"Perhaps if you speak less and watch more you'll be able to figure it out. Quiet."
Ragnar stares at the old man for a moment looking like an admonished child, then he simple nods. "Yes, sir.
He turns to the dwarven woman. "I will wear your collar. So long as your people act with honor and honesty, you will never have anything to fear from me."
Ilona chuckles at the comments of the former ghosts, actually giggling slightly at Grandfather Spirit's curmudgeonly mutterings.
Striding forward she stands before the dwarf, not bending to facilitate the process.
Hey tone takes on a chilling formality ringing with challenge.
"I accept your fear and do not fault you in your weakness. I greet you with strength and stand stripped of power, a light in the darkness. See what you may."
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Speaker approaches Ragnar first and bids him to bend a little, so that she can reach his neck.
The iron collar clasps around the Dorn's neck and instantly silence surrounds him. For a moment, you fail to understand what has happened, but then you realize - the ghosts are gone. The huge intimidating barbarian is no more. In front of your eyes, he is transformed into young man, strangely innocent, with wide blue eyes and childish wonder painted across his face.
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Dwarven woman approaches Ilona next. She clasps the collar around her neck in business-like manner, as if she is doing her duty and nothing more.
Ilona straightens up, feeling the now seamless collar around her neck. She is still beautiful and alluring, but something is missing from her smile. Something that made her enchanting and beautifully deadly.
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Speaker sighs to herself and steps back a little. She looks at all of you with her strange blind-looking eyes and than settles on Gilian. "I now extend an invitation to all of you to come and visit the Last City. Each of you will be given a Warder as an escort. You may ask him whatever you want, and he will reply, if that does not put our city in jeopardy. We will now take you through the crystal doors. That may cause some nausea and forgetfulness. Do not be alarmed by that. Our ancestors designed those wards to protect the secret of the city's location. We will go as soon as you are ready."
Ilona straightens up, feeling the now seamless collar around her neck. She is still beautiful and alluring, but something is missing from her smile. Something that made her enchanting and beautifully deadly.
Ilona studies the speaker's face for a moment, and a satisfied smile settles across her features. She reaches over entwining her fingers with Ragnar's.
Solvistania waits silently for her Warder (more like her jailer) to be assigned to her.
"Fine, we will follow.", replies Gilian as here gaze seems to pierce through the Speaker mask and lay her bare. She nods at what she reads and smile both at Ilona and Ragnar, bending her head to acknowledge their sacrifice.
Sky'tor watching the proceedings with interest...suddenly gets a surprised look on his face as he winks out of existence.
For Sorok ,
reroll
reroll
reroll
reroll
reroll
For Lyj
reroll
reroll
reroll
So as a summary:
1 Solvi
2 Duncan
3 Ilona
4 Ragnar
5 Chops
6 Gilian
7 Lyj
8 Sorok
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A group of dwarves appears from the corridor in front of you. They are armed and armored much like the Warder that follows Vrin, but they seem much younger. There are about twenty of them. Eight of them leave the group and approach each of you, seemingly at random.
"Follow them through the doorway", say the Speaker Vrin. "Remember, don't panic if you feel nausea."
The Speaker goes first and her Warder follows her. The younger dwarves assigned to you motion you to follow. Each dwarf stands near the member of the Bonebearers assigned to him, but they try to point out to you with some sort of crude sign language that they only wish to guide you and help you if you fall. You pass the stone doorway encrusted with glowing crystals and enter the corridor behind it, and the rest of the younger dwarves follow behind you.
For the firs several steps, you feel as if everything is all right, even ordinary. But soon you find the bluish light that floods the corridor to be very hard on your eyes. Soon after that, you start to loose the coordination of your movements; you become week and weary. The tunnel in front of you seems to be distorted and you have trouble to determine where your next step should be.
And then comes the darkness...
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You come to your senses on the edge of giant stone bridge, crossing the seemingly endless gray sea - but then you realize, despite the splitting headache that pounds in your skull - that the sea isn't the sea at all, but enormous chasm in the middle of even greater cave, filled with gray rolling mists. High above the enormous rift, that stretches further than eye can see, there are thousands stalactites, hanging from the cavern ceiling, so high above you that you can not see it, although the cave is washed with soft pearly light, akin to the light of the full moon.
Most of the stalactites are the size of the large oak tree, but the largest are bigger than a lot of fortresses in the North. The stone bridge that you stand on is at least twenty yards wide and leads straight to the nearest stalactite, carved in the likeness of the dwarf's head with wide gaping mouth, with bridge as its extended tongue. The twenty yards wide bridge stands in perfect proportion to the stalactite as a tongue would to the regular head, so that helps your aching minds to put it in perspective. To the sides of the bridge the gray expanse separates it from the two more similar bridges, that are almost obscured by the shifting mist.
Vrin looks at you all and smiles. "Welcome to the Last City", she say. "Home of the People. In our language, we call ourselves the Derro."
Gilian nods at the welcome, then turns towards her warden.
"As I said before, I am Gilian, healer and midwife by trade.", she says in trader's tongue. "Can you understand what I am saying?", she adds in the two other languages she knows (Erenlander and halfling).
During that time, she focuses on her link to Pebble as she is not sure he could take the same door.
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The Speaker leads you across the bridge. The bridge itself is about half a mile long and it takes you some time to reach the end of it and pass through the gaping dwarf's mouth and enter the stalactite.
As soon as you do so, you find yourself in the large chamber, obviously designed with one idea in mind - to hold the bridge whatever the coast. It turns out that the teeth of the giant dwarf's head are in fact the lower square spikes of the huge iron portcullis that can be quickly lowered across the entrance. In the ceiling of the chamber a number of murder holes gape at you.
The Speaker is greeted with the salute from the elderly Derro in strange armor that makes you think of thick black beetles. Interestingly, he does not wear any weapons. The same goes for the company of similarly armored younger, but not young, Derro behind him.
The Speaker turn at you and says "These boys here are the Gatekeepers. They are the first line of the Last City's defense. From this gate a cable leads to the main cable network. We use it to cross the Chasm and travel from the gates to the Inner City. Follow me, please."
She leads you to some sort of balcony overlooking the misty expanse beneath. Slight winds seems to blow from the depths, making the mist twirl around your legs.
Next to the balcony there is a huge iron box, large enough for all of you to fit inside, suspended on three thick ropes of some kind of metal that stretch from the stalactite that is the Gatehouse and away into the mist and gloom of the city.
As soon as you enter the box, Speaker touches the wall and you feel movement. Picking up more and more speed, the box glides away, soon leaving the Gatehouse behind to dwindle into a speck, as seen through the open entrance, barred with some kind of thin mesh only.
After sometime spent in silence, the box slowly stops and the you see that the wall opposed to the mesh hides a door as well. One of the Warders opens it and you find yourself looking at the interior of what must be the largest building, or mortal-made structure you have ever seen.
The ceiling of the huge chamber is supported by many pillars, that look like they have grown naturally there. Hundreds of Derro in gray robes, much like those that Speaker wears, rush along so dedicated to their tasks that they do not stop even to look at the strangers that have come to their city. Warders in their strange armors are less common, but they are there as well, following the older gray-robed Derro.
The Speaker exits the box and you realize that it has traveled thought the tunnel carved in the living rock. You have no idea whether you are inside some huge stalactite, or perhaps in the wall of the enormous cave that houses the Chasm and the forest of giant stone spikes.
As soon as you all exit, a young Derro comes running to the Speaker, with a small wooden box in his hands. Vrin takes it from him and opens it, and the young Warders assigned to you take something from it - a smallish clear oval crystal, about the size of human woman's thumbnail. Each of them turns and approaches one of you, offering the crystal.
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"These are s'kera. They are used for various purposes. These will allow you to gain the knowledge of our language and limited bond with the Younglings assigned to you. S'kera will allow them to know where you are at any time, but you will also be aware of them. They are warn on the forehead, between the eyes. Just put them there, and s'kera will stay in place. They will not come off until you pull them. Please wear them constantly. You have the complete freedom of the city - well, almost complete - but it is easy to get lost."
As soon as Gilian has moved towards the tunnel, Pebbles emerges from behind a column in his dog form. Moving quietly, he stands by his mistress as they take the bridge then the strange metal contraption across the Chasm.
Gilian reaches for the small gem, casting detect magic as she goes and places it on her forehead. "I'm just curious as how they work, if you don't mind."
Chops eyes the crystal suspiciously.
Lyj takes the gem in between his fingers, studying it. He nods at Chops' comment, and adds,
Ilona takes one of the gems and holds it up to the wan light.
"It can't really get any worse can it?" She says with a shrug before planting the gem between her eyes.
Taking the gem Duncan places it on his brow, without a word.
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Ilona takes one of the gems and holds it up to the wan light.
"It can't really get any worse can it?" She says with a shrug before planting the gem between her eyes.
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Taking the gem Duncan places it on his brow, without a word.
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Vrin looks at Chops and Lyj and smiles. "That is the language spoken by our ancestors. It still is the formal language of the Council. But, as the years passed, we have developed our own. The people who are not part of the Council have no need of ancient tongues."
Lyj nods, his expression carefully neutral. He eyes the gem a moment more, glances at the companions who have already done as directed, then mentally shrugs and gingerly puts it into place.
** spoiler omitted **
Gilian replies to her derro warden.
"Pleased to meet you, Naarn, I am Gilian, healer by trade. The little dog here is Pebble. I'll be ready in a few minutes. Let me just have a little talk with my companions."Turning towards her companions, she says: "I guess this is a perfect place to learn more about our goal and to rediscover what's been lost on the surface. I propose we go and try to learn more each on our own or by small groups and we meet tomorrow. Maybe Solvi can check and confirm our next destination while Ragnar, Ilona and Duncan go find more about our employer and his "brother" in the archive they may have here. I intend to try to find the healing hall. Chops, Sorok and Lyj, as you know the language, maybe you can find what they know about the surface situation?"
Chops stares at the crystal, then shrugs his shoulders and places it on his own forehead.
"I read the old language. It might do some good for me to take a look into their archives."
Ragnar says nothing. He seems disturbed by his surroundings, and a bit off balance. He makes a face at the gem and sticks it to his head.
Sorok picks up the gem, looks at his companions and puts it to his head.
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Chops stares at the crystal, then shrugs his shoulders and places it on his own forehead.
"I read the old language. It might do some good for me to take a look into their archives."
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Ragnar says nothing. He seems disturbed by his surroundings, and a bit off balance. He makes a face at the gem and sticks it to his head.
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Sorok picks up the gem, looks at his companions and puts it to his head.
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Younglings and Vron take each of you to the different set of stairs. Some go up, others go down. Despite the Younglings that show you the way, or old Warder in Sorok's case, you find the derro architecture bewildering and very hard to remember the way from the entrance to your quarters.
You have the feeling that all the quarters are the same. There are two rooms - sitting room and the bedroom. Attached to the bedroom there is a bath chamber with pool carved into stone. Warm water constantly flows into it from the derro head carved into wall. Necessity is in a separate niche.
The only thing is that all the furniture is small in size.
Solvistania is the last one to affix the stone in her head, (After examining the stone completely, casting Detect Magic as well) and she is silent all the while.
To Gilian's suggestion, she nods in acknowledgement.
As she enters the room, she waves Felina over and instructs her to watch over as she meditates, studying her Lorebook for any information about this city.