THE HEROES OF DYVERS CHAPTER 7: CLARE'S ERRAND

[Tellerian Hawke]

Dewydd's hunch proves to be correct; running full speed, he makes it the entire 550 feet down the hallway without incident, in matter of about 30 seconds. The door at the end of the hallway is slightly ajar, and Dewydd suspects that his correct answer to the riddle is the reason. It made sense; the outer door is never trapped, and neither is the hallway. But a wrong answer draws an attack from the guardian, and even if the guardian is defeated, the door at the end lies in wait, waiting for the careless, exhausted, distracted adventurer to try and open it. But he had answered correctly, and had therefore earned the right to enter the next room, and take the next test, unmolested.

Dewydd muses inwardly:~A fortunate circumstance; the test is probably deadly enough as it is.~

This chamber is 40 feet square with a 50-foot-high ceiling. The floor is polished, smooth brown stone. The center of the chamber is dominated by a black stone obelisk, 20 feet high with a pointed top. At the opposite end of the chamber is a short flight of steps leading to an alcove 30 feet wide and 20 feet deep. Another obelisk occupies this alcove, but this one has a tan, rune-covered surface. A small gold triangle with an eye in the center is located on each of the sides of this obelisk.

Spoiler: Player Handout

Spoiler: Player Map of Room

DEWYDD: You are the only one here so far... What do you do?

 

[Tellerian Hawke]

Spoiler: DM Housekeeping

Buffs from the axe, affecting whole party:

+2 Artifact Bonus (stacks with everything) to saves vs. Fear

Buffs from Khubsheth:
(Affecting: Dewydd, Sylvar, Respen, Vale, Kleborn, and Thallok):

Geas for the duration of the adventure.

+5 bonus to all saves (Guardian Bonus, stacks with everything) for the duration of the adventure.

Within 10 Feet Of Duncan: (Morale Bonus)

+4 Saves vs Fear (Does NOT stack with Sylvar's Greater Heroism.)

DURATIONS: (Original duration) [Current count against duration, in rounds]
Fly: Less than 12 mins (117 rounds) [-65]
Armor: 24 hours (14,400 rounds) [-65]
Shield: Less than 24 minutes (237 rounds) [-65]
Alter Self: Less than 120 minutes (1197 rounds) [-65]
Dragonskin: Less than 120 minutes (1197 rounds) [-65]
Prot. vs. Evil: Less than 24 minutes (237 rounds) [-65]
Blur: Less than 12 mins (117 rounds) [-64]

It took 4 rounds for the conversation, interpretation, and riddle solving. It took 30 seconds [5 rounds] to run recklessly down the long hallway. Total elapsed time: 9 rounds.

 

[Waynan]

Tam is a little put out by Dewydd's performing on what he kind of felt was his job, but these boys were in a hurry, it seems, so he figured if Dewydd wanted to risk it, let him.
(OOC: going full Chaotic Neutral on this point).

 

[Sylvar B.]

Seeing Dewydd traverse the hallway with no danger, Sylvar follows after him to offer any assistance he can.

 

[Tellerian Hawke]

Dewydd, Tam, and Sylvar are now standing in the room's entryway. The room is still as described.

Dewydd, Tam, & Sylvar: What do you do?

Spoiler: DM Housekeeping

Buffs from the axe, affecting whole party:

+2 Artifact Bonus (stacks with everything) to saves vs. Fear

Buffs from Khubsheth:
(Affecting: Dewydd, Sylvar, Respen, Vale, Kleborn, and Thallok):

Geas for the duration of the adventure.

+5 bonus to all saves (Guardian Bonus, stacks with everything) for the duration of the adventure.

Within 10 Feet Of Duncan: (Morale Bonus)

+4 Saves vs Fear (Does NOT stack with Sylvar's Greater Heroism.)

DURATIONS: (Original duration) [Current count against duration, in rounds]
Fly: Less than 12 mins (117 rounds) [-70]
Armor: 24 hours (14,400 rounds) [-70]
Shield: Less than 24 minutes (237 rounds) [-70]
Alter Self: Less than 120 minutes (1197 rounds) [-70]
Dragonskin: Less than 120 minutes (1197 rounds) [-70]
Prot. vs. Evil: Less than 24 minutes (237 rounds) [-70]
Blur: Less than 12 mins (117 rounds) [-69]

 

[redraider629]

Thallok moves up to where Dewydd, Tam, and Sylvar are standing, looks in the room, and then at his friends. "ok, I am going in, this waiting is killing me. I am willing to bet that is more of a risk than whatever is in there. I think perhaps we can look at the obelis covered in runes." He looks to Tam, and says, "I could use your help looking for traps."

Spoiler: OOC

Thallok will go and examine the rune covered Obelisk. He will see if he can make out the runes. He will also see if there is any mechanism on the obelisk. Finally, if Tam goes with him he will wait for him to look for traps.

 

[Tellerian Hawke]

Spoiler: DM Housekeeping (Map)

 

[redraider629]

Kleborn moves up and stands with Sylvar, Dewydd, and Tam at the entrance.

 

[Waynan]

Spoiler: Spot Checks

25, 13, 28, 31, 21, 24

Tam, a throwing dagger in each hand, performs a quick survey as he enters the room. He checks for hidden trap floor panels/triggers, magic or mundane light break triggers, and where any type of groove, aperture or opening could shoot or spew, darts, blades, or gases, etc.
He does this while following Thallok who is heading for the rune scribed obelisk.

Spoiler: Disable Device (if needed)

31, 24, 30

As he nears the obelisk, Tam takes a stab at Deciphering the Script; though, he feels that it may be a fruitless endeavor.

Spoiler: decipher script

10

 

[Tellerian Hawke]

Thallok bypasses the black obelisk, being careful not to touch it, and approaches the rune-covered obelisk in the alcove. He doesn't touch this obelisk, either.

Tam, who is following behind him, examines the floor, although since Thallok is in the lead, any traps would have been triggered anyway. Thankfully, there are no floor traps that Tam can see, a fact which is confirmed by the fact that Thallok doesn't set off any.

When Tam reaches the rune-covered obelisk, he gets a funny feeling. Tam is used to looking at old scripts, and he is struck by the fact that these runes don't appear ancient at all. In fact, he recognizes some of the individual runic characters, although he can't remember which particular language all of these characters derive from.

However, Tam is sure of one thing: the characters aren't in the right order. Even a native speaker of this language would be unable to read the script; because it doesn't say anything. It's complete gibberish.

"...A small gold triangle with an eye in the center is located on each of the sides of this obelisk."

As Tam eyes the golden fixtures (which could be keys?) on each side of the runic obelisk, he gets a funny feeling... funny as in bad...

Thallok eyes Tam curiously, "What's wrong, half pint? You smell somethin'?"

Tam! Thallok! What do you do?

Spoiler: Map of party members' positions

Spoiler: Up-close image of runed obelisk. Sorry about the grainy resolution.