“Unfortunately I don’t read dwarvish, but I can cast a spell to translate it, given some time- it will take me a few minutes to perform the ritual. Want me to do it now, or shall we continue exploring? I’m ok with going to the western door. Maybe save the trapdoor for later”. Cerlinde says. She looks warily at the now disarmed suit of armor, and goes to open the door to the west.
Syd walks over to the suit of armor, and snorts. "Armor is for sissies..." but he is definitely interested in the greatsword. "Hey Ollie, is this thing magicky? Will it shoot out glowing green goo that will dissolve your eyeballs or something cool like that?"
"Yeah, what cool thing does it do? West is good by me."
Mohdrak, having seen what the puff of smoke could wrought, elected to hold his breath the moment it appeared
CON save: 22
A good thing too as the effect on the others begun to manifest immediately. He had always styled himself as a more serious competitor so the thought of all this whimsy had begun to grate on him. Fortunately it seemed it was time to move along anyway. The minotaur followed the group out of the dining room and into the upper level. The only thing of note were a trapdoor leading further up and a decorative suit of armour.
Mohdrak snorted at Syd's remark. A finely made suit of armour could keep you alive far better than swinging a sword around. Plus it was kind of hard to disarm someone out of their armour. He let the issue rest: those weapon nuts are impossible to reason with. He turned his attention to the suit. The helmet was nice but he doubted that it would fit him. Not without some refitting to account for his horns. He did lift it off the armour stand for a closer look. Those arcane glyphs tickled his fancy.
'Nope, no Dwarvish here.'
Arcana check: 17
Mohdrak, like Syd, is able to easily hold his breath for sufficiently long to walk out of the room and await his delirious companions to come down off their high.
As Mohdrak picks up the helm, he can feel a connection with it and sees its shape mold to a new one that seems like it would fit his head's unique conformation. After examining the helm carefully, Mohdrak can determine that it is not an extremely powerful item, but he recalls seeing something like it during his time around gladiatorial arenas. If he's not mistaken, it is a Dread Helm, although he'll need to learn the command to activate it.
(I've given this one a little kick beyond the cosmetic, I'll let you know when you figure out how to wield it.)
(For the party's benefit, Dyumi can read the glyphs, I'm not trying to make this a big thing ;-) If the party elects to enter the unlocked room to the west, this is what they see.)
Most of this room is taken up by long wooden tables that are covered with glass vessels and books. Cabinets with glass doors line the walls and they contain all manner of specimens. Just below the ceiling in the middle of the room, colorful globes circle each other in an intricate dance. The far wall is almost completely covered by a map of the night sky, with a golden sunburst in the center above a closed door.
Syd walks over to the suit of armor, and snorts. "Armor is for sissies..." but he is definitely interested in the greatsword. "Hey Ollie, is this thing magicky? Will it shoot out glowing green goo that will dissolve your eyeballs or something cool like that?"
"Yeah, what cool thing does it do? West is good by me."
"Ahh I see. I doubt immediately sense anything, but Mohdrak seems to have figured something out, look it's changing to allow his horns to like through..."
Entering the room, Ollezall looks dazzled. " Wow, I haven't seen the sky look this clear in a while, the city has too many lights..... I know this is just an illusion, but it's still breath taking."
Dyuli will read aloud the glyphs, and enter the globe room.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Life is very busy unfortunately, gone from most Pbp's indefinitely. If you'd like to contact me, I am on Discord at GreatAxeblade#7595, always happy to chat :)
Written on the greatsword are the words "shirak" and "dulak", roughly translated into "light" and "dark". On the helm is the word "sken", meaning "glow".
"Allrighty then," says Syd, a bit stumped. "Light and Dark. No idea what that is supposed to mean." Syd will help someone to investigate the contents of the cabinets for anything remarkable.
Struck by a thought, Syd experiments by uttering the word "Shirak" aloud while holding the greatsword.
As Syd holds the sword aloft and speaks the word, the blade brightens gradually, casting a bluish-white glow, reminiscent of moonlight. After a few seconds, it easily illuminates the entire landing.
(Cool! Yes read the series long ago). Cerlinde will search the room for things of interest or value- in particular- more of the mysterious books, any spellbooks, or any other books on planar travel and extra dimensional spaces.
investigation with Help from Syd (who’s mostly looking for smutty novels I bet)
Syd and Cerlinde team up to expertly search the room, their investigative skills now finely honed from the time they've spent snooping around the mansion. The cabinets are crowded with skulls, bones, mounted animals, rocks and minerals, dried plants, and jars with creatures floating in liquid. Measuring devices, glassware, and other scientific apparatus sit on the tables between books on the natural sciences, astronomy, astrology, physiology, and natural philosophy. Complex charts and mathematical formulas are drawn on a mobile blackboard.
An interesting item that catches your eye is a pair of glasses with unusual crystalline lenses. Oh, and of course, the matching Mordenkainen-adorned tome with the letter 'T' on its spine is among the books on the middle table. Finally, the star map is particularly grand in its scale and level of detail. Most of the stars are represented by dots or small circles, but a few prominent stars are rendered as blazing silver suns.
Having reviewed the contents of this room, the impression of Fistandia being a keen naturalist that you gained from the books in the study is strongly reinforced. Unlike the horrors of the lower level's summoning room and preserved menagerie, this room seems devoted to the study of the benign natural world. Several of the species on display here are notable for their rarity, but none are ones that you know to be magical.
(No smutty novels in this room, but I've got a feeling Syd will be able to add a few more to his collection before the adventure is over.)
"Not quite as cool as eyeball-dissolving goo, but not bad!" Syd comments delightedly about his new greatsword. With the additional light, he will more closely inspect the star-map, experimentally poking the detailed prominent sun representations with a thick finger.
Seeing the glasses reminds him of the lantern he found, so he will now confidently speak "Dulak" assuming the glowing will fade from the sword, which he then straps to his back. He unpacks the lantern and lights it to take a quick survey of the room, ensuring they have not missed any invisible smut.... uh, informative tomes or other items or creatures.
Mohdrak, having seen what the puff of smoke could wrought, elected to hold his breath the moment it appeared
CON save: 22
A good thing too as the effect on the others begun to manifest immediately. He had always styled himself as a more serious competitor so the thought of all this whimsy had begun to grate on him. Fortunately it seemed it was time to move along anyway. The minotaur followed the group out of the dining room and into the upper level. The only thing of note were a trapdoor leading further up and a decorative suit of armour.
Mohdrak snorted at Syd's remark. A finely made suit of armour could keep you alive far better than swinging a sword around. Plus it was kind of hard to disarm someone out of their armour. He let the issue rest: those weapon nuts are impossible to reason with. He turned his attention to the suit. The helmet was nice but he doubted that it would fit him. Not without some refitting to account for his horns. He did lift it off the armour stand for a closer look. Those arcane glyphs tickled his fancy.
'Nope, no Dwarvish here.'
Arcana check: 17
Mohdrak, like Syd, is able to easily hold his breath for sufficiently long to walk out of the room and await his delirious companions to come down off their high.
As Mohdrak picks up the helm, he can feel a connection with it and sees its shape mold to a new one that seems like it would fit his head's unique conformation. After examining the helm carefully, Mohdrak can determine that it is not an extremely powerful item, but he recalls seeing something like it during his time around gladiatorial arenas. If he's not mistaken, it is a Dread Helm, although he'll need to learn the command to activate it.
(I've given this one a little kick beyond the cosmetic, I'll let you know when you figure out how to wield it.)
Mohdrak's eyes grew wide when the helmet shifted into a shape to accommodate for his horn. How delightfully exquisite! His gaze shifted to the armour. If the helmet could, would the armour as well? He reached with his hand and took hold of the armour.
This post has potentially manipulated dice roll results.
Ollezall will look at the star maps. Can Ollezall deduce from the position of the stars if they look similar to the ones in the present sky, or do the stars in the room suggest approximately how long ago the constellations were mapped (i.e. can I tell from the stars how long ago Fistandia was last here).
"Not quite as cool as eyeball-dissolving goo, but not bad!" Syd comments delightedly about his new greatsword. With the additional light, he will more closely inspect the star-map, experimentally poking the detailed prominent sun representations with a thick finger.
Seeing the glasses reminds him of the lantern he found, so he will now confidently speak "Dulak" assuming the glowing will fade from the sword, which he then straps to his back. He unpacks the lantern and lights it to take a quick survey of the room, ensuring they have not missed any invisible smut.... uh, informative tomes or other items or creatures.
With the light of the greatsword, Syd is unable to identify anything new in the star map. However, after successfully extinguishing the light of the sword and switching over to the lantern, Syd is able to reveal that there are lines projecting from the five large, silver stars on the map to intersect at the golden sunburst in the center.
Mohdrak's eyes grew wide when the helmet shifted into a shape to accommodate for his horn. How delightfully exquisite! His gaze shifted to the armour. If the helmet could, would the armour as well? He reached with his hand and took hold of the armour.
As Mohdrak lifts the armour off of the stand, he can immediately tell that this suit is purely decorative. It has no real weight to it and, with his strength, Mohdrak could easily crumple it into a minor heap should he choose to do so. The suit is very nice looking, but it seems to have mainly served the purpose of showcasing the helm and sword.
Cerlinde will (perhaps recklessly) try on the glasses- do they seem to be magical or anything?
Cerlinde boldly lifts the glasses to her face. Initially, it's not clear whether they've affected her vision at all, but as she continues to look around the room, Cerlinde realizes that her vision is greatly improved when looking at anything close up.
Ollezall will look at the star maps. Can Ollezall deduce from the position of the stars if they look similar to the ones in the present sky, or do the stars in the room suggest approximately how long ago the constellations were mapped (i.e. can I tell from the stars how long ago Fistandia was last here).
Perception 11
Nature 21
Investigation 11
(I would have said that Nature is the correct skill and a lovely roll at that! Now, what do I make of this crit is the question... Okay, I have no idea if this would mesh with your backstory, but here you go.)
Ollezall studies the star map intently and refers to the various astronomical texts found in the room. Somehow, Ollezall is able to recognize from his previous time in Faerun that this configuration of stars appears very similar to what would be seen in the skies above the Sword Coast region near the fabled Candlekeep around the year 1491 DR. Given that the current year is 1497 DR, it seems that perhaps Fistandia had modeled this map around six years ago. It would be logical to conclude that she has been gone for no longer than six years, although with what you can tell of Fistandia, it seems unlikely that she would have let the map remain out of date for any prolonged period of time.
Cerlinde, now wearing the glasses, examines the star map and the sunburst closely, with help..
14 investigation
With help and guidance. Guidance: 4
Ollezall will fumble in his pocket for the lit coin and help by using the coin to illuminate the parts of the map Cerlinde is looking at. Investigation 21
This post has potentially manipulated dice roll results.
Mohdrak put the armour back in its original spot. The helmet he placed in his backpack after a moment of consideration. It could do a neat trick and he could see the use in it. He made a mental note to politely ask for it when the job was over, for services rendered. He might even be willing to negotiate a cut out of his original pay. And if not, he would just as happily put it back with the armour.
He, along with the others, ventured forth further in the mansion. The latest room spoke little to him. From what he saw, it was some kind of wizard's laboratory: jam-packed with more items than there was actually room for, scribbles that tip the line between illuminating and madness, and could only be read by those who wrote them in the first place, and so little room to navigate in, especially for a big guy like him, that you were always in danger of knocking something over. And who knew what might happen then.
At the moment they were looking at a star map. Mohdrak knew little of star maps, other than that some people like to use them to divine certain things. "It's written in the stars." They would say whenever this or that would happen. He had once met a man who would bet on the games' outcome based on whatever he saw in the night sky the night before. As if the morning star appearing in the house of the rising sun or some other bullocks would have any influence on one's performance.
In any case, they had already deduced that the star map was one from six years ago: 1485 DR. Perhaps that is a start.
'Did something happen six years ago that might have interested Fistandia, considering she made a map of the stars?'
“Unfortunately I don’t read dwarvish, but I can cast a spell to translate it, given some time- it will take me a few minutes to perform the ritual. Want me to do it now, or shall we continue exploring? I’m ok with going to the western door. Maybe save the trapdoor for later”. Cerlinde says. She looks warily at the now disarmed suit of armor, and goes to open the door to the west.
"Yeah, what cool thing does it do? West is good by me."
Mohdrak, like Syd, is able to easily hold his breath for sufficiently long to walk out of the room and await his delirious companions to come down off their high.
As Mohdrak picks up the helm, he can feel a connection with it and sees its shape mold to a new one that seems like it would fit his head's unique conformation. After examining the helm carefully, Mohdrak can determine that it is not an extremely powerful item, but he recalls seeing something like it during his time around gladiatorial arenas. If he's not mistaken, it is a Dread Helm, although he'll need to learn the command to activate it.
(I've given this one a little kick beyond the cosmetic, I'll let you know when you figure out how to wield it.)
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(For the party's benefit, Dyumi can read the glyphs, I'm not trying to make this a big thing ;-) If the party elects to enter the unlocked room to the west, this is what they see.)
Most of this room is taken up by long wooden tables that are covered with glass vessels and books. Cabinets with glass doors line the walls and they contain all manner of specimens. Just below the ceiling in the middle of the room, colorful globes circle each other in an intricate dance. The far wall is almost completely covered by a map of the night sky, with a golden sunburst in the center above a closed door.
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Come join the Worlds of Pphost, a new and growing PbP community! Adventures are currently running in the world of Haven or do some role-playing!
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"Ahh I see. I doubt immediately sense anything, but Mohdrak seems to have figured something out, look it's changing to allow his horns to like through..."
Entering the room, Ollezall looks dazzled. " Wow, I haven't seen the sky look this clear in a while, the city has too many lights..... I know this is just an illusion, but it's still breath taking."
Dyuli will read aloud the glyphs, and enter the globe room.
Life is very busy unfortunately, gone from most Pbp's indefinitely.
If you'd like to contact me, I am on Discord at GreatAxeblade#7595, always happy to chat :)
Homebrew races: ~Otterfolk! Play as a otter!~ Playable Dryad! (Literally just the monster sheet ported to player race)
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Written on the greatsword are the words "shirak" and "dulak", roughly translated into "light" and "dark". On the helm is the word "sken", meaning "glow".
Active - Player: Sleeping Gods ---- Complete - Player: Masquerade, Teleportation Machine ---- Complete - DM: Extradimensional Spaces
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"Allrighty then," says Syd, a bit stumped. "Light and Dark. No idea what that is supposed to mean."
Syd will help someone to investigate the contents of the cabinets for anything remarkable.
Struck by a thought, Syd experiments by uttering the word "Shirak" aloud while holding the greatsword.
As Syd holds the sword aloft and speaks the word, the blade brightens gradually, casting a bluish-white glow, reminiscent of moonlight. After a few seconds, it easily illuminates the entire landing.
(Any Dragonlance fans out there?)
Active - Player: Sleeping Gods ---- Complete - Player: Masquerade, Teleportation Machine ---- Complete - DM: Extradimensional Spaces
Come join the Worlds of Pphost, a new and growing PbP community! Adventures are currently running in the world of Haven or do some role-playing!
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(Cool! Yes read the series long ago). Cerlinde will search the room for things of interest or value- in particular- more of the mysterious books, any spellbooks, or any other books on planar travel and extra dimensional spaces.
investigation with Help from Syd (who’s mostly looking for smutty novels I bet)
27.
woot natural 20
Syd and Cerlinde team up to expertly search the room, their investigative skills now finely honed from the time they've spent snooping around the mansion. The cabinets are crowded with skulls, bones, mounted animals, rocks and minerals, dried plants, and jars with creatures floating in liquid. Measuring devices, glassware, and other scientific apparatus sit on the tables between books on the natural sciences, astronomy, astrology, physiology, and natural philosophy. Complex charts and mathematical formulas are drawn on a mobile blackboard.
An interesting item that catches your eye is a pair of glasses with unusual crystalline lenses. Oh, and of course, the matching Mordenkainen-adorned tome with the letter 'T' on its spine is among the books on the middle table. Finally, the star map is particularly grand in its scale and level of detail. Most of the stars are represented by dots or small circles, but a few prominent stars are rendered as blazing silver suns.
Having reviewed the contents of this room, the impression of Fistandia being a keen naturalist that you gained from the books in the study is strongly reinforced. Unlike the horrors of the lower level's summoning room and preserved menagerie, this room seems devoted to the study of the benign natural world. Several of the species on display here are notable for their rarity, but none are ones that you know to be magical.
(No smutty novels in this room, but I've got a feeling Syd will be able to add a few more to his collection before the adventure is over.)
Active - Player: Sleeping Gods ---- Complete - Player: Masquerade, Teleportation Machine ---- Complete - DM: Extradimensional Spaces
Come join the Worlds of Pphost, a new and growing PbP community! Adventures are currently running in the world of Haven or do some role-playing!
It never hurts to help! ---- PbP: [Rolling Dice] [Tooltips] ---- DDB Content: [Free Adventures] [Encounter of the Week]
"Not quite as cool as eyeball-dissolving goo, but not bad!" Syd comments delightedly about his new greatsword. With the additional light, he will more closely inspect the star-map, experimentally poking the detailed prominent sun representations with a thick finger.
Seeing the glasses reminds him of the lantern he found, so he will now confidently speak "Dulak" assuming the glowing will fade from the sword, which he then straps to his back. He unpacks the lantern and lights it to take a quick survey of the room, ensuring they have not missed any invisible smut.... uh, informative tomes or other items or creatures.
Mohdrak's eyes grew wide when the helmet shifted into a shape to accommodate for his horn. How delightfully exquisite! His gaze shifted to the armour. If the helmet could, would the armour as well? He reached with his hand and took hold of the armour.
William Brackwater: Human Fighter - The Windward Isles
Tyrgram, the Butterfly Knight: Dwarf Warlock - Secret of Greenwold
Iòlinder Corrach: Half Elf War Cleric - Allansia Adventure
Valerius Sergius Publius: Dhampir Paladin - Vae Victus
Cerlinde will (perhaps recklessly) try on the glasses- do they seem to be magical or anything?
Ollezall will look at the star maps. Can Ollezall deduce from the position of the stars if they look similar to the ones in the present sky, or do the stars in the room suggest approximately how long ago the constellations were mapped (i.e. can I tell from the stars how long ago Fistandia was last here).
Perception 18
Nature 10
Investigation 17
With the light of the greatsword, Syd is unable to identify anything new in the star map. However, after successfully extinguishing the light of the sword and switching over to the lantern, Syd is able to reveal that there are lines projecting from the five large, silver stars on the map to intersect at the golden sunburst in the center.
As Mohdrak lifts the armour off of the stand, he can immediately tell that this suit is purely decorative. It has no real weight to it and, with his strength, Mohdrak could easily crumple it into a minor heap should he choose to do so. The suit is very nice looking, but it seems to have mainly served the purpose of showcasing the helm and sword.
Cerlinde boldly lifts the glasses to her face. Initially, it's not clear whether they've affected her vision at all, but as she continues to look around the room, Cerlinde realizes that her vision is greatly improved when looking at anything close up.
(I would have said that Nature is the correct skill and a lovely roll at that! Now, what do I make of this crit is the question... Okay, I have no idea if this would mesh with your backstory, but here you go.)
Ollezall studies the star map intently and refers to the various astronomical texts found in the room. Somehow, Ollezall is able to recognize from his previous time in Faerun that this configuration of stars appears very similar to what would be seen in the skies above the Sword Coast region near the fabled Candlekeep around the year 1491 DR. Given that the current year is 1497 DR, it seems that perhaps Fistandia had modeled this map around six years ago. It would be logical to conclude that she has been gone for no longer than six years, although with what you can tell of Fistandia, it seems unlikely that she would have let the map remain out of date for any prolonged period of time.
Active - Player: Sleeping Gods ---- Complete - Player: Masquerade, Teleportation Machine ---- Complete - DM: Extradimensional Spaces
Come join the Worlds of Pphost, a new and growing PbP community! Adventures are currently running in the world of Haven or do some role-playing!
It never hurts to help! ---- PbP: [Rolling Dice] [Tooltips] ---- DDB Content: [Free Adventures] [Encounter of the Week]
"There seems to be something special about this one," Syd remarks, now poking the central sunburst.
Cerlinde, now wearing the glasses, examines the star map and the sunburst closely, with help..
14 investigation
With help and guidance. Guidance: 4
Ollezall will fumble in his pocket for the lit coin and help by using the coin to illuminate the parts of the map Cerlinde is looking at. Investigation 21
Mohdrak put the armour back in its original spot. The helmet he placed in his backpack after a moment of consideration. It could do a neat trick and he could see the use in it. He made a mental note to politely ask for it when the job was over, for services rendered. He might even be willing to negotiate a cut out of his original pay. And if not, he would just as happily put it back with the armour.
He, along with the others, ventured forth further in the mansion. The latest room spoke little to him. From what he saw, it was some kind of wizard's laboratory: jam-packed with more items than there was actually room for, scribbles that tip the line between illuminating and madness, and could only be read by those who wrote them in the first place, and so little room to navigate in, especially for a big guy like him, that you were always in danger of knocking something over. And who knew what might happen then.
At the moment they were looking at a star map. Mohdrak knew little of star maps, other than that some people like to use them to divine certain things. "It's written in the stars." They would say whenever this or that would happen. He had once met a man who would bet on the games' outcome based on whatever he saw in the night sky the night before. As if the morning star appearing in the house of the rising sun or some other bullocks would have any influence on one's performance.
In any case, they had already deduced that the star map was one from six years ago: 1485 DR. Perhaps that is a start.
'Did something happen six years ago that might have interested Fistandia, considering she made a map of the stars?'
OOC: History check 5
William Brackwater: Human Fighter - The Windward Isles
Tyrgram, the Butterfly Knight: Dwarf Warlock - Secret of Greenwold
Iòlinder Corrach: Half Elf War Cleric - Allansia Adventure
Valerius Sergius Publius: Dhampir Paladin - Vae Victus