The Elucidate had a space problem, though not in the way buildings usually did. The Elucidate had far too much of it, and the issue was multiplying by the moment. Arzin and Steorra had taken it upon themselves to resolve the issue. If it were not tended to it would eventually soak up all the energies the Elucidate had to offer to maintain all these purposeless rooms it was generating. It meant the two did not have far to go.

Two translocators hops later, they were on the sixth floor. On the main floor nothing appeared to be amiss. Like the others it was a long corridor with just two doors, one on either side. Steorra led the two over to the left and opened the door. It led to a foyer, or the remnants of one more accurately. Below that was what may have once been a parlor based upon the couch split in half Another door led to a library which contents had all been dumped out forming a small mountain of books the two had to scramble over.

It was then things started to get odd.

The next door led to a bathroom, only the toilet was on the wall and the bathtub on the opposite side. The sink was on the ceiling. Going through the door here led to a hot tub which was now a swirling whirlpool sucking the water down to who knew where. The next door opened up to a long, very dark hallway. A single lamp was set on the wall halfway down which left the beginning and end of the hall plunged into deep darkness. It were as though someone had taken a hall of normal proportions, then tugged on either end resulting in this stretched, slightly disproportionate version that lay before them.

It seemed things were about to get weird.

Declare your Spell Book

OOC: I know right now you have more spell slots than spells to bring, consider this practice to start getting in the habit for the future.

~Well, that looks rather . . . daunting,~ Arzin thought to himself as he stared into the darkness at the end of the long hallway.

He had been wondering why Steorra had requested that he accompany the mage as a bodyguard on what seemed like a mission that was best-suited to a second mage. Looking down the hallway, Steorra's request now seemed a bit more reasonable.

"Master Steorra," the man-at-arms began addressing his companion. He absent-mindedly rubbed at this forehead, where a throbbing ache reminded him of the injuries that he had suffered when the Tower had crash-landed.

"Consider yourself in charge," Arzin went on to say. "Obviously, I have not the slightest idea how to go about dealing with this problem. Nor, most likely, the means to do anything about it."

Arzin grunted. "Unless, of course, something leaps out at us from the darkness -- or, mayhap the wall-mounted porcelain latrine. . . in which case I shall likely find myself quite busy."

"By the by, should we expect any such surprises? Should I be on-guard against anything in particular?"

OOC: Available Maneuver: Exploit the Weakness.
This message was last edited by the player at 17:01, Fri 16 Feb.

Steorra chuckled.

"Oh, I know. Magister of time, remember?" he said, in response to the soldier's statement about being in charge.

"But as for expecting surprises...there should not be any traps and such. I did not place any, anyway. But there could be incidental hazards, like furniture on other walls or ceilings suddenly switching gravity and falling on us, et cetera. There will also be spatial warping phenomena, but time SHOULD be fairly stable though thankfully. I believe the main issue is spatial." Steorra said.

"But the fact of the matter is I've never quite dealt with something like this before, that was caused by a dimensional twisting warp wave, so I'm not all that certain what hazards could be within. This is why I wanted you to escort me." he said.

"But I do know what we're looking for. There is a panel of crystals that is deeper inside now, due to the warping. It is something that mages can use to lock in the ownership of a set of chambers and their configuration. The good news is that this means I should be able to re-set the space in here to a normal layout without harming us, and stabilize the power draw from the Arcanosphere in the process. The bad news is that I might be the only one who can do this since the panel is locked to my magical signature. And the panel, of course, is deeper within." he continued.

"This was another reason for my urgency; the panel will get exponentially more difficult to find the longer we wait, so it's a blessing we're jumping on it so early. If we waited a week or two, who knows if it could be findable before it was too late. Early bird gets the worm, and a stich in time saves 9 they say. And for good reason."

OOC: So I have 2 spells (my original Haste spell, and the new Far reach one from the intro). And I have 2 slots, so I'll be bringing both my spells. I only have 1 reservoir though, so am going to have to be very choosy on when to use magic since I suspect my far reach spell might be needed once we find the panel! So I'll be relying on Arzin for muscle!

"This panel of crystals that we seek is deeper within, you say," Arzin repeated, just to clarify things in his mind as much as anything else. Bookworms were reputed to be slippery sorts, and 'twas said that when dealing with them, normal people were best-served to nail things down as much as possible.

He slipped the straps of his shield onto his left forearm, and placed his steel helm upon his head. "If by 'deeper within' you mean further along this dark hallway, then let us proceed."

"I shall lead the way -- just in case we do happen to bump into something disagreeable. I neglected to bring any torches or a lantern -- it did not occur to me that we would need such things here inside the Tower. Do you have any means of creating magicked light?"
This message was last edited by the player at 22:36, Fri 16 Feb.

Steorra shook his head.

"Unfortunately, the dimensional warp did something to me, and it was going to shred me apart unless I forced my magic to align with its current. I succeeded, but shredded a lot of my innate magic in the process. So unfortunately, I'll have to work on regaining my former power. And hopefully, new power. But on the first day here, sadly, I am not a man of many options." he said.

He then began to look around, and swept the area.

"When these chambers were created, various glowing small magical stones were made to outfit magical table lamps and lamps and such. While the hallway is stretching unnaturally, there was a lot of furniture behind us. Let us take a moment and look for something we can use as a light source." he said as he turned and pointed behind them.

Steorra prompts them to look for a light source.

Taking point with no argument from Steorra, Arzin led them into the dark corridor. It was only a few paces in that they encountered their first problem. (Physicality 3 Success) Arzin stepped forward and felt the rug under his foot give. It was only his quick reflexes, despite his heavy armor, that allowed him to backpedal rather than step into a hole. In the pitch black at this end of the corridor it was invisible. With his heart pounding from the near topple into who-knows-where, Arzin resumed going forward, more cautiously now. It was fortunate he did, he found several more holes before they got to the edge of the lamps glow. There with the light they could easily see sunken patches in the rug that marked the holes. Evidently the stretching of the corridor had resulted in the instability.

When they reached the halfway point Steorra paused a moment to tinker with the lamp. From the sconce he plucked a heatless white gem. It immediately dimmed a few degrees, but it continued to give off light. It would eventually fail now that it was removed from its source, but that should be some hours yet. With the glowstone in hand, they proceeded the rest of the way down the hall much quicker and without any risk of incident.

At the end of the hall they opened the next door.

They stepped into a room with several lamps sticking up from the floor and the doors placed at the ceiling. It seems the room had been placed upside down when the enchantments had created it. Their own doorway was a good fifteen feet off the floor and would require jumping down to the 'ceiling.' Adding to the incongruous nature of the room, the entire ceiling was covered in folding chairs, they were open and laid out as though in preparation for some sort of concert. It would make walking across that 'ceiling' quite a laborious affair. On the 'floor' overhead there was a large bulge in the woodwork in the center of the room and it seemed to be growing as you watched.

There were two doors in this room, counting the one the duo had emerged from, both set high up near the top of the room. There was also a large sun window set at a more reasonable seven feet off the ground rather than fifteen.

So far these corridors seemed to have nothing that required a blade, but they offered quite a labyrinth of maddened architecture. Now it was just a matter of which opening they would approach, door or window, and how they would reach the one they choose.

"So," Arzin remarked conversationally to Steorra, as he surveyed the interior of the room that they had just entered, "let's suppose that I had fallen into one of those holes back there in the darkened hallway."

"Rather than having to haul me back out, armor and all, could you have simply reversed Time and taken us back to a point before I fell in?"

Glancing around the topsy-turvy craziness of the room, the erstwhile soldier added "By the by, do you know where we should we should be going?"

"And what needs doing, once we get there?"
This message was last edited by the player at 19:13, Mon 19 Feb.

Steorra shook his head.

"Back before the warp, yes I could have...within a certain window that is. But now? My powers are much weaker. I'd probably have had to use a spatial spell for retrieving an object and prayed I had enough strength to haul you up to the edge of the pit." he continued.

"So the moral of the story is please don't go falling into pits. Heh." he said with a chuckle.

He pointed further into the hallway.

"Yes, since this spatial warping is abnormal and caused by a system error or something in the magical circuitry, rather than from intentional normal spatial arrangement of the rooms, there should be an unnatural sense of 'direction' that the warped rooms are going in." he said.

"They may seem to sprawl randomly, but if you'll look around us you'll notice that even the offshooting chambers end up twisting back in the direction of this hallway. And we haven' found the gem matrix yet, which means it also is in the direction of the spatial warping. So in short...we have to keep following this warped hallway for now."

He almost forgot.

"As for what needs doing, I basically need to get my hands physically onto the gem matrix, or at least channel my magic into it directly, which I can do by casting a haste spell or something onto the matrix. That will re-boot the matrix sequence for these chambers, which should reset the chambers properly and re-affirm my ownership of this half of the floor. I suspect the source of the error is that my magical signature changed slightly after what I did to prevent myself from getting shredded after we shifted. I basically forced my inner core of magic to evolve into a form that could adapt to the dimensional fluctuations caused by the warp, but in exchange...I had to lose a lot of my power. It's like I shed my arms and legs so my torso and head could survive, on the gamble that one day I could regrow new and better limbs rather than get killed by this dimension. But it also meant the system was sensing that I now had 2 magical signatures instead of one, which is impossible even for a mage. It's a paradox, and thus...the errors."
This message was last edited by the player at 07:22, Tue 20 Feb.

Standing at the precipice of the drop into the inverted room, Steorra explained his current circumstances, magically speaking, while the two decided how to proceed with their hunt for a needle in the haystack.

It was near the end of this conversation that they heard a loud creak, then a crash, as the bulge in the ceiling gave way. A huge torrent of water came pouring down and crashed violently into the floor-ceiling. Folding chairs were sent washing in every direction from the sudden flood. Once the initial burst was a done a steady stream continued to pour from the ceiling. Down below it already appeared that the water was calf deep and steadily rising. The waterfall showed no signs of slowing. And was the water... steaming?

Oh. It seemed they had discovered where the hot tub whirlpool was emptying out.

Now there was still the matter of crossing the room, but also dealing with the balmy rising waters.

"Hunh," Arzin grunted as he considered the water cascading into the room from the (original) floor that was now a ceiling.

"I have heard it said that a rising tide floats all boats. I wonder if that is also true of explorers?"

Turning to face Steorra, he asked "Are you adverse to letting the water do the heavy lifting, and simply float us up to the level of yon door?"

---

OOC: This supposes, I suppose, that Arzin's Heavy Armor Master Skill will allow him to float or swim in his heavy armor. Failing that, hopefully he can find something in the room that will float that will also keep an armored man-at-arms afloat. :)

OOC: Your heavy armor mastery skill is amazing! It may not make you buoyant in an unnatural sense, but I bet you know how to swim in your armor etc thanks to it!

"I'm not averse to it, and I think it's a good idea. My body has become enfeebled though, after the dimensional shift, so floating there and paddling across to the door is about the best I can handle right now." he said.

"But your armor is what I'm worried about. Are you able to handle swimming in your armor? I realize you are way, waaaay more in shape than me and most mages but still. If you can manage it, then yea let's float our way across to the door once the water rises."

The rising water seemed the safest bet. While the chairs below had offered a means of stacking a makeshift ladder into being, the bursting of the water and subsequent flooding had removed that possibility. So the pair watched the waters rise. It did not take long. Steorra watched Arzin dubiously as the fully armored man waded into the rising waters, but in an impressive display of strength, he managed to keep his head above water, albeit barely. The two started to paddle across to the now accessible door. They were halfway there when they suddenly felt a tug at their feet. Below them they could see the bubbling water swirling, chairs and debris pulled into a direction. Towards the window. It looked like it had shattered from the pressure of the water.

It was too much, the pull of that water. Sucked down, they were carried along by riptide. Sucked through the window they were tossed and buoyed like corks in a stream. Arzin held his breath, Steorra did the same, but his vision was already swimming by the effort (-1 HP from Steorra) Thankfully it was short, the water dumped them out into a cavernous chamber. Here the magic of the Elucidate had clearly run wild. Stairs going up and down into nothing decorated the walls. Floors jutted out as platforms. From below emanated the sound of ghostly hammering and sawing and a dull orange glow radiated up, above hung two dozen crowded chandeliers side by side.

At the center of the room stood a pillar upon which stood a glowing panel of crystals. The two of them recognized it, it was the same control panel that had been in both their rooms. It was flickering a wild array of colors. They'd found the erratically beating heart of this malfunctioning wing of the Spellspire. Now they just had to disable it.

Physicality 4 to Cross the misshapen geometry of this room
or
Make a Deadly Roll
This message was last edited by the GM at 17:29, Wed 21 Feb.

~I hadn't thought it would end this way,~ Arzin thought to himself when he felt some sort of a current sucking him down under the water.

~At least it's better than a lingering death after suffering a belly wound.~

However, as it turned out, whether due to happenstance or the will of the High Ones, it seemed that it was not yet Arzin's time . . . for the man-at-arms was able to hold his breath long enough to be dumped out onto some lower chamber that still had its fair share of breathable air.

Arzin found himself on his back, lying in about a foot of water -- which was now spilling off the edges of the platform where he found himself. The ex-soldier nervously pulled himself towards the center of the platform and, a little awkwardly, rolled over onto hands and knees, then rose up to his full height.

A noticeable glow attracted his attention, and he turned and stared at a large stone pillar, upon which was situated a batch of sparkling crystals. They almost seemed to flicker or blink, to Arzin's eye.

Turning to Steorra, he muttered, "That's it, right? That's where we need to go?"
This message was last edited by the player at 22:13, Wed 21 Feb.

-1 hp from damage, but +1 from weekly healing leaves him at 8. Add +1 xp to sheet for weekly progression and another +1 for making a deadly roll, putting him at 4 xp now.

Steorra nodded.

"Unfortunately, that is exactly the crystal matrix that we're looking for. Which means we have to cross over this hazard of a room to get in close enough." the time wizard replied.

"I'm going to have to take a risk and get over there, or I won't be in range for my magic to work. Wish me luck!" Steorra said as he attempted to cross the haphazard room...

18:32, Today: Steorra Tellurian rolled 4 using 1d6.  Deadly Crisis rol

OOC: Arzin? If you're coming across with a deadly roll, I need to know because I'll use my utility power on you. If not, I'm gonna use it on myself to try and get a 6 if possible.

~I don't believe that I *want* to know,~ Arzin thought to himself as he heard the hammering and sawing coming from somewhere down in the depths below him, accompanied by an oddly-flickering glow -- as if there were a fire down there, also.

He nodded when Steorra confirmed that they needed to make their way to the shimmering, glowing crystals that were embedded on the central pillar.

"I'll be right behind you. It'll be just like when we were playing hopscotch as younglings -- only now we shall be jumping from platform to platform."

"Nothing to it," he added, hoping to boost the mage's confidence. "And I'll be right behind you, ready to steady you if your foot should happen to slip."

---

OOC: Arzin will use his Athletics/Physicality Score of 4 to make his way across the room.
This message was last edited by the player at 03:08, Thu 22 Feb.

23:18, Today: Steorra Tellurian rolled 4 using 1d6.  Utility Mage.

Well it doesn't matter because he rolled a 4 either way. But at least if you did take the deadly roll, it would have prevented a disaster lol, although still put you into a dangerous situation. Better than a 3 or less though!

With their objective in sight, all that was left was a series of nerve wracking maneuvers to cross the hodgepodge of incomplete structure. Arzin maneuvered the disjointed landscape well, his armor clanking loudly with each jump and while some of the platforms sagged beneath his bulk, but they held fast. A few jumps later and he landed on the platform next to the crystal matrix.

Further back, Steorra had a more difficult time of it. Where the soldier had made the physical feat seem simple, Steorra had several near misses. On one platform he landed, then stumbled back a step and windmilled his arms on the brink of toppling before regaining his footing. On another just jump was short and he hit the platform square in his chest and it was only with great effort he laboriously pulled himself up. This was how each of the jumps went, but eventually he too reached the far platform, battered and bruised, but with no serious damage.

There the control panel hung on the wall. For all the trouble reaching it, manipulating the device was a simple task. At least for one with magic. A few taps and clicks of the crystals later and the sounds of construction below died away, the orange glow faded and the great chamber seemed to let out a deep sigh as some immense pressure was released. A few more button presses later created a bridge leading back the way they came and ensured that now a simple hallway led the way back out. Steorra tried to collapse the existing rooms back together, but they remained stubbornly in place, it seemed another effect of the Elucidate's damage from the crash landing. This maze of rooms remained stubbornly in place, but at least they were not actively growing now.

The Spoils of Escher

OOC: Choose one of the following rewards, the same reward can be selected by both players. Due to Steorra's 4, he'll take 1 point of damage for each place down the list the reward is, backlash from the control panel. So 1 damage from option 1, 2 damage for option 2, 3 for 3, etc.

The Glowing Emerald: The control panel of this chamber was now stubbornly fixed into a pillar at the heart of a maze, there seemed no harm in salvaging a piece from its control board. The gemstones placed there still glowed with self-contained power.
Enchantment: Arcane Power Source - The emerald can be used to power an otherwise dead piece of sorcery. This can be done once per adventure.

These Look Useful: One positive to come out of the Elucidate's crash was there was no shortage of materials. Especially after an entire extra wing built itself onto the tower. A wide variety of both mundane and magically charged materials are abundantly available and ready to be put to work, almost enough to immediately complete a project!
Materials: Obtaining 4 Materials.

It's Multifunctional!: Watching the complex spellwork that went into creating these myriad of halls, there are lessons to be taken away there. While creating whole rooms requires a significant power source to create and maintain, the framework could be adopted to do something simpler.
New Spell: Mystic Tool - You create a simple mundane tool to fill a need. You can create one tool per adventure. (Along the lines of a ladder, a bucket, a rope, a crowbar, a plank of wood, etc)

Doorknobs and Dustpans: On your way out you find a doorknob which has fallen innocuously to the ground. Picking it up initially you merely plan to move it out of your path, but as you hold it out, you feel it... click? Almost like it secures into place. As it does a door materializes around it, turning the knob you reveal a closet that wasn't there a moment ago. Withdrawing the knob the door fades away again.
Enchantment: The Compounding Closet - You can manifest a closet inside which you can store and retrieve objects. Can only be called up once per adventure. (Currently will only allow you to retrieve one item when called unless augmented further)

~Like watching a turtle try to skip rope,~ Arzin thought to himself as he watched the mage laboriously and uncomfortably make his way across the room -- here nearly losing his balance, there barely making the jump and needing to struggle to pull himself up onto a platform by using muscles in his arms that were not accustomed to such demands.

Still, once the mage finally reached the platform where Arzin stood, the man-at-arms clapped the smaller man on the shoulder and said "Bravely done," as if he were congratulating a recruit who had just made his way through a difficult obstacle course that was designed to test both his physical limits and his willpower.

~'Tis akin to my being sat in a windowless stone room and forced to read scrolls for hours on end, searching for something that can only be discovered after much effort and use of abilities that are distinctly under-utilized.~

Now that the two of them were standing alongside the panel of crystals, Steorra's manipulation of them seemed almost anti-climactic -- as simple and unchallenging for the mage to make right as it would have been for Arzin to stroll down a sunlit road on a balmy day, feeling the breeze stir his hair and listening to birdsong coming from the trees that lined the lane.

Several things happened to confirm that Steorra's efforts had born fruit. Firstly, the sounds of hammering that wafted up out of the abyss died away, followed quickly enough by the fading away of the seeming-firelight from down below.

Then, as Arzin stared in amaze, a bridge materialized out of thin air, providing an easy passageway from the platform where the twosome presently stood to a hallway that looked to truly be safe to traverse.

"I had no idea . . ." he admitted, turning to look Steorra in the eye.

~. . . of the things that you could do, with your magicks,~ he thought, silently completing the sentence in his head.

"Is it finished? Fixed, I mean to say," Arzin asked, gazing around the chamber and up at the ceiling.

---

OOC: I'm going to take a little more time to ponder which of the Spoils of Escher to choose on behalf of Arzin. :)

Steorra frowned a bit, and sighed. Partially in disappointment, but mostly in relief.

"Yes, it's done. It's not over yet by any means - it's going to take a lot more re-calibrating to get the rooms back in order. But the good news is that the power drain on the arcanosphere has stopped, which is honestly the most important thing. This is mostly a cosmetic issue at this point, and there's enough furniture and other things for the place to still be functional. It's just...well, instead of a hot tub I've got a hot-springs and other stuff I suppose." he said with a grin.

He then considered.

"Hmmm...best I take this Glowing Emerald with me. It will make sure that this type of error cannot happen again, as it will require my presence for the panel to function. I suspect it could have other emergency uses as well."

The Glowing Emerald taken, 1 damage taken so down to 7 hp now.

OOC: Arzin, if you have no idea what to take then I suggest take the materials. They are versatile and maybe can help you with a project, like making a magic sword or some other thing like that for yourself?
This message was last edited by the player at 21:50, Thu 22 Feb.

"Very nice!"  Arzin nodded approvingly when he caught a glimpse of the large Emerald that Steorra had claimed for himself -- a jewel that glowed, no less!

~Nicer than any loot I've ever picked up,~ the ex-soldier thought to himself, without rancor. Claiming good loot was largely a matter of being in the right place at the right time, as Arzin well knew. He had taken part in the sack of several towns during the recent Unification Campaign, so he was fairly well-versed in such goings-on.

It all depended, of course, on how the Lendalan towns decided to play things out -- well, the ones with stout walls, any way -- those without walls surrendered as a matter of course. And when those with walls opened their gates and surrendered without a fight, well, they were  spared the pain of being sacked.

However, there were always some who thought that they could hold out behind their walls, and who thumbed their noses at the invading Aleterosans -- as well as inflicting casualties upon the invaders, whenever they found the opportunity.

Those towns, the brave and/or the foolish -- they were fair game to be sacked and looted if and when their walls were breached. It was the way of things -- you made your choice, and you took your chances. Mayhap friendly troops would come to your aid and drive off the invaders -- or mayhap they wouldn't. Mayhap your walls would stand strong and you could withstand a siege -- or mayhap they wouldn't, and you couldn't. Roll the dice, friend, and let us see how things turned out for you . . .

No sooner had Arzin turned towards the bridge that now spanned the topsy-turvy mess of the chamber, than a piece of metal lying atop the bridge-span caught his eye. As he looked at it, it almost seemed to have an inner glow about it. He reached out tentatively, thinking that it might be hot to the touch. That was not the case, however. The metal held no heat, and although the light that glimmered down its length did momentarily flair up brightly when Arzin picked it up, whatever was causing the glow seemed to be mostly inert.

There were a couple of other interesting objects scattered hither and yon over the surface of the bridge. There was a clear vial that held some sort of a powder, and another that was opaque, yet seemed to contain a liquid. And finally there was a lump of what appeared to be common clay -- yet when Arzin picked it up, it seemed to form into the shapes that he was thinking about, without needing to be shaped by his fingers.

"Not an emerald, but interesting nonetheless," he announced.

---

OOC: Choosing the "These Look Useful" option on behalf of Arzin. Thanks for the hint, Steorra. :)
This message was last edited by the player at 15:59, Fri 23 Feb.

Steorra nodded his head in agreement.

"Oh absolutely! Despite how I carry myself sometimes, I totally am a believer in the saying that one man's trash is another's treasure. And honestly, jewels are nice but not everything. I took the emerald for more practical reasons: to ensure these chambers don't fritz out again, but also to have a small portal magic source that I can use when out in t he field that you never know could come in handy." he said.

"But for a soldier like you, I don't think it would be as useful. But all that random stuff you scrounged up? I bet you could make something real useful with that some day. Maybe a sword, or perhaps a bracer or a shield or something else that's soldier-y. Never underestimate the potential use of random materials." he added.