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Message: <blockquote data-quote="the Jester" data-source="post: 2088517" data-attributes="member: 1210">Into Thixil Testa- pt. 2At a glance, the frozen elf looks like a powerful wizard or sorcerer; he wears scarlet robes dusted with sand and clutches a wooden staff topped with a coppery globe.  Whatever holds him here obviously bypassed or overcame any defenses he had; and he looks rather formidable.  The adventurers move slowly down the hall, Gerontius carefully checking for signs of danger or trap mechanisms as they do so.  Soon they’ve reached the elf without any trouble.  None of them want to advance past his location; it seems likely to be a location-based trap, and nobody wants to get stuck like a fly in amber.  An initial round of dispels fails to affect the situation at all, so after some discussion, Inoke tries simply pulling the elf figure back.  To his chagrin, the elf won’t budge.  His muscles bulge as he pulls, to no avail.  Finally, he states, “Well, I’m going to try putting my ring of freedom of movement on him.”  He pulls it off- and freezes in place, just like the elf!“Great,” groans Lillamere.  “Now what?”“His plan was good,” notes Chakar.  “He simply did not have the mastery of self to overcome the stasis.”  He pauses, then steps in front of Inoke.  “I will wager that I do.”  The dwarven monk, too, has a ring of freedom of movement, and now he steps in front of his burly, frozen companion, draws a deep breath, and slips his ring free.  Instantly he feels the tingle of the stasis field surrounding him, but he is his own master.  He slides his arm through the field and places the ring on Inoke, then pushes him back, out of the field again.  The fighter groans, staggering back, and Chakar emerges from the field.  Inoke, shaking his head to clear it, gives Chakar his ring back. “Thank you,” he utters, his voice hoarse.  Chakar turns wordlessly back to the elven figure held by the stasis field.  Again, a deep breath to settle his concentration; then Chakar moves back into the field, slips the ring on the elf, and drags him back.Almost instantly, the elf tenses, looking around wildly.  He cries out in a strange tongue nobody can comprehend.  There are a few confused moments while the group tries to understand each other, but again Chakar steps up; his abilities allow him to speak to almost anything. “His name is Hashrek,” says Chakar after the elf and he pass a few minutes in conversation.  “He’s never heard of most of the stuff we’re familiar with- he must be from pretty ancient times.  He says he was coming here to search through the ruins of this place but must have been caught in a trap of some kind.”Hashrek tells them (through Chakar) that he was one of the Elder Elves- an ancient race of powerful elves.  He had come to look for Miloxi relics.  Sybele, at least, has seen the works of the Elder Elves before, years ago in a terrible place called Firestorm Peak.  They had a gate that had attuned itself to a realm of madness far removed from conventional reality.  She lost many friends trying to shut that portal.  “He’s mind blanked or otherwise protected against my mind scan,” Veil declares to the others.“And there’s something fishy going on here,” adds Proto quietly in his mechanical voice.  “The Elder Elves came before the Miloxi Empire.”Nonetheless, the party decides to take Hashrek with them.  If he’s as potent as he looks, he might be very useful in a fight.  Better yet, he might have a certain level of knowledge about this place that could prove very useful.  And, unanimously, our heroes agree that it’s also much better to have him with them than to have him wandering around unattended even if he does turn out to be dangerous to them.  At this point, Horbin casts tongues on him, allowing introductions and such.So Chakar and Inoke, wearing their rings of freedom of movement, proceed to the end of the passage and open the door.  The group ascertains that the stasis field is gone by the simple act of walking forward; beyond the room is a chamber most unusual.In the center of the room is a broad pit with tracks in the side sinking down about 20’.  The bottom of it looks like the rest of the metal floor above, but its circumference is marked out in faded red.  The room also contains two control panels and a strange coppery device with a great ring set in the center.  The copper device is a block set into the floor with two prongs emerging from the top of each end.  There are scorch and burn marks near the prongs, and some sort of shattered shell of silvery metal foil lies around it.  One of the control panels is dark and useless.  The other has two dark screens, but two levers and a handful of buttons scattered across the panel are lit up still.  “Oh my god, I’m so glad Lester isn’t here,” Horbin breathes.  Nonetheless, it’s only a matter of time.Our heroes look around, but nothing turns up that isn’t obvious to begin with.  So, soon enough, Gerontius starts monkeying with levers and buttons, and abruptly the lights turn red and klaxons start sounding!Inoke hears his tabaxi helmet in his mind: Beware, that might indicate high radiation levels.What’s that mean? Inoke thinks back to it.It is potentially disastrous, his helmet replies.“Oh no, you’ve Lestered it up now,” groans Horbin.“Quickly,” commands Proto, “gather around.  I will mass teleport us out of here before anything goes too wrong.”  The group huddles together, and Proto begins casting his spell.At the last instant, Hashrek steps back and away, and the party mass teleports, leaving him behind.  He smiles.***1 p.m., Brelana, Western Dorhaus“Does anyone know what ‘radiation’ is?” Inoke asks.“I’ve heard stories before,” muses Horbin.  “Drelvin and Lester talked about it a few times... some sort of effect, like a long-term poisoning, that sometimes came from... ancient... tabaxi ruin.”  He frowns.  “Do you think that’s what the alarms meant?” “Maybe.  My helmet said it could be.”Pure speculation, says the helm to Inoke.“Well, I can probably heal us from its effects,” Horbin starts, but then his face falls.  “Maybe not, actually, since I seem to recall Lester saying that they could never remove its effects, and this was when Dexter himself was traveling with them.”  He sighs.  “Great.”“And what do you suppose Hashrek is doing?” Inoke wonders.***Over the next few days our heroes rest and recuperate while Lillamere- Baron Lillamere, now- legend lores Hashrek.  He writes the snatch of doggerel down and shows it around:Dull-eyed and terrifiedLay the followers of his foemenAs Hashrek the BrutalLaid low all his countrymenFleeing his lord’s revengeAcross ocean hill and glenUntil he found the placeThat giant’s strength could riseWhere crystal and magic and mindWould join in one surmise“’Hashrek the Brutal,’” comments Inoke.  “Great.  We rescued this guy.”Chakar shrugs.  “We will un-rescue him.”***8/28/370 O.L.G., 10 a.m., the depths of Thixil Testa*This time the half-dragon Rex comes with the party.  The goblins are dead or fled.  Teleporting into the Miloxi building is inhibited somehow, so the party comes in from just outside.  Their first move is to go get the lamp.  It is gone.In the dust there are tracks: humanoid but feline- and with reversed toes.“Rakshasa,” Lillamere hisses.“This gets better and better,” Veil murmurs.  She winces.  The radiation may be gradually building up in the bodies of most of her companions, but it just seems to hurt her and Proto right off the bat.  It’s not bad yet, but... well.  Ever since the Chaos turned her into a construct, certain things have been... different... than they used to be for her.  She smiles a secret smile.  It’s probably better to take damage than to be crippled by the radiation, anyway, she thinks.  And I don’t quite feel the pain like I used to- it’s almost detached.  And it’s useful- Proto and I can tell how bad the exposure we’re getting is.The lights are still red, and the klaxons still blare.  It is maddening.  Searching around some more through the doors they have not already been through turns up an interesting prize: several old suits made out of some sort of thick rubbery yellow material.  “These must be to help protect against the radiation!” Inoke exclaims.  He puts one of them on, and though it looks comical and ridiculous, he decides that it’s probably worth wearing if things start to feel ‘hot.’  The group takes the suits.The last room that they’ve not yet explored turns out to be another room full of control panels, only one of which is not obviously broken down.  Something is scratched in the surface of it; a dagger lies on the ground nearby.  “Anyone read Ancient Miloxi?” jokes Gerontius.It says, ‘don’t touch levers,’ Inoke’s helmet tells him.  He passes this along.  “There doesn’t seem to be much here,” comments Rex.  “And where’s this Hashrek?”  He pushes his chest out, puffing up.  “We’ll find him,” Lillamere promises.  The group returns to the room with the control panels and the copper block thing, whatever it is.  To their surprise, there has been a significant change to the scene: in the pit, the center of the floor has opened.  Beneath it is a 25’ square pit about 60’ deep with tracks on all the walls and anther hatch in the bottom.  Obviously, our heroes descend. Another hatch is below it, this one closed.  Lillamere disintegrates it without a second thought.  Dropping through this, the party enters a room about 30’ on a side whose walls, floor and ceiling are all completely lined with lead.  Unfortunately, one wall has been largely dug away at some point.  Its passage leads downward at a moderate incline (around 20 degrees).  This room is a shambles; something has torn it apart.  There are metal lockers rent open and ripped apart, and the remains of some more radiation protection gear.  Our heroes search through the mess, and while almost everything is clearly badly damaged, there are two intact suits of weird, white ceramic armor.  The suits have strange dials on the chest.  When they are turned one direction, little wire lines in the suit light up. “Weird,” says Inoke.  “Let’s take them,” says Rex.  “They are too small for me, but still.”Though there’s a door out of the chamber, the party elects to first investigate the dug-out wall.  They move cautiously into a natural cavern that slopes downward, full of pulsing, organ-like fungal growths like nothing our heroes have ever seen before. Then, suddenly, with a terribly loud bellowing roar, a hideous monster bursts forth.  It is huge, with cratered skin and shiny carapace both.  It is barely recognizable as an umber hulk; it has clearly undergone some sort of unnatural mutation.  A cloud of green gas starts to billow our from it, choking and poisoning our heroes, and Inoke’s eyes glaze over with confusion.“Oh crap,” Lillamere moans faintly.Invisible and mind blanked, Hashrek the Brutal gloats as his charmed irradiated umber hulk servant moves in for the kill.Next Time: Major battle between Hashrek and the umber hulk and our heroes!!*Although our heroes don’t know it, that’s the name of this place in ancient Miloxi.</blockquote>

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