Kieran enters alongside Ansha, his hand grasping his sword tightly as his eyes scan the room. "As you said, Jakob," the half-elf says, nodding in agreement. "The strangeness of this place does not disappoint indeed."
Qhude frowns at Kieran's comment, but does not speak.
Moving into the room, Ansha was struck by the blend of magic and some kind of ancient machinery. Akirra, unfortunately, only recognised that the basic structure of the device led him to believe that the block-like metal device in the corner of the room acted as a magical source to modify the water in some manner. He had no idea about the seat and water tanks though he speculated they were also drawing from the device.
Taking a few moments to center herself, Ansha deduced the location of the six magical auras within the room. Two Moderate strength Evocation auras, one in each of the water tanks. Two Moderate auras of Divination, again, with one in each tank. And finally, Ansha detected a Strong divination aura which seemed to emanate from the water in the large tub itself.
Qhude remains stoically outside the room and frowns at the strangeness within it. He takes some comfort from the fact that Tebati shares his distrust and distance... and narrows eyes at Ansha, wondering what the Enchantress intends to do...
Ansha lets her magic-enhanced vision sweep over the room again as she steps inside. Moving closer to one of the tubs, she examines it more closely--keeping hands-off unless and until it becomes obvious that she can learn no more about it without touching it. "Divination and evocation. Scrying pools? Pools for summoning water elementals...?" she ponders.
:
Akirra shrugs, still clearly annoyed that he cannot be of any further help.
"..in for a copper.." Jakob mutters as he crosses the threshold and heads for the map/bath.
If he makes it to the magic map bath.
Jakob's feeling that the water definitely resembled a map did not leave him as he visually scrutinized the pool of water, but he did not see any features that could resemble any place he knew of.
Ansha found herself just as frustrated. Her speculation appeared to be just that; none of her training in magic or scholarly subjects gave her any further inspiration.
"A map?" Tebati asks, cautiously trailing Jakob to the tub-device. "Geography changes over time. The wind and wave will grind away even the greatest mountain to a desert full of sand. Akirra," she asks the awakened sleeper, "does this terrain look familiar to you at all?"
I... uh... well, the proud skirmisher stutters as he takes a step closer to get a better look.
No, he says flatly.
Knowledge (Geography):
As Qhude peers suspiciously into the room, his eyes pass over the table...
"A map," Kieran mutters as he looks around the room for anything of interest and of a more mundane nature that Ansha might have missed in her magical examination. He does take care to stay away from the pools however. "I was never particularly good at geography, I do admit."
"Another problem to keep the sages interested once we find a way out."
Jakob looks about the room one last time.
"Finding anything Ansha?"
What if this is the way to get out? Akirra adds frowning.
Ansha glances at Jakob and frowns, shrugging. She then dips her staff into the large tub and starts stirring vigorously. "Not yet," she says.
Looking at the map for some time, Qhude eventually began to recognize some patterns in one corner of the map; mostly massive mountain ranges that were in similar patterns to Sargava and the Mwangi Expanse. The geography was radically different in some ways, and yet bore similarities and distinct points at which he could roughly determine Sargava on the large map. He speculated that it may have represented the Inner Sea Region; but there seemed to be far more land- and a lot less water.
The bright points of light on the map- he estimated one of them to be within what was now the "Laughing Jungle" in which the group were delving. There were only four others in what he determined to be Sargava; four out of a total of perhaps a hundred points of light that seemed to act as markers.
Pointing to the points of light, Other fortifications like this one perhaps? Akirra asks hopefully. Maybe this apparatus allows for communication over vast distances?
Brow still frowning but the confusion of the others outweighing his desire for separation, Qhude steps into the room. Pointing with the end of his rope-wrapped guisarme he brusquely shows first the Laughing Jungle "Here, us... and this is Sargava." outlining the region he believes to represent where they are and indicating the other four lit dots as he does. Job done he grimaces at the devices, spitting wardingly to one side and removes himself from the room once more.
"If there were other fortresses of the Order," Tebati reminds him, "they are most assuredly no longer standing, or we should have heard of you before." Given Qhude's orientation, she tries to locate the general area of the map where Nantambu would lie.
Ansha stops her stirring. "They could be similarly hidden."
After a moment, she leans down to inspect the tubs for any Azlanti writings that may have escaped their notice before.
...we should have heard of you {them?} before."
"Maybe we have. Sagrava is known for lost ruins. Perhaps this is the only ruin to survive intact?"
Giving it more thought Akirra offers another possibility, Perhaps the points of light don't represent other fortifications exactly like this one. Does anything of my time remain in the present?
Do any of the closest points line up with the location of current settlements?
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Ansha's stirring had very little effect on the water. It acted just as water should, with the water splashing and rippling, but the image portrayed upon on it always swiftly reforming itself upon the surface.
Even Qhude struggled to identify the locations of the three points of light within Sargava. One was somewhere near what was now the west coast and another somewhere in the mountains in north-east Sargava. The third lay somewhere to the east, possibly beyond the borders of modern day Sargava. It was difficult to tell as the landscape and geography had obviously changed drastically since then.
Tebati shakes her head impatiently. "Standing here staring into the water isn't helping us find a way out. Let us try another door."
Ansha stands and nods at Tebati, "I agree." Exiting the room, she heads for the next closest door.
You don't want to try pulling the levers?
Tebati looks over her shoulder as she heads out the door. "The first device we tampered with dropped wax warriors out of the ceiling to try to kill us. Another device attempted to immolate Qhude with fire. But feel free to experiment once we're out of the room."
Akirra shrugs his shoulders and waits for everyone to clear the room. I think I will try the one on the wall first. You know, in case something bad happens, you'll know not to pull that one.
Qhude allows the others to pass before closing off the doorway and taking martial guard. With a flat and level matter-of-fact tone he promises "If that makes you more or less than yourself Empty-One... I will make your end swift"
I expect nothing less from you Qhude.
Akirra pulled the lever on the wall. The white box in the corner that he expected provided power in some manner began to hum softly, but nothing else seemed to happen; for a moment.
Then something a little strange seemed to happen on the map. The white points of light began to wink out, no longer visible on the map.
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Akirra watches the map, his heart sinking a little more as each light goes out.
Taking his hand off of the metal rod, he shouts at the door, hoping those outside can hear him.
Akirra then takes a seat and waits a moment to see what happens.
As Akirra watches the map, all but one light winks out entirely; the one remaining within the area Qhude marked out as Sargava.
The other levels were set to the tub itself, rather than near the chair (although a couple were within easy reach once sat down). Two of them caused small ripples within the water, but seemed to do nothing else. Either their function had yet to be determined, was no longer relevant, or they were broken in some manner.
The other two levers proved far more interesting. After some experimentation, Akirra found that they switched the image on the water entirely to a completely different landscape. One lever switched to and from a region as large as the original region itself, although it was much more land-locked. This too, had perhaps several dozen points of light scattered across the map.
The other lever showed a much smaller map in far greater detail. With almost no geographical memory to call upon, Akirra struggled to relate its size, but he estimated that it was likely ten to twenty times smaller than the original map he had seen. This smaller map had less than a dozen points of light upon it.
Hope returning at the sight of new land areas with new lights, Akirra shouts once more at the door.
Although Ansha heads out of the room and for the next, while Akirra stays behind, her curiosity gets the best of her when he starts describing the effects of his experimentation. She hurriedly turns around and attempts to slip past Qhude to enter the room and observe his experiments' effects up close.
Qhude accedes passage to Ansha with a slight sneer, before turning and moving away from the room towards areas as yet unseen "The room does nothing, it is a waste of our time."
That remains to be determined. How will we know unless we experiment? But yes, I agree, we should check out the rest of the rooms.
Akirra joins the others out in the hall.
Walking away from the map room Jakob muses "I can't shake the feeling that we keep just missing something."
Who would like the honor of opening the next door?
Lingering behind, Ansha uses the levers to replicate what she heard Akirra do until the map reflects what seems to be pre-Earthfall Sargava. She then reaches out and touches the point of light nearest where modern-day Eleder is (however far away that actually is).
In contrast to touching the other point of light, nothing seems to happen when Ansha touches the point of light near Eleder. It occurs to her vast intellect that she is perhaps, directly pointing at the exact structure she stood in.
Moving to the final door that remained unaccounted for, the group checked the door for threats before flinging it open, weapons at the ready.
This room was made up entirely of a large, open chamber dotted with statues. Each was carefully sculpted and it was obvious from their poses, physique and detail that they were likely heroes of the once-inhabitants. There were over a dozen statues, each carefully spaced to allow viewers to walk around and view them comfortably Each was accompanied by a small metal stand, built to encompass a metal plaque with small, neat script in Azlant engraved upon it. Details were not forthcoming on most, peering from the door, but they seemed to be accolades, titles and the life stories of the heroes sculpted in stone.
"Is it safe to go in?" Tebati asks, seeming to direct her query in particular to Kieran and Ansha. "Or will they all come to life and try to kill us like the wax creatures in the entry room?"
Frowning, Ansha touches the next closest point of light.
Assuming nothing happens, she then joins the others outside the next room. "Friends of yours, Akirra?"
Murmuring a cantrip, she checks the room out for magical auras.
Qhude muscles his way to the fore, and unless forestalled by a yell of warning steps into the statue room proper. His eyes range over the statues frozen in time... and his brow furrows.
Akirra falls quiet as the room of statues is revealed. He lingers in the hallway, resigned to let the others take the lead.
"Your friends and relations were very fond of statues Akirra."
Jakob splits his attention between the new room and the hallway. He is a bit unnerved by how quiet it is.
Akirra nods in agreement at Jakob's comment.