Manaburst: Session 1, Part 1 (Broken)
As the session began, the planewalkers slowly regain consciousness in a large domed chamber, lit only by a faint reddish glow filtering down a stairway through the chamber’s only entrance. After a few moments of recovery, Gaeleth illuminated the small room with divine radiance and the planeswalkers tried to get their bearings.
The only feature of the room to stand out was the circular engraving in the center of the floor, but before anyone could investigate they realized something was off. Torvolis was missing and another man had appeared – a planeswalker named Nero. Accusations were curbed when Grrrk and Ada vouched for him, having traveled with him before when they and a fourth planeswalker named Ibrand had attacked a plane under demonic control and decimated one of their strongholds.
The group started looking around for answers to where they were, how they had gotten there, where Torvolis had gone. Gaeleth followed Ada, illuminating the chamber so that she could examine the carvings and the two found the artifact Grrrk had swiped from the magnus on Whitesea laying against the wall, smoking slightly.
While most of the planeswalkers tried to figure out what had happened or invesigated the small chamber, Grrrk quickly grew tired of the discussion and decided to venture outside to look around. He padded up the stairway in relative quiet and stepped out onto a plane that could only be called Broken.
Ruins stretched as far as Grrrk could see in the dim light, remains of ancient stone sculptures which had succumbed to some massive force ages ago. The weathered edges of the stones revealed the destruction had been some time ago, but still only sparse grasses grew in splotches here and there on the landscape.
Once they realized Grrrk had wandered off to get himself into danger, the rest of the planeswalkers headed to the surface. After taking in their surroundings they realized there were four points on the plane that seemed to be pulling at their senses, scattered at some distance around them. Seeing no other signs of life or anything other than crushed rock nearby, they decided to head towards the nearest one.
After an hour of travel and exploration, the planeswalkers were treated to one of Broken’s sunrises. Bright white light dispelled the reddish glow of early morning, revealing that the ruinous landscape stretching from horizon the horizon and revealing the only solid structure the planeswalkers had seen so far – a large domed building two stories tall that sparkled in the newly arisen light.
The sun heated the broken landscape quickly, sending wisps of heat dancing along surfaces here and there. As the planeswalkers debated searching the structure against following whatever was calling to them off in the distance, the heat whips began coalescing into solid forms.
One appeared nearby Ada, pouncing at her before she could react. Its forearms landed squarely on her chest, and the creature passed through her like a ghost. She shook as its passing leeched heat and life from her body, but was able to recover before it wheeled on her.
The other planeswalkers turned to face the creature, Grrrk already dancing about as he began working magic. But past them Ada could see more of the creatures emerging from the ruins. Dozens, maybe more, many of them circling towards the planeswalkers’ presence and bounding towards them.
Guessing the creatures were more mana than corporeal, Ada threw up a field of disruptive energy around her immediate vicinity. Even as her companions struck at the creature behind her with magic and steel – seemingly succeeding in disrupting it’s form enough to banish it – a dozen more slammed into the field.
Most bounced away harmlessly, but a couple shimmered as they passed through, their forms partially disrupted but they maintained their form. Nika rolled to Ada’s side and passed energy into the sparse plant life around her, creating a cage around both her and Ada. She wasn’t sure the structure would keep the creatures out, but it caused one to pause long enough for a plate-clad knight to drive it’s blade through the creature.
The knight, light gleaming off it’s armor so intense as to almost be tangible, fought back to back with Gaeleth – its summoner – as they began dispatching the creatures that had crossed the field. From her position within the cage, Nika noticed that the creatures – coalesced light that they seemed to be – were avoiding areas of shadow and called out to her companions.
The discovery did little to help Gaeleth and her knight. Both glowed with a radiance that dispelled nearby shadows as they fought, but Nero had other ideas. He scanned the surrounding buildings and when he found what he was looking for, wheeled on the little goblin.
“You’re good at breaking things, right?”
Grrrk’s mischievous smile was enough of an answer for Nero. He pointed to the remains of one wall of a two story building and sent Grrrk towards it. As they both left Ada’s protective field, Nero darted towards the nearest sunblights to get their attention. The creatures had realized they couldn’t reach the planeswalkers within, so when new prey presented itself they all turned to follow with eerie howls.
Session 1 to be continued.