Meeting Zilch at the Spire

Zilch passes his gaze over the obelisk, poring over the archaic carvings, reminiscent of mobius, yet markedly different. Sensing a disturbance in the necrotic field he's acclimated to, he calls out: "The Dolgrim know better than to approach here. It's been some time since I've had guests, but it's best you leave and forget what you've seen here."

Ida strides forward a few steps trying her best to look authoritative as she calls out to the man as best she can, though her voice is muffled slightly through her mask. "What are you doing here? We've been sent to see why the Blight is spreading, do you have anything to with it?"

Stavroula advances on slow, careful hooves, walking in stride with Ida. She has her mace and shield readied in each hand, low to her sides as if she wasn't prepared to attack immediately.

Uusi speaks softly to Tabitha. "It is my inclination that this figure is the man you have seen walking abound the Blight recently, his meddling with this Oblesik does not bode well, and..." She trails off.

Zilch turns his head to take in the picture of the intrepid band of travelers who have wandered into his domain, overshooting at first before adjusting for height, "It would be more apt for me to ask the same of you. What business do you have here in my realm, where all life goes to perish? Surely you don't intend to move in?"

Uusi picks up her body, wiggling her shoulders and standing up straight. "This fiend means ill to our world, we cannot let his meddling continue! A vile creature born from the depths, fancying himself as the bringer of the end. Nay! I say! Mine brethren trust in me to lay you low foul hellion! For I am Uusi, Mantle and Grand Archwizard of the Furtive Moon!" She steps forward and her hands begin to glow as she prepares an acid arrow, eyes set upon their foe.

Stinky steps forward again as if she wants to speak, but her head snaps to Uusi as the wizard passionately invokes the spell. The purple-hued lighting licks her black suit and gleams off the glass eye-lenses. Beneath them her comrades can see her expression grow concerned and despondent as the situation slips from her grasp.

Ida speaks. "Whatever is happening here is hurting Fimvale. Lord Habbsberry sent us here to stop it, and if you have anything to do with it, we will stop you too."

Zilch narrows his eyes at the reptilian mage and scoffs, "Has the Blight addled you after all? I'm afraid you're out of your element. I'd think twice about your next move. I'm willing to humor your questions, but bugs that bite still get squashed."

Uusi stands her ground firm, eyes focused. "Do as you must but I will be standing ready, for I cannot lend credence to him." She relays to her comrades.

At that, Stinky springs forward on limber hooves, landing softly a few paces in front of both Ida and Uusi, placing herself between them and the man unknown to them. She stands essorant, arms outspread and counterbalanced with shield in one hand and mace in the other. "Wuh-wait! We don't want to fight you if there's another way! All we're doing is trying to understand what's going on here!"

Zilch notices the ram's robes and something about his disposition seems to lighten despite the spell currently aimed at him, "Ah, so there is one with sense among you after all. Please convince your companions to turn back. If this... Habbsberry cares for his people he'll have them migrate further northwest. Not even I can stop her at this point. It would be wrong of me to if I could. Life finds a way, but not here."

For the first time since entering the area, Stinky peels her eyes away from the primordian and gazes up at the obelisk, ruminating on his words. "Who is ... 'her'?"

Uusi scoffs. "You are not the one who would call himself the Ouroboros? If nay, surely you must have ties."

Zilch grins uncharacteristically bashful in response to the cleric's question, like a schoolboy teased about a crush. "I suppose you could call her my queen at this point, and I am her chosen champion. And, I have never heard that name in my life."

Uusi jolts slight, the light from her hands flicker "A curious assertation! For one who is meddling with a Obelisk of Shrouds! Speak your part, and I will listen further."

Stinky has been standing in the light of the crystal, considering. She finally sheathes her shield and weapon, fiddling with the leather straps for a few moments to mount it cross-body and on her back. She closes the rest of the distance between her and the man, leaving behind her comrades as she enters a comfortable conversation range with him at last. "I-uh-you're just very-" she stammers, unsure how to proceed. "Very, um, for.. formid... scary. I forgot to introduce myself, I am Stavroula, or you can call me Stinky."

"Obelisk of... shrouds. Would you happen to know something about this structure and the power I feel pulsating... coursing through it?" Zilch addresses Uusi and has all but forgotten the satyr in his intrigue.

Uusi is wavering in her resolve, "I- uh- you do not know that which you are studying? Mayhaps it has been my folly, though thine's claim to this being 'your realm' would lead me to expect otherwise. However, as to your question, I am educated in these Obeli, though this one is different from the others I have become acquainted with."

Stinky reads the inscription aloud: "'This is a... place of honor... touched by The Truth'." She struggles where some characters have been faded on the edges. She sounds out 'the truth' more confidently than the other words, as if she'd seen this lettering hundreds and hundreds of times before. Now she seems equally as transfixed by the monolith, gaze fixed up at it. 

Zilch shifts his attention to the diminutive ram with express interest upon hearing her voice ring out, "You can read this text? It would seem there's more to these guests than meets the eye."

"I can read infernal." Stinky breaks away from the inscription to look at him again and gestures to it with a thumb, "You can too, right?"

"This is my environment." Zilch explains, not answering the question. "A place where only I can thrive, beyond mere survival."

Then, Stinky seems to remember something and dashes off in the direction of her party. She unceremoniously stuffs her hands in Ida's pockets, rifling around for something. Her hand curls around the dream-seed and she withdraws it. The satyr holds up the seed for Zilch to see, although she appears reluctant to hand it over or hold herself too close where it could be snatched. "We think this might survive here, too. We came to plant it somewhere in the Blight."

Zilch contorts his face in utter revulsion and pinches his nose, "What is THAT? It smells... horrendous. You want to plant that... here?"

Ida freezes for a second at the blatant act of thievery before quickly running up to Stinky's side and addressing the primordian, "H-hey! Don't be rude! I got given that seed in a very important dream."

"Uh? Ah? Really?" Stinky holds it up to the respirator on her mask and inhales sharply.

"You received this foul artifact... in a dream?" Zilch continues. "Please return it from whence it came. Immediately."

"I don't smell anything..." Stinky reports, handing the seed back over to the gnome. She hushes her voice a bit and speaks as she returns it, "I think he's a bit... You know..." she extends a finger and gestures, drawing small circles around her ear, 'crazy'.

Ida whispers back, "You would have to be to live out here..."

Zilch flares his nostrils, tattoos adorning his body glowing faintly with his mild agitation at the bear-masked's quip, "Do not disrespect my lady, vermin."

Ida snorts behind her mask but says nothing further.

"So there is someone else here..." Stinky turns a full 360 degrees, trying to look out as far into the distance as she can all around herself and the group. "... But not like, HERE here, I guess..."

Uusi regathers her composure. "Anyway, I believe I know the nature of this Obelisk. It does indeed differ from the ones I'm familiar with, I theorize that this is an anchor point to a world, mayhaps not ours however, that of the profane underworld. It is my belief that this 'underworld' is leaking into ours from this pillar." Drawing in the sand with one of her clothed claws a representation of the Gate Key. "Mayhaps you have seen an object similar to this around?"

Zilch snaps to Uusi, his eyes ablaze, "She is no mere servant, she is everything you see, feel around you... and from the sound of it we've yet to witness even a fraction of her true majesty. I've seen plenty of stones here."

"None with any particular engravings of note?" Uusi asks.

"The only legible engravings I've seen have been similar to the ones on this obelisk. Written in what must be infernal by your description."

Only now does Stinky process that the man was not able to read the inscription. She blinks at him discernibly from beneath her mask. She gives in to an urge that's been gnawing dully inside her head from the start, turning around to lay her hands on the obelisk.

"You there! You better not plant tha--"

Stinky falls through the obelisk and is gone.

Zilch lunges between the two remaining party members, grabbing onto each where he can. "I need answers. Now."

Ida slaps the primordian's hand away from her body angrily, raising her voice. "We told you exactly why we're here! You're the one avoiding every question we've asked about what's happening. Who is this lady, why are you here, and what happened to Stavroula?!"

Uusi pipes up. "I- uh- these obelisks are like gates to another room, but you usually need a key to get through, she must possess something that allowed her to pass through."

Zilch growls at the hand slapper, his grip tightening and growing cold, "So you really intend to plant that poison here? To harm us from the inside?" he turns his head to the kobold. "You've been traveling with her in search of keys, and you didn't know she had such a thing? You can't fool me. My hospitality can only be stretched so thin by your lies."

Stinky slowly emerges from behind the obelisk back and into view of the others, the mask fitted back over her head once more. The ambient purple lights gleam eerily off her glass eye-pieces and obscure her expression. Her tiny caprine silhouette seems changed now, different, moving unnaturally as if driven by some unseen force. "I'm sorry to have to do this. I really didn't want to. You don't seem all bad." She raises an arm and brandishes her flail at the man she now knew to be called Zilch. "But if you don't get out of our way, I'll have to kill you."

Zilch turns to look at her. "So you're back. Judging by your friends' reactions you're not known for your illusions. Forgive me, Staff ruler? Smelly, was it? I'd be more inclined to laugh at your joke if I had that seed in my hands."

Stinky drops her arm and the ball-end of the flail thunks against the dusty ground. It doesn't rest there long, however, as the satyr's body lurches into motion and she makes a mad charge toward Zilch. The dash seems to terminate sooner than everyone expects and instead of closing in on him, she skids to a halt behind Ida and reaches out to grab the gnome, cloaking her in invisibility.

"I stand corrected." Zilch raises his free hand's finger to point up above the group at spot the gnome once stood moments earlier, "... but I'm afraid your little plan's washed up." Dark clouds begin to swirl and precipitate.