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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Knightfall" data-source="post: 8403144" data-attributes="member: 2012">Once Custodio has freed Lowenan completely from the goo of the mimic, the ex-commander reminds Akos. "The portal is one-way from the other side, Loremaster," he says. "As far as I know, the restriction cannot be circumvented." He motions to the DMK. "He's been here for a long time and has some working knowledge of how the portal interacts with the altar, but he's not an arcanist and has never been able to explain how he does it." Lowenan pauses. "It's almost like he's become attuned to this place somehow. I'd have him show you, but he'll never trust me again."Lowenan motions for Custodio to lead him over to the altar. The Elite guard balks momentarily but then relents. The two of them move to the altar and the ex-commander waves Akos over."The markings are quite ancient and these hieroglyphs are not of a language I understand. Even Phelix doesn't know it... or if he does, he's never admitted it." Lowenan tries to get the DMK to come over to the altar but the knight ignores him and keeps his focus on the trapped djinni. "I don't know how he does it, but he can cause the portal to shift to other places in the cosmos. It's like its become innate to him." He shakes his head. "I've tried to do it and so has my men-, Phelix. Neither of us have been able to do anything other than get a splitting headache." He looks at the knight again and then Akos. "When he uses the altar, it hurts him. While the damage isn't permanent, it is very painful.""I've never seen anything like this in my life," Custodio adds. "I've spent some time viewing the artifacts on display in the museum of Sem La Vah and there isn't anything similar there. Larrel Wynthyra would feel like he's died and gone to Celestia if he was here right now.""Yes, the curator might know how to interpret this, but if the Wizard Council gets here first, they might not let that cagey old elf anywhere near this place," Lowenan says. He looks at Akos again. "If you're going to tell The Five about this place, may I suggest you start with Lady Pomander. She has some wizardly talent even though she keeps her skills private. While i don't agree with her politics, I know she wishes the best for Bluffside."Akos listens to Lowenan's words with a lot of doubt. The man obviously wants to save himself from the headman's axe, but there could be some truth in what he is trying to sell. Akos knows that his chances of successfully dispelling the spells trapping the genie aren't great. Any being strong enough to trap a djinni would be a dangerous foe and dispelling the magic will take a lot of skill and preparation... or a lot of luck.The portal key, the zunsum, could be used as a catalyst to help undo the magic trapping the genie. It would enhance Akos own abilities by as much as half, which would allow him to dispel one or both of the spells. The Loremaster knows that dispelling one spell won't free the genie. Both will have to be dispelled for her to be freed. Looking over the altar, Akos doesn't recognize the hieroglyphs either, although they could be related to the hieroglyphs of Khemit in the continent's Southwest.The Lormaster thinks he might recognize one unique symbol on the altar that could relate to an isolated city-state in that region known as Hollowfaust. It is the symbol for necromantic magic, and it is one of many on the altar related to arcana, portals, the ethereal, the Shadowstar Sea, and the outer planes. Most of the symbols are etched into the altar using dwarven, elven, or Ticin runes. He doesn't see any symbols on the altar related to the Far Realm.Akos thinks the altar might be a guide used for planar travel but it's not a simply thing to decipher without studying the entire room in great detail. And with temporal effect in place, it could end up costing a person a lot of time away from Bluffside. Could the room be on another plane entirely? If so, where exactly did the crossing of the planar boundary occur?</blockquote>

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