"Dezjet," Braelex says, touching the red metal panel. "I think Sheila mentioned it as a kind of skymetal."
He looks down at the water uneasily, "Well, without a boat, this appears to be a dead end."
Vuloo admires the scenes in the red panel, "More depictions of Shorshen no doubt. Anyone have any idea if the panel can be opened somehow?"
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Braelex ponders the images for a minute, shaking her head and frowning deeply. "The sick bastard who built this place used demons of lust to empower traps and magical effects. Or, he might just have hated succubi... difficult to say."
Aidon claps his hands excitedly, "I have a boat!" he then stops and frowns, "Well, I had a boat, where did I leave that?" he rubs his chin thoughtfully and glances at the party for help
Aidon snaps his fingers, "I remember!" He then looks crestfallen, "Aww, it's back at the Crow."
"Well I might be able to bring some friends to help us across"
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Vuloo eyes the water wearily, "Perhaps if we had a strong swimmer they could swim to the other side of the river with a rope. The rest of us could then hold the river as we cross."
Vuloo looks at Relan expectantly.
Levelle touches the panel, feelings its metallic sheen, she nods after Braelex, Quite a feat...
Levelle frowns as the group overlooks the moving water, This seem like a strange way to build things...
Levelle raises her arm and clicks at Talaay, her eyes turning milky white as her connection to the kite forms more complete, Fly out a few feet. Lets look underneath the balcony, and a pace down the way, perhaps there is something that we have missed....
Levelle lets Talaay fly out as she "rides along" seeing as the bird of prey does ...
The river continues to the east.
Upriver about 100 feet you see a churning cascade of water pouring from a circular hole in the highest part of the wall at the end of the tunnel. A metal grate covers the hole, and glowing runes surround the hole’s rim. Along the south face of the watery tunnel, an oval stone platform protrudes from the wall, forming a sort of balcony over the river. At the back of the platform’s alcove stands a twelve-foot-tall stone statue of a beautiful woman, her arms raised up in the air.
As Braelex calls out notes on the specific panels, Andel lights up.
"That's no male wizard, Braelex, that's Sorshen involved in all that activity. See here on this panel, it looks like she's binding a succubus-like creature into a statue of herself upon a stone platform in the middle of a lake. This other panel in the middle depicts her binding a particularly powerful-looking succubus into what looks to be the scepter held aloft by the Lady’s Light. No idea if that has any meaning, but I find it fascinating."
Andel begins to take a rubbing of one of the panels.
Come back to me Talaay...
Levelle closes her eyes and reopens them with a sigh, reorienting herself to be present in her own body. As the bird returns she looks to the others, There is nothing beneath us but the water though the river runs further out to the East and ends at a beach. I believe that panel in the other room is a door and that is where it exits...
Levelle gesture for the others to follow her...
Excusing herself and asking Andel to move the hunter looks over the red panel with intense scrutiny...
Levelle realizes that the panels are actually buttons. The center one, with the binding in the torch, seems to be connected to some sort of mechanism.
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Vuloo nods in appreciation at the hunter, "Well done Levelle. We'll want to be careful opening this door."
Vuloo detects magic on the door and looks for any traps.
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Well, lets see if we can get this open. Relan encourages.
"Not many other choices..."
"Levelle, can you tell how to open the door?"
Vuloo studies the mechanisms and attempts to discern how to actuate it.
I confess I have the eyes of an eagle but no gift with the working of mechanical objects... The elf gestures at the various "buttons" and ends on the center section with the torch, these appear to be buttons, the center one here appears to be attached to a mechanism. I would guess that is the door and a sequence is involved? I am happy to start pressing unless anyone can think of a hint here that might tell us a sequence or give us a clue? Levelle focuses her pupil-less eyes on Andel, knowing the man had just been poring over the various images and pieces of information of the panel. Thoughts?
If there are no traps then its at least possible that there is no penalty to getting it wrong. Relan points out.
Vuloo shrugs, "Good point, Relan."
He reaches out and presses the center panel.
Pressing the button, you hear the whirring of machinery and the panel splits down the middle and swings open.
Beyond, you see a small sloping sandy beach extending down from the cave walls to the edge of the river. It's about 50 feet wide and 20 feet across. Two wooden skiffs are moored to four-foot-tall stone posts protruding from the sand near the river’s edge. Each boat is relatively narrow and has room to seat three, and each contains a long wooden pole.
The river continues to flow to the east.
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I think our way forward is clear. Relan says. Is there some way we can block this door open? We might want to return some day.
Vuloo inspects the other side of the door to see if there is any mechanism of opening it from the other side.
If not, Vuloo produces two iron spikes from his backpack and attempts to spike the door open.
The door can be opened both ways and can be spiked open as well by wedging the spikes under the door.
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"I guess they came in this way. But did they just walk through and leave?" Braelex frowns. "I get the feeling we missed something."
Vuloo nods, "I agree Braelex. Let's take the boats upriver and see what we can find."
Relan goes and prepares to launch one of the boats. I am a decent swimmer but do not know much about handling one of these boats. Perhaps we should run a rope between them.
Levelle nods at Relan, should be simple enough. Let me help...
Vuloo makes a point of getting in the same boat as Relan, "So, let's just avoid any swimming shall we?" He braces himself for the trip upriver.
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Let's head toward the drain that Levelle saw - upriver I believe.
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Out ahead, the ranger reports, is a breathtaking sight: an immense cavern covered in dozens of tiny colored motes of light. They flit and dance in the air, illuminating the vast, cathedral-like cavern. A forest of delicate stalactites hangs down from the ceiling 30 feet above a dark pool of water. To the east, the water foams as it cascades down into a lower cavern, while to the southwest, a low beach of white sand slopes up from the shore to a single stone door set in the wall. The sand of this beach slopes up toward a door in the cave wall. To the south, two seven-foot-long mounds of sand break the otherwise smooth contours of the beach. A long oval shield painted with a strange symbol sits atop each mound.
A seven-sided stone platform sits in the middle of the lake—an artificial island whose surface sits a mere six inches above the water level. A three-foot-tall stone mooring post protrudes from each of this island’s seven points. A single glass statue of a beautiful woman stands atop this platform, one leg poised before the other as if she were preparing a running leap into the water.
At the beach Vuloo turns to the others, "We had better rest before we head down river. The tomb appears to be a safe place."
He begins to set up camp. "I'll take the first watch."
And I the second. Relan says as he prepares to bed down.
As the group sets up camp, Braelex takes a few minutes to run a simple alchemical test on the river's water. (Assuming that...) Once she ascertains that it is safe, she refills the group's waterskins and washes herself up. She then prepares her bedroll and readies her alchemical kit for concocting mutagens and extracts after rest. While laying out the kit, she considers some new formula that had been running through the back of her mind recently.
Braelex notes one thing odd about the water. It is completely pure, no trace minerals, sediment or dirt. Definitely nothing dangerous.
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The party divides up, Relan taking a boat with Vuloo and Andel and Levelle taking the other with Braelex & Aidon.
The water is slow moving and once the 2 warriors get a handle on the poles they are able to manipulate the boats fairly easily. .
However, entering the large cavern, the current picks up and as you turn toward your destination, you realize the deceptively slow moving water now has a very strong current and the two realize they have to fight it or be carried along.