Between Rokko and Beren sensing no impending ambush, Beren turns to the group, "Since we have a lighted corridor, I say we investigate there first. Any thoughts?" Beren, still with swords in hand, will make his way to the first door in the lighted corridor and inspect it for any more elven writing. While he moves, he looks around for anymore footprints.
Sari listens to what Ruuz and Beren have to say"I will follow behind you and Rokko. I believe that you two are our best chance of having a heads up as to what may or may not be coming for us. I have faith in your choices Beren and I do apologize if I seem impatient it was not meant as disrespect to you."
Beren looks at Sari, "No disrespect felt and trust me, I respect your combat skills. It is just that ambush was much to common where I fought during the war. Just trying to protect and prepare everyone. Looks like it is all clear. Let us investigate where we have light before we move into the dark."
Then the Shifter turns to Ruuz, "Professor, Rokko mentioned that the dark corridor was caused by the light sources being removed. After we inspect this lighted area, is it possible to relocate the light sources to brighten up the other corridor?"
Then Beren goes on to say while he scans the corridor, "Also, if we need rest, once we inspect behind these doors for danger, we could probably set a barricade, start a watch, and get some needed rest. Thoughts on this?" Beren then continues a quick visual scan of the first door in the lighted corridor.
“Let me help you look for those footprints Beren – put what you’ve taught me to the test,” Valessa says, bending low to investigate the floor.
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There are no tracks to be found in the well lit corridor.
Walking down it and looking at the doors, they have an odd elliptcal shape, and are carved to look like wood though the material is some form of metal or crystal you have never seen. Each door has a plaque built into it with a set of 3 symbols on the top, then a list of smaller symbols.
Below the plaque is a polished piece of metal that shines like a mirror.
You know enough to guess that the symbols are probably elven.
None of the doors you can see are open.
Elven:
The larger symbols are numbers, the smaller symbols seem to be a list of names.
"Huh. They're just numbers and a list of names." I say, examining one of the doors.
Beren looks at the doors each in turn. He then starts to compare the number symbols attempting to determine any possible organization to the numbers and corresponding names. He is also noting if the names are Elvish sounding. Beren then turns to his companions, "Valessa. Professor. I beleive this is where your expertise comes in. This stuff make any sense?" Then looking solely at Valessa with his patented toothy grin, "Now your turn to teach."
"Huh. They're just numbers and a list of names." I say, examining one of the doors.
"Oh. I thought it was Elven."
“Yes, but they’re written in Elvish Brick,” says Valessa absently, looking at the script. “I wonder … names and dates… tombstones? Memorials?”
“Of course, the old elf told Rokko that a phrase in Giant would open some of the portals here … I wonder … should I try it? Beren, you mentioned finding a place to rest before – one of these chambers might do it, if they are only opened by an obscure phrase in Giantish they should be quite secure. But I don’t want to, you know, release some undead elf from it’s eternal slumber or anything…”
But I don’t want to, you know, release some undead elf from it’s eternal slumber or anything…”
"Yeah lets not do that but we should probably find a safe place to rest."
“Alright … well, I think it’s worth trying to open one of these up. We won’t get very far in searching for this key thing if we’re afraid to open every door for fear of nasties. How’s this for a plan; we stand well back, bows and such ready for anything that might leap out at us, and I’ll say the phrase. If that doesn’t open it, I’ll take a look, see if we can force it open the old fashioned way.”
Valessa looks to her companions; “Sound like a plan?”
"Sounds good to me." I say, humming to myself as I pull out my crossbow and load a bolt, sighting on the door at about the height of a human's gut.
Feeling chivalrous and, of course, never wanting to put Valessa in more harm than need be, Beren speaks up, "Valessa, say your 'Giant phrase', if that does not work, let me open the door."
Beren then, with swords in hand, stands to the side of the door ready to chop down anything that comes out if the 'Giant phrase' works.
Quickly, as Valessa is ready to speak, he interjects, "Also, if this phrase works, all of these doors may open simultaneously. Be Ready!"
"Sounds like a decent plan Valessa go ahead." Ruuz steps behind the small halfling ready to shoot over his head at anything in the room.
Beren listens to the harsh language formulated by Valessa's silky voice and watches in amazement as the sign on the door starts to glow and the mirror emulates a hand print.
After studying the door for a moment, Beren turns to his companions, “My guess is by putting a hand over this,” pointing to the hand-like print, “opens the door.”
Beren then sheathes his shortsword and moves to match his hand up to the print. He pauses for a moment just in case one of his scholarly companions thinks it is a bad idea.
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Beren, when/if you touch the door:
The names on the plaque flash for a second as you hand presses against the metal plate. A slight electrical tingling fills your hand, roughly the same intensity of the shock you could get when a child drags their stocking feet across a carpet.
Then the glow fades.
Beren puts his hand against the metal plate. The names flash for a moment and the Shifter’s long hair rises a fraction of an inch, but then just as quick as it comes the glow fades.
Beren takes his hand away from the door, shaking it a little bit, “I felt a slight tingle. Do you think we opened the door?”
Beren then pushes slightly on the door, testing it for movement.
"Perhaps it only opens for elves, or maybe one of the elves whose name is on the list. Is there any way to befuddle the sensor?"
Jyra's voice cuts in, unexpectedly, you almost didn't realize she was with you.
"Let me try, Valessa could you activate it again, please."
Ruuz closes his eyes and gathers some magic and presses his hand on the mirror when it glows.
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The door 'melts' swirling and flowing away from the mirrored plate, and into small holes in the wall.
Inside you see an arrangement of four bunks, providing eight beds. In addition there a desks, shelves, and wardrobes. Much of what was once here has turned to dust ni the intervening millenia, and that doust attracts the Roomba that was flowing through the corridor.
Ruuz smiles and turns to his companions, "We have found our sleeping area it seems, alright I doubt that there is anything to fear but Beren and Sari how about you secure the room."
Beren nods at Ruuz, unsheathes his shortsword again to help balance out his longsword, and steps toward the doorway checking for any dangers. After he looks around, he steps inside to search the room.
“Yes, a place to rest, that’s good – just hope we can open it again from the inside …”
She glances up and down the corridor. “A lot of these rooms … hope we don’t have to search all of them for this key. Anyway, do we rest now? I have no idea what time it is after all this timetravel stuff, but I could do with some sleep. And our spell casters might like the chance to rest as well. Can we all cram in there, or should we open another door too?”
Looking around the room, you find several pieces of silver and gold jewelry, and a circular mithril plate with giant runes carved into it.
“Hmmm … maybe we should search all of these – important archaeological finds etcetera …”
Valessa looks over the objects that Beren has found, with an eye for value as well as historical import.
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Looking around the room, you find several pieces of silver and gold jewelry, and a circular mithril plate with giant runes carved into it.“Hmmm … maybe we should search all of these – important archaeological finds etcetera …”
Valessa looks over the objects that Beren has found, with an eye for value as well as historical import.
Looking over the jewelry, there is nothing particularly spectacular about any of the pieces. Mostly bracelets or necklaces, with a single rune cast in each.
Your knowledge of history tells you that the rune is probably the mark of the master of these particular slaves, making the jewelry into a civilized form of branding.
(you found 7 sets of jewelry, each is worth about 100gp)
The mithril plate is far more interesting, though the symbols on it render it incomprehensible. (ancient giant runes - decipher script will help)
Ghorkin enters the room regally, as though his contribution to getting here has clearly made his claim.
"Allow me, darling Valessa," he says while standing far to close for comfort though not close enough to seem blatantly rude, "Achuudo gaye menyar thoodol..."
"No professor, allow me," Mishelle interjects, gently taking the mithril disk from his hands, and setting it on one of the desks, and pulling out a reference book.
"Akoudu Ganye Menyar Dal Qour..."
Ruuz looks over Mishelle's shoulder and tries to read the ancient text.
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The mithril plate is an enigma. Many of the symbols you don't recognize as having any meaning, and even fewer fit the context of the symbols next to them. Between the three of you, and Mishelle is a generously curvy expert on ancient giants, you can identify the following symbols, while at least twice as many remain unknown:
Side 1:
Time
Siberys
North
Storm/Lightning (no context)
War
Death
Silver
Side 2:
Dal Qour (reference to the plane)
River
Sky
Sleep
Truth/Honesty (no context)
Gold
Khyber
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Once everyone in the hallway enters the room, the portal flows back closed. From the inside you can actually see through the door, though it is like looking through a shear curtain. Only the metal mirror plate from the outside seems to also be on the inside.
Jyra reaches out and touches the plate, and the door flows open silently. It closes again when she steps back.
"Well seems secure enough. It would be a good idea to rest and regain our strength. Brick would you mind keeping watch why us Sleepers get some rest?" With that, Beren takes his armor off, wets some cloth using his waterskin, and starts to clean his wounds. He then finds a spot to rest and get some sleep.
Ruuz looks over at the odd Warforged, "Brick come on over here before you start you guard duty."
Ruuz looks over his damage and isolates the magic holding the mismatched warforged together and uses his skills the repair the damage.
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Attempting to sit on any of the beds you discover there is no mattress just a flat slab of slate, with several iron looking rings attached to it. Ignoring them and getting on the bed you find that you float several inches above the stone, with awkward pressure on your body.
Collectively you determine that turning the various rings adjusts the angles and pressures of the force.
Item Found: Arcane Laz-y-boys
Rokko:
When you get around to sitting on one of the beds, your perception of the room around you is slightly warped, and you see yellow script flowing in the air before you.
You instantly recognize a flowing form a spell recording.
With a successful DC 15 spellcraft check, you can access any 1st or 2nd level spell from the PHB. Roll individually for each spell.
You cannot copy them down, but you can prepare them.
After Beren learns how to work the strange bed, he yawns and gives a growl of contentment, "Ahhhhh, I can get used to this." He puts his hands under his head and looks over at Valessa with his patented toothy grin.
He quickly drifts off to sleep. His light snores intermingling with an occasional growl.
I take off my armor and pile my gear up with my armor. I expiriment with the bed for amoment and then lay down on one, saying "I wonder if we could transport these out of here somehow. I wouldn't mind having one for myself and I know some people who could line up some wealthy buyers for such curios." I hover/lay there and mutter the words from the mithral disk in various orders, trying to make sense of them.
After Ruuz's ministrations, some of the cracks in Brick's plating have disappeared. Grateful, Brick ambles over toward the door, assuming a sitting position, his knobby knees almost touching his rounded chin.
Valessa investigates the mithral plate along with the other three, but is unable to shed any further light on it’s meaning. As everyone prepares for sleep, Valessa, trying to maintain as much distance as she can from Ghorkin in the confined space, tries to find a free moment to whisper to both Beren and Sari; “Want to talk – wake you later.”
Leaving the strange beds for the others, she settles herself down next to Brick, continuing to look at the mithral plate. “I want to stay awake for a bit Brick,” she whispers to the warforged. “Don’t let me fall asleep – but shhh, be quiet, don’t say anything to the others or wake them.”
Keeping her mind occupied with the puzzles that they have encountered today, and with the occasional helpful prod from Brick, Valessa manages to stay awake for several hours, until it seems that everyone else is fast asleep.
When she judges it is safe to do so, she moves quietly, waking Sari and Beren.
She gestures them over to sit by Brick, and whispers to the warforged to be quiet, whisper if he wants to join the conversation.
Spoiler for Sari, Beren, Brick, DM (and anyone who happens to be awake listening):
Spoiler for Valessa and Beren
Time for a snoze, and a bit of study afterwards.
After finally finding the right setting for his bed Ruuz gets out some of his books and after a couple of hours of studying things that seemed out of reach of understanding seem to make more sense.
Putting his book away he looks at the group in the room and wishes he had a separate room and then maybe he could 'learn' more about some of Professor Ghorkin's assistants. Safer this way probably anyway. he thinks to himself as he rolls over and settling into a deep sleep.
Beren is sleeping and floating comfortably in the bunk. Suddenly his hand jerks up and grabs Valessa's wrist as she reaches to wake him. Pulling away she gestures him toward a quiet corner.
"Hmmm," Beren says after listening, then looking around at the sleeping explorers. "That's a good thought. I havn't noticed. Been focused too much on this crazy place. But now that you mention it, Ruuz warmed up quite quickly. We should all keep an eye on him and keep him out of trouble. We shouldn't let him stow a way for some extra privacy with any of them," Beren smiles a toothy grin. Then looking over at Rokko, "Should we involve the Goblin in this? He may be able to magic away any glamour on our fine Professor."
Secretly Beren thinks for a brief instant, 'Is Valessa just jealous'. The thought quickly passes. 'No, she is probably right.'
After his conversation with Valessa, Beren lays back down and attempts to rest. His thoughts are clouded though and soon enough he is up and moving about. After several minutes of moving around, pacing, and watching sleeping bodies, he puts his armor and gear back on.
He looks to see if Valessa or Sari are still awake. If either are awake, he approaches them and says, "This room is too cramped for my style. I think I will do some scouting further down the corridor. Care to join me?"
Beren then moves to Brick and shows him how the door works, "Brick, if I am outside, you will be able to see me. I want you to press this to open the door and let me in. Understand?"
After his conversation with Valessa, Beren lays back down and attempts to rest. His thoughts are clouded though and soon enough he is up and moving about. After several minutes of moving around, pacing, and watching sleeping bodies, he puts his armor and gear back on.
He looks to see if Valessa or Sari are still awake. If either are awake, he approaches them and says, "This room is too cramped for my style. I think I will do some scouting further down the corridor. Care to join me?"
Beren then moves to Brick and shows him how the door works, "Brick, if I am outside, you will be able to see me. I want you to press this to open the door and let me in. Understand?"
"Yes. You go outside, I see you, and open the door."
After his conversation with Valessa, Beren lays back down and attempts to rest. His thoughts are clouded though and soon enough he is up and moving about. After several minutes of moving around, pacing, and watching sleeping bodies, he puts his armor and gear back on.
He looks to see if Valessa or Sari are still awake. If either are awake, he approaches them and says, "This room is too cramped for my style. I think I will do some scouting further down the corridor. Care to join me?"
Beren then moves to Brick and shows him how the door works, "Brick, if I am outside, you will be able to see me. I want you to press this to open the door and let me in. Understand?"
He looks to see if Valessa or Sari are still awake. If either are awake, he approaches them and says, "This room is too cramped for my style. I think I will do some scouting further down the corridor. Care to join me?"
Sari sees Beren putting on his armor as she too was unable to get back to sleep. "There is little I would like better than to get out of this room and away from Jyra and the rest of them. Give me a second to gather my things." Sari says to Beren in a whisper. Sari gathers her things and follows Beren over to talk to Brick. "Well now that we have got our retreat route planned, what do you say we get to it before we wake up the whole place and never get a chance to explore without having to watch our backs from our own group."
Beren nods to Sari and makes his way back out into the corridor. Turning to Sari, "I do not plan on drifting too far away, but my thought is that these other rooms around us will hold similar results as our current resting grounds. The answers we need and the important artifact will probably be found further down. I just want to see what lies ahead of us." Beren looks somewhat aggitated with a head twitch here and a flaring of his nostrils there. Then he goes on to say, "Truthfully, the sooner I get out of this underground building and start smelling fresh air again the better."
With swords in hand, Beren makes his way down to the next split in the corridor.