[Alliance] Chapter Five: Session Sixteen

Appearing Characters: Elissa Cross, Gilveradin Windrunner, Liiraluma, Razlo Crushcog, Ressa Shadeshine, Riff, Seria, Silco Thermaplugg, Thal'ena Dawnseeker, Uther Menethil, Vaelastrasz, Velameestra Windrunner, Zagarra, Zesqua

Time-Lost Day 3 - Time-Lost Day 5

Gilveradin had sought out Zagarra and found her in a state of meditation in the room that Vel had conjured for her as she sharpened her hunting claws. She invited Gil to enter and he sat down across from her.

There was something behind Zagarra’s stoicism that she was hiding. The way she sharpened her weapons and the way that she was speaking implied a heavily veiled anger, though the exact source of that anger was unclear.

Zagarra tapped her fingers on the edge of her whetstone.

Zagarra smirked and Gil got up to his feet and left her to her meditations. It was clear there was a lot under the surface, and it was hard to say how close to home the potential betrayal hit for her. However, the one thing he didn’t detect was surprise or shock in Zagarra’s reactions.

Gil went to seek out Vaelastrasz, who was doing what he could to help the gnomish people of Rustbolt. He smiled as he saw Gil approach him.

Vaelastrasz chuckled.

Gil took a deep breath.

Vaelastrasz gestured for Gil to walk with him.

Vaelastrasz nods.

Vaelastrasz nodded again.

Vaelastrasz threw his arm around Gil’s shoulders and mussed up his hair.

Vaelastrasz stopped as they were walking, and they saw Thal’ena maneuvering about the town. She was chatting with a handful of people and also seemed to be trying to help in her own way. She seemed to be in a very good mood. Vaelastrasz gave Gil’s shoulder a squeeze.

Vaelastrasz laughed and left Gil to Thal’ena, and he took a deep breath before he headed over to the other elf. She looked over at Gil and straightened her hair.

Gil did his best not to wince as he took Thal’ena somewhere private to talk. Gil sighed heavily once they were alone.

Thal’ena put a hand over her chest.

Gil laughed.

Gil winced.

Gil nodded.

Thal’ena nodded.

She took Gil’s hands.

Gil smiled weakly.

Gil gave her a half grin and Thal’ena gave Gil’s hand a squeeze. She turned to leave, but she glanced back briefly before she made her way back. She was heading back to take another bath at the manor, and she seemed a bit huffy and overwhelmed.

After talking to Teemo, Luma spent some time sleeping on the conversation, but opted to start to get to know some of the gnomish technology. They opted to not get on their backwater bullshit about the cogs and gears. They had continued to muse on the ideas for Uther’s rocket armor.

One of the big drawbacks with gnomish tech is that they seemed to not really understand the idea that they couldn’t do something, it was more an idea that they had not yet discovered how to do it. They asked if they could rather than if they should.

It also seemed that the gnomes that willingly became mechanized could modularly add to themselves, though it seemed like the forced mechanization was less modular. Some extreme examples don’t even have their personalities remaining.

Uther was dedicating his days to helping with manual labor around Rustbolt, alongside some of the mechs and other bots that the gnomes used. It seemed some of the rogue mechs in the scrapyard were frequently hunted and brought in for spare parts or to be reprogrammed.

Seria had spent pretty much all her time hiding in the conjured manor in the druid grove within it. She continued to make offerings to the loa, though she was unsure if they could hear her in the strange time-lost wasteland.

After a few days, Vel had finished enchanting the amulet she had been working on that would protect her against the diseases of the afflicted gnomes. Once she had finished, the timeline she had given herself had come to pass, and she decided to approach the bedroom that had been assigned as Gil’s. She knocked on the door.

Vel opened the door with her hands nestled behind her back and a somewhat sheepish expression on her face. Ara’shel had reverted to his small size, and he was now upside down on the bed she had created for him, completely passed out with his legs twitching in his sleep. Vel cast her gaze over to the small draconic creature.

She pulled her hands out from behind her back and presented a pouch of coins on top of a quiver of arrows.

Gil blinked slowly.

Gil chuckled awkwardly and he took the pouch of coin and the arrows from Vel’s hands. The arrows almost didn’t look like they were actually carved, but instead looked as if they had been naturally formed, and each one had a serpent that was coiled around the shaft of the arrow. Instead of a regular arrowhead the tip terminated in the serpent’s head.

Vel had returned her hands to behind her back, where she fiddled with the edges of her fingers.

Vel blinked, acknowledging the statement about their uncle, but deciding it was not the time to ask about it.

He waved his hands vaguely out to his sides.

Vel turned to leave the room, but Gil spoke up again.

Vel looked back at her brother.

Gil shook his head.

Vel gave him a small, but distinctly sad smile, and she turned back to the door and closed it behind her as she left. Gil collapsed back on the bed. Ara’shel woke up and climbed up on Gil’s chest, then rounded a few times and sat down on Gil’s chest.

Ara’shel made a small chittering sound in agreement as Gil laid back and stared at the ceiling.

Time-Lost Day 6

Vel was given a handful of syringes that could be injected into her companions to offer immunity against the pox disease. Elissa and Riff went with the party, but the remainder of the Scales remained back at Rustbolt.

They headed south off the coast in the direction they had been directed. There seemed to be very sparse, resilient foliage on the outskirts of the scrapyard, and they occasionally encountered some of the junkyard beasts. But after a few hours, the signs of life got even more sparse as the scrap piles shrank, and there was an acrid stench in the air. Vel took that as the sign to provide the inoculations to those that would need them.

Elissa crinkled her nose.

There was a trickle of running water, and as they rounded a pile of trash, they saw a bright green pool that looked to be very unwise to touch. There were more and more signs of the toxic waste that was just littered about. Vel approached one of them to take a closer look, and it was evident that it was corrosive. Not severely, but there were trace elements of debris that had steadily deteriorated in it. It was volatile and dangerous, but it seemed like water was a large component of it. The pools were once natural bodies of water.

Vel took a small sample to investigate closer, and it did burn her fingertips slightly. As she used identify on it, it became clear that the liquid was a waste product of something that was created with magic. She wasn’t familiar with the exact form of magic, but it was not naturally occurring. It seemed like whatever it was was brought there, and likely polluted the area.

Luma nodded with a noise, and they continued moving deeper into the poxlands. The pools of toxic waste became more and more prevalent, and avoiding the pools became difficult.

Luma examined the area and managed to create some makeshift bridges with debris, and they were able to navigate through without too much difficulty. They were a bit slowed down, but they were able to avoid the most dangerous areas, and eventually their traversal brought them through a throng of ruins that was overflowed with toxic waters. Vel couldn’t help but think of Tae’shara and the fact that she would be having a field day.

Vel took a brief look around the ruins as they went, and she found a plank of wood under some rubble that had been mostly rotted. She dusted it off, and it looked to be part of a sign. There wasn’t much on it, but there was an unfamiliar character. It seemed to be in a different dialect of the same languages that were spoken by Chen and Li Li.

Vel’s brow furrowed as she looked over at Uther.

Vel dropped the wood back on the ground.

At that moment, Vel, Gil, and Seria honed in on the sound of whispers, and Seria was able to understand it. They were speaking in Sylvan.

Suddenly, Gil’s bow began to glow.

They suddenly heard a mournful, wailing sound that could only be compared to a giant drowning. It was a pained roar of agony, confusion, and rage. As their attention was drawn to the buildings to the north, the polluted waters formed into a truly immense amorphous being that was far, far larger than any water elemental they had seen, and also far more corrupted. Vel felt a sharp pain in her side, and she noticed a thorn sticking in her side. Where the wood had been dropped, she saw a diminutive creature that looked to be the size of a large cat. It looked to be made of wood, and its body had thorny outcropping, and its entire body was clothed in leaves. A number of thorns had been launched at her.

Many other similar creatures also materialized out of the debris. There was a slightly larger member of them that had stepped out onto a withered tree, and it hissed down at them angrily.

The corrupted sprite darted forward and held up a gnarled ocarina from which it shot a series of darts from at Luma, Seria, Riff, and Uther. The viscous fallout, as it reared up out of the pool it had been spawned from, unleashed a thick undertow of ooze that swept around the group and pulled them all into its body. Elissa was the only one that managed to break free of the ooze before she was pulled in. The roiling pollution continued to splash over them and it tried to slam into Vel, but she was able to deflect the attack aside with a shield spell.

Some of the blight sprites tried to use [Entangle] on Elissa, but she was able to break out of the gnarled vines as they appeared.

Seria shifted into a huge bear inside the elemental and was able to shove Gil, Uther, and Riff out of the polluted creature. Seria reared back and drove ice-rimed claws into the elemental as she struggled to escape, but as she hit the creature, the burning acidic damage continued. There was a nearly imperceptible scream, as if the elemental was in constant pain.

One of the spite sprites used [Bestow Curse] on Elissa and then fired another barrage of darts at her. The sprite started to play a tune and Elissa was compelled to sing along to the twisted, haunting tune.

Ara’shel struggled to escape but was unable to do so. A blight sprite shot a dart at Gil, and responded with a [Lightning Arrow] at one of the blight sprites, which then leapt at two others. The initial sprite conflagrated into ash, and Gil took a second shot at another sprite. Another sprite managed to nick Uther.

Luma used [Air Bubble] and, with a bit of a struggle, they were able to pop spheres of fresh air around everyone aside from Vel, who did not need one.

Riff looked around as he was spat out of the elemental, and he reached out toward the creature. Tears of blood started to seep from his eyes, and he used [Greater Restoration] on the viscous fallout. The magic pulsed out from his hand, and the creature shuttered from the restorative magic, but it forced itself through the effect.

Vel struggled against the elemental and used [Life Transference] on Seria as anima energy flowed from her and into the druid. She then activated her bladesong.

Uther reached out and tried to use cleansing touch on the elemental, and it again shuttered, but it pushed through the effect. He then also healed Seria with [Cure Wounds].

Elissa ran forward and also used her lay on hands on the elemental. It shuttered again as it pushed through, but then she tried [Lesser Restoration] and the creature was able to entirely resist.

Another spite sprite tried to curse Uther, but was unsuccessful, and instead it flailed fruitlessly at the paladin. Luma used [Dimension Door] to get themselves out of the viscous fallout. Luma frowned and shook off the ick as a shiver went up through their tail.

Vel used [Blink] to escape the viscous fallout and materialized next to the injured blight sprite. She cut it down with a [Frost Strike] and her cold snap burst around her as she twisted around to the other nearby blight sprite. Gil shot at a spite sprite and forced it to drop its concentration on its curse.

Seria also used [Blink] blink to escape the viscous fallout and then rounded to claw at the elemental.

Riff used [Lesser Restoration] on the viscous fallout, and from the point the magic connected, the water became less murky and it started to stagger as it was stunned.

A spite sprite fired three blow gun darts at Vel, but she deflected them all aside and was completely unaffected by the sprite’s baleful ocarina tune. Elissa looked up at the staggered elemental, which seemed to be spilling in on itself and churning.

Elissa once again channeled healing magic through her hands, and the water clarified even more around where she touched it. The blight sprite next to Vel tried to slash at her, but was buffeted by the storm that had enshrouded her. Ara’shel was able to also break free of the elemental.

Uther also continued to channel healing magic into the elemental. The warbled, garbled screaming turned into more of a whimper, and it almost seemed as if the elemental was getting smaller. It almost seemed as if the elemental was trying to communicate.

Uther dropped his shield and axe on the ground and took a deep breath as he put both hands on the elemental and connected with the feeling he had when he first took his Silver Hand vows as he pushed as much healing energy as he could into the elemental. The viscous slime started to recede a bit, and it shrank even more, as if it was trying to remember a shape it had long ago forgotten.

All the sprites abruptly stopped fighting and stepped back away from the group.

The water elemental continued to whine and whimper, but it seemed to have gotten a degree of control.

The group could hear the sound of something approaching.

The sprites started to call out sounds of alarm, and some of them were promptly covered by illusions or scattered. On the horizon, they could see a large bipedal mech. It had two large tri-fingered claws, and flanking around it were a bunch of gnomish figures. They were wearing full suits with heavy masks and breathing apparatuses. They were wielding curious weapons with large hoses. They stopped about 100 feet from the group, and the mech’s dome pulled back. A figure with bright goggles sat inside it. He had green hair, and looked to be afflicted. He pulled up a speaker box.

The other gnomes fanned out and pulled up their weapons.

Upon hearing Gil speak, the gnome decided to switch to common.

Gil looked at the elemental.

The gnome raised a bushy eyebrow.

The gnome laughed.

The gnome looked around at the group, and raised a brow again.

The gnome sized Uther up.

He stopped.

He tuned into a speaker.

He looked back at the group.

The gnome scratched the back of his head and muttered in his own language.

The gnome gave out some orders to his men to watch the perimeter, and a few of the fully outfitted gnomes fanned out.

They followed the gnome, and before long they reached the edge of the ocean in a bay that the run-off is flowing into. There were ruins about, and the gnome led them into a cove, which opened up into a long tunnel that went into the ground.

They entered the tunnel, and they quickly found it had been retrofitted into a bit of an underground city of its own. They saw more afflicted gnomes scattered around. The sound of coughing was fairly present, and many were wearing masks of some sort. It was something of a slum in its construction. There were barrels of refuse that were ignited and being used to cook food. It was larger than Rustbolt, but the people there were not flourishing whatsoever. Much of the technology present was weapons.

There were some gnomes that had arms, eyes, or other parts of their body removed, which were likely mechanized before the mechanizations were destroyed. Luma was getting some looks, because of their arm. Luma pulled a sleeve out of their bag and draped it over their arm.

The group was led into an arrow where there was a platform. The gnome stepped onto the platform and gestured for the rest to join him. He then pushed a button, and they felt the platform dip down into a cylinder. It moved in multiple directions, and then the tube passed through the water. They could see sparse and sickly plants and fish in the murky green-blue oceans, and eventually it reached another platform, and a door opened into an audience chamber. There was a large window with a few spidery cracks, reinforced with steel. In front of the window was a desk with a chair. Flanking the desk were a few other guards, as well a gnomish figure that was standing beyond the desk and looking out into the murky depths.

The gnome was well-dressed. He had a cane in one hand that he was leaning on, and his head was clean-shaven. The gnome that had brought the group put a hand on his chest.

The gnome, Silco Thermaplugg, turned to look at the group. He had pale green skin, and it looked like his left eye was cybernetic. The left side of his face was also covered in severe burns that ran all the way up his bald head. It was hard to tell what the wounds were from.

The gnome nodded and returned to the tube, which carried him away.

Silco stepped forward.

Silco’s cybernetic eye shifted.

He glanced over at Riff for a second.

Silco chuckled.

He tapped a disk on his desk, and an illusory image of Uther, then the others, showed up.

Uther sighed.

Vel clocked into Silco’s bond: It’s better to die a free gnome than to live as a mechanized abomination. She relayed it to Uther over the telepathic bond.

Silco narrowed his eyes.

Vel’s eyes flitted over to her brother, sensing that the tensions were beginning to rise, and she chose to speak up.

She looked at Silco, who cocked his head to the side, curious to see where Vel was going to go with her approach.

Riff glanced over at Seria.

Silco thinks for a long moment.

Silco walked towards them, his staff clinking on the floor.

He pointed at Riff.

Uther got the sense that Silco was not insane, which was what ultimately made him scary. He was a dangerous man, who had been burned so badly by the regime both physically and emotionally, that it would be hard to change his mind.

However, any promises that he made here could be thrown in their face, but Vel got the sense that Silco was clever enough to not go back on what he said here, but it was just the opening volley. If they gave him the power here, there was the chance he would try to seize more in the future. It was hard to say what he would do with that power, but he hides his ambition well, and cloaks his ambition in a very real patriotism for his people.

Silco frowned.

Riff nodded.

Silco looked over to one of the guards, who removed their mask. Their eyes were dangerous, severe, and intense. They had red hair in a ponytail, and they stepped forward.

She looked over at Riff.

Ressa approached the group.

She looked at Vel.

This page was last edited on April 23, 2024, at 04:28 PM

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