"That seems the wisest course of action to me as well." Eirikur throws in his agreement.
Ismin gestures with a wipe sweeping motion of his open palm,
"Then we shall proceed forthwith."
The Aeon Priest leads the party up a gradually ascending landscape from the docks to a size-able wooden structure which abuts the main, un-cobbled dirt thoroughfare of Halfstar.
Ismin then extends his hand in a demonstrative gesture,
"This is it. The main door is there."
He points at a large, rectangular wooden portal in the middle of the build's street frontage. It is set slightly apart from the rest of the surrounding wall, as if it opens on to a small closet or foyer through which visitors enter the building.
"Let us see what knowledge we can obtain within.", says the Unfettered Prince as he walks into the foyer.
"Let us see what knowledge we can obtain within.", says the Unfettered Prince as he walks into the foyer.
[Dice=Perception to see traps or oddities]1d20 +10
[Dice=Knowledge Engineering to note signs of technology and architecture]1d20 +12
There are no traps in the door, but it is nonetheless perplexing. Despite being made out of wood, it appears to be exceptionally thick. Indeed, the portal is much greater in measurement than one would expect any wooden panel to be, and much closer in heft and size to a metal vault door or entrance hatch. Perhaps it is a foot thick or more, and certainly extremely heavy, given its size.
Upon closer inspection, it becomes clear that the door is inscribed with hundreds or thousands of small geometric patterns.
The frame around the door is similarly immense. It appears the door works by swinging up, which is also an unusual feature.
The door appears to be controlled by circular levers on either side of the entrance. They are raised, square wooden extrusions that protrude from the frame by about a foot. The top of these levers, or whatever they are, appear to be made of some kind of stone. The dark gray surface of the rock has a smoothed impression of a hand on it. It would appear one must place an open palm into the impression, but this act is complicated because the lever at both sides of the entrance must be simultaneously activated, and the door is some ten or more paces in width -- certainly wider than most arm spans. The townspeople probably need two individuals to open the door whenever they want to enter the hall.
"Companions, this door puzzles me. While wood, it is hugely thick, extremely heavy, and swings up! The circular levers on either side of the entrance appear to control the door. But it is arranged in such a manner that two people would need to act in concert to engage the mechanism. At least it does not appear to be covered with mundane traps!"
Ismin looks on silently, apparently waiting patiently and with some interest to see how the newcomers will deal with this potential obstacle.
The Unfettered Prince walks over to the left side of the hugely sturdy door frame.
He speaks out loud:
"I believe that both of these 'levers' will require a simultaneous press into the appropriate handprints. I am ready to press the one on the left, and I ask that one of you ready yourself to do likewise on the right hand side."
The Unfettered Prince walks over to the left side of the hugely sturdy door frame.
He speaks out loud:
"I believe that both of these 'levers' will require a simultaneous press into the appropriate handprints. I am ready to press the one on the left, and I ask that one of you ready yourself to do likewise on the right hand side."
From seemingly no apparent action of the company of amnesiac, a voice begins to speak in a slightly mellifluous cadence, and appears to emanate from a small rectangular mesh grate that extends over the top of the immense entry portal.
It says the following, speaking to each party member through some unknown means in their native language,
"Hadrama'aldramaan asked me to open more than a hundred years past on this same day, and he was a man who committed many terrible deeds, but was greatly esteemed. The firefly veil danced according to his pleasure and the ways were made open once again as they had stood during the years when the traveler moon was blue. I remember him well, though I cannot honestly say I miss him. Now, how do you think that I will recollect the day of your arrival?"
Without a shadow of a doubt, and the impression of a raised eyebrow, as if the question was a rhetorical one, the Unfettered Prince replies out loud:
"Of course you will! Now I would see this door open for I and my companions, as did this Hadrama'aldramaan."
"Who are you talking to?" queries the observing Aeon Priest in a noticeably surprised tone of voice.
The voice from the strange grate above the door issues only this terse reply,
"That remains to be seen."
"Companions, do you hear a voice speaking of a figure who once approached this place?"
"A voice, Ismin, that spoke of the arrival of one Hadrama'aldramaan - and asking how it would recollect this day. I answered it truthfully. It requires more than our presence, apparently."
The Aeon Priest looks noticeably surprised. His mouth hangs open slightly for an uncomfortable moment before he seems to recollect himself and begins talking again,
"That is a name I haven't heard mentioned by the living in many years. It is a kind of nome de plume of the renowned tracker and scout who founded, or some say rebounded, the town of Halfstar over the remains of a previous settlement that dated back earlier than the establishment of the Amber Papacy and the Order of Truth. He's mostly known as Cigar Thane by the current residents, and I've only seen the title you mention in our oldest records."
The Nightmare Dragon pauses in approaching the other side of the door. "Aye, some history imparted, yet again."
To the voice, he replies in his native Draconic. "If the future is unwritten, then only time will tell. Otherwise, perhaps you should ask the Priest."
The voice replies, still issuing forth in an unmistakably syrupy tone,
"Time has told many things wanderer, and neglected to mention many."
Ismin continues to observe the party with interest,
He points at the rectangular columns extending outwards from each side of the door's frame,
"It usually takes two of us to open it. I have a tool with a pair of palm shaped appendages on it at the priority I made for when the back door gets stuck, but we usually use the latter if only one person is trying to gain entrance."
"It is as I surmised then. Scaled One, we press our palms into those indentations on the count of three. One. Two. Three!"
With that, the Unfettered Prince presses his right palm into the leftmost indentation.
As soon as the Unfettered Prince and Arc the Nightmare Dragon press their hands into the palm-shaped depressions on the top of the curious columns jutting out of the door frame, and without any discernible sound, the portal door swings upwards and outwards.
The outward impression of its solidity was not misleading -- it is now clear that the door is at least a foot thick, as well as being the breadth of two men, and the height of three.
The hall is a slightly cruciform wooden building on more than one story in height, with the large and oddly-constructed portal opening onto an entry chamber or foyer of some kind.
Curiously, all of the windows of the ground level are very narrow at set high in the wall, beyond the eye level of any human occupant.
"In we go!", says the Unfettered Prince cheerfully.
He begins to walk in, looking for what comes next.
The heavy door swings outwards, revealing a large chamber whose floor is covered with wooden tiles.
The floor of the Cojugatorium's Grand Foyer is a geometric herringbone mosaic of wood pieces clearly used for decorative effect. It is made up of relatively light colored-red oak panels that contrast in both color and grain.
Like the main door, which appears to be constructed of a heavier, darker wood, the tiles of the mosaic seem to measure an inordinately great thickness for their function.
However, the most noticeable feature of the Grand Foyer is how much larger the building appears to be on the inside, as opposed to its apparent dimensions when viewed externally from the street.
Indeed, the now-opened doorway appears to reveal a room that is almost 450ft. in length and breadth, and undeniably impressive space with a cavernous ceiling hidden in shadow and looming more than 100ft. in the air above the visitors.
The immense space seems to be oscillate between a temperature slightly colder and slightly hotter than that of weather outside the Conjugatorium .
The geometric tiles which cover the floor appear to have some mechanical function connected with the mysterious operation of the large entry hall.
The Unfettered Prince notices a collection of what appear to be wooden statues towards the middle of the large room. They are slightly raised above the surrounding floor by a the low treads of a large dais made of expansive, un-decorated sheets of dark wood.
The Unfettered Prince stops and looks around.
"Companions, the temperature is fluctuating, changing from slightly cooler to slightly warmer than the weather outside."
He then points to the floor.
"Geometric tiles. They have some link to the mechanics of this hall. The statues over there may be involved. We may need to use them to effect change, but what I am uncertain. What are your thoughts?"
[dice=Perception]20+28
The tiles in the floor are somehow at once a large musical instrument as well as a kind of translation device. It would appear that they can conduct harmonies that translate various languages into a common system of vibrations and illumination.
|
"I believe I discern some connection with music as well as translation." As a preliminary test, the Nightmare Dragon hums a few bars before gently singing a lullaby in his deep raspy voice, not knowing the song's origin:
"The sky is dark and the hills are white,
The storm-king speeds from the north tonight,
And this is the song the storm-king sings,
And over the world his cloak he flings,
'Sleep, sleep, little one, sleep!'
He rustles his wings and gruffly sings,
'Sleep, little one, sleep!'"
Arc somehow perceives a reply in the musical vibration of the tiles,
"Long he tread and long he wept,
And bitterly and without rest.
And savaged on the windy heights,
Imperiled in the moonless nights.
Riding, striding, creeping, sleeping,
Sending, rending, mending, dreaming.
Long he tread and long he wept,
And bitterly and without rest."
|
|
Arc exclaims aloud, clearly surprised, "It replied." Taking a breath, he sends it out as a thought, "It replied with its own song. I do not know why, but it makes me sad." With moisture in his eyes, he approaches the statues and repeats the verse that he heard aloud, wondering if it will harmonize his knowledge with this land's language:
"Long he tread and long he wept,
And bitterly and without rest.
And savaged on the windy heights,
Imperiled in the moonless nights.
Riding, striding, creeping, sleeping,
Sending, rending, mending, dreaming.
Long he tread and long he wept,
And bitterly and without rest."
And follows it with:
"On yonder mountain-side isa vine,
Sitting at the foot of a mother pine;
The tree bends o'er the trembling thing
Only the vine can hear her sing,
The storm-king watches us this night,
Protecting us under northertn light,
'Sleep, sleep, little one, sleep-
What shall you fear when I am here?
Sleep, little one, sleep.'"
He watches for any changes in the room, especially the statues.
-------------------------------------------------------------------
-------------------------------------------------------------------
The Unfettered Prince watches the room as Arc sings.
Once Arc explains himself, the Unfettered Prince chimes in:
Perhaps a slightly more vigourous piece is in order? A fragment comes to mind.
If Arc or the others do not object, the Prince will address the room in moble Antak Terran.
"We are not now that strength which in old days
Moved earth and heaven, that which we are, we are;
One equal temper of heroic hearts,
Made weak by time and fate, but strong in will
To strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield."
The Unfettered Prince watches the room as Arc sings.
[dice=Perception on patterns]1d20 + 10
Once Arc explains himself, the Unfettered Prince chimes in:
Perhaps a slightly more vigourous piece is in order? A fragment comes to mind.
If Arc or the others do not object, the Prince will address the room in moble Antak Terran.
"We are not now that strength which in old days
Moved earth and heaven, that which we are, we are;
One equal temper of heroic hearts,
Made weak by time and fate, but strong in will
To strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield."[dice=Perform Oratory]1d20+13
[dice=Perception to see response]1d20 + 10
Neither check yields any useful information.
Arc exclaims aloud, clearly surprised, "It replied." Taking a breath, he sends it out as a thought, "It replied with its own song. I do not know why, but it makes me sad." With moisture in his eyes, he approaches the statues and repeats the verse that he heard aloud, wondering if it will harmonize his knowledge with this land's language:
"Long he tread and long he wept,
And bitterly and without rest.
And savaged on the windy heights,
Imperiled in the moonless nights.
Riding, striding, creeping, sleeping,
Sending, rending, mending, dreaming.
Long he tread and long he wept,
And bitterly and without rest."And follows it with:
"On yonder mountain-side isa vine,
Sitting at the foot of a mother pine;
The tree bends o'er the trembling thing
Only the vine can hear her sing,
The storm-king watches us this night,
Protecting us under northertn light,
'Sleep, sleep, little one, sleep-
What shall you fear when I am here?
Sleep, little one, sleep.'"[dice=Perf-Sing+Surge]1d20+25+1d6
He watches for any changes in the room, especially the statues.
[dice=Perception]20+28-------------------------------------------------------------------
-------------------------------------------------------------------
The statues appear to be moving slightly, though it is difficult to be certain.
The Unfettered Prince is undeterred.
A more musical delivery, such as yours, seems the way forward.
The horned one tries something more akin to poetry, this time spoken in an archaic angelic dialect with a lyrical tone.
"He who is the heart of all matters, let him teach the land,
He who possesses all knowledge, shall he school all the people,
He shall impart his wisdom impart and so shall they share it together.
He was the master of wisdom, with knowledge of all things,
He discovered the secret concealed...'
The two singing amnesiacs suddenly hear a familiar voice, that of the loquacious young man named Giralt, whom with they had just recently conversed in the company of the local Aeon Priest of Halfstar -- brother Ismin.
"Egads, would you look at that! They've opened Kyoon'shar'ah just like that. Who would've thunk it, huh?"
** spoiler omitted **
Almost indiscernible except to a creature with highly attuned senses like Arc's. However, to him it is undeniable that the wooden sculptures are noticeably shifting.
The Unfettered Prince is undeterred.
A more musical delivery, such as yours, seems the way forward.
The horned one tries something more akin to poetry, this time spoken in an archaic angelic dialect with a lyrical tone.
"He who is the heart of all matters, let him teach the land,
He who possesses all knowledge, shall he school all the people,
He shall impart his wisdom impart and so shall they share it together.
He was the master of wisdom, with knowledge of all things,
He discovered the secret concealed...'[Dice=Perform Poetry in Celestial]1d20+7
[Dice=Perception]1d20 +10
He can sense nothing of significance.
The two singing amnesiacs suddenly hear a familiar voice, that of the loquacious young man named Giralt, whom with they had just recently conversed in the company of the local Aeon Priest of Halfstar -- brother Ismin.
"Egads, would you look at that! They've opened Kyoon'shar'ah just like that. Who would've thunk it, huh?"
The now-familiar voice of the local Aeon Priest also chimes in,
"Well, young Giralt, it would appear that is indeed the case. I think Kasyan was the last one that achieved such a feat upon the first attempt, or do I miss-remember?"
The Unfettered Prince turns to face the pair.
"What can you tell us about the deeds of Kasyan?"
The Unfettered Prince turns to face the pair.
"What can you tell us about the deeds of Kasyan?"
The young blonde man's overawed tone again breaks the quiet,
"Egads! He was a traveler from the Beyond who stopped into town a little over a year ago. Egads was he a weirdo. He read an old book by Cigar Thane and then disappeared when after he opened Kyoon'shar'ah."
Arc approaches the statues and touches one. "Do you see their movement?
The statues begin to glow with a soft inner light.
I do not, Scaled One. But you may have found a way with them.
The Unfettered Prince then replies out loud to the newcomer.
"I see. I would know more of this Beyond, Cigar Thane, and Kyoon'shar'ah. Feel free to expand upon those as I join my companion."
The Unfettered Prince approaches another statue and reaches to touch it.
Eirikur trails behind the Prince and Arc, not sure that they should be following in the footsteps of a man who disappeared; but as they are not sure of anything else at this point, it isn't as though they have anything to lose! He chuckles at the thought and shares it with his companions. "I was going to caution you about being too rash and quick to reach for things we don't understand... but right now that's just about everything, and even if we did disappear it would be on to another adventure, as we don't know what we might be leaving behind. So, onward then!" Eirikur follows suit, just in case, and reaches out to touch a statue.
I do not, Scaled One. But you may have found a way with them.
The Unfettered Prince then replies out loud to the newcomer.
"I see. I would know more of this Beyond, Cigar Thane, and Kyoon'shar'ah. Feel free to expand upon those as I join my companion."
The Unfettered Prince approaches another statue and reaches to touch it.
Ismin's familiar voice interjects once again,
"It is said that Cigar Thane hailed from a wondrous or terrible clave in the Beyond, or even in some further region, and that he arrived here, on the shores of what would become the Kingdom of Navarene in a "cloud of glory, glistening with an aurora of copper and brass and glint." In his distant land of origin, the race of men lived to an age of over a thousand years, and they spoke in a language without words. At the time of his arrival, mortals in the shape of men had not dwelt upon the edge of these waters for many a time and a season."
"The Conjugatorium sometimes, as in the occasion of the arrival of the aforementioned, throws open the gates to a slender sliver a half world, the same which you now see manifested before your persons."
"My thanks for your words, Ismin. I would see what lies beyond."
The Unfettered Prince touches the statue.
"My thanks for your words, Ismin. I would see what lies beyond."
The Unfettered Prince touches the statue.
"Oooooooooo... I'm not sure I'd do that if I were you." breaks in Giralt, just as the amnesiac fey has almost touched the curiously carved pillars of brightly-painted wood.
The Unfettered Prince momentarily thinks that he will ignore Ismin but decides not to. He pauses in his movements, holding his right hand a tiny distance from the statue.
"Why would that be, Ismin?", he asks cordially.
"My thanks for your words, Ismin. I would see what lies beyond."
The Unfettered Prince touches the statue.
The Unfettered Prince momentarily thinks that he will ignore Ismin but decides not to. He pauses in his movements, holding his right hand a tiny distance from the statue.
"Why would that be, Ismin?", he asks cordially.
"Why would that be, Giralt?", the Unfettered Prince asks, perhaps a moment too late for it to matter.
Spell Resistance 17
Immunity to enchantment effects that target only humanoids, such as charm person and hold person.
Subtract your curse level (currently 6) from the DC of gather information or Knowledge checks to learn things about you. You suffer a -10 penalty to Will saves versus non-mind-affecting spells and spell-like abilities of the divination school.
+6 vs death effects (deathless spirit, fey foundling, immortal spark)
+2 racial vs energy drain, negative energy, and spells or spell-like abilities of the necromancy school
[dice=Perception]20+48
[dice=Will]1d20+58
Arc senses that the statues are a transmission device for a kind of means of communication, which one might call a language, and which is based upon musical notes. He surmises that this chamber somehow serves simultaneously as both a translator and musical instrument. It would seem that this intra or inter dimensional space is some kind of extra planar foyer or embassy. It could be used as a place of entreaty, ritual, or gift-giving, as well as study and various ritual activities.
Arc perceives some invisible force attempt to... enter him? It is, however, rebuffed.