Well, the doors and part of the wall are protected from magic.
Bars and door look pretty sturdy though. Unless you have adamantine? That might work.
Well, just because they are protected from magic doesn't mean they don't open. Let's just try the normal open-the-door thing, and if that doesn't work I'll try to pick the lock, without using any magic.
Azalia tries the door.
The door doesn't seem to be locked... though the area on the other side seems to be a dead end. Any searching for mundane secret passages turns up with nothing. It seems these areas weren't meant to be escaped.
The thickly carpeted floor of this grand chamber is further strewn with expensive-looking throw-rugs and exotic furs. A nest of the same lies heaped in the center of the room, under a rotunda-like construction atop which a canopy of silks and gauzy veils adds to the chamber’s mystique.
The altar has a hidden panel in which three scrolls of resurrection, a scroll of commune, and a single enormous platinum key worth 2,500gp are hidden. This key seems to be of the right size for the locks in X8
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
Marten tsks as he enters the room. "What sort of decadent nonsense is this?"
As he looks around the room distastefully, he spies an altar hidden in spoiler tags. Examining the altar more closely, he finds a hidden panel containing three scrolls of resurrection, a scroll of commune, and a single enormous platinum key worth 2,500gp.
"This key might fit the locks for the doors in the previous room."
Maybe we should find out for sure.
Azalia wonders how much the key is worth, and takes it, ostensibly to go try it in the locks in the other room...
Azalia finds Marten's deduction is accurate opening the locks in the other room while Drazh muses about the impact of all of this wealth could have.
During further exploration you uncover what seems to have been an old store room with some damage on the far wall. Thought the thick magically reinforces stone you can see the form of the mountains outside... it occurs to you there have been no windows leading outside.
A muscular, bald, and tall, this humanoid creature has emerald skin and two pairs of shining, white-feathered wings stands with it's hands on the pommel of it's sword it is serene and speaks. Each of you here it clearly in your native tongue with no accent or slur to the words.
"I have been bound to this room for a period. If you try to enter I am compelled to end your life. I would prefer if you did not enter, you are not as corrupt as the individual which has bound me to this place. If you must pass through wait over fifteen days and seven hours so my period of forced service will have lapsed." It's tone and body language make it clear while it does not desire to harm you if you enter the room it will make best efforts to kill you.
[dice=Knowledge Religion DC 31]
Planetars are the generals of celestial armies. They focus on combat and the destruction of evil; though they understand diplomacy, a planetar would rather lead the charge against an army of fiends than negotiate peace.
It occurs to you that it is using true speech so each of you can understand it. Given it's nature it is certainly telling the truth about being forced into service but it might still be able to aid you in some ways so long as it does not violate the terms of it's service.[/spoiler]
Oh, you're guarding an exit? That's okay. Thanks for the warning, but we want to stay in here for now, and if we are looking to go out, we'll go another way. Anything interesting in there that you would like to throw out to us, or any advice on how to take out the bad guys? Sorry, I don't think I have any magic that will free you sooner.
"You should feel bad for them, Drazh. Planetars are good angels, and this poor soul is obviously here against their will."
Marten turns to the angel.
"Perhaps we can help you. But please answer my colleague's questions, first. I think that we probably have the same enemies in this place."
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
Anneka furls her brow. "Your service is ending in about two weeks?"
"It would be nice if we could help you," she adds hastily. "It just seems that two weeks isn't that long of a time compared to, um, eternal immortality."
"If you would banish me it would be appreciated. Two weeks is a small time however it is time I am not devoting to the betterment of all and am forced to aid agents of evil."
"The individual who summoned me appeared to be a human arcane spellcaster of Azlanti ethnicity by their features including purple eye, dark hair and olive skin tone. Their soul is considerably stained by their corruption, even more so than some minor fiendish outsiders."
"They carried what I surmise to be spellbooks, wore purple and gold robes while holding a golden staff tipped with a large red gem. They also had a dagger on their hip. They identified themselves as Khalib and spoke in Azlanti."
| 2 people marked this as a favorite. |
Marten addresses his comrades. Dare I say... his friends?
"This tells us that Karzoug has a spellcaster minion, which is something we should have the common sense to assume anyway. Well, most of us." Marten gives a quick side-eyed glance to Drazh before turning back to the angel.
"Can you tell us anything about what lies east of here or beyond the doorway you're guarding?"
After the angel has attempted to answer everyone's questions, Marten pulls out the scroll of banishment that he scribed before the group journeyed to the Kodar Mountains and offers to let the planetar punch out early.
|
| 2 people marked this as a favorite. |
Completely misunderstanding the glance, Drazh took it as a call to action. Marten expected him to do something! But what? With some hesitation he lifted his hammer. ”If I bash it’s head in, that’ll…free it, right? Send it back to heaven?” He asked, hoping that it was a good idea.
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
Trying not to laugh (just so Marten wouldn't have the satisfaction, not because she was worried about Drazh's feelings), Azalia puts her hand on Drazh's arm and speaks quietly.
That might work, but it isn't the best solution right now. I think Marten has something ... less violent in mind. You don't need to do anything.
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
Marten stares at Drazh expressionless. He opens his mouth to speak, but closes it again, at a loss how to explain this. Maybe if he keeps silent, this situation will resolve itself?
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
"I do not know anything of the surrounding area... and in theory attacking me and killing my form here would send me back to my home plane however I would be bound to defend myself. You would suffer the consequences of such an encounter. Bannishment magic would be a less hazardous approach."
| 3 people marked this as a favorite. |
After everyone has asked their questions, Marten banishes the planetar. He makes sure everyone knows how he took the time and spent the resources to be prepared for such an action. Kudos to him.
After the creature is banished, Azalia enters the room to see if there is anything interesting to take.
| 2 people marked this as a favorite. |
Ferocia laughs at the absurdity of her companions shakes her head and follows Azalia into the room to help her line her pockets.
Azalia finds nothing but rubble but these is some goldleaf on it, scratching off one of the easier bits gets her an amount equal to without slowing down.
Two vast double doors, each ten feet in width, stand in the southern wall of this barren chamber. The face of each black stone door is covered with
tens of thousands of tiny runes carved in an eerie, spidery script. The runes seem to writhe and slither about when not under direct observation.
For those who can sense such things the runes and doors radiate a strong conjuration aura.
Azalia knows Aklo, but she isn't interested in getting caught up in some dangerous rune trap. She just reads the surface meaning, and then turns back.
Ferocia also speaks Aklo, and gives it a quick read. Unfortunately, esoteric texts and philosophical mumbo jumbo aren't really her jam. She reads the text, but the deeper meaning likely escapes her.
It seems even a cursory glance conveys the idea of some kind of warning but also sets off a magical trap which begins to take it's toll on all present.
Apparently even knowing it was probably a trap doesn't help when you stupidly just try to read the surface meaning anyway, and Azalia takes a lot of damage. Trying to act unphased, she then walks out of the room, trying not to let on to the others how stupid she had been... but it is pretty obvious.
"Gah! MY EYES!" Ferocia exclaims after reading the text. "Who would write words that burn?!" She blinks for a while, gives her head a shake and mutters as they move on. "Blasted wizards."
Marten grits his teeth from the pain of the negative energy trap.
"Gah! MY EYES!" Ferocia exclaims after reading the text. "Who would write words that burn?!" She blinks for a while, gives her head a shake and mutters as they move on. "Blasted wizards."
Marten narrows his eyes at Ferocia, but doesn't say anything to her. Instead, he signs to Anneka to ask if she can spare some healing before the group heads through the doors.
"Do two opposing armies pause to read at each other when they meet in battle, Drazh?"
Marten chuckles and shakes his head at the ridiculous notion. But his mirth is cut short when he looks again at Ferocia and wonders if maybe Dwarven soldiers actually do.
|
|
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
"That's what mages do." Drazh said. "Though I suppose the shields wouldn't work against orcs and the like. But if I saw a shield wall with the same thing written on every shield, I know that I'd read it when approaching. Well, unless a wizard threw me at them. Then I'd get there too fast."
The plain stone walls of this long room are lined by a variety of tables, boxes, crates, and cylinders. Some are made of stone, but others appear to be composed of metal. Strange winding cables protrude from some to connect to others. All of this clutter seems to focus upon a large metal framework constructed at the southern end of the room, where strange currents of energy dance and shimmer within a strange ring of stone. Now and then, these currents coalesce into shapes—images startling for their familiarity and yet totally alien. The image revealed is of a massive city of towers and gigantic monuments set in a mountain valley at the foot of a huge peak—XinShalast, as it would appear from this high mountain vista. The city beyond the energy curtain is very different, however, in that its towers and buildings are ablaze with light both magical and mundane and the great central road and surrounding streets teem with tens of thousands of giants and humanoids of all descriptions. The sounds and even the smells of this strange metropolis waft through the image—an image that is, perhaps, trying to be an open window.
Anyone examining the panels or consoles of the device...
You understand the device’s general purpose to open a true portal to the height of Xin Shalast's power and allow Karzougs followers to travel forward into the present...
The device is slowly being repurposed to a point in time eons before Thassilon’s height.
You observe numerous similarities between the stone ring at the center of the Leng Device and the much larger ring of stone located in the Varisian city of Magnimar— as if both devices were built by similar hands.
Huh. I mean, it looks like a window to another world. I almost want to go there and steal some stuff before we close it up, but you are probably right. Just break it. With my luck it is either one way, or just a really good illusion.
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
Marten studies the device and suddenly gasps.
"Magnificent!" he breathes. "You are right, Azalia; it is a window, but not to a different world... a different time. It must be from a time when Xin Shalast was at the height of its power."
Marten turns to the others, his usual lecturing manner replaced by genuine excitement.
"I've been wondering how and why Karzoug has been able to gain followers so readily after he's woken, but with this... he must also intend to call forth followers from the past. From before Earthfall!
"Can you imagine? Being able to confer with the ancients? Or your grumpy ancestors or whatever. It... appears to only be operational one way, from the past to the present only. Dreadfully disappointing. But if your hammer comes anywhere near this device, Drazh, I will telekinetic charge you out that window.
"Let me see, instead, if I can disable it for now."
Ferocia eyes the device with her arms crossed, clearly giving both the device and the wizard one heck of a shifty eye.
"So... it's a creepy way to permanently abduct people... and this is not something we're destroying..."
She rolls her eyes and gives Azalia a look that clearly indicates either Martin, or the entire wizard population, were fools.
Despite her obvious disagreement, she lets Martin fiddle with the device for now.
Azalia waits as well, although you know, disabling things was kind of her thing... if he wanted to try it his way, more power to him.
She shared a look with Ferocia which meant basically, "okay, humor him, but if it doesn't work, then we'll have to do something about it anyway."
"For heavens sake, Ferocia, it's window, not a menacing covered wagon in the night.
"Ooh, a chronostatic severance conduit!"
|
|
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
Drazh shrugged and rested his hammer on his shoulder. Turning to Azalia, he muttered "I'll break it after Martern realizes that it's evil and is going to destroy the world." After a moment he added "Or he'll get it to work and we'll make a fortune in the past. Either way works."
Azalia nods at Drazh's solid plan.
Studying it it occurs to Marten that the easy way to the disable this object would require disrupting it both here as well as on the other side... though that would leave someone stuck on the other side.
Given the energy flowing through this device attacking or even trying to use it as intended could be quite dangerous if a mistake is made given the power coursing through it seems to be immense... still it doesn't seem to be complete, such an intricate device still requires several weeks if not months of work left to get it functioning.
Can they hear us through there Marten? If so, maybe just yell "Gold for the Greed God! I demand an offering!" Then they'll, you know, shove some gold through the hole, and we can get rich.
"If they're sophisticated enough to have developed this machine in the first place, I would wager they're smart enough not to be so easily duped. Or they would be nearly as excited as Marten and actually send an army through."
Anneka thinks for a moment.
"Does this mean that some of the wizards we've already defeated, like those in Runeforge, could be brought back to the present, alive, through time travel?"
No doubt Marten has a growing head ache considering the potential paradoxes this device could create... regardless of the personal problems it could make for your group.
|
|
"Could we go back in time to meet ourselves?" Drazh said, a serious look on his face. "Me wife...me family. I could save them?" He asked, looking at Marten, his voice lower than it's usual boisterous levels. It was a small spark of hope in a forge that had long since went cold. He wondered, if it was possible, what it would do to him. Would it erase the future? Would he cease to exist? What would have happened to their quest if he wasn't there? While he was not so arrogant to think that he was indispensable, there had been many close fights to get to where they were. If he remained in those mines, happily toiling away like any other commoner, would the Runelord's plans come to fruition? There were so many questions raised by this, and he did not have any answers.
"And we could save Casp, and the other Sandpoint victims, from The Chopper?" Anneka asks hopefully.
”And of course, Miron!”