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Message: <blockquote data-quote="el-remmen" data-source="post: 2944160" data-attributes="member: 11">Session #93 (part iii of iii)“And when they pass through here, detain them,” they heard Gilbart’s voice instructing the great audience of modrons from up on the raised box and podium.“They are taking too long,” Martin whispered to the others. “Something is wrong.”“Our only choice is to mediate with Gilbart,” Roland said.  “There is nothing to be gained by going back. If she has killed them then they are already dead.””That is rather cold,” Bastian said.  “And what about Lady Elvira?  Did she get away?  Did she run out one of the other portals? She might still be in danger…”“Fool! Lady Elvira is a demon.  She is Mozek’s mother. She is Ora Amira El!” Roland spat.“She is…?”“Damn, I never seen someone so easily whipped,” Gunthar said, with a wink. “They are still taking too long,” Martin said.“Let us ask Gilbart for help,” Roland suggested.  “He knows this place better than any of us, and now with Kazrack not here barking questions at him we can get more accomplished by acting like proper guests.”Martin the Green shrugged his shoulders, but Gunthar and Sergio refused to go forward.  Roland led the way into the center of the audience chamber with Martin and Bastian close behind.“Decaton, we need to organize the pentadrones in order to seek out these invaders and bring them somewhere safe,” Gilbart was saying as Roland, Martin and Bastian stepped out.“That will not be necessary, Gilbart,” Roland said.  “Here we are…”Gilbart hurriedly pressed something on the console of gemstones before the great stone seat he stood in front of.  The gate behind the three adventurers slammed shut.“It is regrettable that we could not come to an agreement earlier,” Roland continued, bowing his head slightly.  “Our companion Kazrack is rather relentless once he has focused on a problem and cannot see things from the point of view of others.”“Where are your other companions?” Gilbart allowed some anger to show now that he felt he had the upper hand.  The ten-eyed decaton with its trunk-like legs stood silently beside him, and the gallery still had about a score of modrons among it seats, including two pentadrones nearby.“Well, I wanted to ask that you re-open that gate so that they won’t be trapped with the demoness when they come through this way,” Roland said.“And Gunthar and that other fellow are in there as well,” added Bastian, pointing past the gate.  Gunthar’s swear words echoed out of the tunnel.Soon the gate was opening and they could hear the smaller lower gates open as well allowing four tridrones to enter the tunnel from either side.  They held two spears each and herded Sergio and Gunthar in with the others. (1)  The gate remained open.“You had an opportunity to be esteemed guests, but now I fear I must treat you as intruders until such a time that Master Hurgun can decide what to do with you,” Gilbart said.“We needed an invitation in order to be esteemed guests, and we want to be esteemed guests,” Bastian replied.  “But invitations were not available.  Hurgun’s Maze, by all accounts, has been gone for about one hundred and fifty years.  Invitations were not accessible.” Gilbart frowned.“But please, sir,” Martin the Green interjected.  “Haven’t you noticed there is something wrong with the modrons?  And where is Hurgun?  Have you spoken to him?”“There a great deal going on here and we need to take it slow,” Roland said. “But we really need your help to keep that demon from killing our friends, if they are not dead already.”“Who are you again?” Gilbart asked Roland.“I am Roland Eremecia of Bast,” the Bastite replied.“You will be brought to the guest quarters and there you will stay until I can ascertain the extent of what happened,” Gilbart said.“It is still happening…” Kazrack’s voice made everyone turn and look.  The dwarf was covered in blood and dragging Ratchis awkwardly by under his arms.   Roland hurried over and called to Bast to heal the Friar.  “It is still happening.  The demon is free in your Maze and because of her Dorn is dead, and I do not know where Aiten is, but he carries the gemstone with the king’s soul.”“Dorn is dead?” Martin cried.  The watch-mage’s head sunk as Ratchis sputtered awake.“The demoness was the reason I was trapped in the mirror,” Gilbart said.  “I led her in there knowing at the very least I would be trapped and safe until Hurgun found me, or perhaps she might get trapped as well.”“But Hurgun never came, and he still hasn’t come and so we have to make do with one of our friends being killed as your form of hospitality,” Martin spat.“I am sorry for your friend, but I was trying to get you out of there without starting a melee as you will clearly remember, in order to have the modrons around to protect and in hopes of finding Hurgun this time,” Gilbart voice became a hurried mumble, and then he cleared his throat and his voice took on a bass authority again.  “Regardless, now we will accompany you to the guest rooms, but first I must ask that you drop your weapons and components pouches.”Ratchis stood and shook his head, but dropped his sword to the ground and the others followed suit.  The spheroid monodrones walked over and picked up the weapons and equipment and the two pentadrones floated down to flank the group.  In a few moments the Keepers of the Gate and Sergio Fontane were being led out of the great carved audience chamber and through the portal opposite the one they had come from to flee the Hell Chamber.   Gilbart accompanied them along with the two pentadrones, four tridrones and five monodrones.They came into another large chamber of the same outer dimensions of the two previous chambers they had seen, but this one was an elaborate dining room. (1)  There were several round tables surround by chairs, and two long rectangular tables, one a third longer than the other.  There was a cloth screen on a track that could be pulled to divide the great chamber into smaller, more intimate eating situations.  In the top right hand corner was a raised area with one smaller round table with three chairs.  The walls were lined with long low cabinets that held silverware and dishware of many different styles and cultures.  The lacquer of the wood paneled walls shone in the light of the crystal and silver chandeliers that hung low over the long tables.  Gold lanterns and tapestries decorated the raised area.But some of the glass on the cabinets was broken, and there were tridrones in here, dragging away the corpses of blubbery humanoids with sagging gray and black skin and foul smell to them.“It seems this was all caused by a little dretch infestation,” Gilbart said.  “Nothing to worry about.  And I am sure Hurgun will have the demoness in hand very soon.”Ratchis looked to Martin the Green who shrugged and shook his head.They were led through the portal to the right of the one they came through and were greeted by cold air.It was another square chamber with the same length and depth of the previous ones, but the ceiling was higher, looking slightly taller than forty feet.  The walls, floor and ceiling seemed to be made of cloud-like material.  Their footsteps into the room made no sound, and the air was moist, feeling the moisture soak into the hems of their pants, robes and cloaks.  There were nine cubes of cloud in the room.  Most were small, around ten feet to a side and floated in place twenty to thirty feet off the ground, but there were two larger ones about twenty by fifteen, both of which hovered about fifteen up. (2)There was no discernible light source, and yet it was lit up with a soft blue light.“These are the guest quarters,” Gilbart announced, as a tridrone took a spot at each of the four portals in the room; one on each wall.Gilbart explained that the cubes of cloud were actually rooms that the Keepers of the Gate would find very comfortable.  “The rooms obey the mental commands of those who are staying in them,” he continued.  “And gravity in this room is subjective. You can will yourself to fall up, and you can will yourself to step into any of the rooms here as long as they are unoccupied.  If they are occupied then whoever is inside of them must allow you in.”“So there is no need to worry about our privacy?” Roland asked.Gilbart frowned and shook his head.  “Furthermore, the rooms can be positioned about the room and smaller rooms can be joined to make bigger ones by acting cooperatively.”“This is pretty amazing,” Martin finally said.“Master Hurgun’s mastery of the elements is unequaled,” Gilbar replied.”Except the element of time,” Kazrack said.  Gilbart frowned again.The tridrones placed the party’s weapons and other things in one corner of the larger room.  Gilbart explained that the modrons would guard over their stuff until the situation had been cleared up.“What’s that?” Roland asked pointing to the edge of one of the cloud rooms.  There was a tiny draconic form with a long tail with a swollen stinger on the end crawling along the outside of it.  It buzzed its wings.“Why it is a dragonette!” Martin said, when he smiled the rotting bruise on his face cracked and oozed puss. “One of order of pseudo draconis…”“Oh my! I nearly forgot in all of the activity!  We have another guest!” Gilbart exclaimed.  “Lady Aureliania!”  And with that the form of a petite woman came floating down from one of the large rooms. She was barely half a foot above four feet in height, with wispy sea blue hair and a white gossamer gown that seemed to hide everything and nothing at once.  She had large insect-like wings that gleamed with many colors.  The cold air of the room was filled with a flowery perfume as she approached.“Gilbart!  You are finally back!  I fear you did forget me,” she said in a mellifluous voice like a songbird.  “It has literally been years!”“Years? What…?” Gilbart looked puzzled.“Yes, about one hundred and fifty years,” Bastian said. “I said it before and you ignored me.”“Nonsense!” Gilbart frowned.“One hundred and fifty years! No, my good sir, but I am afraid that cannot be,” Lady Aureliana said.  “It has been years, but more like three or perhaps four…”“You have been waiting here for years?” Roland asked, skeptically.“Yes… well… and who are you, sir?”Introductions went around, but Gilbart excused himself saying that meals would be brought presently and that he would have Hurgun come and explain everything that had happened.“I don’t think he can accept what has happened,” Roland said after the Maze’s steward left.“What is still happening,” Kazrack said.  He had not spoken since first re-joining the others.  “We should not have let him go.  He will be killed by the demoness.  She is loose in the Maze.”“You have seen the demoness?” Lady Aureliana asked, she caught a glimpse of Martin’s face and turned away, shuddering.  “I fled from her the last time I tried exploring the Maze for myself.  I spent the last three years certain that she would find this room again and I would have to flee and face the other dangers of the Maze.”“What have you eaten in all that time?” Roland asked, still skeptical.“My kind do not eat,” she replied.  “At least not in a manner you’d consider eating.  I am a sylph, and I am here as a diplomat, representative of the Djinn King Diya al-Dhin of the elemental plane of Air.  His anger must be great that I have been gone so long, but even he could not bust open this Maze by force… if he has tried.”“Can you tell us what rooms connect to this one?” Martin asked Lady Aureliana.She gulped and looked down, and her pseudo-dragon companion landed on her tiny shoulder and hissed at the watch-mage.  “The rooms move.  That is the nature of the Maze.”“What triggers it?”“I don’t know,” she was still looking down and shaking her head, and took a half-step back.  “It seems like they just change every ten minutes or so, though people passing through the portals may affect it.”After a long argument the Keepers of the Gate decided to get some rest while they could. While this happened, Sergio Fontane took the opportunity to talk to Lady Aureliana privately, and as the others chose rooms, finding them to be warm and cozy, and not damp at all.  They had some fun moving them around, while Kazrack brought Ratchis over to one corner of the chamber.“I need to tell you something,” the dwarf said, looking down.  He then raised his head and looked at the half-orc with determination. “It was I that killed Dorn…”Ratchis was silent.“She had him and was going to leave with him and only the gods know what horrible fate might have befallen him, if not his immortal soul,” the dwarf continued, tears streaming down his face and beard.  “I had to do it, and what’s more, if it had been you I would have done the same thing.”“He understood the danger,” Ratchis said, placing a hand on Kazrack’s shoulder. “And what you did you did for the sake of his soul and his sanity.  Our blows were ineffectual against her, or at least nearly so…”But Ratchis’ shoulders sagged and he could not look Kazrack in the eye. He walked over to where the party’s weapons and equipment was and a tridrone moved to block his path.  The half-orc got into a futile debate with the creature.Meanwhile Roland was visiting with Martin in one of the cloud rooms.“I need to ask you something,” the Bastite said.  “Do you blame me for Dorn’s death?” (3)Martin shook his head.”Why should I?  Your reasoning about not going back was sound and I did not argue against it,” Martin replied.  “Who am I to judge you?  You can only do that yourself. Well, you and your goddess, I guess.”“You are right,” Roland said.  “I have to go meditate, but first I need to take care of something.”The Bastite went to another of the cloud rooms and demanded that Bastian let him in.  “We need to talk,” he said. “Actually, I need to talk and you need to listen.”“I can do that,” Bastian said softly.Roland sat down his friend and then softly prayed to Bast, restoring Bastian’s lost wisdom. (4)Martin opened his cloud room to Kazrack, willing it to sink down to floor level in order to make the dwarf feel more comfortable.  The dwarf retold the tale of Dorn’s death to the watch-mage as well.“I am amazed with all we have gone through is how these things still hurt so deeply, and yet… I can turn it off,” Martin mused.Kazrack nodded.“The time to do what I must be done with the Book of Black Circles draws near,” Martin said, changing topic.  “I feel the weight of Osiris’ geas upon me, so we must be close to where I must bring the book into the Negative Material Plan. I just still don’t know what spell to cast from the book.”The dwarf had no response.“You are a good companion, Kazrack, and I am glad to have met you no matter what happens,” Martin said. “I just want it over soon, one way or another…”The two companions shook hands.  Soon Roland arrived again, sharing his healing spells, and then Gunthar called for Kazrack.“Hey! Ya got that sword?” the Neergaardian asked.“What sword?” “The one Dorn had, the magical longsword you claimed you got from a magic talking tree,” Gunthar rolled his eyes.“Yes, I grabbed it before I left the ‘Hell’ room,” Kazrack said.“Okay, good. I’ll let the pointy thing guarding our stuff that it belongs to me now,” Gunthar replied, and walked off to do so.Soon, the Keepers of the Gate were all trying catching some sleep, letting the tensions of their dangerous profession ease out of their muscles the best they could in their own rooms.  The ambient light of the chamber seemed to sense their need and dimmed itself.  Martin the Green with the aid of Lacan’s Demise stayed awake poring over his journal notes from his vision beneath the Pit of Bones, but soon he slammed the book shut frustrated, realizing those details had been fabricated by the Book of Black Circles, and the notes about the Maze were wildly inaccurate.Hours had passed when Roland jerked awake.“Modron Alert! Modron Alert!” Cold voices called out in unison.  He willed the floor of his cloud room to allow him to peek through, and in the dim light of the larger chamber he saw the tridrones set at each of the portals were leaving their posts, passing through portal to the right of the one the party had entered through.  Roland willed himself down to the ground level and noticed that a tridrone that remained guarding the party’s weapon and gear.“Who’s there?” Martin voice called from one of the rooms.“Martin! Did you hear that?” Roland asked.“Yes, and I think more modrons came through the room before I poked my head out to see,” the watch-mage floated down gently to where Roland was.  As if to confirm Martin’s speculation three modrons came hurrying back out the portal the others had exited through.  They were tridrones, but their pus-like yellow blood rolled down their sides.  One of them had two broken arms, and the third dragged a broken leg and one of its eyes had been pierced.“Modron Alert! Re-group! Modron Alert!” They disappeared through the portal the party had first come through.  A moment later an equally wounded pentadrone emerged.“My dear creature,” Roland said to it approaching.  “Whatever is happening?”“Outsider infestation,” the thing said, flapping its petal-like lips once.  “Modron Alert!”  It walked out of the room the same way the others went.“We should wake the others,” Martin said, and Roland agreed.Gathered in a large cloud room made from the smaller ones being willed together, the Keepers of the Gate discussed their options.  They were joined by Sergio Fontane and Lady Aureliana, though the latter only when convinced by Martin.  She refused to look at his face the whole time.Roland went into the lone room Ratchis had for himself and found the half-orc had pierced his brow and ear, and was sitting with his legs folded under him and stripped to his waist. He was whipping a narrow leather strap across his back repeatedly. And he looked as if he might have punched himself in the face several times.“What are you doing? I thought you were sleeping; resting to recover from your wounds,” Roland exclaimed.“What is it?” was all Ratchis said without looking up.“The modrons are fighting the demoness in the Maze and appear to be losing,” Roland said.  “Also, Gilbart has not returned and it has been hours.  We are gathering in a larger room to discuss what we do next.”“What we do next is wait here,” Ratchis replied. “We have done enough harm blundering around in here.  We wait for Gilbart… or for Ora Amira El… Or until we have fully recovered our from our wounds and replenished our spells…”“If we wait until we thing we are ready we may never be,” Roland sneered.  “Well, you know where we are if you change your mind.”--------------------Lady Aureliana told them what she had seen of the Maze.“There is a room of light and a room of absolute darkness,” she explained. “Each of them has a handful of portals to places you would expect such rooms to have portals to.  I think the Light Room has portals to the Heavens and definitely to the Beastlands. (5) It was through the portal from the Beastlands that I arrived.  It is located near the great tree Chochikpi.”This caused some clamor among the Keepers of the Gate.“The Beastlands are the home of my goddess!” Roland exclaimed excitedly.“We should go to the Light Room,” said Martin the Green.  “We need to see Chochokpi and give him back his gifts, and perhaps he will have advice for us.”“I can’t go,” said Roland.“Why not?” asked Kazrack.“I did not meet him before, he said as much,” Roland said.  “If I go and he meets me doesn’t that mess up time somehow?”“We can’t worry about such things,” Bastian said in his quiet way.  “Either time is already messed up or it will all work itself out, either way we cannot ham-string ourselves by weighing every little choice in that way.”“That’s easy for you to say, Chochokpi knew who you were,” Roland snapped back.After taking a few moments to explain to Sergio and Aureliana about Chochokpi as best and as quickly as they could, it was decided that Martin would cast his analyze portal spell, and examine the ways out of the room to choose the best possible way to go.Sergio volunteered to go with them, but Lady Aureliana could not be convinced. Ratchis grunted as he punched himself in the face twice more, but finally he sighed and wrapped  the narrow strap of leather around his forearm.  Getting dressed he willed himself through the floor and joined the others.“What did you decide?” he asked.“Martin is casting a spell to tell us which is the best way to go and then we plan to make our way to the Light Room, where we hope a portal to the Beastlands will lead us to Chochokpi,” Roland explained.“I think you are all misguided, but I do not want you to go on without me,” Ratchis replied.“This lead to “chambers” of some kind. I guess that those were once Hurgun’s quarters,” Martin said, pointing to the portal the party had come through to enter this room.  He then pointed to the left.  “That way is the Earth Room.”   He pointed to the right. “That is the Entrance Room.  So, I guess that is the room with the para-elementals. And that…” Martin pointed to the final portal. “…is the Light Room.”  “Now we all we need to do is get our weapons away from that tridrone,” Roland said.End of Session #93-----------------------------------------------------------Notes:(1) Checkout the layout of the audience chamber again: [sblock]<img src="http://www.aquerra.com/OOTFP/images/earth(audience).gif" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " data-size="" style="" />[/sblock](2) This is the Air Room.  You can take a look at it behind the sblock [sblock]<img src="http://www.aquerra.com/OOTFP/images/air_guests.gif" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " data-size="" style="" />[/sblock](3) Author Aside: I really had to restrain myself from making Martin reply as follows: “Yes, Roland, because it is all about you…” <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f609.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=";)" title="Wink    ;)"  data-smilie="2"data-shortname=";)" />(4) It turned out Bastian and Lady Elvira Vaporina Viento has stolen a few kisses while the rest has been talking.(5) In Aquerra cosmology, the Heavens is the domain of the gods, the place where the god’s of Ra’s Pantheon live, but also where the Holy City of the Kalevala of the gods of the Northern Reaches and the First Mountain of the dwarves.  The Beastlands is the realm of the beast gods and of the paragons of the normal animals of Aquerra.</blockquote>

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