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"It would be easier if you learned the language" Smarmy mutters, at Mun's arrogance.
He steps forward, empty hands raised and starts talking to them earnestly, occasionally waving his hands around expressively.
"We are not thieves, the King himself has asked us to go through these halls, and help protect its treasures and its people. We are here with King Gutheran's blessing." He does his best to look non-threatening.
"Even now, the foul duergar breach the citadel's defenses, and seek to destroy us, and you, and the treasures and craftsmanship you have build here." He waves back towards whoever is holding the gems nonchalantly, as if nothing unsuual is happening there. "This here, is merely a last ditch effort to keep some of Jormurdun's treasures out of the hands of those abominations!"
"You do your King, and the city proud with your diligence! But the enemy is on us, even now." He adds, seriously, looking around as if he suddenly heard something. "Your skills are direly needed to drive them back!"
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Pressing forward, Edmund maintains his position in the middle of the pack- allowing the other pathfinders to mess with the various artifacts and runes that he does not understand.
I can't help them much with any of this smart stuff, but I can at least keep an eye on their back
He keeps his bow knocked, and eyes alert to the shifting shadows in the cavern.
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The apparent leader of the dwarven guard replies to Mun in broken common, "Of course, if it pleases your grace, we can continue your imprisonment in the tongue of the taldan people." But the traveling dwarf makes a compelling argument. Perplexed and dumbfounded the leading guard apologizes directly to Mun, in Taldane.
"My apologies sir, it was unknown to us that you had the King's blessing." Looking back at Smarmy, but still speaking in dwarven for the benefit of his party, "Most of the district is currently overrun, but the news that King Gutheran thinks that we can still survive this ordeal will travel fast along our kin. We will keep fighting those duergar as soon as we lay eyes on them! Please don't let us keep you any longer, King Gutheran needs your aid!"
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Smarmy just bows slightly, as the dwarves back off. Saying a few more words in dwarvish before they head out.
He smiles again, apologetically.
But as the dwarvish squad turns to head out, he asks a question.
"If you have a moment though..." He says, unctuously.
He points back towards the statue of the Dweller Below. "Can you tell us about that statue, there. The Father of Creation one would expect to see... as clearly you are all fine examples of his divine work... but the Dweller? It is rare to see such artwork on display."
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Mun's face brightens when the guards switch to Taldane, and brightens even more at the honorific he receives. His smug joy isn't even diminished by the fact that they were nearly going to imprison them all before Smarmy interceded... the guards treated him with the proper respect and that's all that mattered.
But it might indeed benefit me to learn a bit of dwarven; rough as the tongue is, it can't be worse than orcish!
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Getting to the Seer's District a large two-tier platform with a rectangular stone altar and four braziers filled with burning coals dominates this chamber. A narrow channel runs red with oily liquid, twisting in strange patterns. The platform is flanked by six statues of demonic mien that reach out with wicked claws.
Four hooded dwarves in dingy brown robes linger near the altar, and one acknowledges your presence when you enter the chamber. She lowers her hood, revealing a very old female dwarf. She extends one hand in welcome and speaks.
“Strange travelers visit our shrine, perhaps seeking the wisdom of the Vision Unveiled in these troubled times. I am the chief augur of its mysteries. What draws you here?”
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"We are humbled before your wisdom." Smarmy says, as he steps forward and bows.
"Indeed, the mysteries of the Vision Unveiled are what we seek." He continues. "King Gutheran himself has blessed our coming."
He switches to dwarvish.
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The chief augur interrupts Smarmy before he begins talking in the tongue of their race, introduces herself as Holugi, "I know you seek to erode the duergar's presence in Jormurdun, but before you can partake in the prophecies, your intentions must be judged." She then makes a small pause, and starts muttering while examining each of you, on several passes.
When she's done judging your intentions, she praises Kitajo and cautions the others against forsaking discipline, encourages Mun and Edmund to continue a life of good-deeds, advises Jey to put others’ needs ahead of his own, and finally chastises Smarmy for placing too much value on freedom.
She leads you to the altar, where there are 16 brightly colored tiles and a small silver hourglass.
"None of you possess a heart that would displease Torag, but I need only one of you to step forward for the next test, all others may assist you in word but not in deed. The way one arrays the tiles speaks volumes about their character and motivations, and before we, augurs, leave this shrine forever, we intend to place the tiles in a way that will honor Torag and his family." You can see a four by four grid to place these tiles.
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After a bit of probing, and seeing the pattern being put in place, the whole group brainstorming as a unit decides on the correct placement on the last two tiles. Happy with your choice, Holuqui shares on several of the cult's secrets and offers to heal some of the damage you may be sufffering.
3rd— cure serious wounds, remove curse, remove disease
2nd— cure moderate wounds, lesser restoration
1st— cure light wounds, protection from evil, remove fear[/ooc]
The walls, floor, and ceiling begin to tear apart, revealing
countless miniature scenes from past ages. The entire sky
citadel groans as though Jormurdun were slowly dying,
and more visible ripples—now seeming to pulse with an
impossibly slow heartbeat—wash through the halls.
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This large cave’s condition is strangely similar to that witnessed three millennia later: dirt and stony debris lie scattered across the floor along with discarded scrolls, bits of bone, and several jawless skulls. Crouched over the seven natural pools on all fours are seven humanoid figures clad in dusty, rust-colored robes. The seven sway back and forth in unison muttering an inaudible mantra.
In Dwarven:
When addressed, they cease chanting and stand, which causes the hoods of their robes to fall back. Each sage has gouged-out eyes partially filled with scar tissue from years of natural healing. Two also draw out jawless skulls with tightly rolled scrolls stuffed into their eye sockets. As the seers speak with you—a process that is more like chanting than conversational speech—they pass the skulls back and forth as if using them as the focus for some supernatural sense.
One seer challenges the Pathfinders to explain themselves by intoning, “Some say the future is unwritten. I say it is written right here. Should others be enlightened?”
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As the scene around them seems to shift back and forth between the past and the future, Smarmy frowns slightly too distracted trying to figure out what's going on to hear the words being spoken by the robed figures.
Though when the seers notice them, he immediately ponders the scrolls in their possession, and wonders if those might be the prophetic verses Kreighton Shane referred to. He immediately starts to ponder how best to relieve them of some of them.
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Mun catches Smarmy's movement out of the corner of his eye. Hmmm, that might just work.... he thinks; he focuses his attention on the sages, listening intently to their question, he responds in kind.
"The future is written right here? Right where? Do you mean to say that we, standing here in front of you, are the future? You might be right! Well, more than might be; we are from outside of your time, and really are from the future! Does that mean that we are enlightened? Should we be enlightened? What is enlightenment, really, anyway?"
And I think the bear's still down 16 hp's.
In response to the temporal oddness, word comes from Shaine for all Pathfinder teams to quickly return to the Cathedral. It appears to be a good thing, because just as the last of the Pathfinder teams makes its way in, things get even more dramatic.
Like a massive soap bubble, the temporal anomaly shudders violently, painfully distorting the portions of the sky citadel within. Energy arcs as Jormurdun fluctuates between its past grandeur and present ruin. Then, as if with a sigh of relief, the entire bubble implodes, retracting through the halls and returning Jormurdun to the present. The energy rushes over a pair of field agents sprinting from the halls below, instantly transforming the unfortunate Pathfinders into chalk statues.
For a moment, the whole city is silent. Kreighton Shaine takes a few tentative steps forward, looks about at the gathered Pathfinders, and gives a low, appreciative whistle as he holds aloft the strange device once worn by the demon Yealek-Vor.
[b]"Although we expected to find trouble in Jormurdun, the sky citadel has proven far more perilous than we had predicted. I can only speculate as to what this bizarre object accomplished, but it has given us an utterly unique glimpse into the sky citadel’s past. King Gutheran informed me that this is not the whole device but rather the largest of five pieces—the others he sent with his children who fled this place thousands of years ago. If we are to truly understand this 'Sky Key,' we may have to follow the millennia-old trails to wherever these dwarves went. But that is a task for another day. Thanks to your bravery and cleverness, we have cleansed Jormurdun of its foulest elements in only a day. With the city under the Society’s control, we can now explore at a more leisurely pace. Without a doubt there is much more to learn than we found in our hasty campaign. Before we look too far to the future, though, let us remember the past. Not all of our agents and comrades survived this expedition—lost either today or in the year of service to the Mendevian Crusade that brought us to this victory. Their names shall be recorded in the Grand Lodge to forever honor those who have fallen in the pursuit of knowledge. But for now, we can celebrate. Congratulation, Pathfinders. I am proud of your Unrivaled Accomplishment.”
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As relief washes over the other pathfinders, Edmund cautiously unstrings his bow, placing the waxed cord back into his dry pocket for safe keeping. He squats down, placing Kissan's huge head between legs, and tussles her ears and snout.
"You preformed admirably, dear friend. Thank you for guarding me and my friends."
The cat, sensing the danger has passed, visibly relaxes. After a few scratches, she rolls onto her back and begins batting at Edmund's hand playfully... clearly wanting her armor off and her belly rubbed.
"Not quite yet, girl. We still have to get back out of these mountains..."
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OOC from here on out.
First, for the record, Smarmy did swap the parchments from the blind seer, that happened before the bubble dissipated.
Of note, you guys were absolute combat monsters!
Thanks for playing at my table, I hope y'all had a great time and I apologize once again for those days where I was less available than I should have been.