The soldiers surveil the situation at the top of the outer fountain. They are still shrunk to the size of small insects, have traveled for days to get from the way station, the people under the step, the haypeople, the rose bushes, the people of the tree, and the mudpeople, while fighting a running battle from a mindflayer attacking their minds again and again.
The Weretiger is particularly upset about the fact that they are at least ten stories above the height of the fountains vast sea, miles away by Koi infested waters to the middle fountain, then yet another long climb to the actual center fountain. They camp.
The Gryphon rider scouts ahead, and finds that the central fountain has no water.. flying closer she spies the water is going directly through a hole in this fountains basin, a magically created hole exactly as large as the waterfalls output. Behind this vast waterfall, the Gryphon Rider spots a tower, made by a mage, as well as a large garden,
On the way back she spots below the soldiers camp, that the Mud people have gathered large leaves, and rather cleverly stitched them together into boats, that they are using to catch tadpoles and mosquito larvae. She reports all of this to the soldiers, and they have very little trouble haggling with an Orc to get a boat. Soon they row to the central fountain, the Golem doing the brunt of the work.
During all of this, the Mindflayer has not been attacking. A relief that no one has questioned.
As the soldiers near the middle fountain, they spot an opening in the magically sheer marble walls, creating a grotto easily large enough for their boat. Hidden from anyone searching by air, but visible at eye level. They head for that.
Once inside, they find a perfectly sized dock, and a small fully rigged sailing ship. They also discover a narrow staircase rising as far as they can see. It most certainly must head to the wizards tower that the Gryphon rider spotted.
The Gryphon wants nothing to do with the confined staircase, her rider remains behind as the rest of the soldiers climb, She will wait, and then meet them above. It turns out that not only does the staircase reach the tower, but it continues on all the way to the top of the central fountain. the group decides to explore the tower later, and continue to head towards the source.
As they climb, the Illithid makes its deadliest attack yet. The firemage decides it would be wonderful to spray the entire party with a jet of flame. This is devastating. Both the Michaelite knight and the Jaegermonster orc go down from this attack, but the Githyanki is relatively unharmed, and the weretiger is untouched. The stairs are too narrow for the Githyanki to attack back... However the golem is behind the firemage, and proceeds to restrain her before she can build her fireball large enough to launch it.
As the rest of the group deals with this attack, the weretiger bounds ahead, hoping to find and destroy this damned monster before it can attack again. The weretiger erupts from the top of the stairs, and spies in the water of the central fountain a dark shape that can only be the Ilithid... He also succumbs instantly to its mind control, and now waits to attack the rest as they emerge.
However once the rest had shaken (literally) the effects of mind control from the fire mage, It was decided that the Golem would go first with the others remaining in touch range of the (immune from mind effects) Githyanki.
The Tiger attacks in a furious series of claw strikes against the Golem, making deep scratches and chips, but doing little real harm. and the rest of the group spot and launch their own attacks against the Illithid. The battle is epic, with the killing blow delivered by the Gryphons power dive at near terminal velocity, doing a great deal of damage to the Gryphon and rider as well.
The Fire mage heals the rest of the group as they discover the source of their shrinkage. A coin, in the fountain, at their size its much larger than a barn door, and almost as thick as they are tall. It is fully embedded in the mud, with a symbol of a stylized fish etched into the face.
Thinking that perhaps they can turn off the power by flipping it over, the entire group, using magic, rope and tackle, and the backs of the golem and the gryphon, manage with a great deal of effort to flip it over in the mud and silt.
Nothing at all changes.
So they go down to the tower they had passed, and explore it... Turns out just recently it had been inhabited by a mage, also trapped by the shrinking, who surmised the source of the power, traveled to the fountain, created the tower and has spent the last several years trying to puzzle out how it works. He had discovered two ways actually, one would cause all the effects to vanish instantly, returning everyone shrunken, as well as their offspring and possessions back to normal size instantly, And as a more selective spell turning each person back to normal size one at a time, with a casting each time. The energy required for both of these spells is enormous.
He was puzzling out how to go about doing this, when the Illithid sank into his fountain, and was shrunken. It quickly spotted his grotto, traveled up the stairs at the speed of levitation, and possessed him. The mage shook off the effects, and the Illithid was forced to slay him. However, not before learning all it needed to know from the mind of the mage.
But the Illithid tried to return to normal size, it discovered it was not able to use magic itself... its powers are from a different source. It needed a mage to cast the spell to restore it. The Mindflayers plan was to use the firemage for this... but was not expecting the group to survive the attack, nor was it ready for the sheer onslaught that followed.
So thats where the soldiers are now. Still shrunken, preparing to return to normal size.
The Weretiger is particularly upset about the fact that they are at least ten stories above the height of the fountains vast sea, miles away by Koi infested waters to the middle fountain, then yet another long climb to the actual center fountain. They camp.
The Gryphon rider scouts ahead, and finds that the central fountain has no water.. flying closer she spies the water is going directly through a hole in this fountains basin, a magically created hole exactly as large as the waterfalls output. Behind this vast waterfall, the Gryphon Rider spots a tower, made by a mage, as well as a large garden,
On the way back she spots below the soldiers camp, that the Mud people have gathered large leaves, and rather cleverly stitched them together into boats, that they are using to catch tadpoles and mosquito larvae. She reports all of this to the soldiers, and they have very little trouble haggling with an Orc to get a boat. Soon they row to the central fountain, the Golem doing the brunt of the work.
During all of this, the Mindflayer has not been attacking. A relief that no one has questioned.
As the soldiers near the middle fountain, they spot an opening in the magically sheer marble walls, creating a grotto easily large enough for their boat. Hidden from anyone searching by air, but visible at eye level. They head for that.
Once inside, they find a perfectly sized dock, and a small fully rigged sailing ship. They also discover a narrow staircase rising as far as they can see. It most certainly must head to the wizards tower that the Gryphon rider spotted.
The Gryphon wants nothing to do with the confined staircase, her rider remains behind as the rest of the soldiers climb, She will wait, and then meet them above. It turns out that not only does the staircase reach the tower, but it continues on all the way to the top of the central fountain. the group decides to explore the tower later, and continue to head towards the source.
As they climb, the Illithid makes its deadliest attack yet. The firemage decides it would be wonderful to spray the entire party with a jet of flame. This is devastating. Both the Michaelite knight and the Jaegermonster orc go down from this attack, but the Githyanki is relatively unharmed, and the weretiger is untouched. The stairs are too narrow for the Githyanki to attack back... However the golem is behind the firemage, and proceeds to restrain her before she can build her fireball large enough to launch it.
As the rest of the group deals with this attack, the weretiger bounds ahead, hoping to find and destroy this damned monster before it can attack again. The weretiger erupts from the top of the stairs, and spies in the water of the central fountain a dark shape that can only be the Ilithid... He also succumbs instantly to its mind control, and now waits to attack the rest as they emerge.
However once the rest had shaken (literally) the effects of mind control from the fire mage, It was decided that the Golem would go first with the others remaining in touch range of the (immune from mind effects) Githyanki.
The Tiger attacks in a furious series of claw strikes against the Golem, making deep scratches and chips, but doing little real harm. and the rest of the group spot and launch their own attacks against the Illithid. The battle is epic, with the killing blow delivered by the Gryphons power dive at near terminal velocity, doing a great deal of damage to the Gryphon and rider as well.
The Fire mage heals the rest of the group as they discover the source of their shrinkage. A coin, in the fountain, at their size its much larger than a barn door, and almost as thick as they are tall. It is fully embedded in the mud, with a symbol of a stylized fish etched into the face.
Thinking that perhaps they can turn off the power by flipping it over, the entire group, using magic, rope and tackle, and the backs of the golem and the gryphon, manage with a great deal of effort to flip it over in the mud and silt.
Nothing at all changes.
So they go down to the tower they had passed, and explore it... Turns out just recently it had been inhabited by a mage, also trapped by the shrinking, who surmised the source of the power, traveled to the fountain, created the tower and has spent the last several years trying to puzzle out how it works. He had discovered two ways actually, one would cause all the effects to vanish instantly, returning everyone shrunken, as well as their offspring and possessions back to normal size instantly, And as a more selective spell turning each person back to normal size one at a time, with a casting each time. The energy required for both of these spells is enormous.
He was puzzling out how to go about doing this, when the Illithid sank into his fountain, and was shrunken. It quickly spotted his grotto, traveled up the stairs at the speed of levitation, and possessed him. The mage shook off the effects, and the Illithid was forced to slay him. However, not before learning all it needed to know from the mind of the mage.
But the Illithid tried to return to normal size, it discovered it was not able to use magic itself... its powers are from a different source. It needed a mage to cast the spell to restore it. The Mindflayers plan was to use the firemage for this... but was not expecting the group to survive the attack, nor was it ready for the sheer onslaught that followed.
So thats where the soldiers are now. Still shrunken, preparing to return to normal size.
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