Before Ro could take enough time to discern how to diffuse the rune, Lelith had asked the elf-dwarf for assistance with a book she had found. For Ro, the opportunity to learn new knowledge took priority over the potentially hazardous runes. "Hold a moment Greko. Allow me to look over this book first before we handle the runes. It may hold some clues on the runes themselves."
Ro opened the book to inspect its contents. If the book was not written in any of the languages Ro knew (Common and Dwarvish), he then began to ritual cast Comprehend Languages.
With a snap of his fingers, a feathered quill pen appeared in his hands. The elf-dwarf then reached into his component pouch and pulled out a mixture of salt and soot. He threw the mixture into the air to create a small cloud of powder. The powder slowly began to diffuse in the air and some settled on the ground, but with another snap of his fingers all the powder left in the air locked in place. Ro then took his pen and began to write into the air. The pen left a trail of blue light as he wrote a series of arcane runes, and when each rune was completed it drew in all of the locked powder particle around it. Once all the runes were written and all the powder particles subsequently collected, Ro clapped his hands together causing the runes to all swiftly congregate into his closed hands. Ro spat into his hand and used his thumb to mix it into the collected particles until he was left with a gray paste. He then dipped his thumb and pointer finger into the paste and used it to mark over his eye lids and near his ears. The ritual was complete.
While under the effects of Comprehend Language, Ro received the book from Lelith and began to read it aloud for his bandmates to hear.
Rum moves forward to crouch near the circle of runes, taking the advice of his more learned companions not to get too close.
It was dark but the light of the orb Ro had placed near the circle made it easy to position himself.
He then cocked his head and angled his ears towards the room beyond the circle, listening for any sounds coming from the east of the room.
After a short while, during which Ro was performing his ritual, a thought occurred to him. “I wonder if these runes are designed to keep people out, or in”, he whispers to the others.
Ro summarizes his reading from the book, "Well the text appears to be written in a mixture of Abyssal and Infernal. Also this book seems to belong to someone in leagues with Lord Darkness. They write about Lord Darkness conjuring fiends known as Merregon to bolster his defenses. IN addition to that, there also appears to be some device that Lord Darkness is trying to decipher that appears to be a cause for concern."
The elf-dwarf continues to flip through the pages, "Although there are mentions of traps being spread out throughout the tree, there's nothing specific on how to disarm them unfortunately."
After explaining his findings, Ro proceeded to ritual cast Detect Magic. Once the ritual was complete, Ro cautiously approached the runes. When he was within 30 ft of the runes, Ro stopped to see what information his magic could discern.
Rum listens to Ro feed back on the contents of the book.
"If the book details the conjuring of fiends, would it not make sense for this to be a summoning circle?", he asks pointing at the runic circle. "It also makes me wonder, where is the owner of the book, did they leave with Lord Darkness, or do they remain?".
He notices Ro has gone back to being busy with his arcane rites, and looks to the others with a shrug.
"I guess we continue to wait. Unless one of you has any ideas what we can do whilst Ro is busy?".
"Hmm, though it may cause complications if they remain, it may also be advantageous for us. With an army like Ganondorf's, the opportunities to come upon his allies and conspirators in isolation and interrupt individual objectives may be few and far between."Oten walks over to the runes beside Ro. "What can we tell about these markings?"he asks as he kneels down to inspect them.
Kazek chimes into the conversation as Ro examines the runes, "Merregons, huh. If I recall correctly, they're quite the bothersome foe. They can take quite the beating and can dish it out just as hard too. Normal weapons don't affect 'em much, so you better have something magical or silvered."
After a brief moment of inspection, Ro rejoins the conversation, "That's correct Kazek. In addition to that, the merregons are fiercely loyal to whatever cause they're sworn to. If we ever come face-to-face with one sworn to Lord Darkness, combat will be the only plausible resolution. On a side note, this runic circle wasn't created to summon such fiends. It's essenced with evocation magic, likely a damage spell. Judging by its placement, it's meant to trigger when something enters its vicinity.
Ro stands back up and distances himself from the runes. The elf-dwarf pockets the journal into his bag of holding for safekeeping and turns to the band, "I can try to remotely trigger it using my mage hand. I'd recommend the rest of you to take a step back if we do, I don't know the range of affect the rune may have once it goes off."
Rum taps Oten on the shoulder, feeling the metal beneath his paw as he does so and wondering if he felt anything, then moves back to stand close to Ro ready to protect him if need be.
”Do not worry about me, tome Kazek, I will be fine fighting these fiends”, he says, his eyes fixed on the circle.
Oten does not visibly react to the touch, but he does stand up and move back with the others, taking care to place his body in front of as many of the others as he can. "Ready"
The mage hand trick works great. As soon as the hand enters the circle, there is a hissing sound and then smoke begins to billow up out of the floor. A few moments later there is a flash of fire and then an explosion as flames engulf everything around the circle. The explosion reverberates through the room, rattles their bones, but no one is hurt. A fine black soot settles on everything around them.
The large chamber after that has multiple beds in it that look like they haven't been abandoned long. There is also a locked trapdoor in the center of the room with chains crisscrossed over top of it. On one side of the room is a furnace that hasn't been lit in awhile, with a wheelbarrow next to it. There's a shattered statue in one corner of the room, and an abnormally large mushroom feeding on some of the decaying wood that makes up the walls of the room.
Ro gets up and wipes off some soot that got on him from the blast, "That went rather well. However, we may have alerted others of our presence."
"But we've avoided being burnt into a crisp! That's a win in my book."Kazek chimes in and chuckles. Ro rolls his eyes in response to Kazek's meta joke.
Afterwards, the elf-dwarf cautiously enters the next room. With his Detect Magic still active, Ro walks throughout the room to see if anything gives off a magical aura.
Greko claps one loud clap for Ro and walks back to the room and pats his back "You are smart my boy! What a future that lies ahead for you!" Greko continues into the room and goes to the furnace and wheelbarrow and looks them over
Tuto lets out a few small cough and pats himself down. With one hand resting on his blade, he walks in the room behind Ro, then, without warning, reached out and grabbed the elf-dwarf's arm, attempting to stop him in place. Before he could say anything, Tuto holds up his hand and slowly points to the wall with the giant mushroom on it, then down a few feet to a corpse laying splayed out. Complete skin and bone, dried out to flake. "Mm-mm. Ooo..oo." The gnome didn't know his plants, but he knew bad signs, and that mushroom looks like a giant red flag.
"Th-thanks," Ro manages to stutter out, his face red from Greko's praise.
Ro stops as Tuto tugs on his arm and points out the corpse. "Good catch, friend. I appreciate you looking out. I'll be sure to keep a safe distance away from the mushroom." The elf-dwarf turns to Greko, "Any clue what sort of mushroom this may be?"
"Excellent work!", Rum exclaims and bounds into the room after the others.
As he enters the room and sees the chained trap door, he can't help but wonder again whether the runic circle was there to keep people out, or rather to keep something in.
After a quick look round, and having heard Tuto's warning, he heads over to the shattered statue to take a look at it and see what is lying next to it.
Ro moved to assist Greko, following the lizardfolk's lead.
(Ro is helping Greko to give him advantage on any checks he needs to make.)
Ro Aleron (Ro the Red) -> Illithid, Wizard 8 (Chronugist) // AURYN
Greko, with Ro’s help, determine that together they can diffuse it through their studies of the arcane. Greko will aid Ro diffuse the rune.
Before Ro could take enough time to discern how to diffuse the rune, Lelith had asked the elf-dwarf for assistance with a book she had found. For Ro, the opportunity to learn new knowledge took priority over the potentially hazardous runes. "Hold a moment Greko. Allow me to look over this book first before we handle the runes. It may hold some clues on the runes themselves."
Ro opened the book to inspect its contents. If the book was not written in any of the languages Ro knew (Common and Dwarvish), he then began to ritual cast Comprehend Languages.
With a snap of his fingers, a feathered quill pen appeared in his hands. The elf-dwarf then reached into his component pouch and pulled out a mixture of salt and soot. He threw the mixture into the air to create a small cloud of powder. The powder slowly began to diffuse in the air and some settled on the ground, but with another snap of his fingers all the powder left in the air locked in place. Ro then took his pen and began to write into the air. The pen left a trail of blue light as he wrote a series of arcane runes, and when each rune was completed it drew in all of the locked powder particle around it. Once all the runes were written and all the powder particles subsequently collected, Ro clapped his hands together causing the runes to all swiftly congregate into his closed hands. Ro spat into his hand and used his thumb to mix it into the collected particles until he was left with a gray paste. He then dipped his thumb and pointer finger into the paste and used it to mark over his eye lids and near his ears. The ritual was complete.
While under the effects of Comprehend Language, Ro received the book from Lelith and began to read it aloud for his bandmates to hear.
Ro Aleron (Ro the Red) -> Illithid, Wizard 8 (Chronugist) // AURYN
Rum moves forward to crouch near the circle of runes, taking the advice of his more learned companions not to get too close.
It was dark but the light of the orb Ro had placed near the circle made it easy to position himself.
He then cocked his head and angled his ears towards the room beyond the circle, listening for any sounds coming from the east of the room.
After a short while, during which Ro was performing his ritual, a thought occurred to him. “I wonder if these runes are designed to keep people out, or in”, he whispers to the others.
Perception: 8+7=15 (17 passive)
Hearing nothing from beyond the runic circle, Rum waits patiently for the others, shrinking a bit more into the shadows whilst he waits.
Stealth: 9 (another poor stealth role :-) )
Ro summarizes his reading from the book, "Well the text appears to be written in a mixture of Abyssal and Infernal. Also this book seems to belong to someone in leagues with Lord Darkness. They write about Lord Darkness conjuring fiends known as Merregon to bolster his defenses. IN addition to that, there also appears to be some device that Lord Darkness is trying to decipher that appears to be a cause for concern."
The elf-dwarf continues to flip through the pages, "Although there are mentions of traps being spread out throughout the tree, there's nothing specific on how to disarm them unfortunately."
After explaining his findings, Ro proceeded to ritual cast Detect Magic. Once the ritual was complete, Ro cautiously approached the runes. When he was within 30 ft of the runes, Ro stopped to see what information his magic could discern.
Ro Aleron (Ro the Red) -> Illithid, Wizard 8 (Chronugist) // AURYN
Rum listens to Ro feed back on the contents of the book.
"If the book details the conjuring of fiends, would it not make sense for this to be a summoning circle?", he asks pointing at the runic circle. "It also makes me wonder, where is the owner of the book, did they leave with Lord Darkness, or do they remain?".
He notices Ro has gone back to being busy with his arcane rites, and looks to the others with a shrug.
"I guess we continue to wait. Unless one of you has any ideas what we can do whilst Ro is busy?".
"Hmm, though it may cause complications if they remain, it may also be advantageous for us. With an army like Ganondorf's, the opportunities to come upon his allies and conspirators in isolation and interrupt individual objectives may be few and far between." Oten walks over to the runes beside Ro. "What can we tell about these markings?" he asks as he kneels down to inspect them.
Arcana: 19
Kazek chimes into the conversation as Ro examines the runes, "Merregons, huh. If I recall correctly, they're quite the bothersome foe. They can take quite the beating and can dish it out just as hard too. Normal weapons don't affect 'em much, so you better have something magical or silvered."
After a brief moment of inspection, Ro rejoins the conversation, "That's correct Kazek. In addition to that, the merregons are fiercely loyal to whatever cause they're sworn to. If we ever come face-to-face with one sworn to Lord Darkness, combat will be the only plausible resolution. On a side note, this runic circle wasn't created to summon such fiends. It's essenced with evocation magic, likely a damage spell. Judging by its placement, it's meant to trigger when something enters its vicinity.
Ro stands back up and distances himself from the runes. The elf-dwarf pockets the journal into his bag of holding for safekeeping and turns to the band, "I can try to remotely trigger it using my mage hand. I'd recommend the rest of you to take a step back if we do, I don't know the range of affect the rune may have once it goes off."
Ro Aleron (Ro the Red) -> Illithid, Wizard 8 (Chronugist) // AURYN
Greko nods and steps back into the other room
Rum taps Oten on the shoulder, feeling the metal beneath his paw as he does so and wondering if he felt anything, then moves back to stand close to Ro ready to protect him if need be.
”Do not worry about me, tome Kazek, I will be fine fighting these fiends”, he says, his eyes fixed on the circle.
“Ready”, he says to Ro.
Oten does not visibly react to the touch, but he does stand up and move back with the others, taking care to place his body in front of as many of the others as he can. "Ready"
Once everyone was in a suitable position, Ro made a hand motion causing his mage hand to descend from midair and push down into the runic circle.
Ro Aleron (Ro the Red) -> Illithid, Wizard 8 (Chronugist) // AURYN
The mage hand trick works great. As soon as the hand enters the circle, there is a hissing sound and then smoke begins to billow up out of the floor. A few moments later there is a flash of fire and then an explosion as flames engulf everything around the circle. The explosion reverberates through the room, rattles their bones, but no one is hurt. A fine black soot settles on everything around them.
The large chamber after that has multiple beds in it that look like they haven't been abandoned long. There is also a locked trapdoor in the center of the room with chains crisscrossed over top of it. On one side of the room is a furnace that hasn't been lit in awhile, with a wheelbarrow next to it. There's a shattered statue in one corner of the room, and an abnormally large mushroom feeding on some of the decaying wood that makes up the walls of the room.
DM of AURYN: The Measure of Devotion - Escape from New York
Ro gets up and wipes off some soot that got on him from the blast, "That went rather well. However, we may have alerted others of our presence."
"But we've avoided being burnt into a crisp! That's a win in my book." Kazek chimes in and chuckles. Ro rolls his eyes in response to Kazek's meta joke.
Afterwards, the elf-dwarf cautiously enters the next room. With his Detect Magic still active, Ro walks throughout the room to see if anything gives off a magical aura.
Ro Aleron (Ro the Red) -> Illithid, Wizard 8 (Chronugist) // AURYN
Greko claps one loud clap for Ro and walks back to the room and pats his back "You are smart my boy! What a future that lies ahead for you!" Greko continues into the room and goes to the furnace and wheelbarrow and looks them over
Tuto lets out a few small cough and pats himself down. With one hand resting on his blade, he walks in the room behind Ro, then, without warning, reached out and grabbed the elf-dwarf's arm, attempting to stop him in place. Before he could say anything, Tuto holds up his hand and slowly points to the wall with the giant mushroom on it, then down a few feet to a corpse laying splayed out. Complete skin and bone, dried out to flake. "Mm-mm. Ooo..oo." The gnome didn't know his plants, but he knew bad signs, and that mushroom looks like a giant red flag.
"Th-thanks," Ro manages to stutter out, his face red from Greko's praise.
Ro stops as Tuto tugs on his arm and points out the corpse. "Good catch, friend. I appreciate you looking out. I'll be sure to keep a safe distance away from the mushroom." The elf-dwarf turns to Greko, "Any clue what sort of mushroom this may be?"
Ro Aleron (Ro the Red) -> Illithid, Wizard 8 (Chronugist) // AURYN
"Excellent work!", Rum exclaims and bounds into the room after the others.
As he enters the room and sees the chained trap door, he can't help but wonder again whether the runic circle was there to keep people out, or rather to keep something in.
After a quick look round, and having heard Tuto's warning, he heads over to the shattered statue to take a look at it and see what is lying next to it.
Rum looks at the statue and wonders why it has been destroyed, before spotting a backpack lying next to it.
He carefully picks it up and opens it, taking a look inside.