So much has happened since I’ve been able to write last.
I shall attempt to outline the events so far:
We entered the Great Pyramid at the center of the cavern by the big lake, followed the passageways down, and ran into a Sphinx. I hate riddles. This one was a doozy and I’m glad I’ve mostly forgotten it. Needless to say, I guessed wrong. Word got the answer: a tomb. Bloody-minded morbid Sphinx…
We passed through into a room with floating spheres- the old transportation network. It still had some juice and the first one we touched was supposed to bring us to the ‘sweet forests.’ Well, apparently things have been wrong with this sphere’s sun so long that the sweet forests shriveled up and died for want of proper sunlight. We met some star-whales but they were no help. (Note to self: next time we hit Greyspace, see if there’s a psionic power that will let me communicate with non-humanoids.) We ended up hitching a ride to the next habitable rock on Word’s back. He holds his own air envelope for short distances. He’s now permanently of fetch duty when somebody gets spaced.
We camped on a tiny rock within sight of the big one with the dome, and got attacked by a planar creature that slips between angles. It was horrendous and scary. Nearly made off with Word-on-a-Rope. There was much healing to be done for Lenata, and nobody got much rest.
The next rock held a dome that was bigger on the inside and housed the memory/nightmare of a Scro. I have one of his hopes circling about my head, now. I sucked it out of him like I did with the Quori. It says simply, “The Key!” over and over again. Must have been a degraded memory. It still had enough ass to hurt me something fierce, though.
We got further into the dome after fianlly destroying it. The dome looked Ithillid in make from the outside. Inside was GIGANTIC. There was a four-ton mantis chasing after us. We found our way to a portal that popped us out into a room with a guy on a bier. Turns out this guy was the last of an ancient race called the Imaskari, and his powers are nothing to be trifled with. We accidentally-on-purpose woke him up while the walls around us were crumbling. We think we may have been inside the sun. The light all around us was green. He’s not telling us otherwise.
He’s got a major case of hyper-inflated ego, but I guess that when your race rules the known multiverses and you’re like the biggest badass with planar magics, you’re bound to get a big head. He treats Kenari like a slave and the rest of us are barely even beneath his notice. More like fathoms deep below his notice. Even the Hadozee shut up when he’s around. That’s right, he transported us back to our ship with a snap of his fingers. All of us. And we didn’t even need to be touching him.
So now we’re off to find the Dreamstone, presumably located within the eye of the Dragon Constellation. Apparently, it’s what put the entire sphere to sleep, and with prolonged exposure, we will succumb as well.
Hang on, Kenari’s knocking on my door. Apparently ‘his Highness’ has called a meeting.
Well, that was certainly interesting. Just talking to the guy and postulating theories of planar magic and what might be possible concerning the Dreamstone, Melcot, and the Spelljammer, along with other strange and wondrous theorems of Planar travel and magical stuff has energized my mind. It seems we’re no longer beneath his notice. He’s deigned to speak to us mere mortals, and even learn our language.
He doesn’t look too healthy, though, like something is paining him. He spends a lot of time resting and being ‘undisturbed.’ Perhaps he was put in stasis to preserve his declining health. That would certainly explain the combo of healing spells with the stasis field he was under. Too bad Lenata left that book about Deeomers (whatever they are) in that crumbling room inside the sun.
We’ve got our heading and all we can do is make our way there as fast as we can.
Problem: Tenth Pit armada. Solution: Imaskari Ubermage. He took them all out with one shot of chain lightning.
We’re nearing the rock that is the Dragon’s eye. We’ve sent Hatuk and Takero out on the little sidewheeler to see if any of the helms from the vessels are salvageable. It wouldn’t hurt to have a backup and if we can find more than one, those things are worth a pretty penny, indeed. The Arcane know their business.
We’re going down to the rock. I’ve decided not to leave my journal on the ship this time, just in case. I might run across something I have to write down, or we might get separated from the vessel for some indeterminate period of time once more.
Looks like the next step in this wild goose chase is through yet another portal. Kenari managed to ‘peek’ through it to the other side, using poor Melcot’s blood. The ritual did indeed happen, and we’ve got a single dead Divati body, still juicy, minus a brain to prove it.
He’s not the goriest thing on the asteroid, though. Not since Ma’at showed up in her 40-foot tall glory and smooshed the Imaskari flat with her foot of smiting. (Seems he’d outlived his usefulness and she probably blames him and his people for bringing the Dreamstone to the sphere and subjugating her followers). My morbid arcane fellows decided to collect some of the Imaskari and Divati blood for spell-components, and Word snagged the poor guy’s coat to mend and clean later for his own. We’re waiting until nightfall to go and investigate the Tenth Pit camp outside the pyramid they’re excavating. We’ll beat them to whatever they’re trying to get to inside. They haven’t gotten it yet.
We’ve gotten some of the constellation-markers for the planet we’ll be going to and I’ve instructed Hatuk to wait for us for three days and then fly the ship to that planet. Here’s hoping they won’t arrive too late for us.
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