02 - 08.20.2023 - Timberfall 3: The Pipeline

Last Session

Time loop 2 ended where I fire balled everyone
Time loop 3 started where I'm exploring

Timberfall

Relevant Characters: картошка | Silvanus | The Mage

Loop the Third Part 2

Mechanic's pockets:
- A sandwich that's not moldy
  - "Have fun at work daddy <3"
  - I take the sandwich and eat it
- A wallet
  - Weird looking coins haven't seen before
  - "Authorization of work and passage"
    - The bearer of this Card is Authorized to perform activities related to or consisting of the maintenance and continued operation of the Eternal Rose Project, as granted by the authority and benevolence of The Mage.
- Tools of unknown types
- Notepad:
  - Operational Inspection 3
  - Energy levels normal
  - Pressure gauges normal (buncha numbers)
  - Pipeline in unknown condition. Identified one area with potentially compromised structural integrity, almost resembling stretch marks. Further inspection needed.
- ID Card (seems fake)
  - Currently: have a holographic portrait
  - Here it's just a regular painting, the layout is all off, fields you would expect
  - Thornton Desmond Jr. (it's a weird name)
  - Race: "Non-elf"
  - Birthday: 117 years ago but he looks 40 years old
Where the pipe ends, there's a 20 feet of pipe that seems pretty stretched, at the end of the pipe it looks like someone pulled it apart
The tree is bright crimson red
I walk back towards the tree on the pipe
- Pipe & tree connected smooth-ish
- Drilled into the tree
- I'm now under the tree
On your right: see very strange looking forest, looks corrupted, all the trees are slightly the wrong shape (uncanny valley but tree) and wrong color
Past the forest I see a frozen creek
- Part between forest / creek and pipe is barren, some stumps, there's basically nothing, machine cleared
Fence between me being on pipe and connection to tree
- Entrance to 13th sector prohibited to nearly anyone*
Walk towards edge of creek through forest
- Air is hella cold
- It's much quieter here than anywhere else, elsewhere there's a passive background noise of crickets / birds etc.
- Here there is no life, dead silent
- You notice several areas here with piles of animal corpses, there's a tree under which there are 5 squirrels, recently deceased, another area with birds
  - Dunno how they died, there aren't any noticeable injuries on them
  - Their eyes are open
I stab a tree
- where I hit it it just crumbles, very flimsy
I stab a squirrel corpse
- a little bit of red lightning goes towards the tree, no flash
I chop a tree down
- One spark of red flies towards the tree
The stumps are "normal" just machine cleared
Walk towards the edge of the island sort of on the outside of the forest
Can see next sector
- See dilapidated buildings, another slums area similar to last one I saw
- There's a shitty looking fence between creek and slums
- This area is relatively less policed
The creek has been chopped off
- 3 cm at the very very very edge which seem a little more melted than the rest
- There's some dead fish frozen in
The Slums 2
- Walk up to fence
- 11:45 am
- I hear wailing, a distressed sounding crowd, source of distress unknown
- They are on the other side of slums (but still in the slums just closer to the fence)
I hop the fence
A group of roughly 20 ppl in ragged clothes, they are tied up and all tied together in a line and being escorted at sword / wand point by a bajillion guards towards the tree
- I hear a bunch of distressed sounds, "we haven't done anything" "please let us go"
- I climb a building to try to see where the ppl are going
- See a few ppl are being ushered through the barrier to the 13th sector
- A very ominous shrieking noise emits from the tree, the tree is shrieking
I jump along buildings towards tree
- I land somewhat okay
- Kartoshka rolls a nat 1 on stealth and a loud thud lands on the roof
1 guard hears over the shrieking and begins sprinting towards the building
Kartoshka uses Shape Water to blind him with water
- I drop on the guard to slam him into the ground and knife around his neck
- I hear some thunderous footsteps coming towards me
Kartoshka rolls off the roof, grabs me, dimension doors me across the slums (Kartoshka gets a nat 20 let's go)
- Standard, root + wall above it
I am now closer to the procession, recognize a few ppl from the crowd at the execution
- The tree is wailing and the light being emitted from the tree is glowing less intensely
- Group of exclusively poor ppl from the slums
I will dash towards the tree, rolled initiative
- Groups:
  - 1: 1 guard ambushed + 2: 1 guard running towards him
  - 3, 4: 2 guards running towards him
  - 7, 8: 2 guards at back of procession
  - 5, 6: 2 guards at front of procession
Roughly 11:55

Wee we are Running Combat

1 and 2 run and get up
I ethereal step towards the procession and Kartoshka runs towards the edge of the island
- He's out of render distance cause I can only see 60 ft. outwards
7 and 8: GO GO OR YOU DIE NOW
- Shove ppl, some ppl fall and they are getting dragged
5 and 6: Begin grabbing people and just pulling them
3 and 4: Keep running
1 and 2: Out of my render distance
I keep running
7 and 8: Someone who fell got his arm chopped off and stabbed him, and see black and white lightning go towards the tree
5 and 6: They keep dragging
3 and 4: Out
1 and 2: Out of render
I end up literally right on the other side of the fence
- A little further, a tunnel going straight underneath the tree (can't see into it)
- I do see a guard moving into the tunnel, he's escorting a group of ppl
- There are no guards on my side of the fence but there's literally guards on the other side
- I ready action to scorching ray him with the nail polish if he seems me and does smth about it
I walk into the tunnel and Hide
- The entrance is well lit, and the tunnel opens up into an area with the walls covered in roots which are glowing a dim red (same color as tree)
- Not man-made tunnel, but network of roots
- It stops becoming dim as I walk in
Ppl in procession ahead of me are being dragged along, nothing is happening to them yet

Walking thru Tunnel

I keep walking 30 ft. behind procession
I hear footsteps towards the tunnel from behind me, the second procession is entering
I see that there are now tunnels branching out, I continue walking towards core
Guards at front of procession from behind me spot me, so I start running towards the center
The tunnel I'm going through is not 10 ft. wide, I disengage and keep running
I bind 2 guards on the left (one at the back and front of procession), and I dash past them (-6 hp from blood curse)
I see an Atrium, on the ground, on one side, there is a pile of cow and sheep and animal corpses, they've been messily butchered
On the left side I see the same thing except it's humans
The roots on the walls are glowing more brightly
Center: There's literally just one guard with an absolutely monstrously bloodied sword (this is the bloodiest of a sword you've ever seen)
Haven't reached center, above me is a super thick root with some moss hanging off of it
Through the atrium, I see a pipe and a very bright crimson light
Guard runs towards me, attacks, -10 hp, as he slices, I feel a distinct shock as the blade passes through you, I see the blood on the sword emitting small little zaps of red lightning and take -1 dmg
I bind him and keep dashing (-8 dmg from blood curse)
I make it halfway into the tunnel which takes me almost right under the tree
The walls have a gradient of brightness growing brighter
The roots become more chaotic and violent, some of them are spiky, others are twisted in nonstandard ways, the terrain becomes difficult, vines hanging down, thorns everywhere
The other guy runs towards me, is 10 ft away
I keep dashing, -8 dmg from opportunity attack (60/92 hp)
Reached central area
On one side I see the massive pipe on the left ish curving directly upwards and going straight up, covered in vines and roots curling around it as if they're trying to get in
Other roots going straight up the tree
Tree is covered in brightly radiating foliage, crimson red
In the center, I see a wood elf with bright red hair, The Mage, he is strung up by both his arms, his arms are in the roots, his hair is pulsing in sync with the walls
As he sees you, the walls begin shaking
Neutral to psychic damage, weak to fire damage, resistant to necrotic and lightning damage, neutral to acid, depending on circumstances may or may not be weak to radiant damage

Combat with The Mage

I start flame rite and deal damage
"You know not what you temper with, you will cause your death and all of ours, do not disturb the rose"
- I am impaled on all sides by roots
- Siphon life force from me
- Everything in room pulses bright red
I scorching ray him, 17 dmg
He screeches, and the tree screeches with him
- Voice emits from within him and from the tree
"You fool, your contribution will be appreciated"
The roots below me throw me up into the ceiling where there are thorns
Now I'm falling, I grab him and I'm hanging off of him
- I feel an imminent feeling of devastation, I feel like I'm running out of time
- Both of us are feeling this
- The tree's bright red pulses which was previously once every 6 seconds and is now once p/second
All of the walls instead of pulsing red they emit a blinding flash of white light, and now I'm at 30 hp
He seems less tattered then he was a second ago
I attempt to cut off his arm
- 12 damage
- His arm is now hanging off, chopped about halfway through, very grotesque
All of a sudden, my life force is being drained, he is in agony, as this happens, both take -12 necrotic damage
That's his turn
I slice through his wrist, his arm flops down, the root forcibly spit out the hand, I see a small amount of lightning going into the root, -14 damage
- His hand was slightly charred
Andrew rolled another initiative
It is now the root 1 (with the hand shaped hole's) turn
- It slithers downwards and attempts to grab my hand
- "Nah too slow get juked"
- The root 1 fails
The Mage: attempts to get roots to pierce me, but half the roots don't move, he pierces himself as he pierces me, we both take 8 dmg
My turn: returned to 18 hp, The mage's hand has grown back but it's not in the tree root thingy
- I make it halfway through his other wrist by slashing it -10 dmg
The Root 1: attempts to grab the elf's other hand
- I jam my weapon into the hand shaped hole of the root
- The metal of my blade becomes instantly electrocuted, I feel a very faint vision of the clock, currently says 11:59.12
- Feel the tree's hunger
- Feel the tree is dying, it can't keep going, it needs energy now
The Mage: uses his free hand to grab me to try to get me to let go of him
- I am now sliding down
My turn: Slice through his wrist, other root spits out his hand, he falls, I am still holding onto sword in root, will begin falling at start of next turn
- 15 dmg
The Root (one with sword in it) 1: Swings me towards the other root, I hold on
The root 2: Frantically tries to grab my hand, I dodge it
The Mage: breaks off one of the branches on the ground and slam it on the ground and use it as a staff, he dimension doors onto me and is now on my back
11:59.24
The mage's other hand grows back
My Turn: I fall on my back, and the mage is below me, as I'm getting up, I see the roots are menacingly approaching me, I curse of binding him and run away towards the pipe
The Roots: simultaneously attempt to grab both my hands, I dodge
The Mage: gets up, a little staggered, takes his staff and snaps it over his knee, creates a ball of lightning in the center of where he snapped it, and kamehameha's it towards me, it hits the pipe but makes the roots larger but also hole larger
11:59.30
The walls begin doing a massive shake, I hang on to the pipe as the walls begin shaking me off, I hear the clock begin striking (so the 12th strike is when it hits 12)
- Too chaotic for any actions
- Your time is up
- The eternal rose is
- Deafening crash as branch falls off the rose
- Lightning shooting everywhere
- The tree is violent, hungry, and dying
- The rose catches fire at 12