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Rocket your D&D 5E and Level Up: Advanced 5E games into space! Alpha Star Magazine Is Launching... Right Now!

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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Cypherblade" data-source="post: 9809450" data-attributes="member: 7048389">Players weren't happy about the self-destruct switch in the ziggurat, but of course they couldn't resist pushing it....[spoiler]After the fight, Felix tells us about his experience in the Astral Plane—because that’s where he spent a round. There he had a vision, vivid as a memory, about the orcs we saw at the entrance. From the vision he learned that we can make those strange half-tangible monsters fully tangible by thinking about them in a specific way.When we try to return to the monster chamber, we discover that it has almost closed up with wild vines and roots. With a glowing stone from Kane we can just make out that the door on the far side is also sealing itself shut. Kane tries to shove the corpse of one of the monsters inside, but without success. Fortunately, Saria manages to speak with the plant, and the roots slowly pull back.Inside, a curtain now hangs across the middle of the room. The fabric is nearly decayed. We step in carefully. When Kane enters, the floor begins to slide open; he tries to leap back into the corridor. The floor retracts completely and reveals rows of spears far beneath—another spear trap. But after a short inspection, it turns out to be an illusion.In the center lies another stone with the circles, this time with a mark on the third ring: our world, and the moon, Av, the dream-world.We move inside. Saria touches the curtain and it crumbles into dust. Carlao leads but spots a trap just in time. Ayleen disables it and casts detect magic, but sees nothing further. Time passes strangely, and Carlao suddenly realizes that Staf is far, far stronger than he is. His sword feels sooooo heavy. (that's the effect of the Mind Scar)Moments later he steps into a trap out of sheer weakness. Kane and Ayleen take the lead. Ahead we find a secret door propped open, with stairs leading down and a magical glow filling the room. At the entrance lies a coconut-fiber welcome mat. Beyond it is another staircase leading down, and two pillars carved with winged serpents. At the far end is a small dais, and mounted on the wall hangs a golden tablet, about three by three and a half meters, with rounded corners.Under the mat lies another map with a star system: a sphere on the final orbit. The invisible plane of catastrophe—Nem. When Ayleen steps further in, she notices that the winged serpents are faintly magical. The golden tablet, however, is not. The carving depicts stars, orcs, minotaurs, goblins—all seemingly fighting together against those strange monsters. Two humans and three tieflings lie dead here as well. They look like archaeologist types, though the tieflings were armed. They don’t seem to have been seasoned fighters. Their bodies have clearly already been inspected and stripped of anything valuable. On the floor, a half-circle of arcane symbols has been drawn in chalk, quite recently. It looks like two half-circles—apparently for two rituals: one for protection, one for suppressing magic. The pillars sit just outside the circles, and the circles appear broken.Kane interrogates a dead tiefling:<ul> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">What were you doing in this ziggurat? Removing the seal to transport it to Danor.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">What killed you? Some idiot walked through the ritual circles and triggered the seal’s magic.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">What is the seal for? It seals away something from the outside world.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">What did you discover here? Rooms full of traps, two seals, and a map.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">What was on the map? We think it showed what the lands looked like thousands of years ago.</li> </ul>Felix examines the seal to see what can be learned from the star carvings. He finds the constellation Alexia, associated with teleportation and divination.Ayleen inspects the stone at the entrance—it’s a trigger for something, but nothing happens. Kane suddenly hears running water. A lot of water. From one side of the corridor water is flowing in, and from the other side two undead come charging.Ayleen fires twice but misses. Kane misses too. Felix scorches one of the undead, and Carlao hacks at the other. Saria finishes the scorched one. Ayleen kills the other.Water begins flooding the chamber with the seal, and we suspect the other corridor is filling too. So we sprint toward the exit but run into two more undead. These ones are tougher and one hits Kane, but we eventually put them down.Back in the plant room, the roots have already begun blocking the exit again. With a lot of pushing and pulling we manage to force our way through. At the fire chamber Ayleen disables the mechanism. Finally we return to the room where we first entered and found the orcs.Felix addresses them in Ancient, a language he suddenly remembers. But the orcs are convinced Felix has tampered with the seal. He responds by casting Chromatic Orb, dropping two of the three orcs. Ayleen shoots the last one.During a quick rest, Ayleen notices Carlao giving her suspicious looks. That man is up to something!And then, in the rain, we see shapes approaching from every direction—hundreds of them. While we argue whether to break through or retreat into the pyramid, the ground begins to shake and a gigantic serpent, larger than the ziggurat, rises from the swamp. A greenish light shines from its single eye. It is a Fey Titan.The serpent coils around the ziggurat, crushing zombies while water splashes over us.“Climb, fools,” a deep voice commands.We climb the ziggurat while the Titan continues crushing the undead.Kane, Carlao, and Ayleen fall under a Geas cast by the Titan. The ziggurat sinks back into the swamp.With some effort we orient ourselves and return to our guide, who only had to deal with a storm and two alligators. We take the boat back to Agate and arrive late in the evening.Kane updates Alaric via Sending: “Insert message.”Alaric replies that we must continue the investigation in Flint.Then we sleep.During the night, Ayleen searches Carlao’s belongings and discovers a note full of incriminating information about the party members.THIS MAN IS SPYING ON US! OUTRAGEOUS! (also a mindscar)8 Autumn 500 AOVFortunately, Kane casts Remove Curse, ending Ayleen’s paranoia—though she still glares at Carlao, because the note is indeed suspicious. Kane scolds Carlao for his questionable behavior, then also casts Remove Curse on him.We ask the innkeeper about the expedition that transported the seal—it apparently weighed a ton. They rolled it over logs and used magic to move it.In Bole we find Staf again, eating in an inn. He’s on “vacation” after spending a day in prison. Apparently he earned that vacation, he says. The auditor questioned him extensively, and judging from the type of questions, he was psychologically evaluated—and made a few mistakes. So he was sent on leave.We eat and sleep.<h3>9 Autumn 500 AOV</h3>That morning, Kane casts Remove Curse on himself, freeing himself from the Geas as well. It gives him a nasty headache. Then we board the train to Flint.<h3>10 Autumn 500 AOV</h3>Arrival in Flint.[/spoiler]</blockquote>

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