(Adventure) The Island of Varras'zul (Manzanita Judging) (Concluded)

[nimisgod]

After an hour of rest, Mona was ready. By this time, Nezrak has also prepared his spells.

With the some trepidation at the hurdles they have to face, the party packed up and retraced their steps into the depths of the ruin...

******

After they reached the bottom of the stairs, they found that there had been little change since they made camp upstairs. Perhaps the only notable difference was that the centipede corpses were picked clean. Only husks of carapace stained with ichor remained. There was a thick trail of ichor that led back into the hole in the rubble.

To the Northeastern portion of the room, there was a stone door. It was slightly open.

The question now was, should they investigate the small metal door, small stone door, the big metal doors or the raised platform?

 

[Xael]

"Yes, I think we should check out the darkness first. There has to be some point to it. But let me try something first.", Nezrak says. He then casts Detect Magic and checks the pedestal for any additional magical auras other than the darkness. He'll also quickly check the rest of their surroundings and the small room they investigated before they fought the centipedes.

 

[nimisgod]

An incantation escaped Nezrak's lips as he gestured smoothly with his hands. His eyes were suddenly open to the magic auras present in this place.

[sblock]Nezrak detects a Moderate Evocation effect in the area of the darkness. The raised platform radiates a Strong magic aura that Nezrak seems to be unable to identify.

As for the room with the small metal door, there is a Weak Evocation effect upon the door. [/sblock]

Nothing else in the room seems to be magical, though Nezrak does see a few ancient, fragile tomes that the party had missed in its initial search. A passing glance over their spines and covers hinted that they covered subjects both obscure and arcane. Apparantly, these three books were all that was left from the owner's vast library.

 

[Xael]

Nezrak ponders for a while and frowns. "The platform is magical, but I'm not sure whether it's some kind of a trap or just another spell that binds the darkness. The person who cast the spells was certainly quite a powerful invidual. But I'm pretty sure that the small metal door over the small room there has a magical trap cast at it. So, any volunteers to go into the darkness..."

Nezrak excuses himself to take a closer look at the tomes, trying to see if they were still intact enough to be taken with him. If not, he might as well take a quick look for anything useful.

 

[rln]

Ogrin pats Scun on the back, saying "Right behind you, partner, covering your back". He has clear memories of what happened the last times he went alone into the darkness.

To the DM:

Spoiler

Ogrin also investigates the beetle carapace, to see if it can serve as a hiding place should something really nasty come through those big doors. It sure stood up to a lot of beating before...

 

[nimisgod]

OOG to Rln:

[sblock] The carapace is long, narrow and filled with punctures. But for a small creature, it could serve as a hiding place. Also, the stink is enough to hide your scent.

Also, Ogrin hears scuttling and movement from within the centipede's hidey hole[/sblock]

 

[RillianPA]

"Could the darkness be hiding the tome we are seeking? Maybe its on the platform? Mona, how will we know the tome when we find it?"

 

[nimisgod]

"We have to look inside and see if it holds the information that we seek. The sage told me that the tome was probably well-protected. But by what he didn't tell me.

We can't even be sure if the tome is on this level. We have to examine every nook and cranny. Though I hope it doesn't have to come to that..." She cast an anxious glance at the centipede hole.

Nezrak found that one of the three books was too damaged by age to be moved. The grey elf figured that a mending spell would probably fix that problem.

The other two were just barely in the condition to be transportable.

OOG to Rae ArdGaoth:
[sblock]Did you get the email I sent you regarding the approval of your gnome illusionist?[/sblock]

 

[Brain]

Scun nervously approaches the edge of the darkness and sticks his spear into it. He taps the floor in front of him like a blind man. "Get ready, I don't know what is going to happen." he announces.

Once people look ready, Scun starts inching forward, feeling ahead of himself with the spear.

 

[Xael]

"Well, there are some tomes right here, though I don't know if there's anything useful in them. But these ones certainly aren't well-protected.", Nezrak comments while carefully trying to peruse the intact books for anything of interest.