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"I was placed within to pass on the knowledge of my time to this future time. The questions asked were of all manner of persons of interest and historical accounts. As I told the scholars before, the most important thing to repair damaged magical jewels is..." At this point, the spell ends. However, the written accounts regarding the jewels is still in tact.
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Prothero feels the magic of the spell fade away, lifts his hand off the sarcophagus and says, "I believe we have learned all we can from Halmrat. Let's continue into the temple, at least we know the traps and pitfalls aren't what they used to be."
He pauses and says to his companions, "I think we should leave the water guardian be, and explore further inside. If we're desperate for what he guards, we can fight him later, once our mission here is complete."
He then heads back to the pillared room, still weighed down by the stone and moving slowly. He examines the single door to the east for any unwelcome surprises and then opens it.
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As the conversation with Hamlet comes to an abrupt end, Borax can't help but feel he's being cheated. But with no one to challenge on the issue, he's forced to accept what is and move on.
The charred room to Borax was like candy to a baby. Borax pulled a handkerchief from his breast pocket and cleaned his glasses. One lens after the other. Quickly stuffing the cleaning rag back in place, Borax raised his glasses to his head and began examine the charred remains, eager to apply his massive brain to the problem.
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While Prothero is curious what could have caused the massive fireball in the storage room, he's also eager not to be in the place where it happened. He takes a quick look at what remains in the room, checking the corpses for anything of value while asking, "Perhaps someone could check the room for magic, in case there's something of value that survived, or further balls of fire waiting to erupt?"
He then moves back to the courtyard and examines the double doors to the south before opening them.
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Defah's sight does not lead him to believe there will be another fireball in here, though you would feel sorry for the poor souls that were here when it happened.
Opening the doors to the south, you see a vast chamber. The ceiling of this natural cavern sparkles with thousands of tiny crystals, while the center of the cave is split by a chasm that wends deeper underground. A stone bridge stretches over the gap. At the center of the bridge rises a black granite obelisk, covered with gems and hieroglyphics. The obelisk is a masterpiece of sculpture, with flawless lines and beautifully rendered images of the past. An open archway to the south is covered with wall carvings and leads to a hallway.
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Prothero's breath catches and he pauses as he's about to step into the room. "Did anyone else see that?" he asks the group. "One of the faces on the obelisk, its eyes just turned and looked at us!" He moves his head up and down and side to side as if trying to get a different angle on what he's seen, but the eyes do not seem to move any more.
"I'd say we have little choice but to keep going, but let's be careful and keep our eyes open. Darvik, I'll be right behind you." He nocks an arrow and walks into the room behind the burly fighter.
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Borax can think of nothing fitting this description.
vs Touch AC
Will save
As Darvik enters the room, the scene suddenly shifts. From outside the room, everyone sees what appear to be visions of ancient Osirion, visions of the dead rising up from ancient tombs, armies of divs marching forth from a massive structure of black stone, and a plague of locusts sweeping over the land.
Darvik sees one additional vision; that of spirits emanating from the obelisk. They fly around the cavern before divebombing straight through Darvik's chest. In his mind, he hears the word "Remember..." rasped from everywhere and no where at once.
After about 20 seconds, the visions end. Except for Darvik who continuously feels as though he is both in the present place and time and also ancient Osirion.
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As Darvik enters the room, Prothero sees the series of terrible visions, then hears hears Darvik speak. "What do you mean, 'Remember,' Darvik? Did you see those visions too? Did they remind you of something?" The thought that Darvik might have experienced something in life as dark as the scenes that played out through the door is a sobering one indeed.
Standing in the doorway, he looks over his shoulder at the rest of the group and says, "This may be our moment to be prepared for ghosts."
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"I saw all but the last thing you describe, of the spirits coming from the obelisk and entering your body," Prothero answers. "I'm not sure how to put this but, do you feel entirely yourself?"
Again looking to the rest of the party, he says, "I doubt the spirits here mean us anything but ill, judging from the other visions we all saw, but it seems the only way forward. I think we should all be as prepared as possible."
With this, he steps into the room and prepares for whatever strange spirits may come.
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Alarming? What, you think I can't notice anything that escapes your senses? Darvik snaps at Defah without turning back. The fighter is still obviously affected by the event. Enough yammering. Prothero, you might want to lead the way, however. I can't seem to focus too well on what's in front of me. It seems a bit blurry or dark.
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Prothero experiences no additional visions as he enters the room and approaches the bridge, so he carefully continues. He waves the party forward as he get to the beginning of the bridge, then moves across it, being cautious not to touch the obelisk when he passes it.
All the while, his senses are alert for any further movement amongst the figures on the obelisk.
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Prothero hears Defah's report of what he sees and says, "Well, it seems someone should go down and take a closer look, and there's no telling what Darvik would see, poor fellow. I've got a length of rope that should reach, though it'd be nice to have one more, to be sure I don't have to drop the last ten feet. And so I can get back up, now that I think on it. In other words, I'll go check it out."
He pulls fifty feet of rope from his pack and ties a loop in one end, to set his foot in as he's raised and lowered, then says, "You guys ready to lower me down. Let's be sure to tie this end to something as well."
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After looking around a bit and not wanting to touch the obelisk, Prothero says, "Well, just hang onto it, I guess. Somebody tie it around your waist or something, would you." He then lowers the rope off the bridge, looking down into the chasm as he does so, to ensure it will reach all the way to the bottom. Satisfied with his experiment, he hauls it back up and asks the party, "Ready?"
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Prothero checks that the rope reaches the bottom, and that his companions are holding firmly on to the other end. He grabs hold of it and scrambles off the edge of the bridge, slipping his foot into the loop he's made. Once he feels he's in a solid position, he says, "Lower away."
When he gets to the bottom, he picks up Teric's illuminating rock and moves over to the woman's body. He takes a close look at it, for anything of value and any indication how she died. Though at a guess the drop off the bridge didn't do the poor soul much good...
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The bridge seems to be structurally sound.
Teric is able to make out that one radiates a faint evocation aura.
When Prothero gets down there, he sees the body much more closely, seeing that it was indeed the fall that killed her. However, she does seem to be a good distance from the ledge in order to have fallen normally. Rather, it almost appeared as if she were running and missed the bridge...
The items of note down here include a wayfinder which winks out shortly after Prothero reaches the bottom (and no longer radiates as magical to Teric), a wand, a gem which Teric says is what radiated as evocation, a dragon-shaped ring, and the rock with light cast on it which was previously tossed down.
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Prothero looks around carefully while down in the chasm, then turns his attention to a study of the body.
Prothero then checks the body for a belt pouch, backpack or some other container, which he empties out. His experience with the impossibly burdensome stone fresh in his mind, he then scoops up each of the noteworthy items wearing the bag like a mitten, so as to avoid touching them. Once he's collected them all this way, he ties the pouch to his belt, sets his foot into the loop and grabs hold of the rope and calls out for his friends to haul him up.