The Ashen Company now find themselves inside of a tower, but inverted so that they must descend 1000 ft to reach its apex. The only way down is by navigating a jagged, spiraling path of bones that protrude from the walls. OH and thousands of creepy disembodied heads adorn the walls on all sides, all the way down. They're not sleeping either - these faces are animated and all of them have their eyes on us. Standing at the precipice, we can see a large green pool 1000 ft down. A stone door is visible in the centre of it. That must be where we need to go. The atmosphere in here sends another oppressive chill through the bodies of everyone except Null, who continues to find it pretty balmy for some reason. Lotty suffers a point of exhaustion, but soon rectifies it by reaching into her growing stash of Greater Restoration scrolls. Null has the sudden confidence that fate is on her side and that they should simply jump to the bottom. She convinces her friends to follow her and they all execute superhero landings on top of the door, taking no damage. So weird - she will never be able do that again.
Now that they're close enough to study the door, they can discern 8 different seals carved into it. These seals are in a vaguely draconic language none of them know, but Flynn is able to read them thanks to Eyes of the Runekeeper: Protection, Summoning, Foresight, Influence, Power, Shadows, Death, Change. As Flynn reads aloud, we start to think about what we might be supposed to do. The words seem to align with schools of magic. Flynn casts Ray of Sickness at the death seal, but it does nothing. The heads cackle around us, but Flynn is able to spot a few heads that remain silently staring in our direction. The closest one is around 50 ft away, up the spiraling bone path. I suppose there is a chance we missed some important context by clipping to the end of the level.
Berrik climbs up to the nearest head: it's a female wizard of elven ancestry with eyes that shift in appearance. The seal for "Change" is visible in a pendant on her neck. She speaks, but Berrik can't understand her. He rips a page out of Ezra's spellbook and casts Tongues on himself. The head and Berrik establish that they can understand each other, and the head mentions that people usually start at the top. Berrik asks for the head's help in navigating the level, but the head demands that Berrik demonstrate his ability before they move forward. Berrik uses a scroll of Polymorph to temporarily change into a giant owl. The head sighs condescendingly accepts this, but still makes it clear that she is unimpressed.
"She" introduces herself as Aira and tells Berrik how this is gonna work. She and 7 other magisters from the Aeonian Dominion (and definitely not the Tevinter Imperium) are scattered throughout the tower. Each one bears a seal that is linked to one of the seals on the door. To get the door open each seal will have to be suppressed by one of the body-less magisters. Every magister will first require a demonstration of power from the relevant school of magic. Next, they will issue a specific, costly challenge. If the Ashen Company cannot meet the challenge, they can alternatively break the seal on the magister's pendant. If they meet the specific challenge or free the associated magister, the seal on the door will be nullified and they will be one step closer to leaving. Aira then issues her challenge: She wants a whole bunch of very rare magical ore from another dimension (or something like that - I didn't catch this one). Berrik can't really afford that and so opts to free the definitely not evil magister. As he speaks the necessary words he feels a force take over his body and then nothing at all - Our boy has failed a CHA save. As Berrik opens his eyes, he can see his own body standing before him. Our poor wizard has been possessed by Aira, and now finds his consciousness trapped in the wall like she was. He watches his own body bid him adieu and turn to turn to leave. Below, Flynn notices that Berrik's face is now the one in the wall and sounds the alarm. The Ashen Company converges, realizes what's happened, and attempts to keep the wandering magister from leaving with Berrik's body. We roll initiative!
Flynn starts blasting. Null starts stabbing and yapping, trying to get the magister to leave her friend's body. Aira starts to feel a little threatened and casts Time Stop to put some distance between them. Wall!Berrik winces at the use of his 9th level slot. After Time Stop resolves, the Ashen Company can see that they need to change up their strategy. Flynn knows exactly what to do: light that bitch up. He uses Eldritch Blast to pull the wayward magister piloting Berrik's body over the edge of the jutting bone spiral, where it tumbles a few dozen feet and into the green goo below. Null rushes back down to ground level, where she decides not to rush into the goo after Berrik's body. Instead, she dances threateningly while shouting at the green pool "I'm not afraid to kill this body! Get back into the wall or find oblivion in the Soul Turbine". The magister wordlessly obliges and Berrik is suddenly fighting for air in the pool. Whatever is up with the pool causes him to have to make saving throws for each of his magical effects. He only loses Waterbreathing, which ain't bad. The gang recovers and debriefs. They figure if there are 7 more of these to do, they might be better off starting at the top.
After heading back to the top through a variety of means (Lotty Spiderclimbs, Null parkours, etc.), we start the worst receiving line in history, greeting the undead wall decor and doing our best to not get possessed again. I say we, but it's really Berrik - there's still a language barrier and we need Tongues in order to communicate, so he's doing all the heavy lifting.
First: Heavily armoured elf guyPROTECTION (Abjuration)
Vibe: Bored Receptionist.
Demonstration and Challenge: Berrik casts Globe of Invulnerability. Berrik supplies a scroll of Globe of Invulnerability.
Second: Eccentric-looking guy, Morwin Embercloak
SUMMONING (Conjuration)
Vibe: Helpful concierge for a 3.5 star hotel.
Demonstration and Challenge: Flynn casts Dimension Door. Lotty offers up the Mirrored Ball of Brag'inir.
Misc: Morwin gives us "How to Win Friends and Influence People" and lets us know about a lever halfway down that will make it easier to get around.
Third: Older Elvish woman.
FORESIGHT (Divination)
Vibe: Ominous microaggressions.
Demonstration and Challenge: Flynn casts Arcane Eye. Berrik summons Kel to tell him rare and powerful lore, which he then relays to the magister "Rumor has it in the depths of deep space is an all powerful entity that looks like a massive floating Golden Eye. They are called the One Who Watches. The One Who Watches seems to have a deep relationship with the Eternal. The nature of their relationship is unknown."
Misc: No time to unpack this new lore! Also, is Berrik's dream a vision of how this all ends? Spooky granny seemed to imply this.
~At this point we pass the lever, which when pulled turns the bony OSHA violation into a spiral stone staircase with gilded railings.~
Fourth: Hot, middle-aged Elvish woman wearing lots of jewelry.
INFLUENCE (Enchantment)
Vibe: Newly divorced and DTF.
Demonstration and Challenge: Flynn casts Charm Monster. Flynn gives up the Hypnotic Monocle.
Misc: Flynn does seduction and he's really good at it. He and this dame have electric chemistry, despite the fact that they can only communicate via a mortified Berrik. She tries to convince him to let her occupy one of his friends' bodies so they can bone, but that's too weird and bad. He tries to let her down easy and we depart.
Fifth: Beefy, bald elf with face tatts that has crackling magical energy around him.
POWER (Evocation)
Vibe: PCP Tyler Durden
Demonstration and Challenge: Lotty casts Resilient Sphere. The gang collabs to deal 50 points of elemental damage per type (Null Cold damage with dagger, Flynn Fire and Lightning with cantrips, Lotty Thunder with elemental weapon on handaxe, Berrik Acid with Dragon Breath, Berrik Poison with Cloudkill).
Misc: Just no.
Okay, two more to go! We'll tackle Death and Shadows next week.
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Soul Turbine Tower levels:
Entry - Aspect of Azrael
Necro fruit- Rune scarred cultists
Clockwork - Lich & death knights
Graveyard - Rune scarred banshees (Hi Eleanor!)
Lava - Rune scarred balor
Ice tundra - frigid cold
Swamp - Rune scarred basilisks
Snow farm - Rune scarred zombie giants
Classroom - Alistair's riddles (+book on Soul Transference)
Underwater - Kraken
Wall - Spikes of agony
Ashen Company Villa - duplicates
Sands - Silas
Azher's tower entrance (Astral Plane?)
Inverted Tower ft. Magister Peanut Gallery