Zoggie impatiently asks, while jumping up and down, "So? What does Rocky think about WEIRD writing? Zoggie wants to know! And Zoggie wants to know who other angry growl man is in ship!"
EFUGE 13
OR ADMITTANCE APPLY ORESNOUT.
As he recites the text on the sign, Teyth's voice takes on what you assume is a perfect recreation of the accent of the ancient people who wrote it.
OW WOULD YOU PLEASE AID ME IN ALLOWING MY COMPANION TO DOCK HIS SHIP.
Verrin ponders this for a moment, before grinning slightly and saying, "Hang on, let me try something." With that, she walks up to the door and presses her nose lightly against it.
Turning away from the door, Verrin looks around the island for a moment. She shouts to the chap on the ship.
"When last I sailed I heard it was firghtful bad luck to bring a woman aboard" Rhaegar shouts back to the island, "Try tossing yourself off the island, and with luck you should sink just fine"
But as a matter of fact, the door does open when Verrin presses her nose against it.
Everyone make 16 fortitude saves. Yes, even Rhaegar.
The inside of the dome is featureless steel (well except for the aforementioned holes. The floor is stone, though it seems in much better condition than the floor outside the dome, and there is a single spiral staircase in the center leading down into the island.
AEGAR, WHAT ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT? HROW THE ANCHOR, OTHERWISE HOW WILL YOU MEET THE INHABITANTS OF THIS ISLAND?
she shouts,
With his shield, bow and sword strapped to his back, but without his backpack, Rhaegar jumps off of the side of the ship, making his way swimming to the island. ()
You see Rhaegar jump from this side of his vessel, making his way to the island. As he pulls himself ashore, he says "If this island women thinks that she could sway me with her words of treasure, she is mistaken, but for the sake of my metal friend here I have come aground. Although, god rest you all if my ship is not in one piece when i return to her."
"Which one?" Verrin absentmindedly calls out after Rhaegar's comment about gods. "And relax, I don't bite."
H, AEGAR, WELCOME TO THIS ISLAND. OOK AT THIS STRUCTURE, IT APPEARS TO ME NEARLY OF AN AGE WITH MYSELF.
Teyth continues looking down the staircase along with Verrin.
Xeran does not concern himself with meeting Rhaegar and instead remains very interested in the new unfamiliar structure. He and Zoggie peer around looking at their new scenery.
He asks Teyth, "If this structure is as old as you, perhaps you would be familiar with the nature of this refuge?"
Xeran Perception on Rhaegar:
Zoggie Perception on Rhaegar:
Xeran Perception on Structure:
Zoggie Perception on Structure:
K(History): does this Refuge or "applying Foresnout" have any kind of significance to me whatsoever (probably a ridiculous DC but I'll try)
Perception will tell you little, since it just goes down one cycle that you can see. So, I guess it's stairs. They're metal. Here's a map.
And nope, I'm afraid you get nothing with K(History), at least not without more information to go on.
"Fascinating!" Waynab exclaims. He is too busy peering down the hole to notice anything Rhaegar is doing. Waynab looks up and says to the group, "We should go down there!"
Rhaegar: You manage to hook your anchor in a bit of uneven rock on the island. From my reading, a sea anchor is more of a decelerating brake than a parking brake, so to speak.
DO NOT KNOW. Y CREATORS ARE NO LONGER EXTANT, SO PERHAPS THIS SHELTER WAS INTENDED AS A REFUGE FROM THE CALAMITY WHICH BEFELL THEM. AEGAR, SHALL WE INSPECT THE REST OF THIS REFUGE?
"Yes, I believe it would be beneficial to further investigate this structure. If anything, it may serve to sate our curiosity."
With that, he motions for the others to come inside the structure.
Waynab grabs a bit of the slimy seaweed, casts light on it, and makes like he is going down the stairs "What are you waiting for!" He calls up. "Let's get going! But wait, Teyth, you should lead the way. This is a sort of homecoming for you, perhaps?"
Verrin advances slowly down the stairs, warily keeping an eye out for traps as she goes.
The rest of you huddle around in curiosity as Verrin descends the first few steps. Suddenly, with a horrifying shriek of metal on metal, the walls around you shift. The dome was composed of a double layer of metal, and the inner dome has rotated a few feet with respect to the outer dome, completely closing off all of the smaller holes as well as the door.
A few seconds after the walls finish moving, the ground begins to vibrate subtly but perceptibly.
Wow! "Well, we aren't getting back anytime soon. Lets see where these stairs take us!"
Wisdom Check!
"Well this is odd. It would seem that we are moving downwards, probably further into this refuge site. Moreover, if this is a refuge, we should prepared to meet its denizens; it would seem possible that they would not be pleased to be disturbed from their haven."
"What a strange island," Verrin says. "All right, everyone, look sharp! We don't know what sort of creatures took refuge here, so be prepared for anything!"
Rhaegar grunts loudly, and looks around, taking out his sword and shield,
"I knew that no good would come from traveling with women. Never has been, never will be. Teyth, what do you make of all this non-sense?"
CONCUR, ERAN. AEGAR, IT APPEARS THAT THE ISLAND IS RETRACTING BELOW THE SURFACE OF THE OCEAN; THE DOME HAS PRESUMABLY CLOSED TO PROTECT YOU FROM THE OUR NEW SUBMARINE POSITION. With that in the way of explanations Teyth continues down the staircase very much uncaring whether everyone else is eager to follow him or not.
You descend the stairs. Though Waynab has his glowing strip of sea-weed, you quickly realize it's unnecessary, as the walls and floors are themselves aglow with a pale greenish light. The staircase is contained within a steel cylinder 10 feet in diameter. After two revolutions, there is a door cut from the cylinder, and you can see through it a bit of a large room. Map
Xeran descends down the staircase apprehensively. Zoggie seems to be scared, yet intrigued, and clings onto Xeran's back for comfort, but pokes her head out and takes in her surroundings.
Xeran will step through the doorway and examine the room.
Xeran Perception:
Zoggie Perception:
Okay, throwing out some knowledge checks:
What is the nature of the pale greenish light? Is it the result of some kind of magic? Is it the result of a kind of slime or other natural cave dwelling creature? Was this constructed in some kind of super advanced manner?
K(Arcana):
K(Dungeoneering):
K(Engineering):
Seeing the luminous walls, Verrin deactivates her [i]Ioun Torch[/ooc] and places in in a pocket. As the group descends, she examines the entryway for any devices or magical effects that may trigger when the party draws near or passes through.
Seeing nothing amiss , she draws her dagger and sneakily steps through the doorway.
"I see three exits - East, South, and West. Can any of you survivalist types tell me if any particular direction has seen more traffic of late?"
Rhaegar gruffly pushes past the others on the stairway, and walks about 15 paces into the room.
"Now, what is all of this nonsense. Someone would have had to mine a lot of metal to get this much out to sea. What do you make of it Teyth? Obviously they are using some witch craft to make this float, similar to that used on you."
As for the construction, yeah, you'd probably call it super-advanced, since it's all made of huge sheets of metal bolted together. It wouldn't seem at all odd to, say, Matt Badura, but Xeran and Zoggie have likely never seen anything like it before.
T IS NOT NECESSARILY FLOATING, AEGAR. E COULD VERY WELL BE IN THE UPPER REACHES OF A STRUCTURE BUILT ON THE OCEAN FLOOR.
Teyth also enters the room and absolutely silently does a full circuit of the walls, motioning Raegar to stay still until he has completed his inspection.
"What a wonder! Let's go explore! But carefully now." He follows Verrin out and carefully wanders around the big room. Waynab looks at Teyth and mutters "I wonder how..."
Xeran says softly, "This entire structure is remarkable! To my knowledge, I have never encountered any habitation constructed as such. Should we encounter other specimens in here, and they prove to not be hostile, we could ascertain a veritable wealth of knowledge regarding the magical crafts of..."
Zoggie interrupts Xeran's monologue with, "Zoggie think we should go West! Yes! That's what Zoggie super smart mephit instinct tell her!"
Xeran looks begrudgingly at Zoggie and mutters an incantation to himself.
Rhaegar sniffs the air (Perception:), and assuming no new information Rhaegar says,
"I don't know who this Zoggie gentleman is, or what a mephit is, but I agree that west seems the right way to explore."
and with that, begins walking westward.
"Sure. West works for me," Verrin says drily. "Follow your nose, I guess." Verrin will follow, letting Rhaegar's nose lead the way. She will, however, try to remain relatively inconspicuous when possible.
Teyth follows Raegar down the hallway which his nose has chosen, his metal talons curiously silent on the metal floor.
Teyth: Feel free to read the Xeran spoiler in my last post.
The air down this path is not less vile, but it's not more vile either. It's somehow stale and yet clean. Every surface is covered in a thin layer of dust. As you round the corner of the cylinder containing the stairs, you see that there is in fact a passage to the north. You continue along the West passage for perhaps forty feet before reaching a fork to both the left and right. You see another one about forty more feet ahead, and ahead of that is a wall and a ladder going downwards.
Map will be up in ~2 hours when I get back from lunch.
Zoggie leads on. "Hmmm... Zoggie think we should go straight and down ladder!"
[b]"No better way to decide than that!"[b] The group moves down the ladder.
Xeran pays little heed to Zoggie's arbitrary leading. He instead is still deep in his thoughts taking in the new scenery.
Teyth will follow, looking down each side passage as he passes it, until reaching the ladder.