The horizon beckoned. That deep purple filling the sky begged investigation and Malleus and Steorra planned to do just that. Gathering ample supplies from the mess hall, which was quick to provide so long as they asked politely, they assembled a pack brimming with rations, then they set out. It was the first time for Malleus setting out into this new world. Leaving the safety of the Elucidate's walls, he found that the world beyond was much akin to home, albeit a dry and rocky climate. The two mages were left to hike over jagged rocks, not a hint of vegetation in sight. Their destination was clear, the entire horizon was bright purple, no clearer a beacon than that.

No one had been sure how near or far the phenomenon was to the tower and an entire day of scrabbling over rocks did not seem to have brought them any closer. That night they slept rough. The evening was cool, but thankfully not frigidly cold. The hard rocks beneath their bedrolls were unyielding and made for aching backs the next day, but they were undisturbed through the night and continued on their way the next day. It was an identical days hike that followed and a similar evening of rough sleep. The same the next day. The landscape remained wasteland of jagged rocks and dusty fissures. It made for easy hiking until the points where they had to circle around particularly sheer rock faces. They were making good time and up ahead the purple hue of the sky dominated the horizon, they were getting closer.

On the third day they started to notice motes in the air, small specks floating on the breeze. Catching one in hand, you found it left a purple smear when you rubbed at it with a finger. That seemed to answer the question of why the sky was purple, it must be absolutely choked with this dust. But that still did not answer the question of what it was. It was later that afternoon that they got their first glimpse of an answer. Topping a hill, they found themselves face to face with a jungle.

It was a jarring transition. After three solid days of only gray and brown stone, suddenly in front of them were thick tree trunks and a leafy canopy overhead. This foliage was not the green they were used to back home though, the leaves topping these great trees were pastel shades of pink, orange, even delicate blues and purples. All these colors could be found amongst the leaves of the same tree. The trunks of said trees had a rough bark and were broad enough three men could wrap their arms around them. Vines as thick as rope and the color of emerald hung from tree limbs. The trees were so thick you could only see a few dozen paces into the jungle.

A gust of wind blew across the rocks and in response the leaves on the trees danced and whispered and off them came a thick swirl of those purple motes you'd been seeing for the last few hours, they blew up high into the air and melted into the purple of the sky. So it seemed this jungle was the source of the colorful skies. One mystery solved, the main one they had come to answer in fact, but would they be content to simply hike back the three days to the tower now that they'd found this incongruous jungle?

OOC: Declare your spell books for this adventure! I know most folks still have more slots than spells so its not vital yet, but we're working on building the habit!

ADVENTURE LOADOUT

Spell Slots: 2
-Temporal Manipulation
-Far Reach

Enchantment Slots: 1
-The Glowing Emerald

Passive Slots: 3
-Arcane Stability

Steorra had made sure to take some notes of their journey and the findings they were encountering, such as the rocky landscape and the purplish dust motes. He and Eldereth didn't always see eye-to-eye, and Steorra defied him as he felt the need to, but he equally had the old man's back when it counted. Like with the debate with the Navigators, for instance. And as a compromise to the old man, the Magister of Time had promised to document and take notes of their findings to return it back to the Spellspire's libraries.

This was his first time working with Malleus. Steorra recalled a moment, to see what he knew about the dark featured mage...

Malleus, please include in your next post anything you think Steorra may have heard about you or even know about you.

A little on Steorra: Steorra is something of a minor celebrity back home in the Empire. He has close tied to the Royal family (although isn't royal himself), and you have noticed that on the project team he seems to be able to get away with certain things and fas pas that some of the more junior members are more mindful of.  You also have noticed that he can safely defy Eldereth for some reason, although he is not the leader of the expedition. And you believe you've seen him near effortlessly use haste magic flawlessly, without the normal fatigue or problems mainstream casters have when they try such spells. Which is kind of nuts, but then again the Elucidate has a ton of talented mages on it so this isn't THAT shocking.

Steorra sems willful, but helpful and supportive at the same time. He will even defy Eldereth one moment, only to jump to the man's defense protectively another.

If you are involved with the Mage Tower Organization, work with the royal family or for them, or have an interest on society and magical politics (or even ask around the Elucidate, as all the mages there know who he is) you will know the following additional information (which is part of my character's fiction that is from his backstory. The other players have their own fiction they are working with too so feel free to engage with them later too): Steorra is a magical prodigy, and while he's not the first person in history to pull off time spells successfully he is the first person in the history of the Empire so be granted a Magister position within the Mage Tower organization, despite him being so young. A Magister is someone who society and the Mage Tower alike acknowledge as the reigning Master of an important school of magic. Like there's one for Enchantment, Conjuration, Fire magic, divination, etc and Steorra's is Time. There is a Magisterial mage council who basically together runs the Mage Tower. Eldereth himself is also a Magister of some sort of magic and has considerable clout and experience, which is why he's the de facto leader of the expedition. Magisters are also just under the Paramount of the Mage Tower, who himself is also a Magister of some kind and was elected by the Magisterial Council. The Paramount has the most power in the organization, but can be out-voted on certain things by a 51% or more majoriy vote in a Magisterial council session.

Essentially, Steorra is a magical congressman, Eldereth is an older more experienced congressman, and the Paramount from the Empire is the Mage Guild Presidcent.

There has never been a Time Magister before, since time magic is extremely difficult to manage and is as slippery as an eel and as volatile as a nest of wasps. And quite frankly, "mainstream" magical theory doesn't fully "get" Time magic. It's sort of like the relationship that in real life, Quantum Mechanics has to mainstream Physics. A lot of it is viewed as either overly abstract and purely theoretical with no way to prove, or the parts that are able to be replicated by magical theory don't make sense and are treacherous to navigate. Except Steorra uses Time magic as easily as say...Aurland uses Conjuration, or Irene uses Necromancy.

ADVENTURE LOADOUT

Spell Slots (2):  Tenebrous Legerdemain
Enchantment Slots (1): None
Passive Slots (3): None

Like Steorra, Malleus takes his own notes, his script spidery and flowing much as his observations are pithy and precise. They are similar, perhaps, in this and their willingness to circumvent the expedition leaders though their methods differ and Malleus is less wilful and more simply unconcerned with traditional authority. Clambering and hiking though the day, Malleus is less adept, though makes no complaint, a curious and observant figure. In the evenings he is pleasant enough company, happy to talk of what they have seen and what it might mean, quickly adjusting his tone and words to be easy and familiar to Steorra

Depending upon Steorra's prior need and connections he may know Malleus as a seeker of the lost, a spymaster, or a facilitator. Certainly he would now know him as a shadowmancer, a mage of Shadow, but one who uses magic subtly and sparingly. They may have encountered one another, though it would be unlikely that Malleus would have been wearing his own face at the time

Upon reaching the edge of the jungle, Malleus offered an observation, "For myself, I suggested that our was necessary to understand the threats ... and opportunities ... that this phenomena offered. We should perhaps collect some samples of the ... pollen? And see what lies beneath the canoopy, perhaps?"

As they made their way, Malleus would also find Steorra was an engaging conversational companion, quick-witted and alert but also with a youthful freshness to him despite his being a prodigy. He was friendly when they made camp as well.

Steorra nodded.

"Yes, a sample of the dust could be helpful for research, as would possibly some of the purple wood as well where it comes from. But we need to make sure it's not harmful first. But I think we have at least one plant mage or biomancer of something or the other back at the Spellspire Elucidate and they may be able to make better sense of these things than us." Steorra said.

Secretly, the time mage was a bit disappointed that it wasn't some sort of dimensional phanomena, but rather an ecological one now, but he still was quite interested in purple jungle before them.

"For now, going forward, I want to refer to this place as the "Violet Jungle" unless we have reason to determine a better name. It seems the purple hue in the air was actually caused by light refracting off this purple dust. And the trees almost emit them like rainforests back in our world emitted watery mist. Touching the purple dust motes doesn't seem to be hurting us, and there are other plans in that jungle besides the purple trees and they seem to be doing just fine as well. But we should still stay alert."
This message was last edited by the player at 17:49, Sat 30 Mar.

In agreement to proceed, Steorra and Malleus crossed the threshold and into the jungle. Beneath its canopy was a very different hike from the last three days. Unlike the rocky wastes, the air here was moist and held a number of strange smells. While the leaves overhead rustled with each gust of wind, it was otherwise silent, not a single bird call, insect click or scrabbling of an animal disturbed this jungle. The walking here was more difficult as they had to be careful to avoid tripping on the thick knotted roots which crisscrossed the rocks underfoot. Their steps were quieted by a thick blanket of moss that grew underfoot, its hue the same array of pastels that made up the leafy canopy.

They proceeded slowly, each of them taking note of the different foliage they encountered, thus it was some time later but not too much more deeply into the jungle that they encountered something unexpected.

At first brush the magnitude of what they encountered was not apparent. Ahead of them rose up a wall of bark. It appeared that several trees had grown together thickly enough to create a natural barrier, but the wall continued off to the left and right too far and too precisely to be a fluke of nature. It seemed a purposeful wall of trees. Trailing along the edge of this boundary, they eventually reached an opening in the wall. Here, rather than a solid wall of tree trunks hung a wall of ivy, half of it was pulled off to one  side like one might secure curtains from a window. The half still hanging down was hard to the touch and would certainly have posed a barrier if it wasn't already open.

Passing through this gateway took them into what seemed to be a courtyard of sorts though it took a moment to make that realization as there wasn't a single manufactured item here. Not a carved stone, a bit of wrought iron or melted glass. No, the bench they saw was grown from naturally bending and swooping branches, those steps over there were indentations in wood and what seemed to be building up ahead with doors and a window was made up of openings in the side of a great tree trunk, a huge broad tree that was no taller than any of the others around it, but massive around. Proceeding carefully to the doorway to the larger structure, the two peered inside and found a long corridor. It seemed to be lit by moss covering the ceiling which gave off a soft blue light. Once upon a time this corridor must have been well maintained, but now it was choked by small branches that had grown out from the walls and across the path. It was still traversable, but it would take some effort to push through all those spindly branches. There was no sign of any occupants, and perhaps had not been any for some years based on the way that it looked like nothing had been pruned or trimmed in some time.

Before the two had the chance to decide on their course of action though the foliage over the doorway shuddered and shook, then two graceful stalks rose up, the ends of which were barbed with a long quill. They sinuously bobbed from side to side like a snake, then snapped forward and fired off a barb at the mages! Another quickly grew in its place and was fired off as well. It seemed this abandoned garden was not without some defenses!

Combat

Barb Turret - HP ?/?
Barb Turret - HP ?/?

"Malleus?! They are attacking! I'm going to try and deflect their attacks, so try and use some attack magic on them!" he said, while he held his hands up suddenly.

The air before them distorted like a mirage, as reality itself bent and twisted a bit in an effort to deflect the barbed attacks! He also drew upon his inner reservoir of power as well, and interlaced the the barbed plants that were all along the archway with temporal magic, and then began to twist them! Backwards some. He couldn't stop their flow entirely, but he did slow them down in a substantial and obviously supernatural way. , The general defense magic was merely a precaution, so that Malleus could go all out. As he was unfamiliar wit this foe, it was best to risk being too safe than not safe enough!

OOC: Using Defensive Magic to try and block the attacks for now, so Malleus has a safer opening to attack.

Steorra also expends 1 casting to use Temporal Manipulation (Slow) on the archway of plants, catching the barbed turrets within a slow spell effect!
This message was last edited by the player at 03:32, Thu 04 Apr.

OOC: Taking GM liberties to move things along since its been a couple of days!

The next few seconds unfolded quickly, at least from the perspective of the mages. With a wave of Steorra's hands the rustling plants over the doorway began to move as though they were underwater, their shivering leaves no longer rustling but rather rippling. They whipped forward and the barb they fired off moved like it had been gently lobbed rather than forcefully shot, it allowed time for Steorra to deflect the shots. While he took the attacks from the plants, Malleus launched two shadowy bolts, each catching a different plant. The shrubbery guardians seemed fragile, leaf tatters went flying and their stalks were severed and the plants settled into place once again.

That seemed to be all the danger for the moment.

That was when Steorra noticed that his hand was stuck to his robe. With some effort he pried it loose, along with some fibers. His skin had become tacky and adhered to anything it touched. Thankfully it only seemed to be one hand, unfortunately it was his dominant hand. Not debilitating, but certainly an annoyance. (Magical Side effects Erratic Charge left over from crossing the Elucidate boundary)

With no further threats for the time being, all the was left was to investigate this strange living structure.

Entering inside, they pressed through the tangle of delicate branches that had grown across the hallway. Every step was punctuated with a snap, crackle or pop. Steorra was left with a small bundle of twigs tenaciously clinging to his hand. The hallway hadn't offered any indication if left or right was a better option, so choosing as random eventually brought them to the doorway of a large chamber. What made them pause was inside the texture of the bark was different in places, it was inscribed with gold etching, it almost looked like plaques, or pages. There were five of them evenly spaced around the edges of the room. Beneath each the wood of the walls bulged out and this bulge was covered with knots and carefully polished tree limbs. They almost looked like control panels.
This message was last edited by the GM at 15:03, Thu 04 Apr.

Steorra had totally forgotten the magical side effect of the barrier around the Spellspire. If he wasn't out and about in the world for over a week at a time, he'd risk wild magic with every full casting of magic beyond the generic. It was something he mos tlikely would dedicate a project toward resolving soon.

After making sure Malleus was okay, he resumed leading them inward, until he encountered the room with the weird woody knobs and plaques and gold gilding.

"Malleus? What do you think this is?" he asked.

"I wonder if they control these plant ruins somehow, or if they can influence the jungle? Or perhaps...they are more mundane than that and its like for a secret door or something. I still wish to know either way though."

Steorra walked up to each plaque and knob, and more closely inspected them. Perhaps what they were depicting were clues as to their function?

OOC: Updating since it's been a few days for Malleus, he must have gotten busy. So onwards we go!

Intrigued by this room, both by its form as well as its possible function, Steorra decided to investigate further and went inside, breaking a few more branches that had grown across the doorway. He'd only gotten a few paces inside, not close enough to fiddle with any of those curious wood panels, when a groan of wood echoed through the air. On the far side of the room a soft yellow light started to glow. At first it appeared to be in the wall, but then that entire section of wall moved. No, not wall, an entity made of the same bark so it blended in. There was a rasp of bark on bark and an arm pulled loose from the wall, then a leg. The thing appeared to be ten feet tall. Roughly humanoid in shape, it had two arms, two legs, and round featureless head and a long segmented tail. At the core of its torso glowed a round golden orb.

Steorra only had fractions of seconds to absorb all this as the thing crossed the span of the room in one great leap. It moved on its hands and feet with the fluid grace of a hunting cat. Where it had started comfortably twenty feet away, in the blink of an eye it was directly in front of Steorra. Raising back one arm it swung a clawed fist of sharp bark talons. (Steorra make a Deadly Roll to determine how well you respond to the unexpected ambush and powerful blow) Then the creature leapt back and onto one of the walls, there it clung perpendicular to the floor. You could see it crouching low preparing for another aggressive leap and swipe. It seemed the huge tree-monster prepare to make nimble strikes then disengage to do so again.

Combat

Tree Sentinel - HP ?/?

Too late Malleus began to speak a warning, but the sentinel struck before the words could form; instead his fingers danced and he muttered a handful of sibilant words, throwing two patches of shadow at the creatures feet

OOC: Attack, as before, but the flavour is trying to cause the sentinel to trip or slip

OOC: Sorry for the silence. The weekend sucked me in and spit me out lol. VERY long, exhausting week last week at work too.

OOC: Using utility on myself.

00:51, Today: Steorra Tellurian rolled 3,1 using 1d6,1d6.  Deadly Roll (Utility)

Well the utility didn't help this time. I will take half my hp in damage to down to 5 hp. +1 xp though. ^_^

Steorra was sent flying back violently as the tree-sentinel slammed into him, his body flinging at a wall like a rag doll. He spat blood as drooped to the ground from the force of the impact.

He couldn't let the Sentinel run amok unchecked though. Especially since he needed to get his bearings still. So with a wave of the hand, he cast Temporal Manipulation once again, this time once again slowing down the enemy. However, this time he made sure to force the magic into an orderly configuration with Arcane Stability so that it didn't risk a wild surge again!

If the tree sentinel looked like it could reach Malleus, he would use Defensive general magic to - in combination with the slow spell - all but shut the thing down by bringing it to a crawling halt. But if the Slow spell let Malleus and him stay out of reach this round he used offensive magic to artificially age the thing's bark.

Using slow magic on it in tandem with Defensive magic, unless the slow seems obviously enough to protect them this round then he used offense.

Dark energy fired off from Malleus and towards the living guardian of this overgrown fortress. The energy struck its hand holding the wall and while some bark flaked away, the creature didn't flinch and certainly didn't fall. (-1 HP to the Sentinel) It's arms and legs tensed and it clearly was readying itself for another leap, then Steorra stepped forward. With a dribble of blood still running out of the corner of his mouth he raised a hand. The air around the guardian shimmered and rippled and the creatures movements grew easier to follow, but it wasn't as dramatic an effect as the time mage had hoped. This thing was powerful.

Leaping forward again the sentinel lunged at Malleus. Even slowed it was uncomfortably fast. Those claws encountered another field of slowing energy just moments before impact as Steorra set himself to defending his fellow expedition member. The efforts turned what might have been another devastating blow into simply painful cuts. (-2 HP Malleus) Then the creature sprang away again, clinging to the wall and assessing the two mages with its featureless face, clearly intent on keeping up its approach of hit and run. Within its chest the golden orb continued to pulse like a steady heartbeat.


Combat

Tree Sentinel - 14/15 HP

Whispering to himself, Malleus watched as a set of writhing umbral tentacles detached themselves from the wall behind the sentinel and began to wrap around its limbs. One finger reached up to his cheek, dabbing the shallow cut the creature had made and he snarled, firing off a second handful of darts at it

OOC: Cast the spell Shadow Bindings and, if possible, attack

Steorra had nothing left in his reservoir now. The slow spell was his trump card against it, and he could only hope that Melleus would also pull something out of his proverbial hat that, in tandem with the slow, could help lock it down.

Steorra will once again watch what Malleus does. If his shadow binding spell does lock it down, he will switch to utilizing offensive magic against the sentinel. Otherwise, he will begin moving behind Melleus to the entrance to the chamber, just to help make himself a non-target and let Malleus "tank a bit," with him supporting from the rear.

But if Shadow binding works well in tandem with the slow, Steorra will switch to full offense and try and grind the thing down.

With a motion from Malleus the shadows around the guardian suddenly gained substance and they reached out to grab the oaken defender, wrapping around its hands and legs. Still moving slowly, it pulled and thrashed, the shadows stretching like taffy before snapping back, the two spells in conjunction had it ensnared. It wouldn't last indefinitely, not with the diminished powers of the mages, but it bought them valuable time. Malleus followed up with another shot of raw shadow magic. Not trying to do anything besides inflict hurt, the bolt struck the tree sentinel squarely in the shoulder. (-2 HP Tree Sentinel)

Seeing that the situation was in hand, Steorra fired off his own magics and more of the bark came away and exposed living wood underneath. (-2 HP Tree Sentinel) They had bought valuable time, now what were they going to do with it?

Note: You've got 2 rounds before the slow effect wears off and the creature breaks loose. You can take two actions in your next post to reflect the extra wiggle room!


Combat

Tree Sentinel - 10/15 HP

With the sentinel caught like a fly in a web, Malleus stepped into the chamber, continuing to tear strips from it with serrated blades formed from the stuff of shadows. As he did so, he spoke, "Speak, sentinel. Speak of what you hide, what you protect!"

OOC: Unless it starts revealing its purpose, slice at it with thrown shadow knifes

OOC: Yes, unless the thing drops out of combat or something I'm mowing it down and turning it into a toothpick, or better yet elevator buttons for the Elucidate!

Steorra, seeing that they had it locked down (albeit it only for a few precious moments), went full offense as he scrambled to his feet, leaning onto the wall for support. He spit out another bit of blood (but it was "old blood not new) from the previous wound, and took a moment to focus his mana into shunting some of his injuries into another timeline and then snipping it so it never existed. (+2 healing for weekly healz, so hp is 5->7 and it came at the right time).

He then prepared two offensive spells - about as much as he could before their magical lockdown on the thing began to wear off - that he would launch at it immediately if the thing did not submit to them and stop fighting.

The first was actually a glimmering around Malleus, as suddnely a ghostly afterimage of him (that was immaterial and harmless to him) emerged from his body and fired the shadow bolts at the sentiel that he had fired the previous round!

The second was a glimmer around the sentinel as its thick bark hide suddenly began to wither and fry and turn dry and brittle, peeling off in places, as Steorra aged parts of it unnaturally fast.

OOC: And there you have it. 2 offensive magic actions against it if the thing doesn't relent.

"Speak, sentinel. Speak of what you hide, what you protect!" Malleus commanded the oaken guardian, but if it was capable of speech it did not respond.

The mages did not waste their precious moments with indecision. A heartbeat later black daggers of shadow were forming at Malleus' finger tips and being hurtled at the intimidating guardian. They cut away bark and exposed the hard heartwood underneath. Steorra motioned with his hands and an echo of Malleus appeared repeating the motions. Restrained by the oily tendrils and slowed trappings of time the guardian could do nothing but thrash at its bonds as bits of wood were carved away and fell to the ground. (-8 HP Tree Sentinel)

Then with a great thrash it pulled free, the shadows on its arms dissolving into nothing, then one leg pulled free, then the other. Unimpeded once again, the battle scarred guardian crossed the room in another powerful leap. Despite the numerous patches of missing bark and gouges from the heartwood underneath, it was a still a powerful threat. Rearing back on its hindlegs, it brought both of its claws down onto Malleus.

OOC: Deadly Roll for Malleus! You can incorporate the results into your post. Whoever posts first can also describe defeating the foe as it'll drop with the next strike it receives. You can include in your next post what you'd like to do after the battle in order to streamline events.


Combat

Tree Sentinel - 2/15 HP

"Malleus, watch out!" Storra shouted to his ally as the sentinel suddenly leaped at his shadowy friend, when he had let his guard down a bit.

He couldn't prevent Malleus from being slammed into as horridly as he had been before, but he could make sure it didn't happen again.

With a twisting motion of his hands, Steorra warped the Sentinel's personal time so that an after-image of itself repeated a leap-attack at Melleus! Except...the real Sentinel was standing there, leaping backward after his attack...and right in the trajectory of the after image! The two sentinels Smashed together quite violently!

OOC: Offense magic to finish it off! Have a taste of your own medicine, Sentinel!

Malleus? You need to roll a 1d6 and are aiming for a 5+. A 4 or less and you get seriously hurt like Steorra did. Either way, though, you get a free bonus xp for making the deadly roll though!

Warned by Steorra's shout, Malleus let himself fall backwards as the creature reared and struck, tumbling with the momentum beyond the reach of its claws and back onto his feet. Shadows formed at his fingertips once more, dissipating like sparks once he saw the ruined creature smashed by the time mage's magic. He breathed, deeply: inhale, pause, exhale - controlling the adrenalin that surged through him and using the moment to cast his eyes about the chamber

"Well, that was ... unexpected", he finally offered, brushing dust and bark from his clothing, "Perhaps we have a few moments now to see what it was so ... protective of?"

"Are you ok? You bore the brunt of it, I feel?"

05:39, Today: Malleus Murk rolled 6 using 1d6.  Deadly Roll. – 6

Steorra nodded.

"I'm...alright. Not good, mind you, but I'm okay." he replied. "I could not have withstood another blow like that, though, so thank goodness you were here. I'm only sorry that my magic has become so weak that a slow spell was not enough to lock it down without your tendrils. but then again...both of us are in the same boat there." he continued.

"Before the trip, back in the Empire, I could have taken on several Sentinels at once and been unscathed. But again, the warp wave fried all of our magic so this only shows that we must continue to be careful as we nurse our abilities again. I for sure am a shadow of my former self, figuratively. Literally, in your case though, I suspect." he followed with a grin.

He looked around the room.

"I think he was protecting this room itself. Those wooden control knob things look like they have plates above them. I wanted to get a closer look at them before the thing attacked. I suspect between the two of us we can figure something out. And I've got a spare power source with me just in case we need it for something."

Tumbling back just in time, Malleus was left unharmed as the tree guardian brought down its claws, but it tore open the front of his robes. Those tatters of cloth entangled in its bark talons drove home just how near a thing it had been. While it was distracted with trying to end the shadow mage, an echo itself leapt onto its own back, courtesy of Steorra's fiddling with time. The doppelgangers claws sank into its shoulders and then rent through the body. With a deep groan and creaking of wood that sounded much akin to a ship beaching itself, the creature succumbed to its injuries and collapsed to the ground. Sap leaked from a few of its wounds, but the viscous fluid didn't spread far and left small sticky pools of amber. A few experimental prods of the body also revealed that the glowing sphere of the chest of the thing was removable, though now it was dark.

The room was quiet again and there didn't seem to be anything else waiting to leap out.

OOC: Taking GM liberties as otherwise I imagine the next post will be "I look at the panels" so we'll skip making you post that step.

With the luxury of time the two were able to examine the room. Those five plaques on the wall with their gold etchings were the only clear source of interest. Approaching the control panels underneath you find the levers move and the buttons press, but there isn't any response from the control. Unlike the still living guardian of this chamber, the room itself seemed inert. Examining the panels themselves, there seemed to be a pattern to those gold scribbles. Perhaps writing, maybe symbols, it was impossible to say without taking the time to study. Examining the edges, there also seemed to be seam along the edges of these plaques, like they came away from the walls, but a few experimental tugs didn't budge them.

OOC: Steorra posted before mine got up, so adding the following based on his:

Drawing out the glowing gem from his pocket, Steorra touched it to the panel. The light in the crystal dimmed, it would recharge  but it would take time. At the same time gold etchings lit up across the wooden panel. Just like the wall plaque these were impossible to decipher, but their presence clearly confirmed what they already suspected, that this place was more than just the result of highly advanced gardening. Pulling a lever or pushing a button were all equally random, so the lever got pulled first. On the wall above the panel there came a click, then the corresponding plaque went dark the gold etchings disappearing and the whole plaque raised up to reveal an alcove inside. Tucked inside the alcove was a seed of some sort, the size of a fist. Yet another mystery.

This tree fortress clearly held secrets, but it was too large to explore with the rations they had left, not while still being able to make the three day journey back to the Elucidate. Plus Steorra was wounded now and who knew if more of those sentinels were hidden away here. No, their time exploring the purple skies was drawing to a close. They had found partial answers, and more question, and that would have to suffice for now.

Overgrown Spoils

These are non exclusive rewards and mages can both select the same one if they prefer.

I'm One With Nature: Visiting this while tangle of jungle has given you new insights into the realm of natural magics. You could see ways to emulate the effects of this growth, magically making vines, shrubs and brush spring up where none had existed before. These plants would be temporary and would crumble away again once the magics faded.
Spell: Wild Growth - Plants grow up where none had been previously, not obviously useful unto itself, but it could be expanded upon. (Foundational Spell: Augmenting this spell the first time only requires 3 Materials rather than 5)

Skin Like Bark: Flesh was soft and fragile, these dangerous outings were a painful reminder of that fact. Luckily magic could mitigate some of that fragility. After being around so much of nature, you observe ways to emulate  the tough exterior of bark for your own protective magics.
Spell: Barkskin - You toughen the flesh of a target, they take 1 point less damage than any chip damage they receive, but they become less mobile while the effect lasts.

A Little Drop Will Do You: Nature, as beautiful and serene as it appeared at a glance, was actually a vicious battleground of competition. Plants competing with each other and with animals, and with insects. One of those defenses plants had developed with dangerous poisons, you find one such poison dripping off the thorns of one of the overgrown plants. Taking a sample, you could replicate the substance.
Spell: Poisoned Touch - When within melee range of a foe your general attacks mildly poison the target which is slightly debilitating for a short time.

White and Yellow, Kill a Fella, Purple and Blue Good For You, Red... Could Be Good, Could Be Dead: With your packs of rations now significantly lighter than before you're exceedingly conscious of how much food you have available. With this wealth of nature to examine and observe, you feel confident you could devise a spell that would provide sustenance on demand.
Spell: Nature's Bounty - You magic up a berry bush which is brimming with edible berries. Provides sustenance for one person for a day.

Steorra considered their findings, as well as their situation and the fact that their resources were beginning to dwindle.

"Interesting. The gold orb in their chest is removable. Gosh I wish I had known that before, because I could have just far-reached the sentinel and one-shot beat it by calling its orb to my hand." Steorra said.

"At the very least, this will help if we have to fight more of those things. But I still am only able to cast about 2 full spells before I peter out so it's not like I can counter more than 1 or two at most. But this is valuable info and I'm going to make sure the other Elucidate mages know about it in case they get stuck fighting these things some day." he continued.

He then saw the seed.

"Hmmm...I wonder what this seed is? It wasn't on the aspect reward list, so must be plot/environment related It doesn't seem to do anything on its own, but obviously it must be the seed to something important for it to be hidden behind a panel like this and needing my power source to access. Let's take it back to the Spellspire and have some of the other mages look at it. Maybe one of the plant mages or biomancers or something can tell us more."

He frowned then.

"It's becoming clear to me that we can only explore so much at a time before our resources risk running out. As we grow stronger, I'm sure we can venture further and further away. But until we discover safe spaces, as well as get used to being more self-sufficient, we will have to be mindful of our limits. Reminds me of a rhyme from back home about watching your limits: White and Yellow, Kill a Fella, Purple and Blue Good For You, Red... Could Be Good, Could Be Dead. But now that I've seen examples of native plant life that is adapted to this dimension, I think I can devise a food-creation spell. And with some projects, I could make it able to potentially sustain an entire party of people for an entire trip with one casting, but that will take some augmenting and fiddling. I might not have a choice, though, if we ever want to venture further away than this."

White and Yellow, Kill a Fella, Purple and Blue Good For You, Red... Could Be Good, Could Be Dead Selected.

Also, taking the inert sentinel orb as well as the seed from the alcove back with us to the elucidate, as well as a sample of the seemingly-benign purple pollen, and will ask the project team to study it with him and see if these findings aren't something our collective team can't use somehow!
This message was last edited by the player at 19:45, Fri 12 Apr.

Whilst the mage of time was intrigued by the power source, Malleus examined the same item from the perspective of control; he let a small frown crease his visage and offered an observation, “That they are removable suggests someone to remove them… and place them there to begin with. You are right though, we have tarried enough and I promised that I would return with someone of the nature of the threat that faces us, so we might face with readiness.”

He sketched out what he could of the chamber and the symbols, gleaning some insights into the nature of the magic involved (I’m One With Nature), before nodding to Sterrora’s suggestion, “We should return”

With the mysteries of the living fortress remaining, but their rations and new injuries demanding more immediate attention, Steorra and Malleus elected to return home. It would be a long three days of walking, Steorra being particularly uncomfortable for the first two days as the thick pollen in the air seemed to agitate his new gashes something fierce, but they eventually left the purple skies behind them and after several more days of walking made it back to the Elucidate with stories to share and sore feet from the travels.

New Location Discovered: The Living Fortress - A building grown from a single tree and defended by aggressive flora, it was clearly designed by a purposeful hand and has secrets still waiting to be uncovered.