Lyrica takes some time to pray and meditate while the group rests and heals.
"My blessed Dawnflower, open my heart that I may feel your presence. Guide me day by day, moment by moment. Let me be at one with you, where my every thought and every action bring me closer to your ever loving light. . . " Lyrica remains still and with mindful perseverance, attempts to commune with her deity.
"My dear Sarenrae, I know that you will never abandon your people, but the evil that comes to this land will try to silence you and cut you off from the faithful. I, Lyrica Strom, pray that I can prevent that from ever happening. No matter what happens, I will be there to fulfill your will in this realm and the next. . . Amen. ".
Lyrica searches her mind but can think of no way in which a God can be separated from his/her followers. However, even the zealous Lyrica knows that such a topic wouldn't be mentioned in the canons even if it were possible... because it calls into question the limitless power of the Gods if they can be 'stripped' of their connection to their churches through some external force. Such a idea borders on heresy and falls into a murky grey area with which Lyrica has never been comfortable. Not for the first or last time on this journey, the Paladin thinks of her father. Harmon Strom was a man of great patience, acceptance, and well-banked zealotry. This was the sort of question he would enjoy mulling over.
Our heroes take what solace they can in breaking bread together, stub out their meager fire, and head back to the Barrow with a certain amount of trepidation. Outside the Barrow, little has changed - no additional footprints are found and no evidence of the dead emerging is seen. But it seems the broken stone door is in the process of being repaired. Broken chunks of the masonry are fitted solidly together like a jigsaw puzzle. The door is perhaps a third back together.
MAP (for when you enter the Barrow)
14|14
10|10
10|10
15|15
14|14
But it seems the broken stone door is in the process of being repaired. Broken chunks of the masonry are fitted solidly together like a jigsaw puzzle. The door is perhaps a third back together.
"This is not a good sign, my friends. Perhaps we should try a different route this time. Let's take this passageway to the left and see where it goes."
Lyrica has her scimitar drawn once again as she clutches her shield in her left hand. She protectively looks all around for enemies who could bring harm to her dear friends.
"My friends, I did not see any tracks outside where the door was being rebuilt. I notice that a large portion is being reassembled as if by some evil magic. I know this is a terrible thought, but do you think it will continue reassembling and leave us locked in before we are done here?"
"All the more reason to be quick about this," Jak responds with a dark look back towards the door. "And trying another route seems smart. Marcus, you wanna lead out into that left fork? We're right behind ya."
The small band of heroes tries a different path and creeps into the darkness of an unexplored corridor. The path soon opens to rough-hewn gallery. Rubble and dust coat the floor of this clearly unfinished chamber. In the floor's dust a single set of widely set paw-prints can be seen moving from the left-most corridor towards where the party waits, before taking a sharp sliding turn southward. As they pass where Jak stands, they vanish quickly as the dust ends and the stone passages begin.
Jak squats down over the prints, "Marcus. Aerik... these look like they could be from that bone-dog-thing from yesterday. Can either of you verify that?"
Lyrica stays vigilant and looks around for anything of interest from evidence of creatures, treasure or traps .
"When you are finished investigating that, could we take a left and explore to see if this is another way out of here?"
Ezekiel keeps his loaded crossbow pointing in the direction they travel, keep an alert eye for trouble. "Let's hope there's not more of them hiding back here."
"Yep."
Marcus crouches down to examine the paw prints.
Yep, these were made by the dog-thing that tried to eat us yesterday.
Jak nods, "I'm not opposed to it. I think the big guy believed me yesterday. But if he didn't, and he thinks we're likely to come back, he could have a nasty surprise or three for us."
He shrugs, "Though I have no reason to believe that's true. I'm game with that idea if you guys like it."
"If that thing calls itself the Forgotten, and claims not to be the Pale, I'm all for avoiding it. Why pick a fight if we don't have to? I say we find the Pale, hack off its hand, and get the hell out of here."
"Better to face it head on, rather than let it sneak up on you."
After a brief discussion, our heroes head back along the winding path that leads to the Forgotten's prison. Dripping water greets them as they pass into the long corridor roofed with strange fungi. Their boots again splash through the pooling water and crunch skeletal bones. They enter the semi-submerged crypt room and see the remains of the evil helmet pinned to an outcrop of rock as well as the empty suit of armor resting on the sarcophagus. Nothing challenges them. Advancing forward, they shake the water from their boots and pass near the osseous carpet littering the Boneyard. No bodies rise from it. In fact, nothing appears disturbed at all here.
Pressing forward, they pass the remains of the fiendish flying head and round the corner to view the crypt. Everything is as they remember it. There is a stench of decay from the bodies of the undead they dispatched. The floor is streaked with villainous bile and heroic blood in prodigious quantities - now sticky and congealed. Even the eaten head of the Sawtongue remains where they last left it, though now it sits in a puddle of what passes for water - likely the condensation created when the frozen skull warmed to room temperature. In the dark of the crypt no word nor sound of movement is heard. Only the faint glow and tinkle of the fountain mars the perfect and disconcerting silence. The room feels empty.
MAP: Overview
"Well my friends, it appears that this place is untouched from when we last were here. At least this is good news. However, please keep vigilant back there in case something does come from behind."
Lyrica checks for a way to enter the chamber to the south of the sarcophagus room.
This thing's cold, right? Maybe fire'll do the trick. Marcus lights a torch and slowly creeps forward, shield slung over his other arm. He advances slowly, throwing the torch into the breach.
Lyrica checks for a way to enter the chamber to the south of the sarcophagus room.
...You catch sight of some arcane symbols on the floor and a large, fountain filled with gently glowing water... [the light] reveals slices of the curved far wall as well as illuminating more of the arcane symbols that grace the floor. The fountain... is made of a white stone and has three levels. From the top springs a bubbling spray of water that overspills the fluted bowl and rains down into the second, larger punchbowl. Around the scalloped sides are etched elegant twining leaves. The water splashes in this bowl till it waterfalls down, through a series of notched culverts into the massive circular trough at the bottom. The sides of the trough are etched with floral and pastoral scenes of delicate beauty... The [light] also reveals the stone slab blocking the doorway. It is a skillful piece of engineering - it is coming through the floor and ceiling. whether it lowers into the floor or raises into the ceiling, you can't say but it is a formidable bit of hewn rock - every bit as tough as the Teeth of Angarak.
Marcus hurls the guttering torch into the gap. It hits the floor and sputters there, illuminating more of the room. Nothing else seems to happen.
MAP: Overview (updated)
"I'll see about mixing up that tonic that lets me see the magical auras of an object. Perhaps it will tell us more about what's going on here."
Ezekiel slides a bit closer, enough to get a good look at the fountain and the floor around it. He spends many long moments staring at it.
Round 1: There is a magic aura surrounding the fountain.
Round 2: There are three auras, in fact, and the strongest aura is faint.
Round 3: One aura is on the symbols on the floor, one is on the fountain itself, and one is on the water. All of the auras are faint but the one on the fountain is strongest.
Round 4: The schools of magic parse this way:
Fountain - faint transmutation magic
Floor Symbols - faint conjuration magic
Water - faint transmutation (good) magic
You get the vague impression that dipping something in the large bottom trough of the fountain is the key to activating it.
Lyrica searches for any mechanisms or levers that may move the stone up or down.
However she seems distracted by her thoughts of being trapped in here.
As the magic fades from his eyes, he relates his discoveries. "There are three auras I was able to see, all faint The fountain itself, it has the magic of transmutation, altering the world around it. The Symbols on the floor are conjuration, the power of summoning and calling. And the water has transmutation about it, but there's a hint of goodness about it. It...seems that if something were to be dipped into the bottom trough of the fountain, that may activate it. Though what it will do I can't say."
Lyrica looks around the cavern, away from the stone-blocked doorway, and finds no hint of a lever or triggering mechanism. She looks in some of the open sarcophagi and finds nothing there either.
Jak frowns at the good doctor's observations, "Any way to know if those magics work together? Or do you think they do three distinct functions?"
"If that thing calls itself the Forgotten, and claims not to be the Pale, I'm all for avoiding it. Why pick a fight if we don't have to? I say we find the Pale, hack off its hand, and get the hell out of here."
After a pause, Jak speaks up again, "Aerik, something's been bothering me about what you said before." He pauses, gathering the crew close and whispering quietly on the off-chance that they're being watched. "The Pale is more likely to be a reference to the Barrow itself. I hadn't considered that when I asked the Forgotten about his skin color. But as I was thinking back on that writing, the reference is…" He pauses as he reconstructs the words in his mind, "… 'snatch the black hand from the Pale'. The Forgotten's hand is certainly black. And now he knows we're here… assuming he didn't believe me yesterday."
"The fountain, the water, and the symbols all give off an aura? Very interesting. I am glad to hear that there is a trace of good in the water. I am mostly curious about the summoning aspect of the symbols. Who would want to conjure a creature in here and would it be good? I also wonder how it reacts the water with the aura of good. I have been searching for a way in there, but I cannot find anything. Perhaps some of you could help me find a trigger or a mechanism to help move the stone."
"The Forgotten's hand is certainly black. And now he knows we're here… assuming he didn't believe me yesterday."
"That forgotten creature is undoubtably connection to this whole affair. The question is, do you think we are powerful enough that we could snatch his black hand?"
"Don't know how much of a choice we really have if we want to save our friends," Jak whispers as he heads toward the stone obstructing their passage to the well room.
As he gets close, he shakes his head, "This is just dumb." He pauses for a few minutes, straining with his ears and eyes for any sounds other than the torch and water from the room beyond.
As he looks and listens, he whispers back to the group, "Did we bring any rope?"
Jak strains his ears for long minutes and hears nothing over (or under) the sound of the water tinkling in the fountain.