Rezivah woke on the ground, nestled next to a tree. It's bark was worn. Her thirst was gone. Flashes of last evening blurred across her mind. She smeared her wrist across her mouth. Dried blood. She got up and walked to the river, which luckily wasn't very far from this chosen tree. She saw her muddled face in the reflection of the water. Cupping her hands into it, she brought it up and cleaned herself, making sure to clean under every fingernail, rinse every tooth, and remove every stain from her face. She looked again. A pale, empty face with dark eyes stared back.

She returned to the hedron only to find.. Vasha? Yes, Vasha. She was sitting alone. Eating dirt. "Are you alright?"

Vasha had cut off all of her white hair, and this dirt eating was also new. What was happening to her? Watching her in this dazed condition, absentmindedly eating filth; it was revolting. "Do you think.. you can stop?" Rezivah made a motion to hold Vasha's wrist.

Kayn woke up and stretched. He had a good feeling about today. With all the drama of yesterday behind him, he was ready to get started on his research again! Ato's tablet should provide at least some insight into the remaining runes and perhaps the order of activation. Today was a day of new beginnings and no drama, he was sure of it! Both he and the gnarlid walked into the hedron site and saw Vasha sitting in front of it eating dirt and mumbling something incomprehensible. 

Well... maybe tomorrow will be better, he thought. "I think maybe something happened to her when she tried to control the hedron," Kayn tells Rez. "She's a stoneforger, and they have certain powers over stone. I think she tried to enter the hedron." It was going to be a long day...

Suddenly, Rezivah recalled a dream she had nights ago. Entering the pit and opening the gigantic double doors. Seeing the statue of some great, terrible horror. Being consumed by it and its vast nothingness inside. It was just a statue, right? It was a dream. Just a dream. She snapped back to the present situation. The Kor girl was crying now.

Seeing it now, the exposed skin of Vasha's back was completely littered with scars. "Perhaps we should take her back to camp. Have someone watch over her?" She didn't know if leaving Vasha near the hedron while Kayn and she work on opening the vault's door once again was a good idea. "We could get Versa to look after her, or maybe Veythe." Rezivah slowly placed her hand in the middle of Vasha's shoulder blades.

"Vashie," Kayn says cautiously. "We're going to be opening this up. Is that ok?" 

He didn't know what she might have seen, but if it did this to her than it might not be worth opening. "What did you see? What is in there, Vashie?" 

Vesra used to consider herself a morning person, but the next day she found herself sleeping. Yawning, she tried to stand up, but found that her legs were still unsteady beneath her. It took the druid a few minutes, and several castings of druidcraft, but eventually she procured a long enough stick to use. Leaning on it heavily, she left the campsite to see how things were going with the hedron.

"How's it go-" she greeted her friends, but her voice trailed off when she noticed her sister crying. "Oh, Vasha." Vesra walked over and placed a hand on her twin's back, focusing her mana through the new focus around her neck. She had recently taught herself a new spell, and hoped that lesser restoration would in some way help Vasha. "Shhh, it's alright," she murmured, rubbing circles on her sister's back.

Veythe followed after Vesra when she finally woke from the night and finished her morning routine. She came upon the group at the hedron in time to hear the last portion of what Vasha said, and paused, concerned.

"And the eating of the dirt?" Veythe asked cautiously. "Could that be...some sort of side effect? A condition?" Veythe bit her lip. "I can...cast a spell that might help if it is. I don't know." She eyed Vasha and Vesra and hovered a bit unsure of what she should do. She looked to Vesra for advice. Should she try? Would it even do anything?

"The prophet... the maker of stone. Some say that her memories are etched into each hedron. You may have seen a true event that happened long ago at this very spot." He gives the ground a stomp for emphasis. 

"Thank you Vessie. I don't know what you did, but it looks like it helped. Now... if you all don't mind, we're close to breaking open this hedron." He considers for a moment before adding, "We need all of the mana we can muster, I think. Of all types. I can focus on red, Rez on black, but we still need white, blue, and green. I'll let you all decide what mana you wish to focus on. We'll need all of you to help in this." 

Rezivah removed her hand from Vasha's back as Vesra began applying curative magic to it. It seemed Vasha was getting all the help she needed now. Though she was speaking more coherently, what she was saying was strange. A battle. Yellow mist. Some sort of vision?

Kayn's elaboration made things more clear. It was possibly information contained within the stone. A memory. Rezivah has come across mentions of this Prophetess. She was a Kor that lived long ago. It was said she made the hedrons in her wisdom to combat strange aberrations with the ancient Eldrazi. The moment Kayn brought up opening the vault with all the colors of mana, Rezivah was reminded of when she looked over Ato's tablet.

"Kayn! I actually think I know some things that could greatly expedite the vault's opening. If that's what we're still after."

Kayn begins his ritual of research. The gnarlid trots up to Kayn and he begins removing the various notes and books he has within its pack. When he comes across the etching he made, he hands it to Rez. Still carrying an armful of notes and books he says, "Show me."  He then cocks his head to the side, "It looks like we must have caught a big animal in our snares. You look... invigorated." He does a mental tally of everyone he saw in the morning and lets out a mental sigh of relief when he realizes they were all present and alive. 

Rezivah grabs the parchments, sifting through them and carefully looking them over. "Yes. I was fed rather well. Thank you." After another look, she found what she was looking for. "These.." She points out several runes across the sheets. "This one I believe is water. And this one.. is fire. This should be.. earth? Ground? Dirt? If we think about the color wheel again, I'm certain with your eye you'll find these upon the door of this vault hedron, and just as you said: if we focus all our mana as designated, perhaps it'll open."

(If required, Deception roll 22)

Kayn debates whether or not to ask the vampire to save the corpses for his gnarlid, but decides it's a better discussion left for another time. Right now, Rez had a breakthrough!

"Wonderful!" The goblin exclaims. "We need you all to rest up right now.  This thing will be ready to open in a couple hours and we need each of you focused on different mana." He begins to shoo the group away from the hedron while at the same time staring down at the runes Rez had pointed out. Both him and the gnarlid begin scanning around the hedron's door for duplicate runes. 

Vesra gave her sister’s shoulder a small squeeze. You should get away from this hedron, she signed. It’s a void of energy, just being near it isn’t good for you. If you want to recover, at least go back to camp.

“Is there any way I can help?” Vesra asked Kayn. She did not want to feel useless, not again. “I know you’ll need my mana later, but right now?”

Kayn is so focused, the gnarlid looks up and responds, "Blurgh blaa reergh." It shakes its head and Kayn smiles over at Vesra.

"You can help find these runes," he says. "It shouldn't take too long, but more eyes are better!"