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Message: <blockquote data-quote="shilsen" data-source="post: 4044003" data-attributes="member: 198">A few minutes later, the Angels are soaring back towards the expeditionary party. Just over a mile from the boundary of the Glass Plateau, they find six of the warforged from the expedition traveling in the opposite direction. Bringing their mounts down to them, the adventurers discover that Lamaan sent the warforged ahead to scout. Six explains to them that the Plateau is a very dangerous place and they need to not go any further until he and his companions have had a chance to investigate the site further. The warforged reluctantly agree to head back to the expedition.The Angels fly ahead of them and, within a couple of minutes, are back with the rest of the expeditionary party. There, Six repeats to Lamaan what he has just said to the warforged. Lamaan seems fairly unconvinced, especially since Six is reluctant to go into details. Six does explain, however, that from what they have seen there is great danger there and says that he has confirmed that the Lord of Blades is dead. At least I’m pretty sure he is. “After we return from our excursion, we will do a more thorough investigation of the site and tell you what we find, and you can then travel there with us. As you said, you are already ahead of schedule – right? So you are not losing any time and we’d appreciate it if you gave us a day or two.” Lamaan nods slowly. “Yes, time is not a problem for us right now. I appreciate all your aid, and I’m sure that your presence will be helpful.” He smiles. “Although not having you around apparently does cut down on the appearance of dangerous monstrosities.”Korm sighs. “Yeah, we got that. But thanks. See you soon.”The Angels depart and head back towards the former camp of the Lord of Blades again. This time they do not fly directly over it but make a wide circle so as to avoid being spotted again and alarming Prophet and his followers. Having done so, they follow the direction from which Nameless is still sensing the dimensional seal.About four miles past the warforged camp, Nameless shouts, “Stop!” The others quickly bring their mounts to a halt, as the alienist points at the area ahead of them. “There’s a strong abjuration aura here, as might be put out by a dimensional seal.”“Good,” says Luna. “I’d hate to think you brought us all this way for nothing!”“I’m pleased that your time was well-spent,” Nameless says dryly. “But it’s not all good news. Dimensional seals put out a dimensional lock effect over the area around them, which means no summoning creatures in this area.”“That cuts down our options,” says Six thoughtfully, “But there’s no real choice in the matter. Let’s go on.”A little over a mile away from the spot where Nameless detects the edge of the dimensional lock is an area where the Glass Plateau is twice as high as in most of the other areas. The glass-like structures that make up the Plateau slope upwards and then split into jagged cliffs, which stick out towards the Dead-Gray Mist like crystalline daggers. When the Angels reach them, they see that beyond the cliffs the Plateau falls away, descending to create a huge, much flatter space, with the cliffs circling all around it to form a giant bowl. It extends well over a mile and there is something large, dark and roughly hemispherical in the center. It must stretch well over six hundred feet in width, with a height of almost a hundred. The ground immediately around it seems much darker than the surrounding area, and after a few seconds, the Angels realize that there is a huge hole in the Dead-Gray Mist immediately above it, even wider around as the hemisphere is. At their angle, they cannot see whether the hole extends all the way through the Mist.  “Is that the Seed?” asks Gareth.“I think so,” Nameless replies. “And unfortunately, it looks like my cunning plan to have Korm eat it won’t work.”The Gatekeeper shakes his head. “I’m fine with eating some aberrations, but yes, that’s a bit much.”“Pity,” says the alienist. “I would have paid to see Gurr’khan’s face when we told him you ate it. Oh well. Let’s see if we can find out more about it. Especially how we can destroy it.”“Sounds good,” says Luna. “Let’s go down there and blow the hell out of it!”“Hold on,” says Six. “Nameless – do you have any spells that can tell you more about it? Especially from here?”“Yes.” Nameless produces a couple of glass marbles and begins to cast a spell. A minute later, he completes it, and fifteen translucent floating eyeballs appear around him. He commands them to approach the Seed and study it and the surrounding area minutely before returning to him. “This’ll take a while,” he tells the others, as the eyes float away. “Let’s get comfortable and watch the place too.”The Angels settle down to do so. As they watch the Seed, they can see that the shape and silhouette sometimes seem to vary, as if things were protruding from the surface, but the distance and poor visibility makes details impossible to make out. Even when Six produces a spyglass and uses it, all he can make out is that dark flashes leap out from the surface of the Seed sometimes.After half an hour, the prying eyes return, though there are a significantly lower number now. They nestle one by one into Nameless’ palm, replaying what they saw directly into his mind, and then disappear. What the alienist sees through them is a giant mass, such a deep purple in hue that it appears to be black. The surface, which has a fleshy quality, glistens wetly and writhes as if it were alive. A dark fluid drips from it, turning the ground around it into a muddy morass. Though the surface seems to have no openings or entrances, unknown fumes are suddenly vented from random parts of the surface. Plumes of what looks like black fire also leap up randomly from the surface. Some of these effects are clearly damaging, since some of the eyes see others disappear as a spray of liquid or a cloud of smoke envelops them.The eyes also confirm that there really is a huge hole in the Dead-Gray Mist above the Seed. It is in the form of a gigantic cylinder about eight hundred feet wide, and the mist that forms its walls seems to be circling constantly. Looking up the hole – which extends at least half a mile, from the looks of it – one can see all the way to the sky beyond the Dead-Gray Mist. Though there is still some light in the sky, it being early evening outside the Mournland, none of it seems to pass below the Mist. More surprising is the fact that a strange sign hangs in the sky above the hole, a strange squiggle of yellow lines which resembles a dragonmark, but not one Nameless has ever seen. It is impossible to make out the exactly how far off the ground the sign is, but the alienist estimates that it is incredibly huge. When the last of the eyes have disappeared, Nameless explains what they saw to the others. “A giant yellow dragonmark-like sign in the sky?” says Gareth. “Oh, that’s got to mean something really good!”“I know,” nods Korm. “Couldn’t it just say ‘Xoriat is coming?’”“And shouldn’t it be purple?” asks Luna. “Why yellow? It should be purple!”“More importantly,” says Six, “What do we do now?”After some discussion and, as usual, more argument, the Angels finally decide that they should rest for the night and recover their resources before proceeding to investigate the Seed. As usual, Luna ends up in the rope trick with Valthera, while the others are in the mansion.* * * * * * * * * *To the minor surprise of the Guardian Angels, they awake and emerge from their extradimensional resting places with no problems and to find no enemies awaiting them. “Somehow,” says Korm, “I find this much less reassuring than a giant living spell waiting for us.” He looks at the Seed, sitting silently in the middle of the giant bowl within the Glass Plateau but somehow managing to give off an aura of brooding menace. “Well, no sense worrying. Let’s go get killed.”“You know Korm,” Gareth grins, “I always love your optimism.” He raises the Endless Blade in a salute to the sky, invisible above the Dead-Gray Mist. “The Flame shall protect us.”The Blade laughs crudely. “I don’t know about that, Gareth. I’ll probably be fine, but I’m pretty sure you’re all f*cked!”“And, on that happy note,” laughs Korm, “Let’s go.”Not wanting to waste time traveling to the edge of the dimensional lock to summon any stags or steeds, and having prepared protective spells instead, the Angels proceed on foot. As they near the Seed, they can see more and more of its details and the area around it. And the giant hole in the Dead-Gray Mist above it, which looks exactly the same as before. The giant yellow sign is still visible, even though the sky is now bright with the light of morning, which again fails to penetrate beneath the edge of the Mist. Below, the morass created by the fluids leaking from the surface of the Seed is possibly even larger than before, stretching for nearly a hundred feet from its edge. As Nameless, flying above the others as usual, crosses the edge of the swampy area, a large crack appears in the epidermis of the Seed ahead of him. The edges of the crack thicken and darken, expanding and spreading until a large fleshy valve opens in the side of the Seed, partly resembling the ones the Angels had seen in Yarkuun Draal. It reveals a passageway, over twenty feet tall and wide, leading away into the form’s interior. The inside is pitch black, but those with darkvision can see that the walls, ceiling and floor seem to be made of tough, pallid looking flesh, with thick five-foot long hairs that appear to move and wave of their own volition. A faint groaning sound emanates from somewhere deep inside. Palpable even at this distance, an intense stench emanates from the valve, followed a second later by a spray of purple fluid. The spray continues for a couple of couple of seconds, further muddying the area outside, and then finally diminishes and ends in a thin waterfall which covers the entrance. Then, as the Angels watch, the valve closes. “Does anyone else think we’re being invited in?” growls Luna. Even as she speaks, she sees the valve close with an attendant grinding sound. “Okay – maybe not.” But then, a couple of seconds later, it slides open again. Waiting for a few seconds reveals that the valve opens and closes every few seconds. After studying it closely, Six says, “Nameless – it seemed to open when you got close enough. Try backing up a bit.” Sure enough, it emerges that the valve opens once Nameless gets within a hundred feet. Checking various spots around the Seed reveals that there are two more valves in its surface, each of which looks and apparently functions the same way.“I’d like to do a little checking before we enter,” says Nameless. “Let me send in the prying eyes.”“What about that spray?” asks Gareth, pointing at the waterfall that covers the entrance. “It looks acidic.”“Luna, can you put up a resist energy and block off the liquid to led me get the eyes through?”“Riiight!” grumbles the giant bear. “Somehow I don’t hear fat jokes whenever someone has to do things like this.” She casts a spell and then shambles up to the waterfall, before experimentally sticking a paw into it. The liquid sizzles off the surface of the skin and hair, but inflicts no damage. “Yeah, it’s acid all right. And pretty strong.”Nameless casts the prying eyes and prepares to send them through the entrance. In preparation, Luna steps under the waterfall of acid. As part of her body extends past the falling stream and into the tunnel beyond, she gasps at the unexpected cold and the attendant feeling akin to pushing her arm into very thick mud, with the air itself seeming to resist her. Then Luna recalls where she has had a similar sensation. “Hey, guys! The inside of this place is like in that manifest zone in our basement.”“Not surprising,” says Nameless. “That just means the eyes will take a little extra time to return. All right, Luna – cover them.” The eyes float forward towards the opening and even with Luna trying to shield them, the acidic liquid spraying off her huge form strikes a number of them, causing the semi-tangible globes to pop and explode. Nevertheless, nearly a dozen of them manage to make it through. The Angels can see that their movements slow drastically as soon as they enter the fleshy tunnel, perhaps to one-tenth of their normal speed, due to the distortion of time. But they continue slowly through the tunnel and turn the corner at the end.Having inserted her head a little into the tunnel to watch them, Luna is caught off guard when the edges of the valve slide together again, and with part of her functioning at a different rate of time than the rest, is unable to pull all the way back. The valve grinds shut around her skull with a force that would buckle iron, and even though Luna’s magically enhanced flesh resists it, her skin bruises and purples. “Gah!” Luna growls her anger and pulls back, placing both huge paws on the now closed valve to gain leverage. But as she touches the outside of the Seed, an impossible combination of heat and cold shoots into her, overlaid with an unholy energy which saps her energy. With a surprised and anguished cry, Luna throws herself backwards, ripping off skin and hair in her hurry to get free. The giant bear tumbles to the ground in an undignified heap, further befouling herself in the muck outside, and then awkwardly rolls upright. “Son of a bitch! That hurt!”After Luna explains what happened, Gareth says, “It’s a good thing the Keeper gave us all of those scrolls, isn’t it?” he produces one and uses a restoration on Luna. Then, the valve having opened in the meantime, Luna cautiously sits near it waiting for the eyes to return, grumbling about all the things she has to do for those who can’t do it themselves.It takes nearly half an hour for the magical orbs to reappear, and with Luna again covering for them, half a dozen survive to return to Nameless’ hands. He explains what he sees as they replay the images for him. “Looks like it’s pitch black in there, since they can only see with the light coming from the entrance. Around the corner the tunnel goes a little distance and then splits up into two. It looks like they both end in more of those valve things. There’s something … actually, make that many things … on the sides of the flesh where they split up. Yes, it really does look like flesh in there. Hmm – looks like large, well, tumors growing out of the walls. Three of them and – oh, this is good – each has what looks like the upper halves of mind flayers growing out of it. And … that’s about it since they can’t get past the valves.”“This thing is growing mind flayers?” says Korm. “With the things we do, I’m surprised nobody has suggested we move in here yet. And no, Luna – we’re not taking it home either!” Before Luna can reply, Nameless says, “Let’s discuss this inside, shall we? We’ve got a job to do.” As the Angels move forward, there is a soft meowing sound. The cat, Valthera, which has happily followed them throughout the Mournland, is standing in one place. Despite Luna’s persuasions, the cat absolutely refuses to enter, and when the druid attempts to pick her up and carry her in, she backflips out of her grasp and runs a little distance off, before stopping and hissing her dissent, with every hair standing on end. Finally, Luna reluctantly agrees to leave it behind.I’m not sure whether that makes me more relieved or worried, Korm thinks, looking back at the cat, which is now sitting and watching them inscrutably as they enter the Seed.</blockquote>

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