"Well, if we close the gate here, we'll be taking the long way back to Feycrest and Silverfair." Velyra says. "But keeping the undead trapped on their side is too important to pass up I think."
"That isn't the worst thing. It would be nice to stretch our legs for a change." Kal will say with a shrug."Of course it'll take a few days to get all the way back to Silverfair. But I don't think the night is as dangerous as it once was."
??? room (contains gateway to teleportation platform hub) <--- this is where you arrived through that latest platform to clarify you arrived IN the platform hub. Where you blew the stairs.
((Dib would not be able to do it. Manipulating the orb would take the same Arcana check Syl had to pass.))
(( I think you are right... We could spend a long time looking at inscriptions etc, but that's probably for the archaeological team ))
Silthras looks over their extensive collection of books and items. "I don't fancy climbing out of the mine with this lot, but it might be the best course. Though if we do that we should probably wait here until morning."
"Camping out here doesn't seem so bad." Sylnora comments, thinking a moment before adding. "Although I think I would rather sleep in the room with all the cabinets. This one kind of gives me the creeps."
"That would be a good choice. On our first trip here we actually found the room was protected by a spell. Even if something does try to sneak up on us, I don't think it'll be able to get in." If they're all decided, Velyra will start moving back towards the cabinet room. "I can take the first watch. Would probably be wise to do so down here."
and if this is what we're doing, Velyra will defo spend much of this time reading the 14th Watcher's book.
and if this is what we're doing, Velyra will defo spend much of this time reading the 14th Watcher's book.
With Silthra's eagerly breathing down her neck, while occasionaly glancing at the end of the 13th and start of the first to help clarify any background etc.
((Alright. If you're bunking down for the night, go ahead and tell me if you want to do anything until it's sleepy time or on your watch. Make a perception roll. And then level up. :) ))
While waiting for his time to sleep, Kal will spend the hours/minutes relaxing. He doesn't really know how to meditate, but he'll try to clear his mind and feel his way around that avalanche of information/feelings that got dumped into his brain.
During his watch he'll be more attentive, checking both the open entrances into the room periodically.
This post has potentially manipulated dice roll results.
As they go to settle in, Sylnora will request to see that purplish crystal(Psi Crystal) they found, and after turning it over a few times say, "I think I could make good use of this...If it's all the same to you all. The rest seems...Ill fitted."
While they wait Syl is going to write down everything that's happened to her in a journal, taking whichever watch the others deem necessary.
This post has potentially manipulated dice roll results.
As the group decides to camp down for the night, Usul is obviously a bit sad. "Poor Muad is all alone! And we didn't find anyone to watch him..." he says quietly to Dib. Thinking about it for a minute he goes up to the group a bit sheepishly and says, "um... If we're gonna just walk outa here... Can you turn on the portals again? Just for like... 15 minutes?! Dib can fly through and find Muad to bring him in the way we came through before opening up all the doors..."
If the group agrees, he gives Dib clear instructions once he arrives to fly back to the Inn where Muad was left, go perch on his head and lead him towards the in portal. Once back, Usul gives the dog some love and... (skip to below)
dib muad handling (19 - if being friends with Muad for so long would give adv: 10
If the group disagrees, Usul sulks for a bit before...
He then finds a corner of the locker room to claim as his own for the night, lights some incense and spends some time playing with Dib. The little bird flitting around playfully with his gnome friend. After about an hour has passed, Dib is hopping up and down on the ground, flapping his wings, and suddenly POOFs back into his red furred weasel form, hoping once or twice in such a way as it's hard to tell if he's happy to be back, or trying to fly and confused that he's not able to. Once he realizes he has four legs again, he scurries around climbing over Usul taking some snacks from the young gnome's hand.
He's then happy to take his shift for the night, with his furry friend back to sniff at the air.
Settling in for the rest of the day, you all set up a makeshift camp in the room containing the marble map table. It's a little hard to keep track of time down here, but you're fairly certain you've got a good idea of what time it is and when night should have fallen. After filling up from your rations, you go about your separate tasks until it becomes time to start taking watches.
Velyra | Silthras:
Even with their reduced size, these books are fairly large still. To squeeze all the details out of them would take a few days dedicated to solely reading them even for the fastest of readers. But, skimming through them for interesting pieces of information, you're able to get the broad stokes of the follow things:
At least for Amah's line of Watchers, it would seem they are chosen by the preceding Watcher via visions. Those chosen could be anyone, from the lowest of peasants to highest of nobility. Iven himself was plucked from an illegal slave operation. Such "apprentices" were referred to as Keepers before ascending.
These visions were also seen as a precursor to events known as Calamities, which are separated by centuries. 15 years after the 13th chose Iven, there are references to the awakening of an "Unmade", which signaled the beginning of a new Calamity. You can't quite suss out the details of it, but the book does make mention of the Abyss Heralds. From what you can tell, they are unable to affect the material plane directly, lest the Unmade are able to make the proper preparations for their arrival.
While historians had concluded that the Infinite Ark was a device made to take the Watchers somewhere, from what you read in mentions of it in the book, it was actually a means of dealing with the Unmade. Based on its descriptions, you can conclude that it was the device seen on the mural which destroyed itself and those wielding it, putting the serpent-creature - an Unmade - back to sleep. From what you can glean, even when used properly all eight Watchers were killed in the process, hence the need for successors.
The priests that wrote these books were attendants to the Watchers and Keepers of the time. They followed them everywhere, even to the battlefield. The 13th's book ends abruptly after the depicted battle that drove the Unmade back underneath the earth. The 14th's ends at a similar time, though it has that final message of the betrayal written in it.
The ascension process would occur near the end of the Calamity. The Keepers were granted a piece of the divinity carried by the Watchers. They were trained for years for this moment, and the ritual to do it properly was long and involved. This divine vestige would take centuries before it grew to a point where it could power the Ark. Because of this, regardless of race, the Watchers were effectively unable to age once receiving the vestige.
The books make regular reference to eight Watchers instead of seven. One for each of the primary deities in Ravere's pantheon. Given that the "Seven's" connections to other gods were figured, the one that was previously missing was Ellemrar's, the Lord of Runes.
Kal:
You can definitely feel thoughts, experiences, and feelings that are not your own inside your mind. But right now it's such a swirling chaos that you can't really get a grasp on any of it. Everytime you attempt to do so, you find yourself dizzy and nauseous.
Usul:
Given Syl agrees to open the door, Dib is able to rather easily lead Muad through the portal system to join you all. He's a little upset about being left for so long, but ceases his pouting after being given your attention.
If Syl does not agree. You spend the night very sad.
Silthras:
You aren't quite sure how long it is after you've fallen asleep when you find your conscious drawn to a familiar, but not often traveled to place. A blank, infinite grayscape without ground or sky. While you float in this vast nothingness, a collection of black shards descend from above, swirling around you in a wide circle.
Within some of the shards, you can see reflections of your memories from the past day. Moving through the ruins, unlocking the cabinets, fighting the golem and carefully studying the mural. As the wicked black greatsword used to wound Iven is shown in the artwork, every single shard reflects the image. A disembodied, wheezing voice whispers in your mind:"Kor..." Your patron repeats its name again, before the shards coalesce to form part of a blade that mimics the greatsword. "kor'Ahnvae!" The voice enthusiastically echoes inside your mind, as if remembering something important for the first time in a long while.
The shards break apart and encircle once more, tightening around you. This time you experience a scene as if you yourself were there. It is an unfamiliar sight, and the perspective is strange, nigh indescribable. Instead of the regular stereoscopic vision with a narrow field of view, it is a way of seeing all 360 degrees at the same time. From this perspective, you are grasped in the hands of a figure in plate armor, covered in an oozing black corruption. Across stand three other knightly figures, one you are able to recognize as Iven.
The scene jumps around erratically from this point, flashing between various points of the ensuing fight. It comes to an abrupt end as you are shattered by a mighty blow from Iven's blade. The destruction heralds a mighty explosion of power. You feel pieces of yourself splinter, ripping away memory, emotion, and purpose - then being scattered away across all of Ravere. Most importantly, you feel the corruption which had been forced upon you carried away with another piece.
With a gasp, you find yourself back in your own body, as Silthras. The mass of black shards floats in front of you. Before the dream slips away from you entirely, you hear the whispering voice of your patron one final time..."make...whole."
Throughout the night, your watches pass without incident. Even to Velyra, freakishly tuned in with her senses, nothing seems amiss in the ruins.
Sylnora stands up quickly, "of course I can do that. I don't think it should be a problem. All the undead are trapped anyway right?"If no one tries to stop her, she'll go with the gnome back to the room with the orb, and activate it to turn the gate back on. She keeps an eye on it the whole time, and if something not Muad or Dib shaped tries to come through, she'll snap it closed. Once they're all safely reunited, she closes the gate.
Silthras wakes from a fitful dream in the middle of the night, a scream not quite escaping his lips, and he hurriedly looks around. Getting up quickly, he paces the room, checking for anything untoward. Finding nothing he returns to his place, but is unable to sleep. He sits a while lost in thought and eventually seems to come to some sort of decision, and only then seems able to resume his sleep.
In the morning, as people are preparing, he speaks a little self-consciously, a discomfort none of you have seen in him before. "Many of you probably know or guessed that I serve more than one master; though I do not often speak of it. My family has for generations served a patron who grants us certain boons. In return for those boons we undertake occasional tasks -- nothing malign -- simple things really -- hints, feelings, wordless requests: go there, do this, help such-and-such..." He takes a deep breath and looks around the group, "In part I am here because of one such feeling...and until today, I did not know why. Now..." he looks at his hands, then up at Kal, "...now I think I know."
"The sword that struck down the fourteenth watcher...the sword once wielded by the first watcher...was no simple sword. It has sentience, it has a will, and it wants to be reforged. The corruption that consumed it has been banished to single shard, and the rest...the rest stand ready to return...to aid us, I believe. Where it is, I do not know, how to find it..." he shrugs, lost for words, "...but I believe that we should look for clues. Try to find it. It saw the last battles first hand, reluctant participant that it was, and it probably knows more than any other living being about what is to come."
Destiny and fate were not notions that Kal subscribed to, but the absurd coincidences of their situation were really starting to add up."Well, at least we have an idea of why that golem wanted to turn you into pulp." He says with a chuckle. "In seriousness, thank you for sharing. I could understand why you might have been hesitant. It's reassuring to know you trust us this much."
"We have a great many mysteries to solve. No idea who are allies are or how to find them. And our enemies are as equally shrouded in mystery. Adding one more riddle on top of it all seems paltry at this point. We'll do what we can to find answers."
"Well, if we close the gate here, we'll be taking the long way back to Feycrest and Silverfair." Velyra says. "But keeping the undead trapped on their side is too important to pass up I think."
"That isn't the worst thing. It would be nice to stretch our legs for a change." Kal will say with a shrug. "Of course it'll take a few days to get all the way back to Silverfair. But I don't think the night is as dangerous as it once was."
(( Is it hard to close the gate? Could Dib do it? We may not want to do it just yet... We should explore the other rooms, maybe? ))
((Dib would not be able to do it. Manipulating the orb would take the same Arcana check Syl had to pass.))
(there isn't really anything left to explore here is there?)
(( I think you are right... We could spend a long time looking at inscriptions etc, but that's probably for the archaeological team ))
Silthras looks over their extensive collection of books and items. "I don't fancy climbing out of the mine with this lot, but it might be the best course. Though if we do that we should probably wait here until morning."
"Camping out here doesn't seem so bad." Sylnora comments, thinking a moment before adding. "Although I think I would rather sleep in the room with all the cabinets. This one kind of gives me the creeps."
"That would be a good choice. On our first trip here we actually found the room was protected by a spell. Even if something does try to sneak up on us, I don't think it'll be able to get in." If they're all decided, Velyra will start moving back towards the cabinet room. "I can take the first watch. Would probably be wise to do so down here."
and if this is what we're doing, Velyra will defo spend much of this time reading the 14th Watcher's book.
With Silthra's eagerly breathing down her neck, while occasionaly glancing at the end of the 13th and start of the first to help clarify any background etc.
((Alright. If you're bunking down for the night, go ahead and tell me if you want to do anything until it's sleepy time or on your watch. Make a perception roll. And then level up. :) ))
Perception: 13 (Silthras)
While waiting for his time to sleep, Kal will spend the hours/minutes relaxing. He doesn't really know how to meditate, but he'll try to clear his mind and feel his way around that avalanche of information/feelings that got dumped into his brain.
During his watch he'll be more attentive, checking both the open entrances into the room periodically.
Perception: 14
As they go to settle in, Sylnora will request to see that purplish crystal(Psi Crystal) they found, and after turning it over a few times say, "I think I could make good use of this...If it's all the same to you all. The rest seems...Ill fitted."
While they wait Syl is going to write down everything that's happened to her in a journal, taking whichever watch the others deem necessary.
Perception Check: 22
Velyra Perception: 24
As the group decides to camp down for the night, Usul is obviously a bit sad. "Poor Muad is all alone! And we didn't find anyone to watch him..." he says quietly to Dib. Thinking about it for a minute he goes up to the group a bit sheepishly and says, "um... If we're gonna just walk outa here... Can you turn on the portals again? Just for like... 15 minutes?! Dib can fly through and find Muad to bring him in the way we came through before opening up all the doors..."
He then finds a corner of the locker room to claim as his own for the night, lights some incense and spends some time playing with Dib. The little bird flitting around playfully with his gnome friend. After about an hour has passed, Dib is hopping up and down on the ground, flapping his wings, and suddenly POOFs back into his red furred weasel form, hoping once or twice in such a way as it's hard to tell if he's happy to be back, or trying to fly and confused that he's not able to. Once he realizes he has four legs again, he scurries around climbing over Usul taking some snacks from the young gnome's hand.
He's then happy to take his shift for the night, with his furry friend back to sniff at the air.
Usul perception 15; dib 10
PbP 🎲: Tyekanik; Moneo Noree; Korba Muris; & occasional DM:
Settling in for the rest of the day, you all set up a makeshift camp in the room containing the marble map table. It's a little hard to keep track of time down here, but you're fairly certain you've got a good idea of what time it is and when night should have fallen. After filling up from your rations, you go about your separate tasks until it becomes time to start taking watches.
Velyra | Silthras:
Even with their reduced size, these books are fairly large still. To squeeze all the details out of them would take a few days dedicated to solely reading them even for the fastest of readers. But, skimming through them for interesting pieces of information, you're able to get the broad stokes of the follow things:
Kal:
You can definitely feel thoughts, experiences, and feelings that are not your own inside your mind. But right now it's such a swirling chaos that you can't really get a grasp on any of it. Everytime you attempt to do so, you find yourself dizzy and nauseous.
Usul:
Given Syl agrees to open the door, Dib is able to rather easily lead Muad through the portal system to join you all. He's a little upset about being left for so long, but ceases his pouting after being given your attention.
If Syl does not agree. You spend the night very sad.
Silthras:
You aren't quite sure how long it is after you've fallen asleep when you find your conscious drawn to a familiar, but not often traveled to place. A blank, infinite grayscape without ground or sky. While you float in this vast nothingness, a collection of black shards descend from above, swirling around you in a wide circle.
Within some of the shards, you can see reflections of your memories from the past day. Moving through the ruins, unlocking the cabinets, fighting the golem and carefully studying the mural. As the wicked black greatsword used to wound Iven is shown in the artwork, every single shard reflects the image. A disembodied, wheezing voice whispers in your mind:"Kor..." Your patron repeats its name again, before the shards coalesce to form part of a blade that mimics the greatsword. "kor'Ahnvae!" The voice enthusiastically echoes inside your mind, as if remembering something important for the first time in a long while.
The shards break apart and encircle once more, tightening around you. This time you experience a scene as if you yourself were there. It is an unfamiliar sight, and the perspective is strange, nigh indescribable. Instead of the regular stereoscopic vision with a narrow field of view, it is a way of seeing all 360 degrees at the same time. From this perspective, you are grasped in the hands of a figure in plate armor, covered in an oozing black corruption. Across stand three other knightly figures, one you are able to recognize as Iven.
The scene jumps around erratically from this point, flashing between various points of the ensuing fight. It comes to an abrupt end as you are shattered by a mighty blow from Iven's blade. The destruction heralds a mighty explosion of power. You feel pieces of yourself splinter, ripping away memory, emotion, and purpose - then being scattered away across all of Ravere. Most importantly, you feel the corruption which had been forced upon you carried away with another piece.
With a gasp, you find yourself back in your own body, as Silthras. The mass of black shards floats in front of you. Before the dream slips away from you entirely, you hear the whispering voice of your patron one final time..."make...whole."
Throughout the night, your watches pass without incident. Even to Velyra, freakishly tuned in with her senses, nothing seems amiss in the ruins.
Sylnora stands up quickly, "of course I can do that. I don't think it should be a problem. All the undead are trapped anyway right?" If no one tries to stop her, she'll go with the gnome back to the room with the orb, and activate it to turn the gate back on. She keeps an eye on it the whole time, and if something not Muad or Dib shaped tries to come through, she'll snap it closed. Once they're all safely reunited, she closes the gate.
Silthras wakes from a fitful dream in the middle of the night, a scream not quite escaping his lips, and he hurriedly looks around. Getting up quickly, he paces the room, checking for anything untoward. Finding nothing he returns to his place, but is unable to sleep. He sits a while lost in thought and eventually seems to come to some sort of decision, and only then seems able to resume his sleep.
In the morning, as people are preparing, he speaks a little self-consciously, a discomfort none of you have seen in him before. "Many of you probably know or guessed that I serve more than one master; though I do not often speak of it. My family has for generations served a patron who grants us certain boons. In return for those boons we undertake occasional tasks -- nothing malign -- simple things really -- hints, feelings, wordless requests: go there, do this, help such-and-such..." He takes a deep breath and looks around the group, "In part I am here because of one such feeling...and until today, I did not know why. Now..." he looks at his hands, then up at Kal, "...now I think I know."
"The sword that struck down the fourteenth watcher...the sword once wielded by the first watcher...was no simple sword. It has sentience, it has a will, and it wants to be reforged. The corruption that consumed it has been banished to single shard, and the rest...the rest stand ready to return...to aid us, I believe. Where it is, I do not know, how to find it..." he shrugs, lost for words, "...but I believe that we should look for clues. Try to find it. It saw the last battles first hand, reluctant participant that it was, and it probably knows more than any other living being about what is to come."
Destiny and fate were not notions that Kal subscribed to, but the absurd coincidences of their situation were really starting to add up. "Well, at least we have an idea of why that golem wanted to turn you into pulp." He says with a chuckle. "In seriousness, thank you for sharing. I could understand why you might have been hesitant. It's reassuring to know you trust us this much."
"We have a great many mysteries to solve. No idea who are allies are or how to find them. And our enemies are as equally shrouded in mystery. Adding one more riddle on top of it all seems paltry at this point. We'll do what we can to find answers."
12