Fourth Adventure 02: The Spacial Temple

Rory's hesitation was palpable in his gait, but finally he stood on the platform. He'd been sucked up through the ground in the roots of a tree, feeling what it was like to "not be". He shuddered as he remembered that particular experience, and wondered if he'd be going through it again, but if he did it once, he could do it twice.

After some waiting, those in the tower manage to make their way to the pad and await their turn. There's an audible buzz of excitement and you get the impression several people have not experienced this before, though even the occasional worker and representative of the Order in the group looks to be relatively excited. The entire pad begins shaking and humming before suddenly everything goes unnaturally still. Everyone on the pad is still looking about in shock as the world around them seems to have stopped dead, no movement nor sound, and everything is muffled. You move your hand in front of your face and find the action difficult, like slogging through molasses, and yet at the same time you hear what sounds like a tiny chime far, far in the distance keeping a steady tune going. You cannot identify it, but it is very striking.
Without warning, everything shifts and you are standing on top of the tower, hundreds of feet in the air, on an identical platform. There are Order representatives handy to help everyone file off.
The view from up here defies words. From this height you can see Yaraq, miles away, bustling as always. Ships are visible in the Inner sea to your west, which you can also spot. The wind is steady, but far less than it should be for this height. As you are guided off the platform the immense, hundred foot wide glass staircase awaits. It is polished so fine and clear it is almost invisible, only the reflection coming off the sun really sets it apart. There are already hundreds of people ascending and descending, though several of your group looks hesitant at stepping out over the abyss, over a thousand feet in the air.

That magical transport was a strange experience. But Zeiss still felt fine. The view was astonishing. He never thought he would one day be so high in the sky. After making sure he would not fall because of the wind, Zeiss started climbing the stairs.

Snarg approaches the stairway cautiously, getting down on all fours before proceeding more than a few feet. "I ... ain't be feelin' good 'bout these heights." he mutters.

Snarg of Wildpaw wrote:Snarg approaches the stairway cautiously, getting down on all fours before proceeding more than a few feet. "I ... ain't be feelin' good 'bout these heights." he mutters.

"Eyes forward, then. Don't think about it."

Rory's mind reeled at the view. He leaned against the glass to keep himself from buckling, while at the same terrified at the thought of acidentally breaking his support and falling to the ground below. He would gladly cut his throat with his own knife to save on time and suspense.

As he inched along, a guardrail appeared out of thin air. He gripped it nervously, and followed the others, anxious to lose sight of the scenery.

Kolson grabs Kez and whoever else is interested in seeing the sites and proceeds to spend the next 2 hours wandering about, trying various foods and purchasing an assortment of souvenirs.

(What foods did we try? Feel free to add it in anyone!)

Souvenirs Bought:

The staircase journey was long, but you don't feel tired for even a second of the journey. There are people both coming and going up and down the stairs, and a near continuous buzz of conversation. There are more than a few heading up who are clearly trying their best not to look down nor contemplate what they are doing.
The trip takes several hours, but time seems to fly by surprisingly quickly. As you have been journeying up the physical vibration has been growing, until finally you approach the opening hallway leading inside the Temple itself, at which point it stops being a vibration and instead you feel like your entire being is half-merged with the Spacial energy. It occurs to those of you with the knowledge of the elements that the actual physical intersection of the Spacial Ley Line is here, thousands of feet in the air, at the Temple itself.

The Temple's insides look exactly the same as its exterior; a constant, full ranged view of space. The ground is indiscernible from walls or ceiling, but near as you can tell there are no walls nor ceilings present. If you reach out to touch the 'surface' of it it feels cool, very solid, and surprisingly static; almost to the point where you can't actually run your hand down it for the friction.

Anyone who pauses inside amidst the crowds will notice something interesting; the stars are actually moving, very slowly. Those of you who ponder the issue a moment suddenly come to the realization that what you are looking at are the stars from the planet's perspective, as though nothing was in the way in any direction, and they are moving as the planet rotates. With a total lack of atmosphere, weather, or anything else masking it you see the stars in a way you literally never have before, and and the sight is beyond imagining.

Snarg moves back and forth, poking and sniffing various areas of the insides, tracing the movements of the stars with his paws. At one point he even ventures to give the surface a long lick, although he seems not to enjoy the texture and taste.

It was a long walk. But he was finally at the temple. And the view was... unlike whatever he had seen before. He stood there for a minute, curious. Then, he headed for the Trials, whenever it was.

Snarg is constantly flashing with white light as he continually heals himself and anyone who will allow him to touch them.

After recovering from the odd vibrations that traveled his body--including, to his own embarrassment, his groin--Rory's gaze found its way up in the stars. The aftertaste of bacon and pheasant added something he would later recant as nothing that made the moment special. He was, for a short while, stunned motionless by the scene.

"What am I looking at...?" he absently babbled steadily. "I see countless distant suns of differing color, as numerous as the sands on the beach..."

*On times like these, he can't help but feel like one of the ants, gaping flabbergasted at something his mind can barely grasp. Are the people around him thinking what he's thinking? Is he thinking any different from the majority? From half? Does it matter? Whoever built this, what were they thinking. What kind of people were they. Would they know someday the ants would be swarming around here, staring wide, unknowing. Once you get down it, everything has a how, even this. Though in wonder, he finds himself thinking about everything but the stars.*

Tab will be with kolson's group as he wants to go shopping

Spoiler:

Also at some point I will be trying to cast scan level 2 at the ground looking for any trace of the engeys used to make that thing from mission two

Spoiler:

After his tourist spree, Kolson heads to the Country Express office to send off some mail with insurance.

Post 1:

After he is done, he makes the journey up to the Temple itself with any of his group interested in doing so, seeking to take the Trial.

Caladius listening to other in the crowd other complementing on how magnificent the view is and how magical it all seems, looks out a little further and mentions to his party in typical Griswold fashion. "OK, lets go!"

Tabran:
From what you can determine, it looks like energy was taken more or less simply from the surrounding area and then worked on elsewhere. The tint in the feel of the pure, Spacial energy here and the warped energies of the creature are completely different.

*Kezrin heads around the market looking at various things, feeling much more light hearted with the spacial energy thrumming in her breast. At one point she even giggles as Kolson comes running up to her holding out pipe eager to show off his findings. Eventually she finds the perfect something to remind her of her trip to the spacial temple. Its another small blob of semi-sentient spacial energies, like the one Kolson purchased for Caladrius, but this one is just a small sphere. Upon finding the little fellow, Sol wriggled and squirmed his way out of her pack and the two blobs of energy, one white the other the color of shadow yet emitting a faint purple twinkle at points, danced around her with so much joy and energy that Kezrin didn't have the heart to separate the two. After her wanderings she heads with Kolson to the temple.*

While in line:
*Kezrin laugh's heartily at the antics of her two elemental spirits. The sound is quite startling to any party members nearby as you have never heard her laugh with such abandonment before. She is clearly feeling giddy.*

After being teleported up:
*Kezrin looks about her and stumbles immediately falling on her rear. After a few moments of gentle coaching by the Order's staff she manages to stand and walk off the teleport pad. Her eyes are tightly closed, but the moment she feels the cool glass beneath her feet she makes the mistake of opening them and looking down. She gives an ear splitting shriek and stumbles back onto the teleport pad and refuses to budge.*

Tabs shopping list

3 really nice linen shirts (2 white,1 purple)
3 part of nice pants (2 brown, 1 purple or black)
several obsidian trinkets and sculptures (say enoth to attempt to weave a reaper from)
cloth map of the state and 1 of the nation
restock on food and drink used since last resample (my reckoning is 2 days of rations, refill of 4 water skin's)
small pack of tea leaves (about 200gm)


after there gotten Tab will have a nose around at the magic items to se if anything catches his eye

then tab will send 3 letters one to his house one to his inn and one to Dureena (the one to Dureena will have 100 gold attached to it)

then Tab will head to the top of the temple to get a lay of the land, then wait at the bottom for the rest of the group.

Spoiler:

After stepping on the staircase, Ashakel felt... different. His mind, usually so quick to burst into flames and blur completely, was now still and clear like never before. For the first time since he left his home, he felt at ease and complete. It was similar to spending time alone in the forest, like he used to, but multiplied to a much greater extent. Merged in this energy, he proceeded to the Temple. This place was holy, and he was at a loss of words.

Sethos was quiet for all the journey, he stayed behind the rest of the group his hood up and head down, he was grumpy when they entered the town, then the hum hit, and he started to feel a little better, then they entered the tower and he started to feel good, in the teleport he looked around in the slow bright haze for a second. When he was sure nobody else would see his face he pulled a grin across it larger than any since he'd left Mayoi, then when they returned to the tangible he lowered his face again behind the shadow of his hood.

On the way up the stairs he began to think, he'd done a remarkably small amount of that since Al-Erat, he'd been in something of a haze, a vague distance from everything that was happening to and around him, and Kez' fugue state knife hand spree had made it worse than ever. He'd been constantly wondering why he was there, after the gnolls had been helped his only reason for doing anything with the group had been out of some obligation that he felt he had as the healer, but he'd hardly been much use against the golem, so what was he for? Why was he doing any of this?

The questions swam in the waters of his mind as he stared at the terribly beautiful earth growing ever distant below him. He couldn't stop staring at the staircase, or rather through it, he wondered if maybe it was the truest symbol of perfection he'd ever witnessed, when they reached the peak he knew that it wasn't.

As he heard the gasps of the pilgrims around him he became terrified to look up at the sky, he wasn't sure why, perhaps he thought it would drive him insane, perhaps he was worried he'd finally feel good about his situation, perhaps he was worried it would give him a reason to stay.

Sethos looks up. His hood falls back from his head, his face bathing in the never ending light. A toothy grin grows on his face, getting bigger and bigger until finally his mouth is open and he finds himself laughing, louder than he's laughed in years. He raises his hands up and tears begin to pour across his face, bouncing off it as he fills the space with his booming laughter.

Gwydo hung back with the wagon, watching the other run off. He knew it was in no danger of thievery, and even as impressive as the Spacial Temple was, he was simply not as enthralled as the others. The temple of Life however... That was where he longed to visit. And someday he would, but there were other priorities.

Ashakel said goodbye to the little troll, and joined the rest of his group who were headed for the trials. Hanuel was there, looking extremely enthusiastic about the affair. He moved closer to Higaide and Zeiss, in complete silence.

Ashakel didn't know what to expect of this, but was actually hoping for an advice if he succeeded in the trials. For guidance, in how to deal with the situation of the death of his stepfather. For anything, actually, for his life was just aimless wandering in the last few months.