Session 29 - "The Wizard from Beyond" Report

Jundar 28, 1246

The day that the Fate-Steppers have decided to bring the fight to the wizard that controls the Tower Between Worlds does not start well.

In fact, the marigold in Thais's clothing that has sustained itself throughout the trip so far has started to wilt within (which she discovers as she rouses for the day).

Still, they persevere. Foenix cooks breakfast while Thais converses with Dharma, eventually learning how to say "good morning" in Immen (the language of his home country): "rhok bhoro."

After finishing breakfast, Foenix takes out the lightning amulet he acquired, and begins attempting to practice slinging it over the head of the statue of the gnoll in the center of the treasure room they've taken refuge in.

Finally, they pack up and head out, following Dharma as he leads them to the second level and through the room where they fought Nigel the slaad, and up the staircase. There at the top, they can see sparks of energy in blue and red arcing across the walls. They slow as they approach, with Foenix taking point. He takes out a mirror, using it to glance around the corner of the archway, getting a glance into the workshop: a large, cavernous space with two twin waterfalls of arcane energy that spill into basins before flowing into a drain in the middle of the room.

These waterfalls and basins are on a lifted dais, with twin staircases curving around on each side. Arcane runes glimmer across the walls, and a set of huge doors sit closed. A man and three imps scurry about, seemingly tempering a blade within the basins.

It is not more than a minute before the man notices Foenix's mirror, snatching it with an odd-looking mage hand.

He pockets it, demanding that the uninvited guests show themselves.

It is lucky, then, that Thais has already cast heart to heart on Micaiah and warding bond on Jacob, and so she is able to step out with her tiefling companion as the decoys, while Foenix slips up the staircase under the cover of invisibility, situating himself behind the wizard as Micaiah and Thais try to bluff him.

The wizard isn't fooled, as neither heroes' skin tone matches that of the hand he glimpsed holding the mirror, but he humors them. He introduces himself as Malum Artis, a visitor onto the plane. Though he seems to have little love for the Material Plane as a whole and particularly disdainful of Micaiah for being a warlock (calling it cheating).

His staff, left leaning against one of the basins, Foenix attempts to snatch with his own mage hand, but casting a spell breaks his invisibility and Malum turns on him, which causes a cascade of events.

Thais jumps forward, grabbing the wizard in a headlock while Jacob uses magic missile to pick off one of the imps (though it unfortunately doesn't kill the fiend).

Thais begins trying to knock the sword that Malum was holding (the one he was tempering) out of his hand, but is unable to knock it free, even getting struck in the temple with the butt of the sword when she slips on one of her strikes (critical failure).

Malum uses his turn to attempt to cast warding weapon to give himself some room to work, but Thais tries again to get rid of the sword, this time knocking it from his grasp. He turns instead to Micaiah, and attempts to shut down the warlock with lipstitch. Jacob counterspells, so the frustrated arcanist spellcrashes Micaiah, who is caught completely off guard (critical failure).

Dharma is still too weak to reliably fight, but his oaths allow him to move like the wind. He runs, crossing the entire chamber in what seems like one stride, standing next to Micaiah to lend his auras to the tiefling.

And take advantage of it she does: Micaiah orders Jonquil to attack, and while it hits Malum, the wizard resists the poison. Micaiah turns to her swansong lute, and unleashes a terrifying lash. The luminous whip wraps around the throat of one of the imps (critical hit), and Micaiah steps closer to prepare for her next action.

The imps, for their part, do not let their master fight alone. One descends on Micaiah, and the other two on Thais - luckily, only one manages to hit (Micaiah, in this case), while the others swipe ineffectively.

Olena howls, raging as she dashes up the steps to join the fray, but is unable to get close enough to hit as Foenix takes out the bag of holding and attempts to scoop one of the imps into it, but the creature does not go quietly, and the halfling is left struggling to contain the monster.

Jacob again tries to target Malum, this time with blight. The human resists the necrotic energy, but that doesn't mean he doesn't howl as his skin blisters and rots.

Thais, one arm still around Malum's throat, sends a quick prayer to Syria and asks for blessings on herself, Foenix, Micaiah, and Olena.

Having had enough of this nonsense, Malum reaches up his hand and attempts to grab Thais's face and disintegrate her. Micaiah attempts to counterspell, but fumbles over her words (critical failure). Thankfully, he misses, and the green bolt of energy hits the wall instead, rocks beginning to crumble away. Thais grabs his hand, forcing it down as she reaches for her weapon. It fights against her, the peacebond Malum cast upon it while they were conversing keeping it firmly within its scabbard, but she forces it out. The time she takes trying to get it free gives Malum the room he needs to dodge away - right into Olena's maul, which smacks him across the face.

Shaken, Malum casts out a shimmering stunning barrier to attempt to keep the worst of his attackers' blows from harming him in the future.

He uses the last bit of breath he has in the round to sling out his hand and release three balls of lightning that attack Olena, Thais, and Micaiah. Olena's animalistic senses give her all the warning she needs, and she leaps back so that she only takes the barest graze of electricity (critical success). Thais and Micaiah also dodge the worst of the damage.

Dharma, on the far side of the dais, swings his morning star down on one of the imps. His blows strike twice, glowing with divine light, and reducing the imp to a pile of ash as Jonquil takes another shot at Malum - though this time the little fey misses.

That's alright, because Micaiah is close enough to attempt a stab with her dagger. She swings downwards, but Malum's body dissolves into mist as he uses windy escape to step sideways away from Thais's headlock and Micaiah's attack.

Meanwhile, the imp in Foenix's bag tries to scrabble out of its confines, but is unable to. Instead, it simply attempts to bite him. While it manages to break the skin on the halfling's arm, Foenix is able to withstand the pulse of poison through its saliva.

The shifter barbarian turns, stalking after her prey. Olena draws herself up to her full height before baring her teeth and bearing down on Malum. Her first reckless attack misses, as does her second. Not to be deterred, she snarls and turns her wolf-like head to snap at the wizard's shoulder. As her teeth connect, closing around his flesh and she tastes the blood, the stunning barrier breaks, arcing electricity through her and leaving her stunned.

Foenix is still grappling with the imp in his bag, and attempts to cast Tasha's hideous laughter on it to leave it incapacitated, but it resists the attempt. Giving up, he swaps hands and reaches for the pearler's blade.

Jacob calls upon the storm within his veins to cast out a lightning bolt at Malum, but he dispels it before it can reach him - Thais uses the opening to swing on him. Her first attack misses, but the second hits true, and her divine smite rocks the wizard's world.

Unwilling to go down without a fight, Malum turns his attention to Olena, casting suffocation to draw the air out of her lungs. Thankfully, Olena is a hardy warrior, and even in her bewildered state is able to resist the magical attempt to steal her breath (critical success). Thais uses the opportunity to attack again, but misses.

The tide turning against him, Malum hedges his bets: he casts fractions of heal and harm before aiming for and letting loose a fireball right in the midst of his opponents. He hits Dharma, Olena, Thais, Micaiah, and Jacob (with Thais taking some of Micaiah's damage magically). The fire licks across their bodies, and some of the wounds across Malum's face begin to close. He then tries to shut down the other magic user in the party, and casts lipstitch on Jacob, but the magic is unable to force silence upon the sorcerer.

Dharma runs forward, a searing morning star gripped in his hands. He strikes down upon Malum's head, knocking the wizard to the ground. The second blow cracks open Malum's skull like a watermelon.

The imp in Foenix's bag disappears, and the tower groans ominously.

Foenix urges everyone to start looking for a way out - Malum was holding the dimension in a stable state, and with him gone the tower is beginning to crumble. He bundles the wizard's body into the bag of holding while the others begin to search. Thais finds a book that, she realizes, is almost like a phonebook for the double doors they are standing in front of: a stable rift into other universes. She locates the runes that need to be activated to get back to Mercuria, and Foenix presses them.

The doors open, showing the streets of Vakwari, and as they prepare to step through Micaiah hesitates. The orb of power that they found (and her scarf) still sit two floors down, and she doesn't wish to leave it.

Foenix says that they'll wait for her only so long, and so Dharma casts fly on the tiefling to speed her way to the sentry room. She is quick, grabbing up the orb in her scarf and running back to the rift just in time. The Fate-Steppers and Dharma leap out into Vakwari and watch the Tower crumble behind them.

They take a moment to breathe before they head back to their house in Vakwari, which upon entering they find the place in passable condition. There are a few more holds in the walls and the wyrmlings are on leads out in the garden, but it is mostly unscathed.

Foenix dumps Malum's body out on the table, and begins to search his pockets. He finds little beyond a component pouch, the staff, and a smaller bag of holding.

He curiously turns the bag upside down, and a whole stuffed and mounted tiger, in mid-snarl ready to pounce, tumbles out onto the dining room table.

Whoever deemed the animal worthy of mounting either misjudged, or simply did a poor job creating it. The poor beast has several slashes across its back and chest; these have been badly concealed by the taxidermist.

Still, as Olena begins to move it off the table and into the corner of the room, she discovers it is far heavier than it looks, and is quite unwieldy. It also rattles oddly, as if packed with something other than sawdust.

A little further investigation from Foenix reveals a taxidermy job that may be better than he realized. A thin seam along the spine of the tiger is delicately stitched with thread. A few flicks of his dagger, and the truth is revealed: The tiger is a makeshift safe of sorts. Piled on top of the mass of coin is a small wooden box with a clasp.

The box has two tracks of holes drilled into it. Opening it reveals an illuminated deck of playing cards and small wooden pegs - a cribbage board.

He also finds a locked gauntlet for the right hand, clutching a heavy mace, and underneath some of the coins is a stained-glass oil lamp, a pair of punching daggers with grips fashioned of bone, and a small jewelry box containing seven irregular green stones the size of a large olives.

Foenix takes the time to identify the new loot, finding that the staff is simply Malum's implement and of no use to anyone else. The items from the tiger are non-magical, but the orb... the orb is a different story.

It is a power source of some variety, powerful enough to irrevocably change the form of anyone who remains in sustained contact with the orb, which he warns the others of.

That is not enough to stop Micaiah, who sneaks off with it to investigate in his own time....