"We're supposed to go there, though we don't know precisely why yet. Presumably going there will continue to fulfill the terms of our geas and lead us closer to Baba Yaga. We'll need to check the phases of the moon when we leave the hut, and aim our arrival with the waxing moon."
"Sounds ominous."
Hadda regards the cleric with a raise of her eyebrow, wondering how much stock the priest puts in such things. "And yet we live in the age of Lost Omens. I'm not much one for portents, although I take your point."
"Speaking of moon phases, I have no idea if the passing of time in here matches the world outside...in fact I'm unsure of whether it is even the same day it was when we entered here." Ingrit says, running a hand through her fiery hair with a shrug.
"Thanks, Rurik," says Domitian as he's brought to good health once more. "Everything about this strangely gigantic hut is weird. Space, time, it all seems off."
Crasius looks over at Ingrit and says, "We probably have to get out of here to find out what time it is. It could be the same day, or maybe much longer depending on how long the travel actually took. But that could make the tale much more interesting. Still, we should definitely find our way out sooner rather then later." Crasius shifts his pack and heads back out to the hallway.
The amulet, when checked, gives off a moderate transmutation aura. Both Hadda and Ozella recognize the aura as that of a Chime of Opening
"Oh, this is quite useful," Hadda remarks, comparing observations with Ozella. "I'm generally well-versed in getting past mundane defenses, but I'll admit that magical locks still vex me."
As the group moves along and speaks about time, Hadda offers her own thoughts. "You all have likely had a busier day than we did getting here, clearing the way and all. If you would prefer to rest, that would be reasonable. I am prepared to continue either way."
"Hard to say. We don't really have any way to predict what we'll run into. Depends on whether this is keenly time-sensitive. Is there anything pushing us to rush in?" says Rurik.
”I’m healthy and I have my sword,” says Domitian with a grin.
"We may as well address the rest of these challenges. We can worry about resting before setting foot in Iobaria after we're done." Ingrit says looking into the inky black room.
"Well, it seems apparent even disregarding the semiotics, but this is Night," Hadda says, repeating the word in Iobarian. "We may meet Rozum, the albino raven Liar Seer. Though whether we will be able to hear or see is a different question." The bard-librarian pauses. "This does pose an open question about my continued usefulness within the room. If I can be neither seen nor easily heard, the majority of my abilities will be rendered inert." At the very least, it would be interesting to write about later.
"By way of experimentation, Ingrit, you could throw the copper that I gave you into the room. And Crasius, perhaps you could send your dancing lights in to see whether they have any effect." A test of sound and light from different sources would be useful.
"If we do rest, then I would be able provide fairly powerful daylight. Or I could transmute the rods in our eyes towards a bio-architecture not unlike that possessed by dwarves or orcs with enhanced scotopic vision due to an intact tapetum lucidum. Communal Darkvision, colloquially. Or..." Hadda turns to Ozella, "Ozella could borrow my spellbook and reprepare one of her spells from my notes. Formal study has the benefit of increased flexibility."
Lost partway through Hadda's 'explanation', Ingrit nods along, accepting the copper, and tossing it in a high arc, so as to make a substantial sound when it hits the floor.
"If we're going to need new magics for this room, maybe we just skip this one and see what's in the next?"
Dom decides to light a torch and stick it into the room to see how more mundane light sources might interact with this darkness.
The coin creates a sound that everyone recognizes as a coin hitting a hard stone floor, but it sounds farther away than it is. The lit torch causes no change in the light levels inside the room. When the torch is removed it is still burning and giving off light in the hall.
Hadda nods at the results of her little requested experiments. "Hmm, yes of course. The darkness is potent, but not overtly extinguishing."
She makes a perfunctory gesture and utters a quick incantation, ponting her finger forward and retrieving the coin with a quick casting of mage hand. She levitates the coin back to Ingrit. "In case we need it again."
She peers in the room again. "Well, I doubt any trial will begin upon entering the room. We could at least hear what the raven has to say."
Hadda raises an eyebrow to prompt any objections, and then steps through the threshold.
"Famous last words," replies Dom. "I'll go first just in case.". Dom keeps the torch burning in his off-hand for now as he leads the way into the dark and quiet room.
Crasius follows Dom into the room watching for what might come from the dark.
Rurik casts a light orison on his shield once more.
"Ummm..." he says, thinking for a moment, then "... Hadda, do you know a message cantrip? Maybe once you pass through you can send back the all clear. Though I'm not entirely sure how that magic works, maybe it won't work if you have to see the target of the message."
"All moot if we can hear through the curtain, though, which seems to be the case since we heard the coin bounce," he adds.
Just before she steps into the darkness, Hadda pauses and turns back. "You know your arcana," she observes. She reaches into her pouch and pulls out a length of copper wire, winding it around her finger and chanting. The copper glows momentarily while the woman points her finger in turn at Rurik, Dom, Ingrit, Crasius, and Ozella. "This is one of my favorites, especially in libraries. Within a little over 50 meters, you should be able to hear me and reply unless there is an impassable barrier or magical silence stronger than what appears to be in the room."
Hadda prepares to launch into her theory of how the transmutation operates, subtly changing the interior of one's mouth and throat to enhance higher frequencies and then attuning parts of each targeted creatures' ears to more easily receive those frequencies, but she decides against the explanation in favor of expediency.
She rejoins Dom and Crasius, looking around in the darkness for the expected raven, and then activates the Message if it is indeed safe to enter.
Ingrit waits as Hadda, Dom, and Crasius enter the room, watching closely to see what happens when they pass through the area of shadow and listening for their messages.
The light spell causes no change in light levels in the room.
Hadda, Dom, and Crasius enter the room. Their eyes cannot pierce the darkness at the edges of the room, but they quickly reach a point where they can see the light at the center of the room. The atmosphere would remind someone familiar with meditation chambers of certain religions, removing distractions and encouraging a calm and thoughtful attitude.
Shortly after the three enter the dimly lit area under the glowing orb, a faint sound comes from the rafters of the room, prelude to a hideous looking albino raven with red eyes flying a short distance to land on the orb. It says nothing while staring at the three humans.
Those familiar with the legends of the Ravens Three, recognize the white raven as Rozum.
Dom is still extremely puzzled by his torch that is burning yet does not emit light. He considers how it's almost a cleverly hidden weapon in this state.
Entering the sphere of the dim orb, he is startled by the appearance of a grotesque white raven of all things. Presumably the raven they were expecting, although Dom didn't really know for sure. "So, we're here for the next challenge, to save Baba Yaga and put an end to the unnatural winter," says Dom in Skald.
The raven is a sight to see, not least of which because it is one of the few visible things in the room. Hadda looks at the creature curiously while Dom addresses it and briefly makes their case. Albinism was not one of the things that she had studied extensively, and she surprisingly had no active theories about the cause, especially in ravens. But such thoughts now begin to percolate in her mind.
Hadda nods at Dom's words, and adds her own while genuflecting. "What is your trial, Rozum?"
Rozum waits until everyone standing out in the hall enters before cawing words in common, "While you have convinced me of your intentions,
you have yet to convince me of your wit. To prove your cleverness, you must find the answer to my riddle.
I mark night’s coming,
I will mark your end.
I run not in fear,
I have not a friend.
“The answer to the riddle lies within the passage of night. To find the path to what you seek, drink from the silver chalice within the grotto. Fetch the answer and show it to me. Go now and do not return to me unless you can prove your worth."
When the bird mentions the passage of night, he turns to face the wall that lies to the right side of the room for one standing in the doorway looking in.
"Could it be twilight? No, probably not. Can't really fetch that."
As the white raven looks toward the wall, Dom follows its gaze and feels his way forward. Eventually, he makes it through. "I can see on this side. Still dark, but there are five silver chalices. So, which one do we drink from?"
Dom sees if he can discern any differences between the chalices.
Since the team doesn't seem to be dying horribly, Rurik takes the plunge and moves to join the rest of the group.
Once Domitian moves into the dark, Rurik says, "Do they look different in any way? Any symbols or pictures on them or on the alcoves they're in?"
Crasius:
Hadda:
Ozella:
The five chalices on the table in the center of the room are half full of dark red wine, and the rim of each chalice is etched with a specific rune in a repeating pattern.
Hadda and Ozella can read the runes. The translate to apple, athame, hourglass, key, and mirror.
Dom detects nothing more.
"Sure, they look a little different, have different runes. But I can't tell what it means," replies Domitian to Rurik.
He makes space for the experts, Ozella and Hadda, to do their analysis. With Erland suddenly being captured, it was fortunate they had knowledgeable people to explain the mysteries they were encountering.
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"The hourglass seems to be the obvious choice here. But there is something odd at the water's edge. It looks like what I have spoken of in my tales as traps that hurt the unwary who might enter the water or try and bypass it to reach the alcoves. But I know little about traps outside of my tales.
Bracing herself, Ingrit steps into the darkness and through to the others. " If there's a trap involving the water, it is probably magic. Do you see a way to bypass whatever trap there is?"
Ah wit. And why not? Riddles were not merely the parlance and practice of sphinxes--any beings could enjoy and participate in them. Wit was more to Hadda's liking anyway.
She considers the riddle and Dom's immediate answer of "twilight". "Time," she offers as another possibility. "Or darkness."
Once inside the shrouded room, she dutifully translates the symbols, alternating with Ozella. She also concurs with Crasius that the hourglass fits--certainly with her initial thought of "time". It certainly fit the riddle more than the other four.
She doesn't quite notice the trap until Crasius points it out. She whistles slightly as he points out the features, and shakes her head. "I have read numerous volumes on lockpicking and quite a few tomes on traps. Kobolds tend not to be the most engaging authors, but their technical understanding of grotto security is nigh unmatched. Still, mages like to keep their secrets about magical traps and their disabling. It is unfortunately not a skill that I have developed."
"However," she says, reaching to the amulet around her neck, "We do have a new tool worth trying. This creates resonances that can disentangle magical energies and permit us to attempt this task without risking setting off the trap. Shall we try it?"
While waiting, Hadda begins to assess the auras coming from objects in the room. Better to be prepared.
"I have Dispel Magic in my spellbook, if we decide it's necessary I can swap it out," Ozella said, adjusting her glasses. Alternatively, I am capable of short distance teleportation, if we would like to save resources."
"But I do agree that the hourglass chalice is the correct one."
Dom listens to his more knowledgeable companions and nods.
"Okay, since everyone agrees the hourglass chalice is the right one, seems like it's time to drink!"
Dom will pick up the hourglass chalice, take a sip, and see what happens.
When Ozella and Hadda view the room using their spells to detect magic, they find the chalices have auras of transmutation and evocation. The darkness filling each alcove radiates auras of evocation. The water and the area above the water give off auras of divination and necromancy.
When Dom picks up the chalice corresponding to the hourglass, people notice a light suddenly shine from the darkness in the alcove directly across from the entrance to the grotto. Each catches a glimpse of a cage chained to the rock floor, held in place by a padlock, and containing a large hourglass. It appears as if a moonbeam had shined on it. Then the light is gone.
"When you drank an hour glass seemed to appear in that alcove. I think someone needs to drink while someone else crosses the water to claim the hour glass. But I am not sure what those sigils will do to whoever crosses to get the hourglass." Crasius says with a frown at the water.
Ingrit keeps her bow in hand, nerves on edge as she watches the arcane experts study the elaborate setup and cringes as Dom picks up one of the chalices.
Dom does indeed sip from the hourglass chalice, and then the following happens:
As Dom sips the wine, the stones that can be seen just under the water's surface rise up, forming a line that leads to the alcove that just lit up, with the hourglass in the cage.
"Wow, didn't expect that. Seems like the stones that rose up are the path to take. Someone with good balance could try it?"
Dom sees if he needs to keep drinking the wine or if he can stop without affecting the environment.
There is no indication as to whether the stones will remain or fall.
To translate his actions into initiative, Dom will keep a hold of the chalice and "ready" more sipping if the stones start to sink.
Crasius will try and make his way across the stones.
Hadda watches the scene unfold, curious, and thinking back to what further clues the raven may have embedded in its instructions. She can't think of any, though. She watches as Crasius jumps up and cautions.
"Before you go too far, it may be wise to wait and observe the circumstances, assuming that Dom's constitution can handle the drink."
She readies an action offer an inspiring word, should it be needed.
With her spellbook in hand, Ozella will flip to the page with Dispel Magic on it and swap the spell with the Tongues she had prepared today.
Crassius steps across the stepping stones and makes it into the alcove just in time, as the stones sink just after he reaches the other side. The light that illumines the alcove lasts only a second, so Crasius is in darkness for most of the round.
As Crasius makes it across, Hadda looks curiously, remembering the after image. "Dom," she says, "Drink again, if you please. I'll join Crasius."
She makes sure that she has her lockpicks, and stands ready at the edge of the pool.
Dom laughs. "A heroic drinking quest? I'm game!" He will continue taking sips to keep the stones up.
Hadda smiles and begins to jump across the stones if they stay up. Heroic drinking quest? Why not?
Crasius pulls out his crowbar and tries to break the lock.