"Natalya's the one who gave it to me, in a manner of speaking," Nalathi says, thinking quickly. "Where's the other one? Do you have it?"
Seeing that Joanna has taken a real beating, Zee casts a spell. A cloud of tiny ghostly glowing Harrow cards appear around her hand. She points to one, and it grows in size on her outstretched finger. The image on the card is of a beatific-looking silver serpent with feathered rainbow-colored wings. Zee steps toward Joanna, and taps her friend with the ghostly card. The serpent flies off the image of the card and into Joanna. The paladin feels warm and bolstered by the magic of the Harrow, and some of her wounds begin to close.
Teldon takes a cue from Nalathi and also tries to harry Ayala to assist Jo's attack...
"Nalathi, move to flank it!"
Although the wererat's defenses are compromised by Ziomarra's curses, it still manages to cling on to it's will to fight...
Surrounding the Wererat, Joanna finally strikes a blow with the mithril blade...this time the wound does not heal and blood starts to slick on the creature's flanks...
With a look of desperation on the rodent's face, it lunges at Nalathi..."Give...Me...That!!!" - it snatches at the shard but Nalathi ducks nimbly out of reach.
...and, in it's desperation, it opens itself up to further attacks from the paladin.
Teldon takes advantage of the opening to try once more to trip Ayala, then attempts to distract her to aid Jo's next attack...
Taking advantage of the rat's overreach in trying to grab the shard, Nalathi shoves her trident under its legs and twists, hoping to catch a leg.
Realizing that the Thassilonian silver dagger that she's holding is one of the few weapons that can harm a vârcolac, Zee steps around Joanna along the wall. She then moves in to stab it in the back while it's distracted by Nalathi's trip attempt.
Briana’s words finally calm the lycanthrope…it stares dejectedly as Nalathi falls, the shard dangling around her neck – the object of her heart’s desire, tantalisingly out of reach
Moving to flank, Ziomarra slides her blade into the wererat’s thigh…it isn’t much more than a glancing blow across the matted fur of the creature but the silver does it’s work – the wound doesn’t heal.
With the wererat temporarily immobilised, Joanna looks to press the attack…but somehow misses the near motionless target.
Teldon angrily lifts himself off the ground after falling over while trying to trip the wererat through the gap between Jo's legs. Then frustratedly tries once more to aid Jo in her attack...
Taking Nalathi by surprise, the rat steps on her trident so suddenly that she forgets to let go and is pulled to the ground. Well that didn't go at all like I planned it... She stands up and tries again to help Joanna. "Come on, Joanna, you can do it!"
Joanna capitalizes on the distractions to sink the silvery shortsword into the ratwoman again...
,
,
With a look of grim determination etched on her face, realising that she alone was carrying a weapon truly able to bring down the lycanthrope, Joanna stabbed forward at the dazed creature. This time, after so many failed assaults, the blade slid past the leather armour worn by her foe...and plunged all the way to the hilt into the beast's chest. The erstwhile leader of the Tower Girls has barely a moment of clarity to register her own demise before sliding lifelessly to the floor.
The leader of the Tower Girls clearly kept the best gear for herself; you find the following on her body:
- Masterwork studded leather armour,
- A lightly enchanted bladed scarf ,
- A masterwork composite shortbow with 20 arrows
- A climber’s kit,
- A grappling hook with 50-foot silk rope,
- A set of masterwork thieves tools
"We slew a vârcolac! That is no small feat!"
Examining the wererat's gear, Zee is very interested in its bladed scarf. "The pattern is decades out of style, and I'll have to have it thoroughly cleaned to get the rat-stink off of it, but this is a fine weapon of my people. I would very much like to keep it!"
You note that one of Zee's many scarves also has blades hidden along the edge.
"A varcolac? Vercolac?" Nalathi shakes her head. "I'm not sure I'll ever get all these names right. Human," she gestures at Zee. "Giant," she guestures upward toward the room with the drawings. "Wayang," she puts a hand on her chest. "Varco-thingy..." She points at the dead Tower Girl. "And what are the tall-ish ones with the beards?"
Taking the time to look around the room, you look out of the windows into the shaft rising above the moored boats...a cool breeze blows through the open window and far off to the east, you can see boats on the horizon - the mundanity of fishing vessels going about their normal business in the Varisian Gulf whilst your lives have exploded with adventure...
Several pieces of furniture decorate this room, the modern furnishings clashing with the ancient carvings of Thassilonian wizards crafting deformed monsters from dead bodies decorating the walls. Luxurious crimson Varisian drapes have been pinned up in an archway to the southeast; peering beyond the drapes you find a large bed and the collected loot of the Tower Girls. Heaped on a table are sections of wall mural, ancient coins, pieces of jewelry, gems, bits and pieces of pottery, and more set aside for eventual sale in the markets of Magnimar.
In addition to the treasures, there are several half-written journals on the table; these are littered with maps of the Crow and other scrawlings - all written in a spidery scribed Varisian.
"Zee, could you check these for any mention of secret passages, or anything of similar significance?" Teldon asks, gesturing to the journals, as he walks back toward the hot glowing door. There he picks up some of the ruined tools and begins knocking and scrapping away the dirt and debris that obscures the runes on the door.
Using a range of the damaged and discarded tools, it takes a fair while for Teldon (aided by Joanna) to knock free and sweep away all of the soot, ash and embers that were obscuring the runes on the door. The radiant heat from the door makes the work hot and unpleasant…even with a light breeze coming in from the open windows in the adjacent room, both Teldon and Joanna are drenched with sweat by the time the inscription is legible.
The elegantly carved runes, in Thassilonian, present two simple lines of verse,
When the wild mob rage, and the degenerates lounge and slumber,
The learned scholar calls to the colony…for Bakrakhan, do this one thing…
Below the runes, centrally positioned across the join between the pair of the doors, a circle of runes (encompassed by a Sihedron) depict the letters of the Thassilonian alphabet.
Studious (and perhaps mildly obsessive) man that he is, Teldon will take his time thoroughly examining the doors...
"Can someone please look for magical auras on this door and let me know to what school they belong, and if any are centralized more specifically than the entire door?" he asks as he begins his examination. After a few minutes he adds, "it seems to have some passing similarity to the puzzle box... it appears you can press the letters around this central Sihedron... I suspect that like the puzzle box the clues in this verse may reveal a word to be entered to open the door..."
Ziomarra detects a strong abjuration aura – whilst it shines across the entire surface of the two doors, it does appear stronger on the metallic sihedrons on the door – both the large sihedron and the smaller one with the alphabetical runes encircled within it.
Smiling at Nalathi's comments, Zee responds, "Well, vârcolac is the word my people use for creatures that can turn themselves into an animal, or into a human-animal form. In Taldane, the word is 'were-creature.' Specifically, this had been a were-rat. Varisians don't actually have a specific words for the different types of were-creatures: they're all vârcolaci."
She then turns her attention to the journals, looking over the maps and notes.
After looking those over, she joins Teldon in his examination of the strange doors radiating strong heat...
...but doesn't notice anything worth commenting on.
Commenting to Teldon, "The door itself has a strong magical aura of abjuration. The power is concentrated on the two Sihedron designs." She pauses, adding,"The verse is certainly not high poetry, but loses much in translation, no? It would seem to be some kind of code... but what does it mean?"
She takes a closer look at the runes on the edges of the giant star. "Hey, humans... I think these things might be buttons or something. See how they're raised like this?" She points to one of the runes.
"Abjuration most likely means a magical trap... based on the heat, I'd guess magical flame protects it..." Teldon remarks distractedly while scrutinizing the runes.
When Nalathi suggests that the letters could work as buttons he gives her a puzzled look... Is she teasing me or was she really completely ignoring me when I explained how the door works? I honestly don't know which alternative is more maddening...
Rather than risk embarrassing himself, he ignores Nalathi's statement and continues, "perhaps its because my blood is still up from combat, but I don't seem to be making any head way... It seems lacking the usual dual meanings that characterize many riddles... mob and colony could both refer to insects... but I've never heard 'scholar' used that way... It sounds like perhaps it could be a historical clue..."
Nalathi catches Teldon's eye; he appears less than impressed. "What? ...Did you push them already?"
Do we know the connection between the Seven Deadly Sins and the seven Runelords, or is this something I'll have to make a Knowledge (history) roll about? Also: We know that modern Magnimar had been in the Thassilonian land of Bakarkhan (the land of Wrath)... right? Thanks!
Zee shoots Teldon a quizzical look. "Mob, colony, and scholar... Why are you focusing on those words?"
"Well, mob and colony were the first words I identified with related alternate meanings in Thassilonian, and scholar was a clear counter-argument..." he replies, "although, now that you mention it... those are three of the four words with traces of gold in the lettering."
- Greedy Karzoug in Shalast,
- Lustful Sorshen in Eurythnia,
- Prideful Xanderghul in Cyrusian,
- Gluttonous Zutha in Gastash,
- Envious Belimarius in Edasseril,
- Wrathful Alaznist in Bakrakhan (where modern day Magnimar is situated),
- and slothful Krune in Haruka.
Ayala's journal, written in a spidery scrawl, present multiple maps of the Crow (all of which tie up with your exploration to date), records of Thassilonian treasures salvaged and sold into Magnimar (noting buyers and addresses), increasingly irrational ideas about how to get past the Sihedron marked doors (the current plan appears to have been tunnelling past them) and rumoured sightings of Natalya in Dockway and Underbridge. The entries relating to Natalya are angrily written and often derail into threats as to what she will do with the traitor upon her capture.
A second journal describes the original discovery of the Tower Girls current hiding place upon the Crow - it also includes sketches and rumours about the other pilings - apparently the gang initially tried to access the 'Gull' and the 'Gecko', both of which are in Underbridge, but were seen (and warned off) by the City Watch during their initial searches. Their latter waterborne searches of the 'Shark' and the 'Whale' did not reveal any entrances before they discovered the harbour in the 'Crow'.
"Hmm..." Teldon says pensively, "the four words demarcated by the gold filling form an anagram for be loony, rum cools long char... That probably means nothing, but if anyone has a splash of rum they can spare... nothing ventured nothing gained..."
Zee retrieves a steel flask from her satchel. "It's Chelish brandy, not rum... Would that be close enough?"
Now that Teldon points out the gold leaf in the letters, Zee sees it too. "Hmm... 'Rage' would indicate wrath, and both 'lounge' and 'slumber' could indicate sloth... But I don't see any of the other sins reflected in that verse."
"Hmm... Well, 'mob lounge' anagrams to 'moon bulge,' and 'scholar colony,' anagrams to 'school arc only.' But there are many, many other possibilities. I do no think anagrams are the solution."
As you mull over the mystery of the doors, the light breeze continues to blow in through the open doors - and the sunlight reflected from the surface of the waves picks out the remnants of a wall carving that circles the room. The motif is similar to one from a previous room, a representation of the magnificent Irespan yet, instead of focussing on the humans and giants crossing the bridge between nations, the image focuses on the pilings that form the eastern end of the bridge. If anything, the carvings within this room are even more artistically astounding than the statues and gargoyles on the actual pilings...
Eerily carved with faces and eyes that, once you have seen them, follow you around the room, you recognise crows, rats, whales, sharks, harpies, geckos, gulls, firepelts, ospreys and salmons...
"Phew! I've had enough of this for now," says Zee in frustration. She walks back to the rooms with the windows. She examines the walls there as well, looking for more interesting carvings... Perhaps there's an overlooked clue.
She also looks out the window, down at the remaining boats, checking to see if any have come or gone.
"I'm missing something..." Teldon mutters frustratedly, "It can't be literal... Bakrakhan never had any colonies, at least none I've ever read of... If there's a dual meaning I haven't found it, and referencing 'Bakrakhan' specifically like that would be out of place in that type of riddle... And there must be some significance to these four formally golden words, but I can't see the connection... I think Zee's right, the anagrams seem to all be gibberish 'loon cry, she sung; coal bloom'... Groups of animals? Kangaroos form a mob, and ants a colony- but nothing forms a 'scholar'...."
Nalathi yawns. "I say we just start pressing them to see what happens."
Looking at the wall carvings, Ziomarra notices there are residual traces of gold on certain of the animal images as well...
- Rats
- Whales
- Geckos
- and on the Sharks
There is also a residue of metal on the Crows...not gold though - a silvery metal that, even in tiny quantities exudes a certain amount of heat...
"If you want to try that, Nalathi, I think everyone else should hide in another chamber in case this room is consumed in a fiery blast..." Teldon replies. Then, after pausing for a moment to see if she's still interested, he continues "if we really can't solve this I could try to disarm the trap before we resort to guessing. That should be a last resort though."
"Hmm... This is interesting... There are gold flecks on some of the carvings here, but not on others. Rats, geckos, whales, and sharks have remains of gold paint. And the crows have silvery metal on them... and those seem much warmer than they should be. I doubt that's coincidence."
She looks between the wall carvings and the doors. "'Mob,' 'lounge,' 'scholar,' 'colony'... 'Rat,' 'whale,' 'gecko,' 'shark'..."
Zee continues speaking her thoughts aloud. "Hmmm... A group of lizards is a lounge, a group of rats is a colony, a group of sharks is a school..., a group whales is a pod, not a mob, but maybe the word was different in Thassilonian..."
The witch smiles a very knowing smile and snaps her fingers.
"'When the wild mob rage, and the degenerates lounge and slumber/
The learned scholar calls to the colony…for Bakrakhan, do this one thing…'
Do this one thing.
A group of crows.
MURDER."
"Scholar... school!" Teldon exclaims with a mixture of frustration and realization, "well done, Zee... I'm a little concerned because I've never seen 'όχλος' used for a pod--mob really is the best translation here--but you're right, it could be a dialect difference... shall we try δολοφονία and see what happens?"
Approaching the doors to enter the code that had eluded the Tower Girls but Ziomarra has deduced, you realise there is one final obstacle...the siccatite alphabet runes are hot - hot enough to burn flesh...
Teldon reaches out to press the first button but pulls back his hand when he realizes the damage the heat from the door will inflict. "Don't touch this, it's too hot... I'll be right back" He says before disappearing into the other chamber.
He comes trotting back through to the door with he hands inside his all weather cloak, then standing as close to the door as he can manage, with his body obscuring what he's doing, he begins pressing buttons...