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There's another one of those 40' cliffs between you and the Philosopher's Graveyard; you can go up here the same way that you did before, or try to find another way up.
You notice nothing out of the ordinary.
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Maddie sighs heavily as the group comes to another cliff, "I'm afraid with my broken armor I will not be able to make that climb. Someone will either have to lift me up with a rope, or wait until the morning when I can fix my armor with magic. I'd rather not continue exploring the island unarmored, which I suppose is the third option."
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"I believe I may have the solution to both problems." Rah smiles. Taking out her spellbook again, she flips a few pages, places a finger upon one and concentrates, then casts a mending spell upon Maddie's armor. After repairing it, Rah utters a few arcane words and consumes a spell to restore her arcane reservoirs, then dimension slides to the top of the ledge an sets another rope.
You're able to reach the top without incident.
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Not far from the top edge of the cliff, you see an open area surrounded by a low wall. When the breeze blows from the north, it carries with it the characteristic odor of rotting flesh; as a result, you approach the area slowly. The only signs of movement are seabirds landing in the area inside the wall, so you pass the wall through an ornate gate set with decorative Azlanti characters and pictures of older men and women in scholarly robes. On the other side is a narrow path that winds through a long-unmaintained garden containing seven pools. Each pool is filled with a silvery liquid, in which float thousands of tiny dark motes. Crumbling markers of etched coppery metal lie half-buried among the vegetation. The stench of rot is much stronger here, and you easily locate the source (as well as what the seabirds have found so interesting): a neatly arranged pile of twenty bodies. They all share the same unusual physiognomy you saw in the villagers. They're laid out respectfully, with their hands folded across their chests. Traces of silvery liquid can be seen on their clothing.
Near the corpses, three inscriptions on one of the metal markers have been cleaned thoroughly. There is also a well-cleaned inscribed metal plaque on a stone stele nearby.
By now Rah is familiar enough with the language to recognize it as Azlanti, and she thinks a comprehend languages spell should allow her to read it.
Rah, the cleaned inscriptions read as follows:
Aulus, Observant Councilor Most High, his speech on solar calculation, Lesson 3 of 6.
Ossoryol, Master of Lenses & Optics, the Master's final lecture of celestial alignment, Part the All.
Erinthander, Grand Provost of Spheres & Glyphs, his platform on the implications of solar sigils & wards, Lesson 2 of 3.
The plaque on the stone gives instructions for accessing lectures from the pools. (With the instructions, some of the fragmentary comments on this place in the history book you found begin to make sense. It appears that the greatest of the island's scholars were interred in the pools, and their simulacra can be called forth to again provide lectures and speeches that they gave in life. There is a note that this is not done lightly, as "the price of false life is true life.") When a living person reaches into the liquid with bare flesh and calls forth a specific person by name and title, then follows it with the title of the requested lecture, the pool forms a mercurial likeness of the individual. The likeness then delivers the lecture specified.
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"This place stores lectures," Rah says after her examination of the pools. "However, it requires a sacrifice of a living being of Azlanti heritage to activate the pools. Based on their appearance, I calculate the pools have enough energy left for a single lecture. We came here seeking more information from one given by Ossoryol, Master of Lenses, did we not?"
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Distracted by the return of her armor back to its functional state, Maddie merely nods as the others examine the room, but finally speaks up at the mention of a sacrifice, "Unless something of Azlanti heritage attacks us nearby, I don't believe sacrificing a sentient life form would be a wise thing to do under the circumstances. We should explore further to see if we can find answers without such a foul deed. My faith would look down upon such a thing."
Rah makes sure she has plenty of paper and ink available before placing her hand in the pool and calling on Ossoryol's lecture. As she steps back the surface of the pool mounds up in the center, the quicksilver dome rapidly developing into a human form. It moves to the edge of the pool and begins to speak in Azlanti.
Half an hour later, the lecture is complete. Everyone else is pretty bored by this time, but Rah is rapt. There is a great deal of the talk that makes no sense to her without the proper context; the arcanist is certain, though, that this will help her control the orrery described in the texts you obtained from the Archives. Towards the end of the lecture the quicksilver lecturer's form begins to soften and its speech slurs a bit. Rah notices, to her disquiet, that the surface of the simulacrum looks like it's starting to sweat; the clear liquid sizzles as it runs down and touches the edge of the pool.
The lecture comes to a close. The silver form is slumping back into the pool when the pool's contents suddenly spill forth in a wave, rolling towards the party!
Round 1:
Initiative order
Quiven
Bogenschützen
Rah
Maddie
Pudding
Rah puts two rays of flame into it, burning away some of its substance. Her fellow halfling follows up with a light hammer blow that does more damage to the creature.
Bogenschützen puts some distance between himself and the huge silvery ooze, then puts a blunt arrow into it with a splash.
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The silver pudding rises like a breaking wave, then crashes down on Quiven! Actually, it crashes down on where the nimble halfling *was*, leaving him unharmed.
Round 2:
Initiative order
Quiven
Bogenschützen
Rah
Maddie
Pudding
Bogenschützen's quartet of arrows splashes into the silvery mass, which obligingly falls apart. The liquid flows back into the pool, ripples dying away quickly on its mirrored surface.
There's nothing more of interest in the area.
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Consumed with transcribing notes, Rah doesn't immediately answer, but after a moment she stops and flexes her writing wrist.
"Well there was a lot to take in, and I'm not sure I understand it all, but I've got a good idea now how we might control the orrery described in the texts we found in the Archives. I think we should go and see what is happening there."
The easiest path to the observatory takes you counterclockwise around the top of the hill, on which is a large and silent ruined building. Before you reach the observatory, you pass the edge of what must have been a collapse after the city had been built--an entire section of the island has plunged to sea level, forming a sunken cove close to two hundred feet below where you are now. Ruined towers and other buildings, fallen from the edges of the cove, now line the beach below. A rough canal cuts from the shore and continues below where you can see. Seawater in the canal rises and falls as waves pound its mouth. The canal is obviously a work in progress...which is to say, dozens of people are excavating it with crude tools.