D&D 5E The Kalarian Precipice - Chapter Five

[97mg]

Pulling her gang of pseudo-captives along, Metea is first to bravely step into the expansive area, and there is much to take in. This circular space must be sixty feet in diameter. All is quiet, except for the movements of her followers and the odd light breeze of warm air against her neck. The stinging heat of coals has been left behind you too, which bodes well for the less fire-resistant of the group.

The circular and lowered section of floor is most unusual, now that it can be seen up close. Yes, it is basalt, but very different from the cracked pipe formations and roughness you've grown accustomed to. It is smooth as glass, perfectly level, and reflects your face should it be peered down upon. Along the circle’s edge runs something of a walkway. To your left two dark sections of wall give way to unexplored passage entrances or rooms. To the right, another two possible exits look across the cavern like a pair of unblinking eyes.

And then there is the door. Carved directly into the rockface on the wall directly opposite you, it is little more than a rectangular outline. The hexagonal shape you noticed upon entering the area catches your eyes. It too, is reflective even in this darkness. It is a foot across, at least. A huge, beautifully cut stone, mounted into the wall!

Below it there most certainly are carvings, hard to tell without further inspection, but it looks that four distinct markings are arranged in a row.

<Will update map and draw carvings tomorrow. Feel free to search / investigate / assign guards etc. Carvings will require a religion / arcana check or other effect for interpretation. Quality of rolls will effect accuracy. Also need to know what light sources are active (if any). Thanks! >

 

[daindarkspring]

Dain - The Carven Door

Acting the churl made Dain's stomach churn. And yet, he understood well enough that many had suffered that exact fate. Had walked the same path he walked now.

What a miserable existence...a life squandered in pursuit of shiny stones...slavery and deceit. Always we desire power...more and more. Essithea, I desire only to sink into the warmth of your embrace. What is power compared to that?

Coming into the strange room, Dain turned to look with probing eyes, taking in as much as he could. He also looked one last time behind them. Just to be sure.

Sticking to the left of the smooth indentation, the party made their way forward. He peered down into it and then above him and around, looking for any interesting clues about the chamber that he could share with the others.

<Perception roll = 25 NATURAL 20>

 

[Metea]

"Alright, alright. I suppose you all can take a rest," Metea said.

Her eyes glittered- not just the thaumaturgy, this time. She was having a good time! A nice break from the terror from before. The others weren't sulking about it all, were they?

"Well, sorcerer? Come look at this door with me?" She cajoled him, before he could settle in for a quick break. He needed it, though... hopefully investigating the door was not too strenuous!

Metea knelt down and investigated the stone for anything unusual. "It is a shame the dwarf is still asleep. Their people are good at stonecraft, are they not?"

A moment's pause, and she'd open her tome once more. It seemed to flip open to a page of its own accord- but the page was blank. Hm. Taking the quill that had rested somehow between the pages- it looked like one of her own tailfeathers, honestly- she'd copy the symbols on the door into her book.

<Arcana check=13>

 

[Otiroth]

"Yes... of course. I'll take a look," Otiroth moved over, casting dancing lights as he did to illuminate the area for him. Dain seemed on watch for now...

The sorcerer, though, took a moment to get a few 'tail feathers' of his own. Turnabout was fair play, after all, especially when Metea had had such fun for the past leg of their journey! He'd hate for her to feel entitled... or left out!

He'd kneel by the symbols, though unlike Metea, he did not particularly want to touch any. A closer look, then. They could mean so many things- a warning, a roadmap to a demonic overlord's room, even a puzzle to pass the main door, like some kind of lock. The trick was figuring out which before they all failed of old age...

<Arcana check=22>

 

[Jeovanna]

Jeovanna jostled the dwarf just slightly, but rather half-heartedly. "Let him sleep," she replied.

The woman took in the room, relieved to be able to see at least something with Otiroth's dancing lights in play. "Can we not light a torch?" She asked finally.

There was little to look at, given she had no darkvision, aside from the doorway and whatever light spilled over into the smooth stone, so Jeovanna took a look. Was it a puzzle? Her father had had a puzzle lock on a safe in the wine cellar, though she'd never been able to open it...

<Investigation=17>

 

[Carthum One-Tusk]

Carthum One-Tusk: The Carven Door

They stay off of the glass-like stone, for glass would surely shatter.

The stars are made of eggs,
Their light hatches and the shells fall,
Breaking, cracking, shattering, falling,
Light is born even in chaos.

Carthum watches the smooth stone, the other entryways, not letting himself be drawn in by the doorway. Were they above ground, he might have thought themselves at the edge of a great roc's nest. But down here- what nested down here?

<Religion check =15>

 

[97mg]

The Carven Door

Walking along the left arc of the great circular ledge, Annit listens out for the sounds of others, be they undead, spiders, constructs or fiends. All is quiet. Slowly, she takes Carthum’s light filled stone from her pocket, and lets a little illumination creep out between her fingers. Dain seems observant and alert much of the time, hopefully this will assist him. The rogue remains by his side for now, keeping an eye out while the others check some of the oddities on display.

The first exit on the group’s left as they pass, appears to be a medium sized room filled with old and decaying mining equipment. Well used hammers, the odd bent or broken spike, a rusty sieve, and there in one corner what might have once been parts for a cart. An iron wheel, a few splintered sections of timber, and a bent piece of metal tubing, possibly a handhold of some sort.

The second exit is of similar size, but to it's rear a tunnel leads out into a new unknown darkness. Upon the ground, many tipped on their side, are old hessian sacks. Some appear to be marked in common, “waste”, “small”, “large”, “unsorted”. Sadly they all lie empty and limp.

Otiroth and Metea are clearly more intrigued by the large gem and symbols on the far wall, and who wouldn’t be! With a sorcerer’s lights helping those without the racial luxury of darkvision, the mystery begins to unfold.

The design of the symbols is not unlike the carving onto which Metea recently thrust her hand. The actual markings though, although feeling to radiate magical possibility, don’t feature in her memories or learnings as of this moment. Otiroth on the other hand, has seen something similar to the second one before. Flames. And within the fire one of the earliest and most rudimentary symbols for life, or man, or woman. A humble circle. It is a simple guess from there on to assume that a person is featured in each of them… Yes, this is an old magic text, and looks to cross boundaries between the traditional runes of Kalair’s varied races and history. Whatever else Otiroth might make of these markings, would be up to a wild and youthful imagination.

Above the symbols the beauty of a faceted stone surely catches the eye. It is clear as a daylight sky and still as a pond, reflecting perfectly the faces of those that look to it and the room that surrounds them. At almost a foot across it is enormous as far as known gemstones might go, and if the rumors are true, with size comes power. It looks to be lodged deeply into the wall, and likely not something too simple to prize out.

Carthum might ponder upon the religious significance of this site or it's markings, but Suru’s teachings can not specifically guide him in this moment. No ancient rituals, gods or ways of life really come to mind.

Dain on the other hand has been soaking up the whole gloom-encrusted experience. His eyes run around the space like a cat hunting prey. With him looking, and Jeovanna adding her input, they come to quite a few surprising conclusions.

The low and flat expanse of rock. That was once magma or superheated stone for sure. A pond of perfect red lava, viscous and skin-stripping heat. Thankfully it has cooled, but how it has been preserved so perfectly is anyone’s guess. It is like a lake that has frozen in the blink of an eye. Nobody has made skin-contact with it yet, and whether that is wise or not remains to be seen.

The room’s they’d passed were most obviously work places. Small, cramped spaces where crevice’s treasures were surely unloaded, sorted and cleaned. But where did they go after that? Dain might regard the circular floor again, with renewed interest.

Then there are the symbols. To Dain and Jeovanna they might mean little, except the first on the left. The tallest stroke. It is something like a tree standing atop a patch of horizontal earth?

“A rest sounds good,” Annit says, breaking a little of the silence. "I’ll guard the exits on the other side if you wish."

<If you plan on a short rest, just let me know who is guarding where.>

​

 

[daindarkspring]

Dain - The Carven Door

After putting down his load of weapons, Dain squatted next to the edge of the circular impression. He studied it for a moment, before standing up again and rejoining the party.

"Good a place as any for a rest." He said quietly. Looking at the carvings, he tilted his head slightly. He shared what knowledge he knew of the circular floor and the first rune, even as he listened to Otiroth's gleanings. "At least they didn't leave any room for interpretation."

He grunted, stepping away from the door. "It says: wake up the dwarf, he's slept long enough. And see what the talking skull knows."

Annit had the right idea, about a rest. "A rest will benefit us all. I propose those of us with weapons take a tunnel. Those of us with learning can have words with our dwarf and the undead soul about these carvings and this door."

There were four tunnels to guard, and between himself, Annit, Carthum, and Jeovanna, a body for each of them. Dain stationed himself at the tunnel on the left side.

Sliding into the darkness of the entrance, he slid down the wall and sat in the gloom with his sword across his knees. He took a piece of goat jerky from his bag and gnawed on it, washing it down with a swig of ale. It was warm, from traveling in a mine and rubbing elbows with lava, but it was still refreshing.

I sit here and think of all that I do not know. The void scratches at my heart, rakes at my soul. Who I was, who I am...over and over I peer into the darkness. And I find only Essithea...

 

[Otiroth]

For a moment Otiroth observes that faceted gem with pure, impotent greed.

He even contemplates reaching out to touch it, but... remembers what happened to Metea. Beautiful, perfect, wicked Metea, who would... never let him live it down if he got stuck to a giant gem and summoned a monster. So, the sorcerer managed to restrain himself.

Instead, he flicks out his small red gemstone, rolls it between his fingers.

Do you whisper, still? Then let that be your name, and let it be your purpose...

They would have time to focus later. For now, Otiroth nods at the others as they take up watch, and snaps his fingers, creating a little spark of flame which he'd let caress the symbol of fire. Just a touch! Nothing to stone, he was sure!

<Prestidigitation; cantrip>

 

[Jeovanna]

Jeovanna set down the dwarf on the stone rim. She would keep an eye on him, though.

Otherwise, the barbarian lifted her sword, finding great comfort in its weight. She hadn't supposed she would ever be so obsessed with her blade, but good steel was a shield between life and death. "I am lighting a torch," Jeovanna muttered, there was no argument, and she'd get to work on that, before circling the great enclosure. Jeovanna would take the middle path on the right, between the one they had come down and the one nearest the group.

If Blutith had seen her in chains, even mystical ones... ridiculous!