Izbahn can tell that the whole room is enchanted by a spell of the transmutation school while both the floating scroll and wand radiate evocation magic.
Izbahn looks at the wand and scroll floating in mid air, thinking Those would certainly prove useful for me...fortunately I have the means to retrieve them.
He utters a quick cantrip and points at the wand first, snagging it in midair and bringing it over to him. He repeats the process for the scroll. Once he has secured both items in his pouch, he turns to the others, "I want to check out the writing on the walls. No need to risk yourselves here, I won't be long."
He then steps into the room and moves to the wall, studying the runes on the wall.
Izbahn snatches the two magical items with his telekinesis cantrip without any problem. As he steps forward into the room, he suddenly feels much lighter, weightless in fact. Izbahn is surprised as his feet leave the ground and he starts spinning slowly in mid-air. The mage doesn't panic, thinking the effect must some sort of levitation spell. With his extensive knowledge of magical processes, Izbahn soon realized that if he concentrates, he can control the magic to stabilized himself and to move up or down. Now stabilized, he moves closer to a wall to examine the electric symbols forming on it. They appear and vanish in rapid succession, but he still tries to see if he can make some sense out of it.
It takes a few minutes but Izbahn eventually sees enough of the fleeting texts to make some sense out of it. The mage is sure the words are in Thassilonian, the language of the ancient empire. While he isn't fluent in the ancient language, he knows enough about related tongues to recognize a few words. They are all seem to mean something like anger, wrath or revenge.
Izbahn recalls the feelings of rage the party had encountered in their initial visit to these ruins. I wonder if this magic is related to that effect? It must be...but I know not how.
He returns to the group, and shakes his head. "This mystery just gets deeper. Well, let's get moving. There are stairs headed down, we should follow them."
Izbahn looks back at the content of the room still floating in midair, and gestures towards the book, which floats into his hand.
"I hope this book will shed some light on this mystery."
While the group had their back turned, the bottle of wine floats silently into his pack.
Darst can't stop staring at the room. His expression is a mixture of fear and excitement.
Izbahn pockets the bottle of wine and the black leather cover book and quickly follows the rest of the group toward the spiral staircase. Unfortunately, after about two turns around the central column, the way is completely blocked by large pieces of broken stone.
"Another dead end. Well, I believe there was one door we have not checked yet, abck in the old torture chamber. Let's head there."
"What is that book about?" Venmirl asks as they descend down the stairs.
Izbahn replies, "I am not sure yet, as I have not looked at it. Still any chance of finding clues here should not be ignored."
"Something that tells us why a temple was either built underground or built over would be helpful. I don't like this place." Naomi says with a grimace. "So far the nicest things I've seen down here are the ranseur we found and the spinning room."
"A temple...I am not so sure this was constructed for that purpose. Still, there are areas which have collapsed, and are inaccessible. So it is possible..."
The group backtracks to the torture room and opens up the remaining closed door. It reveals triangular room; narrow at the northern opening but wider toward the south wall, some 10 feet away. A large wooden table is all the remain intact in the room. Debris of what must have been books and furniture clutter the floor and the table top. To the south stand three closely spaced stone doors, each bearing a strange symbol that resembles a seven-pointed star.
Izhbahn holds his hand up, signaling the group to wait. He casts another cantrip and scans the room.
”I want to check out those symbols.”
Izbahn detects some magic emanating from somewhere in the clutter of wooden chips and torn pages. After putting aside the remains of what appears like a chair leg, he founds the source of magic: a small parchment with arcane symbols written on it.
As for the symbol on the doors, Izbahn remembers seeing a similar star on the red marble statue. It was on the carved book the statue is holding.
Izbahn examines the scroll , and then pockets the scroll for later.
"Hmmm, that symbol was on the coins we found on Tsuto. That cannot be a coincidence."
Izbahn examines the scroll but he doesn't manages to make sense out of it. Lots of the arcane symbols are either archaic or alien to the mage. Perhaps some magical help would be needed to decipher it.
Izbahn hands the scroll to Naomi for her to look at. "Scrolls seem to be your specialty, can you make sense of this?"
"I can try." Naomi says as she takes the scroll and carefully unfurls it. She traces over the symbols lightly with a fingertip...
"I can try." Naomi says as she takes the scroll and carefully unfurls it. She traces over the symbols lightly with a fingertip...
1d20+4
Naomi traces over the symbols lightly with a fingertip. She gets a good feel of the magic stored within but she can't quite recognizes the spell. The writing and symbols are unlike what Naomi is used too. Many of the runes are ancient and the only one she identifies is an archaic rune representing fire.
"I'm sorry Izbahn, but I've never seen some of these runes before. This scroll must be very old if the only one I can identify means 'fire', or at least it means that today." She hands the scroll back to him after carefully rolling it back up. "You might have better luck later, since you are more of a scholar than I."
Izbahn stows the scroll away, and says, "Yeah, I'll bet that gnome cartographer Veznutt would be interested in this. Still, we should keep going here."
Izbahn stows the scroll away, and says, "Yeah, I'll bet that gnome cartographer Veznutt would be interested in this. Still, we should keep going here."
Venmirl thinks about trying to assist in determining the purpose of the scroll. He asks to see it, and tries to see if recognizes any of the ancient runes as something perhaps based on the Shoanti language.
Izbahn hands the scroll over to Venmirl, "It could be related to the Shoanti language, good thinking Venmirl."
At a glance, Venmirl can't really make out more of the scroll then the rest of them. However, it all becomes clear when he grabs his totem and asks his ancestors for guidance . With his simple invocation, he can now see that the scroll holds a strange magical spell. Releasing the spell is beyond his own talent but Venmirl can tell it would turn the caster's eyes into burning hot coals, allowing him to set objects or foes alight with a glance.
Venmirl tells the group what he thinks the scroll does and of it's higher caster level, then gives the scroll back to Naomi. "I believe it would be difficult for one of us to cast this spell at this point. We may need to further our arcane studies to make it easier to use."
Izbahn nods, "Yeah, that scroll would take time to study, but I am sure given time I could cast it."
He looks to the southern doors, "Let's keep going."
The group opens up on of the southern doors only to find that it doesn't lead anywhere. Behind the stone door is a small 5-foot square cell, containing what appears to be a human skeleton, except for the fact that it has three arms. The other two doors also lead to similar cells which, in turn, also both contained a deformed humanoid skeleton. One of them has an enormous misshapen skull, and the third has a ribcage that goes all the way down to its pelvis—a pelvis with stunted legbones strewn below its strangely flat girth.
Izbahn peers into each of the cells, and scans it for any magical auras
He peers at the skeletons, and turns to Naomi, "What do you make of these skeletons? Were they human at one point?"
Venmirl scowls when he sees the deformed bodies. On the last cell, he holds up his mace and growls an indecipherable few words.
Izbahn doesn't detect any magic on the skeletons or in their cells. If that's what caused the deformities, any residual magical aura has long since disappeared.
Izbahn glances around him, before he addresses the other members of the party, "Well, it looks like we have checked everything out in this complex. Is there anything we missed, or anything else you think we should look at again?"
Venmirl steps into each one of the cells and searches for anything unusual (besides the deformed remains).
"I'd be interested in finding out where those spiral staircases go up to. Perhaps we can walk off some measurements to get an idea of what buildings are above them."
"Good thinking, it would be good to know if there are additional areas of these catacombs that could be excavated at some future time."
The cells are empty, Venmirl doesn't find anything beside the skeletons.
Venmirl is pretty sure he and the others went north of the Glassworks so he's has to be somewhere under Uptown. Given the distance they have traveled, Venmirl thinks they might be close to the Garrison and the Town Hall.
With a little assistance from the others, Venmirl does a rough calculation of the distances through the corridors until he is satisfied that he has some idea where the stairways may lead. "They could lead to the garrison and town hall, but I'm not absolutely sure."
"Yeah, I don't think the goblins could use those catacombs as an invasion route. Still, we should report this to the mayor, then have them sealed up, just to make sure."
The adventurers quickly leave the ancient underground complex and return to the Glassworks by way of the smuggler tunnels. As they exit the Glasswork's basement, they are surprised to find Ameiko followed closely by her aged halfling assistant, Bethana. "Fancy meeting you here again." The young woman says simply.
"You! You talk some sense into my mistress." Bethana interjects quickly. "She should still take it easy and rest a lot, not worry about business so much."
"And you should stop being so protective of me Bethana." Ameiko replies, more amused then annoyed. She turns back toward the adventurers. "I came here to take stock of the state the goblins left the place in, and put some order in my father's papers. I can't believe I'm inheriting it all. I guess father still thought I could run a business despite all our ... other disagreements." She has to hold back tears for a moment before regaining her composure. "In light of everything that's happened here some people think I should sell the place or even tear it down. What do you think?"
"Just isn't drink the water in the altar," Darst says. "Yes-yes, stay outta the tunnels. Maybe put the wall back."
Izbahn looks at Amekio and, correctly judging her mood, offers "Amekio, there is nothing wrong with this place, and I see no reason for you to either sell the place, or tear it down. Now, those catacombs we found should be sealed off, like Darst says, but other than that the Glassworks should open."
He smiles at her, "And should you decide to reopen the place, it will be in good hands."