Nathan prepares for the night and says, "Yes I agree. Let's go in the morning when I can prepare the spells and when we will have more daylight."
"Since we are stopping for the day, I will spend the remainder of the day and afternoon communing with the gods and praying over my amulet--I believe Sarenrae in particular will bless it with some special... Properties."
-Posted with Wayfinder
Day 14 - Morning
The night passes uneventfully, and the group wakes on the shore of the lake, and prepares to tackle the water. One raft already complete, there is contemplation for another. The group prepares their aquatic spells for the day and readies for an arduous swim. Several of the group are not strong swimmers and the distance is extremely daunting and will be quite fatiguing.
Before turning in for the night, Mlinzi spends some time meditating while perched atop his hammer. In the morning, he senses a new strength in the weapon that had not been there before. He suspects that this new strength may soon be necessary to help protect his friends.
Inspired by Lotham sitting down with his amulet and his prayers to Sarenrae, and a bit jealous of his direct link to the gods, Crest follows suit after finishing preparing the raft. He's quite curious and more than a little doubtful that anything deific will happen-- one of the many problems with venerating a dead goddess. Still, his confidence in Goodwin outweighs his doubt, and after some time thinking about the differences between Kelizandri and Lysianassa, he senses a strange, new power.
The next morning, Crest takes some time alone and communes with his old friend the Spirit of Waves, asking for as much assistance as possible in the daunting task ahead. Especially concerned for his companions, he asks the Life spirit for a blessing, then rejoins the group.
"Greebins," Crest says, "if you're staying back with our packs and things, perhaps Tide could keep you company. I'm worried he won't be able to keep up and I'd hate to see anything happen to him."
"Yes, I can do that." He looks warily at the bird.
"Thank you, Greebins. We'll be back as soon as we can."
Crest gestures to the others as he slinks down to the water's edge.
"Shall we go then?"
Lotham gleefully rushes into the water and begins swimming forward with powerful kicks. "Lead the way, Crest!" He shouts.
When every is ready, Crest does, starting off at a reasonable pace so as not to tire out anyone too quickly.
The group enters the water. Crest circles the group and aids Nathan Mlinzi and the water is calm and thus they can proceed carefully and cautiously. Lotham swims on his own and Eleanor strides atop the tiny ripples.
When they arrive at the spot Nathan says. "That took a lot out of me. Let's rest here a few minutes and then head down. I have 4 spells to let us breath. We'll need 3, so that gives us one extra. I also have two spells to increase our strength is they are needed for anything. Both spells will only last four minutes. I can cast the strength spells now or save them. It's up to you guys."
"With those time limits, we need to not waste our efforts. Let's plan this out properly, but in the meantime, rest a moment," Crest says, before beginning to cast a number of spells.
As Crest finishes each spell he swims over and gently touches each of his companions in turn, and when he does so a small, circling wave encompasses each of them, taking over their efforts to stay above water.
"There. That should help a bit."
"Now, I could swim down, make sure we're heading the way and before Nathan uses his Air Bubble spell. No sense in wasting all your time underwater just trying to find the site. I think maybe we should investigate the obelisk first, and depending on what comes of it, the surrounding lake floor. Maybe a Message spell, Nathan, if you have one, then I could get out if front a bit and scout. You might find it a bit hard to see."
"As for other spells, I'd say use them before we head down- just make sure Air Bubble is last... I've unfortunately seen more than a few people drown, and I can ensure you it is not a pleasant affair... Anyway, the obelisk is my main concern, and I'll be warding myself against evil for sure. Something about that thing is....strange."
Greebins looks at the parrot warily, and says, "Soooo.... Anything interesting going on with you lately?"
Mlinzi had fared fairly well throughout the long swim, and was only feeling a little tired. However, it was a relief when Crest cast his spell, allowing him to expend much less effort in keeping himself buoyant.
Before having Air Bubble cast on him, Mlinzi prepared his own defensive spells, just in case they ran into trouble under the waves.
Lotham nods slowly. "Prudence, Yes." He casts a few spells as well.
As an additional precaution, he summons a 40-foot bridge of moonlight that shimmers in the sun. He sets the raft on top of it. "This is not going anywhere. We can rest here if necessary."
-Posted with Wayfinder
Tide the Peacock lifts his head up from the dirty sand on the edge of the beach, dropping the pebble he'd picked up. He squawks loudly in response to Greebins,, before spreading open his plumage.
The pattern on the bird's blue and black feathers is beautiful and dynamic, seeming to depict fast-flowing water flowing with waves breaking from each feather onto the next. Closer inspection by Greebins shows that the strange pattern continues onto Tide's body, where small ripples propagate like ripples on a pond.
With a final squawk, Tide lowers his feathers, cocks his head to the side and stares back at Greebins, his show done.
Eleanor uses an extended Mage Armor before descending with the others.
Nathan casts mage armor and before casting the shorter spells, "Crest, my brother, I believe you mentioned channeling to cure those of us suffering out here. I could do with a bit of healing before heading down. If you don't want to channel I can do so myself." After the healing is done, Nathan casts Message on Crest, Bull strength on Crest and Lotham and then Air Bubble on, Elanor, Lotham, Mlinzi, and himself.
"Of course, brother."
Crest channels energy while Nathan cats the rest of his spells, then dips under the water to begin the trip.
-Posted with Wayfinder
The group stands, floats or paddles in the center of the lake, ready to dive beneath the surface and investigate the obelisk beneath. Crest warns them about the uneasy feeling he got. After everyone gets their magic cast, the group dives down, lowering through the water as Crest guides them. Near the surface it is not hard to see, but as they get lower, the lake muck and depths quickly blots out the sunlight. It isn't far, and the group feels the uneasy feeling, and sees within their mind, a rapidly changing rune, whose sight itself brings greater unease and fear. Fighting the unease, they swim to the obelisk, topple on its side, in the muck, half buried. Even for someone very strong, moving this will be a task. Lotham suspects that raging he could topple it back up to standing, or flip it over, or move it around slightly on the lake bed, but certainly cannot carry it. The group has precious few minutes of the air breathing magic.
"Investigate the obelisk while you can. I'll search nearby- my vision is better down here. Anyone recognize that symbol?" Crest says to the others, over the Message spell.
"If only we had some long chain, we could secure the obelisk and pull it up by looping it over the moon bridge and hauling down. The moon bridge... That gives me an idea."
-Posted with Wayfinder
Nathan studies the rune for a bit to see if he knows anything about it.
Mlinzi cannot understand any of the plans the others are making, being disconnected from the Message spell. He does his best to gesture that he will attempt to Aid everyone in lifting the obelisk.
While the others discuss, he swims down and tries to clear some of the mud away from the obelisk in preparation for moving it.
"If only we had some long chain, we could secure the obelisk and pull it up by looping it over the moon bridge and hauling down. The moon bridge... That gives me an idea."
-Posted with Wayfinder
You cannot be subject to Enlarge Person.
The obelisk the group estimates weighs about 5000 lbs. With enough strength, Lotham could probably drag it. If the attached bridges were at an angle the obelisk could be dragged up it like a ramp. The largest challenge will be finding a way to pull it from the water and getting traction. Lotham's bovine hooves and the smooth perhaps near frictionless surface of the force bridge, are close to the opposite scenario one would desire for traction, although quite nice for dragging. Add in water, and there is essentially no friction. The group wracks their brains, as surely some creative method or other might suffice, but time is of the essence.
Mlinzi works at clearing some mud, and prying some of the barnacles off to look at the surface underneath. Everyone is nauseous and at great unease, as the runes race through their minds. While no one feels any long lasting effects nor seems to be incapacitated by the process, the psychic strain continues to mount.
After searching the surrounding area , Crest casts Comprehend Languages and inspects the symbol further.
Even if you can lift the object through sheer strength, if the object is heavier than you, you can't really swim with it. Perhaps by RAW there is nothing forbidding it, but you can't propel yourself through the water with something that weighs five times your weight, and doesn't float. Dragging up a ramp, assuming to can achieve some method of not slipping would work, or possibly if you can get it into the heavy load category and carry it up the ramp, maybe. The max lift and staggerered carry doesn't quite work given the distance you need to move it.
The bottom of the lake is 80' down. I'm not sure where your moonlight bridge was anchored earlier. It says it must attach to the ground, so casting it while floating mid lake was probably not possible.
If I was generous ( and maybe I am feeling so ) you could attach the end of one bridge to another, creating a ramp 200' long. It has to ascend 80' to the surface, so travelling 2.5' for every vertical foot. That is still pretty steep and you still have slippery water covered force bridge which needs navigating with slippery bovine hooves.
It will require acrobatics rolls (+9 to the DC for wet, icy, and slope). if you are carrying it, you have a -6 to your roll from encumbrance, and a max dex bonus of +1 (0 in Lotham's case). The base DC is 0, the penalties increase it to DC 9, and the encumbrance means a roll of 16 or higher is needed, so taking 10 is not possible. Movement is also reduced so it may take 10+ rounds. Slipping with a 5000 lb obelisk might result in damage to you, or the obelisk, or it might slip/slide or fall the way to the bottom again.
Searching the immediate area results in nothing interesting found. There is many feet of muck at the bottom which could hide something, but digging through that will darken the waters more so, as the fine muck is kicked up.
Casting comprehend languages on the obelisk reveals nothing about it or any of the runes on it, as they appear to be magical.
Nathan examines it and is uneasy about it. The obelisk does not date as old as their time, and came after, so he has no lore about it. It does seem to be related to ritual magic somehow though.
Nathan looks to the group and messages, "With these sick feelings I'm not sure we want to raise this. It may be an evil object. I will check for that and then see if I can read it."
Unable to divine anything from his knowledge about the obelisk, Nathan detects evil on the obelisk and then he casts read magic and tries reading the runes.
The obelisk does not detect evil. He casts read magic and attempts to read the runes.
- success
After starting to decipher the magical runes, Nathan's mind starts to loses grip on what is reality as the world around him begins to melt and he tries to maintain his senses and mental focus. With herculean effort he pulls his main away from the overwhelming power of the runes and saves his own sanity. In the brief moments he was able to discern the runes, he was able to determine they are part of some summoning ritual which would ultimately result in some apocalyptic scenario. it was quite unclear how this would work though.
Nathan's eyes go large and you can hear his scream through the air bubble. "We need to leave this HERE! Let's get out of here!" Nathan then starts swimming to the surface.
"Ragnarok..." Lotham follows Nathan's lead.
-Posted with Wayfinder
Crest's heart races at Nathan's outburst and he looks around in a panic. He stays around to make sure the last of his companions start up, especially Mlinzi, then follows, last.
Mlinzi hears the scream and looks around, concerned for the safety of his brother. He sees no danger, though, and so seems rather confused. The others seem to be heading to the surface, though, and so the Vanara hesitantly follows.
Eleanor breaks for the surface quickly following along side Nathan.
When everyone gets to the surface, Nathan explains, "I didn't detect any evil on the obelisk, however when I attempted to read the runes using the read magic spell it darn near drove me insane. That think is dangerous. I don't know exactly what it does but it is used in some sort of summoning ritual that would lead to an apocalyptic end. It should probably be destroyed as we don't want the end of the world. At the very least I suggest we mention this to no one other than our brothers and sisters and leave out the location when we do." Nathan seems relieved to get that off his massive chest and just rests.
Mlinzi ponders this turn of events. "Do we have enough time to destroy it this trip? We could always try again tomorrow. I'd hate to leave something like that lying around. Still, I bet the thing has ways of protecting itself. If just trying to read the runes has the potential to drive someone insane, there's a good chance that trying to destroy it won't be any safer."
"You may be right, but I think we must try all the same."
-Posted with Wayfinder
"Eventually, yes, but not today. We should head for shore, if Nathan is up for it." Crest says, concerned and feeling a bit guilty. "Maybe we can come back with the proper spells and the right tools, but I think we should head for shore while we can.
"I'm very, very sorry I lead us here brother, and please know I am relieved you're unharmed."
The group returns to shore easier than the way out, and settles in thoughtful silence over the very troubling discovery at the bottom of the lake. Greebins greets his friends at the water's edge, and notices the solemn look on their faces, and its isn't just from exertion.
They relay the horrifying news of what lies in the depths, and his mind also stirs as he contemplates its significance.
Why is this thing lying at the bottom of a lake? Did it fall from a boat? Was it placed there purposefully? Why would something so dangerous slip from the world's collective knowledge? The clear zone of lifelessness around the obelisk is a testament to its power. No fish would go near.