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Halstadt's prayer is answered with a glittering beetle with shimmering wings of silver fire.
The creature's eight-legged, segmented body is perhaps the size of a large dog - a dog with a chitinous carapace that is.
The beetle materializes in the center of the square room and immediately begins to look around for any sign of foes of Forge Father. Seeing none, it has an almost quizzical look.
It then slowly meanders about the empty chamber. It wanders around in a wide circuit, occasionally looking back at the priest who summoned it...
After a half minute or so, the fire beetle begins to look a bit bored, perhaps even downright laconic. It's antennae begin to droop and its wings stop beating, settling into a comfortable folded position around its body. You'd swear the lazy beetle was going to lie down and just take a--
--nap.
Yep, that's exactly what it's doing. It flops it's head on the ground and stops moving. Do bugs even sleep?
In any event, the bug just lies there, hardly moving until it stops all motion entirely. Another half minute later Halstadt's summoning magic comes to an end and the beetle vanishes, heading back to wherever in the celestial realms it is that celestial fire beetles comes from.
"Either the creature found nothing wrong, the enchantments forces those who enter to sleep, or the magic of the room is not deadly without a direct trigger. Time to find out".
Hal clutches his axe and steps into the room.
Karek is but a step behind Hal. He has to watch out for his kinsman.
The two brave dwarves stride inside.
They do not appear to trigger any traps. The dwarves appear safe, though they do seem rather unimpressed with the empty room as they look around.
Wait a second. You hear something. It sounds like a drum beat. It's rather faint. You're not sure where it is coming from, but it originates from somewhere inside the room.
Boom, boom.
Boom, boom.
Hal turns to the group outside, "I hear something, like a drumbeat. Not sure where it is coming from as this place seems empty, Gandel come on inside, take a look at these runes so we can get out of here as soon as possible".
Perhaps Halstadt has been dipping into the dwarven ale? I can assure you none of the Dune Squad outside the room hear a drumbeat - or any other musical instruments for that matter.
Hal turns to the group outside, "I hear something, like a drumbeat. Not sure where it is coming from as this place seems empty, Gandel come on inside, take a look at these runes so we can get out of here as soon as possible".
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"I'd be delighted!" Gandel swoops into the room with excitement.
"Hmmmm - well this is different!"
"This is very detailed - exceptionally so. It could take a while to see what we have here precisely."
"I think I'm looking at numerical representations of some kind, but of what exactly? . ."
Gandel goes silent as he continues his study. After a few more moments he seems to be babbling more to himself.
"I mean we knew the ancient Osirions were unusually advanced, but this is truly incredible. I had no idea!"
Sooron happened to take a Comprehend Languages spell for just such a hieroglyph-intensive room. If he were to cast that, would it appreciably speed up the process in here? If so, he will do so, but remain outside the room at first, to read as much as he can from that angle before stepping in.
Interesting. Donkor suspects that a casting of comprehend languages would speed up the process by a factor of 10. What he can't guess at is how long it would take, even with such a magical boost. He also won't be able to know whether he can glean anything substantive without entering the room. Perhaps he can, but he won't know without trying first.
He goes ahead. A factor of 10 sounds useful!
Sooron can see that the glyphs are mostly numbers, framed by descriptors, perhaps headings or titles. There must be tens of thousands of numbers.
The numbers represent the human heart as it responds to different conditions. It looks like the author is claiming to have found a way to measure the human heart beat activity in intervals of time under varying levels of stress.
Gandel is right, these massive wall panels are a treasure in themselves.
Donkor might be able to learn more if he were to enter the room.
Perhaps Halstadt and Karek could give me d20 rolls - no reason.
Gandel's doing it too. It's just a cool thing to do.
"You know, it would take hours to place all these numbers in their proper context. Perhaps I could speed things up if I took some charcoal rubbings instead."
The halfing reaches into his special backpack and the tools he needs appear in his hand, paper and a charcoal stick. He slaps the paper over a section of panel and runs the stick over the paper, creating an impression on the page.
"Say, is it just me or is the drum beat slowing down?"
Just for s&~!s and giggles
Sooron is beyond fascinated by what he's learning on the walls, and steps into the room to learn more. Some of the mysteries of how Pharasma makes the world go might be learned in here!
And how about Moonpate, Hurgah, Xerissa, Breach and Donkor send me d20 rolls (for no reason at all).
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Consistent with that theory the beat does have a vaguely double-strum sort of rhythm.drum, drum
drum, drum
drum, drum.
Though it is slowing rather down. Hal's heartbeat, on the other hand, isn't slowing down . . . right?
You are feeling strangely lethargic. Clearly this is a boring empty room which only holds fascination for the academic-types. That celestial fire beetle had the right idea. After all you've been through today, a cat nap might not be a bad idea.
Hal turns to Karek, "We should withdraw and return, it seems the sleep is affecting us".
And how about Moonpate, Hurgah, Xerissa, Breach and Donkor send me d20 rolls (for no reason at all).
Moonpate is staying outside of the room, with a dispel magic scroll ready to read.
Mmm. Nod enough sleeb, I guess. Karek wonders aloud as he slowly wanders out of the room.
Sooron is beyond fascinated by what he's learning on the walls, and steps into the room to learn more. Some of the mysteries of how Pharasma makes the world go might be learned in here!
-
One panel appears to acutely log a drowning human, recording as the heart pounds faster and faster under stress and then stops.Apparently there wasn't much of a medical ethics board for the Ancient Osirion scholarly caste.
Another shows a woman under some kind of extreme stress.
Another panel shows the effects of a drug or sedative Donkor does not recognize. The subject's heart slowly decreases and then stops at null (an Osirion zero).
1d20
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Well Xerissa does seem to be fine, "Mr. I rolled an 18". I suppose you must be right.
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Well it must have all been for naught anyways, as Donkor does not notice anything new - or suffer any unusual deleterious effects.
Mmm. Nod enough sleeb, I guess. Karek wonders aloud as he slowly wanders out of the room.
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Slacker.His achievement for the day is exiting the room. How about Karek celebrates with another 1d20 roll? You can make it a Fort save, for fun.
While I am at it, how about a second one for Hal?
"The sound - do you hear it? It is definitely slowing."
"Say, you two," he says, looking at Karek and Halstadt, "don't look so good."
"Could there be a spell in this room? For some reason I don't think it's affecting me."
The halfling hastily make another charcoal rubbing of another panel of glyphs, this one involving cardiac data on a young woman forced to run herself to death.
Fortitude save vs. Spell
The drum beat continues to slow down. You have still not been able to pinpoint where it comes from.
Karek still hears it even after he leaves the room.
The good news is your condition has not worsened.
(That was a good one to make!)
Feeling just fine. . .
Posted last night, but I think the server ate it:
Is Hal out of the room now?
I didn't see a post from him indicating he was actually leaving. Halstadt just raised it as a possibility. But having re-read the above, I see I am being overly technical and it was clearly your intent. We'll say he exited the previous round. (Did you suspect I've been keeping track of rounds?) He's out the room then, but still suffers from slow. He also still hears the slowing drum beat.
Did Sooron share his knowledge with us yet?
He hasn't but, he almost invariably does. I'll just ask him. If not, Gandel certainly would.
Hal exits the chamber behind Karek, leaving Donkor and Gandel inside.
"Look lively, Karek...this place must be getting to you if searching an empty room can wear you out like that." Hurgah rumbles in his usual, humorless tone.
"At this rate, I'm going to run out of paper! As hard as it is, I'll have to save some for other chambers."
Sooron continues his own translation of the runes, but stops and has a good look at Karek and Hal upon hearing Gandel's comments.
The dwarves both appear to be suffering from some form of general fatigue, but with few outward signs. They are not perspiring, nor short of breath. Pupils are normal.
Instead they appear lethargic, like a lizard in cold weather.
Donkor exits the room and examines the vitals of the two dwarves (in a non-anachronistic-Pharasmatic-sort-of-way).
When he places his second and third fingers across their necks in turn, he finds that both Halstadt and Karek have low pulse rates. Sticking his ear to their chests, he confirms that their hearts have slowed. Donkor knows that dwarves normally have slower resting heart rates than humans, and Karek is an exceptional athlete, so we would expect his heart to be naturally slow in particular, but this is definitely abnormal. The dwarves are also drawing their breath slower than normal, but for some reason this is not agitating them as it should.
Incidently, and totally unrelated, when Donkor exits the room he continues to be able to hear the slowing drum beat. Though he was not able to hear it until he first entered the room.
Donkor finally makes the assumption that something in the room has effected them to slow down their hearts, and calls everyone over (out of the room) for a pow-wow to explain the hieroglyphics and the assumption. He also examines Gandel and anyone else who had entered the room, and checks his own heart rate to see if he might also be affected.
Then he will proceed with specific Detect Magic and Detect Poison spells, along with Spellcraft and Healing rolls at Karek and Hal to try and find out what the mechanics are of what's going on with them, and what might be done to stop it.
Healing:
Spellcraft:
"So you're saying ye're all cursed somehow for looking at the runes on the wall? Blast this place - far too much trickery and far too few fair fights. Makes me want to go back and give that portal-man another pounding."
Hal sighs, "Do you believe this to be a temporary magical effect or a curse Sooron? A curse I can handle, a magical effect will wear off in time, though it is best if no one else enters the room to ensure we do not spread the effect to all of us. Unless destroying the runes themselves will remove the effect I can ask Angradd to wash away this effect, I suspected we may be dealing with some curses in this ancient place. Have we missed any rooms? We must have missed something as there should be much more to this place".
Donkor finally makes the assumption that something in the room has effected them to slow down their hearts, and calls everyone over (out of the room) for a pow-wow to explain the hieroglyphics and the assumption. He also examines Gandel and anyone else who had entered the room, and checks his own heart rate to see if he might also be affected.
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Unless I hear otherwise, I'll assume everyone joins the Sooron pow-wow. Gandel definitely does and is quite interested in Donkor's findings.Then he will proceed with specific Detect Magic and Detect Poison spells, along with Spellcraft and Healing rolls at Karek and Hal to try and find out what the mechanics are of what's going on with them, and what might be done to stop it.
-
Calling upon his pharasmic-sight, Donkor sees signs that the heavy-duty magic effect in the room is now clinging to Hal and Karek, even though they have exited the room. A quick check confirms it is 'sticking' to Gandel and Donkor as well, but none of the others.There is good news though, the strength of the aura appears to be fading. Consonant with this all four of those affected report that the volume of the drum beat in their ears appears to be gently fading. Unfortunately, the pace of the beat has also slowed considerably. At this rate, it may even stop entirely.
Detect poison does not reveal any poison.
. . . Makes me want to go back and give that portal-man another pounding."
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Unfortunately, the pace of the beat has also slowed considerably. At this rate, it may even stop entirely.
-
When Donkor explains this, Gandel comments:"That sounds really, really bad."
. . . and checks his own heart rate to see if he might also be affected.
-
Donkor's heart has not joined or matched the beat he hears with his ears. It is resisting. He does not know why. Perhaps his connection with his deity has somehow protected him.
"If we have what we need from that room, I suggest we move on and explore further, we are certainly missing something. Hmmm, did Ro Ap Han's staff appear to fit the shape of that cylinder in the wall with the purple liquid?"
"I wouldn't think so," the halfing responds after consideration. "Maybe we could force it in."
"If that hole is for a key, I would think we're looking for something with a sharper point to it."