The cleric shakes her head. "Nothing so active as surveillance, scribe," she replies. "It is too vague for me to identify underlying intent. I noticed it yesterday after we left Unkh's shrine, only I thought I was imagining it. I am clearly not."
Nenne falls silent a moment, trying to glean any more information from her senses. She sighs again. "The moment we stepped foot in this city, I told you evil permeated the air. This is more than that. This is centralized, somehow. It might even be the Soulmonger itself. I admit I am not eager to consider the possibility of it being anything else. Though, it seems familiar..."
Boosey looks concerned at the Clerics revelation. "This could well be what we are looking for, or at least it may lead us to the Soulmonger. Remember the scrawls as we entered the city, "The puzzle cubes are the key"? I think that may mean literally, they are keys and they open a door to whatever or wherever that presence is. If something is locked away in such a fashion, it is not going to be pleasant."
"We could drive ourselves mad with speculation," Nenne says. She glances northward and frowns. "I'm in part glad none of you can sense it. It is...not a welcome sensation. Still," she looks back at the group, "we have clear objectives with the temples. Let us focus on those and confront whatever this darkness is when we are prepared. My only request is that you will take my urging for caution to heart. This place is evil. Please tread carefully and do not lower your guard."
As the parry travels, Lemon pockets berries. Most of them are pocketed directly into his mouth, but he ends up with a healthy stash that migh last the hour through.
Cracked monoliths flank the entrance to this ruin. Saw-edged ferns grow in the courtyard between broken flagstones. A pair of stone doors provide entry to a large, flat-roofed ruin.
Sculptural reliefs decorate the doors of this shrine. The carvings show a horned rabbit charging a small, feral-looking bear with sharp claws. A cuneiform message is etched above the doors.
As the party approaches a small creature hops away and into a burrow besise the shrine.
Lemon, mouth full of berries, gleefully adds to his team, "Ye know, now this may be a shrine... or maybe not." He points in the air, "don't listen to be about investigating though. I happen to not care for such things (sucky investigation)."
Looking up at the message, Boosey says, "Rather than guessing, lets see if I can get a more accurate translation," and he casts comprehend languages "I need to touch this message though, could someone give me a boost up, please?"
„I wonder why none of these gods teaches us to just walk in and grab what we need. Come, we should take a look inside.“ Allister goes to the door and opens it. (Ooc: If it’s too heavy he’ll ask for help.)
"Wait a moment. There's more written here." The rest of the party can see the gnome look closely at the carved message. "You may want to write this down Orvex." Once the scribe is ready, he begins to speak, slowly so not to get any of the words wrong.
"One morning, a wise zorbo emerged from her hollow tree and spoke to the dying Omuans. To convince Ubtao of their worth, she decided to cook him a stew made from all their good qualities. Catching such virtues wouldn’t be easy, so she asked a wily almiraj to help her. The almiraj snuck recklessness in the pot, which she saw as a virtue, and Ubtao spat out the stew when he tasted it. From that day on, Obo’laka the zorbo and I’jin the almiraj became terrible enemies."
„A zorbo? An almiraj? What are those supposed to be? Some other weird animal like Shagambi the kamadan?“ Allister turns to Lemon. „Hey dwarf, you will like it here. Maybe someone will cook some stew for you.“ He turns to Orvex. „Any insight you have on the matter?“
Allister opens the doors easily to reveal a ten-foot-wide hallway strikes off into the gloom. Carved tiles depicting various beasts decorate the hallway floor.
"I expect I'jin the almiraj is the rabbit with the horn, but who or what Obo'laka the zorbo is," and the gnome shrugs. "The rabbit does appear on the stones, mind. I wonder if the zorbo is one of the others.?"
He studies the floor for a while thoughtfully. "Going by the message outside, and the little hidden story, I'd be fairly confident that we just walk straight over this floor..." he waves his hand in the air, "recklessly. If we try to work out a route, we'll be in trouble."
Hearing Boosey relay the story from what was written on the temple, Sthara withdraws into herself. These people were not an isolated group on Chult, but another set of people sculpted from the Earth by Ubtao – and he abandoned them at their time of need, because of the action of a misguided creature. She feels sad and grasps at the pearl around her neck, whispering a short mantra to it (recovering a spell slot from the pearl).
She breathes deeply and tries to move her thoughts past it.
"What do you suppose it means to take the path least expected? Just straight on?"
"Take the path least expected..." Nenne muses as she surveys the floor. "Surely that means we must be mindful where we step. Then again, you might have a point, lady mage."
Boosey cranes his neck out over the tiles to look in the first vestibule, trying to gauge whether anything nasty will appear if someone stands on a tile.
Boosey notices omnious niches all along the moss covered hallway. No one has been in here in a long time. Even the tiles have plant life growing among them. The almiraj tiles are strangely devoid of any moss however.
„Our mind is on a downward spiral if we think walking straight into a room is the unexpected way. So IˋJin is that unicorn thing on the tiles, right? The rest of the beasts look rather normal. Horse, eagle, dragonfly, boar, cat, monkey... whatˋs on the second tile from the right? Is that a zorbo? Is that the path least expected?“
The cleric shakes her head. "Nothing so active as surveillance, scribe," she replies. "It is too vague for me to identify underlying intent. I noticed it yesterday after we left Unkh's shrine, only I thought I was imagining it. I am clearly not."
Nenne falls silent a moment, trying to glean any more information from her senses. She sighs again. "The moment we stepped foot in this city, I told you evil permeated the air. This is more than that. This is centralized, somehow. It might even be the Soulmonger itself. I admit I am not eager to consider the possibility of it being anything else. Though, it seems familiar..."
Boosey looks concerned at the Clerics revelation. "This could well be what we are looking for, or at least it may lead us to the Soulmonger. Remember the scrawls as we entered the city, "The puzzle cubes are the key"? I think that may mean literally, they are keys and they open a door to whatever or wherever that presence is. If something is locked away in such a fashion, it is not going to be pleasant."
"We could drive ourselves mad with speculation," Nenne says. She glances northward and frowns. "I'm in part glad none of you can sense it. It is...not a welcome sensation. Still," she looks back at the group, "we have clear objectives with the temples. Let us focus on those and confront whatever this darkness is when we are prepared. My only request is that you will take my urging for caution to heart. This place is evil. Please tread carefully and do not lower your guard."
As the parry travels, Lemon pockets berries. Most of them are pocketed directly into his mouth, but he ends up with a healthy stash that migh last the hour through.
Cracked monoliths flank the entrance to this ruin. Saw-edged ferns grow in the courtyard between broken flagstones. A pair of stone doors provide entry to a large, flat-roofed ruin.
Sculptural reliefs decorate the doors of this shrine. The carvings show a horned rabbit charging a small, feral-looking bear with sharp claws. A cuneiform message is etched above the doors.
As the party approaches a small creature hops away and into a burrow besise the shrine.
Lemon, mouth full of berries, gleefully adds to his team, "Ye know, now this may be a shrine... or maybe not." He points in the air, "don't listen to be about investigating though. I happen to not care for such things (sucky investigation)."
Made you look.
Looking up at the message, Boosey says, "Rather than guessing, lets see if I can get a more accurate translation," and he casts comprehend languages "I need to touch this message though, could someone give me a boost up, please?"
"Aye. Ye need to stand on me shoulders gnome? The height of booth of us may be enough."
Made you look.
As Boosey runs his fingers along the writing, it becomes clear to him the message says, "I’jin teaches us to take the path least expected.”
„I wonder why none of these gods teaches us to just walk in and grab what we need. Come, we should take a look inside.“ Allister goes to the door and opens it. (Ooc: If it’s too heavy he’ll ask for help.)
"Wait a moment. There's more written here." The rest of the party can see the gnome look closely at the carved message. "You may want to write this down Orvex." Once the scribe is ready, he begins to speak, slowly so not to get any of the words wrong.
"One morning, a wise zorbo emerged from her hollow tree and spoke to the dying Omuans. To convince Ubtao of their worth, she decided to cook him a stew made from all their good qualities. Catching such virtues wouldn’t be easy, so she asked a wily almiraj to help her. The almiraj snuck recklessness in the pot, which she saw as a virtue, and Ubtao spat out the stew when he tasted it. From that day on, Obo’laka the zorbo and I’jin the almiraj became terrible enemies."
„A zorbo? An almiraj? What are those supposed to be? Some other weird animal like Shagambi the kamadan?“ Allister turns to Lemon. „Hey dwarf, you will like it here. Maybe someone will cook some stew for you.“ He turns to Orvex. „Any insight you have on the matter?“
Orvex eagerly copies the text down asking Boosey where he sees that. He is amazed to find out that there is text inside the text.
Allister opens the doors easily to reveal a ten-foot-wide hallway strikes off into the gloom. Carved tiles depicting various beasts decorate the hallway floor.
Orvex shakes his head and shrugs to Allister in reply.
"I expect I'jin the almiraj is the rabbit with the horn, but who or what Obo'laka the zorbo is," and the gnome shrugs. "The rabbit does appear on the stones, mind. I wonder if the zorbo is one of the others.?"
He studies the floor for a while thoughtfully. "Going by the message outside, and the little hidden story, I'd be fairly confident that we just walk straight over this floor..." he waves his hand in the air, "recklessly. If we try to work out a route, we'll be in trouble."
Hearing Boosey relay the story from what was written on the temple, Sthara withdraws into herself. These people were not an isolated group on Chult, but another set of people sculpted from the Earth by Ubtao – and he abandoned them at their time of need, because of the action of a misguided creature. She feels sad and grasps at the pearl around her neck, whispering a short mantra to it (recovering a spell slot from the pearl).
She breathes deeply and tries to move her thoughts past it.
"What do you suppose it means to take the path least expected? Just straight on?"
"Take the path least expected..." Nenne muses as she surveys the floor. "Surely that means we must be mindful where we step. Then again, you might have a point, lady mage."
Boosey cranes his neck out over the tiles to look in the first vestibule, trying to gauge whether anything nasty will appear if someone stands on a tile.
Boosey notices omnious niches all along the moss covered hallway. No one has been in here in a long time. Even the tiles have plant life growing among them. The almiraj tiles are strangely devoid of any moss however.
„Our mind is on a downward spiral if we think walking straight into a room is the unexpected way. So IˋJin is that unicorn thing on the tiles, right? The rest of the beasts look rather normal. Horse, eagle, dragonfly, boar, cat, monkey... whatˋs on the second tile from the right? Is that a zorbo? Is that the path least expected?“