"Sure" nodded the dwarf, plodding after the monk.

OOC. I will take up offer on spellbook. Posting bit affected this week.

Jorn took out the gem that he'd plucked from the head of Kyjal Stardancer. It seemed the undead wizard had been able to access it the same way as the glass busts here, by sticking it directly into his brain. This was a rather unpleasant prospect for a living wizard, so Jorn decided to try it on the bust first, picking a snooty-looking old elf.

The gem clicked into place and the glass head glowed with a soft inner blue light. And squeaking with long ages of disuse, the mouth began to move. "Welcome to the Athenaeum Arcanum Library Construct System." it recited in haughty Elven. "Would you like to: 1 - listen to the currently selected memory gem, 2 - hear instructions on how to use this construct speaker, 3 - hear instructions on how to use library servants, or 4 - switch off this device. If you require assistance, please ask a librarian."

Duladora was fascinated, and peered closely at the magical device, hurriedly scribbling down notes on everything she heard and saw. "This is amazing! Star elf magic is based on sound and music. They must have preferred to examine their lore the same way. You'll probably need to speak to it." she mused. "I wonder if we can take one of these devices with us? If we can properly read king's tear gems, this could revolutionise our study of history."
This message was last edited by the GM at 01:33, Sun 12 Dec 2010.

"My word, these things are elaborate," sighed Jorn, "one."

Still, the dwarf was curious about the library assistants. If any were still around, they could be useful...

The mechanical tones began to turn choppy and broken, stuttering on words, speeding up or slowing down. They began to pick up certain comprehensible phrases, spoke in the dull mechanical voice. "Mmm. Mmm. Help. Can't breath, can't swim, sinking down, down, down, into black and so cold... My foot, something biting my foot... Lungs feel like bursting, must open, so much water, can't, must- Ugh. Ugh. Ugh. Ugh. Oh gods, so much pain, so much water, help me, gods help me. Labelas, please just let me die..."

"This spellbook belongs to Kyjal Stardancer, highest apprentice of Mourel Duskwalker, of Tir'in'tiral. Table of Contents: 0 - Cantrips, 1 - First-Level Spells, 2 - Second-Level Spells, 3 - Third-Level Spells, 5 - Fifth-Level Spells, 7 - Seventh-Level Spells."

Jorn blinked, and shook his head;

"Poor lad. Three please. Then two. Oh what the heck, one too after that"

As the dwarf listened to the magical voice's blabbering, his thoughts wandered slightly towards the previous battle. What had they done wrong? What could they have done right?

"Mmm...space only enough for one enlarged Gurgun in the front...perhaps Balrok in the rear to handle tentacles, Slove'n I can make for artillery on the beast, Garel for defensive healing and the occasional attack..."

[Private to DM BadCatMan: I propose we continue in a private thread to avoid cluttering up this public one, seeing as the interaction is mainly me and the spellbook]

"Third-level spells." the head announced blandly. "Cold damp stone beneath my face, waves lapping at my feet... I remember dying, and yet, and yet, and yet here I lie here, alive? ...I wake, I try to rise, my body is heavy. My mouth opens and water flows out, why do I not choke? Why do I not breath? Struck with sinking darkness again, like falling into the depths. Dead. I am dead. Undead. I am... Magnificent."

The spell-gem seemed to have absorbed the memories of the undead wizard, probably after he'd lost the ability to remember them himself. Once the preamble was out of the way, the speaking head began reeling off lists of spells, and Jorn could access each, getting spoken descriptions and weird noises and snatches of music. It was strange and hard to use though, trying to listen rather than read, and required a great deal more attention. Diagrams were impossible, somatic components hard to visualise, though verbal components were significantly easier to understand.


0: all PHB arcane spells
1: comprehend languages, feather fall, identify, orb of sound (lesser) [SC] magic missile, ray of enfeeblement, shield, summon monster I, unseen servant
2: arcane lock, fox's cunning, ghoul glyph [LM], hypnotic pattern, resist energy, see invisibility, shatter
3: deep slumber, major image
5: baleful polymorph
7: vision

OOC: Ghoul glyph creates the necromantic paralysis traps you saw, from Libris Mortis. Orb of sound, lesser is from the Spell Compendium

You can decipher and prepare or learn these spells in the same as for a borrowed or looted spellbook, though there's a +2 DC to the Spellcraft checks for the difficulty in working this way.

[Private to Jorn Brightcaller: I'll just rush through and summarise the rest.]

Slove decided agaist orc club so have wait until find something else.
He happy let others play with arcane stuff.

Gurgun takes out his notebook and scribbles down observations on the library, its design, function and adding drawings of the haughty elves heads.

Jorn continued his research into the spell-gem, but it was clear that the dwarven mage would be at this for quite some time, while the others would be forced to listen to dry magical theory in an Elven drone. He seemed to have found a few handy spells that would help them against the glass shardcaster however.


OOC: Is there anything else that anyone wants to do, or should I close the day and move on?

Gurgun asks Jorn, Ask it if knows anything about the guardian? Is there a way to disable it?

Jorn complies, attempting to speak with the jewel to hear what knowledge it might have.

There was, of course, not much more to be heard from Kyjal's spell-gem, bar his own arcane notes and theories, and the horrific memories of life and death that had seeped into it.

Jorn tried the other gem, which seemed to be an immense tome of ancient star elven lore. Most of this was interesting to a historian, and fascinating to the expert Duladora, but there was little more to be learned about the glass behemoths. Jorn got the knack of asking the speaking head to search from mentions of it, and found a few footnotes and brief mentions.

It was called a shardcaster, and it only followed its creator's orders. As that creator was now a dead and mangled brain on the floor, this didn't look like changing any time soon. It was made of glass and crystal and could meld into large enough blocks of the same, rendering it practically invisible and invincible. But it was also quite vulnerable to damage by intense sound, as well as being smashed by blunt objects. It had three forms of attack: a hail of jagged glass shards, the walloping and grasping tentacles it could extrude from nearby glass, and finally, simply beating on its targets.

Looks like we will have to best it in combat. Gurgun hopes spellcasters will be able to soften it up. Gurgun will be able to slip past the tentacles and hit glass giant. If Gurgun can be made really big, he will wrestle glass giant, which makes it easier to hit for others. Gurgun is strong enough to last a while. the hobgoblin declares when the team is reunited.

OOC: There are enough ex-PC clerics here to heal you all to full hitpoints.


The team left Jorn to his magical research and spell preparations, hoping he would have more effective spells against the glass behemoth the next day. The heightened song magic in this planar realm should make such spells even more powerful.

In time, they all returned to the mercenary camp, still aching from the recent battles. Allessandra healed their wounds

 and bunked down for what passed for night, when it was perpetually twilight outside, and constantly illuminated inside. Elves never slept, and thus never found it so irritating. A dark cloth wrapped around the eyes kept the worst of it out and allowed sleep to come.

The Nexus and Bridge E
Date & Time Unknown

They awoke sometime later, uncertain if this was the next day or merely later the same day. A quick and cold breakfast later, they readied and set off to face the monstrous shardcaster once again.

Meanwhile, the orcs and hobgoblins and other adventurers would hold the portal against the sea monsters that had begun erupting from the depths to bar their escape and make their own way path into the normal world. The crack team that had slain the undead leadership would have to activate the portal, but it was only a matter of time.

Thus were were back at the suspended inverted pyramid that formed the nexus between the three bridges, looking out on to the bridge held by the glass construct.


OOC: Alright, just as before, but you know what's out there. The shardcaster was moderately damaged in the previous battle, and can't repair itself. Decide how you wish to proceed, plan tactics, buff up, etc.  And roll initiative. Then I'll set up the battle when you're ready.

"Aye Gurgun, I can make yer big," nodded Jorn, "and add a boost to your defenses as well, with an armor of force. Just make sure da glass golem focuses on you and not me 'n slove slinging at it from the back."

"Garel can heal him, while Balrok can help deal with tentacles that pop up back. I've finished studying the liches' mind gem, and have a few new tricks to deal with the creature..." the dwarf grinned, twirling a few magical sparks through the air in a rare show of of his arcane prowness.

Jorn is clever dwarf. Now make Gurgun big so glass giant attack.

Precombat Buffs

Assuming Tren-Form w/Alter Self

Cast Enlarge Person and Mage Armor on Gurgun

Initiative: 21:27, Today: Jorn Brightcaller rolled 6 using 1d20+2. Initiative.

Ready.

Gurgun assigns dodge to glass guardian. As soon as we begin our attack, Gurgun tries to reach the guardian.

New AC: 22, 23 vs Guardian (Mage armor and bracers of armor don't stack).

"Anybody got spare blunt weopon I can use but not an orc club?"

OOC: Okay, ex-PC Garel can lend you his MW quarterstaff, or ex-PC Allessandra can lend you her MW light mace (both do +1 attack, 1d6 20/x2 bludgeoning, but you can either two-hand or dual-wield the staff). The mace's pommel is tied with a pink ribbon and a Hello Kitty widget (-4 Intimidate). That's what you get for not taking a good orcish club. :p

With Slove back, I'll try to get this battle restarted soon. Hopefully I can get Balrok too; if not, I'll NPC him until he does return.

Please pick starting locations on this, the previous map:

This message was last edited by the GM at 08:39, Sun 09 Jan 2011.

OOC: Not sure I get this, but Gurgun will ideally want to cross the bridge asap to get up close and personal with the big guy. Ideally attacking from the opposite side. So with a 20' running start I could take ten and make a 30' long jump to C,D 7,8 to try and avoid getting entangled by the tentacles and what not.

I'd think Balrok would want to be up close and personal with Gurgun, but if you want me to stay back and handle tentacles I can do that instead.

In reply to Balrok (msg #368): stay as close as you can. Once gurgun enters the grapple you will have to hit the guardian fast and hard.

C16 would be good.

Jorn, wearing his favored form of a teen, stands far behind the large monk, arcane wrotings from the lich's spellgem still spinning in his head. Once more, the dwarf cursed his oversight at not bringing spare inks and paper for scribing. Such a wasted opportunity! Still there were more pressing concerns at the moment, such as the giant glass golem...

Jorn will cover Gurguns advance with Shatter spells on the main body, followed by the sonic orbs. Then once out I'll probably switch to melee.

Balrok stands ready to charge with Gurgun, hammer and shield in hand.  If necessary he will also leap, though with his heavy armor he can only manage about a 16' jump on a take 10.  Balrok will rage just as he starts his charge.

Init 19
This message was last edited by the player at 16:42, Wed 12 Jan 2011.