Harmony Session 30: In The Garage, Where I Belong

We last left The Suckhole Six on the victorious side of a rockwood ambush. The last survivor was attempting to escape, but Enoch wasn't about to let that happen again.   The wizard leapt forward to where the rockwood had disappeared into the forest floor. A small tunnel remained, but attempting to traverse it would not only be difficult, but likely deadly. Enoch instead opted to fire a thunderwave in the hole. The shockwave from the spell collapsed the small tunnel leaving Enoch unsure if he hit his target.   Zoran and Enno, inspired by their wizardly compatriot's sudden bloodlust, ran after the rockwood as well. Enno located the creature with his heightened hunter senses and directed Zoran its way. The big man slammed his blade down into the dirt in an attempt to stab the creature through the soil, but failed to connect. After some debate on the mechanics of the pursuit, the Six decided to continue their original mission and deal with the rockwoods later.  

Second Suite

  Enoch had fired up the Woodsman again and it rcontinued on its pre-programmed path. It stepped onto the stone disc which immediately began to descend. The Six scrambled aboard and sank into the dark. Soft purple lighting sputtered to life from hidden wall sconces, revealing a large underground room with few distinct features, but of industrial purposes. The disc stopped with a clunk on a similarly marked stone floor about 70 feet down. Immediately, the Woodsman tottered off the disc and onto another smaller one and immediately powered down. The powering disc glowed and a disembodied voice began to speak.   In soft and gentle Varduran, the speaker announced, "First Suite concluded. Beginning Second Suite." Other circular platforms began to light up around the room, each revealing a hunched Woodsman atop it. These constructs powered up with minor difficulty when the voice broke through the air again. It said, "Intruders detected. Activating defenses." The purple lights switched to a burning red and each of the awakened Woodsmen turned toward the Six and spun up their buzzsaws.   Enoch could see the writing on the walls with the situation. These behemoths would eviscerate them given enough time. He desperately turned towards the Woodsman's Call and the mechanism with which he controlled the construct. The readings were strange as the other Woodsmen interefered with whatever signal it was using. But Enoch also noticed something else in the readings: a large power source coming from a before unseen side room. The wizard ran over to the door to find it locked with a mechanism similar to the ones found in the Temple of 1,000 Legs. Enoch called Malachai over and the rogue went after it with his thieves' tools. Malachai couldn't quite get it open but did activate some sort of receptor: the lock opened up like a metal flower and waited to receive... something.   Meanwhile, Gorr, Zoran, Enno, and Azarki were doing their best to hold the machines at bay, but things weren't going well. Especially when a heap of charred armor and melted appendages staggered forward from the darkness, leveled one of its broken glowing arms at Gorr, and blasted him with a scorching beam of lava. Evidently this Woodsman was the one returned from the igneous coffin in The Ashlands and cut the giant path through Ferrous Forest. The Charred Woodsman's time in the Ashlands had somehow changed its body and function, almost like a mutation, and the Suckhole Six were getting a full demonstration.   Back at the door, Enoch and Malachai were still struggling with the lock mechanism. They were missing something and time was running out. Suddenly, realization washed over Enoch like cold water. Keys didn't open doors in Vardura; the Evervoice did. The door was just waiting for someone to make the official request through the proper channels. Thinking to how his friends Azarki and Zoran each connected with the Evervoice, Enoch reached out and kinda maybe sung a little tune of opening.   The Evervoice eagerly received Enoch's intention, manifesting his need into reality. Enoch felt the door open and stepped inside. The Varduran control room was relatively familiar to Enoch after all his time with the Woodsmen, but his revelation with the door made him understand much more about how everything on Vardura worked. There was always something missing with his and Fran's work with the Woodsmen. The power levels had been frustratingly low, surprisingly steady, and completely mysterious in their origin. Their hotwiring, though creative, was simply the best they could do at the time. Now Enoch knew: the Evervoice powered the Woodsmen and likely everthing else on this continent.   Enoch reached out again through the Evervoice and into the control console, willing the Woodsmen to shut down. He felt the power of the Evervoice surge into him and begin to manifest his command. The power was intoxicating; a cool peace and ecstatic joy rolled into song and light and action. The Evervoice asked for more and Enoch gave it, allowing it to run freely through him in order to shut those machines down and prevent his friends from getting killed. Bright white light filled the small room like a star before everything for Enoch went black.  

The Ever Choice

  With a sudden clunk and a feeling like the air was sucked from the room, the Woodsmen surrounding Gorr, Enno, Azarki, and Zoran slumped down on their haunches and ceased moving. However, the Charred Woodsman still advanced, its recent changes altering more than its ability to destroy trees. Its attack was brutal, but it couldn't get its devastating lava beam back online before the Six's combined might brought the construct down. Silence filled the chamber, but only for a brief moment. A white explosion of light and music burst from the control room. Reality began to distort around the door before a pocket of spacetime exploded, sucking Enno and Malachai into its lethal collpase. Enoch had embraced the Evervoice, and now the Evervoice was embracing him. The overwhelming power burst from Enoch as wild chronurgic magic that could very well kill them all.   Exigent Azarki ran forward and straight into the control room. The white light blinded him, but he forced the pressure back and called out for his friend. Zoran attempted to follow suit, pulling out his bone flute to hopefully apply his talent with the Evervoice to the situation. Unfortunately, the power slapped him in the brain like a wet mattress and blasted him into the past, right back into that exceptionally clear and excrutiatingly painful memory of seeing his family murdered and his kingdom fall in a single night.   Enno followed after Azarki into the control room, spying the silhouette of Enoch through the windows. With the skill of a practiced tackler, Enno leapt through the air at the wizard. Enoch's face snapped toward the dragonborn, his mouth open in a rictus screaming song and Enno froze in air and in time, just a few inches short of his goal. The Evervoice pushed harder into Enoch's mortal vessel and something popped. The light and sound immediately ceased, Enno fell to the floor, and Enoch collapsed unconscious.   With the station completely powered down and the danger ended, the Suckhole Six revived their companions and set up their tiny hut to get some rest and... process.  

"It's Like Corn"

  In the hut, the Six compared notes on their experiences with The Evervoice. With Enoch's new revelations, it was apparent that the Evervoice was "in everything" here on Vardura. There was a lot of power available for anyone to use, but not much control. Enno wasn't particularly jazzed about how every time they used this power, he almost died. Additionally, our adventurers realized that the Evervoice's "exhaustion" at the end of these episodes implied that it was not at the peak of its power. Did that mean that it could be made stronger? How? What would even happen?   Meanwhile, Gorr sat close by silently tripping on a starberry. He saw himself as one of the Woodsmen gleefully cutting down trees for The Varduran Symphony, the Evervoice flowing ecstatically through his mechanical limbs. These constructs, and now Gorr, were filled with extreme satisfaction at fulfilling their glorious purpose. Gorr's mind then passed into the unconscious and the starberry truly took hold. Gorr passed into a living realm of vibration, stars, and sight. He felt himself floating high above Vardura once again in a place of knowledge and understanding. Thinking back to his conversations with Shogo vu Chullat and his purpose on this continent, Gorr reached out and asked the Evervoice to tell him of Stiga Star-Crosser.   Silence, dread silence, was all Gorr received in return. Until the black rage that was building behind that veil reached its boiling point and lashed out in retaliation. To say that the Evervoice was pissed was an understatement, as Gorr felt as if he had trespassed where none had before dared. Vardura disappeared. Everything disappeared. Only close, black nothing held Gorr in place in what could only be a psychic time out. All night, Gorr definitively had a "bad trip", experiencing only psychadelic nothingness and the great un-passing of no-time. He awoke little refreshed, denied a chunk of magic, and proverbially slapped on the wrist by the Evervoice for his insolence. He awoke decisively "hating it down here."  

Truth, Or Something Like It

  The following morning revealed another side room in the garage. Inside was a treasure trove of goodies. In addition to the traditional loot, there were also dozens of spare parts for the Woodsmen, perhaps even enough to construct some brand new ones.    Enoch suddenly remembered that they would have to report the discovery of this garage to the camp officials. Enoch remembered the intensely interested stare of Fran's uncle Zigourney Zetlevik as he watched them repair the Drowned Woodsmen. Combined with the rumor overheard from the sailors that Gatt was looking for a weapon on Vardura, it sure seemed like a legion of buzzsaw wielding automatons might just fit that bill. This inspired a rousing debate over how to handle this sensitive information. Enoch was hesitant to even put a bolt down, while Azarki played out sabotage scenarios and tried out various elaborate lies. Enno didn't think telling the truth would be a problem, or that if it became a problem they would deal with it then. He also offered to just straight up kill Zigourney and be done with it. Malachai inquired where Fran's allegiance might be in all of this and if Enoch had a crush on her. In the end, they decided to go with the truth but warn Zigourney about what would happen if he leveraged these things for war.     They also found a collection of replacement gate stones for the Varduran gate system. Though they had buried an intact one in the Temple of 1,000 Legs, another notably broken gate existed south of Echwink's Landing in a cockatrice cave. These stones could be used to get that thing operational, which may allow travel through the ancient gateways of Vardura. Zoran, dilligent and dedicated member of the Panoptic Legion, recalled his most recent orders classifying the Varduran portal network as Schedule I contraband, and bagged the stones. He told his friends that these stones were "of great importance" and they nodded, happy to let the big man carry whatever heavy shit he wanted to.   The most interesting discovery was undoubtedly under a tarp in the back: an Everskiff, an Evervoice-powered vehicle the size of the cargo boats used to unload ships in the Singing Bay. Though hundreds of years old, the machine was in great shape and Enoch guessed he may be able to get it working, even with his limited tools. The Suckhole Six decided that they could rest here for a few days to see if Enoch could be successful. This would also allow them a little more time to figure out how to get out of here and what to do next. Like have everyone eat a starberry and trip together. Yeah, that'll be fucked up.