Lemon moves away from the obelisk and finds that any farther away that ten feet and the pendant stops floating. He stands just inside that length of space while Boosey finishes placing the cubes. As soon as the last one is placed, a great movement takes place in the stone cliffside. Vines snap as a one foot thick wall of stone lowers itself at the mouth of the cave tunnel, leaving a ten foot wide hallway fifteen feet long between the closing door and the placed cubes. The door lowers itself slowly, but the cubes will be sealed inside in short order.
The gnome looks back and forth between the entrance and the cubes and looks several times between the two obviously stumped, but now forced into the a decision. He runs towards the entrance then back in again, only to turn towards the slowly closing door.
“Quick, everyone inside, or we’ve lost the cubes for good!”
Nenne tosses a pained look at Eku as the stone wall begins to close. Hurriedly, she reaches into her pouch and presses a sending stone into the celestial's hand. "Keep this close. Once a day, we can converse. I pray we'll meet again soon, should our paths diverge here."
She smiles in quiet gratitude, squeezes the woman's hand gently, and runs after Boosey.
The rest of the party and Orvex rushes in before the door can finish closing. As the last bits of daylight die away behind the stone, Eku stares worriedly unable to do anything but watch. The sound of stone grinding against stone ends with the chamber inside becoming a tomb of utter darkness. No light pierces the darkness, but a sound from above has everyone worried. A great whoosh of air from multiple points along the ceiling has everyone worried - the sting that follows is even worse. The gas that settles down on the party burns the skin and is awfully painful to breath in.
Boosey takes a lungful of the tainted air, coughs and shouts, "stay close, I can clear this, but it will deafen anyone in the wind. If someone can create a light, do it!" He quickly speaks the words, blows through his hand and casts warding wind creating a strong wind in the enclosed space.
The dangerous gas billows on the outside of Boosey's protective wind for a full minute. Thankfully none of it gets inside to the party after the initial surprise. After the minute is over, all eight cubes are ejected from their sockets and the stone door raises back into its raised position. Eke stands near where she was with a confused expression on her face.
Nenne coughs and looks at Boosey. "Perhaps not that orientation?"
The cleric picks up a pebble from the ground, casts Light on it, and tosses it into the tunnel. She then looks around to see if the light reveals anything new in the ceiling or walls.
Nenne shakes her head. "We will find it yet," she assures the bard with an optimism inherent in her Season. She casts her gaze to the gargoyles once more and adopts a thoughtful expression.
"They are guardians, and honorable ones," she murmurs. "Eku, do you know much of those creatures? Whether we can communicate with them? Perhaps they know what lies beyond that passage and can provide us assistance if they are made aware our purpose is to destroy the Soulmonger."
Eku shakes her fist at one and says, "I know enough that these things are not normally so reserved in who they attack. The things travel miles around the city picking off prey. What are you suggesting?"
"Then is it not exceedingly strange that they keep their distance? They must have some special directive, or be under magic that influences their behavior. We know the obelisk has imprisonment runes on it..." She motions toward the stone and trails off as she does. Walking over to Lemon, she squints at the pendant and looks west.
"This pendant does not point to the obelisk, it points beyond," she says to the group. "If I may, beastspeaker?" Gently, she removes the object from the druid's neck and, skirting the obelisk to appease the gargoyles, slowly walks west.
The pendant definitely points beyond the obelisk, and it only does so when worn. After moving more than ten feet from the obelisk, it fails to point anywhere. Nenne and Glimbul poke around further and realize that the overgrown cliff face has a second cave entrance hidden by a mass of vines. The hallway beyond is choked by moss and vine growth. A second door sporting three rows of three cubbies ten feet off the ground lies at the end.
"Storyteller," Nenne says, smiling a little, "I believe we've found a slot for that final cube." She looks around the hallway before announcing, "Still unsure what donning the mask means. I see nothing of the sort here." She picks up a handful of pebbles and pockets them for later.
"Does anyone have a better idea than more trial and error at a distance?"
„Those openings are nine or ten feet high. Unless someone grows wings we need that magic hand. About that mask, we don’t know that every line is related to the cubes and entering the tomb. Maybe there is another mask inside it. I haven’t seen a doomed child yet, either.“
Boosey looks at the slots suspiciously. “After what happened the last time, everyone out of here until the last cube is placed. If it goes wrong, I might have time to get out.” He takes a deep breath. “No point in wasting any more time!”
Once the rest of the party is clear, he begins to put the cubes in the slots in no particular order, apart from Unkh’s which he leaves till last and places in the centre.
Much as before, nothing happens until the last cube is placed. Boosey's tension is high as he stands in the chamber alone and as far away from the door as possible. Finally, only Unkh's cube remains - the mage hand slides it inside the small cubby, directed by the bard. The nine cubes flare with a dull, green light, then disappear entirely, leaving only empty pits in the massive stone door. Growling like an angry beast, the two foot thick slab of stone begins to slide up into the ceiling.
Another slab blocks the hallway twenty feet beyond the first door. An iron lever is set into the door’s surface, with a graven stone skull leering down from above.
The gnome is poised to turn and run as the last cube is placed, but turns back as the cubes vanish and the doors open. “Luck?” He mumbles to himself.
Then as the door opens he looks beyond to see the lever below the skull. “There is always something else,” he says to the world in general. “At least it’s looks like we’re in the right place now. What was that other thing for then? An idiot trap?”
A little smile appears on Allisterˋs face as he approaches Boosey and claps his shoulder. „Whether luck or genius, I don’t care as long as this is the entrance. If you really pulled it off, first round is on me when we return to civilization. Come, let’s take a look at the new obstacle.“
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Lemon moves away from the obelisk and finds that any farther away that ten feet and the pendant stops floating. He stands just inside that length of space while Boosey finishes placing the cubes. As soon as the last one is placed, a great movement takes place in the stone cliffside. Vines snap as a one foot thick wall of stone lowers itself at the mouth of the cave tunnel, leaving a ten foot wide hallway fifteen feet long between the closing door and the placed cubes. The door lowers itself slowly, but the cubes will be sealed inside in short order.
The gnome looks back and forth between the entrance and the cubes and looks several times between the two obviously stumped, but now forced into the a decision. He runs towards the entrance then back in again, only to turn towards the slowly closing door.
“Quick, everyone inside, or we’ve lost the cubes for good!”
Nenne tosses a pained look at Eku as the stone wall begins to close. Hurriedly, she reaches into her pouch and presses a sending stone into the celestial's hand. "Keep this close. Once a day, we can converse. I pray we'll meet again soon, should our paths diverge here."
She smiles in quiet gratitude, squeezes the woman's hand gently, and runs after Boosey.
Without thinking twice Allister runs inside.
The rest of the party and Orvex rushes in before the door can finish closing. As the last bits of daylight die away behind the stone, Eku stares worriedly unable to do anything but watch. The sound of stone grinding against stone ends with the chamber inside becoming a tomb of utter darkness. No light pierces the darkness, but a sound from above has everyone worried. A great whoosh of air from multiple points along the ceiling has everyone worried - the sting that follows is even worse. The gas that settles down on the party burns the skin and is awfully painful to breath in.
Allister takes his bandana off and puts it over his mouth and nose, trying to breathe as little as possible
Boosey takes a lungful of the tainted air, coughs and shouts, "stay close, I can clear this, but it will deafen anyone in the wind. If someone can create a light, do it!" He quickly speaks the words, blows through his hand and casts warding wind creating a strong wind in the enclosed space.
The dangerous gas billows on the outside of Boosey's protective wind for a full minute. Thankfully none of it gets inside to the party after the initial surprise. After the minute is over, all eight cubes are ejected from their sockets and the stone door raises back into its raised position. Eke stands near where she was with a confused expression on her face.
Nenne coughs and looks at Boosey. "Perhaps not that orientation?"
The cleric picks up a pebble from the ground, casts Light on it, and tosses it into the tunnel. She then looks around to see if the light reveals anything new in the ceiling or walls.
"I guess not," the gnome replies coughing himself. "There seems to be no way of finding which cube should go where."
Nenne shakes her head. "We will find it yet," she assures the bard with an optimism inherent in her Season. She casts her gaze to the gargoyles once more and adopts a thoughtful expression.
"They are guardians, and honorable ones," she murmurs. "Eku, do you know much of those creatures? Whether we can communicate with them? Perhaps they know what lies beyond that passage and can provide us assistance if they are made aware our purpose is to destroy the Soulmonger."
Eku shakes her fist at one and says, "I know enough that these things are not normally so reserved in who they attack. The things travel miles around the city picking off prey. What are you suggesting?"
"Then is it not exceedingly strange that they keep their distance? They must have some special directive, or be under magic that influences their behavior. We know the obelisk has imprisonment runes on it..." She motions toward the stone and trails off as she does. Walking over to Lemon, she squints at the pendant and looks west.
"This pendant does not point to the obelisk, it points beyond," she says to the group. "If I may, beastspeaker?" Gently, she removes the object from the druid's neck and, skirting the obelisk to appease the gargoyles, slowly walks west.
The pendant definitely points beyond the obelisk, and it only does so when worn. After moving more than ten feet from the obelisk, it fails to point anywhere. Nenne and Glimbul poke around further and realize that the overgrown cliff face has a second cave entrance hidden by a mass of vines. The hallway beyond is choked by moss and vine growth. A second door sporting three rows of three cubbies ten feet off the ground lies at the end.
"Storyteller," Nenne says, smiling a little, "I believe we've found a slot for that final cube." She looks around the hallway before announcing, "Still unsure what donning the mask means. I see nothing of the sort here." She picks up a handful of pebbles and pockets them for later.
"Does anyone have a better idea than more trial and error at a distance?"
„Those openings are nine or ten feet high. Unless someone grows wings we need that magic hand. About that mask, we don’t know that every line is related to the cubes and entering the tomb. Maybe there is another mask inside it. I haven’t seen a doomed child yet, either.“
Boosey looks at the slots suspiciously. “After what happened the last time, everyone out of here until the last cube is placed. If it goes wrong, I might have time to get out.” He takes a deep breath. “No point in wasting any more time!”
Once the rest of the party is clear, he begins to put the cubes in the slots in no particular order, apart from Unkh’s which he leaves till last and places in the centre.
Much as before, nothing happens until the last cube is placed. Boosey's tension is high as he stands in the chamber alone and as far away from the door as possible. Finally, only Unkh's cube remains - the mage hand slides it inside the small cubby, directed by the bard. The nine cubes flare with a dull, green light, then disappear entirely, leaving only empty pits in the massive stone door. Growling like an angry beast, the two foot thick slab of stone begins to slide up into the ceiling.
Another slab blocks the hallway twenty feet beyond the first door. An iron lever is set into the door’s surface, with a graven stone skull leering down from above.
Day 68, 9:00
The gnome is poised to turn and run as the last cube is placed, but turns back as the cubes vanish and the doors open. “Luck?” He mumbles to himself.
Then as the door opens he looks beyond to see the lever below the skull. “There is always something else,” he says to the world in general. “At least it’s looks like we’re in the right place now. What was that other thing for then? An idiot trap?”
A little smile appears on Allisterˋs face as he approaches Boosey and claps his shoulder. „Whether luck or genius, I don’t care as long as this is the entrance. If you really pulled it off, first round is on me when we return to civilization. Come, let’s take a look at the new obstacle.“