Stunned to be addressed directly, Ashlynn stutter-stops for a second on the rocky trail, then spurs herself forward silently.
Don’t piss her off. She looks dangerous! Gotta keep up…Focus Ashlynn!”
Khatín pulls a sunrod out of her pack as they approach the entrance. "Unlike you elves, I've not eaten enough carrots to see the bear inside without a little assistance," she says, winking at Nym. "So you let me know if it's standing right behind me."
Ashlynn rolls her eyes silently. She then loads her crossbow, casting a simple light spell on the tip of the bow itself.
Khatín raises her eyebrows as Ashlynn causes her crossbow bolt to glow, nodding in approval. "Time to get our nails dirty."
Following Nym's lead, the fellow elf checks the cairn's entrance for anything unusual and for tracks leading within it.
The sunrod catches Krios's eyes in just the right way to make him blink and look away from the cave entrance as he mumbles something quietly to himself. He draws his curved blade, this beautiful, long, yet fierce elven weapon off of his back.
"Keep the light at our backs." He says with a slight harshness his voice to the both Ashlynn and Khatin, turning to face the opening maw. Quietly, unless he was interrupted by others, he would approach the entrance make his way inside of the cairn.
Khatín nods at Krios. "I'll make do with Ashlynn's light behind me," she says placing the unlit sunrod back inside her pack. "Nym, do you want to be behind me, or would you prefer to be in front?"
Not being able to control herself, Ashlynn replies to Krios snarkily with loaded sarcasm in her voice.
"I AM in the back. Have you not noticed that somehow? I'm only half-elven and even I noticed THAT. Heck, Khatin noticed and it seems she's only human...no offense meant Khatin."
At this point Ashlynn shuts her mouth with an almost audible snap, hoping the others won't take too much offense of her sudden attitude.
"I mean, honestly, you, Krios, and Nym could be siblings as far as I'm concerned," Khatín smiles, clearly intoning her sarcasm. "I reckon you all look alike to my only human eyes." She smiles at each of the elves in turn, including Ashlynn. "I had a...sister growing up who was - is - elven." She takes a deep breath, exhaling quickly. "Come on then. Let's go poke our noses in some unstable tombs for someone else's profit, what d'ya say?"
The look that Ashlynn receives from Krios before he leads the way into the cairn is cold yet somehow pitying. She was a city dweller, he was certain. Nym, at least, knew how to maneuver around in the wilderness it seemed. There were no words as his demeanor remained stoic and unflinching. Khatin's snark earned a quick glance before he moved towards the entrance again.
"Let us finish this business and be done with these people." Krios thought to himself, his irritation leaking out of his control only for a moment. It eased as his companion brushed against his side lightly, detecting the elven warrior's frustration. How strange it was that his friend was so much better with people and could not understand them at all.
Silently rolling her eyes again, Ashlynn sighs and follows the others as quietly as possible. Her crossbow remained steady in her hand as they entered, to her relief.
"I mean, honestly, you, Krios, and Nym could be siblings as far as I'm concerned," Khatín smiles, clearly intoning her sarcasm. "I reckon you all look alike to my only human eyes."
"Oh, you're human?" Nym squints at Khatin. "I mean, if you say so. I guess you would know."
Nym unlimbers his bow and nocks an arrow, in case emerging evidence supports his grumpy bear hypothesis.
"I would. I am human, after all," Khatín sighs, stepping in behind Nym. "At least I turn into one on Moondays. When's the next Moonday?"
The trail up to the Whispering Cairn was fairly well established, that is when the group could find it. So much of it was covered with fallen rock or obliterated entirely by landslides.
Still the general direction was obvious to all and finally the group stood before the eponymous tomb.
Amazingly, the entrance to the Cairn was unscathed by the landslides and other disturbances to the terrain surrounding it.
Natural light and that of the spell placed upon Ashlynn's bow dimly illuminated a long hallway extending north into darkness. A faint breeze brings with it sibilant whispers that sound almost like sighing breath. It must be a trick of the wind, but the effect is almost lifelike.
The walls bear horizontal bands of deceptively simple geometric patterns at waist level. In places the bands reveal startling detail, but in others the walls look as though they have been hacked apart with weapons or eroded by the rigors of time. Flakes of ancient paint, brilliant purple and a dull mustard hue, still cling tot he walls in places, hinting at what must once have been a riot of color. A thin coat of dust coast the floor.
Just inside the darkened tomb, the hallway branches into shallow alcoves to the east and west. here the walls bear the most significant damage. Dozens of clumsy etchings mar the beautiful ancient masonry like graffiti on a city wall. A clump of soiled cloth about the size of a halfling rests in the rounded terminus of the western alcove.
Outside, the wind picks up, and a chorus of almost human sounds rises from the darkened hall.
Further in the entrances to two other alcoves can be seen...and beyond that all you can see from your current position is a pile of rubble.
Nothing seen yet to jog your memory on anything interesting. You do notice, deep in the darkness a faint green light.
You notice a faint green light emanating from deeper within the Cairn.
Both you and Whitepaw recognize the seemingly random markings in the dust: wolves. They have been both coming and going .
Ashlynn squints at she peers in the distance.
"Something strange: Is that...a light? A green one? Can you guys see this too? Or am I imagining it?"
"Looks like it, yeah," Khatín sighs low under her breath. "You're not imagining it. Whispering Cairn. I get it now. That's not unnerving at all." She looks down at the cougar in front of her. "What do you think, Whitepaw? Should we go in? Or just send in someone to see what the creepy light is? Maybe...Ashlynn?"
Krios stops near the entrance alongside Nym, looking over the tracks that covered the way leading in. There were paw prints all along the ground; a pack of wolves had been coming to and from this place. With his hand on his blade, he looked back to the others as they spoke of a green light emanating from within the cairn itself.
"Wolves frequent here. We will need to be careful." Whitepaw looks over their shoulder at the woman with sharp eyes before looking back up at her master beside him. They seemed to exchange a look for a moment before Krios gently plays with her mane and stands up from his crouching position. As his hand leaves, there is almost a shift of greenish light that runs down her coat. It was not reminiscent of the strange light within the cairn; more like grass blowing on the hillside in a place far cleaner than here.
"That isn't something I've heard talked about before. Let us all move closer. I'll take lead." Krios begins to quietly step forward, watching where he is going with Whitepaw just a step beside him.
Ashlynn wrinkles her near-perfect nose and snorts imperceptibly at Khatin's baiting. She starts to reply with what little spine she has but is interrupted by Krios and his timely leadership. She nods.
"Yes. Closer. I will scan for obvious magic as we go..."
Concentrating easily and saying a few words in Draconic again, Ashlynn slowly scans the path ahead with a minor Detect Magic spell as they travel further down.
Khatín grunts to herself as Ashlynn speaks her arcane words, her eyes narrowing at the taller half-elf. She nods at Nym to enter the cairn before her.
"Wolves? Is that better than bears? Probably."
Nym continues on into the cairn and studies the glow if/when he sees it.
Khatín follows Nym. "Probably? Oh good."
Nervous at the mention of dangerous animals, Ashlynn babbles suddenly.
”I’m given to understand most wolves are smaller than bears. However bears are slightly slower and bigger targets. That balances in my mind: it just depends on how fast you want to be killed and eaten I guess…”
"Personally, I don’t know that I’ll be screaming “I’m so glad you’re slower than a wolf” as a bear eats my foot. Maybe, I don’t know. I’ve never had a bear eat my foot.” Khatín quips nervously. She sniffs the air. "You can smell them. The quakes I mean. You can smell them, which...odd. Makes the hair on my arms stand up.”
Krios contains his irritation at the constant small talk happening behind him. The two women seemed ceaseless but to vent his own frustration would just distract him that much more. His eyes adapted as best as they could, taking the light behind him and amplifying it. Both he and Whitepaw move cautiously, expecting any danger.
"Well, wolves can't climb trees, so there's that, and it's not like you need to outrun the wolves, you just need outrun one of us."
"Nature isn't kind to the slow-footed."
Krios moves forward, Whitepaw padding along quietly beside him....
Reaching the alcoves, you see nothing of interest besides the bundle of cloth to the west. The green glow is more noticeable the further in you go.
At the moment you do not detect any magic aura from the cairn.
Ashlynn smirks and shrugs.
"Then I should be fine! My natural magic grants me exceptional speed, although it leaves small scorch marks where I step when I travel that fast."
"I am strangely wanting wolves to chase us now just to see these marks you leave behind." Khatín says, slowly walking up behind Krios. "I am...just thoroughly creeped out by this place. Truly. I changed my mind. I don't want to be buried here today."
"It is likely that the quake will have disturbed the wolf pack. They may be outside watching us and the cairn at the moment, waiting for it to be safe." The pulsating green light grew more and more apparent the closer he got. In turn, his voice got softer until it was like a whisper. [b]"This doesn't bode well..."[b]
With his blade in hand and companion at his side, Krios moved deeper into the cave to see what dangers laid within it.
Khatín followed stealthily behind Krios and Whitepaw, licking her lips nervously.
Nym presses forward with the rest of the group. "We'll I'm sure we'll find out if anybody is home shortly."
He looks around, "More spacious than I was expecting. Downright roomy compared to some of the tunnels I've been in."
Khatín side-eyes Nym, looking at the elf incredulously. "How many tunnels have you been in?"
Advancing, the group finds two deeper alcoves on each side. Here, also a large pile of rubble blocks the way, but for a hole up near the ceiling where the green light seen before emanates.
To the right, the rubble chokes the alcove completely. Looking up, what looks like a recent crack cuts across the ceiling into the rubble-choked passage ahead. It looks like it may have dislodged enough rock to create the opening above.
To the left, a small platform can be seen, upon which rests a strange, shattered arcane apparatus.
Stepping into the passage at the end of the tunnel, Khatín looks to the left. "I can't quite make that out," she says, pointing down the hall to the small platform. "Nym? Krios? Someone with something other than these bloody useless human eyes?"
"Oooo, what do we have we here?"
Nym will cautiously approach the platform with its intriguing apparatus.
Trying not to overtake the alchemist, Ashlynn glances at the arcane device as she flashes her light around the corner in order to illuminate it better.
"Thank you, Ashlynn." Khatín says, peering down the alcove.
Smiling at the monk's kind words, Ashlynn squints at the small area near the end of the alcove.
"What is that...it looks familiar...I think?"
Krios stays where he is with his weapon drawn. If danger showed its ugly head, he and Whitepaw would be ready.
The western hall extends perhaps forty feet , ending at a small marble platform raised about six inches off of the floor. A strange, shattered arcane apparatus rests upon this platform, its curved ovular frame giving the appearance of a noble's dressing mirror. Only a third of this frame remains. An unusual arcane glyph about the size of a man's head has been deliberately carved into the baseplate of the support platform.
The crack in the ceiling and wall has broken the patterned bands here and you can see a multitude of thin hollow tubes therein...the source of the almost human-like noises that occasionally fill the cairn.
Whitepaw approaches the rockpile, his mouth a grimace as he detects a scent. A low rumble comes from his chest as he gazes up at the opening at the top of the rockfall.
The occasional trickle of sand and small rocks falls from the crack above.
Along the bottom edge of the platform you find a few shards of a shiny, black substance that feels like stone and is slightly cold to the touch.
You see numerous runes and glyphs carved into a slot on the inside of the frame, where the 'mirror's' glass would have been held.
The glyph at the base of the platform seems to be reminiscent of arcane symbols representing elemental air. You're pretty sure that the glyph represents the name of a single individual.
The glyph is indeed familiar to you. Your Wizard-master tried to expand your interest beyond the element of fire and introduced you to some treatises on the other three elements. One of them concerned the element of air....that is where you recognize the form of glyph on the platform. A closer examination is in order!
Hesitating a moment and biting her bottom lip, Ashlynn steps closer to the device...and takes a quick breath.
"That's a symbol for Elemental Air! My master...my former teacher, taught me about such things. Can I get closer Nym? I might be able to interpret more if I can see it clearly."
She then goes ahead and moves closer to take a look without waiting on Nym's opinion, pointing her lighted crossbow to lead the way.
Picking up a small shard of the matierial, she grimaces.
"Nym? I'm not an expert on materials that don't burn. What does this shiny black stone substance appear like to you? Can you identify it? It's not obsidian is it?"
She then turns to a closer examination of the device itself.
"Oh look! There are runes and gylphs here! On the inner portion of the frame! What is that symbol there...?"
"Well doesn't this look interesting. I'm not exactly sure what we have here." Nym stoops to collect the shards.
He runs his fingers along the runes carved into the broken structure. "I believe that this glyph denotes the name of an individual, but I'm not sure why it's there, or for what purpose."
Stepping back, he says, "We'll if nothing else, this appears to be more than just a simple burial chamber. Let's press on and what other secrets this cairn holds."
"An individual?" Khatín questions nervously, staying back from the platform. "Are you two saying this is...like a grave for...air?"
Krios's attention immediately snaps as the cougar beside him begins to tense. The low rumble in her chest and the hackles rising up upon her back bring a slight scowl to the hunter's face as he watches bits of stone and dust fall from above.
"Whitepaw smells something." Krios whispers loudly to his companions, crouching down low as he looks over the pile of rubble himself.
Kneeling next to the device to get a closer look, Ashlynn renews her light spell and keeps talking as she examines it.
"Grave? No...maybe a mirror...or magic portal? Its too broken to be sure...I'm unsure of the 'naming' convention here Khatin too, although I have no doubt Nym is correct in his assumptions. It has something to do with elemental 'air,' that I AM sure. Whatever civilization left this, our interpretation is minimal at best under these circumstances. Maybe examining the broken stone later with the correct equipment will enhance our understanding further."
At Krios' warning, the Oracle gets back to her feet quickly and grasps her loaded crossbow tightly, knuckles white.
"Scheisse! I got distracted by the artifact..."
Khatín takes a step closer to Krios and Whitepaw, her eyes straining to see into the shadows of the dark chamber as Ashlynn's light shines around the plinth at the end of the corridor.
Nym traces the runes with a finger, and a memory come to him : you were in a fellow student's home, waiting for one of your 'cooks' to simmer off, killing some time in the library. There you'd passed the time leafing through a treatise of unconventional theories. One of which was that the language of Air, Auran , was not always written in Draconic script. Instead, the author posited, it had been represented by an ancient glyph-language called Vaati.
Nym rocks back on his heels, for before him, graven into the strange structure is the very glyphic language described by that forgotten and ignored scholar.
Krios looks among the rocks and fins a few tufts of hair and fur...wolf hair and fur.
For now, Whitepaw's concern does not manifest in any immediate danger, as Krios and Khatin watch the green glow flicker through the opening at the top of the rubble pile.
Nodding to himself at the recollection he turns back to the others. "So if I've got this right, the language is Vaati, and ancient written form of Auran. It's well outside my area of expertise, but I might be able to make out a word here or there. In any case, this cairn is ancient indeed.
Giving his gear a quick once over, he motions the party forward. "Let's see what mysteries it holds, shall we?"
"Vaati, huh? Alright. Air...language. That's normal." Khatín mumbles, following Nym.