Sariel turns to her allies. "Guys, Shaman girl, help me out here?"

Request Bern Aid Another for me. Heck, anyone with crappy Arcana should Aid George or me.

The psionic-shaman person walks over to the orb and points out the arcane, draconic design of the pedestal holding the orb.

Aid another success http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/3169246/

Magic is hard, orc inspect room
http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/3169563/

Myn idly looks around the room, wondering if he should leave this one to the eladrin.

Arcana check: http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/3169622/

Myn thinks that the crystal ball is definitely an arcana.

Sureiya can't find much of interest in this room. There is an expensive-looking rug on the ground, and this short hallway is carved from the same off-white ivory-like substance as the rest of the tower.

With the aid of the Shaman, Sariel begins inspecting the orb for anything that might hint towards its function--whether by mundane means or magical ones.

Arcana check: (+2 from Bern already factored in) http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/3170082/

Oh look that's where my high rolls are. Inb4 forever roll low during combat again.

While the magic users hopefully find something useful about the orb and the dragon most likely being dominated while they fiddle with it, Michael sheaths his sword and equips his banner instead.

Sheath farbond spellblade, equip battle standard of healing in place

Based on the construction of the pedestal and the look of the device, and the "feel" Sariel can get from it within close contact, the mage concludes that this crystal orb was probably a simple magical device used for communication. One may place their hand on the sphere, and reach out telepathically to someone else "on the other side," where ever that may be. This allows for two-way communication with someone else who has access to a similar device, though the ritual that creates this effect only connects a certain two orbs, so it is not possible to reach out to just anyone.

Sariel folds her arms. "So guys, this is a communications device, and we can use it to talk to whoever's on the other side... so whoever the Manipulator was just talking to. What do?"

>>4717
"I doubt they'd be anybody we'd want to talk to. Not without being close enough to punch them, anyway."

Myn shakes his head slightly. "If there's a chance that we might learn something, it seems to me that we should at least try to use it."

"... Just go ahead and do it."

Sariel shrugs and puts her hand on the device. FOR SCIENCE!

>>4718
>>4719
>>4726
"I don't think that's such a good id-"Too late. Looks like the deed was done.. Michael then remembers there's something like a similar door on the opposite side, and makes a signal to Torinn and Sureiya to check out the door on the opposite end of the room.

When Sariel places her hand on the orb, it becomes slightly warm to the touch, and the colors that constantly swirl within become more intense and swirl at a more rapid rate. In a few seconds, Sariel hears a rather demanding masculine voice in her head: "Who in the hells are you?! What have you done with Largan?!"

Sureiya and Michael had over to the eastern door, with Torinn backing them up. The door itself is pretty much the same as the one opposite it--there are no traps on it that you can see.

Sariel sighs, then telepathically returns, "I believe it would be most proper if you'd identify yourself first... as for me, I'm merely an unlucky passerby who happened to get into a disagreeable encounter with your compatriots down here.

"I was hoping their allies would be more willing to speak before drawing weapons; I do so hate bloodshed." I wonder if he knows there's more of us here?

"Yes? Well, you may be surprised as to how few 'unlucky passerbys' we encounter inside a tower that has been sealed and guarded against all intrusion by automatons!" the "voice" on the other end of the crystal ball replies in a rather agitated voice. "This tower belongs to the followers of the Sacred One! If you are not one of us, you will be destroyed should you attempt to proceed any further!"

>>4737
Sariel shrugs, belatedly realising the other probably would miss the import of the gesture. Not being able to see, and all.

"Oh? I have it on good authority you're trying to actually subjugate the dragon of this tower here, now."

Sariel turns to the rest of the party and says softly to Myn and Bern, "These guys are all ready to declare holy war on us or something. You guys aren't opposed to cleansing this tower of morons, are you?"

Regardless of answers, she continues telepathically, "So alright, how would I go about becoming 'one of you'?"

"What? You expect me to believe such a story? Where is Largan? What have you done with him?!" the voice demands rather aggressively. "And what of Galarhigg, the mighty one?!"

>>4739
Sariel sighs again. "They're fine. Just out cold. Look, we're not here to fight, alright?"

http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/3172620/ bluff for lie about dragon etc

>>4740
"You will allow me to speak with one of them, or this conversation ends! I will hear no more of your poison!" the "voice" replies, sounding like it's just about had enough of this. Well, as much as such an emotion can come across telepathically.

"Permit me a moment to realise your request."

Sariel disengages the telepathic link, stepping out towards the open.

"Folks, strategy meeting." She gestures for the others to get over thurr for some talk.

>>4742
Using Ghost Sound to make it a quiet whisper the rest can hear.

"So, what did they say?"

Myn speaks in a low voice. "I also believe he could be of some use. It might be possible to prevent them from sending more cultists after us if they believe this group to remain alive."

>>4745
Sariel, ignoring the Warlock's uncanny ability to intercept telepathic waves, relates the conversation to the Shaman (and the rest of the group should they deign to come closer).

"... and that's where we stand. So, blast 'em or bluff 'em?"

>>4747
"... We'll be destroyed if we proceed? Is it possible to sneak past them?"

>>4748
Torinn moves closer, shaking his head.

"They know we're here. If we want to get by without a fight, we'd have to run by quickly without letting them catch us."

>>4749
Hmm... maybe.

"In that case, should we try to find out about the situation above?"

>>4750
"That would be very helpful, but how can we do that without giving ourselves away?"

Sariel frowns. "Well, maybe if we had something like a cat or whatever that'd be exceptionally good at sneaking...

"Either way, I vote we just blast them. Nothing that can't be solved by killing the bad guys until there's none left."

>>4751
>>4752
"Well... how about this?"

The shaman gestures to the warlock's companion imp.

Myn blinks once, lightly grabbing the imp hovering near his shoulder and dangling it in the center of the group.

"Certainly, this thing possesses the art of invisibility, although sustained use should be impossible. I would surmise that it should be sufficient for a brief task of surveillance."

>>4754
Torinn squints at the tiny imp, "Perhaps, if it knows how to do the task and relay what it has seen. Does it talk?"

The imp isn't too happy about being grabbed, and it squirms and chirps in an annoyed-sounding tone at the warlock.

>>4755

"Worry not, I am both able to direct and communicate with it."

Myn waves the imp back and forth in the air briefly.

"However, our communication will likely be nonsensical to the ears of others."

The imp's chattering becomes more intense, and it flails its limbs about in resistance to the warlock's efforts.

>>4754
The shaman looks at the imp. ... It could turn invisible?

She watches as her spirit briefly attempts to infuse the imp, though it would appear that the imp has little use for combat.

>>4757
"I see. Then, we have a method for reconnaissance.

"So, will we ignore their request to talk to the... hostage?"

"More dragons? what the hell, I won't survive another round like this one"
"If possible, send the imp. If not possible, well ... lets go kick their asses."

>>4759
"Not necessarily..." Torinn glances back at the rabble, calling him over, "How would you like a chance to pull one over on your ex-bosses?"

>>4767
"Eh?" the rabble replies, looking a bit nervous, with one arm tucked behind his head. "Wh-what did you have in mind?" he asks, while slowly walking back into the larger room.

>>4770
"Can you reassure whoever's on the other end that everything's alright down here?"

The former cultists scratches his head and says, "I could... but I don't think they'd buy it, coming from me. Maybe if it was the dragon or Largan... heck, I doubt they even know my name, and I'd rather keep it that way, so they don't have reason to come after me later."

>>4776
Torinn folds his arms, "Then perhaps we could find a way to keep them occupied with the crystal ball so we can surprise them or avoid them entirely?"

>>4776
A meaningless hostage, huh.

"We've yet to receive a clear answer. What does the cult of the dragon do, and why is it so secretive?"

"We should have just not touched the orb at all. Now we've lost the element of surprise it seems. I'm going to check out what is behind that door while you all decide."


Open door on east side of room

"You're asking the wrong person... I'm not really that good with words. But I'll try to give you a basic overview..." the cultist stammers. "We--they follow the prophecy of the archmage Sammaster, who predicted that Faerun would once prosper under the eternal rule of undead dragons. Already, dragons rise to prominent positions all over Faerun... or so the rumors say. Never actually seen any evidence of that myself. Anyway, the cult followers are spreading to major cities in order to locate dragons and offer them eternal life in undeath. If they refuse, they are subjugated. They remain secretive because their goals and methods are not exactly sanctioned by most civilized areas... not everyone is willing to rally behind undead dragons, even if they are told that they will be forced to eventually either way."

Meanwhile, Michael opens the door to the east, revealing a small room just past a short passage. The room has another decorative rug, and a low ceiling, but is filled with four bookcases. This room appears to have been ransacked, as the bookcases are nearly empty and there are books and loose paper scattered all over the floor. Nothing else seems to be within the room.

>>4783
...Prominent positions, huh. If this cult managed to identify the dragon of this tower, then the higher-ups should have some method of gathering intel.

"Moving on. Other than the dragon, is there anyone or anything else in the tower for us to be aware of?"

"Well, if I had to guess, they've probably set up some traps up ahead," the once-cultist explains. "Also, many of us came here, though Largan over there," he indicates the dragonborn, "was the highest-ranking aside from the Wearer of Purple and Kollirtza, the undead dragon. I imagine they're up near the top of the tower, where they said the metal dragon was likely to be. Galvang, Hallvan... Halvangh, I think they said the dragon's name was?"

>>4786
Halvangh. Of course.

"This 'Wearer of Purple' may hold the other crystal orb. Would you tell us of his role?"

"The Wearer of Purple... I don't know his name, but he's the leader of this cell of the cult. He'll be the one that performs the ritual to bind the dragon... Kollirtza is just here to watch over things," the human goes on.

Still tired to discuss, the half orc take a look on the room.
http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/3173864/

Sureiya: (Perception): There appear to be no other living creatures in the room, and no traps that you can find. The only notable contents of the room are the bookshelves themselves, the stools, and the mess of books and papers scattered over the ground. Many of the pages are torn, as if someone had ransacked the place and removed important information from the books on the ground. The loose pages are trampled and dirty, but there might be a few of value if someone skilled in reading the languages they were written in was present. Several of the texts were written using the Dethek script, others using Thorass script, mostly a collection of common and giant. However, some are in a language you do not recognize, yet the symbols bear a vague resemblance to the runes you have seen on the many magic circles you have encountered as of late.

>>4791
Overhearing from the other side of the room that it's worse as previously fought, Michael hope what's left of these books can be salvaged to help them. Seeing that Sureiya might see something he doesn't, he decides to ask,"So, ranger, anything you can tell of what's left here?"

"Geez, those guys sure went crazy here.
Apparently they started removing information from a lot of books. There are a few I can't read."
Sureiya now take a few books of those language he can't recognize and show them to the Cavalier.
"Hey, can you read any of this?"

>>4786
"So, whatshisface.. That guy with the staff.. Never told us there was a dragon in this tower, just a wizard. If there's a dragon here now, what's become of that wizard?"Michael asks, not remembering the name of said wizard.

While Torinn is able to recognize a scant few of the writings as draconic, it is actually Sariel that recognizes most of them--these arcane symbols are the kind that are used in ritual books.

Sariel, with a flick of her ghost hand, pilfers the books with the runic writing, placing them in her arms rather than the Dragonborn's.

"Ritual books," she mentions, by way of clarification, eyeing them curiously. "Also, if we're done here, let's kick some wacky cultists out of our tower."

Cast Suggestion: Let's Get On With The Combats Already

>>4798
"...We came to meet Mr. Valanor's associate, whose name was also Halvangh."

>>4800
"Then, if you would?" The shaman looks in the imp's direction.

>>4800
"What about those books though, anything useful from them? Any rituals to stop subjugation or that would help us out??"

>>4801
"Wait, so whatshisface... Valanor.. He was friends with some Dragon wizard? And he didn't tell us or maybe realize it!?"

Sariel hands Torinn one of the books, the one with the most draconic runes, and continues actively studying whatever else she has with the gusto of an Eladrin out on a mission etc because otherwise no one'll continue.

>>4799
"Some of this stuff is written in draconic, too. Let me see..."

Take the draconic writings and try to decipher them

>>4802
Well, who knows.

Sariel quickly determines that these pages are incomplete, and of little value on their own. However, there could be more back in the room that Sureiya did not pick up, though a more thorough search of the room and the bookshelves would be required.

From the draconic writings, Torinn can also notice that they are mostly incomplete, and appear to be historical recordings. They tell bits and pieces of the history of Faerun.

Smiling at the shaman, Myn walks over to the base of the stairs, relinquishing his grasp on the book imp and depositing it in the air in front of him.

"Carefully scout the area ahead. Make sure not to miss anything."



Move to D-17.
Use book imp invisibility.
Send book imp to the top of the stairway.

>>4807
"It's all a bunch of historical junk... It's not even complete."

"Much less interesting than the tales I'm used to," Torinn murmurs.

"Sureiya, try to find more books like this," Sariel mentions to the Half-Orc. "Let's just take our time for measured appropriate action rather than rushing in like humans are wont to do."

>>4810
Torinn sighs, "I guess I should look too." He heads into the room to gather all the pages written in draconic, then reads what he can.

Sureiya search for more books related to ones he showed to Sariel, using the cavalier as translator.

Torinn doesn't find much of interest in the draconic texts--they appear to be almost exclusively histories. However, together, Sureiya and Torinn find a number of pages containing the arcane writings they saw before. It appears that some of these might have actually have been scrolls, rather than books.

While most of them are clearly torn in such a way that renders them completely unusable, there should be at least a handful of useful scrolls in here, should a learned eye get a look at them.

"Hmm? These don't look like books, they look like... scrolls?"

Torinn brings his findings to Sariel, "Can you make anything from this?"

Sariel takes the material Torinn brings her, studying them before deigning to give an answer.

Some of the pages are pages from a ritual book, and contain actual usable rituals--though only two seem complete enough to use, one being comrade's succor, and the other being knock. However, Sariel would need an extended rest to study these rituals and copy them to her book.

There are three usable scrolls, however--two scrolls of comrade's succor, and one scroll of hand of fate.

The other texts appear to be histories and studies on nature and magic, though nothing the party regards as new or extremely interesting. The wizard probably keeps the good stuff in a more secure location.

The imp, appearing rather indignant, brushes itself off and turns invisible before fluttering up the stairway.

After a few moments, it returns, and informs the warlock that it passed through some sort of barrier of magical darkness, then observed several levels that were inaccessible from the central stairway, each comprised of railed, circular paths lining the sides of the room. Each of these paths led to several other doors. However, the only path that seemed accessible from the central stairway was one that seemed about halfway up, and went in a single direction to a large set of double-doors. The imp could not quite reach the path, due to being constrained to a mere 100 feet from the warlock.

Myn pokes at the imp upon its return, harassing it briefly about its range constraints.

"...it seems that there's some manner of barrier ahead, although this thing was able to pass through it without trouble. There do not appear to be any more enemies in the immediate vicinity, so I'll go a bit further up to see if I can gain any more information."

Move up to just before the barrier and examine it.
Send book imp to scout invisibly as far as it can from that point.

Sariel sighs and shakes her head.

"Useless, it's all useless," she mentions, casually putting the scrolls in her Bag of Holding, same with the pages.

Actually...

"Hey, guys, get over here for a moment," Sariel says, producing one of the scrolls of Comrade's Succor and commencing the necessary steps to produce its results; preferably activating it once everyone's gathered around her close enough to be affected by the ritual.

Myn has to ascend quite a distance before encountering the "barrier," about 80 feet (16 squares). It appears as a black cloud of sorts that blocks vision from below and makes the elevated walkways on the sides of the tower difficult to see. The imp simply passes through the darkness without incident, and is able to explore as far as the double doors without encountering any enemies or hazards. Of course, the familiar cannot open the doors on its own.

>>4826

Arcana check for barrier info: http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/3175177/

>>4821
Torinn moves closer, "Hmm? What is it?"

>>4821
"What's up? Something useful from what was left of those books?"

The Eladrin nods to the Warlord. "Quite useful. Drag that Warlock down here, it's important he's around for it, too."

>>4836
The shaman's spirit companion appears near the warlock, pointing to the others.

Myn is able to determine that the darkness is a wide, though thin layer of magical darkness that seems to have been created specifically to block sight up the stairs. It is harmless to touch and pass through, however.

Nodding at the spirit, Myn goes back down the stairs to rejoin the rest of the group.

"The barrier ahead doesn't seem to be dangerous in the least."

With Myn finally joining them, Sariel activates the power contained within the scroll.

When Sariel casts the ritual, the party redistributes its vitality in order to replenish the reserves of its more drained combatants.
(As according to >>4825 )

The double-doors at the top of the stairs seem the most obvious path to continue. Shall the party proceed to them?

Thanks to the Half-wizard ritual, the orc feels much better than a while ago.
"So guys, you have your ranger back. Should we go and kick some dragon asses?"
Spend a healing surge.
Spending it on the banner, but without hide around its a 13 hp heal, so final hp is 47.

Sariel nods. "Let's stop dawdling and do that."

With gusto, she advances forward, taking the lead like the party leader she is and putting her hands on the doors.

"Ready?"

Michael merely nods and draws his sword and shield at the ready. Luckily he remembered to pick up his banner earlier.

After a considerable number of pauses in her drawn-out ascent, the shaman arrives at the door. She isn't in any condition to speak.

Someday I'll erase this character trait.

Torinn tries to lead Rutger up the spiral staircase, but it proves impossible. Sighing, the dragonborn dismisses the horse for now, which vanishes into a fog, before heading up with the others.

Myn ascends the stairs as well, patting the shion on the back when he reaches the door.

The party ascends the stairs, passes the magical darkness without incident, and begins to gather on the walkway in front of the set of double-doors.

These doors have a more intricate design than the previous sets, and do not appear to have a handle to open. You may need to push inwards on them to open. There are a number of designs traced in the hard, off-white, marble-like material they are carved from, with the designs themselves generally of geometric shapes, colored gold and silver.

Sureiya gets near to the door, and try his best to hear what's on the other side.
Perception check: http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/3177699/

Sureiya thinks for a moment that the door is just like the others in the dungeon thus far--but then feels something "off" about the design on the door. It's quite possible that this is actually some sort of warding trap... it should be disrupted before entry is attempted.

It is necessary to make a Thievery check in order to attempt to disable the ward. A successful hard DC Arcana check will provide an Aid Another bonus to Sureiya, but otherwise, Aid Another is not permitted for characters not trained in Arcana or Thievery.
Be warned that a failed attempt will certainly activate the trap.

"Guys, this door has one of these funny mortal traps, anyone trained in arcana please help me to deactivate it"

Aid another arcana: http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/3179067/

Take 10 on Arcana, 26 for Aid Another.