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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Jon Potter" data-source="post: 3857121" data-attributes="member: 2323">[PLAIN][Realms #412] The Perilous Portal[/PLAIN]"For what it's worth, these portals have not been our friends in the past," Morier said once the group had congregated in the chamber below. "Someone usually dies on the other end of them.""Ruze," Ixin said as if in a dream. She stared unblinking at the bilious green vapor that filled the archway. "And Draelond." Of course, none of the others had ever met the two men of whom she spoke. Both had died battling a skaven-headed giant that had been guarding the portal in Spiderwood. Only Morier had an inkling of what the drakeling was talking about, but even he had joined the group in the wake of the men's deaths."Those were the two bodies that you and Vade burned in the caves outside Strenchburg Junction," the albino said and Ixin nodded. To emphasize his own point, he added, "They were killed by the portal's guardian.""I assume the giant was this portal's guardian, but let us be on our toes just the same," Huzair suggested as he peered closer at the runes etched in each stone."We could have Morier use Stoneblade to wall up the portal," Shamalin suggested. "It might be an effecient way to deter the followers of Aphyx and then we can move quickly on." Once she had resigned herself to follow Huzair and indicated as much to the party, Shamalin expected her sense of uneasiness to diminish. But it hadn't. The giant with the beholder's head had been another apparition reminiscent of the gestalt monsters she had encountered in Rhadcliffe with the Speckled Band. And the memory of that skirmish carried its own weight. The past effected her far too strongly. And so she had allowed Ayremac's speech to sway her because she could not permit this party to confront such evils without her. Morier had been cool and even more detached since that decision, ignoring even Huzair's attempts to provoke him. Perhaps there would be time for further explanation. She hoped so at least."Now hold on, there!" Karak interrupted. "I want our mage and cleric to take a look at this thing before we go ruinin' things. Can either of you use your arcane or clerical knowledge to decipher if it will take us faster to our objective?""Has anyone taken the time to write down the symbols?" Huzair asked as he continued to study the symbols. They were simple in design, but did not seem to correspond to any language with which he was familiar. "Maybe we can figure out what they mean.""What do you think it means?" Shamalin asked as she stepped up beside him. Huzair shrugged and grinned at her."I don't know," he admitted. "Do you?" She shook her head."Ixin, lass, do you know anything of these portals?" the dwarf asked, looking up at the sorcerer's face."Not really," Ixin admitted. "I entered your world through a portal, but it was not like this one and it was certainly not of my making. I think that I can activate this one if that is your wish.""Bad idea," Morier said simply and Karak scratched, harrumphing once as he considered."Shamalin, now might be a good time for that divination spell, to see what awaits us on the other side," he said after a moment's thought. "Our past experiences with these portals have nae been good.""I could do that," the cleric said. "But we'd have to narrow the scope of our question in order to get a meaningful reading. Perhaps we can choose a symbol and then see what the outcome might be if we chose to go through.""Maybe Morier will feel a pull when we touch the symbols?" Huzair suggested and Morier shot him a scathing look."I definitely don't think I want to touch each rune to see how my head feels about it," he scoffed. "Too much could go wrong with that scenario.""I say this, Morier, if ye can determine that our goal to bring the keys lies closer through that portal... well then I say we use it," Karak countered. "But this time we go through prepared. I go through invisible-like and scout out the area. You know, now that I think on it, we could use another invisibility ring so old Electric Sword can go through too.""And I say this, there's no way I'm going to go through that portal," the albino stated. "I'll stay behind alone if it comes down to it.""Is that a promise?" Huzair quipped, winking at the elf."Now, Huzair, I know you can get all prickly about lendin' out your magic stuff so if'n you want to go through first, well then go ahead an' be my guest. 'Cause I figure if you'n get stuck with a whole bunch o' arrows, well then our scoutin' be done and I'll just send ol' zappy sword flyin' through the portal on the opposite end of those arrows," Karak laughed to himself. "I crack me up sometimes.""Are you not listening to me, Karak?" Morier snapped, scowling at the dwarf. "There's no way that you could convince me to step through that portal. Not even to get a better view at Huzair getting shot full of arrows!""Hey!" the wizard sneered."We at least need to activate the portal to find which runes lead to Spiderwood, Strenchburg Junction, and the Termlane Forest so we can put the runes on the map and start narrowing down the runes we don't know," Ixin offered. "If Morier can't feel a pull, I vote mark down what we know and get moving.""Aye, if Morier's 'ead say this be nae the way, then let's up through this ladder, mark this on our map, an' be on our way," Karak agreed."Best idea I've heard today!" Morier said.They decided to map the runes, and after a few moments' of trial and error, Ixin rekindled the knowledge of how to anchor to the power nexus and activate the runes. Almost half of them seemed not to function at all, as if the destination portal had been destroyed or the magic powering those runes had decayed too much. Another three looked in on areas choked completely with rubble. Another showed a scene underwater full of colorful fish and coral; a wrecked ship of some type dominated the middle distance, cloked in centuries of algae. All were impassable.Five others they had examined before: one looked out on Spiderwood (and true to its name, several enormous spiders were crouching amidst some webs visible on the standing stones that Morier, Karak and Ixin all remembered); one was in a natural tunnel that was probably outside Strenchburg Junction; another showed the vine-choked ruins in the Termlane Forest; one showed a nondescript dungeon area in complete darkness; and the last looked out from a height on a vast coniferous forest.The remaining six were more interesting.The first showed a cramped cave of rough-worked stone dominated by a dark altar around which was clearly visible a coiled snake with a body bigger around than Karak's chest. That image kept flickering back into mist, unable to fully resolve itself.The next showed an underground area lit by everburning torches set along the wall. A curved line of inlaid silver was set into the floor several dozen feet from the portal itself. The ceiling was lost in darkness above.The next looked down from a mountainside again, but this time a cold, windswept sea was visible in the distance and between that point and the portal rose up an intricately-carved pillar of gray stone surrounded by a ring of large flat tables of similar material stained dark from blood-letting.The next showed a scene similar to the ruins of the Termlane Forest with bleached and broken stonework. This ruin was given a sinister air by the presence of numerous humanoid bones heaped in clear view of the portal.The next showed another ruin, but this one was canted at an angle as if the portal itself had settled greatly to the right. Steam and bubbling mud predominated and tendrils of green moss covered all the visible stonework.The last showed an unremarkable dungeon room piled to the left and right with broken stone. A path had been cleared from the portal to a doorway that no longer held a door. A large chamber was visible beyond in which could be seen more rubble, but also some sleeping pallets and signs of current humanoid habitation, the whole lit by flickering firelight.</blockquote>

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