"Um... I can do it a f-few more times." Luca admitted, more than slightly nervous about acknowledging such otherworldly power. It was getting the job done, but it definitely wasn't nice healing. She scooted over to Kienyach a moment later. "I, uh, s-sorry about this..."
Luca pat him a few more times, but no more energy flowed through her hands. "Th-that's all of it." she said - though it seemed dormant, not absent, and would probably return once she'd slept.
Although the healing was not the most pleasant kind, Kien didn't seem to mind. If anything he seemed pretty ambivalent. As Luca apologizes he raises an eyebrow. "For what? I'm used to Kuthanite healers. This is paradise compared to that."
Luca considered that for a moment. Healing that was significantly worse than the unpleasant side effects of her power?
"...Does your country need an intervention?" she asked, looking distinctly worried about the Kuthanite practices.
"More like a genocide." Kien says with a shrug, standing. He rolls his shoulders and grunts in satisfaction. "Want to keep going?"
"Want is a strong term. I think we should at least scout the new location, lest our time here be cut short." Tyrus answers wryly.
Yes, you'd know what they were. Whip marks are quite distinctive to your learned eye.[/ooc]
Yes, the Planestone may very well have been found in the Makon shrine - it is just the sort of object the Makon would revere.
Tyrus deftly maneuvers the whip out from the grasp of the skeleton, entirely within disturbing the remains. He leads the others back to the temple and stands before the front gates. Detect Magic informs the magicians that there is indeed an enchantment that activates as the whip nears the heavy bronze doors. Doing as the auras seem to indicate, Tyrus taps the whip handle upon the center, right where the doors meet. They part very slightly, the warding enchantment now inactive. It seems safe enough to enter into the chamber beyond.
As they walked, Luca flipped through a few of her papers, trying to make sure she'd gotten all of the text from the room. Satisfied she'd gotten as much as she could, she put them away. A moment later, she pointed at the door.
Her Eidolon looked at her for a moment, then yawned and ambled forward.
Unexpectedly brave, Tyrus accompanies 'Fluffy' through the doors. Somewhere deep inside him he fancies he hears the voice of a much younger Tyrus shout in triumph.
Tyrus and Fluffy step into an enormous chamber, with a ceiling thirty feet overhead. To either side, long stone staircases lead upwards. But the most striking element in the hall are the statuary and carvings at the far wall. Flanked by two enormous, 20 feet tall statues of the same raptorian figure the party has seen elsewhere in the temple are statues and carvings of all manner of hostile-seeming fauna and flora. Some large, some small, some in groups and others solitary - it seems like a veritable index of what must be further inhabitants of Asperus.
The statues are not entirely of simple stone - some seem carved or formed from more valuable materials, or in some cases simply embellished with them. Every bit of the artwork is of incredible beauty and skill, some of it seemingly lifelike enough to move.
Seeing the hostile-looking statues, Luca squeaked slightly and hid behind her Eidolon - which, for its part, was less impressed. But then, it tended to give off the impression that it didn't care about much of anything, assuming it was even capable of such emotions in the first place.
"Um... make a circle with your hands, and peer through to the world as it is..." Luca muttered, bringing her hands up and trying to see if there was anything more immediately dangerous.
If there wasn't, she'd tell her Eidolon to go check out the stairs and see if any threats were there. If there was a problem... well, she'd tell everyone else.
"are these statues gonna come to life too?" Kien says warily.
"Honestly, I don't know." Tyrus admitted "They certainly had the skill to craft golems. On the other hand they also probably possessed the power to turn these Outsiders into Stone, needing only a dispel to turn them back to flesh."
"Better, perhaps, to assume that they can." He looked back nervously and raised the whip as a talisman "But hopefully that they won't."
"Let's give them a few minutes - look for movement - and then make for the stairs."
Several of the statues, including the two larger ones to each side, bear the auras of latent and inactive enchantments. It seems likely that these enchantments are linked to the ward you deactivated in order to enter the room.
The group warily watches the statues, but sees no sign that they are about to animate or otherwise become a threat. They they ascend the many steps, and then another smaller set afterwards and emerge onto the roof of the temple. To the rear, set against the cliff face that the temple is build into, rises a large triangular archway carved with magical runes and surrounded by smaller stone plinths and obelisks.
This arch is constructed to enable large, stable gateways to be summoned, almost certainly connected to Asperus. However, no such portal is currently active.
There are shallow marks in some of the rooftop stones indicating the passage of large groups of the squat, bird-like creatures you've fought. They must come from the portal arch at times.
"Mhmm, those bird creatures come through here." Kien says, pointing to the rooftop stones. "We should be wary for them. I'm not keen on being bird food."
"Um, t-the statues are magical." Luca said as she finished her examination. "I think they only activate if someone enters without taking the wards down first, though, a-and we did that, so they shouldn't be d-dangerous. The arch over there is meant for p-portals, but I don't think it's going to activate on its own."
Tyrus takes a few moments to recover from the climb. Hands on his knees he examines the stones Kien indicates while gasping for breath.
"So, Kien. a reasonable supposition. We should be wary of camping here, then. They could come down those terrible stairs in the night."
"I concur, Luca." he pants "I find myself wondering on the lifespan of one of these bird-creatures. Could they predate the fall of the temple?"
Finally straightening up he wanders over to the carved arch, and rests his weight on the cliff next to it. "Wonderful workmanship. We should see if they have a secret entrance dug into the cliff somewhere along this wall."
As Tyrus nears the portal arch, he gets a closer look at the runic inscriptions, and finds them immediately familiar. They refer to phases and conjunctions of the Planar cosmological system, which occur in roughly analogous ways to the phases and conjunctions of the stars and planets visible in Eldreon's night sky. This structure allows an experienced practitioner to open semi-stable portals to Asperus several times a year. It also seems that through the combination of critical conjunctions and available power still provided by the temple, the portal opens itself an average of twice a year, remaining open for an extended period - many hours, perhaps even multiple days.
Tyrus does a couple quick calculation in his head. The most recent opening of the portal would have taken place about two months ago. The next 'natural' opening will not occur for another five.
As Tyrus explained the workings of the inscription, Luca seemed a little... distant. Her attention didn't seem to be entirely present.
"Um. I. Um. I-is there any way to permanently turn it off?" she asked hesitantly. "So things won't be able to use it?"
"Destroy it?" Kien suggests. In his experience a well-aimed punch can deal with a lot of magic.
"Destroy it?" Tyrus asks in disbelief. "Do you have any idea what this is worth?" He shakes his head "I'd have to think on what resources Asperus holds, but the potential for a regular, fixed duration portal to an other-dimensional space..."
He pauses "I'd say this is where the creatures we fought are from. If they are semi-intelligent, as we suspect, then they may have deduced a way to predict the openings."
Luca just blinked at Tyrus, a little concerned. "It's called the Plane of Predators, isn't it? That... that doesn't sound like somewhere people should want to go. Or a place to meet things from." she said, a distinctly worried undercurrent to her words. Then, after a few moments... "Um, what is a Plane, anyway?"
Tyrus really has no idea where to begin attempting to attach a monetary amount to this thing. He has to imagine, though, that the magical knowledge which went into its creation, the rarity of stable planar portals, and the sheer historical and archaeological significance of the thing add up to... well, pricelessness.
"Obviously it is not perfect - but there are likely to be riches there as well. On the other hand, imagine if the end location could be moved... Perhaps with Planestone..." Tyrus trails off "Anyway, we've months before it activates again - though I would say that is why the orcs steer clear."
After some quick figures in your head, you determine that a favorable time will occur in about five weeks, when a skilled and knowledgeable magician would be able to open the portal for a time without too much additional preparation or power focus.
"Moved to do what, create a portal for predators to pour out into a city?" Luca asked, starting to grow seriously concerned. "W-we've done a lot of dangerous things to get money and survive, but messing with something with that kind of name feels... inevitable."
Tyrus looks shocked. "No - imagine if we could make this a portal to Elysium, for example."
Standing next to the portal, and looking out past his companions at the vista below, Tyrus is struck by something.
He steps forward - still far from the edge - and points. "Look! Some sort of structure, built into the towers." he marvels for a moment, then continues "I suggest the following course of action."
"First, we investigate the structures and ensure they are not guarded.
Second, we return to our camp and relocate to the underground temple. With only one, easily defended entrance we should be much safer if the avians or orcs decide to return.
Third, Luca and I continue to scribe the inscriptions and work on our notes while Dante and Kien stand guard and recover.
Lastly, assuming we have investigated the temple, Tomorrow we finalise our notes, collect our souvenirs and prepare to travel. The next day, at sunrise, we make a break for the outside world."
"That... should work..." Luca said, nodding slightly. Complete notes were likely to be far more valuable, and she wanted to get as much value out of this trip as possible. Goodness knew it had been dangerous enough.
She was still feeling a little worried, though, then winced as a searing heat went through her eyes. What... what was the void doing to her body, anyway? And why did it seem like every creature was just a little more vivid, or attention-getting?
...Maybe it would be better to avoid mentioning this. She didn't need to worry people more than she already did.
Dante nods. "We've seen everything here, he says. Then he considers. "One entrance also means no exit should we be attacked, though."
From the top of the temple, the nearest towers are those that stand at the "joints" of the outer wall, where it bows outward to encompass the wide inner grounds. Stairways offer easy access to both, though the western tower is much easier to approach. The group ascends to the wide wall walkways, affording them easy view of the jungle beyond.
Your eyes catch sign of skulking orcs pulling tighter to the trees they have perched in, hoping to evade your notice.
Like so many others, the door within the entrance of this tower is long gone. Walking in, you realize that there is an old bronze bell hanging about ten feet above you, though it's pull rope is similarly lost to time. In the corner, what seem to be old arrow heads lie upon the tower floor, missing any haft or feathering or rack to hold them. Finally, a few shards of stone lie to the side of a pillar.
It's placement in a watch tower makes it likely that this was a warning bell, but its size is too small to be heard very far from here. Perhaps it used magic to be effective somehow.
Corroded, but intact. The style is that of a wide-bladed and barbed arrowhead, meant to cause excruciating, heavily-bleeding wounds against lightly or unarmored opponents.
The shards, when pieced together, form a straight-lined rectangle with some Makon writing lightly chiseled into the top.
Luca looked at the bell for a moment, then squeaked a bit and moved to be sure she wouldn't be hanging under it. She had this... thing... about not wanting to be under old, possibly-going-to-fall hunks of metal that weighed significantly more than she did. Her Eidolon, meanwhile, moved over to sniff at the stone shards... then poked at them with a paw until they resembled a shape.
"???"
Luca looked at it when her Eidolon nudged her towards it. "Um..."
Well, she'd gotten pretty good at deciphering this language...
Kien shrugs. "Sounds better than anything I've thought of."
As they walk in Kien frowns. He turns away from the trees and towards the inside of the room. "Don't look. Orcs shadowing us, hiding in the treetops."
Fitting the pieces together, Luca can make sense of the tablet. It seems this was the daybreak report of whatever captain had charge of this tower, or perhaps even the entire outer wall, on the day whatever outside force brought down the city launched their attack. The report was never completed, but mentions something about a lost or tardy patrol.
"...Chiseling out reports must have been awful..." Luca murmured, more than a bit worried about the orcs. "I think this is historically interesting... um, Tyrus, if you can repair this, we might be able to bring it back with us." she said, looking up at the Wizard. "It's probably worth something to the people who want to know about this place."
At Kien's words, Tyrus looks, then quickly looks away.
Curiously he looks around, but leaves the stones to Luca's shadow. He picks up one of the arrowheads - carefully - and turns it over in his hand.
"Beyond my skill, I am afraid. I could try to Mend them together, but the cracks will always show." The old wizard forces cheerfulness "An excellent idea, though. I always did intend to seek out a spell of wholeness - obviously it would have been a better idea that I realised, if we keep finding damaged documents."
Tyrus looks over the bell, trying to determine if it can safely be detached, and using his third eye to look for traces of magic.
"Well. Per the plan we now move our campsite?"
Luca nodded. "The less chance those... things... have to try and ambush where we're staying, the better." she said, a firm fan of anything that improved the group's safety.
The group takes their base of operations down into the belly of the temple, hoping the sturdy, narrow construction will make it easily defensible in case of attack by orcs... or something worse.
"Kien, if you can take first watch, and Dante second? I'd like to help Luca with her transcriptions. Before I go down I'll set up an Alarm spell." Tyrus takes charge.
The large wizard rolls out charcoal and a light spell - charcoal to help with contrast of the runes while marking which ones were transcribed, and light to help Luca see. Realising the height of the runes he takes a few minutes to prepare.
Slowly, wobbling, the massive wizard uses the levitation spell from the dwarven spellbook, slowly rising to the top of the pyramid and plugging to hole at the top still coated in dried blood. Then, fear and excitement warring in equal measure he grabs hold of the walls and drag himself along.
The bell would certainly be of interest to scholars as an archaeological find. You imagine it weighs somewhere between 10-15 pounds. The jointure to the stone is also bronze and hard to see from the ground, but you imagine you can get it open - with magic and force, if need be.
The warriors nod their assent to the plan, and Luca settles in to begin translating as Tyrus's spell lifts him off the ground so he may illuminate the furthest reaches.
Luca settles in to begin getting, at the very least, a comprehensive beginning copy of the writing. After a brief inspection, it's quite clear where it begins. The story picks up as the Priest-King attains manhood...
Nothing untoward happens and Luca and Tyrus are able to work uninterrupted. When Dante returns in the evening, he reports that he caught an orc surveying the temple grounds from the top of the wall.
"It was clinging to the outside of the wall. Maybe they figure that doesn't count as entering?" Dante says with a smirk.
Kien also reports that he had seen signs that the orcs were still watching from the trees.
Luca glanced nervously towards the trees every now and then, and noticed her Eidolon watching that direction... and remaining close enough to smell anything that might be approaching her. It never moved very far away from her, and it seemed content to simply sit there and wait as she worked to copy as much writing as she could. There was no way she was getting all of it, but she wanted at least an obvious first section if such was available.
Tyrus sleeps the sleep of the dead.
He lies flat on a bedroll next to the dead devil-thing, with a Makon Priest-King's corpse ten feet away, surrounded by runes, clutching an instrument of power to his bloated chest. Apart from the slow movement of his chest he gives little sign he is alive, his normal 'loud breathing' subdued in volume and quantity.
If his body is quiet, however, his mind is not.
Vivid dreams - or dream - assault the wizard's mind. He sits at home, in his study. Children's toys scattered around a bookshelf that mix arcane tomes and children's books together. His guest - as desiccated in the dream as he is in reality - politely sips tea from a silver teacup while Tertius offers biscuits and propounds obscene, half understood theories.
Tertius writes formal draconic spell symbology on the blackboard still mounted to the wall, carefully weaving around a child's chalk scrawls. His dead guest joins him, Makon symbols weaving around the mathematical terminology. Tyrus stands beside Tertius and Alchemical symbols join the mix.
The board grows, as the silent writing continues. Blackboard becomes stone wall, becomes the walls of the pyramid in which the participants rest in the real world. Chalk scrawls become carved symbols somehow overlaid on each other. Notes from the dwarven spellbook occasionally intermingling.
Something joins in, a faceless presence writing in a fourth unknown script. Planar symbols scribe around the carvings, which start to writhe.
Fluffy is there, then. Growling at the planar presence, then biting at Tyrus.
With a start Tyrus sits up, rubbing at a cramp in his leg where Luca's protector bit him in his dream.
"I... I almost had it." he whispers, then launches himself for his journal, and starts to write. Desperately he copies what he can remember.
He is little use that day. Piece by piece he puzzles over his notes, closing his eyes and trying to use his prodigious memory to tease parts of the dream out. Waving to silence anyone who tries to intervene. "I'm fine. I just need to work through this."
"It's a... a map." he says hours later, to no-one in particular. "A map between languages. Like the stella they found centuries ago with Draconic and ancient Kadheshi." he contradicts himself "Not languages. Something else. All representations of arcane magic. All limited, but together..." he goes silent "I could nearly see it. The grammar behind magic, not just the limited version we can comprehend. Like a first year getting a glimpse of mastery."