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Story Hour
The Adventures of Baabby and Sam - a Skylanders Campaign
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<blockquote data-quote="Richards" data-source="post: 7107681" data-attributes="member: 508"><p><strong>ADVENTURE 11: THE RIFT-WOVEN VAULT</strong></p><p></p><p>PC Roster: <p style="margin-left: 20px">Baabby, humanoid sheep barbarian/cleric (Life) 6</p> <p style="margin-left: 20px"> Sam Crow, humanoid crow ranger/rogue 6</p><p></p><p>NPC Roster: <p style="margin-left: 20px">Sapphrina, fairy sorcerer 6</p><p></p><p>Game Session Date: 6 May 2017</p><p></p><p> - - - </p><p></p><p>"Yep," said Sam. "This is the same ledge, all right. I definitely remember this ledge."</p><p></p><p>The heroes had gathered their reward from a grateful Mabu village, returned to their troll airship, and had their trusty animated statue pilot fly it around to the other side of the volcano, where the Rift-Weaver's Trial was located. Now the airship hovered at the edge of the entry ledge. Baabby was the first to notice the entry tunnel was completely dark; the first time they'd been this way, light from the three doors within had illuminated the tunnel in patches of green, red, and purple.</p><p></p><p>That wasn't the only difference, either: in the back of their minds, the three heroes could hear an incessant ringing, like an alarm bell going off.</p><p></p><p>"It sounds like the dungeon's defensive systems have been activated," said Sapphrina. "The area must be under attack!"</p><p></p><p>"I have an idea," said Sam. "Let's let Baabby go in first."</p><p></p><p>"Thaat's fine by me," said the fearless baabarian, unsheathing the <em>Rift-Weaver's Blade</em> from his broad back as he entered the dark corridor alone. The magic greatsword's blade glowed - specifically, the runes the sheep-man had gathered thus far glowed: Fire, Life, Magic, Undead, and Water. From their faint illumination he could see the three doorways were still in place but the spaces between them - which earlier had glowed with the colors of their respective elements - were dark. There was nobody but the sheep-man in the empty passageway.</p><p></p><p>That changed once Baabby got halfway down the short corridor. Then, materializing in an instant, were three humanoid figures, each as tall as the baabarian. One was red and made of living flames; another was green and female in form, with a body composed of swirling vapors; the one in the back was purple and somewhat monstrous in appearance, with long claws growing out of its two-fingered hands. Each sprang into being immediately in front of the door which had once glowed in their respective colors.</p><p></p><p>"Elementals!" called out Sapphrina with no small measure of fear in her voice, for fairies were particularly susceptible to the various elemental energies.</p><p></p><p>The fire elemental, being the closest to Baabby, stepped forward and swung a flaming fist at the baabarian. Baabby ducked under the blow but then was struck by the life elemental's slam, which made a hissing noise when it made contact with his fleece; as the pain registered, Baabby realized the life elemental's body was composed of acid!</p><p></p><p>But it was the magic elemental that had Sam worried. Not only was it the fiercest-looking of the three, with its nasty claws, but you could never tell just what something composed of magic might be capable of - there so much magic available, the possibilities were almost endless! With that in mind, he aimed an explosive arrow at the magic elemental, waited until Baabby shifted out of the way as he battled the other two elementals, and then let fly. He smiled in appreciation as his arrow detonated on target, causing easily twice its normal damage; he'd just had Sapphrina upgrade his Dynabow 3.0 with some of the money he'd been given by the Mabu and while he had been saddened to see the coins vanish in the upgrade ritual, the extra damage potential looked like it was going to be worth it.</p><p></p><p>Sapphrina had been given Sam's old shortbow and she put it to good use now, shooting an arrow at the fire elemental still trying to set Baabby ablaze with its fists. But she needn't have worried; Baabby almost contemptuously swiped his greatsword at the fire elemental and cut it in half. As its body lost cohesion, wisps of flame shot off in the direction of the doorway, restoring its normal red glow. Baabby continued the arc of his swing into the life elemental's body and dealt it some damage as well, but not enough to destroy it just yet.</p><p></p><p>Down at the end of the corridor, the magic elemental's body underwent a startling transformation. It began swirling around and around until it was a virtual whirlwind, then went racing down the passageway past Baabby and over by Sam and Sapphrina. Once it was about equidistant between the trio, a barrage of <em>magic missiles</em> went flying from its body in all directions. All three heroes were struck, Sapphrina almost to the point of losing consciousness. She panicked, flying back out of the cave entrance along the side of Mount Mabuvius and around the corner where it was safe.</p><p></p><p>Baabby, seeing how dangerous the magic elemental was, opted to take care of it next. Stepping away from his fight with the acidic life elemental, he brought the <em>Rift-Weaver's Blade</em> crashing straight into the heart of the arcane whirlwind. Just as had happened with the fire elemental, the magic elemental's body went to pieces, flying back to its designated doorway, which then blazed back to life and started shedding its violet light once again.</p><p></p><p>The life elemental took the opportunity of Baabby's inattentiveness to slam him from behind, scarring him further with her acid. Sam, only able to shoot a normal arrow this time around, sent it flying at the life elemental, and if he did any significant damage it was difficult to tell. Sapphrina, having seen the magic elemental was no more, returned to the cave opening and shot an arrow at the life elemental, which she needed fear nowhere as much as the magic elemental which had had ranged attacks. Her arrow may have done damage as well, but it was Baabby's next attack - a swipe of his greatsword's magic blade - that snuffed out the life elemental's life force and sent the acidic particles streaming back to the doorway, which reformed its green glow immediately thereafter.</p><p></p><p>Baabby took the time to cast a few healing spells for those who needed them. "Looks like the doors are back to normal," said Sam, pointing out the obvious. "I assume we go through them like the first time we were here?"</p><p></p><p>"That's correct," confirmed Sapphrina, although she hadn't been with the group then. "We'll want the red door this time."</p><p></p><p>Going through the red doorway spilled the three heroes into a room with three parallel tunnels ahead of them, each spilling a different color of smoke from a brazier on the floor at the far ends. "The green door's the next one we want," recalled Sam.</p><p></p><p>"Let's think this through," said Baabby. "If elementals are going to pop up once we get haalfway down these corridors, that means we'll be facing another fire, life, and maagic elemental. Why don't we each take a different corridor and attaack where the doorways should be - thaat's where the elemental should show up."</p><p></p><p>Sapphrina agreed to the plan but had several alterations to make. First of all, rather than go down her own smoke-colored corridor, she opted to travel with Baabby down the central one. And she insisted on not only casting an <em>enlarge person</em> spell upon the baabarian but a <em>reduce person</em> on herself, making herself a smaller target for the deadly elemental energy she'd be facing. Sam opted to cast a <em>resist fire</em> spell upon himself, knowing at least one of the enemies they'd be facing had fire-based attacks. So, once all preparatory spells had been cast, the fairy followed Baabby down the wider, central corridor while Sam raced down the left-most one, which if memory served should be the one where the magic elemental would be appearing.</p><p></p><p>Once Sam was over halfway down the corridor he fired an explosive arrow straight ahead of him and was pleased to hear it impact against something that grunted in pain. In the central corridor, Sapphrina looked back and saw a fire elemental pop into existence in front of the doorway they'd used to enter this section of the Rift-Weaver's Trial - they'd been so worried about the three doorways ahead of them they'd forgotten that the doorways behind them were also part of the dungeon's defenses. But then the life elemental showed up directly in front of Baabby, reaching out to burn him with her acidic touch. Fortunately, with his extended reach due to being twice his normal size, he was able to spear her on the tip of his greatsword before she could even reach him. Her body dissolved, only to re-energize the green doorway from which she'd come.</p><p></p><p>But the two fire elementals now flanked Baabby and Sapphrina - one approaching from the front and one from the rear. The fairy instinctively crouched into as small a ball as she could, ducking behind Baabby's spell pouch at his belt, and the fire elementals both chose the hulking baabarian as the target of their flaming fists.</p><p></p><p>Sam lucked out, in that the magic elemental apparently chose not to waste its whirlwind <em>magic missile</em> attack when it could only affect a lone target, for the arcane humanoid ran up to the little crow and slashed out with its claws. Sam ducked, but the attack was enough to convince the crow to flee back the way he'd come - partly because he now realized their collective strategy had made it impossible for the now-giant sheep-man to even enter the narrow corridor from which Sam now fled. "Baabby!" he cried. "Come back the way we came!"</p><p></p><p>That might have sounded like something currently beyond Baabby's abilities given he was blocked by a fire elemental on either side of him. But the baabarian knew from recent experience that fire elementals weren't likely to survive a single blow from his greatsword, and such proved to be the case in this instance. One cleaving blow slew both fire elementals, and then Baabby was racing back the way he'd come, positioning himself just outside the entrance to the tunnel from which Sam was just now exiting.</p><p></p><p>When the magic elemental emerged from the smoke-filled corridor, the <em>Rift-Weaver's Blade</em> was waiting for it. One mighty swing later and the magic elemental was no more.</p><p></p><p>"Phew!" said Sam. "Thanks, Baabby!"</p><p></p><p>Sapphrina had to dismiss her <em>enlarge person</em> so Baabby could fit through the green doorway, but then the three were teleported to the next section of the dungeon. Sam and Baabby recalled that there were three dragon's heads in the winding corridor ahead, and then an animated suit of armor waiting for them in the Trial of Strength in the room beyond. "We won't need to fight the armored warrior," Sapphrina said. "He's part of the defense system - he should react to the presence of the <em>Rift-Weaver's Blade</em>."</p><p></p><p>Sure enough, rather than having to face the warrior in combat, it reported to Baabby as if to a superior officer. "The Trial is under attack by forces unknown, sir," it said. "You'll need to gather the three <em>attunement orbs</em> from the Path of Ordered Steps and the two <em>portal stones</em> from the Hall of Burning Greed."</p><p></p><p>"Let's go!" said Sapphrina, flying through the red doorway. Baabby and Sam followed suit, assuming the fairy knew where she was going. Sure enough, that way led to the statue of Xacho, only this time, as they entered the room, there was an audible click and a door to the left - which had been locked the first time they went through this dungeon complex - swung open. Passing through the door, the group saw carved on the wall before them the legend, "THE ORDER RECEIVED IS THE ORDER AHEAD." There were other rooms to the left and the right: to the left, an area of leaping flames; to the right three stones, each the size of an apple. They glowed slightly, in the colors of green, red, and purple.</p><p></p><p>"These are the <em>attunement orbs</em>," said Sapphrina.</p><p></p><p>"One for each of us, I aassume," said Baabby.</p><p></p><p>"Well, you're obviously Life," said Sam, "what with all those healing spells of yours. So you should get the green orb. I imagine Sapphrina's Magic, what with being a fairy and all, so she should get the purple orb."</p><p></p><p>"So that would make you Fire," said Sapphrina, frowning in puzzlement.</p><p></p><p>"Well, yes, obviously," agreed Sam. "That makes perfect sense, me being Fire."</p><p></p><p>"Hmm - because of your explosive arrows? That's a Tech device causing that."</p><p></p><p>"No, not because of that," scoffed Sam. "Isn't it obvious? It's because I'm so hot!" And he struck what he no doubt considered a sexy pose, while the fairy turned away in disgust.</p><p></p><p>"We should probably pick up the orbs in the order we gained the Runes on my sword," suggested Baabby. "That would be, let's see, Maagic, then Life, then Fire."</p><p></p><p>Sapphrina picked up the glowing purple orb, and behind her, some of the flames went out in the other room. Then Baabby picked up the green <em>attunement orb</em> and half of the remaining flames were extinguished. "Best for last!" announced Sam, picking up the red orb, and the last remaining flames went out. Exposed where the flames had been were individual tiles in the colors of red, green, and purple.</p><p></p><p>"Hmm," said Baabby. "I guess we have to step on a purple tile, then a green one, then a red one. Aand then baack to purple, and so on until we get to the other side."</p><p></p><p>"That's one possibility," said Sam. "But there's another: maybe Sapphrina should go first because she's purple, and she should only step on purple tiles, then you cross stepping on green tiles, then I cross stepping on red tiles."</p><p></p><p>"I'm a fairy," pointed out Sapphrina. "I don't step; I fly." It was admittedly true; in the Skylands, fairies were only humanoid in shape from the waist up; below, their bodies trailed off in smoke like genies. Without legs, they couldn't "step" anywhere.</p><p></p><p>"Well, fly over," amended Sam. "Same deal."</p><p></p><p>"Either way, it sounds like me going first. Which way should I try it, Baabby?"</p><p></p><p>"Do purple-green-red," suggested Baabby. Sapphrina flew over a purple tile, and nothing happened. From there, she could move over a tile of any of the three colors, depending on which way she went.</p><p></p><p>"I'm telling you, purple-purple-purple" makes more sense to me," chided Sam.</p><p></p><p>"Okay," agreed Baabby. "Stick to the purple ones." Sapphrina moved over to the next adjacent purple tile and a bolt of arcane energy came shooting down at her from the ceiling.</p><p></p><p>"...Of course, I could be wrong," admitted Sam, frowning.</p><p></p><p>With a black scowl, Sapphrina flew over a green tile, then a red one, then a purple, and repeated the pattern until she was across the colored tile section and into the room beyond. Then Baabby retraced her route and Sam followed suit. Once they were all safely past the colored tiles, Sam gave the fairy a sheepish grin and said, "Sorry - I'm not so great at these puzzles. As you'll recall, I'm part dodo on my mother's side."</p><p></p><p>"More than just part, I think!" snapped Sapphrina, flying over to one of the <em>portal stones</em> they'd been sent to fetch, which stood on a platform at the far end of the chamber. She then followed a safe route back to the statue of Xacho and down a different corridor, bringing them to another door, which opened into another chamber. There were four platforms in the middle of this room, each filled with piles of gold coins. A door to the left was closed. "This must be the Hall of Burning Greed," said Sam. "And hey! - I'm Fire, and I'm greedy! It all makes sense!"</p><p></p><p>A voice echoed throughout the chamber. "Only the Master may touch the treasure. Who is the Master?"</p><p></p><p>"Hmm," said Sam, rubbing his beak. "Well, there's <strong>Master Eon</strong> the Portal Master, of course, but he might be a bit obvious...."</p><p></p><p>"Baabby," said Baabby, strolling into the room, the <em>Rift-Weaver's Blade</em> gripped in a meaty hand. The fact that his answer was correct was proven by the clicking sound as the door to the left unlocked. In the small room beyond was the second <em>portal stone</em>. Baabby grabbed it up.</p><p></p><p>"Now whaat?" he asked.</p><p></p><p>"We head back to the hallway," answered Sapphrina. "The door across the way leads to the Portal."</p><p></p><p>"Wait a minute," interrupted Sam, turning towards Baabby. "Since you're the Master and all, could we please have your permission to rescue these poor, defenseless coins from just being abandoned here? They're meant to be spent, not left behind to get all dusty!"</p><p></p><p>"Hurry up," agreed Baabby, knowing Sam would be unlikely to concentrate on the job at hand knowing there was treasure they'd left behind. With a cry of joy, the little crow started scooping the loose coins into his extradimensional backpack. "Okay, ready, Master!" he said when he was done. Hey, they were now 12,000 gold pieces the richer - who was he to complain about Baabby getting a fancy title in a stupid dungeon riddle?</p><p></p><p>With both <em>portal stones</em> in hand, the heroes stepped into a portal in the room beyond and were whisked away to another place altogether. This was the Inner Sanctum, which consisted of a large area with a raised structure in the middle; circling this structure was a set of curving steps, much in the same mold as the winding ledge along Mount Mabuvius which had gained the heroes entry to the volcano's interior at the top. From the central chamber were four spherical side-chambers; of these, three were sealed up by force fields while the forth had been almost nearly sealed off by an earthquake centuries ago.</p><p></p><p>However, that wasn't all the heroes saw inside the Inner Sanctum. The three force fields were red, green, and purple, and hovering next to each was a robed figure: a fire spell punk, a life spell punk, and a magic spell punk. Each was concentrating on attempting to dismantle the force field before it, to the extent they hadn't yet noticed the intruders.</p><p></p><p>Baabby charged at the magic spell punk, who, just to the right, was the closest one available. His single cut with the <em>Rift-Weaver's Blade</em> was enough to slay the spell punk outright. As its body fell to the ground, purple energy rose up out of its body and flew to the back of the chamber, behind the central platform with the spiraling steps. In addition, the magical effects the spell punk had produced since its arrival in the Inner Sanctum were sundered as well. Instantly, other creatures began fading back into view, their <em>invisibility</em> purged upon the magic spell punk's death.</p><p></p><p>At various places across the Inner Sanctum, the forms of an air spell punk, an earth spell punk, an undead spell punk, a water spell punk, and - up at the top of the central platform - a tech spell punk materialized. And now visibly waddling around the sides of the central platform were several bone chompies.</p><p></p><p>Sapphrina was the first of the heroes to react. Seeing they were vastly outnumbered, she did what she could to help even the odds. One <em>haste</em> spell later, all three of the heroes were moving faster than they'd ever moved before.</p><p></p><p>Several bone chompies advanced upon the heroes from either side of the platform, while their undead spell punk master shot a blast of necromantic energy at Baabby. Fortunately, the sheep-man dodged the blast, no doubt at least partially due to his increased speed.</p><p></p><p>Sam looked enviously up at the tech spell punk, specifically at his position at the top of the central platform. From there, you'd be able to shoot down at anyone else in the entire Inner Sanctum! Making the decision to reserve that spot for himself, Sam shot an explosive arrow up at the tech spell punk, then dodged his way past three bone chompies - two of which managed to get in a bite - and started making his way up the spiraling steps. But having made his first one-third arc around the platform, Sam found himself in the line of fire of both the air and tech spell punks (the latter of which would be able to target Sam no mater where he stood in the Inner Sanctum). Sam winced under the dual assault but continued running as fast as his little crow legs would take him.</p><p></p><p>With the magic spell punk dead, the purple force field was no longer under attack. But the fire and life spell punks continued their work unabated, certain that their companions could handle a small force of three heroes.</p><p></p><p>The water spell punk had the misfortune of both hovering directly next to two bone chompies and being within Baabby's reach. That made him an irresistible target; one massive swing of the <em>Rift-Weaver's Blade</em> later, Baabby had cut completely through the water spell punk and the two bone chompies adjacent to it. Once again, life energy - this time blue - rose up from the fallen spell punk's body and over to the back of the Inner Sanctum; from Baabby's new vantage point he could see it heading to an open rift in the back - no doubt, the means of entry for the spell punks and their bone chompy allies.</p><p></p><p>The earth spell punk fired an orb of some kind at Baabby but missed. Nearby, the undead spell punk summoned another bone chompy out of thin air, sent it after the baabarian, and then fled at full speed in the opposite direction. He'd just witnessed the sheep-man cut down his brother spell punks of magic and water and wasn't about to be next!</p><p></p><p>He wasn't; the earth spell punk and another bone chompy were Baabby's next victims, the dual recipients of the next single swing of his greatsword. Those in the vicinity could see the look of combat fury on the baabarian's face - Baabby had let his battle-lust fuel his strength and durability and was now a combat monster let loose upon the spell punks!</p><p></p><p>Sam shot an arrow up at the tech spell punk as he circled along the steps; only now did he notice he had three bone chompies following in his wake, but under the effects of the <em>haste</em> spell he had no worries about them catching up to him until he reached the zenith and had nowhere else to run. The arrow was well-placed, but the tech spell punk stubbornly hung on to life. In fact, he returned fire, sending a blast of tech energy crashing into the crow's body; Sapphrina, seeing him wobbling as he ran, flew up to Sam and imbued him with a <em>bear's endurance</em> spell which gave him enough energy to keep on fighting. When he made it to the top of the spiral, he surprised the tech spell punk by stabbing forward with his shortsword, piercing the floating mage through his middle, Then the highest perch was all Sam's; the crow noticed the tech spell punk's orange life energy - and his shadow, which was kind of weird! - both flew across the Inner Sanctum and into the open rift, which seemed to shrink a bit in size as a result of the returned energy.</p><p></p><p>The air spell punk opted to reinforce his allies by casting spells upon his fire and undead brethren. This gave each of them an outer layer of rushing winds, likely able to fling away any ranged attacks - like Sam's arrows! - that might be sent their way.</p><p></p><p>Seeing the fire spell punk still laboring away at the red force field, Sam sent an explosive arrow his way. That nearly slew the mage outright, but once again he held on to life by his nonexistent fingernails. The attack did cause him to stop his attempts at bringing down the force field; instead, he blasted a fiery stream of energy up at Sam. But Sam's <em>resist fire</em> spell was still in effect, so it dealt nowhere near the damage the spell punk might have hoped for.</p><p></p><p>Looking over at the commotion and surprised that the others were taking such a beating, the life spell punk stopped his own attempts at bringing down the green force field and cast healing energy at his fire spell punk associate. (From the top of the central platform, the anguished cries of "No fair!" could be heard.) But that was the life spell punk's last act; he'd failed to notice Baabby was within striking distance and that proved to be lethal.</p><p></p><p>The air spell punk sent a blast of energy up at Sam which knocked the crow out cold. But as Sapphrina flew up to the top of the crow' perch to feed him a healing potion from his belt, Baabby slew two more spell punks: undead and fire, who had made the mistake of floating too near each other. As their energies and shadows raced to the ever-dwindling rift, all of the bone chompies suddenly popped back out of existence, their summoner having been slain.</p><p></p><p>That left only the fire spell punk. Baabby raced up to it and slashed at it with his greatsword, causing it to gasp and groan in pain. But for once it was Sam who got the finishing shot; having been revived by Sapphrina, he was able to send a normal arrow across the Inner Sanctum to grab the final kill from Baabby's grasp. (And as the baabarian glared up at Sam, the little crow was suddenly very glad of the distance between them!)</p><p></p><p>With the fire spell punk's essences fleeing back to the rift, it closed. However, in its place were two other spell punks, looking nothing like any the heroes had ever seen. One wore a white robe with a sun emblem on its hood; the other, a robe of pitch black adorned only with the symbol of a crescent moon.</p><p></p><p>The light spell punk was the first to react. It raised a curved claw and pointed it at Baabby; a blinding flash of energy shot off from it and struck the baabarian, then reflected off his body and went blasting over Sam's way. Neither hero was able to avoid the full effects, although the further distance meant that Sam suffered much less than Baabby, having received a tinier portion of the energy's full blast.</p><p></p><p>Still, Sam was not in a particularly grateful mood. He shot off three arrows one right after the other, sending each one flying at the light spell punk. However, in this case haste made waste, for only one actually struck its target. And while the dark spell punk was being temporarily ignored, it raised its own claw and a black hole - or what looked suspiciously like one - manifested in the chamber, causing ripples in a large enough radius to include both Baabby and Sam. Each hero felt their <em>haste</em> spell being temporarily negated, and each had the feeling if they stayed within the radius for too long it would start absorbing their own life forces.</p><p></p><p>So that was not an option. Baabby charged away from the black hole, which coincidentally sent him straight on a path to the light spell punk. He slashed down with his greatsword using all of his might, but the wonky time differential caused by escaping the black hole's power might have throw off his balance because he completely missed the floating mage. However, he was close enough that when the light spell punk started to try casting another of those reflecting light blasts his way, the baabarian was able to cut him down with one blow.</p><p></p><p>The dark spell punk seemed amazed to see his opposite partner get taken down in one blow. He raised a claw in Baabby's direction, only to have history repeat itself: before he could blast the baabarian, the <em>Rift-Weaver's Blade</em> came down on his head, carving him neatly in two.</p><p></p><p>After that, the heroes gathered together and attended to their wounds, applying potions and Baabby's healing spells as needed. Then, at Sapphrina's suggestion, each strode over to the force field that corresponded to the color of the <em>attunement stone</em> they carried. The magical stones allowed them to walk right through the force fields as if they weren't there while still leaving them intact. As one, each hero stepped into the middle of the magic circle inscribed in their side-chamber, and as one, they vanished from sight.</p><p></p><p>They ended up in another extradimensional space, where they were confronted by the holographic image of none other than Xacho, the original wielder of the <em>Rift-Weaver's Blade</em> - back when it was still called the <em>Blade of the Elements</em>.</p><p></p><p>"You have finally arrived here," said the hologram. "Long ago, many years before either of you was born, I used the powers of your greatsword to explore the rifts. In doing so, I discovered a great evil: a being known as the <strong>Devourer of Nightmares</strong>. I sought <strong>the Oracle</strong> to learn how I could destroy it, and was told two conflicting prophecies: 'Imbued with all, the <em>Blade of the Elements</em> shall vanquish the Devourer of Nightmares,' and 'Your quest shall fail until the courageous sheep and the cowardly crow finish your work.'"</p><p></p><p>"Hey!" objected Sam, but Baabby gave him a shushing motion.</p><p></p><p>"I had no choice but to battle the Devourer of Nightmares," hoping that the power of the eight Elemental Runes on my blade would overcome it. But I failed to destroy it; instead, I managed to seal it away here, in the Rift-Woven Vault."</p><p></p><p>"Here?" squeaked Sam, looking around rapidly for any sign of the Devourer of Nightmares - not that he knew what it looked like. Still, he was pretty sure he'd recognize it if he saw it.</p><p></p><p>"Below you, on the seal upon which you stand," said the Xacho image. Sam looked down, saw he was standing on a circular slab of stone inscribed with multiple arcane runes and jumped to the side as if he found himself standing on a hot griddle.</p><p></p><p>Then, gathering up his indignation - "cowardly crow" indeed! - Sam decided to try a bit of comeuppance on this mouthy hologram. "Well, I hate to break it to you, Xacho old boy, but I don't think the Oracle's prophecies were conflicting."</p><p></p><p>"Oh? How so?"</p><p></p><p>"You said you fought the Devourer of Nightmares - that's a long name, by the way; I think I'll just call him by his initials - you fought <strong>Don</strong> using the power of all eight elemental runes on this sword of yours. Well, of Baabby's now. But that's only eight elements. Current thinking is that there are ten elements: you forgot Light and Dark."</p><p></p><p>"What?" sputtered the holographic Xacho. "TEN elements? Since when?"</p><p></p><p>"It's a fairly recent discovery," admitted Sam. "But it was in all the papers a few years ago."</p><p></p><p>Baabby looked over his blade: he had yet to gather the Air, Earth, and Tech runes, for which there were the appropriate holes cut through the metal of the blade's center - and the Light and Dark runes too, apparently, for which there were no such holes. "There's room on the blade for two more runes," he pointed out.</p><p></p><p>"We'll have to add them to the list," said Sapphrina. Then, turning to Xacho, she asked, "Can you tell us where to get the other runes?"</p><p></p><p>"When I dispersed the elemental runes I had gathered after trapping the Devourer of Nightmares--"</p><p></p><p>"Don," interrupted Sam.</p><p></p><p>"--they returned from where I had originally gotten them. So I can guide you to the Air and Earth elemental runes, but not the Tech. I never did find the Tech rune."</p><p></p><p>"Hey, wait a minute!" said Sam. "You said you had gained all of the runes! Well, all eight, in any case."</p><p></p><p>"I couldn't find the Tech rune, so I improvised," admitted Xacho. "There is a way to gather up smaller pieces of Tech magic and fuse them into a facsimile of the whole rune, but such an undertaking takes time we no longer have."</p><p></p><p>"How so?" asked Baabby.</p><p></p><p>"The Oracle said the Devourer of Nightmares--"</p><p></p><p>"Don," interjected Sam.</p><p></p><p>"--would escape from his imprisonment one year after the <em>Blade of the Elements</em> was found by the courageous sheep and the--"</p><p></p><p>"Watch it there, buddy!"</p><p></p><p>"--and his crow partner," amended the Xacho hologram.</p><p></p><p>"Doesn't sound like undoing all of those runes was a very smart idea," griped Sam. "Now we gotta go get them all over again."</p><p></p><p>"There was little choice," replied the hologram. "Intact, with all the runes present, the <em>Blade of Elements</em> could act as a key, unlocking the creature trapped below us. And there are forces even now trying to get hold of the blade so they can free their master from his imprisonment."</p><p></p><p>"Hrrm," mumbled Sam, not wanting to let the hologram off the hook.</p><p></p><p>"Very well," said Sapphrina, her mind made up about their next course of action. "I guess we'll gather up the Air and Earth runes first, as they'll be easier. Then we'll see what we can do about finding the Tech rune, and then we'll see if the Light and Dark runes - if they exist - can be added to the sword."</p><p></p><p>"Sounds like a plaan," agreed Baabby. "So where do we find the Air rune?"</p><p></p><p>And Xacho told them.</p><p></p><p> - - - </p><p></p><p>The maps we used this time were the "Arcane Dungeon" Pathfinder Flip-Map we had used for "The Rift-Weaver's Trial," but this time Logan included more rooms than he'd used for that adventure - including the entire back side of the map, where we fought all of the spell punks. The Rift-Woven Vault was a tile map from the "Extradimensional Spaces" Map Pack and it was particularly thematically appropriate for a Skylanders game, given it was a cluster of small floating islands, some of them chained together.</p><p></p><p>Incidentally, Dark and Light being new elements is a plot point in one of the video games - "Trap Team," I think - but as of yet there are no dark or light spell punks in the video games. Logan added them as a logical extrapolation, designing their element-themed powers on his own. If the video games ever go down that path, we blazed the trail here first!</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Richards, post: 7107681, member: 508"] [b]ADVENTURE 11: THE RIFT-WOVEN VAULT[/b] PC Roster: [INDENT]Baabby, humanoid sheep barbarian/cleric (Life) 6 Sam Crow, humanoid crow ranger/rogue 6[/INDENT] NPC Roster: [INDENT]Sapphrina, fairy sorcerer 6[/INDENT] Game Session Date: 6 May 2017 - - - "Yep," said Sam. "This is the same ledge, all right. I definitely remember this ledge." The heroes had gathered their reward from a grateful Mabu village, returned to their troll airship, and had their trusty animated statue pilot fly it around to the other side of the volcano, where the Rift-Weaver's Trial was located. Now the airship hovered at the edge of the entry ledge. Baabby was the first to notice the entry tunnel was completely dark; the first time they'd been this way, light from the three doors within had illuminated the tunnel in patches of green, red, and purple. That wasn't the only difference, either: in the back of their minds, the three heroes could hear an incessant ringing, like an alarm bell going off. "It sounds like the dungeon's defensive systems have been activated," said Sapphrina. "The area must be under attack!" "I have an idea," said Sam. "Let's let Baabby go in first." "Thaat's fine by me," said the fearless baabarian, unsheathing the [i]Rift-Weaver's Blade[/i] from his broad back as he entered the dark corridor alone. The magic greatsword's blade glowed - specifically, the runes the sheep-man had gathered thus far glowed: Fire, Life, Magic, Undead, and Water. From their faint illumination he could see the three doorways were still in place but the spaces between them - which earlier had glowed with the colors of their respective elements - were dark. There was nobody but the sheep-man in the empty passageway. That changed once Baabby got halfway down the short corridor. Then, materializing in an instant, were three humanoid figures, each as tall as the baabarian. One was red and made of living flames; another was green and female in form, with a body composed of swirling vapors; the one in the back was purple and somewhat monstrous in appearance, with long claws growing out of its two-fingered hands. Each sprang into being immediately in front of the door which had once glowed in their respective colors. "Elementals!" called out Sapphrina with no small measure of fear in her voice, for fairies were particularly susceptible to the various elemental energies. The fire elemental, being the closest to Baabby, stepped forward and swung a flaming fist at the baabarian. Baabby ducked under the blow but then was struck by the life elemental's slam, which made a hissing noise when it made contact with his fleece; as the pain registered, Baabby realized the life elemental's body was composed of acid! But it was the magic elemental that had Sam worried. Not only was it the fiercest-looking of the three, with its nasty claws, but you could never tell just what something composed of magic might be capable of - there so much magic available, the possibilities were almost endless! With that in mind, he aimed an explosive arrow at the magic elemental, waited until Baabby shifted out of the way as he battled the other two elementals, and then let fly. He smiled in appreciation as his arrow detonated on target, causing easily twice its normal damage; he'd just had Sapphrina upgrade his Dynabow 3.0 with some of the money he'd been given by the Mabu and while he had been saddened to see the coins vanish in the upgrade ritual, the extra damage potential looked like it was going to be worth it. Sapphrina had been given Sam's old shortbow and she put it to good use now, shooting an arrow at the fire elemental still trying to set Baabby ablaze with its fists. But she needn't have worried; Baabby almost contemptuously swiped his greatsword at the fire elemental and cut it in half. As its body lost cohesion, wisps of flame shot off in the direction of the doorway, restoring its normal red glow. Baabby continued the arc of his swing into the life elemental's body and dealt it some damage as well, but not enough to destroy it just yet. Down at the end of the corridor, the magic elemental's body underwent a startling transformation. It began swirling around and around until it was a virtual whirlwind, then went racing down the passageway past Baabby and over by Sam and Sapphrina. Once it was about equidistant between the trio, a barrage of [i]magic missiles[/i] went flying from its body in all directions. All three heroes were struck, Sapphrina almost to the point of losing consciousness. She panicked, flying back out of the cave entrance along the side of Mount Mabuvius and around the corner where it was safe. Baabby, seeing how dangerous the magic elemental was, opted to take care of it next. Stepping away from his fight with the acidic life elemental, he brought the [i]Rift-Weaver's Blade[/i] crashing straight into the heart of the arcane whirlwind. Just as had happened with the fire elemental, the magic elemental's body went to pieces, flying back to its designated doorway, which then blazed back to life and started shedding its violet light once again. The life elemental took the opportunity of Baabby's inattentiveness to slam him from behind, scarring him further with her acid. Sam, only able to shoot a normal arrow this time around, sent it flying at the life elemental, and if he did any significant damage it was difficult to tell. Sapphrina, having seen the magic elemental was no more, returned to the cave opening and shot an arrow at the life elemental, which she needed fear nowhere as much as the magic elemental which had had ranged attacks. Her arrow may have done damage as well, but it was Baabby's next attack - a swipe of his greatsword's magic blade - that snuffed out the life elemental's life force and sent the acidic particles streaming back to the doorway, which reformed its green glow immediately thereafter. Baabby took the time to cast a few healing spells for those who needed them. "Looks like the doors are back to normal," said Sam, pointing out the obvious. "I assume we go through them like the first time we were here?" "That's correct," confirmed Sapphrina, although she hadn't been with the group then. "We'll want the red door this time." Going through the red doorway spilled the three heroes into a room with three parallel tunnels ahead of them, each spilling a different color of smoke from a brazier on the floor at the far ends. "The green door's the next one we want," recalled Sam. "Let's think this through," said Baabby. "If elementals are going to pop up once we get haalfway down these corridors, that means we'll be facing another fire, life, and maagic elemental. Why don't we each take a different corridor and attaack where the doorways should be - thaat's where the elemental should show up." Sapphrina agreed to the plan but had several alterations to make. First of all, rather than go down her own smoke-colored corridor, she opted to travel with Baabby down the central one. And she insisted on not only casting an [i]enlarge person[/i] spell upon the baabarian but a [i]reduce person[/i] on herself, making herself a smaller target for the deadly elemental energy she'd be facing. Sam opted to cast a [i]resist fire[/i] spell upon himself, knowing at least one of the enemies they'd be facing had fire-based attacks. So, once all preparatory spells had been cast, the fairy followed Baabby down the wider, central corridor while Sam raced down the left-most one, which if memory served should be the one where the magic elemental would be appearing. Once Sam was over halfway down the corridor he fired an explosive arrow straight ahead of him and was pleased to hear it impact against something that grunted in pain. In the central corridor, Sapphrina looked back and saw a fire elemental pop into existence in front of the doorway they'd used to enter this section of the Rift-Weaver's Trial - they'd been so worried about the three doorways ahead of them they'd forgotten that the doorways behind them were also part of the dungeon's defenses. But then the life elemental showed up directly in front of Baabby, reaching out to burn him with her acidic touch. Fortunately, with his extended reach due to being twice his normal size, he was able to spear her on the tip of his greatsword before she could even reach him. Her body dissolved, only to re-energize the green doorway from which she'd come. But the two fire elementals now flanked Baabby and Sapphrina - one approaching from the front and one from the rear. The fairy instinctively crouched into as small a ball as she could, ducking behind Baabby's spell pouch at his belt, and the fire elementals both chose the hulking baabarian as the target of their flaming fists. Sam lucked out, in that the magic elemental apparently chose not to waste its whirlwind [i]magic missile[/i] attack when it could only affect a lone target, for the arcane humanoid ran up to the little crow and slashed out with its claws. Sam ducked, but the attack was enough to convince the crow to flee back the way he'd come - partly because he now realized their collective strategy had made it impossible for the now-giant sheep-man to even enter the narrow corridor from which Sam now fled. "Baabby!" he cried. "Come back the way we came!" That might have sounded like something currently beyond Baabby's abilities given he was blocked by a fire elemental on either side of him. But the baabarian knew from recent experience that fire elementals weren't likely to survive a single blow from his greatsword, and such proved to be the case in this instance. One cleaving blow slew both fire elementals, and then Baabby was racing back the way he'd come, positioning himself just outside the entrance to the tunnel from which Sam was just now exiting. When the magic elemental emerged from the smoke-filled corridor, the [i]Rift-Weaver's Blade[/i] was waiting for it. One mighty swing later and the magic elemental was no more. "Phew!" said Sam. "Thanks, Baabby!" Sapphrina had to dismiss her [i]enlarge person[/i] so Baabby could fit through the green doorway, but then the three were teleported to the next section of the dungeon. Sam and Baabby recalled that there were three dragon's heads in the winding corridor ahead, and then an animated suit of armor waiting for them in the Trial of Strength in the room beyond. "We won't need to fight the armored warrior," Sapphrina said. "He's part of the defense system - he should react to the presence of the [i]Rift-Weaver's Blade[/i]." Sure enough, rather than having to face the warrior in combat, it reported to Baabby as if to a superior officer. "The Trial is under attack by forces unknown, sir," it said. "You'll need to gather the three [i]attunement orbs[/i] from the Path of Ordered Steps and the two [i]portal stones[/i] from the Hall of Burning Greed." "Let's go!" said Sapphrina, flying through the red doorway. Baabby and Sam followed suit, assuming the fairy knew where she was going. Sure enough, that way led to the statue of Xacho, only this time, as they entered the room, there was an audible click and a door to the left - which had been locked the first time they went through this dungeon complex - swung open. Passing through the door, the group saw carved on the wall before them the legend, "THE ORDER RECEIVED IS THE ORDER AHEAD." There were other rooms to the left and the right: to the left, an area of leaping flames; to the right three stones, each the size of an apple. They glowed slightly, in the colors of green, red, and purple. "These are the [i]attunement orbs[/i]," said Sapphrina. "One for each of us, I aassume," said Baabby. "Well, you're obviously Life," said Sam, "what with all those healing spells of yours. So you should get the green orb. I imagine Sapphrina's Magic, what with being a fairy and all, so she should get the purple orb." "So that would make you Fire," said Sapphrina, frowning in puzzlement. "Well, yes, obviously," agreed Sam. "That makes perfect sense, me being Fire." "Hmm - because of your explosive arrows? That's a Tech device causing that." "No, not because of that," scoffed Sam. "Isn't it obvious? It's because I'm so hot!" And he struck what he no doubt considered a sexy pose, while the fairy turned away in disgust. "We should probably pick up the orbs in the order we gained the Runes on my sword," suggested Baabby. "That would be, let's see, Maagic, then Life, then Fire." Sapphrina picked up the glowing purple orb, and behind her, some of the flames went out in the other room. Then Baabby picked up the green [i]attunement orb[/i] and half of the remaining flames were extinguished. "Best for last!" announced Sam, picking up the red orb, and the last remaining flames went out. Exposed where the flames had been were individual tiles in the colors of red, green, and purple. "Hmm," said Baabby. "I guess we have to step on a purple tile, then a green one, then a red one. Aand then baack to purple, and so on until we get to the other side." "That's one possibility," said Sam. "But there's another: maybe Sapphrina should go first because she's purple, and she should only step on purple tiles, then you cross stepping on green tiles, then I cross stepping on red tiles." "I'm a fairy," pointed out Sapphrina. "I don't step; I fly." It was admittedly true; in the Skylands, fairies were only humanoid in shape from the waist up; below, their bodies trailed off in smoke like genies. Without legs, they couldn't "step" anywhere. "Well, fly over," amended Sam. "Same deal." "Either way, it sounds like me going first. Which way should I try it, Baabby?" "Do purple-green-red," suggested Baabby. Sapphrina flew over a purple tile, and nothing happened. From there, she could move over a tile of any of the three colors, depending on which way she went. "I'm telling you, purple-purple-purple" makes more sense to me," chided Sam. "Okay," agreed Baabby. "Stick to the purple ones." Sapphrina moved over to the next adjacent purple tile and a bolt of arcane energy came shooting down at her from the ceiling. "...Of course, I could be wrong," admitted Sam, frowning. With a black scowl, Sapphrina flew over a green tile, then a red one, then a purple, and repeated the pattern until she was across the colored tile section and into the room beyond. Then Baabby retraced her route and Sam followed suit. Once they were all safely past the colored tiles, Sam gave the fairy a sheepish grin and said, "Sorry - I'm not so great at these puzzles. As you'll recall, I'm part dodo on my mother's side." "More than just part, I think!" snapped Sapphrina, flying over to one of the [i]portal stones[/i] they'd been sent to fetch, which stood on a platform at the far end of the chamber. She then followed a safe route back to the statue of Xacho and down a different corridor, bringing them to another door, which opened into another chamber. There were four platforms in the middle of this room, each filled with piles of gold coins. A door to the left was closed. "This must be the Hall of Burning Greed," said Sam. "And hey! - I'm Fire, and I'm greedy! It all makes sense!" A voice echoed throughout the chamber. "Only the Master may touch the treasure. Who is the Master?" "Hmm," said Sam, rubbing his beak. "Well, there's [b]Master Eon[/b] the Portal Master, of course, but he might be a bit obvious...." "Baabby," said Baabby, strolling into the room, the [i]Rift-Weaver's Blade[/i] gripped in a meaty hand. The fact that his answer was correct was proven by the clicking sound as the door to the left unlocked. In the small room beyond was the second [i]portal stone[/i]. Baabby grabbed it up. "Now whaat?" he asked. "We head back to the hallway," answered Sapphrina. "The door across the way leads to the Portal." "Wait a minute," interrupted Sam, turning towards Baabby. "Since you're the Master and all, could we please have your permission to rescue these poor, defenseless coins from just being abandoned here? They're meant to be spent, not left behind to get all dusty!" "Hurry up," agreed Baabby, knowing Sam would be unlikely to concentrate on the job at hand knowing there was treasure they'd left behind. With a cry of joy, the little crow started scooping the loose coins into his extradimensional backpack. "Okay, ready, Master!" he said when he was done. Hey, they were now 12,000 gold pieces the richer - who was he to complain about Baabby getting a fancy title in a stupid dungeon riddle? With both [i]portal stones[/i] in hand, the heroes stepped into a portal in the room beyond and were whisked away to another place altogether. This was the Inner Sanctum, which consisted of a large area with a raised structure in the middle; circling this structure was a set of curving steps, much in the same mold as the winding ledge along Mount Mabuvius which had gained the heroes entry to the volcano's interior at the top. From the central chamber were four spherical side-chambers; of these, three were sealed up by force fields while the forth had been almost nearly sealed off by an earthquake centuries ago. However, that wasn't all the heroes saw inside the Inner Sanctum. The three force fields were red, green, and purple, and hovering next to each was a robed figure: a fire spell punk, a life spell punk, and a magic spell punk. Each was concentrating on attempting to dismantle the force field before it, to the extent they hadn't yet noticed the intruders. Baabby charged at the magic spell punk, who, just to the right, was the closest one available. His single cut with the [i]Rift-Weaver's Blade[/i] was enough to slay the spell punk outright. As its body fell to the ground, purple energy rose up out of its body and flew to the back of the chamber, behind the central platform with the spiraling steps. In addition, the magical effects the spell punk had produced since its arrival in the Inner Sanctum were sundered as well. Instantly, other creatures began fading back into view, their [i]invisibility[/i] purged upon the magic spell punk's death. At various places across the Inner Sanctum, the forms of an air spell punk, an earth spell punk, an undead spell punk, a water spell punk, and - up at the top of the central platform - a tech spell punk materialized. And now visibly waddling around the sides of the central platform were several bone chompies. Sapphrina was the first of the heroes to react. Seeing they were vastly outnumbered, she did what she could to help even the odds. One [i]haste[/i] spell later, all three of the heroes were moving faster than they'd ever moved before. Several bone chompies advanced upon the heroes from either side of the platform, while their undead spell punk master shot a blast of necromantic energy at Baabby. Fortunately, the sheep-man dodged the blast, no doubt at least partially due to his increased speed. Sam looked enviously up at the tech spell punk, specifically at his position at the top of the central platform. From there, you'd be able to shoot down at anyone else in the entire Inner Sanctum! Making the decision to reserve that spot for himself, Sam shot an explosive arrow up at the tech spell punk, then dodged his way past three bone chompies - two of which managed to get in a bite - and started making his way up the spiraling steps. But having made his first one-third arc around the platform, Sam found himself in the line of fire of both the air and tech spell punks (the latter of which would be able to target Sam no mater where he stood in the Inner Sanctum). Sam winced under the dual assault but continued running as fast as his little crow legs would take him. With the magic spell punk dead, the purple force field was no longer under attack. But the fire and life spell punks continued their work unabated, certain that their companions could handle a small force of three heroes. The water spell punk had the misfortune of both hovering directly next to two bone chompies and being within Baabby's reach. That made him an irresistible target; one massive swing of the [i]Rift-Weaver's Blade[/i] later, Baabby had cut completely through the water spell punk and the two bone chompies adjacent to it. Once again, life energy - this time blue - rose up from the fallen spell punk's body and over to the back of the Inner Sanctum; from Baabby's new vantage point he could see it heading to an open rift in the back - no doubt, the means of entry for the spell punks and their bone chompy allies. The earth spell punk fired an orb of some kind at Baabby but missed. Nearby, the undead spell punk summoned another bone chompy out of thin air, sent it after the baabarian, and then fled at full speed in the opposite direction. He'd just witnessed the sheep-man cut down his brother spell punks of magic and water and wasn't about to be next! He wasn't; the earth spell punk and another bone chompy were Baabby's next victims, the dual recipients of the next single swing of his greatsword. Those in the vicinity could see the look of combat fury on the baabarian's face - Baabby had let his battle-lust fuel his strength and durability and was now a combat monster let loose upon the spell punks! Sam shot an arrow up at the tech spell punk as he circled along the steps; only now did he notice he had three bone chompies following in his wake, but under the effects of the [i]haste[/i] spell he had no worries about them catching up to him until he reached the zenith and had nowhere else to run. The arrow was well-placed, but the tech spell punk stubbornly hung on to life. In fact, he returned fire, sending a blast of tech energy crashing into the crow's body; Sapphrina, seeing him wobbling as he ran, flew up to Sam and imbued him with a [i]bear's endurance[/i] spell which gave him enough energy to keep on fighting. When he made it to the top of the spiral, he surprised the tech spell punk by stabbing forward with his shortsword, piercing the floating mage through his middle, Then the highest perch was all Sam's; the crow noticed the tech spell punk's orange life energy - and his shadow, which was kind of weird! - both flew across the Inner Sanctum and into the open rift, which seemed to shrink a bit in size as a result of the returned energy. The air spell punk opted to reinforce his allies by casting spells upon his fire and undead brethren. This gave each of them an outer layer of rushing winds, likely able to fling away any ranged attacks - like Sam's arrows! - that might be sent their way. Seeing the fire spell punk still laboring away at the red force field, Sam sent an explosive arrow his way. That nearly slew the mage outright, but once again he held on to life by his nonexistent fingernails. The attack did cause him to stop his attempts at bringing down the force field; instead, he blasted a fiery stream of energy up at Sam. But Sam's [i]resist fire[/i] spell was still in effect, so it dealt nowhere near the damage the spell punk might have hoped for. Looking over at the commotion and surprised that the others were taking such a beating, the life spell punk stopped his own attempts at bringing down the green force field and cast healing energy at his fire spell punk associate. (From the top of the central platform, the anguished cries of "No fair!" could be heard.) But that was the life spell punk's last act; he'd failed to notice Baabby was within striking distance and that proved to be lethal. The air spell punk sent a blast of energy up at Sam which knocked the crow out cold. But as Sapphrina flew up to the top of the crow' perch to feed him a healing potion from his belt, Baabby slew two more spell punks: undead and fire, who had made the mistake of floating too near each other. As their energies and shadows raced to the ever-dwindling rift, all of the bone chompies suddenly popped back out of existence, their summoner having been slain. That left only the fire spell punk. Baabby raced up to it and slashed at it with his greatsword, causing it to gasp and groan in pain. But for once it was Sam who got the finishing shot; having been revived by Sapphrina, he was able to send a normal arrow across the Inner Sanctum to grab the final kill from Baabby's grasp. (And as the baabarian glared up at Sam, the little crow was suddenly very glad of the distance between them!) With the fire spell punk's essences fleeing back to the rift, it closed. However, in its place were two other spell punks, looking nothing like any the heroes had ever seen. One wore a white robe with a sun emblem on its hood; the other, a robe of pitch black adorned only with the symbol of a crescent moon. The light spell punk was the first to react. It raised a curved claw and pointed it at Baabby; a blinding flash of energy shot off from it and struck the baabarian, then reflected off his body and went blasting over Sam's way. Neither hero was able to avoid the full effects, although the further distance meant that Sam suffered much less than Baabby, having received a tinier portion of the energy's full blast. Still, Sam was not in a particularly grateful mood. He shot off three arrows one right after the other, sending each one flying at the light spell punk. However, in this case haste made waste, for only one actually struck its target. And while the dark spell punk was being temporarily ignored, it raised its own claw and a black hole - or what looked suspiciously like one - manifested in the chamber, causing ripples in a large enough radius to include both Baabby and Sam. Each hero felt their [i]haste[/i] spell being temporarily negated, and each had the feeling if they stayed within the radius for too long it would start absorbing their own life forces. So that was not an option. Baabby charged away from the black hole, which coincidentally sent him straight on a path to the light spell punk. He slashed down with his greatsword using all of his might, but the wonky time differential caused by escaping the black hole's power might have throw off his balance because he completely missed the floating mage. However, he was close enough that when the light spell punk started to try casting another of those reflecting light blasts his way, the baabarian was able to cut him down with one blow. The dark spell punk seemed amazed to see his opposite partner get taken down in one blow. He raised a claw in Baabby's direction, only to have history repeat itself: before he could blast the baabarian, the [i]Rift-Weaver's Blade[/i] came down on his head, carving him neatly in two. After that, the heroes gathered together and attended to their wounds, applying potions and Baabby's healing spells as needed. Then, at Sapphrina's suggestion, each strode over to the force field that corresponded to the color of the [i]attunement stone[/i] they carried. The magical stones allowed them to walk right through the force fields as if they weren't there while still leaving them intact. As one, each hero stepped into the middle of the magic circle inscribed in their side-chamber, and as one, they vanished from sight. They ended up in another extradimensional space, where they were confronted by the holographic image of none other than Xacho, the original wielder of the [i]Rift-Weaver's Blade[/i] - back when it was still called the [i]Blade of the Elements[/i]. "You have finally arrived here," said the hologram. "Long ago, many years before either of you was born, I used the powers of your greatsword to explore the rifts. In doing so, I discovered a great evil: a being known as the [b]Devourer of Nightmares[/b]. I sought [b]the Oracle[/b] to learn how I could destroy it, and was told two conflicting prophecies: 'Imbued with all, the [i]Blade of the Elements[/i] shall vanquish the Devourer of Nightmares,' and 'Your quest shall fail until the courageous sheep and the cowardly crow finish your work.'" "Hey!" objected Sam, but Baabby gave him a shushing motion. "I had no choice but to battle the Devourer of Nightmares," hoping that the power of the eight Elemental Runes on my blade would overcome it. But I failed to destroy it; instead, I managed to seal it away here, in the Rift-Woven Vault." "Here?" squeaked Sam, looking around rapidly for any sign of the Devourer of Nightmares - not that he knew what it looked like. Still, he was pretty sure he'd recognize it if he saw it. "Below you, on the seal upon which you stand," said the Xacho image. Sam looked down, saw he was standing on a circular slab of stone inscribed with multiple arcane runes and jumped to the side as if he found himself standing on a hot griddle. Then, gathering up his indignation - "cowardly crow" indeed! - Sam decided to try a bit of comeuppance on this mouthy hologram. "Well, I hate to break it to you, Xacho old boy, but I don't think the Oracle's prophecies were conflicting." "Oh? How so?" "You said you fought the Devourer of Nightmares - that's a long name, by the way; I think I'll just call him by his initials - you fought [b]Don[/b] using the power of all eight elemental runes on this sword of yours. Well, of Baabby's now. But that's only eight elements. Current thinking is that there are ten elements: you forgot Light and Dark." "What?" sputtered the holographic Xacho. "TEN elements? Since when?" "It's a fairly recent discovery," admitted Sam. "But it was in all the papers a few years ago." Baabby looked over his blade: he had yet to gather the Air, Earth, and Tech runes, for which there were the appropriate holes cut through the metal of the blade's center - and the Light and Dark runes too, apparently, for which there were no such holes. "There's room on the blade for two more runes," he pointed out. "We'll have to add them to the list," said Sapphrina. Then, turning to Xacho, she asked, "Can you tell us where to get the other runes?" "When I dispersed the elemental runes I had gathered after trapping the Devourer of Nightmares--" "Don," interrupted Sam. "--they returned from where I had originally gotten them. So I can guide you to the Air and Earth elemental runes, but not the Tech. I never did find the Tech rune." "Hey, wait a minute!" said Sam. "You said you had gained all of the runes! Well, all eight, in any case." "I couldn't find the Tech rune, so I improvised," admitted Xacho. "There is a way to gather up smaller pieces of Tech magic and fuse them into a facsimile of the whole rune, but such an undertaking takes time we no longer have." "How so?" asked Baabby. "The Oracle said the Devourer of Nightmares--" "Don," interjected Sam. "--would escape from his imprisonment one year after the [i]Blade of the Elements[/i] was found by the courageous sheep and the--" "Watch it there, buddy!" "--and his crow partner," amended the Xacho hologram. "Doesn't sound like undoing all of those runes was a very smart idea," griped Sam. "Now we gotta go get them all over again." "There was little choice," replied the hologram. "Intact, with all the runes present, the [i]Blade of Elements[/i] could act as a key, unlocking the creature trapped below us. And there are forces even now trying to get hold of the blade so they can free their master from his imprisonment." "Hrrm," mumbled Sam, not wanting to let the hologram off the hook. "Very well," said Sapphrina, her mind made up about their next course of action. "I guess we'll gather up the Air and Earth runes first, as they'll be easier. Then we'll see what we can do about finding the Tech rune, and then we'll see if the Light and Dark runes - if they exist - can be added to the sword." "Sounds like a plaan," agreed Baabby. "So where do we find the Air rune?" And Xacho told them. - - - The maps we used this time were the "Arcane Dungeon" Pathfinder Flip-Map we had used for "The Rift-Weaver's Trial," but this time Logan included more rooms than he'd used for that adventure - including the entire back side of the map, where we fought all of the spell punks. The Rift-Woven Vault was a tile map from the "Extradimensional Spaces" Map Pack and it was particularly thematically appropriate for a Skylanders game, given it was a cluster of small floating islands, some of them chained together. Incidentally, Dark and Light being new elements is a plot point in one of the video games - "Trap Team," I think - but as of yet there are no dark or light spell punks in the video games. Logan added them as a logical extrapolation, designing their element-themed powers on his own. If the video games ever go down that path, we blazed the trail here first! [/QUOTE]
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The Adventures of Baabby and Sam - a Skylanders Campaign
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