The explorers formed up and pressed onward, following Janus' enspelled stone into the depths. The carvings marched along on the walls and they soon came to a second and rather deeper pair of alcoves. At first plush they looked nearly like a second corridor intersecting the first.
The western hall extended perhaps forty feet, ending at a small, marble platform raised a half foot off the floor. A strange apparatus stood upon it, curved ovular frame giving the look of a noble's dressing mirror. Only a third of it remained. A strange glyph marked the platform.
To the other side, fifteen feet down a huge pile of collapsed rubble blocked the alcove from top to bottom. It looked like it might take the work of weeks to tunnel through it to what, if anything, lay beyond.
"Well, that's not suspicious at all." Saeri said brightly. "Anyone feel like getting closer, or should I just throw a card at it and see what happens?"
"Well, why not!" Lu nodded and raised her buckler slightly. "If something bad happens I rather be here zen zere..."
Saeri shrugged slightly, then lightly flicked a mundane card through the air and towards the glyph on the platform, careful to be taking cover behind those who were a bit... sturdier. If it didn't go off, then it was probably at least somewhat safer to approach. In all seriousness, though, glyphs and runes and such tended to be fairly nasty.
Saeri shrugged slightly, then lightly flicked a mundane card through the air and towards the glyph on the platform, careful to be taking cover behind those who were a bit... sturdier. If it didn't go off, then it was probably at least somewhat safer to approach. In all seriousness, though, glyphs and runes and such tended to be fairly nasty.
[dice=Ranged Attack]1d20 + 5
The card struck the glyph dead center and fell to the ground without suffering any fate worse than gravity.
"Wait!", Janus almost shouted as Saeri started flicking her card, but it was already too late. With some relief, he noted that nothing was broken: "I'll take a closer look!"
I should know better...but I waited years for a chance, I can't back down simply because logic demands caution now.
Janus slowly approaches the strange apparatus, his buckler raised to keep his face shielded if something, anything went wrong.
"Well, nothing so far..." Lu noted with a small groan as Janus headed towards the *uh* thing? "Be careful yeah?" she added hurriedly and then started the workings of an Detect Magic spell while also slowly approaching.
Chaïa briefly considered letting the young humans have all the fun, until it occurred to her that she couldn’t, with dagger in hand, well fold her hands serenely together and wait beatifically for the results of their search. Besides, if there was something tricky about the battered apparatus, it would fall to the mage thrust first into the cairn to try to do something about it. Calling up her own cantrip to check for any lingering magic, she fell in with the others, looking out for anything suspicious.
For the glyph:
For the device, if it looks like a moving parts sort of thingy, or possibly magical:
"Wait!", Janus almost shouted as Saeri started flicking her card, but it was already too late. With some relief, he noted that nothing was broken: "I'll take a closer look!"
I should know better...but I waited years for a chance, I can't back down simply because logic demands caution now.
Janus slowly approaches the strange apparatus, his buckler raised to keep his face shielded if something, anything went wrong.
"Well, nothing so far..." Lu noted with a small groan as Janus headed towards the *uh* thing? "Be careful yeah?" she added hurriedly and then started the workings of an Detect Magic spell while also slowly approaching.
Lu found no trace of dweomer about the frame or platform.
Chaïa briefly considered letting the young humans have all the fun, until it occurred to her that she couldn’t, with dagger in hand, well fold her hands serenely together and wait beatifically for the results of their search. Besides, if there was something tricky about the battered apparatus, it would fall to the mage thrust first into the cairn to try to do something about it. Calling up her own cantrip to check for any lingering magic, she fell in with the others, looking out for anything suspicious.
[dice=Perception]1d20+1
** spoiler omitted **
It took Chaïa a few moments' thought, but she eventually decided that the glyph was probably not alphabetic. It had certain similarities with arcane symbols invoking elemental air.
A closer look at the broken frame revealed that its inner edge bore numerous minutely carved glyphs that looked akin to the larger mark, but with affinities to translocation magic. In a few places, shards of black glass clung to the edge, obscuring some of the glyphs.
Saeri waited patiently as Janus worked to examine the area in more detail. She was a little more relaxed now that it was clear the glyph wasn't going to explode from simple presence or movement, but she was keeping a safe distance regardless, just to be sure.
Getting sucked into the puzzle of the glyphs, Chaïa’s thoughts quickly ran past the level-headed options and began to work on the possibilities that were most exciting. Trying to put the uncooperative pieces together mentally, her words floated excitedly but also distantly through the room, as if crossing the distance of her abstraction, “The large glyph doesn’t look like anything from any alphabet I recognize, but it does remind me of some systems of elemental magic – something to do with air?”
Drawing closer, she pointed towards the frame of the shattered device. “Now, this! This – well, I can’t be sure, but it looks like there’s more of the same sort of thing, only … to do with the planes? Crossing them? Folding them? Teleportation, perhaps?”
“And – that’s strange. It looks like the inscription runs over the rim that held this glass in place. We’d have to clean the whole thing to see even all of what’s survived.”
[dice=Perception]1d20+4
[dice=Knowledge(Arcana)]1d20+6
[dice=Knowledge(Planes)]1d20+6
[dice=Linguistics]1d20+3
Janus' wary examination confirmed what Chaïa had seen. The runes looked to be related to teleportation. Janus thought they might have been part of a magical gate. The ring would have enclosed it and the glass might have served as an anchor for the hanging spells that made it function.
The glyph on the platform was something else. It was clearly a personal name, probably Icosiol or Ekisphel, rendered in the antique Vaati dialect of Auran. The degree of embellishment suggested a person of high rank.
"No magic right now, so it should be safe yes? Unless someone was spiteful enough to rig something mundane." Lu notes and approaches the curious thing after a cautious glance at Chaïa. She'd like a closer look, but wasn't really sure what to make of it, so she mostly tried to stay out of the others way. Also, she guessed, their employer would like to participate in this puzzle. To that end she dug trough her backpack for some parchment scraps and a coal stick, intent on making some rubbings of the interesting glyphs. While working she adds to the general stream of thoughts-out-loud, mostly summarizing what the others said. "So an old, broken down, portal zen?"
"That glyph here...thats a dialect of Auran, if I am not mistaken. I think it's a name...either Icosiol or Ekisphel, depending on how you read it. Fancy style, too, probably someone important."
Very cautiously, Janus extends a hand, and traces the Glyph with a finger:"Auran definitely fits with air magic...and if there's something to do with planes, it may well have been a form of gateway to the elemental plane of air."
Janus suddenly laughs, then smiles, relaxing his guarded stance a bit:"Air does get stiff in underground temples. We're taking a look and getting all excited over an ancient relic that may well have been part of a simple yet effective ventilation system, for all we know."
"Oooh!" Lu perks up. "If it has a name in Auran, that's air right, zen maybe zis is just a really fancy genie bottle!" she grins and carefully rubs an un-glyphed part of the device. "It looks broken but you never know! Heh. I wish ... *hmm* zat zis was a real genie bottle with a real wish-granting genie?"
"...Best to leave it alone, I think." Saeri said, slipping the Desert back into her deck. Talking about the great planes and drawing the card discussing the inability to survive without help was not particularly reassuring. "At least until we know more about it."
"Eh, what's ze worst zat could happen?" Unstable rifts, trapped outsiders, planar invasions ... Lu's imagination, fuelled by the strange atmosphere of this place, quickly answered her own question. "But maybe you are right yeah. Anyone heard zat name before?"
1d54
"...Best to leave it alone, I think." Saeri said, slipping the Desert back into her deck. Talking about the great planes and drawing the card discussing the inability to survive without help was not particularly reassuring. "At least until we know more about it."
"Eh, what's ze worst zat could happen?" Unstable rifts, trapped outsiders, planar invasions ... Lu's imagination, fuelled by the strange atmosphere of this place, quickly answered her own question. "But maybe you are right yeah. Anyone heard zat name before?"
"I am not certain if we will learn anything meaningful here by speculation. Maybe we should advance along the main pathway, and possible find something that adds some context to our find here?", Janus suggests, heading back towards the intersection.
"No-one? Hmph. I suppose ancient auran *somethings* aren't everyday factoids. Maybe our employee knows!" Lu mutters as she finished the rubbings and carefully places the parchment back in her bag. "Yeah, let's continue."
Saeri nodded slightly, then followed the others towards the intersection and turned towards the green light. Now, what was down this way, hmm? She still wasn't sure how big this complex was, so the more information they were able to get, the better.
Haytham took the lead, shield raised, as they advanced on the eerie light.
"Did I read something once?" he mumbled a bit to himself.
"Guess not..." He cleared his mind of the odd Auran symbol and kept his eyes sharp.
Neither Chaïa's nor Haytham's historical knowledge can add much to what Janus had shared. Once Lu finished taking a rubbing of the mark of Icosiol or Ekisphel, the explorers turned to press on toward the green light somewhere ahead. They approached an intersection in the form of a large chamber. Wings flung out to the east and west and a wide arch draped top to bottom with cobwebs screened wherever the green light came from. The place smelled of animal spoor and wet fur.
To the west, three short stairs led to a wide marble dais. The spell-lights didn't quite reach the far end of the wing to show anything that may lay beyond.
Huge slabs of cracked masonry and irregular piles of scattered debris choked the eastern wing, giving the appearance of a nigh-complete collapse. Only a waist-tall hole pierced the rubble.
The sibilant, almost human whispers rose to a chorus, casting eerie echoes off its walls.
But the explores had little chance to take in the new chamber, as three wolves raced out from the east and set upon Haytham!
they heard you. Do you suspect they're coming?
(low-light vision)
(low-light vision)
Looks like Chaïa and Lu do. So we've got us a surprise here.
Inits
The wolves use their surprise action (remember, because I always forget, it's a move or an attack here) to close with Haytham.
"Ah!" Lu spits and dashes to the frontline, her sword in hand. "I zought I smelled some wet dog!"
Thinking quickly, Chaïa decided that without some sort of armour ready, and with her dagger the group’s most handy light source at the moment, and since she didn’t want to get that close to ravenous wolves, she would try something fancier. Trusting her instincts, she stepped to her right, reached out with her mind to coax a thread of magic into a bolt of force, and hurled it at the wolf now directly in front of her.
The bolt Chaïa conjured crackled satisfyingly with an unearthly blue light, but as she launched it with a flick of her wrist, rather than flying in the direction she indicated, the bolt flew off as if with a mind of its own before dissipating in a burst of harmless sparks.
And after having posted this I see that I've got the actions I need to resolve. Coming right up!
Thinking quickly, Chaïa decided that without some sort of armour ready, and with her dagger the group’s most handy light source at the moment, and since she didn’t want to get that close to ravenous wolves, she would try something fancier. Trusting her instincts, she stepped to her right, reached out with her mind to coax a thread of magic into a bolt of force, and hurled it at the wolf now directly in front of her.
The bolt Chaïa conjured crackled satisfyingly with an unearthly blue light, but as she launched it with a flick of her wrist, rather than flying in the direction she indicated, the bolt flew off as if with a mind of its own before dissipating in a burst of harmless sparks.
"Ah!" Lu spits and dashes to the frontline, her sword in hand. "I zought I smelled some wet dog!"
The wolves ignored Janus, Lu, and Chaïa to converge on Haytham. Thrice they strike and thrice their sharp teeth close on armored legs, doing him no harm at all.
Rearranged things as asked.
3 wolves, all ganging up on Haytham, AC 18
Dammit.
Haytham took half a step back at the abrupt attack. Leveling his blade he made for the beast on his right, trying to keep the other two safely away.
His blade connecting with his foe, he slid the killing edge in wordlessly before giving a sharp twist.
"Press the right, take them one by one."
Advancing a bit on Haythams left to get into better position for a strike, Janus answers:"Press the right? There's wolves. I'd rather try and encircle them from the left!" as his Falcata smoothly connects with the wolf straight ahead of Haytham, barely missing it's throat.
Saeri considered for just a moment. She could have looked to curse the wolves, but with a trio of them present, it was probably more effective to simply try and eliminate them.
Alas, not every throw was a good one - with how fast the wolves were moving around, she wasn't able to get a good shot even (even taking into account that she was actually practiced at flinging cards into rough melees).
As Lucrecia closed the distance to the melee, Chaïa danced back to try to get a clear shot at the wolf between the northerner and Haytham. Rather than trying again to force the Weave into a raw weapon and still direct it through the hurly-burly, Chaïa opted for something humbler that she hoped would allow for a bit more finesse.
Alas, the elements all seemed to be refusing to bend to her will in all the confusion, and the acid she conjured flew over the heads of all concerned to splatter high against the wall beyond.
One by one! "Zey seem to be of a similar mind!" Lu noted as the wolves tried to gnaw on their armoured priest. With a disdainful glare at the insolent mutt infront of her Lu quickly kneeled. Then with a wide sweep, starting low and rising, she herded the wolf up and away from Haytham - forcing it against the wall. With nowhere to flee the poor thing soon found itself almost bisected as Lu stepped into the space created and pushed her blade forward, guiding its path with her free hand. In triumph she exclaimed "Hah! Got you!"
Saeri considered for just a moment. She could have looked to curse the wolves, but with a trio of them present, it was probably more effective to simply try and eliminate them. Alas, not every throw was a good one - with how fast the wolves were moving around, she wasn't able to get a good shot even taking into account that she was actually practiced at flinging cards into rough melees.
As Lucrecia closed the distance to the melee, Chaïa danced back to try to get a clear shot at the wolf between the northerner and Haytham. Rather than trying again to force the Weave into a raw weapon and still direct it through the hurly-burly, Chaïa opted for something humbler that she hoped would allow for a bit more finesse. Alas, the elements all seemed to be refusing to bend to her will in all the confusion, and the acid she conjured flew over the heads of all concerned to splatter high against the wall beyond. There it scorched away some of the painted reliefs.
Haytham took half a step back at the abrupt attack. Leveling his blade he made for the beast on his right, trying to keep the other two safely away. His blade connecting with his foe, he slid the killing edge in wordlessly before giving a sharp twist. The Holy Strategist cut deeply, but not quite deeply enough to slay.
"Press the right, take them one by one."
Advancing a bit on Haythams left to get into better position for a strike, Janus answers:"Press the right? There's wolves. I'd rather try and encircle them from the left!" as his Falcata smoothly connects with the wolf straight ahead of Haytham, barely missing it's throat but still leaving it with a severe wound.
One by one! "Zey seem to be of a similar mind!" Lu noted as the wolves tried to gnaw on their armoured priest. With a disdainful glare at the insolent mutt infront of her Lu quickly kneeled. Then with a wide sweep, starting low and rising, she herded the wolf up and away from Haytham - forcing it against the wall. With nowhere to flee the poor thing soon found itself almost bisected as Lu stepped into the space created and pushed her blade forward, guiding its path with her free hand. In triumph she exclaimed "Hah! Got you!" as the wolf died.
The two surviving wolves turned to Janus. He batted off the one that he'd cut a moment before, but the other seized his leg in its jaws and pulled is feet from under him.
Two wolves left, one untouched and one wounded by Janus. Ok, they'll try him.
hit!
and he is pulled down prone, so he can have an exploding butt icon. It's one of my favorite icons.
...
She was really off of her form today, and goodness that was vexing. "All right, time to stick with curses..." she muttered. At least she could be certain that was going to work, even if nothing else really managed to do so.
"Uugh...they are fast!", Janus muttered as he struggled to fend off the assault, scrambling to get back up before the wolves could take advantage of his state.
"Uugh...they are fast!", Janus muttered as he struggled to fend off the assault, scrambling to get back up before the wolves could take advantage of his state.
"But distracted!" Lu called out in reply. With a swift motion she stepped up and raised her sword over her head in a two handed grip. With the wolves seemingly still focused on nibbling on Janus it was then simply a matter of bringing the blade down over their exposed backs. A spray of red and a crash of cut bone quickly followed!
Circling past the tangle of man and wolf as fast as her limp would carry her, Chaïa called up another acid cantrip in an attempt to catch the last wolf of the group, hoping it would be an easier shot.
Chaïa hissed her disgust as her acid just missed the snout of the beast in last place. "Almost!"
Haytham stepped forward, leading with blade this time, and went for a rising slash.
Finding purchase, he pulled the strike through and forced forward with his shield once more.
"You hurt Janus?"