"What book do you mean, Aury? Maybe we could find another copy somewhere." Hswr says hopefully, knowing they probably won't.
"You're probably right. We need to find some sort of equipment, whether made or taken, to help us get up there. And relying on my berries isn't a good idea, so I'll go hunt for ago of for us."
"It was called 'Thief of Darkness', it had everything a good book needs - adventure, intrigue, romance, and a dastardly villain! It wasn't a legendary masterpiece, but it was always my favorite anyway."
"Well, if I find a copy, I'll be glad to give it to you."
"In the mean time, why don't you try to write it again? Do you remember it well wnough? We'll have to find you some ink and paper, but that won't be a problem."
Day 2 - Afternoon (Retro)
Several miles to the southwest in the sky, you see large rainbow colored letters appearring, perhaps what must be over 400 from the ground.
The letters spell a message that is somewhat hard to see at this distance.
Day 2 - Evening
Sly and Hseir-Shae with their aquatic prowess and slumber hex and ray of frost are able to net a huge haul of fish and birds from the forest and the icy lake waters which have no ill impact on them.
Hseir-Shae while out almost 3/4 of a mile and swimming deep and looking for larger fish that may be lower down, notices an odd formation of rocks at the bottom of the lake, near its deepest part, with his deepsight vision.
Hseir motions to Sly, attempting to show him the formation, indicating he's going to swim down to it.
And then he does.
It appears that there are many algae and muck covered stones, many of them quite squarish, perhaps actual blocks. Most of them are scattered about.
HS, you have 5 rounds of investigating unless you two stick together.
Round 3
HS arrives at the blocks, examines them.
The blocks are 5' square or so in most cases, although some larger ones are 10' square or even larger.
Sly swims down (rounds 1-7).
Feeling rather bold, Hseir dives down deeper ahead of Sly, giving him some time to get to the surface if Hseir is attacked.
After reaching the strange rocks, he will reach out carefully to pick one up.
Shaeyl notes the letters in the sky. I doubt any of our brethren have the ability to do something like that. Should we forgo the mountains where we might find something and head for the source of those lights where we will likely find something?
HS approaches the rocks, but they are far too massive to be moved.
Some of the rocks look to have less algae and muck covering them. Mostly the very large rocks in the center of the pile.
[dice=Spellcraft identify]1d20+7[/b]
"I don't know about that, Shaeyl. I was just thinking up an illusion spell earlier today that might be able to do that. I think I could do about the same, if I had thought to prepare it."
"Either way," Aury'tss continues, "We should find out what it says. Wyrwin, you get to do another very important mission to the other camps. Go visit each one until you find the one that sent the message, and ask what is going on."
The small bird flutters away.
Wyrwin is gone almost 20 minutes then comes flying back. Aury! Aury! Hi! Umm.....Hi! Oh, those sky letters. He stops and preens his feathers for a bit. "Hi Aury. The letters said we have translator then they changed Aury, they changed and i read them because you taught me to read Aury they said these are sacred lands Aury. Hey Aury, I saw a lot of other birds, and heard them. Aury, hi. I ate some seeds too."
[dice=Spellcraft to identify spell/magic]1d20+7
"Okay! Thanks! Good to know that the others were able to talk to the natives as well." She says happily, returning to her campsite chores.
Hseir-Shae spends some time trying to manipulate the huge blocks, but they are effectively not something one creature can move easily. A 10' limestone block will weight something like 170,000 lbs.
Sly is able to swim in, although his breath will be limited. He only has about a minute before he needs to start heading back to the surface.
The muck lake slime on the rocks is not so think that they cannot scrape it away with a claw, but they find not runes, reliefs, or artistic carving of any sort on the blocks, but it is clear they are worked stone.
Sly notes and confirms the blocks are hand carved, not by magic. There are tool marks and the craftsmanship is fairly skilled. These are also quite old, perhaps a millenium or more.
This alpine lake does not have a lot of the sea flora and fauna you may find in a tropical sea, and thus there is no coral growth or barnacles or other small crustaceans that may attach to something like this over time.
Sly knows that the lake probably freezes over in the winter but does not freeze solid all the way to the bottom.
Before long Sly has to return to the surface. Hseir-Shae can remain in the deep to continue to investigate.
Noticing Sly head back to the surface, Hseir decides to stay, and see what this thing is.
After casting detect magic,he'll start picking whatever he can up, trying to clean some of the rocks off more, and attempting to move any of the rocks at all, raging if need be.
As you move some of the smaller blocks, you find it challenging. In the water you have a hard time getting a foothold but eventually you are able to move some of the smallest ones. You notice a few things. On several of the largest blocks are large marks, gouges across the surface of the stone. You also feel a shift in the current of the waters around you. You get the sense that beyond and beneath some of the larger blocks there is space, and they are not simply resting on the lake bed. You detect no aura of magic as you move your sensory cone about.
Seeing that he can't do much here, and knowing that he doesn't want to continue exploring any farther without others to help, he will swim to the surface, attempting to catch any other fish he sees on the way up.
"Guys, we found something awesome! Some sort of giant hole under the sea floor, but there are tons of rocks on top of it, that I can't pick up without magic."
"There's a hole in the lake? Do you think someone put the rocks there to make sure the lake doesn't drain?" Aury asks the druid.
You highly doubt that it is some sort of bathtub like drain plug. More likely if the blocks are covering an opening, it is merely some sort of aquatic passage, maybe access to underground aquatic caves, or limestone passages eaten away. You know of many such natural formations that could result in this. Maybe even a spring, although it would seem odd at this elevation. If it was crafted by sentient creatures, then well your imagination is the limit of what it could be. When below you examined the marks, and sure they could possibly be claw marks. On Sly's second dive down, he looks at them too, and determines this is likely. With his knowledge of engineering they don't look tool made. Hseir-Shae ponders further and determines it would be a huge claw that made them but certainly possible.
"I don't think it's a plug at the bottom of the lake, no. That'd be kinda ridiculous, honestly. It's more likely that it's just a set of rocks covering a tunnel under the lake."
Aury'tss laughs. "Maybe it is ridiculous, but anything is possible. Sounds exciting though, it's probably been covered for a really long time! Do you think there's any way to dig it out, or are all of the rocks too big? The goatlings might like learning about the tunnels - if the lake is special to them, maybe the tunnels are as well."
Grubgullet has absolutely no idea what's going on.
"Is Masher Good'un in the water?"
"Sadly, no, we still have no clues on where the monastery we're looking for might be. But Hseir and Sly found some interesting large stones at the bottom of the lake while they were catching fish."
"Oh. Want me to move big rocks?"
"Actually....that's not a bad idea. Maybe Grub should come down with us next time?"
"I'll make sure the camp doesn't fall apart while you're out swimming."
"Well, I know of a spell that can be used to grant air-breathers the ability to breathe water for a few minutes, but I have none prepared today. Besides, perhaps we could explore the surrounding area more before deciding to dive deep into the lake."
|
Despite not being the swimmer that Hseir is, Sly is invigorated by his forays into the briskly cool lake water. "Those stones will be vacating their positions neither easily nor soon. They can wait until the morrow. Ah, but what built such a structure? Was it built underwater, or did some cataclysmic event bring the lake after it was torn asunder by some giant creature? Perhaps it was a temple of evil worshipers brought down by one of our brethren..." Sly begins to get lost in his musings.
"You're right, Hseir. We still need to talk to the goat men to explain why we're here, if the others haven't already, and try to trade for some clothes or tools. But I think we should figure out what's at the bottom of the lake before we leave the valley - it could be ancient things that the goatlings forgot about! Surely they'd give us some help if that were the case. And even if not, I think it's neat."
All we've learned of the sky message is that it was that way, and brief. It would take us at least an hour, probably two with the terrain, to get there. We've got food if we don't mind walking with our hands full, or potentially arriving with empty hands and stomachs.
Shaeyl set down the scrapper he had been working on. If we're traveling soon, I better see about something to carry stuff in. Any long grasses, vines, even green twigs will do.
Wyrwin is gone almost 20 minutes then comes flying back. Aury! Aury! Hi! Umm.....Hi! Oh, those sky letters. He stops and preens his feathers for a bit. "Hi Aury. The letters said we have translator then they changed Aury, they changed and i read them because you taught me to read Aury they said these are sacred lands Aury. Hey Aury, I saw a lot of other birds, and heard them. Aury, hi. I ate some seeds too."
"Oh! I must have forgotten to tell you, Wyrwin came back from visiting the other camps - the sky letters said that the groups had a translator and that these lands are sacred. Not much else than we already knew from our talks with the natives."
You'd think the ones we just let go would have said something...
Day 2 - Early evening
As the day wears on and Sly and Hseir hunt, fish and forage, briefly interrupted by their underwater discovery, the camp is taking shape well. The tools created by Shaeyl and the work done by Aury'tss and Grubgullet to move, clean and prep get things in order for the next night.
As the sun begins to set you get a fire roaring again to stave off the chill.