Glory Exultation

Separation and Planning

In consultation with Tollerath and the Amber Dragon, the Companions determine they must separate in order to achieve the next set of tasks. To bring the Holy Temple back into phase with the rest of Crescent, the spell must be taken apart in the crater of Mt. Daneasus, powered by divine energy, and guided by arcane channeling. Thus, someone must be in each of the 3 major locations: Mt. D, the Grand Concert Hall in Luminaux, and the Spellpool in the Jade Tower.

Jericho travels to Luminaux, accompanied by Phantos, where he auditions for, and secures, the lead vocal role for the Gloria. While "practicing", he studies the powerful protective runes in the Hall and systematically disables several of them. Baelwren is visibly disturbed by the necessary separation from Jericho but acknowledges its importance.

Tollerath travels to Mt. Daneasus in secret, preparing to coordinate the spell from there.

The rest of the party makes its way to the Jade Tower, needing to enter and secure it so that Baelwren (presumably) can access and utilize the Spellpool to channel the dismantling of the phase spell.

Approaching the Jade Tower

Little is known about the current status of the Jade Tower and its defenses. Legend holds that the archangel Yanseldra stands guarding the entrance, but no recent confirmation or reports are available. Regina is worried about the lack of information and voices concern that significant opposition, possibly led by Simone Delcius may control the tower.

When the party enters the forest surrounding the tower, they are immediately surrounded by a glittering faerie fire. Most of the party handles the situation calmly, but Regina is noticeably agitated and far more paranoid than usual. (Which is saying something...) Unfriendly rangers begin to be visible as the party penetrates deeper into the forest, signaling the Companions to depart. Baelwren responds by boosting her aura to "irradiate" and making direct eye contact with the rangers. When one approaches and verbally threatens the party if they do not withdraw, she attempts to parlay, but the ranger ignores her and rides away. Shortly thereafter, a group of rangers attacks, ignoring all attempts at discussion. The party prevails, discovering the rangers are the undead remnants of the last wardens left by the army of ORB after the tower's fall.

Yanseldra

The rest of the approach to the tower is uneventful. When the party comes within sight, they can see that the tower has no visible gates, doors, or windows. However, standing stoically in front of the tower is the archangel Yanseldra. She bears a look of resigned sadness and her visibly wounded left wing steadily drips blood onto the ground below.

The party approaches cautiously and finds Yanseldra to be resolute but non-threatening. She denies the party access to the tower, as her duty is to guard it. She says, "(quote about the terms of her compulsion--thank you Josh for posting here)". The Companions attempt to question her about how to fulfill those terms, but she is unable or unwilling to clarify. She declines to let the party spill their own blood in an attempt to free her, saying "I have seen enough pain." When Nigel cuts himself anyway, she merely winces. Turning to him, she prompts, "Consider why you are here..."

The Companions withdraw a respectful distance to discuss their options. When that debate begins to solidify around the unpleasant possibility that the Companions must attack and slay Yanseldra, it is surprisingly Regina who casts an augury using a gold coin. The near-instant response is woe, indicating that such a course would be a very, VERY bad idea. {Mechanics note: Josh later revealed that Yanseldra's Challenge Rating was around 20...} Upon further consideration, Nigel concludes that when the paladin order fought and slew the heavenly host, it represented a betrayal that binds Yanseldra, the sole survivor, to this place.

Knowing his family's long history of paladinhood, Nigel approaches Yanseldra and learns that it was in fact his own grandfather who wounded her. Bending to a knee, he humbly apologizes for his grandfather's actions and, by extension, the betrayal by the entire order. He requests her forgiveness. Yanseldra silently extends her wounded wing towards him, and Nigel lays hands upon her, healing the wound. Eyes closed, she lets out a supernatural sigh of relief, then springs straight up into the air, her wings snapping open loudly, and flies upwards until lost in the sun. A single feather drifts down through the still air until caught by a misty-eyed Nigel.

The Jade Tower

Approaching the tower, which Regina has been diligently searching for traps, Baelwren notices depression in the wall of alternating circles and triangles. At its nadir lays a slot sized and shaped exactly like the holy symbol of Mehana, Goddess of Magic. When Baelwren presses her pendant into the slot, a door appears and opens into the main hall of the tower.

The tower turns out to be deserted, although there is a distinct lack of dust or other signs of age. The main hall contains portraits of prominent figures among the history and hierarchy of arcana. Most rooms have self-evident purposes, with a separate training room apparently devoted to each school of magic, except necromancy. There is a teleportation chamber with permanent circles devoted to major locations throughout Crescent; of note, a circle devoted to Windy Point has been destroyed.

In the uppermost room sat the Spellpool, roughly half-full of liquefied mana. A slender green beam stretches up out the ceiling from the pool. The beam is conscious and speaks in the persona of Segilus the Blind; it is a manifestation of the phasing spell that holds the Holy Temple in extradimensional space. Shortly after greeting the Companions, the beam emanated a green pulse that passed through the party, seemingly harmlessly. (Regina reflexively dodged the pulse.) For most of the early conversation, "Segilus" did not acknowledge or respond to Nigel. However, when his presence was mentioned, the beam briefly turned blue and Segilus greeted the paladin.

Segilus explained that to utilize the Spellpool required joining with it, which required permanently sacrificing a known spell. The main power the Companions needed to utilize was channeling the dismantling of the phase spell. One of the other powers the Companions would need to utilize was the ability to scry on nearly any location. Segilus indicated that with significant study and training, a mage could tap the Spellpool from any location and cast any spell that had been sacrificed into it. While it was theoretically possible for one user to channel the spell while scrying on Jericho and Tollerath (to precisely coordinate timing), doing so would likely be prohibitively taxing. Segilus indicated that his prescience had indicated 2 users during the actual dismantling of the spell.

Paranoid as ever, Regina worried that the tower would be attacked during the ritual. After "trapping the hell out of" the main entry hall and the teleportation chamber, she offered to serve as the second Spellpool user in order to allow the more able fighters to remain free for defense. Baelwren quietly indicated distrust and aversion to relying on Regina in that role, and Kimo agreed to be the secondary user. Regina remained as a back-up user.