Kardas peers down the hole and like its master, so does the fox. Together they study the rather beautiful sight and when the fox turns around to face Kardas, the swordmage snorts. "Heh, I see."
He steps away from the pit and looks at his companion. "Whoever created this spiraling staircase of sorts expects us to tread on the shoulders and wings of angels. I'm not sure how to approach that - are we to trample underneath the servants of good or do they hold us aloft, and out of harm's way? Whatever the case, tread on those wings and shoulders if you don't want to fall. Should we prepare for trouble, Delenn?"
Zane winced at all the noise created after he and Kardas worked the statue's head into place, relieved when Ishta informed them that it was just the main gate opening. Walking with the others to the opening, he looked at the faces with their lolling tongues with narrowed eyes, wondering if that had been the original intent of the designers of this place or if the magic had been twisted here.
While the group waited for Delenn to offer her insight on the matter, the priest listened to Kardas explain the likely way down, frowning at the prospect of using angel shoulders and wings as footholds. After a moment, he shrugged...these were just things, and likely evil ones. The priest would have to cast aside his timidity regarding such things in this place.
Ishta awaits Delenn's response for a few, very long seconds, but her natural curiosity urges her to step inside. "I guess that was what we were here for?" she timidly asks before starting to slowly approach the gate and, if no one says something against, thread on the first angel's wings.
I really, really hate leaving things unfinished. There could be more important finds. But I suppose you are right. If that was the main gate, I am sure some mercenaries sent by the dark side of the council will show up any minute to undermine our efforts.
Ishta must admit that Azarra has a point. However, they're in a special situation here today.
"I know the feeling. I came here to investigate about my past, and anything I find could be very important. However, all we need to do is reset the defenses. Once done, we might have time and calm to search more thoroughly."
When the "path" is pointed out to her, Delenn replies somewhat distractedly, "Oh! Well we used magic when I came here before. You see the librarians had this Oghma Blessed bell, which could cast a levitation spell on whoever rang it. One ring to go up, two to stop and three to go down."
She looks somewhat pensively at the steep drop, before coming to some decision. She follows Ishta, "Lead on. The bottom of that shaft is more then two hundred feet below the surface. I never did understand why it was built so deep. Sure the bottom most level is a secure vault, but it seems unnecessary given the other precautions. Dimensional travel doesn't work down there, and famously the builders employed the elven Archmage Kevellan D'uzo at great expense to repeatedly cast Transmute Stone to Metal on every surface. Also once we enter it will be impossible to leave for at least twenty four hours, this angelic seal is a time lock."
[spoiler=Perception DC 25 (separate check)From somewhere above you hear a howl which suggests another pack is on the prowl![/spoiler]
Nothing untoward happens to Ishta when she steps on the shoulders of the angel. Now she's spotted the path it looks to be really quite easy to get down, kind of like an unusual spiral staircase - albeit one requiring handholds.
Ser Armithia takes point, scanning as he descends.
Zane peeked over the edge again as Delenn spoke of the distance to the bottom, arching a brow at the mention of the time lock. "Let us hope that portion has withstood the test of time, as well."
Nothing being amiss, the cleric patiently waited for the ladies to start descending with Ser Armithia, offering to let Kardas go before he takes the rear guard station on the harrowing descent to the secret archives.
Azarra notices that Delenn is sweating, and wonders if she is telling the truth. They had seemed to get along well so far; it would be unfortunate if she ended up betraying them after all.
She descends with the others.
"Now is not the time to start second-guessing yourself, Delenn, for we ride." The swordmage then starts finding his way down the angelic steps, one cautious step after another.
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As it seems her gesture caused the desired outcome, that is, that the rest of the group follows, Ishta descends happily the rest of the "stairs".
However, and given that she finds some odd ends meeting, Ishta decides, at the very last moment, to pick a piece of parchment and leave it before all of them finally disappear down the new found place, a brief note just with the words "We'll be back" handwritten in a distinguishable Thayan-style calligraphy.
As you descend upon the backs and wings of angels you feel as if a great weight is descending upon you, as if you where instead descending to the bottom of the sea. The environs feel otherworldly and distant from reality, making it hard to imagine that a teeming, cosmopolitan city carries on daily life as normal somewhere above and a bit to the south of you.
After a few minutes labor, you wind up in a curious chamber a little over thirty feet to a side. Instead of normal walls, hundreds of statues of angelic beings, many bearing spears and other weapons and others wearing two-colored masks, make up the walls of this chamber. The sculptures appear unnervingly realistic, with dynamic poses that make it seem like they could step out of the wall at any point. The uneven floor is formed from carved faces. At the heart of the room is a single object supported by a quartet of stone hands—a peculiar, slightly rusted iron cube about a foot square.
Delenn warns you, "Never mind the puzzle box for now. We need to reset the wards, to do that we need to find an angel with no eyes! I was blindfolded last time I visited the secure vault, so I couldn't tell you which one." She looks around, "Goodness there are hundreds and hundreds. This is most unnerving - it's as if they could leap into action!"
The puzzle box itself features bizarre symbols and images on its sides, and has a series of movable, concentric rings on the top bearing smaller symbols that correlate to the images on the sides. The symbols are sometimes sigils, sometimes words in different languages, and at other times simply images that represent things such as serpents, phoenixes, bolts of lightning, an infant, laborers building a structure, warfare, a flowing river, a scouring wind, a blazing fire, moldering fungi, and fruiting plant.
Azarra notices that the statues are carved to look like they are in motion, but doesn't say anyting because she doesn't want to seem paranoid.
(+2 additional if it is an ancient language)
Azarra starts studying the angels, looking for one with no eyes.
She also casts detect magic to see if something stands out that way.
Ishta takes her time to have a look over the room, the box and the carvings. She would have never imagined something like that.
She starts having an idea on how would the puzzle box work, but leaves it aside and focuses on how to find the blind angel. "Maybe we should divide the room and everyone searches a smaller section?"
Kardas has a hard time looking past the iron cube, but his furred companion slips in between Azarra's feet and looks whatever she looks at. It snarls at this and that, trying to get the perceptive half-elf to check it out. While he might be perceptive himself, the fox is bound to the ground and lacks useful attributes like a pair of thumbs.
It is especially the scent of brass that catches the fox's attention and it snarls at a particular angelic statue, hoping the half-elf will go and check it out.
"Friends, we should not act in haste in this room. Please, before you do anything, do discuss and elaborate before acting."
Ser Armithia aids in the search.
Zane helped the others with scouring the room, a bit disoriented by the constant moving of the statues he keeps seeing from the corner of his eyes. The priest certainly did his part to help once he started learning to ignore the motion, if only by eliminating several 'eyed' contestants from the mix.
The statue was literally one among thousands, easily overlooked. Deep within the recesses where there should have been carved stone eyes were a pair of brass switches.
Azarra recognizes sigils as symbols of creation and destruction from ancient Netheril.
"Good eye." remarked Delenn when the statue was found. She paced around the cube for a bit and noted, "Yes this is going to be tricky... They didn't tell me what but I get the impression something bad happens if we don't know the correct sequence. Too bad Elder Lythiin is dead, he knew the secret."
Ser Armithia presses the switches.
Kardas shoots forward to stop Armithia but is too late. He had not expected the paladin to just press the buttons. "Hey now ... wait, what's that sound? Okay, time to dig deep and figure out how to solve the next problem."
Azarra examines the puzzle box hoping to help Ishta figure it out:
Puzzles and whatnot were a bit out of the priest's element. While far from stupid, his skillset was more in the divine and oration than in logical problem-solving. Still, he tried his best to assist Ishta with the puzzle, giving input when he thought it prudent or thought something was off.
Ishta examines the situation and comments with her friends, trying to reach an agreement on the first clue.
The task Ishta set herself was extremely hard. The various runes and pictograms did have meanings many of which she was able to decipher with Zane and Azarra's help. Problem was which order should they go in? Alphabetical? In what language? No she was overthinking this, it had to be something that transcends language. Then suddenly she had it, the first symbol was the glyph for life. The next was a seed, followed by a plant, followed by the symbol for harvest, then the symbol for decay and fungi and finally the glyph for death. She turned the various dials on the puzzle box until this sequence was set and the glyphs now in a row briefly flared with radiance. She felt a build up of energy which made her hair stand on end and she prepared for the worst but seconds ticked away and nothing untoward happened.
"Ah, this reminds me of the time I had broken my leg and was stuck at the shaman's tent - he would endlessly throw his carved bones until he found a pattern he liked!" Finally, Kardas is starting to think with his brain and not with his fists.
"Okay, so this seems to have particular logic, at least. Well, knowing this, the next one should be easier."
She therefore proceeds to keep on looking for the proper order
The next series of pictographs represented quantities, a single dot, a pair of fish, three sides of a triangle, five loafs of bread and so on. Eight numbers where needed but the numbers 1-8 where not all present. Kardas speculated there might be a simple pattern and Ishta soon confirmed the fibonacci sequence was involved. She dialed in one, one, two, three, five, eight, thirteen, twenty one and again was rewarded with the glyphs flaring with radiance. The energies from before spiked in intensity making the puzzle box uncomfortable to approach!
Even standing several yards away Delenn's hair was swaying in thrall to the electrostatic forces. Grimacing she replied, "It did that last time too... It doesn't bear to think how much energy that thing uses."
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Ishta nods to Delenn's comment. "You know, all help is welcome" she adds, not really thrilled about them using the wrong dials.
Azarra backed off, sure that Kardas and Ishta together were on a roll.
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Zane might have contributed, but Ishta's incredibly nimble mind was carrying the day, it seemed. The priest could feel the energy build-up and thought uncomfortably about what might happen should the clever arcanist manage to get one wrong. As the group set about trying to solve the third puzzle, the cleric again tried to help, thinking harder than he probably had before in his entire life, helping Ishta make tweaks as they moved things around.
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"This fiendish contraption requires a Devil's wit ...", Kardas mutters as he tries to figure out the next sequence.
The final sequence turns out to be a alphabetical sort, albeit in ancient netherese which Kardas noticed. Ishta announces her discovery and stars setting the rings. She quickly places the first dozen glyphs in order and then worked on the next one but Zane noticed she was about to repeat a symbol and stopped her. It turned out there where two representations of fish that looked very similar and Ishta nearly used one twice. With that tricky moment past she quickly finishes the last few and as before the selected runes flare with radiance. This time however miniature lightnings arc out from the puzzle box and start striking repeatedly all around.
You feel a great pulse of energy wash over you like a wave and then you feel a moment of dislocation and a sense of falling accompanied by the smell of burnt parchment. Time passes. How much you couldn't say but then suddenly you realize you are elsewhere. You look around to see a vast square stone chamber lit with large burning braziers set in nooks at each corner. A number of grand podiums set throughout the room which hold enormous books, and other massive tomes hang from the ceiling on iron chains like condemned prisoners. Despite the burning fires, the air feel cool and crisp, and the scent of old books and flickering flame hangs in the air. To the north west is a giant statue of what appears to be a fallen angel, holding a huge sword.
The walls of thechamber are built of what appears to be sandstone that has been polished as smooth as glass. The floor is tiled, and a depression in the center sits 2 feet lower than the outside of edges of the room. The tomes that are hang 30 feet up can be easily drawn down on their chains; however, one chain hangs broken and empty...
.
Delenn's eyes are riveted to the broken chain, she turns white as if she's seen a ghost and emits a small cry in elvish.
Anguished beyond reason, she sinks down to her knees upon the polished tiled floor and a tear rolls down her cheek.
The Paladin scans the statue.
Azarra scans the room to see if there is anything trap-like (especially the statue. She doesn't want a giant fallen angel coming alive and killing them).
When Delenn collapses though, Azarra focuses on her, moving to her and saying:
Delenn, are you okay? Who is Lenoir? Is there anything I can do?
While Ishta is aware of the dangers, and realises Delenn has a secret agenda which, anyway, doesn't seem too dangerous for the Watchers of Dawn, she is more fascinated with the possibilities.
Eager to investigate, her curious nature compels her to cast a spell and see what happens. "Only a small one..."
Kardas takes in the sight of the magnificent collection and wonders how much time he could spend here unearthing forgotten arcana. Sadly, there is no time for that right now. There's a mission to complete and there's the issue of Delenn's private mission. "Since we're stuck down here for a while, I say we take our blessed time to make sense of all of this. Please, don't do anything rash. So, that statue, Delenn, can you elaborate? Also, that broken chain, there's a book missing. Should that worry us??"
Still staring at the missing book, with tears streaking down her cheek, Delenn sobbed softly and for Azarra's ears only.
This is a single volume of a massive work dealing with the history of warfare from before time was even recorded (such records being of course possible through magical means). In it there are innumerable little mentions of this group defeating that group and being attacked by another group who in turn are attacked by a fourth, etc. There are accounts of abductions, failed alliances, broken treaties, petty squabbles, diplomatic intrigue and more. The book’s tone is strongly moralistic, attempting to set forth the proper principals of governance in times of warfare. It is also very anecdotal. From the crumbling pages comes the following passage which somebody underlined:
"At this time their ruling the Twisted Ones named Tyranthraxus. He strode before his armies cloaked in flame and led the Riders out of the waste. At his hand the kingdom of Barze was conquered. Turning south he led his army to conquer the Horreb and the Vane. Tyranthraxus was a cruel man and leveled all that he had taken, murdering the princes of these lands. But the flame that surrounded him consumed him, destroying his body. Freed of its shell, it flew among the men of his army, lighting on each and claiming it. It was then when Baron Schodt imprisoned Tyranthraxus in a vial of water which shone like the light of day. This he sank in the watery depths of Lake Longreach, defeating the armies Tyranthraxus had raised".
With Zane missing out on most of the conversation, he concentrated on Kardas' words, agreeing with the Rashemi. While the concept of an angry or violent book wasn't something the priest could comprehend, a large statue animating and trying to stomp on them certainly was, and didn't seem out of place in the hellish library. Not wanting to really explore until Delenn offered some elaboration or someone with more arcane knowledge gave the go-ahead, Zane just looked around nervously.
Delenn, don't despair. Maybe it is here somewhere else. Even if it is not, we will work to free your brother. We'll find a way. Evil can be overcome.
She explains to the group that
Delenn's brother is being held hostage by the Zhentarim, and that she was supposed to retrieve a book from here in order to ensure his safety. She gave us one book that they wanted, <indicating the book in her hands> but the one they really wanted used to be there <she indicates the empty chain>. It was called something like "Moander's binding by elvish spirits." It is hard to translate.
Obviously, we have to help her.