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Message: <blockquote data-quote="shilsen" data-source="post: 4152236" data-attributes="member: 198">Passing through the wall gates that separate each tier from the other, they first enter the Terrace, home to the city’s professional warriors and to lower-rank spellcasters. This area seems full of shops and buildings dedicated to magical craftsmanship, with larger buildings where mages keep the imbued dweomers of the city functioning. Artful illusions and arcane entertainments are on constant display in places. More functional and just as essential to the city’s well-being are the citadel of brass-edged stone which houses the Union of the Spear, the Io’lokari wyvern riders whom the Angels met outside the gates, and the gleaming marble fortress where the Union of the Shield, the citizen militia tasked with defending the city, is based.The next level is the Sunward, the home to higher-rank spellcasters, low-grade academics, and the city’s most respected entertainers. Although the cobbled streets of this area are quieter than of the two previous wards, there is constant activity around areas such as Lightstorm, the communal enclave of study and residence for the bards and illusionists who maintain the city’s theatrical traditions, or the Black Stage, the largest among Iolokar’s amphitheaters, with its shadow magic augmented performances. Much quieter but just as unusual as these areas to non-Io’lokari are the many large gardens dotting the Sunward, where plant growths and other spells of the druid gardeners blends with planar magic tapping into the power of Lamannia, the Twilight Forest, evidently provides an entire season’s growth every single day. Beyond the Sunward lies the Angels’ destination, the Height, a stately hub of academic and scholarly tradition, and thus the virtual heart of Io’lokar. Here lie the city’s four great colleges, as well as the apartments of their wizards, sages and loremasters. Unlike the more eclectic buildings of the lower wards, the architecture here has a more consistent bent, reflecting the soaring stone and crystalline style one might see in the draconic observatories of Argonnessen. Only the massively fortified walls of the Bastion, home to the most powerful residents of the city and the Masters’ Hall, stands above the Height.The Angels meet Elabenna inside one of the colleges in a large cluttered office, strewn with piles of books and documents. The elderly elven woman greets them politely and leads them to a more spacious meeting area, where she explains that their inquiries drew her attention due to the reference to Khesavuthir, a pet project of hers. She covers some of the details of the last expedition she sent into the Shadowlands in search of the place, which was led by three Io’lokari scholars, all of whom were skilled warrior-mages in their own right. They disappeared without a trace, and though her divinations reveal that the three are alive, she has never been able to locate them.“It’s very vexing,” she explains. “Even discern locations have had no effect, and I have attempted them multiple times. I once even attempted a wish, but to no avail.”A wish?! Nameless studies the elderly academic with increased interest and some respect. “I presume,” he says, trying to modulate his rasping tones as much as he can, “You have some idea for how we can help each other beneficially in this regard?”“Yes,” says Elabenna. “The scholars did send me regular updates on their progress, and I have the location of their last message, a spot I believe to be relatively close to Khesavuthir. I could provide you with that information and you could begin your search for Khesavuthir there. If you find it and return with any lore that you recover, I will pay handsomely for it, especially if you are interested in having spells – particularly divinations – cast for you.”“That sounds doable,” says Nameless. “I am an arcanist, though apparently not of your skill. Would you be willing to share some spells with me before we leave?”“Yes. So am I to take it that you are all interested in my proposition?”“Yeah,” says Luna, “But I was wondering something – which of these three places we’ve been asking about would have information about aberrations. And am I important or famous?”Elabenna stares at her in confusion for a moment. “I beg your pardon?”“I mean in this Prophecy thingy. Am I mentioned in it? I’m Luna,” the shifter adds helpfully.“I cannot say that I have encountered any references to you,” Elabenna says carefully, “But my specialization is the Prophecy as it refers to Io’lokar. And Khesavuthir, I’m sure, would contain lore about aberrations, as would the Burning Tower and certainly the Tapestry. Whether you could access it in the Burning Tower and the Tapestry, of course, is another matter. They could both be very dangerous for you.”“Isn’t Khesavuthir supposed to be very dangerous too?” asks Six. “A bronze dragon in the Vast said so.”“Well, yes,” admits Elabenna, “But it is unclear what danger is there, whereas the dangers in the Burning Tower and the Tapestry are clear.”“I don’t see not knowing as a good thing,” points out Korm. “I do have some information about dangers encountered by an expedition – not mine – and a dragon which claimed to have found the place, and some supposed landmarks in the area, so that should help somewhat.”“So someone found it and returned?” asks Gareth. “What did they say they found there?”“They were unable to enter, due to the aforementioned dangers. But I can give you that information if you agree to go. Are you interested?”“Yes, we are,” says Nameless decisively, and Gareth adds his voice in agreement. “This is the riskiest, but best option for us.”“Excellent,” says Elabenna. “I shall go and bring you the information you need. But there is someone here to meet you. An acquaintance of mine heard you were here and expressed an interest in seeing you.” As if on cue, a much younger elven woman walks through the door. Elabenna nods and then says, “This is Essirise. What she has to discuss with you is none of my business, so I’ll go get the information I mentioned.” She dimension doors away.Six studies the newcomer. “Are you a dragon?”  “Yes,” Essirise replies simply, with a smile which – now that she has identified herself – seems to have a slightly reptilian cast to it. “I am a member of the Chamber. I believe you are interested in visiting the Tapestry? I presume regarding the situation in Khorvaire with Xoriat?”“Yes. So you do know what’s going on there?” asks Six. “I had wanted to contact your people in Khorvaire and didn’t know exactly how to do so.”“Recently, some members of the Chamber attempted to contact you in Sharn as well, but you were elsewhere when they did so. A pity, but no matter, we still have some time.” She looks around at the group. “I have not been in Khorvaire for many decades, but I have heard of you and your actions. What do you wish of the Chamber and the Tapestry?”“We need information and help,” replies Luna. “We’ve got to find out how to keep bloody Xoriat away and make new seals and maybe get some allies and find out about the Prophecy and …”Nameless interrupts her quickly. “We are mainly interested in finding a way to sunder or block off Xoriat from Eberron again, and information about the dimensional seals would be very valuable to us. Especially knowledge about how to make more.”“Hmmm,” says Essirise thoughtfully. “The Tapestry, as you apparently know, is home to the Chamber, and hence, of the dragons who would be willing to actively aid Khorvaire. But there are still limits on what we can – and are willing to – do, and sharing knowledge of the construction of the seals would breach those boundaries, many would say.”“But what about Vvaraak?” asks Korm. “She taught my people how to make them.”Essirise smiles. “True, but that was an unusual case. Anyway, I would like to help as we can. Would you be willing to plead your case before the leaders of the Chamber?”“Absolutely,” says Gareth, face lighting up instantly at the prospect of addressing a collection of dragons. “We would love to have the opportunity.”“Good. I shall travel to the Tapestry today and speak to others there and see what I can arrange. Then I shall contact you.”“How soon will this occur?” asks Six. “Time is an issue for us.”“It will take at least a week and likely more,” says the dragon, a trifle apologetically. “Not only will I need to contact many who dwell at widely separate locations, but discussions will be slow – by your standards. Our sense of time varies a great deal from yours.”“That’s all right,” Gareth adds quickly. “We appreciate your efforts a great deal.”Essirise looks curiously at the beaming paladin and says, “Thank you. I shall leave now and will be in touch soon. Will you be here in Io’lokar for some time?”“Probably not. We need to be back in Khorvaire soon, and we are planning to travel to Khesavuthir. That’s why we are here to talk to Elabenna.”“Khesavuthir?” The disguised dragon looks surprised. After a second, her expression clears and she says, “I see. You hope to find information there. I would caution you not to do so, since – from what I know – it is an incredibly dangerous place, but it is your decision.” Essirise hesitates again, and then says, “I shall take my leave. It was a pleasure and I hope to speak to you again soon.”“As do we,” says Gareth, bowing deeply as she departs.Luna rolls her eyes. “I’m telling Lalia!”Elabenna returns as Essirise leaves, with the information she promised. Over the next quarter of an hour, she fills in the Angels on what she knows of supposed landmarks near the Black Well. Landmarks more than a few miles away are useless, since the Shadowlands is well known for having a shifting landscape. She also warns of one of the few constants in tales of Khesavuthir, namely the presence of strangely intelligent and unusual wyverns, which can breathe fire and are immune to the same element and resistant to others. They seem to guard the location and fight viciously to defend it, having driven away one expedition and a dragon which separately claimed to have found the location.As promised, she also provides Nameless with access to a few powerful spells, mostly divinations. Once that is done, the Angels take their leave, promising to contact her as soon as they learn something useful. Nameless then studies the detailed description of the last location her previous expedition had been known to have reached, and transports the Angels away.* * *The five of them appear in the middle of a desolate landscape. Rough, broken stony ground stretches away around them, the terrain constantly broken up with small rises and depressions, a few hills or small mountains stretching towards the thickly cloudy sky above it. The area seems a little unnaturally dark, even with the completely overcast sky and lack of visible sun overhead, presumably the reason why it is known as the Shadowlands.Not that the Angels spend much time on the consideration of geographical features or weather, since there are some distractions close at hand. Less than a hundred feet from them are a number of creatures forming an interesting, if potentially deadly, tableau. The center-piece is a hulking bipedal creature, with a stooped frame, a gray hairless body, and massively muscled shoulders. Long, thickly sinewy arms hang down to the ground, ending in huge, clawed hands. Its sloped forehead bears six small yellowish eyes. The creature, which some of the Angels identify as a gray render, has its arms raised threateningly and mouthful of sharp, black teeth bared, and has backed up against a large boulder. Surrounding it are four large reptiles, each a dozen feet in length. The heavily muscled creatures look like wingless dragons, though their bodies are more compact and necks comparatively shorter. The heads which top their red-scaled bodies have large, fang-filled mouths, now snarling with bloodlust as they move in on their lone target. Though the gray render’s huge bulk dwarfs theirs, it is clear that they have the advantage due to the numbers.But then the situation changes. As the Angels appear, the draconic creatures’ heads snap around. Barely taking a second to consider the intruders, they spin around and charge, with jaws agape and emitting bestial roars. Their long legs cover the ground incredibly fast, and in seconds, they hurtle into the Angels. Or three of them do. As the one furthest in the rear turns, the gray render leaps onto its back. Its huge bulk bears the smaller creature to the ground and the render sinks its claws deep into the draconic hide, ripping and tearing away gobbets of flesh. Its target screams in pain and fury and rolls over, biting and clawing violently, though its smaller size and the render’s position makes its attacks less effective than could be.Having identified the draconic creatures as rage drakes, a particularly vicious and unintelligent kind of flightless dragon which is also found in Khorvaire, Nameless shouts a warning to his friends, but before they can respond the attackers are among them. The first of the creatures hurls itself at Gareth, claws flashing and teeth snapping. The rage drake’s attack seems wildly chaotic and unpremeditated, but there is a deadly method to the madness. As the front claws rip at the target’s upper torso, they attempt to grab hold as well, allowing the creature to arch its back and bring up its hind legs suddenly, so that they can rip into the enemy’s unprotected underbelly and disembowel it with a quick sweep of the rear claws. And if that’s not enough, the large fangs grab the enemy – especially if it is smaller – and the rage drake snaps its head back and forth, shaking and disorienting its prey and rendering it incapable of response.* Though the paladin’s heavy armor prevents the worst of the onslaught, it cannot fully prevent it. Reeling under the attack, Gareth feels the jaws clamp around his upper left arm and then shake him viciously like a dog playing with a toy, almost dislocating it and leaving him momentarily stunned. Near him, Luna and Six too suffer a similar result, neither druid nor warforged being able to resist the tremendous assault. Six’s spiked chain drops from his grasp as his mechanical senses reel, and Luna cries out as her unarmored form is ravaged by her attacker’s teeth and claws despite Mordain’s augmentations. Nameless, having had the others around him while he teleported them, is left untouched and hurriedly takes to the air, calling forth a pair of huge earth elementals once he is safely out of reach. Korm too takes advantage of being momentarily untargeted and casts an especially powerful arc of lightning, placing it so that the electrical discharge strikes the creatures but not his allies in their grasp.** Then, not wanting to risk being grabbed like his friends, he swiftly casts a freedom of movement.Despite Korm’s spell and the arrival of the elementals, the rage drakes remain focused on their targets, continuing to rip and tear at them. The latter, however, slowly gather their senses once the initial surprise has passed and fight back. The Endless Blade shrinks to the size of a dagger and Gareth stabs it again and again into his attacker’s skull, calling on the powers gifted by the Silver Flame to do amazing damage for such a small weapon. Luna simply transforms into a giant tendriculos, forcing open the jaws of the now much smaller rage drake and towering over it. As she does so, she quickly adds a swift healing spell to close some of her wounds.Six, unfortunately, doesn’t have that option. As the warforged gathers his senses and prepares to call on the powers of his shadow armor, the rage drake continues to worry him, apparently undeterred by his unappetizingly mechanical form. Unluckily, one of its raking claws slides off his breastplate and into the fibrous bundles linking his torso to his waist. The scrabbling claws dig deep, grab hold for a second, and then rip away, taking a vital part of Six with them. The warforged convulses and screams as agony shoots through him and then goes limp.*** The rage drake drops him with a snarl and turns to the others.“Crap! Six is down! Someone heal me!” shouts Gareth, still struggling in his attacker’s mouth, the rage drake showing no signs of releasing him even though Nameless’ elementals are pounding into it. But then the alienist summons two more to attack the same creature, and Korm releases another arc of lightning. The combined assault is too much and the creature finally succumbs, its half-broken and scorched body sagging to the ground. Gareth pulls himself from its mouth, only to find Six’s attacker facing him. Luna’s attacker is having a comparatively difficult time against the now huge druid, but even the tendriculos’ tough (and, on Luna, magically enhanced) bark is no match for its teeth and claws. “Luna!” shouts Nameless as she first batters the drake with her tentacles and then reels from its assault, “Heal yourself!”“And Korm – heal me!” he shouts again, causing Korm to snicker and move in to help the paladin. As Gareth tries to hold back the attacking drake, the Gatekeeper casts the spell and reaches out to touch him, hand glowing with positive energy. But what both Gareth and Korm have forgotten in the heat of battle is the magical cloak the paladin wears, which displaces him slightly so that he is not exactly where he seems to be. The reaching hand that seemed about to touch Gareth’s shoulder simply passes by. “What are you doing?!” yells Gareth, as the drake’s attack forces him and Korm momentarily apart. The Gatekeeper frowns in confusion and then realizes what happened. “It’s your bloody cloak!”“Sh*t! Luna!” shouts Gareth, as blood pours from more wounds, knowing that he has maybe only seconds in hand.Luna, who is in the process of casting a heal growls irritably. “Fine – you wuss!” Her giant tentacle reaches out and smacks Gareth squarely in the back, channeling her spell into him instead. The paladin gasps in relief and at the sensation of his mangled flesh knitting itself back together, until he is completely healthy again, and leaps back at the drake with renewed energy. Luna’s foe takes advantage of her momentary distraction to leap upon her, opening new wounds and almost bearing her to the ground. With a scream of mingled pain and frustration, she calls to her beast spirit. The omnipresent invisible presence answers, bringing forth the spell she had placed in its care in advance, and the befuddled drake is forced away as an envigorating cocoon expands around her. Even as Luna protects herself, Six weakly lifts his head****. Realizing that he can’t afford to remain here and be a target, the warforged calls on his harness. Shadows wrap around him and then he is gone, appearing safely behind a rock fifty feet away. Not that Six need have worried. Only the two drakes remain, both of which are wounded, and with the four huge elementals, Nameless’ spells and a rejuvenated Gareth opposed to them, they quickly go down in bloody ruin, snarling and fighting viciously to the end. Much to the disgust of Luna, who is ensconced safely within her cocoon and thoroughly irritated at the prospect of having nothing more to vent her bloodlust on, especially since she got to do little other than heal.Luna’s irritation is swiftly compounded by what happens next. With the battle at an end, the Angels notice that there is one more creature still alive besides them. The gray render stands over the corpse of the drake it has slain, its huge chest heaving with exertion. Though victorious, it has taken tremendous punishment, and blood streams off its thick gray hide, some of which hangs in ribbons and reveals flesh and bone below. As they watch, it slumps to a knee, emitting a groan.Korm looks down at his hand, still glowing with the unexpended heal spell, and makes an instant decision, fueled at least partly by the response he expects from Luna. Which is instantly forthcoming as he strides towards the wounded creature.“Korm!” Luna shouts from inside the cocoon, pounding in anger at the immobile bubble of force, “Don’t you dare! I’m the druid here! It’s my jo….”Grinning broadly, the Gatekeeper grins and reaches out for the render. It glances at him with the six eyes, their light dimmed by pain and weakness, and feebly attempts to avoid his grasp. Then, as he touches it and the spell takes effect, it reflexively throws itself backwards, growling at the unexpected and strange sensation.Korm readies himself in case it attacks, but the render is pawing confusedly at itself, checking its wounds and finding them gone. It glances at Korm, back at itself, and back to the Gatekeeper. Then it rises to its full height, towering well above him, and carefully extends a huge clawed arm. With surprising care, it gently caresses his shoulder and then folds its hand into a fist, rubbing the giant knuckles against his head. Korm winces slightly and then turns to grin back at the others. “I believe he has grown to love me.”“Interesting,” says Nameless in a tone of academic curiosity. “I believe gray renders, though I’ve not encountered one previously, have the idiosyncratic habit of fixating on some other creature, whether it wants the attention or not, and following it around to protect it. It’s possible that your action has led to it imprinting o…”“Imprinting?! I’ll f*cking imprint you right here!” bellows Luna, as she emerges from the disappearing cocoon. Unfortunately, due to the effects of the tongue, the bellow emerges as a shrill scream, which doesn’t help the effect. “Damn it, Korm! You know I wanted to do that! I should arc of lightning you right now – you and your dumb gray friend!”For a second, Korm half expects her to actually do that, but then she controls herself with an effort that sends a shudder up and down her tentacles. “You’re just bloody lucky I’m a real druid and wouldn’t hurt an animal!”“Actually,” begins Nameless, “It would be more correct to categorize it as a magical …”Luna lifts an appendage as thick around as his head and waves it in front of the alienist. “Talk to the tentacle! Like I care any more!” She turns her back and strides over to check on Six and on Gareth.“Well,” says Korm, letting out a breath and jerking a thumb at the gray render, which has now retreated to a distance of about a hundred feet and is watching the group, “What do we do with him?” “He could come in pretty handy in a fight,” points out Gareth.“Unfortunately,” opines Six, “We’d have to walk in order to accompany it, and that would take too much time. Right, Nameless?”“Right. We have to use the stags and steed if we’re to have any hope of covering this area quickly.”After a little discussion, the Angels all agree they can’t take along their new friend. Summoning the magical mounts, they take to the air and soar away. The gray render watches in evident puzzlement and then breaks into a slow lope after them, but is quickly left behind.“Damn,” says Korm, “I miss him already!” * Pounce, rake, improved grab, and worry (since I advanced these a few HD, DC 34 Fort save or be stunned). Rage drakes (MM3) have it all!** This was me being a nice guy, since the arc of lightning should arguably have hit the PCs, who were currently grappled and in the same squares as the rage drakes. *** Six went from 128 hp to -10 in two rounds.**** We’re using the pseudo-4e death and dying rules now, and he rolled a natural 20 to stabilize, which brought him back to a quarter of his hit pts.</blockquote>

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