====== Cube 2: Hyper-Wizard-Cube ====== ===== Initial Brief ===== As anyone in the know will be aware the College of the Stars is currently embroiled in a class action suit brought by the merchant guilds who once owned warehouses in the district now occupied by a vast jade cube that occasionally exudes unfathomable horrors. In its defense the College has fallen back on the 'Quirk' defense that it cannot be held liable for the actions of rogue wizards. However, in a partial admission of liability it has put out a call for adventures to help remedy the problem. Interested, reliable and responsible candidates are asked to present themselves to Prof. Black at the College three days hence. ===== PCs ===== * [[user:matthewa:pc:harlon_quirk|Harlon Quirk]] * [[user:joew:pc:glassinger|Glassinger]] ===== Debrief ===== Somehow Professor Black, once rescued from a mindswap with a rat, succeeds in hiring Acryn's most potent Archmagus along with one of the most recent additions to the arcane craft to resolve the problem of Vulstragorn's cube. Heading to the slums the pair find the cube is having an odd effect on locals, with two warring cults having formed: the Neocubists and the Eagalatarians. Siding with the Eagalatarians the party are taken into the great jade cube to meet the 'Entropic Eagle' one of two dichotomous powers that seem to rule over the jade reality. It demands the party give it dominion over this universe by destroying its foe, the 'Master Cube'. The party lie and agree to help. After some magical investigation they realise that the jade reality is infected with the influence of a dragon and that the cube and eagle are the aspects of order and chaos created by Vulstragorn's schismed mind in an effort to fend off the dragon's influence. They head off to find the source of the infection. In the green wastelands between the realms of the cube and eagle they find a brief respite in a campsite set up by the enigmatic old gypsy that Logan has met once before. How his caravan got here is a complete mystery. Logan spends some time trading tales with the inhabitants of the caravan and learns an interesting story about the first Mage, who was tempted down a dark path by a jealous admirer and in so doing slew his beloved and fell into corruption. The story has a strange resonance for Logan and he has suspicions about the sorcerer it speaks of. Meanwhile, Glassinger follows the wizard-dog and discovers the ruins of Vulstragorn's old laboratory. Therein he finds a mysterious crystal orb that Vulstragorn must have bound with powerful magics long ago. Glassinger breaks the wards and gazes into the sphere and into the eye of the dragon that looks through it. He resists not at all as the malevolent will of the dragon pours through him and makes him its vessel. Tracing the source of the Draconic infection the pair discover the jade dragon construct that Rowan Darrish once transferred his arcane curse to. Refusing its temptations, and request for them to help complete its takeover of the jade reality, the party destroy it and rescue a fraction of Vulstragorn's mind. With this in hand the party head to the orderly domain of the Master Cube. After proving their reasonable and logical intent they come before it and promptly bring chaos unto order by smashing it up, but not before learning how to destroy the Entropic Eagle. With a second shard of Vulstragorn's mind in their possession they once more confront the chaotic raptor and destroy it too...though not before Glassinger accepts its feathery blessing. With the three shards of the legendary Archmage's mind in hand Harlon uses a unification ritual to repair them. The jade reality is reborn as Vulstragorn once more takes control of the realm he created. Frankly he's quite pleased the whole experience is over and is very grateful to the party. In return for their aid he bestows on Logan his greatest secret, that of merging one's soul with a self-contained reality, while he gives Glassinger his old duelling mask from his adventuring days. He asks them to return him to the college and helpfully shrinks once more so they can do so. They are returned to Acryn to find themselves in a flattened urban wasteland that until recently was under the giant cube, which is now once more a small jade puzzle-box. Professor Black is most grateful and pays the party for their efforts and introduces Logan to the principal of college who gives him a minor lectureship in scribing magic. Glassinger meanwhile meditates on the dragon's eye and in return for his service is taught the first 'syllable' of a great spell, one fragment of which, his new master assures him, is known by each of the Dragon's. Perhaps this is the legendary Song of Ruin his family have searched for for generations. Certainly when he speaks it at the facade of the temple of the builder it unleashes calamitous ruin and it is only with Vulstragorn's malfunctioning pair of dubiously useful 'Seven League Boots' that he is able to flee the city watch. At the celebratory dinner at the College of the Stars the party see that Vulstragorn's chair has his sigil carved on it: an eagle perched on a cube. Suddenly everything makes sense. In the city: there is now a large area of empty land near the docks. Its ripe for redevelopment. The Watch are on the lookout for a terrorist responsible for smashing every stained glass window, and the great clock, in the temple of the builder. ====Snackies and Wibble==== ===Logan=== * Knowledge of Vulstragorn's arcane technique to infuse a soul with enough power to fill and merge with a self-contained reality. It requires truly vast amounts of arcane energy to affect the change, Vulstragorn himself only just pulled it off and it seems his transformation was imperfect, requiring the existence of an anchor to the world: the green puzzle-box...Harlon might be able to do better. Harlon surmises the process is somewhat like the infusing of power into his soul that made him a primal, but on a scale that allows the soul to fill an entire dimension, which explains the seemingly godlike ability Vulstragorn possesses in his realm. * A map from the primal Rose showing him where he can find the story he was looking for. * Lectureship at the college, and some bright-eyed apprentices to go with it. If he wants to purchase a training school type resource he gets a 50 riel discount. * A magisterium Mage ally trying to better himself through noble application of 'Suffering magic'. * 5 mana crystals *One experimental 'Rejuvenation potion, when drunk it provides a heal full by sucking in all living matter around the drinker. This is liable to result to abominations that should not be. ===Glassinger=== * Has become a vessel for the power of Carlaeon and can take the Arcane Curse epic tree. However, having willing given himself over to the dominion of the Dragon his use of magic is highly vulnerable to manipulation from the entity. Rituals in particular will have a habit of being twisted by the Dragon's designs. * His dark master has taught him the first part of some terrible incantation. It acts like a spell and requires mana to cast but can only be uttered once per adventure. When spoken it unleashes an infectious destruction that breaks all fragile things in the area. Mechanically it allows him to call a Mass Shatter, but he is also affected by the call and takes an unresistable Rend when the word is spoken. * Vulstragorn's Duelling Mask: allows the wearer to see the world with the 'Faults unveiled' spell always up. This has the unfortunate side effect of gradually driving the wearer insane, slowly and insidiously (unbeknown to the wearer their hits in psychic combat type situations will be halved) . It's probably why Vulstragorn stopped using it. Annoyingly it takes some time to 'warm up' when put on, and its effect only begins the encounter after it is donned, if it's taken off for even a moment the 'warm up' resets. * Vulstragorn's Malfunctioning Seven League Boots (repaired): a set of elegant leather boots that allow the user to stride leagues with a step. Unfortunately they in no way adapt the body to this and so the step tears the wearer in half. Thankfully Logan's efforts ensure that at the completion of the step the halves of the body are united once more. Mechanically, twice per adventure, the wearer may step to anywhere in the patch of consensus they occupy. However, the tearing means they are helpless (effectively bleeding out) for two minutes while taking the step. * The Dragon's Eye: an evil crystal ball that let's you gaze into the void. Invariably it gazes back. * Covered in brittle jade feathers, a blessing from the Entropic Eagle. Once per adventure he can resist a mind affecting call. *One experimental 'Rejuvenation potion, when drunk it provides a heal full by sucking in all living matter around the drinker. This is liable to result to abominations that should not be. {{tag>"cube2" "vulstragorns cube" adventure harlon_quirk Glassinger}}