"I'm good to go, how far is that tree?"
"Let's move then," Pezock says. He points his sabre at Sildu. "We will let this creature guide us, but keep an eye on her. She may try to betray us."
Sildu cowers away from Pezock's sword until he lowers it. Then she starts back up the stairs, calling out in her language as she goes.
She pauses momentarily at the top of the stairs to peer through the door. Once satisfied that the wasps are still preoccupied, she leads you through and across the main hall, back to the entrance steps.
Once out of the ziggurat, she points south across the tar pits towards a group of large intertwined boab trees that stand in the centre of the ancient town. She then heads along the trail through the tar pits.
When you reach the trees, you can see that they have grown though, around, and out of an ancient building. A few ruined columns remain of the building as do some topple statues and even an ancient, weathered fountain (no longer operational, however).
Sildu point up into the leaves of the boab trees.
Looking up into the tree a moment before turning his attention to the others, "Should one of us go with her?"
Douena stares up into the tree, then asks a question of the monkey-person.
"Also, I imagine there is a chance that something of interest in the ruins here. Probably not much in the way of treasure - but some excerpts of murals or other fountains of knowledge." Mahjik says so, as he examines the nearest walls.
Sildu nods.
"She says there's a trap," Douena informs them, "and a shrine."
"And is the trap close? I would like to not set it off, whatever it is."
"A big rock falling," Douena replies off-handedly. "Primitive, but effective. Not very original. Sildu says she knows how not to set it off."
"Wise man would not underestimate falling rocks. It is said that rare metals fall with giant rocks from the sky. What she says is a 'giant rock' could also be something beyond her comprehension."
"She says there's a trap," Douena informs them, "and a shrine."
Mahjik makes sure to avoid the potential boulder trap as he gingerly makes his way up the tree.
"I will remain behind with Untari."
Douena quietly asks Sildu a question as she watches Mahjik ascend.
Tar'kanas looks curiously at Douena before looking up. He then moves away from his current spot, calling Untari to do the same.
Mahjik makes sure to avoid the potential boulder trap as he gingerly makes his way up the tree.
[dice=Climb]1d20 + 6
Sildu briefly protests as Douena pulls her away.
Lorenz and Pezock move out of the way as well, as Mahjik begins his way up the tree. After only a few moments, he notices the stone block, hidden amongst the leaves up above. He realises that if he continues his climb, it will come down on top of him.
Sildu chatters on to Douena.
"Douena, have your friend tell us how to bypass the trap."
"Let her show you," Douena counters. "It's easier to show than to tell." She nods to Sildu to make the climb.
Sildu nods to Douena, then goes over to the trunk of the tree and motions for Mahjik to come back down. She waits for him to do so, then moves away from the trunk towards a clump of vines, motioning for Mahjik to follow her. She grabs hold of particularly thick vine and gives it a tug. You hear a brief rustling in the leaves above. When that stops, Sildu climbs up the vine to a low hanging branch, and from there continues to climb up the tree. She calls back down.
"Follow Sildu," she tells Mahjik. "You have to go up that way."
Urza follows along.
Sildu leads Mahjik and Urza up and around the stone block trap. Above it, thick branches intertwine, and here and there, small platforms have been built into the sides of the tree as well as short bridges between branches. Climbing becomes easier as there are more branches and the platforms provide brief moments of rest--though Sildu doesn't pause and just keeps going higher.
High up in the tree, Sildu comes to a stop on a larger platform that completely circles the trunk here. A small altar sits against one side of the trunk here and above it, is a carving of a skeletal serpent, carved into the bark of the tree trunk. The head of the serpent is separate from the body, though the carving looks unfinished, so it may just be that the artist hasn't finished joining the body to the head yet. Set into one of the eye sockets is a moonstone just like the other three that operate the orrery. A stone coffer sits on the altar.
Sildu helps Mahjik and Urza onto the platform, and points at the gem. She chatters something in Polyglot, but unfortunately, neither Urza nor Mahjik speak the language.
Urza uses a scroll of Comprehend Languages.
Sildu repeats what she said after Urza casts his spell.
Urza nods. He then goes up to the idol and removes the moonstone. He looks at it for a moment to make sure it is the one he wants before putting it away and defacing the shrine to the snake god.
The gem comes free of the carving quite easily. Close up, the gem appears to be just like the others and it seems likely that it is the one you are looking for.
Defacing the shrine is similarly easy. You only need to pull away a few bits of bark to make the carving unrecognisable. Sildu gasps when Urza first starts, but then laughs.
The charau-ka picks up the coffer from the altar and opens it to look inside. She then holds it out to Urza and Mahjik. Inside is a collection of semiprecious stones, small ivory carvings, and pieces of decorative metals. There are also two golden statuettes of lions. A detect magic spell reveals the two lion statuettes as magical. The rest is not.
-- fail
"Ok. Let's get back to the others." Urza starts back.
Sildu leads the way back down the tree, where Urza and Mahjik rejoin the others. Sildu speaks.
"Do we have what we need now?" Pezock asks.
"Urza thinks we do. Let's go back and return it to it's place."
Sildu speaks.
Douena adopts a pedagogical stance as she replies.
"I'm sorry about your friends. We really tried not to kill anyone we didn't have to."
"Okay, now that we have it - it'll be moot if we don't correctly use it. Urza - do you think you can do it? Do you need help?"
Sildu speaks.Douena adopts a pedagogical stance as she replies.
Sildu looks saddened, but nods. She remains quiet as you return across the tar pits again and back to the ziggurat.
As you approach the mains steps, you can hear the buzzing of the wasps and you see a few moving at the back. Sildu indicates that she'll climb up the side of the ziggurat and drop down some more food. She then scurries up the stone walls.
A minute or so later, the sound of buzzing gets briefly louder and the wasps dart back into the centre room, leaving the way clear to the room with the idols. You cross without incident and head down the stairs. Once again, a telepathic voice tells you to lay down your arms and approach for judgement.
When Urza approaches this time, all four idols become active, wrapping him in the strange energy. Once again, they begin imparting to him the secrets of how to activate the orrery. Much of it he already knows, but this time the secrets of the fourth column are not left out. When the idols release him a short time later, he knows exactly how to use the columns above.
"Urza knows. Urza knows how to use the columns." His exhilaration is evident. "Do we want to do so now or wait until we're rested? We don't know what is on the other side."
"I was thinking at first that we should just carry on," Lorenz says. "But maybe you're right. We should rest first. At the very least, we should let Sasha and the others know what's up."
"Urza," Douena asks, "when we use the columns, what will they do?"
"Good question, what are they?"
Upon setting each of the columns into the appropriate positions, they will activate the Pillars of Light (a name your party has encountered before). These Pillars of Light will provide the location of Saventh Yi, the city you have been searching for.
"Oh," Douena reacts with palpable disappointment to Urza's revelation. "Is that all? After walking all the way here, it's going to tell us where to walk next?"
"You make it seem so trivial, but knowledge of that location has eluded the world for centuries. Urza doubts the city is uninhabited, but the greater world just does not know where it is."
Upon setting each of the columns into the appropriate positions, they will activate the Pillars of Light (a name your party has encountered before). These Pillars of Light will provide the location of Saventh Yi, the city you have been searching for.
"Well let us use these columns and find out where it will lead us next."
"Let us return to our friends then decide rather to go now or after we are rested."
The smell of cooking greets you as you arrive back at the camp set up by Sasha and the others. Ishirou is standing guard and nods at you as you approach.
"And they're back!" Sasha exclaims, standing up from where she was seated against a wall. "It's like old times! I tried to convince Jask that we should kill a giant wasp and cook that for dinner, but..." She shrugs. "It wasn't to be. Dinner is some lizard things I caught." She hugs Lorenz.
"We've eaten many things out here," Jask says, "but nonetheless, I don't think I'm quite ready for giant wasp."
"Food is irrelevant at the moment," Pezock declares. "First, we must decide our next course of action! The choice is obvious. We use those gem things now and then rest, not the other way round."
"Urza would prefer to rest before braving the unknown. That portal could lead to anywhere on this or any other plane."
"Does it open a portal?" Douena asks. "I thought it just showed us a new map."
"Wise man would keep in mind that the pillars may show us that the missing city of Saventh Yi has been in our hearts all along. Or to put it more bluntly: the city is a myth, a utopian tale told to kids long ago to make them strive to behave in a particular way."
Mahjik grins, "Not that I think it is all that likely; but possibilities. Don't rule them out. That said, my vote is with Urza. Take a break. If Douena is correct and we'll basically be moving along towards the next destination, then I'd prefer to have a fresh nights sleep behind me and am ready to break camp and start marching."
"It would be really annoying if it turned out to be a myth and we walked all the way here for nothing," Sasha says. "Although it would be funny to see the look on Gelik's face when he finds out." She grins.
You settle down to eat the "lizard things" that Sasha caught for you and then relax for a while. The buzzing of the wasps is more incessant over the night, but while they might be more active, they don't bother you in the chamber where you've set up camp and the noise isn't quite so loud that you can't sleep through it. Smaller insects like mosquitoes, however, do prove a bit of an annoyance.
It rains during the night, but the roof over you helps keep most of it off you. Unfortunately, a few cracks in the ancient structure do allow some trickles of water through.
It's still raining lightly in the morning, and the wasps seemed to have quieted down.