The cleric tosses an uneasy glance at the bard, and a longsuffering one at the druid and fighter. To Boosey, she says, "We have the almiraj. We lack the eblis. And I am not especially comfortable with leaving these cubes so near their destination. The point was to make it more difficult on our enemies, not more convenient."
Then she sighs and says to the others, "There's neither virtue nor reason for rashness. We are hardly halfway done. Be patient." She scans the tunnel walls for any markings or signs of hidden buttons or features. (Perception 11, passive 16)
Nenne finds nothing of note in the small cavern. The basins of oil seems to ignite in low burning flames as their respective cube comes near the statue it represents. While the effect is surely magical and quite fascinating Eku interrupts much more though on the matter. She appears in the cave entrance and says, quite excitedly, "Come look at this!" She moves away from the cave mouth and when the companions emerge she is pointing into the darkness of the other cave.
Once a bit of light reveals the end of the cavern, it is easy to see what got Eku so excited. A short tunnel ends at a slab of worked stone, whose edges are marked by relief carvings of grinning skulls. Four lines engraved at the center of the slab cross one another to form a star, with both ends of each line marking the location of a cube-shaped cavity cut into the door — eight cavities in all.
"Yes, we already knew the cubes are the key. But have we learned anything that will help us retrieve the missing keys? I don´t want to repeat myself, but are we done here?"
Eku moves to enter the cave mouth where the cube-star is etched into the stone, but stops suddenly as if she encountered a wall. She backs up a step and gingerly touches the air in front of her. Her hands come into contact with something solid that no one can see. She bangs on it with her fist, creating a soft thud through the area. She looks around at the party perplexed before saying, "What is this? How were you able to enter, yet I cannot?"
Nenne gives a pointed look at Allister before gesturing to Eku. "That, for example, is helpful to know in advance."
She glances around the tunnel, looking for arcane symbols or anything that might explain why a ward is in place. "Storyteller, do you know this magic? And Eku, have you ever encountered something like this before?"
Eku shakes her head, still prodding at the wall. She simmers in silent frustration. Nenne's examination of the tunnel mouth comes up empty, but past the entrance, she spots a curious sight on the obelisk where be begins to fold back into a smaller shape. In the right light, runes are etched into the surface of the black stone.
Allister makes a dismissive gesture. "Yeah, whatever. This information will help us for sure when we fight the wizards and yuan-ti for the missing cubes. If you are done here I´m waiting over there at the gargoyles making sure they don´t interrupt our... I don´t know."
"This isn't to help us battle them, it will help us know what to do after that, and how we can best sabotage our enemies now," Nenne says. "Your impatience, warrior..." She trails off as she spots the runes on the obelisk. Brushing past Eku and out of the cave, she makes her way to the obelisk.
"Friend storyteller!" she calls. "It appears we missed something. Eku, can you read this?"
Boosey approaches the runes and looks at them carefully. Casting enhance ability on himself for Fox's Cunning, he accepts some guidance from the Cleric. "I appear to be having some difficulty reading these. Give me a little time, I may be able to glean something from them."
He reads the runes and finds he can only get a general sense of their meanings, distracted a little by the movement of the gargoyles from above. After a while spent in silence, he grunts and stands. "I'm afraid I can't tell much from these, they are too unfamiliar to me. From what I can tell these runes are meant to be a ward, imprisoning something or someone - I can only guess at who! I wonder if the gargoyles are here to stop interference with the runes and the prisoner escaping?"
The gargoyles above unfurl their wings promising action. They seem to be aggitated by the gnome messing with the obelisk. Small stones fall from their perch as they pop vines free.
"We came here for insight, and we have some. Let's not aggravate those creatures any further - though that is helpful for us to know, as well." She turns to Allister. "I for one am satisfied with our investigation here. I'd like to safeguard the cubes next, then move on to our next target."
Boosey moves away from the obelisk before he causes any more consternation amongst the gargoyles. "I agree, we should hide the cubes now until we have recovered the rest of them. It seems more likely we could make some form of alliance with the Red Wizards, but they will betray us out of hand when it suits them. Might we be able to lure both parties here perhaps?"
„And what would make them come here? Do you not think they have already investigated the obelisk themselves? The only thing bringing them here is the prospect of getting or having all the cubes. I cannot hink of a different reason right now.“
"Aye. Ye be right gnome." Lemon looks to the group and proceeds, "If ye hand me the cubes, I can create false ones for each, then bury the others 'bout 30ft down." He outstretches his hand, gives a wide grin, "Hehehe, can't wait fer some more battlin'!"
Once he is given the cubes, Lemon makes six approaches and cubes, matching each one to the best of his ability with Mold Earth. He then goes to a spot some way away from the obelisk and preceedes to bury the fake cubes underneath. Once his work his completed, he joins his companions to find and go to their next destination.
The cleric tosses an uneasy glance at the bard, and a longsuffering one at the druid and fighter. To Boosey, she says, "We have the almiraj. We lack the eblis. And I am not especially comfortable with leaving these cubes so near their destination. The point was to make it more difficult on our enemies, not more convenient."
Then she sighs and says to the others, "There's neither virtue nor reason for rashness. We are hardly halfway done. Be patient." She scans the tunnel walls for any markings or signs of hidden buttons or features. (Perception 11, passive 16)
Nenne finds nothing of note in the small cavern. The basins of oil seems to ignite in low burning flames as their respective cube comes near the statue it represents. While the effect is surely magical and quite fascinating Eku interrupts much more though on the matter. She appears in the cave entrance and says, quite excitedly, "Come look at this!" She moves away from the cave mouth and when the companions emerge she is pointing into the darkness of the other cave.
Once a bit of light reveals the end of the cavern, it is easy to see what got Eku so excited. A short tunnel ends at a slab of worked stone, whose edges are marked by relief carvings of grinning skulls. Four lines engraved at the center of the slab cross one another to form a star, with both ends of each line marking the location of a cube-shaped cavity cut into the door — eight cavities in all.
"Well, we knew the cubes were a key. I suppose I shouldn't be surprised it was so literal."
Nenne backs away from the cave and peers up at the gargoyles, trying to gauge their intentions and attitude as they survey the group.
"Yes, we already knew the cubes are the key. But have we learned anything that will help us retrieve the missing keys? I don´t want to repeat myself, but are we done here?"
The gargoyles only stare down in silence, their faces agape in their silent screams.
Eku moves to enter the cave mouth where the cube-star is etched into the stone, but stops suddenly as if she encountered a wall. She backs up a step and gingerly touches the air in front of her. Her hands come into contact with something solid that no one can see. She bangs on it with her fist, creating a soft thud through the area. She looks around at the party perplexed before saying, "What is this? How were you able to enter, yet I cannot?"
Nenne gives a pointed look at Allister before gesturing to Eku. "That, for example, is helpful to know in advance."
She glances around the tunnel, looking for arcane symbols or anything that might explain why a ward is in place. "Storyteller, do you know this magic? And Eku, have you ever encountered something like this before?"
Eku shakes her head, still prodding at the wall. She simmers in silent frustration. Nenne's examination of the tunnel mouth comes up empty, but past the entrance, she spots a curious sight on the obelisk where be begins to fold back into a smaller shape. In the right light, runes are etched into the surface of the black stone.
Allister makes a dismissive gesture. "Yeah, whatever. This information will help us for sure when we fight the wizards and yuan-ti for the missing cubes. If you are done here I´m waiting over there at the gargoyles making sure they don´t interrupt our... I don´t know."
"This isn't to help us battle them, it will help us know what to do after that, and how we can best sabotage our enemies now," Nenne says. "Your impatience, warrior..." She trails off as she spots the runes on the obelisk. Brushing past Eku and out of the cave, she makes her way to the obelisk.
"Friend storyteller!" she calls. "It appears we missed something. Eku, can you read this?"
Boosey approaches the runes and looks at them carefully. Casting enhance ability on himself for Fox's Cunning, he accepts some guidance from the Cleric. "I appear to be having some difficulty reading these. Give me a little time, I may be able to glean something from them."
He reads the runes and finds he can only get a general sense of their meanings, distracted a little by the movement of the gargoyles from above. After a while spent in silence, he grunts and stands. "I'm afraid I can't tell much from these, they are too unfamiliar to me. From what I can tell these runes are meant to be a ward, imprisoning something or someone - I can only guess at who! I wonder if the gargoyles are here to stop interference with the runes and the prisoner escaping?"
The gargoyles above unfurl their wings promising action. They seem to be aggitated by the gnome messing with the obelisk. Small stones fall from their perch as they pop vines free.
„Wouldn’t that make sense? They didn’t move or care as long as we stayed away from it. The more interest we show the more agitated they seem to be.“
"We came here for insight, and we have some. Let's not aggravate those creatures any further - though that is helpful for us to know, as well." She turns to Allister. "I for one am satisfied with our investigation here. I'd like to safeguard the cubes next, then move on to our next target."
„Leave the cubes here if you don’t want to take them with you. Nobody is gonna search them here?“
Boosey moves away from the obelisk before he causes any more consternation amongst the gargoyles. "I agree, we should hide the cubes now until we have recovered the rest of them. It seems more likely we could make some form of alliance with the Red Wizards, but they will betray us out of hand when it suits them. Might we be able to lure both parties here perhaps?"
„And what would make them come here? Do you not think they have already investigated the obelisk themselves? The only thing bringing them here is the prospect of getting or having all the cubes. I cannot hink of a different reason right now.“
"Aye. Ye be right gnome." Lemon looks to the group and proceeds, "If ye hand me the cubes, I can create false ones for each, then bury the others 'bout 30ft down." He outstretches his hand, gives a wide grin, "Hehehe, can't wait fer some more battlin'!"
Once he is given the cubes, Lemon makes six approaches and cubes, matching each one to the best of his ability with Mold Earth. He then goes to a spot some way away from the obelisk and preceedes to bury the fake cubes underneath. Once his work his completed, he joins his companions to find and go to their next destination.
Made you look.