Lean nods to Lucy but remains quiet as he is still somewhat stunned by what just happened and has been revealed.

Varis wonders why Lucy asks Markus to retrieve the dropped weapons when he is the one with the Mage Hand cantrip... which he promptly starts to uses to create a pile of weapons in the middle of the room by moving one weapon at a time.

Markus is about to reply to Lucy when Varis starts using his invisible mage hand and chuckles, “Varis is already taking care of collecting those items.” Markus glances over to the animated archway and asks Jack, “Can you put that back to how it was before you stop animating it... It might be more useful intact than broken.”

The Quasit nods to Lucy knowing if he tries anything ending back in Hell is the least of his worries as this group could probably find a way to end his existence.

The Rat that is East Wind squeaks after being picked up by Zerry, but it is hard to tell what he means by the squeak.

  Tark can only assume it is Zerry's size category that makes her antics stand out more than Jack's.  Well, that or longer time to become complacent with the Bard.

  No, no. Clearly if Jack climbed over the remains of their enemies it wouldn't be the same.

  "If things go like I think they will Lean, then you and the Quasit may end up with a slightly less horrible version of your old job.  Well, unless this place is only sustainable long term by collecting fresh brains under false pretenses."

  Wait a minute.

  Tark asks the littlest wizard of Oz "So, are you actually able to answer a wide variety of questions? Or was that just an act.  Either way, i don't think the Giants would believe us if we told them 'They don't know where the Ring of Winter is, it was a tiny demon in a suit the whole time'"
This message was last edited by the player at 02:15, Tue 07 Apr 2020.

Zerry gets super girly squee over the rat squeaking and rubs her cheek on it. "Yay! He squeaked!"

She then watches over the rat, expecting the spell to wear off. "The spell on him will wear off, right? I hafta wait for that in order to tie him up or whatever."

Zerry will be sad to see the dancing portal no longer dance, but what must be done must be done and all good shows come to an end.

Lucy doesn't add to what is being said.

As for why she asked Markus and not Varis, that's easy. Varis is a rogue and when you think rogue, you don't think caster. Markus, on the other hand, is a caster. And when you think magic, you think caster.

But in retrospect, she should have thought of Varis since he's usually the first to loot stuff.

Lucy expects Jack will comply with the request to put the portal back where it belongs. But for now, she watches to see how the Quasit will respond.

The giant archway takes a bow then returns to where it was before and un-animates.

Jack is a little disappointed his quazit jokes didn't get any laughs.  He was rather proud of 'em.  There were only 2 stock puns in that set.  Still, cute Zerry being cute, so he can't help but smile.

Jack readies polymorph for if the rat guy gives any trouble.  "Considering our history, I'm sure we can find a beneficial arrangement for this quazit.  Maybe a few years service with our goblin acolytes?"

Zerry definitely enjoyed the puns. And appreciated Jack's compliment on her squeak theory. But player was simply drained when he made Zerry's post and felt like a brain in a jar minus the brain.

Lean nods in response to Tark's statement while the Quasit shakes his head, "No the Brain in a Jar are maintaining the vital systems of the Monastery and additional ones would let me remove ones that are problematic from the system. The ones created by Kwalish are still in the system and some of them really don't like that Kwalish was driven from this place since they knew him in life. If your worried about this place's remaining aloft I'd be more worried about the engine room... with my defeat if those in the engine room abandon it, this place will fall from the sky in 24 hours as the engines run out of fuel without people to shovel more ore mined from the mountains into the system. And while I can answer many questions, especially about Kwalish, his work, and the monastery as I served the Bone Devil that drove Kwalish away, but I can not answer as many questions, not as the Enhanced Sphinx that guards the entrance to the monastery. The Forst giants wouldn't need or want to see me or even care I exist, it's her they'd want to talk with. They'd get what they want from her and probably have a slave or prisoner be the sacrifice for asking a question she knew the answer to."

The Quasit then glances at Zerry and sighs, "Yes, the effects of that sword will wear off in an hour if the Polymorph isn't broken by other means." The Quasit then arches an eyebrow at hearing about how the PCs have goblin acolytes and wonders how the group has managed to get goblins to remain on task without being directly present.

Markus glances over to the Quasit and asks, “Other than the engine room, which will probably be our next stop if only to keep this place from falling out of the sky tomorrow. What other areas should we be aware of?”

Varis chimes in, “If all that needs to be done is shovel ore into an opening like a furnace then we could have some of the constructs on our ship handle that, at least until we can bring in some from other facilities, plus we could look into the Rockseeker siblings setting up a mine in these mountains for ores in addition to whatever is used to keep this place in the air. Although if we just need heat, why not get a fire elemental bound into the furnace to provide endless fire without fuel like in an airship?”

The Quasit looks at Markus and Varis and sighs before he answers, "Other than the Engine Room, there are The Dormitories where residents sleep. The Prison Cells where prisoners are kept when not working in the engine room or mining ore to feed the engines. The Leather works which was made out of some sort of healer's facility. The leather masks were made there from the faces of the residents... acquiring the masks and using any sort of healing magic will restore someone's face. That is why everyone wears hoods and doesn't show their face. There is also the Control Room where the enlightened ones, or the Brain in a Jar, reside they are also the ones who control the floating bridge that provides the only access to the Treasury which is where Kwalish conducted his experiments while here. It's surrounded by an anti-magic field that prevents flight or teleportation. The Treasury is also managed by a single Brain in a Jar... and that brain belonged to the Bone Devil who arrogantly poked his nose into something that he should not have and ended up as well a Brain in a Jar which left me in charge of things... he's still rather angry that I won't give him a body since I know he'd turn around and kill me the first chance he got. He's always been spiteful like that."

Varis sighs, “Looks like we'll be hitting the Prison cells after the engine room although we probably will want to hit the Leather Works before the prison cells to be able to undo the damage done to their faces. And we'll definitely need to bring in several dozen constructs to handle shoveling the ore and mining it even with the assistance of the Rockseeker siblings. Although we might be able to repurpose the constructs this place has like those that were aiding the bard on the way here. I wonder if those ring things that let the bone devil's claws and tail move across the room would be useful for getting ore from the mining area to the engine room.”

The Quasit shrugs and says, "The Teleportation-Field Devices work within the parts of the mines close to the Monastery, there are several of the devices that collect people who fall off the Monastery and deposit them into the Cells. The mining groups I send out tend to use a set to get the ore to the Engine Room without having to lug it all back up manually. There are maps of the mine and the minerals that have been encountered stored in the Control Room. I could access those maps from the throne if I needed with my crown and scepter, but they can also be accessed in the Control Room."

Gearbox seems rather interested in the Control Room while Garret Levistusson is just annoyed since it turned out the way it has which in his mind is quite the hassle... as Garret eyes the Scepter and Crown that the 'Grand Master' wore.

OOC: And yes I did realize this is an opportunity to bring the three dwarven Rockseeker siblings back into the story in a minor capacity.
This message was last edited by the player at 23:41, Fri 20 Nov 2020.

  'Do we need new brains?' 'You can use the OLD brains!'.  Not quite what Tark meant, but still technically a correct answer.

  "You know, ancient information can become outdated very easily.  So going back to plan 'get the ring first' means the Sphinx won't have an answer for the Giants unless, like many, they would rather have things try to kill them than admit they don't know the answer to a question anymore."  The eternal cycle of 'annoyingly smart, until they are annoyingly dumb' is not something the Sphinx is probably too legendary to be free of.

  "...Okay I'm glad face replacements are a possibility, but not it for face fetching, so hard." Tark does not want to chase faces with a butterfly net, for starters.

Zerry says, "I wanna go on a face chase. I'll chase the face like an ace with a mace while I trace the place!" she does a little dance. Then pauses. "In all seriousness, though, tracking down the faces could take enough time we should all hit the engine room right away. Fast and hard."

She looks at Jack. "Hey Jack! If you want to hold onto the whosit quasit, I'll give you a ride. Meanwhile, I dub thee; Sir Prancing Portal."

Lucy says, "Then we're all in agreement. Engine room first. Then we'll figure out where to go from there."

Lucy smiles and bows back to the portal before looking back to Jack with a wink. Then to Lean, she says, "Lead the way, Lean. I promise we will protect you the whole way just as we did moments ago."

Jack chuckles.  "Love the rhyme!  And thanks for the noble title!"

He takes Zerry's suggestion to mount up with the Quazit then returns Lucy's wink.  "Sounds like a plan!"
This message was last edited by the player at 03:58, Sat 09 May 2020.

It doesn't take Lean Meimbaol long to lead the group, which is still keeping the Quasit captive, to the building that is the Engine Room (M5 on the map). It is a massive chamber filled with the deafening hum and roar of machinery. Piles of rough rock ore are spread throughout the area, around which a prisoner work gang toils in the sweltering heat. Smooth metallic columns rise to the ceiling, with open hatches set into their sides at ground level. Haggard prisoners frantically shovel ore into these hatches, which pulse with a deep-red glow.
As you watch, a prisoner collapses from exhaustion. Under orders from the overseeing monks, other workers toss his body out of the way into a corner in a quick and callous disposal.

Given how no one is fleeing, it is obvious that word of the Grand Master's defeat has not reached this area yet since the group remembers that the Quasit said that if work in this chamber stops, the monastery would plunge into the valley after 24 hours when the furnaces stop burning.

As the group watches the prisoners having to toss one of their number into a corner, the group quickly realizes that there are only five monks lead by an elder monk having twenty prisoners toiling away to keep the engines fueled.

Varis makes use of the telepathic bond ritual Markus maintains on the group 'So what is the plan, just remember after we free these prisoners we'll probably need to bring at least six and possibly as many as ten of the constructs from our airship here to keep these furnaces going until we can figure out a more permanent solution.'

Markus rolls his eyes and telepathically replies, ' That will probably only buy us a week or two before the ores in this room would be expended... Which should be enough time for us to work with the Rockseeker siblings for us to have Varis teleport in teams of miners to continue gathering ores from the surrounding mountains to keep bringing more ore in, which the Rockseeker siblings could help with and could become profitable by collecting and selling valuable ores and continuing to dump the low-grade ores we see here into the furnaces. Probably would need to make sure they had guards as well, probably some construct assistants and protectors as well if we can manage it.'

  Tark is hardly surprised at how wrong this is. No, not morals wise.  The constant failure that is 'work them to death because we don't have enough workers!' 'But we don't have enough workers because you work them to death'.

  "I got into the adventure business to get away from this sort of thing, but I guess the only difference now is how big the accidents can get."

Lucy telepaths, "If I were to undo the guy's exhaustion, he would immediately be put back to work anyway. He should be safe for now, but I want to get to helping him as soon as possible."

So she gets her medical kit ready to stabilize him. "Markus is right. We replace the prisoners with our own workers and then quickly get some help. But that is only part of the problem. How do we free the prisoners without hurting the prisoners? I suppose our best bet is to inform the wardens of the defeat of their master..?"

Zerry telepaths, "I vote we put some of the evil people to work. But since Lean is a local who we rescued, he might know best how this should be handled without trying to lie to us."

"I say we take everything of value, evacuate the people we deem worthy of living, then let this thrice-damned place crash."

He's kinda hoping the monks get hostile, so he's not bothering with telepathy at this point.

Jack thinks on it and smirks.  "Though we could go with Zerry's idea and make this the final destination for our enemies.  If they stop working, they all die.  Win win.

"But in all seriousness, why in the hell do we care if this place stays afloat after we've evacuated the victims?  Was there some weird plan to make this a tourist attraction I wasn't aware of?"

Jack loses patience with the taskmasters REAL fast.  He conjures up a rotten tomato and kersplats the next one to raise a hand against one of the prisoners.

Markus speaks aloud to answer Jack since Jack has decided to not use telepathy, “The reason we can't let this place crash is twofold. First, an object this large crashing into the ground will cause a lot of damage to the surrounding area. Probably on par with a major earthquake at least. Yes it is a remote region but earthquakes can alter the course of rivers...so not something to risk as it could harm villages that get their water from rivers flowing from the surrounding mountains. Second, once this place is on the ground, nothing would prevent scavengers from picking through the remains and possibly finding stuff they could use for evil plots and stuff. And yes now that we've dealt with the Grand Master I suspect some will flee others will try and loot the place before fleeing, but once we've rescued those in need of it, I suspect we could use this place as a base of operations for the mining the Rockseeker siblings do in the area. Plus it could make for a really cool flying airship factory for our company.”

Varis starts twirling the Grand Master's crown around a finger after pulling it out of a pouch as a visual clue that the Monastery's Grand Master was defeated as he says, “A flying facility could be of use for many things, could also use it as a warehouse for secure storage of materials as well. We might even be able to set up a teleport circle here to reach this place from Tresendar Manor or any of our other properties.”

Several of the Monks overhear Jack, Markus, and Varis and look shocked at seeing the Grand Master's Crown displayed by Varis and seem to be a combination of enraged and desperate since this group of strangers has seemingly defeated their Grand Master and is currently blocking their only way out of the engine room...

The prisoners quickly notice the lack of attention by the 'overseers' and stop working and try to get away from the 'overseers' since they both fear that the overseers will try to use them as hostages to escape before killing them, or might try to kill them out of spite. Unlike the monks, the prisoners have no fear of being near these strangers so they gravitate towards the group hoping to be protected against the monks and elder monk.

Jack chuckles.  "You had me at 'earthquake' but yeah.  Floating airship factory sounds awesome!"

  Tark may seem like some communist cliche at times, but he is all too aware of his role as a super capitalist hitting evil with representations of his material wealth.  So more surprising is literally anyone expressing the least bit of concern over his presence.

  "Is this going to go reasonably for once, or are we in for more fire giant logic where they say one thing and act another?" He wonders, as he removes his old habits die hard mundane javelin quivers and tosses them to the ground.

  He doubts any of the prisoners will so much as look at them, but sharp objects not representing their slavery might be comforting to some of them, who knows? Supposedly a lot are ex criminals after all.

Lucy looks to the slavers and says, "We want this island to remain afloat. So do you. So just do as we say and everyone will get out of this alright. We will be providing workers soon, but it won't be this bunch." Lucy motions to the slaves that were already taking refuge behind the team.

Zerry adds in a matter-of-fact tone, "To clarify, if you DON'T do as we say, me and my team here will get out of this just fine, but you won't. The worst that will happen if you resist us is you die and we have to search maybe an extra 10 to 30 minutes for someone to replace you. Understood?"

The monks in the Engine room glance around as the prisoners heading over to the weapons to arm themselves as the only exit is blocked by a group of adventurers that have defeated the grandmaster... realizing they can't win and to try and fight their way out of the engine room is likely to get them killed, they throw down their weapons and surrender.

Varis grins slightly as he telepaths to the group, “Honestly I hadn't expected that to work...so either they are smarter than we expected or their self-preservation instinct kicked in.”

Markus telepaths back, “Well between us blocking the only exit and the prisoners arming themselves, they probably realized if they fought even just to try to flee, they would probably be killed in the attempt.”

Jack is pleasantly surprised as well.  "Well well!  Wise choice."

He smiles at his friends and comments, "Can't wait to see their faces when they find out what their boss really was."

  Tark is part of Jack's pleasantly surprised club.  "I'm so used to people talking up how smart they are for existing only to die just to spite us."

  Of course, more survivors than usual also includes working through what prisoners deserved to be worked to death and then have their faces turned into imitation bats, and which ones were airquotes ""prisoners"".  Good thing his friends know entire zones of truth instead of having to rely on 'probably would not hold up in fantasy court' clarifications one at a time.

Zerry's stern demeanor turns to cheerful elation at the compliance of the enemies. "Good choice! You will live and we will protect your lives as long as you continue being good!"

Lucy looks to Markus and Varis. "That did in fact go perfectly. And now we can employ the constructs as planned."

(Good for fast-forward if this is a good spot for such)

It takes the group around an hour to get some of the constructs from the airship and have them start fueling the Monastery's engines in part since it took a while to keep the now freed prisoners from killing the monks that had been tormenting them and forcing them to slave away in the Engine room. In the end, the monks had to be restrained with rope as the now freed prisoners are waiting to have their 'faces restored' before they'll take the chance to escape from the Monastery using an air skiff to get back to the Sphinx platform before following the marked trail to safely get out of the Barrier Peaks. The freed prisoners warn the group that there are another ten prisoners in the prison cell area along with three more that have been driven somewhat insane which the Monks refer to as the 'immured ones' who are rather hostile to anyone that isn't able to calm them down. Additionally, the group is informed that there are another group of 5 monks led by an Elder monk in the prison cell area, the Leatherworks area, and most likely in the Dormitories for the monks.
This message was last edited by the player at 14:37, Sun 28 Mar 2021.