Usul starts to look around the room with Sil's help. He starts at where the golem was when they first entered, and then around where the Watcher was, then the pictures on the walls.
While the others move off on their separate investigations, Sylnora stands quietly by considering the things she's witnessed today. This was a far cry from what she imagined when she answered that letter from Sybil. Absent mindedly, she moves over to Kal and Velyra to voice her thoughts. "If the undead problem is solved here for the most part, what do you have planned for your next moves?"
This post has potentially manipulated dice roll results.
As she looks over the fallen Watcher with Kal's help, she finds no signs of life. The black tarred corruption has continued to wither, though it stains the armor. Besides the dagger he carried, just a standard short blade, Iven seemed to carry nothing else on him. His arm is covered in the remains of the black stuff, with a large hole through both the front and back where his wound was. It's severely dented in other places - even getting it off would be difficult. Repairing it would take a master smith. The only other thing he seemed to have left behind was the white guardless hilt of his sword, the blade of which shattered during the ritual. Oddly enough, you don't see any shards of metal on the ground.
For Usul and Silthras, they're able to pick off 11 100gp gems from the golem's corpse - coming off the metal rods that it seemed to use to conduct electricity. There's nothing else by the Watcher's corpse, the crystal structure he was contained in has almost completely sublimated now. Looking up to the sculpted murals on the walls, you can see it clearly telling a story in sequence from the entrance of the room. Though most is left the color of stone, some pieces have been painted over.
The first image clear in purpose you find is one of a large serpentine like creature, with harsh spikes protruding from its body, curled up and surrounded by stone. Around the peripheral are depictions of destruction, the earth itself cracking, spewing forth fire and molten rock. Cities burn and mass graves arise. Going further along the wall, you find depictions of the serpent lifting its head, as if waking. Dark figures gather around it, and in the next piece of art are seen spewing forth from a tunnel onto open ground. The midnight black horde sweeps across lands, covering settlements like a tsunami and toppling cities.
In the next figure, eight well armed knights appear, one of which bears armor basically identical to the depictions of the 13th Watcher of Amah you saw. The other seven are unrecognizable. The course of the next several pieces depict them uniting lands, raising armies, forging weapons and leading battles against the horde of dark, wraith-like creatures. Occasionally you catch images of other knights with the original eight, almost like squires. The 14th is among them.
The mural continues like this around the room, depicting battle after battle after battle. Eventually the dark army is pushed back to its original invasion point, though the large serpent creature now extends from the ground. Plumes of molten rock spew from the ground around it, and mountains seem to be shattering in the background. Half of the back wall is dedicated to this battle, showing heavy losses while the environment is subjected to nothing short of cataclysm. Eventually the serpent and its forces are pushes back below ground. The eight knights are shown carrying a strange device, an eight pointed metal casing with a large sphere floating in the center, seemingly unconnected to the rest. Elsewhere on this section of the mural, one of the squires is shown with a darkness in their breast, over their heart. The next sequences depict the squire picking off the eight knights one by one, taking a black greatsword off the body of the first one. With each kill their corruption spreads, until they seem to be oozing with darkness. The remaining seven squires split into two groups, with four taking the device seen earlier and carrying it into the tunnel after the serpent while the other three, Iven(the 14th Watcher) cut off the betrayer from pursuing them.
The remainder of the mural depicts the three fighting off of corrupted Watcher. Two are injured and incapacitated, leaving Iven to face them alone. Beneath this battle the other four are depicted confronting the serpent, activating the eight-pointed device. They appear to be consumed in an explosion that shatters the device, and in the final scene the serpent is shown curled up once more. Iven is shown to emerge victorious over the other, but now before he receives the grievous wound you found him with.
Other pieces of art seemed to be in the works on the wall, but they remain unfinished.
Source Through to the other side, you enter into a 35x45 foot room. Sitting dead center of the room is a large marble table with a glass top covering it...A construction that the elvish cleric would find most familiar. Carved into the marble underneath the glass is a map of the entire continent, with a point of light shining brightly directly over your position in the Shining Peaks. Sticking out from the walls in this room, forming rows, are long dark wooden cabinet shelves. Decorative silver stripes are painted over the shelves, and each door is firmly locked shut.
Velyra glances over her shoulder at the young woman, shrugging her shoulders. "I'm honestly not sure. We have something of a lead we could follow up on in Sonatide. Or I suspect we could go to the Astrium, I have colleagues there that live and breath stuff like this. They would be called experts...But everything they think they know is wrong according to what we've found in these ruins, so I'm not quite sure if their expertise will be that much help." Letting out a long sigh, the elvish cleric grabs the bladeless hilt from the floor, pushing on her knees to stand up. She takes a moment to turn it over in her hands, inspecting it. Handing it off to the mage, she asks, "would you mind checking this out? See if it has any properties despite being broken." She jerks her head towards Kal, "then give it to him I think. If there's anyone alive worthy to lay claim to such an artifact it's him now."
Watching Usul and Silthras move across the room with their investigation, she decides to stay put and wait for them to finish rather than interrupt.
For the sake of haste, Sylnora will burn an actual spell slot to cast Identify instead of taking the ten minutes to ritual cast."A tangible lead is better than a guess, no?" She says, handing the hilt off to Kal after she finished identifying it. "It sounds like Sonatide may be the next move then." She smiles, a bit more relaxed now. "That would be nice I think, I haven't ever been to any of the big cities. What is it you have there?"
Looking around at the paintings on the wall, Usul asks, “Who do you think painted these? And how long was this guy here after getting those wounds?” pointing to the final picture.
After counting out 4 gems from the pile for himself, Usul leaves the rest in Sil’s hands to distribute to the group. He then walks over to the others discussing research and the big city. Listening in he adds, “We know a smart wizard in Sonatide! He knows like, everything! We could even show you some cool hidden spots in town if we make it back!”
Silthras finishes studying the murals before smiling at the young gnome and taking the gems. He returns to the others with Usul before answering, "Thousands of years ... encased by magic. Only to be freed now to die." He shakes his head at the enormity of it all. "As to who painted them; many others survived...but no other watchers. Perhaps it was those others? Though why they left here is another mystery...perhaps to keep it safe?"
He ponders a little longer before speaking again, "Fourteen versions of one watcher. We must find the others. There must be six other places like this; then perhaps we need to find the serpent."
"Vel...do you recognize the symbols on any of the watchers -- perhaps we could connect them to places on the map -- which ones might have accompanied this fellow, and which ones took the strange device; or perhaps the sword that was taken from the first watcher? I think that may also be significant..."
(( Does Silthras recognize any symbols that might remain on the mural? ))
As Silthras waits for answers, he ponders and eventually speaks again, "Six other places...and six teleporters. Perhaps once they connected the Watchers. I wonder if they could be made to do so again?" Now he looks expectantly at the Syl.
Sylnora would find a layer of half complete enchantments on the hilt - it was definitely magical, but on its own the hilt seems to be incapable of powering them. None of the symbols look particularly familiar to Silthras.
"That other group was investigating the ruins, and given we're using their knowledge to move around in here, I think it's fair to say they're our best bet for information." Kal takes the hilt gingerly, looking over it carefully. As Usul piques up, he smiles ands nods. "You have some connections to Sonatide then?"
“We pretty much grew up there!”Usul says, oddly proud in this moment of silence and power. “We know the alleys of <poor areas of town/and a bit mid class - only a tiny bit in the rich areas> better than the back of our own hands! Whatcha wanna know?”
Realizing there was a question waiting for her, Syl perks up. "Oh. Uh...I don't think so. If I remember right, those runes around the platform are static. If it really is like a teleportation circle, that's kind of like, specific instructions to take you to the place you're trying to go. My gut instinct is that they couldn't be repurposed."
"And that place was extra-planar in the first place. I don't think they would bother shifting to another plane first if they're just trying to get around Ravere."
"Yet apparently that is exactly what they do -- travel from an extra planar location to places all around Revere!" Silthras looks non-plussed, "That seems very odd. You mean that those pedestals have always transported to someone's bedroom? Or an attic? For thousands of years. Does that mean they were only very recently created, then? If so, that also would be interesting."
"Nothing as of yet, but it's nice to know if we go there it'll be familiar territory for someone." To the conversation going on about the teleportation platforms, Kal will say, "My guess is once that gate was opened up, the platforms for set up for ease of movement."Remembering the half-elf's skill with a pencil and paper, he adds quickly "you're rather good at sketching things. Maybe try getting a good impression of one of the platforms, particularly the runes. We can always show someone else to confirm. Maybe even Usul's wizard friend in Sonatide."
He rubs the back of his head, trying to massage out the remnants of that strange feeling the ritual gave him. A pointless exercise as it would turn out."I think we were going to see if closing that gate had an effect on the teleportation platforms, right?"
Silthras nods at Kal's suggestion. When they return to the control room he will make notes on symbols on the sphere if any, then when they go to the teleport circles he will try to transcribe the symbols for Silverfare and then note the differences for the Feycrest teleporter.
<poor areas of town/and a bit mid class - only a tiny bit in the rich areas>
A painful reminder that I still need to finish the map of Sonatide and name the districts. Ouch.
Having nothing else to be done in the room, and discussions seeming to shift back to the teleportation hub, the party leaves the tomb of the 14th Watcher of Amah. As you exit, the stone door begins to slide shut slowly.
With practiced hands now, Sylnora manipulates the control orb to reopen the strange gateway. Inside, Silthras quickly sketches out a few of the platforms. He's able to transcribe the runic symbols, and while he can sense a general similarity between the symbols on each platform, neither seems to have a matching pair of sigils.
Next on their list, the group moves back out, leaving Dib in the hub. Sylnora shuts the gate, and the tiny owl familiar attempts to use any of the platforms. As soon as the gate was closed, the black liquid - normally bubbling - ceased movement. As he stands on one of the platforms, nothing happens. After a minute or so of trying, Usul summons him back to his side and the information is relayed.
Thinking back to it, Sylnora would be know that the orb merely controlled the gate. It would always lead to one place(the teleportation hub). However, moving the orb would allow you to change where the gate manifests in the Material plane.
Usul starts to look around the room with Sil's help. He starts at where the golem was when they first entered, and then around where the Watcher was, then the pictures on the walls.
23 - investigation
PbP 🎲: Tyekanik; Moneo Noree; Korba Muris; & occasional DM:
While the others move off on their separate investigations, Sylnora stands quietly by considering the things she's witnessed today. This was a far cry from what she imagined when she answered that letter from Sybil. Absent mindedly, she moves over to Kal and Velyra to voice her thoughts. "If the undead problem is solved here for the most part, what do you have planned for your next moves?"
Vel Medicine: 26
Vel Investigation: 18
As she looks over the fallen Watcher with Kal's help, she finds no signs of life. The black tarred corruption has continued to wither, though it stains the armor. Besides the dagger he carried, just a standard short blade, Iven seemed to carry nothing else on him. His arm is covered in the remains of the black stuff, with a large hole through both the front and back where his wound was. It's severely dented in other places - even getting it off would be difficult. Repairing it would take a master smith. The only other thing he seemed to have left behind was the white guardless hilt of his sword, the blade of which shattered during the ritual. Oddly enough, you don't see any shards of metal on the ground.
For Usul and Silthras, they're able to pick off 11 100gp gems from the golem's corpse - coming off the metal rods that it seemed to use to conduct electricity. There's nothing else by the Watcher's corpse, the crystal structure he was contained in has almost completely sublimated now. Looking up to the sculpted murals on the walls, you can see it clearly telling a story in sequence from the entrance of the room. Though most is left the color of stone, some pieces have been painted over.
The first image clear in purpose you find is one of a large serpentine like creature, with harsh spikes protruding from its body, curled up and surrounded by stone. Around the peripheral are depictions of destruction, the earth itself cracking, spewing forth fire and molten rock. Cities burn and mass graves arise. Going further along the wall, you find depictions of the serpent lifting its head, as if waking. Dark figures gather around it, and in the next piece of art are seen spewing forth from a tunnel onto open ground. The midnight black horde sweeps across lands, covering settlements like a tsunami and toppling cities.
In the next figure, eight well armed knights appear, one of which bears armor basically identical to the depictions of the 13th Watcher of Amah you saw. The other seven are unrecognizable. The course of the next several pieces depict them uniting lands, raising armies, forging weapons and leading battles against the horde of dark, wraith-like creatures. Occasionally you catch images of other knights with the original eight, almost like squires. The 14th is among them.
The mural continues like this around the room, depicting battle after battle after battle. Eventually the dark army is pushed back to its original invasion point, though the large serpent creature now extends from the ground. Plumes of molten rock spew from the ground around it, and mountains seem to be shattering in the background. Half of the back wall is dedicated to this battle, showing heavy losses while the environment is subjected to nothing short of cataclysm. Eventually the serpent and its forces are pushes back below ground. The eight knights are shown carrying a strange device, an eight pointed metal casing with a large sphere floating in the center, seemingly unconnected to the rest. Elsewhere on this section of the mural, one of the squires is shown with a darkness in their breast, over their heart. The next sequences depict the squire picking off the eight knights one by one, taking a black greatsword off the body of the first one. With each kill their corruption spreads, until they seem to be oozing with darkness. The remaining seven squires split into two groups, with four taking the device seen earlier and carrying it into the tunnel after the serpent while the other three, Iven(the 14th Watcher) cut off the betrayer from pursuing them.
The remainder of the mural depicts the three fighting off of corrupted Watcher. Two are injured and incapacitated, leaving Iven to face them alone. Beneath this battle the other four are depicted confronting the serpent, activating the eight-pointed device. They appear to be consumed in an explosion that shatters the device, and in the final scene the serpent is shown curled up once more. Iven is shown to emerge victorious over the other, but now before he receives the grievous wound you found him with.
Other pieces of art seemed to be in the works on the wall, but they remain unfinished.
Source
Through to the other side, you enter into a 35x45 foot room. Sitting dead center of the room is a large marble table with a glass top covering it...A construction that the elvish cleric would find most familiar. Carved into the marble underneath the glass is a map of the entire continent, with a point of light shining brightly directly over your position in the Shining Peaks. Sticking out from the walls in this room, forming rows, are long dark wooden cabinet shelves. Decorative silver stripes are painted over the shelves, and each door is firmly locked shut.
Velyra glances over her shoulder at the young woman, shrugging her shoulders. "I'm honestly not sure. We have something of a lead we could follow up on in Sonatide. Or I suspect we could go to the Astrium, I have colleagues there that live and breath stuff like this. They would be called experts...But everything they think they know is wrong according to what we've found in these ruins, so I'm not quite sure if their expertise will be that much help." Letting out a long sigh, the elvish cleric grabs the bladeless hilt from the floor, pushing on her knees to stand up. She takes a moment to turn it over in her hands, inspecting it. Handing it off to the mage, she asks, "would you mind checking this out? See if it has any properties despite being broken." She jerks her head towards Kal, "then give it to him I think. If there's anyone alive worthy to lay claim to such an artifact it's him now."
Watching Usul and Silthras move across the room with their investigation, she decides to stay put and wait for them to finish rather than interrupt.
For the sake of haste, Sylnora will burn an actual spell slot to cast Identify instead of taking the ten minutes to ritual cast. "A tangible lead is better than a guess, no?" She says, handing the hilt off to Kal after she finished identifying it. "It sounds like Sonatide may be the next move then." She smiles, a bit more relaxed now. "That would be nice I think, I haven't ever been to any of the big cities. What is it you have there?"
Looking around at the paintings on the wall, Usul asks, “Who do you think painted these? And how long was this guy here after getting those wounds?” pointing to the final picture.
After counting out 4 gems from the pile for himself, Usul leaves the rest in Sil’s hands to distribute to the group. He then walks over to the others discussing research and the big city. Listening in he adds, “We know a smart wizard in Sonatide! He knows like, everything! We could even show you some cool hidden spots in town if we make it back!”
PbP 🎲: Tyekanik; Moneo Noree; Korba Muris; & occasional DM:
Silthras finishes studying the murals before smiling at the young gnome and taking the gems. He returns to the others with Usul before answering, "Thousands of years ... encased by magic. Only to be freed now to die." He shakes his head at the enormity of it all. "As to who painted them; many others survived...but no other watchers. Perhaps it was those others? Though why they left here is another mystery...perhaps to keep it safe?"
He ponders a little longer before speaking again, "Fourteen versions of one watcher. We must find the others. There must be six other places like this; then perhaps we need to find the serpent."
"Vel...do you recognize the symbols on any of the watchers -- perhaps we could connect them to places on the map -- which ones might have accompanied this fellow, and which ones took the strange device; or perhaps the sword that was taken from the first watcher? I think that may also be significant..."
(( Does Silthras recognize any symbols that might remain on the mural? ))
As Silthras waits for answers, he ponders and eventually speaks again, "Six other places...and six teleporters. Perhaps once they connected the Watchers. I wonder if they could be made to do so again?" Now he looks expectantly at the Syl.
Sylnora would find a layer of half complete enchantments on the hilt - it was definitely magical, but on its own the hilt seems to be incapable of powering them. None of the symbols look particularly familiar to Silthras.
"That other group was investigating the ruins, and given we're using their knowledge to move around in here, I think it's fair to say they're our best bet for information." Kal takes the hilt gingerly, looking over it carefully. As Usul piques up, he smiles ands nods. "You have some connections to Sonatide then?"
“We pretty much grew up there!” Usul says, oddly proud in this moment of silence and power. “We know the alleys of <poor areas of town/and a bit mid class - only a tiny bit in the rich areas> better than the back of our own hands! Whatcha wanna know?”
PbP 🎲: Tyekanik; Moneo Noree; Korba Muris; & occasional DM:
Realizing there was a question waiting for her, Syl perks up. "Oh. Uh...I don't think so. If I remember right, those runes around the platform are static. If it really is like a teleportation circle, that's kind of like, specific instructions to take you to the place you're trying to go. My gut instinct is that they couldn't be repurposed."
"And that place was extra-planar in the first place. I don't think they would bother shifting to another plane first if they're just trying to get around Ravere."
"Yet apparently that is exactly what they do -- travel from an extra planar location to places all around Revere!" Silthras looks non-plussed, "That seems very odd. You mean that those pedestals have always transported to someone's bedroom? Or an attic? For thousands of years. Does that mean they were only very recently created, then? If so, that also would be interesting."
"Nothing as of yet, but it's nice to know if we go there it'll be familiar territory for someone." To the conversation going on about the teleportation platforms, Kal will say, "My guess is once that gate was opened up, the platforms for set up for ease of movement." Remembering the half-elf's skill with a pencil and paper, he adds quickly "you're rather good at sketching things. Maybe try getting a good impression of one of the platforms, particularly the runes. We can always show someone else to confirm. Maybe even Usul's wizard friend in Sonatide."
He rubs the back of his head, trying to massage out the remnants of that strange feeling the ritual gave him. A pointless exercise as it would turn out. "I think we were going to see if closing that gate had an effect on the teleportation platforms, right?"
Silthras nods at Kal's suggestion. When they return to the control room he will make notes on symbols on the sphere if any, then when they go to the teleport circles he will try to transcribe the symbols for Silverfare and then note the differences for the Feycrest teleporter.
A painful reminder that I still need to finish the map of Sonatide and name the districts. Ouch.
Having nothing else to be done in the room, and discussions seeming to shift back to the teleportation hub, the party leaves the tomb of the 14th Watcher of Amah. As you exit, the stone door begins to slide shut slowly.
With practiced hands now, Sylnora manipulates the control orb to reopen the strange gateway. Inside, Silthras quickly sketches out a few of the platforms. He's able to transcribe the runic symbols, and while he can sense a general similarity between the symbols on each platform, neither seems to have a matching pair of sigils.
Next on their list, the group moves back out, leaving Dib in the hub. Sylnora shuts the gate, and the tiny owl familiar attempts to use any of the platforms. As soon as the gate was closed, the black liquid - normally bubbling - ceased movement. As he stands on one of the platforms, nothing happens. After a minute or so of trying, Usul summons him back to his side and the information is relayed.
"Well that would slow the undead down. I wonder if the pedestals that teleport into here still work when this is... disconnected?"
"And since the orb seems to control them, do you think it might somehow control the destination?"
As the questions are posed, Kal will look to Syl, raising an eyebrow. "What do you think?"
Arcana for Syl: 12
Thinking back to it, Sylnora would be know that the orb merely controlled the gate. It would always lead to one place(the teleportation hub). However, moving the orb would allow you to change where the gate manifests in the Material plane.