Session 64: Air Ghost Coast to Coast


 * Mogen wonders if we're in Syriana.
 * Vesun says it doesn't feel the same as when he was being pulled into the portal; there's too much gravity and dirt. Mogen tries throwing a pebble up and it falls like it usually would.
 * Vesun looks over the edge, and just sees sky. Tork lifts Vikrit up on his mage hand and he can see some of the other islands. They have some kind of stone structures on them; the largest are on the island to the northwest, where there is an enormous tree. Vikrit doesn't recognize it as anything that grows on Khorvaire.
 * Meanwhile, Mogen starts spider climbing underneath the island. She fails a Will save and starts to fall off the island. It looks to everyone like she's falling in slow motion. She manages to catch onto the island with her grappling hook, and she ends up to the underside of the island. She yells that gravity isn't working properly here, then her brain remembers the concept of gravity again, and she starts "falling" sideways. Vanesse reels her in.
 * Mogen pulls out the Geiger Counter; it goes off the charts and stops working. We cross the nearby bridge, where there are 2 giant Siberys dragonshards embedded in the ground, and 2 spaces for more. Mogen and Tork investigate the dragonshards. They notice that each pillar has a mechanism to activate it; the ones with crystals are depressed, and the ones without are not. There are a bunch of markings on there, very old and new.
 * Vikrit sees the elven woman in the nearby roofless stone building. A middle-aged human man dressed in monk robes emerges in front of her. Vesun greets them, introducing himself as "Navis" and says we're lost, and the human comes to the edge of the bridge. He sniffs Vesun and pokes him in the face, then seems convinced Vesun is real. He says "lost" doesn't even describe it, says his name is Osiris, and Mogen asks if he's trying to leave. He mentions Fiona, the elven woman. Vikrit, hanging back, asks where he's from, and he says a monastery in the Brelish Highlands. He says he has to talk to "The Father" and Mogen asks what year he came here, which was mid-war, 62 years ago. We tell him what year we got here, and he looks shellshocked and drops his staff, but Tork's mage hand grabs it before it falls over the edge.
 * Vesun puts his hand on Osiris's shoulder and Mogen pressures him to ask whether he tried jumping off the edge. He freaks out and yells at us to wait while he talks to The Father. There are flocks of arrowhawks nearby. Vesun notes that we "have a basic empathy problem".
 * "Did you talk to The Sire?" "Huh?" "Daddy." "Oh, don't tell him about Cyre…"
 * Osiris comes back and tells us The Father won't see us. With some more questioning, he tells us there have been gaps of hundreds of years since people joined, but then says the Father wants to see if we can survive the night, then will speak to us. We ask about the sun; it appears just above us. Eventually, it's just gone and it's night time. There is no twilight. He emphasizes that we need shelter overnight.
 * Mogen asks about moving to the other islands, and he says if you change the way you can think, you can get to them. He says 'The Giving Tree' is on the western island, and that's what gives them food and water. We talk about hunting the arrowhawks and he says he doesn't have a bow; Mogen offers him a wire. Vikrit asks what happened to his friends, and he says he watched them get blown off the island. Mogen adds, "Oh, I thought you were going to end it there at 'blown' and he gets mad; she restrings his bow for him and he says, "it's not just the wind. You've got to watch out for the creatures too. Don't let your guard down until it's day again."
 * He herds us back across the bridge.
 * We discuss the plan, and Tork suggests staying where the portal should be in case it triggers. Mogen decides to try to get to the Giving Tree island. Vikrit insists that Sarienne tie a rope around Mogen in case she falls, and she mentally convinces herself that she's able to get across. She makes her save and falls sideways. She tells Vanesse to let go; she raises her hands to yell out and lets go suddenly. Vikrit grabs onto the rope and is yanked with Mogen towards the island, but fails his save and sends the two of them spiraling toward the island. Tork jumps up and angles himself to "fall" onto the other island and it works. Tork lands well on the island, and Vikrit and Mogen tumble to a halt.
 * Vanesse tries throwing a rock off the edge and it behaves normally. Vesun tries thinking about reversing up and down, and it is deeply uncomfortable but he keeps it together. Sarienne imagines the world tilting away from her, and she skids across toward the edge and "sleds" to the other island. Vanesse attempts the same but falls on her butt. Vesun guides her to pretend she's climbing and it works. Everyone lands okay except for Vanesse, who lands headfirst.
 * On the island, we see the tree; we also see larger ruined buildings and some sort of altar to the west. Vikrit asks the tree for some food; it doesn't respond. Sarienne, Vanesse, and Mogen check out the ruins, and they can tell the architecture is ancient (Age of the Giants or earlier). Sarienne finds an area that would be helpful to use for shelter. Tork and Vesun look at the ritual altar, and they can tell it's for sacrificing things by burning. Tork smells cardamom, and remembers a book about summoning genies. They are native to elemental planes (usually air), they're frequently reluctantly in contracts of servitude but cannot betray their masters, and they only appear in stories.
 * Vesun calls Vikrit over to look at tracks around the altar; he sees relatively recent ones but can't tell whose they were. Tork detects magic. It's strongest around the altar. Sarienne looks it over and there's a spot that's been worn away from being rubbed a lot. Vesun calls Vanesse over to try rubbing it, but nothing happens. She offers to cut down the tree when Vikrit mentions it and is rebuffed. Vikrit tries climbing the tree, and can see tomblike buildings on the "west" island.
 * Vanesse decides to go to the western island. She tries the same climbing motion and falls toward it, landing awkwardly again. She sees the tombs and steps that go downward into darkness. As the rest of us (but Sarienne) prepare to follow her, we feel a chill and darkness suddenly falls. Sarienne goes back to her shelter. As we fall, Tork and Vesun manage to pull off light spells on themselves (and high five mid-air). Vikrit casts Darkvision on himself and Light on his armor. Mogen takes Vesun's light-imbued potion and the two of them head off first; Vikrit goes the right direction, and Mogen apparently does not.
 * Back on the other island, Sarienne hears something following her. She loops around the island and it keeps following her. She can hear a faint hissing sound above her. Vikrit makes it back; he doesn't see Mogen… who hurtles into the Giving Tree. She smacks into the branches but is generally unharmed. On the other island, Tork aims for exactly between Vikrit and Mogen; Vesun follows Vikrit, trusting his sense of direction; Vanesse follows Vesun. Tork smacks into the wall of the ruins.
 * Sarienne notices the silhouette of a smoky, spectral creature materializing behind Tork.
 * Initiative!
 * The belker engulfs Tork and he accidentally breathes it in; he's wracked with pain. He coughs it out and tries casting Disrupt Ectoplasm but it doesn't do anything. Vikrit starts skittering up the wall toward Tork but can't make it to him; he panics and spits Blinding Spittle at the belker, but it doesn't have eyes so it does nothing. Sarienne dodges the spit missile and activates her Deathstrike gauntlets, slicing it "open" where it dissipates. Vanesse "flips a shit" and rages, slicing a huge gash into the creature. Mogen tries to slash it with her kukri but misses. Vesun smacks it to death with the cudgel and it dissipates.
 * The wind has been picking up, and some of us are knocked down. Vikrit and Vesun heal Tork. Vanesse rolls a 1 on identifying the belker, and she decides it's a deadly "airghost". Vesun directs her to spend her willpower on imagining the rest of them away. Our stomachs growl and Tork offers up his dwindling supply of salmon jerky. Mogen tries to make rock tea, and then she's unable to light a fire due to the wind.
 * Vesun suggests we do the next best thing and sleep. Vikrit and Tork keep watch while everyone else rests. The sun suddenly is overhead. Vikrit spots something flying above--it's the elven woman, Fiona, going toward the altar.
 * Mogen sees her rub the altar in a certain pattern, but knows she wasn't able to see something else Fiona did (and something is on the altar). After a moment, an enormous, horned wispy genie (20 feet tall) appears.