At the Grand Portal of the Dead

[Tom Cashel]

["Over here" is: in the wall beneath the ledge (on top of which Faraugar was hiding)...close to that end of the curtain of stone; in the floor at the very center of the chamber. Of course, this is the room where you fought the Scarlet Flame. Not really close to where the mystery woman vanished, though.]

You don't find any other secret doors; Saeita has just checked the whole chamber again, and further search by the whole group turns up nothing.

Van & Daziel search the spot on the floor & the wall, and the dwarves use stonecunning, and no one turns up a trap.

Van, when you run a blade over the spot on the floor (which Velm indicates is quite large--nearly five feet in diameter), a few tiny chips of stone come loose, revealing some kind of pinkish, gemlike material below.

Velm: "That looks like a vein of rose quartz!"

 

[Bronn Spellforger]

Van -- Disabling traps, eh? I'll show you how a dwarf disables traps...

Everybody... BACK UP!

Bronn calls upon the Arcane magics to shatter the floor of this room around the area where magic was detected.

KA-BLAM!

 

[Tom Cashel]

A loud, thrumming vibration builds to painful crescendo and shakes the cavern before it fades. Shattered stone falls away from the wall to reveal a huge, semi-spherical chunk of rose-white quartz embedded within it. The floor in a 15-foot radius is completely pulverized. Digging at the 6-inch-deep dust and gravel reveals another quartz boulder embedded in the floor.

The massive quartz chunks are about eight feet in diameter, and each has a cloudy, indistinct form nestled at the center. It is impossible to tell what's in there without breaking them open.

Velm: "They still radiate magic."

Corwyn: hefts his hammer. "Should we crack one of them open?"

 

[Van Dyksun]

"These gems are larger, but they seem familiar--doesn't this look a bit like the kind of thing that Temuel was in?"

 

[Tom Cashel]

Daziel: "Except that the one holding Temuel was small enough to fit in your palm...these are huge. And whatever's in there probably isn't very friendly.

"I say we leave them alone."

Velm: "Why don't you use an augury to find out whether cracking them open will bring weal or woe? I would if I could, but Clangeddin has not yet granted me this Power."

Daziel: looks thoughtful. "I'll use the scroll I prepared when last we rested."

Daziel chants a prayer to Selune, reading its rolling cadences from a parchment scroll. As she speaks the words, they glow with a pale luminescence and vanish. Finally she asks out loud, "Will breaking open these rocks bring weal or woe?"

A hollow, otherworldly voice that is not Daziel's uses her mouth to speak a single word: Weal.

A moment passes in silence.

Corwyn: "Is 'weal' the good one or the bad one?"

 

[Bronn Spellforger]

Corwyn -- It's the good one. Sheesh.

Well, Cousin, is that good enough for you? I think we should give it a try. Should we use the Art, or would you and Corwyn like to give it a try the old fashioned way?

 

[Van Dyksun]

"Art, shmart. Just give 'em a whomp with your hammer, Corwyn. Let's see just what the coil's been imprisoning now. I'd hit one with my blade, but I don't want to damage it--a hammer's the thing to use."

 

[Tom Cashel]

Corwyn: "This is what I live for. Loan me some spikes, will you Van? ...and that chisel we found--they might help to put a fracture in one of these things."

CRACK!! One shot doesn't break it open.

Velm: "Keep working at it, lad. I'll work on cracking the other."

The chamber is filled with the dull thuds of the hammer on quartz, and bits of quartz chipping and flaking away. It will take awhile, but it seems like it will happen...eventually.

Daziel: "Well, that'll keep them occupied for a while. Have we decided, based on Bronn's translations, where we'll be heading from here? I think we should rest for another day, so that Bronn and I can regain spells.

"We have another problem, though. Today's our last day of rations. Van, perhaps with your knowledge of the lore of the wild, and my detection of toxins, we can forage for edible fungi on the way out of here. Any possibility you could catch and cure some fish from that river? Bronn, can you use your Art to conjure up some salt?

"With Selune's aid, I can now create food and water to sustain us, but we'd be better off with some back-up rations...just in case."

[By my calendar, you are 11 days out of Eveningstar--this accounts for one "week" (or "ride"--10 days) of rations + the feast provided by Flame. I'm assuming everyone had at least a week's worth of rations written down...also, you should all recalculate the amount of weight your PC carries based on new gear, refigure Armor Check penalties, etc.]

 

[Van Dyksun]

OOC: Who got new gear? I can't remember what all we took off the Scarlet Flame. Stacie, you got a list?

"Yes, I could try to determine if any of these mushrooms are edible, although I'd be leary of eating them without your detect poison spell, Daziel.

"I'm not sure about fish from that river. I wouldn't want to run into that thing that attacked me from there, but if we all keep watch, maybe it would be safe."

 

[Bronn Spellforger]

Van -- I don't it's a good idea to fish in that water.

It's time the lot of you learned about the dwarven delicacy of well-prepared mushrooms. Mushrooms give you more strength and fortitude than any other food. Dwarves have been eating them for millennia.

However, the delicate stomachs of humans (OOC: pronounced HU-mons) and elves may not be able to withstand on what dwarven stomaches thrive. So, I know Daziel (and I think Velm) should both be able to purify food and water through divine magic, which makes spoiled or poisonous foods fine to eat. Unlike creating food and water, purifying them is a much easier process, from what I've been told, of course.

So let's purify some mushrooms, along with some berrys and roots that Van should be able to find, and make a few meals. I can even dry some mushrooms to take with us.

Mushrooms last about a week (dried, almost forever). I say we spend one day gathering supplies to last us a week or so.

How's it going on those crystals?