Field Mission 6: A Day in Thay, Part 1

[balancemod]

oh man best of luck out there dudes NAVIGATION Click here for the RNG thread! Ready or not, rested or not, it's time to get moving, Reclaimers. You've got a very, very long day ahead of you. And another one. And another one. And, you get the joke. Early Friday morning, with the Director there to see them off, the Reclaimers load up into the Bureau's transportation orbs for the sixth time since this whole ordeal began, and make their way to about a mile or two outside of Thay. It's important to try to stick to the story, at least — that you're all visitors from a faraway school, here to spend some time with the students and faculty of Boarbumps. As much as Lucretia would have liked to join you, she can't. None of the other leading members of the Bureau of Balance can. Whoever enters Thay, after all, is entering a bubble, after all. A time trap. Nobody will be able to leave until the Relic, the Lamp of Undoing, is either retrieved or destroyed. Someone needs to be able to continue if you all can't. 1. SEVEN O'CLOCK ALREADY As we noted in the OOC post, prompts on this log will be a quick few sentences of specific things happening during each hour. It's expected that Reclaimers will be seeing all of these events multiple times! So feel free to play with them as you see fit. If you're not sure if something you want to do would warrant a roll, please ask us in the RNG thread. ○ The Reclaimers have arrived in Thay, much to the curiosity of the highly intelligent, occasionally highly ... suspicious ... residents. Nevertheless, they recognize you as visiting, esteemed students, and, though perhaps still suspicious, welcome you into their fold. Also, as a note: Every time the relic is used, time is reset to this moment. ○ Boarbumps Academy for the Magically Inclined opens its doors to the Reclaimers. This is your first opening to explore the school — afternoon classes begin in an hour. ○ Rainer Arunsun, The Regent of Thay and Highest of the Hermetic Order of Red Wizards, can be seen watching the new arrivals by the entrance to the Red Keep. It's difficult to discern any emotion on her face. Shortly before 1 p.m., she retreats back inside. ○ Afternoon classes at Boarbumps begin, starting with a lecture on the magical circuits of the common toad. If you happen to sit in on this one, as a visitor from another school, you may be asked to assist in the dissection. You will be heckled by the rest of the class as deemed fit. ○ Erinne and Adriel can be seen within the hallways of Boarbumps arguing in a very heated manner. Some... less than choice words are exchanged between the two before one, or both of them take their wands out and begin throwing magic missiles at each other. No one knows why the fight starts, but the two have had bad blood before, and this isn't the first quarrel to happen at Boarbumps between them. A staff member arrives on the scene and is accidentally paralyzed by a misfire. ○ The town proper, surrounding the Red Keep, is open for a farmer's market. A bountiful harvest of goods are on display, but in particular, Thay is known for its amazing quality of medicinal herbs and magical reagants, many of which are rare without travel to the area. The merchants typically shoo students off, unless they have a hall pass provided to them by the faculty to retrieve something of import for class. ○ The second afternoon class at Boarbumps begins. Are you three or four time loops in and in desperate need of a nap? This class, The History of Boarbumps, is for you. You will be treated to a long and droning lecture about how the students attending during Boarbumps' very first semester banded together to stop a particularly plucky troll. Which you'd think would be an interesting tale. It is not. ○ Someone's enchanted several books at the library to begin rattling and shaking from the shelves themselves. All over the racks, spines pop out from their homes and fall to the ground, magically lift up and return to some other, non-Dewey decimal approved locale. Other books begin dancing — yes, you've read this correctly — dancing on the tables. Leon would be going into cardiac arrest at the moment, but it looks like someone's playing a prank in here. Again. This librarian looks far less tilted by this. It must be a somewhat normal afternoon for her. ○ Over in the center of town, music, a single violin playing a mournful tune, begins to play. It's unclear where exactly it's coming from. ○ The third and final afternoon class at Boarbumps — Fighting with Fire — begins. The professor, known to be slightly more unorthodox in her teaching methods, will recruit any Reclaimer who happens to be there to defend themselves from the students' incoming fireball spells. The potency of the fireballs themselves range from the tickle of a candle, to that one time you ate a ghost pepper, to one particularly fiery spell that might actually hurt you. ○ There's a scream in the girls' bathroom on the 3rd floor of Boarbumps. Anyone who enters realizes, very quickly, that no one is actually in there. Apparently, this particular lavatory is haunted. ○ Szass Astrosz dips class to go visit the local shrines within the town of Thay. He's been known to skip class before, so his departure from the halls of Boarbumps is rather nondescript. He spends time there praying quietly to his god. ○ There's a slight catastrophe over in the Town Square. That is to say, a giant spider seems to have escaped from Boarbumps and is terrorizing the vendors, to everyone's surprise. Subdue or dispatch it, it's up to you. ○ There's a scheduled council meeting to take place within the Red Keep, a usual weekly affair where Rainer, Casariel, Onerion, Gromph, and the rest meet to discuss matters of the town. Today's is canceled, as Gromph is called out to take care of the arachnid chaos currently convening around the Town Square. ○ Someone places a standing mirror around the corner of Boarbumps. If you happen to stand in front of it, it doesn't show your reflection — rather, it shows the person that you desire most. The mirror is gone by 5 p.m. ○ Cleanup of whatever damage the spider did is underway. In the meantime, the faculty of Boarbumps and the Hermetic Order of Red Wizards invite the Reclaimers to a small dinner in one of the public meeting rooms at the Red Keep. Every member of the Red Wizards are present, aside from Onerion Wyvernspur and Brian Darling. ○ The shops around the town of Thay begin to close for the evening. People are somewhere between annoyed and blase — the spider escaping was new enough, but weird Magic Things are, as you can imagine, pretty commonplace. ○ Over at The Sleepy Willow, cozy, fluffy pillows are arranged on the floor around a large fireplace. The owners will also serve you dinner, if you decide to skip the meal at The Red Keep. This may be one of the only peaceful moments you have to study everything that you've learned thus far. ○ No matter where you are in Thay, you'll feel the ground rumble underneath your feet. The residents largely pass it off as an earthquake, but will note that they have become much more frequent lately. ○ Towards the latter half of the hour, the rumbling within the school grounds causes several of the animal cages used in Onerion's Wondrous Beasts class to come unfastened as they begin to escape. Shortly thereafter, various beasts of all shapes and sizes are set free and begin running for freedom. None of them seem intent on hurting students, but they look to make an exit out of town in the quickest way possible. ○ Droves of the skeletal undead that are used around town seem to freeze in place, no longer retaining their animation. Whatever they're holding currently falls to the floor. Whatever task they're working on comes to a halt. No one understands why that is, but even the best necromancers around town can't seem to wake them back up. ○ With a sudden loud roar, the ground of the town square suddenly begins to split. People, shops, and everything else begin to drop into the chasm, despite the Red Wizards, and everyone else's, attempts to save them. ○ In the last split second you remember, if you happen to look down in the chasm, you'll notice a pair of bright, glowing eyes. Whatever exactly is down there begins to claw its way to the surface. ○ And then, just as suddenly, your vision turns white, and you're briefly overtaken by dizziness. When the haze clears, you are standing at the entrance to Thay. The sun hangs directly overhead in the sky. You have returned to 12 p.m. 2. OOC: A SPECIAL SHOUTOUT You are welcome to keep track of how your character experiences these time loops as much or as little as you're comfortable with — we'll also be tracking what you all are doing! Our Minato player Kel came up with some extremely snazzy coding if you would like to track how each loop plays out for your character more closely. Thank you, Kel! Of course, this is completely optional. Keep up with as much as you'd like, have fun as you see fit, and we hope you enjoy this mission! blurb code by photosynthesis

Comments

[noblegarnet]

Oh sure if that will work better!

[balancemod]

Great! Here we go.

The statue, currently residing in the middle of town, shows a man in a robe that drapes downward onto the base of the statue, stylistically chosen to appear as if the stone is a platform, holding him up, and the would-be cloth flows down below it. Much of his visage is obscured, but you can make out the facial features of the man, as well as an inscription on the base of the plaque:

By his hand, Thay was made safe.

But make no mistake- the person embodied in that statue is none other than the archmage Karsus. It's hard to forget a mug like that, for better or for worse.

You're able to convince Gromph of what you're experiencing with an alarming amount of speed; the note that's provided to him immediately makes his eyes shift from the paper to the two of you. Whatever that word means, it clearly has a deep effect on Gromph, and he takes Sayori and Ferran to his office.

There, he thumbs through a book on a shelf, and, realizing it's not the right one, knocks it to the floor until he subsequently finds the one that he's specifically looking for.

Moving through the pages quickly, he pushes the open side of the book to you two.

"If what you're saying is true, and I hope to Lloth it isn't," he sounds disgusted even mentioning Her name, "Someone is manipulating time in order to get to this."

What you see there, is an illustration of a pool of water.

"I found this book during my time in the Underdark. It appeared to me in the Maze Engine, a strange device, teeming with magics that are beyond our comprehension as scholars of the arcane. You see, it just appeared to me, as if it were flung out of thin air. I think I understand now.

This book was sent to me through time.

I've had my suspicions, but there was no way to tell.

At least, until I found another copy of it. In the library of Boarbumps. Or rather, I shouldn't say another copy, but the real thing. Casariel checked it out this afternoon."

What

the fuck?

"This is known as the Wellspring of Magic."

There's a pause, and he stops.

"It's the lifeblood of the Weave made material. Think of it as the source of all magic in the world as we know it."

We'll say that Ferran lets Gromph know about the mirror and the suspicions that he has about it. He'll ask Sayori to do her best to tail Casariel, and asks Ferran if he wouldn't mind going to the mirror, but advises that they take someone who's prepared to fight, should it come down to needing the extra muscles.

That's where Shuichi and Ogata come in. Gromph attempts to dissuade Ogata from the attempt to investigate, in lieu of standing by in the mirror room. If he's not successful in that endeavor, let us know.

In any case, the lot of you make your way to the mirror, as Gromph tries to discern, in particular, what's going on with it. Shuichi tries to make friends with it, (7 on the roll, and fails). Gromph suggests attempting to attune to it, and Ferran does. Shuichi and Ogata stand guard as he practices meditating on it for the full hour.

We gave you advantage on the roll for Gromph attempting to help. That's a 13 and an 11, both of which don't seem to work. Frustrated, and realizing that time is encroaching closer, he suggests to try something a bit more... unorthodox.

Well, a lot more unorthodox. He feels like he's onto something.

"I'd like to try something dangerous."

You wait with a little bit of anticipation.

"I'd like to planarly shift us and the mirror to a different realm of existence."

[hxppythxughts]

Would Sayori have time here to enlist someone to help her before following Casariel, assuming it's someone nearby?

[balancemod]

We'd say it's possible, yes! If you're at the max of your rolls, don't worry too much about it- this would definitely still be part of the above, as a followup.

[hxppythxughts]

Awesome, thank you so much ♡!

She'll shoot a quick message to Sans, then! Mr. Teleport. And their approach will be as follows:

If there's time, Sayori is going to find the passage from the Adventurer's Guide on stealthily tailing someone to give advantage on this roll. Regardless, Sans will use Digital Phantom to hide them while they trail Casariel. In the spirit of doing completely wild shit for my rolls at all times, Sans is going to try to use his liveriver orb to record Casariel's actions from a vantage point a safe distance behind her--sneakily, by hiding it in his skull if it fits. If not, they will try to record what they observe with their bracers.

If it seems that Casariel might suspect that she and Sans are present, Sayori would use Prestidigitation to create a minor aural distraction elsewhere to try and draw her attention away from where Sans and Sayori are--the exact sound depends on where they'd end up by following her since she'd try to do something appropriate to the surroundings, but something like a small object falling over or footsteps from somewhere else.

Sayori has Message to communicate with Sans silently, and using this, she'll tell Sans that if they get caught, he needs to Blink or teleport out. Should Casariel catch them, he'll attempt to do it unless there's some indication that Casariel can do something to Sayori that would persist after the loop is reset. If GOD FORBID everything totally goes to hell and it seems like Casariel might really hurt them, Sayori would try casting Sleep on her so they can get the hell out of dodge.

[balancemod]

Very interesting approach; we genuinely hate the idea of stuffing Sans' skull with a streaming device, but hey, it's cursed enough that it works.

DC 12 to trail Casariel properly. Correct us if we're wrong but you don't have any bonuses to tracking (like hunter's mark, etc) in your party, so no bonuses to the roll there.

The more important part is not getting caught, though. You're dealing with an archmage who had the ability to kill a familiar with the wave of her hand after detecting its presence. She's the headmaster of Boarbumps so you probably figure that she's exceptionally good at dealing with the bullshit the kids throw at her. But you're also highly prepared. DC 17, but we'll give you +3 for the combined efforts of prestidigitation and the digital phantom spell, and it'll be rolled at advantage.

If shit hits the fan, we'll deal with it then!

Sound good?

[hxppythxughts]

I'm sorry we're like this. But yeah correct on the tracking thing, Gromph has made a terrible choice in spy.

Anyway. Sounds TERRIFYING, let's do it.

[balancemod]

I'm so sorry.

Trailing Casariel seems to be going well until she gets the hint that she's being followed. She doesn't show signs of it at first, but watching her you notice that she's an incredibly gifted actor. Her movements are precise, her footsteps have all the practice of grace- everything about this is a show.

And for the most part, she lets you follow her. There's a feeling of anxiety that probably wades over both Sayori and Sans, since this definitely feels off in a lot of rather awful ways. She eventually comes to an old room, and notices that the lock on the door has been pried open. Her eyes wander to where you two are being concealed, and you know that she knows that you know you're watching her.

Slowly, she enters the room, you hear a panicked "Mou!"

And then silence.

Following after her, you realize that she's just gone.

No trace of her.

The little cat is, for better or worse completely fine... although ruffled a tad.

[noblegarnet]

Ogata can be convinced to let go of the investigating, so no problems there.

The three of them will agree to go along with Gromph's plan. It sounds like they need to find out more about Casariel, so...

[balancemod]

That's good enough for Gromph!

He asks everyone to hold hands around the mirror and sign a school trip form, waiving Boarbumps and indemnifying anything that should happen to them including, but not limited to a loss, major or otherwise, of life, limb, or soul.

Great! Now that that's over and done with, onto the highly dangerous magic that no professor of a school, or at least, a professor in his right mind, would subject students to.

Gromph's eyes glow a pure white as he channels the conjuration of another plane of existence in his mind's eye. Of course, this being Gromph Baenre, this place is the Abyss; the home to demons and devils and those who have crossed over to worship them. And then, all around them, the room shifts, everything blurs, and suddenly they're surrounded in quite possibly the most infernal place they've ever been to in their entire lives.

He checks to make sure the mirror is still there.

"The reason why you were unable to attune to the mirror in there, young scholar, was most likely because it's currently recognizing someone else as its master. So, of course, we just remove it from the Prime Material plane and shatter the connection with its former owner."

As he explains this, he holds out his hand and casts a 7th level fireball into a crowd of encroaching demons.

This is literally just another Wednesday for this guy.

"This is where the rest of you come in. Ferran is going to need to spend an hour concentrating on the mirror and you're going to have to hold off legions of demonic spawn trying to steal our souls. Look alive, won't you? I don't plan on dying here.

Again."

What.

"Ferran, I hate to tell you this first hand, but concentrate, boy!"

We'll give you some liberty to design out the abyss and what you do during that hour in case you'd like to thread it out. That's all on you, but after an hour of Ferran being further traumatized by fire all around him, he's attuned.

And wouldn't you have it.

The mirror's surface looks to show another place, becomes amorphous and loses its surface ability to remain hardened. It has an almost... wave-particle feeling to it.

A long, dark hall, marble finished, lit by several torches.

You can only presume you know of one place in all of Thay like this, and as you stare into it, you feel the heaviness of a Dragon's lair before you.

NOTE: The events leading up to this will grant you control over the mirror as well as access to the final area where the CTA will occur.

[noblegarnet]

cool cool cool cool cool thanks great

(it really is though thank you)

(aaaaaaaaaaaaaaa)

Are you ready?

[balancemod]

You make your way down to the Wellspring of Magic, where a confrontation for the ages is taking place. Just in time for the light show, your team piles out towards the entrance way of a huge, sprawling under-mass of land. The central most platform contains, what you can see: an adult black dragon, Rainer sitting in her hover chair, and Casariel glowing with dark, violet arcane energies. From its location, two additional spokes of trail lead away from the middle. You can guess there are a few entrances to the dungeon down here, and you managed to secure just one of those three.

You see the dragon in front of emanating a sheen of purple aura, as Casariel channels something in the distance.

Rainer notices your group approaching, but keeps her gaze steadily on her adversary. You get the feeling that this is a chess match. Two moves away from checkmate, Rainer has no power in stopping her king from being cornered.

Inside your mind, you hear a soft plea from the familiar voice you've come to know over the last month of resets.

Rainer: Hi! Yes, I see you all over there. I assume Mr. Baenre helped you get down here considering the direction you came from? Smart guy, great professor, terrifying mage.

Rainer: Terribly sorry, but could you give me a minute?

Rainer: Actually, about 8 minutes. I need you to see and understand what you're facing. Promise, we're almost there.

Rainer could have possibly just told everyone everything about what was going on- and maybe that would've sped things up just a little bit. But putting herself on Casariel's radar meant opening up variations in her timeline. Rainer knows each and every move by heart at this point, and desperately needs to keep each timeline more or less the same in order to prevent Casariel from doing anything worse than what she has planned already.

We're going to assume you agree to sit and watch for a few moments. Otherwise, Rainer will just reset time early and call this loop concluded.

Casariel: You know you can't stop me, Rainer. I've drunk from the Wellspring of Magic. We're one now. Killing me will only destroy the Weave.

Rainer: Cas, it doesn't have to be this way! I know who you are, there are ways we can try to bring your people back that don't involve destroying the world!

Casariel: (scoffing) You think you know who I am? You know nothing of my peoples' plight. Your understanding is less than that of a mere child's. I grow tired of this, Rainer. Stand aside and let me release Nephros.

Rainer: You don't care about all the students you've raised? Or the town that you've given the last decade of your life to? Or me? I know your heart's been darkened. I know you've spent centuries in the Shadowfell, but I also know that you're capable of compassion and---

Casariel: Enough! You are just an object to me, a stepping stone in a far bigger plan for this world. I don't care about Boarbumps. About Thay. And especially not you. You disgust me.

Rainer: Cas, don't do this.

She raises a hand, dark lightning forming in its palm, as she blasts it towards Rainer. She's knocked from her seat, and you may get the inkling to help her, but she looks right at your group, resolve in her eyes like you've never seen it before.

Casariel: Goodbye, Faerun. May the darkness claim all.

Finally finishing the channeling spell she's been working on, the dragon, whom you've now known is named Nephros, begins to stir. The chasm shakes, and rattles, and as it comes alive, it lets out an ear piercing roar.

Casariel: To war! Destroy these humans who imprisoned you! The Wellspring is mine at last! (maniacal laughter ensues).

From here, Rainer pulls the Lamp of Unwinding from her robes, fiddles with it for a second, and a globe of white light surrounds just her until it begins to expand outward. It catches the entire room first, as Casariel is frozen in place, in time.

Rainer looks over at you, at last, as everything has been stopped around her. This place won't exist in a short while, but you see her pull up the sleeve of her robe, and where healthy skin should be, you notice the toll that the relic has taken on her. Having displaced time so often, she's beginning to dislodge herself from it- and parts of her body are completely translucent.

Rainer: Now you've seen it all. Please, I beseech you. I need your help. I can't keep doing this much longer- this next loop... this has to be the last one.

Welcome back to 12pm.

[gotyourbach]

hello uhhhhhhhhhh say someone had an oath to shuichi and was probably at that very moment drooling over the piano in the music hall. how would him suddenly getting sent to hell feel through that oath?

edit: can bracer calls transcend planes?

[balancemod]

Kaede would feel the oath basically drop as she feels an incredibly strong sense of being alone. While on a different plane of existence, it doesn't work anymore.

Bracer functionality, however, does work to a certain degree. Remember how Miss Zarves was trapped in the Ethereal plane and still made contact with the Reclaimers? That's pretty much the same for someone stuck on the Abyss as well!

[diffidentive]

just to be sure: is gromph bringing them BACK to the normal plane once the hour for attuning is up? just trying to figure out a vague timeline here

[balancemod]

We're in media res at the moment! Please hold tight until a little bit later. You can assume these events either occur right before the CTA or within the next loop.