A curious adventurer unlocks a gateway to another place, another time, and sets in motion a ripple that threatens the very fabric of his reality
Current Encounter Map
Being cautious, Krevek blows at the dust on the table. He now sees that there are very small dials and knobs on the surface of the table. There are markings but he can make no sense of them. However, there is a small chance that he might be able to remember where his finger triggered the doors to close. Krevek can make a perception check, with a +2 modifier as he holds his hand above the table and tries to remember what he might have done to cause the doors to close.
Surana:
fortitude save to resist igniting DC (I think) would be 14, 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (13) + 8 = 21 The spark touches the strange material, sputters, but fails to ignite it.
As the spark disappears and Surana’s eyes adjust to the extremely dim light, she suspects that the delicate device is made of materials that are meant to resist catching fire, turning around she looks across the room. There are no other objects she is familiar with, anything that she recognizes anyway, there are only the metal “wardrobe like” cabinets. Perhaps there is something inside one of them that she could use?
Krevek:
He holds his hand, as he did before, and slowly moves it from left to right, flexing his fingers and looking at the small, tiny, knobs and dials, and realizes that he could have touched all of them, in fact he probably did. Ryko turns to the wall, and pounds his fist against it, then screams in pain, “Son of a B…” he exclaims. “Refan was far stronger than I am, and I think he was wearing gauntlets.”
F Samsaran Wizard 1 [ HP 7/7 | AC 10 Tch 10 FF 10 | Fort +3* Ref +0* Will +3* | CMD 10 | Init +0 Perc +3* | Effects: none ]
DM:
Standing as close to the ex-doorway as possible (and as far from the other things), Surana causes a mage hand to pop into existence on the far end of the room and wills it to open the farthest cabinet.
Male Human Fighter 2(Weapon Master) HP 22/22 AC 19 FF 17 Touch 12 CMD 17 (ff 14) Fort +4 Ref +2 Will +0 Init +2 Perception +6
DM:
The frustration of not being able to figure out what happened, the writings on the table not making sense. The tight leash Krevek keeps on his temper begins to loosen.
Krevek looks at the man trying to beat his way out "Would you shut up for a moment and get yourself under control. Move your ass over here and look at this panel. I need to know if you can make sense of any of it before I start randomly turning and moving things around. Can you do that?"
The spectral disembodied hand takes hold of the silver handle of a cabinet far away from Surana, turns it ninety degrees to the side and then opens the door. At first, nothing happens, then something, something round made from light weight material, rolls off of a shelf from within the cabinet and bounces across the floor. In the dim light, Surana can see other items like the one that fell stacked on a shelf, and what look like folded lines also neatly arranged. Before she can do anything else, her attention is drawn back to the glowing curio style apparatus against the far wall.
Across the top face of the device, symbols begin to appear. They flicker, and fade, and then reappear and begin to scroll from right to left. It would seem it is some sort of message, but the language and the characters are foreign to her. The blue glow from the device grows in intensity, flickers, goes completely out, and then suddenly comes back to life, and the light emanating from the device begins to take on a shape.
It is a human shape, or more appropriately it is a Samsaran shape. The image that is taking shape in front of the strange curio is that of a male Samsaran, wearing a close fitting body suit of uncommon material. The Samsaran image seems to look directly at Surana, and then it opens its mouth to speak.
“Nerad Colectik Juranto Muk Dolucta, Seri Eicha Eicha forcul,” the sounds are strange, and they do not seem to come from the image, but from somewhere behind the image.
Krevek:
Ryko snaps out of it, and hurries over to the table, “Let me see,” he says as he leans over the strange device. “Yes, I remember, the blue crystal I have in my pocket is still in the same place it was when I found it. Nothing about this makes sense, but wait, let me look closer,”perception check1d20 + 3 ⇒ (5) + 3 = 8,"I can't make sense out of these markings." he states flatly, "but maybe there is a way to reverse what happened.” Ryko bites his lip, and looks around the room, pointing his finger at various aspects of the walls and then the door, he then peers down at the table, bites his lip again, and tries, something disable device1d20 + 6 ⇒ (10) + 6 = 16
You do not recognize the script, the symbols, as they pass by, and are disappointed that you do not have more time to study them. However, the spoken language you hear strikes a chord deep within you, triggering a distant memory that overlaps with recent memories of your current life. The sounds are familiar, even though the meaning does not come to you immediately. The repetition of the sound, Eicha, Eicha, draws upon a vague study you made of an obscure work that claimed to be a translation of an Azlanti poem from a fragmented manuscript. The Translation listed the existence of nine separate parts to the poem and identified them by headings, which the scholar doing the translation claimed were Azlanti numbers. The nine fragmented sections were identified as Four (Forcul), Six (Erischa), Seven (Enischa), Eight (Eicha), Fourteen (ForculDub), Twenty Seven (Shura Enischa), Twenty Nine (Shura Vanti), Thirty Four (Thupa Forcul), and Forty (Forculna). Also, you know that in very old dialects of the language of certain Aquatic races (merfolk in particular), the Sound “Muk” also rendered as Murquee, means Lady, not in the simple specific gender identifier, but as a title of nobility.
The door behind Surana opens, and the light from the torch carried by Ryko is bright enough to cause the image of the Samsaran male to vanish from view, but the faint glow of the curio cabinet is still apparent.
Krevek finds Surana just inside the doorway that leads to the far room. She is standing to the right of the doorway, in shadows. There is a faint blue glow coming from somewhere in the room but before Krevek can identify the source, Ryko comes up behind him holding the torch.
”Here, I have the light,” Ryko says as he nears Surana.
A phantom hand like object is floating toward Surana. Krevek recognizes it as a common, simple spell, so he is not alarmed.
The hand comes to a stop just half a foot in front of Surana and she examines an objet the hand is holding. It is a roll of very strange looking fabric. The texture of the fabric can be described as rough. The fabric is a light brown in color, and the roll is about four inches in diameter, and about five inches long. Strangely, the end of the roll clings to the roll and is not loose.
I’m not sure who is first to pick up the thing, but I am going to go with Krevek, and it may seem unimportant, but what the heck
When Krevek picks up the roll the first that that he notices is that it is soft, and feels like a delicate cloth, but then it begins fragment in his hand, and it reminds him of the thin paper that bakers use to wrap muffins. He tries to make his touch lighter, but it is no use, everywhere his fingers touch the roll, bits of it flake and fall off.
He holds it out to Surana, who can see what is happening.
She notices that there is still an end to the roll and as delicately as she can she tries to unroll it, and it seems, at first, as if she might succeed, but the piece she is touching breaks off, and more pieces crumble as she tries to get a better grip on it.
It seems hopeless, but it also seems clear that it was once a roll of very fine material, that is now aged beyond usefulness.
You can both make perception checks to guess how old it must be to fall apart as it does.
doh! I always overlook the fact that perception is a Wisdom based skill when what I'm asking is for players to try and figure things out, SO! that should probably have been a Knowledge Nature check, I was asking for, sorry.If Surana applied a +7 to her roll above she would have a 13 and...
Male Human Fighter 2(Weapon Master) HP 22/22 AC 19 FF 17 Touch 12 CMD 17 (ff 14) Fort +4 Ref +2 Will +0 Init +2 Perception +6
"such a waste" Krevek says, "These were either not meant to be preserved, or the original creators did not have a chance perhaps by use of the arcane or divine arts the scroll could be made whole again?"
Krevek can see the open "wardrobe" like cabinet, three other similar but closed cabinets, and the strange glass front "curio" style cabinet at the far end of the room.
the light from Ryko's torch is bright enough to overpower the faint blue glow of the curio, so Krevek would not notice that feature.
You can all go back to the other room where the table is located and Surana can make any rolls she thinks could help her identify that feature, but the torch has only about twenty minutes left.
Krevek’s first impression of the Table (this spoiler) tells you what you first see,
Krevek:
The table in the center of the room is unlike anything you have ever seen. It is not level, which seems to defeat the purpose of it being a table at all. On the surface of this table are several recessed notches, and most of them are empty, but a few (three) hold slim and delicate looking possibly crystal objects. Two of the objects are blue, and the third is yellow. These objects are only as wide as a delicate blade, and are about five inches long. How far they extend into the notches they rest in is difficult to guess. You aren’t sure what any of it means…
But as you examine it, Krevek, trying to be helpful, points out the danger of touching the delicate knobs and sliders built into it.
Surana:
With some of the thick layers of dust having been blow off of the table, you examine the markings on the surface, and you are confident that the symbols are ancient Azlant pictographic messages combined with letters that are known to you to be in a language used by the Azlanti people. With the luxury of being able to study the text (unlike the messages that scolled across the face of the curio) in just a few moments you understand the images and switches that control the doors, and most curious of all, there is a message by the embedded crystals (similar to the one Ryko has already shown you) that, though it is difficult to be sure you are translating correctly, may say something about a Portal for Dimensional Travel, and a very small square next to the crystals that has color combinations and what might be destinations that you think read
Blue Blue……………Set Time Location
Blue Blue Red Green………..Gion – Hamth
Green Green Blue Yellow……..Gion – Riom
Red Red Yellow Green………Gion - Golarion
Blue Red Yellow…………Gion – Aether –Fixed at Time Zero Plus Four
Blue Yellow Yellow Red……….Niodi Umazla
Red Yellow Green Green ……..Mirodia
Blue Blue Yellow……………….Return to Third Day Previous
Yellow Blue Red………………..Return to Time Zero
Yellow Yellow……………………Return to Set Time Location
F Samsaran Wizard 1 [ HP 7/7 | AC 10 Tch 10 FF 10 | Fort +3* Ref +0* Will +3* | CMD 10 | Init +0 Perc +3* | Effects: none ]
Surana's eyes go a bit wide as she studies the device. After a moment, she looks up at Krevek, her solid white eyes reflecting the torchlight eerily. "If this is what it seems to be..."
She shakes her head and speaks softly, almost reverently. "These words have meaning on their own, but their meaning together is... impossible."
Turning her head toward Ryko, she asks, "How long ago came you here with the others?"
Ryko turns his head, slightly, keeping his eyes on Surana’s outstretched hand, he moves as if he wants to look over at the strange table. Finally, when his head has turned as far as it can, his eyes shift, and then he moves one step toward the table, holds the torch out over it, and then looks back at Surana with a smile, and says, “You’ve discovered something, I know it. I can see it in your eyes. I knew you would. I knew you were the right person.”
He moves back toward Surana and takes the blue crystal out of the pocket of his cloak and puts it in her hand.
”We don’t have much time. If the torch goes out it could be a challenge finding our way back.”
F Samsaran Wizard 1 [ HP 7/7 | AC 10 Tch 10 FF 10 | Fort +3* Ref +0* Will +3* | CMD 10 | Init +0 Perc +3* | Effects: none ]
Surana takes the crystal and compares it to the others, trying to figure out where it was when Ryko took it.
After a few moments more of studying the table, she reaches out almost reverently and touches the two blue crystals, watching for any noticeable result.
You do not detect, feel, sense, any noticeable change in your environment, but you do notice that the crystals do depress, very slightly, under your fingers, and rise up, seemingly by themselves, when you release pressure on them.
I’m probably being to demanding, but I want to be sure you are touching the two crystals that are in the table, with the yellow crystal, and you have not done anything with the third blue crystal, you are holding?
As you leave the room, bunched closely together and moving cautiously, you do not notice anything unusual, immediately, but you hear the sounds of Goblins in the room just beyond the center chamber that separates the two strange rooms where you have just been investigating. (it is the room where Ryko claimed there was a Goblin nest.)
Male Human Fighter 2(Weapon Master) HP 22/22 AC 19 FF 17 Touch 12 CMD 17 (ff 14) Fort +4 Ref +2 Will +0 Init +2 Perception +6
"Something is amiss, that room was empty and showed no signs of recent life when we walked by it minutes ago." Krevek then looks to the other two, "what is going on here? Is this sorcery?"
F Samsaran Wizard 1 [ HP 7/7 | AC 10 Tch 10 FF 10 | Fort +3* Ref +0* Will +3* | CMD 10 | Init +0 Perc +3* | Effects: none ]
Surana watches and listens as they walk, saying nothing. At Krevek's question, she nods. "Of a sort," she answers quietly. "Let us go and find the presiding authority, and I will explain."
