Dez will participate in a careful search of the vault.
As always, assisted by his oafish friend.
Ogon stays back this time, muttering under his breath what can only be curses.
Chiquq wrinkles her nose sympathetically at the big hobgoblin. "We.... will try and get you... fixed."
You begin the careful task of opening all of Nazhena's storage boxes, many of them nailed shut--not with witch nails, sadly.
The crates and chests contain an impressive collection of arcane spell scrolls. 12 in all are tallied up.
There are decanters that radiate magic--four of them. Together, Dez and Yrja conclude that they are potions yet to be aliquoted into vials.
There are heavier chests containing silver bullion-50 bars of pure silver, each weighing 10 pounds, and worth 50 gp each.
There is one locked chest with a formidable spiky (non dangerous, just decorative) padlock on it that remains to be opened.
Dez asks Yrja for a bit of luck () and checks for traps:
He then takes off his chain shirt so he can work better and tries to disable the lock, again first asking for luck (and using some inspiration):
If 23 is not good enough, Dez will take 20 (for 32) to (hopefully) get it done.
Ahh, before you get to work, let me check for magical traps." Yrja stops Dez with a hand on his shoulder as he reaches for the lock. She then concentrates for a few moments, trying to sense if any harmful enchantment has been placed on the chest or lock.
Despite Dez' preparation, the lock doesn't budge. After spending a longer period of time, though, it does pop open. Yrja doesn't detect anything on the lock or chest exterior.
The spiky lock is slid aside, and the chest opens to reveal a heavy blue robe, a bag, and a small iron coffer. Inside the coffer:
two little carved trinkets, radiating magic
A wand, radiating magic,
and a ring of white gold set with a large green sapphire, also radiating magic.
The robe and bad also radiate magic.
”Be careful, the witch may have trapped the items too. Check them for glyphs and other signs of traps!”
Ogon continues to smoulder, literally, in the background.
Dez tries to identify the four potions:
Orik waggles his fingers and peers at the items himself, at anything that isn’t identified.
The trinkets: A bird feather token and tree feather token
The wand: Color Spray Lvl4, 23 charges. (via Orik)
The ring: Ring of Regeneration
The robe: Robe Of Useful Items, with patches for: a bag of 100gp, three flasks of alchemist's fire, a ladder, an open pit, a CSW potion, a rowboat, a pair of war dogs, and a window.
The bag: unidentified
Potions: 2 draughts of CLW, 2 of Enlarge Person, three Oils of Mask Dweomer, and 2 draughts of Reduce Person.
You are also able to, via Read Magic, identify a bunch of scrolls:
2x Comprehend Languages
2x CMW
Delay Poison
Dispel Magic
Irriseni Mirror Sight
Remove Disease
2x Remove Sickness
Threefold Aspect
Youthful Appearance.
"Lots of nice stuff, scrolls for you bookish types. But let's get to analyzing the portal notes." Orik helps Dezso and Yrja catalog and compile whatever notes that they find about the portal, hoping to find a way to disrupt the magic.
With the various items identified and deemed safe, Ogon takes the golden ring and examines it, nodding in approval at the large ruby set in it. Unless stopped he slips it onto one of his thick fingers and immediately some of the tension in his shoulders drains away - in fact he looks more relaxed than any of the group have ever seen him.
”Um, I’d be careful with any of that stuff, Nazhena liked to protect her items from theft, even from her nominal allies in the tower.”
"Yes, I would be suspicious about an item of such apparent power. If it really is what it appears, it does not seem logical to me that Nazhena would have left it."
The ring does seem suspiciously auspicious. Why would such a powerful ring be left here? And not on a finger. Why ever take it off? Hmmm...
"We should hold off on claiming any of these items, as useful as they seem. Ogon, I hate to be the one to point this out, but... witches, at least these witches, are hardly trustworthy."
Yrja eyes the cornucopia of potions, scrolls and other magic items with suspicion.
Assuming all are in agreement to bag everything up for future more careful examination, Dezső focuses on investigating how to close the portal with Orik and (presumably) the brainy Yrja. He also keeps his eyes open for any other books of particular interest.
With the brain trust working on something he doesn't understand Ogon leaves the ring alone and slumps in a corner to rest.
”My gut tells me that Dez’s logic is right, and when those line up, it’s led to good outcomes. Sample size of one, and all, but uh, you know. Let’s just be careful with the non-consumables.”
Chiquq frowns through all the discussion of magical items. "Are there not prayers, or spells, that can tell if something is truly what it looks like? Perhaps we should test it, when possible."
”There are spells, yes, but few prayers, except maybe to Nethys, that help with such identification. Winterhome will have scrolls that can help.”
"A spell... yes, there is something. Give me a moment, please."
Yrja peers closely at the ring, muttering an incantation under her breath.
Orik will attempt to guide Yrja as she examines the items.
The bag is a bag of holding.
The ring can still only be identified as a ring of regeneration. Whatever it truly is remains to be seen.
"Put witch things in big-inside-bag so we can leave?" Ogon asks. "Or is there more?"
Dezső, Orik, and Yrja spend some turns of the glass inspecting the ritual chamber. It's Dez who notes the obvious ley line connecting the Border Wood of Taldor with the portal opening in Irrisen. Yrja spends her time piecing out Nazhena's spell workings for the portal creation; it's something that is uniquely witchy, and winter witchy besides. Orik spends most of his time peering over their shoulders.
At last, Yrja has the solutions for breaking the spell.
One of you can cast a conjuration spell, and attempt to subvert the portal, via a DC15 concentration check. Alternately, someone can try to simply break the portal, with a DC20 Use Magic Device check.
"Ah, hm, I think I know how this works now. It needs..." She finds herself at a loss for words. It all made sense in her head, and she could close her eyes and picture the magical energy matrix very clearly, but she lacked the words to describe it to the others.
"The... when you make things appear. And then when, um... pow!" She makes shapes and waves through the air with her hands, trying to illustrate her point. shaking her head at the silliness of it, she simply sets to work attempting to break the spell.
She focuses her magic on the portal, enveloping it in a shield of invisible force, then at the last minute reversing that energy and hoping the portal implodes. She almost has it... until the spell slips from her grasp.
"Any other ideas, Yrja?"
"Well, we could try to just... break it. But that would require some skill. If you know of anything that might help with the manipulation of magical objects, that would be useful."
She looks thoughtfully at the portal, absently shaking a stinging hand from her previously failed spellcasting attempt.
You know you can try again, after an hour. Which raises this question--where are the bathrooms around here? Seriously, I would be jumping up and down, surrounded by all that cold ice...
Because it is boring to wait an hour in game for no reason, I say that y'all can try the UMD check right now.
The portal shimmers and wobbles--and remains unbroken. Stlarn!
"I'm pretty skillful at disabling both mechanical and magical devices. I'll give it a try."
"Witchcraft!" Ogon mutters from behind the group. "I'll burn the whole thing down if I must."
Chiquq frowns, observing Yrja's struggle. "When you make things appear?" she asks uncertainly. "If Dezso does not succeed I can try, I suppose..."
"I understand the temptation Ogon, but if we indiscriminately attack the marks of the summoning circle or the globe itself, some very bad things could happen."
Dezso moves around the summoning circle several times, opening one eye then another and squinting through half-closed eyes. He then gets on the floor and sniffs at it and puts his ear close to it. After doing this for a short time he gets a satisfied expression on his face and pulls out his thieves tools. He moves around the circle and makes calculated deep scratches through the arcane marks in several places, with quick, precise strokes of a small sharp pick.
"That should be enough to safely disrupt the portal. Once it fades, Ogon, you can attack the summoning circle as you like."
Orik watches as Dezsö and Yrja work to close the portal, and when Yrja is unable to progress and shakes her hand out, he looks to see if she’s okay. Not seeing a significant injury, he pats her on the shoulder, ”good try, I don’t think I have any spells that would wrk in this case. I suspect Dezsö has a trick up his sleeve, though.”
He grins at Dez, ”You’re on your own on this, don’t know about the miscellaneous magical items.” When he succeeds, Orik slaps him on the back. ”Great work! I would expect nothing less.”
Chiquq grunts in satisfaction when Dezso seems to accomplish.... whatever he has trying to do. "That looked successful."
Nothing changes, visually, after Dez does his careful defacing of the glyphs of the portal, but something is felt deep in your chests and abdomens--some lessening of arcane pressure as the magic fails and evaporates. Yrja, still scanning idly, can feel the auras of conjuration fade and unwind like gossamer threads.
The portal is closed.
Nadya lets out a breath she didn't know she had been holding.
"Well. You are all Irriseni now." She smiles, her cheeks crinkling her eyes in what looks like the first time in a long while. "Thora's passage in the great beyond shall be eased, knowing that we have done this."
She slaps her sword. "Let's get to Waldsby and resupply. I need to take my sons, Orm and Mjoli," she says more to Ogon and Orik's benefit, "And that rascal Hatch may come along too, or he may jump to another house. We have a hut to look after in Whitethrone." You recall that the Black Rider stated that Baba Yaga's Hut has been held by Elvanna in Whitethrone.
She pauses, looking at you all. "If--you will accept my help as your guide. I would be honored."