, you cannot help but notice the weapons holstered between folds of their robes or the belts holding wands and scroll tubes about their waists. You are reminded that these towers are also where Aundair develops its military magics to protect the country from foreigners. No doubt they have numerous ways of dealing with unwelcome intruders. Moving carefully so as to not provoke a reaction, you retrieve the message scroll and pass it to one of the greeters. Like at the office of the Trannicks, the man utters a word causing the blue symbol to appear on the paper. He shows it to the woman and they both nod. "Very well, you are expected. Please follow us." The woman takes the lead while the man steps in behind your group. You march towards a wall of solid stone carved with numerous designs. Without slowing, the woman walks into the stone and vanishes. Wizards you think to yourself as you steel yourself for a bump on the nose and step into the stone. ..

Doral let's the rest of the group go on ahead as he pulls up the rear. He is unsure on who he might know here and how he might be greeted. It is best to let the others do the talking.

Midian Rightson, human druid

Midian, still trying to process what he learned observing the hippogriffs up close, takes a moment to compose himself, then heads after their wizardly guides. The last thing he wants is to get lost inside a place that's likely filled with enchantments...

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Kraken watches the departing hippogriffs and chuckles as he slaps Doral on the shoulder.

"Mate, that was beaut!" he says. "Reckon I should get one of those, eh?" His smile turns to a frown as he watches the beasts diminish with distance. "Though how're we going to get back?" he ponders.

With a shrug he dismisses any doubts and follows their guide.

"No need to worry," Whisper says jovially. "The system here is well-established and has been for some time." She doesn't even hesitate before plunging into the wall after their guides!

"When have you ever known me to worry?" says Kraken with a lop-sided grin, although he does hesitate a fraction before walking into the wall, one hand held in front.

Doral talks to Kraken a fraction of a second before the man goes through. "She is correct. The worst that can happen is that you fall into a pit on the other side, walk into a sphere of annihilation or a teleporter built to scatter the sands of your body to planes unknown. But at least it would be a short trip and that your enemies honored you enough to be imaginative." He grins and follows.

There is a brief moment of darkness as you enter the wall, but another step takes you clear of it and you stand in a grand hallway. All around you are statues. Some are normal sized, others stand several stories tall. They depict men and women of all the common races (and some not so common ones such as lizardmen and goblinoids) looking noble and stunning. Your guide pauses for a moment to allow you a chance to take it all in. She says, "This is the Hall of Commemeration. Here, the greatest minds have had their likenesses enshrined to inspire future generations of arcanists." She turns and continues on her way. As you pass, several of the statues shift almost soundlessly into new poses, or their heads turn to follow your progress. On the far side of the hall is a mosaic tiled floor with no obvious exit. Once the entire party has entered the dead end, your guide pounds her staff on the floor three times and the whole hallway rotates underneath you! The Hall of Commemeration disappears as the opening rotates to a new position revealing another hall. This one seems to be plainer, perhaps more for the staff use rather than to impress visitors. She walks forward again down a long passage. The hall contains numerous side passages and your guide charts a dizzying path through the maze of hallways. There are many doors and side passages marked with enigmatic symbols. From behind the closed doors you occasionally hear howls, chanting, loud winds, sounds of combative magics, voices arguing in celestial and infernal, and other enticing noises. Several times your guide stops at an intersection to utter command words or cast a cantrip that seems to be a trigger for some other event. After a time you realize she is disabling wards and magical traps to allow you a safe passage. Your realization comes as you start to notice the faint sooty outlines of bodies on the floor and walls or ominous stains that weren't completely clean. Nocturnas tower is not where students come to hear lectures and study from the libraries. Here is where War Magic is perfected. Powerful beings are summoned, spells of mass destruction are created, and deadly artifacts are forged. Between the dangers of losing control of spells or summonings and those who would attempt espionage against the brightest arcanists in the world, it is no surprise that this tower would have mighty defenses. Finally, your guide brings you through the maze of passageways to a large platform inside the base of a tower. Looking upwards you have a hard time spotting the top far above. Your guides lead you onto the platform where the man and woman both manipulate controls on either side of the platform. They nod to each other and tap something at the same time which causes the platform to rise. It accelerates slowly, but soon is rushing upwards at a frightening speed! Activity on the walls around you flash by faster than you can process what they mean. A passage way leading to a room of lava. A double door carved in the face of a great demon. A circular ledge fitted with a hundred crossbows. Skeletal snakes, buried halfway in the wall that snap as you pass. As you begin to wonder just how tall this tower is, the ceiling comes into view. Your platform continues rushing upward with no sign of slowing down. You can't help but try to duck as the platform slams into the ceiling above.
When you open your eyes, you find the platform has stopped and now hovers a foot off the floor, the ceiling it just passed through. Standing around you are four massive suits of armor that look like they could be worn by giants. With a creaking groan the suits come to life. A blast of heat covers you as their mouths open to reveal the red hot light of an internal furnace. Massive hands grip weapons that could split a cow in half, end to end. Your guides hurriedly speak a phrase of draconic in unison to the iron monsters. There is a tense moments hesitation and then the creatures return to a ready position. Your guides visibly relax and turn to you. "You are now in First Warlord and Royal Minister of Magic Adal ir'Wynarns's personal chambers. Here he receives only the most distinguished guests from all over Khorvaire and beyond. Know that he suffers no disrespect to his person and doesn't hesitate to eject guests who make themselves unwelcome. Sometimes he even remembers to provide them a way to stop falling on the way down." Her warning given, she walks between two of the iron giants and through a curtained opening. Adal's chambers are simply stunning. The study you are led into is built primarily of rare woods. The floor is richly stained darkwood, while the shelves are built from the magically light soarwood that airships are constructed from. His desk sports real living branches with leaves and nuts growing from them. Your guides indicate that you should sit in some of the luxurious leather couches that have been provided while that disappear down an adjacent cooridor.
You are not left waiting long before Adal arrives. The minister of magic is a tall, regal looking man with long brown hair and piercing blue eyes. For a moment he pauses in the doorway while he surveys your group. His eyes flash entirely blue for a moment while he looks you over. They return to normal as he continues forward. His long, richly decorated robes do little to hide the myriad of wands and charms hanging from his belt and bracelets. He seats himself behind his desk and steeples his fingers as he leans forward.

"Welcome, I am glad that you accepted my invitation. As you should know by now, I am Adal ir'Wynarn, First Warlord of her majesties armies. Minister of Magic in the Congress of Arcanix. Lord of the Four towers. There are many other titles of course, some are even untranslatable as they were bestowed by beings not of our world. For brevity you may refer to me as Your Highness, Minister, or Warlord as you choose.
I know a great deal about each of you. Aundairians are second to none in their ability to gather information from even the farthest corners of the world. They were even able to procure a sample from your most recent expedition along with some notes on your adventure. While binding elementals and demons are well known, the particular method and age of the crystals are of interest to our research. And while your past herorics do you credit, it is not the purpose of my summons.
This peace of the last few years in fragile. Even though we now have a chance to see a generation raised without the horror of war filling every niche of their lives, there are many who would see us return to the ways of the past. Aundair must continues to protect itself and its rightful claim to the crown of Galifer. To do this we must ensure that the enemies of our nation, and I do mean enemies despite the false peace, that they never get their hands on weapons more powerful than ours.

Unfortunately, they have found such a weapon.

Breland, the nation to the south of us, was highly industrialized during the Last War. Their House Cannith forges created huge war machines capable of wrecking havoc over vast areas. Their mechanized monsters caused great harm to our citizens. One of their greatest achievements in slaughter was the floating fortresses. They created several of them during the Last War. They were all destroyed or decomissioned save for the Argonth which even now patrols between our border and theirs. They are literally moving cities. They can garrison a thousand troops, their mounts, and support personal. All of the destroyed fortresses that were destroyed were accounted for over the last 100 years save for one. The Archon. It was deep into Cyre when the Day of Mourning struck and it was presumed forever lost. Now however, I have learned differently. The wreck has been located and even as we speak expeditions from several nations are moving to plunder the powerful and dangerous weapons contained within. These weapons will make their way into the armories of our nations enemies and the radical groups that threaten to destabilize our borders. If we do not reach the wreck and capture its resources, a great power shift will occur and leave us at a disadvantage. While there are regular salvage crews operating in the Mournlands they have too many ties to Black Markets to be considered safe to use. Many of my other reliable teams are operating in other regions and cannot be called in quickly enough to take on this task. I recently attended a state function where your former patron spoke highly of you. Two of you were educated our finest schools, while Doral has served the crown proudly in the past, and Kraken has a chance to gain great wealth in service to us and to restablish his life after a long exile. I can offer great rewards, not only in monetary gain but in patronage and reputation. A service to the crown benefits all of Aundair and I can see to it that you have many opportunities for advancement. I hope that you consider my offer in this light. We have little time to waste, so please consider swiftly."