Augury Part I: New Beginnings

[skydragonknight]

Kara follows. She would be glad to be out of here so they could look for someplace warmer.

[sirpercival]

You continue down the long straight passage -- this is the longest yet, hundreds of feet of narrow carved stone.  Finally you arrive at the end, a small chamber of odd construction.  There is a low railing across the middle of the room; beyond the railing is a very deep pit which yawns into blackness.

Suspended above the pit is a cylinder of clear stone, almost like glass or ice, with a figure encased inside it.  The cylinder rests inside a stone cage which dangles from a massive stone loop in the ceiling.  At the railing across from the cylinder, there is a dust-covered stone plaque with familiar green tracery on it.

There are no other exits to the room (besides the pit, of course).

[phaedrusxy]

Legion says "Someone sure didn't want him getting out. I think perhaps we should read the runes before we do anything."

[Flay Crimsonwind]

Isaac readies his greatsword, wondering how many times he'd nervously checked them while in this cave, and nodded. "I can only agree. We should stay on guard too."

[skydragonknight]

Kara looks at the figure and then wipes the dust off the plaque so that any writing is readable. "The strong and silent type, huh?"

She looks for a stone and drops it into the pit, listening (take 10 for 18) for the echo of it reaching the bottom while counting the seconds.

[Sneaky_Sable]

Nora'Luuu stayed by Kara as she did her Civilized Person madness near the hole. Why drop something in a hole? A stone that small certainly wasn't going to fill it. Sheesh...

To the figure in the glass, he brandished his new icy dagger menacingly, threateningly, with bared fangs. These people, Kara especially, had shown him kindness, and he wasn't about to let some demon in ice hurt them.

[sirpercival]

Kara can't hear the stone hit bottom. ((anyone else want to make a Listen check?))

[Garryl]

"Let me take a crack at those runes. We've got enough reference material, I think I can figure out the gist of it. This should only take a few minutes. On second thought, better check that cage for magic first."

Sorrel finds a good place to sit down and work, then starts casting his rituals.

Sorrel's actions:

(click to show/hide)

Reprep my rituals to have Ritual Skill (Decipher Script), Ritual of Intuition, and Ritual Boost (Intelligence). I'll keep both Circles of Good Hope I already have cast, so this should only take 2 minutes. Use Decipher Script alongside our reference material to translate the runes. Discharge the rituals at whatever point in the deciphering I need to to get the bonus. 1 rank +5 Int +4 competence +1 insight +6 circumstance, taking 10, gives 27, enough to easily meet the DC 25 check. While I'm at it, I can try to translate the other runic text we've found, using the same process. Between recasting 3 rituals and the 1 minute check, it'll take 4 minutes apiece. Of course, since I don't need the extra +2 from Inutition and Boost, I can drop them and just use quickened Skills for 1 minute + 1 round per check. If I need enough Ritual Skill for it to last across the entire 1 minute skill check, then it takes 4 minutes to cast 4 of them plus 1 minute for the check. The only issue here is how long this takes, not success or failure, and I suspect nobody cares but me, but humor me, okay?

... but anyways. After that is done, I'd like to send another Sonorous bird out. First to check the cage (and room) for magic, then to check out the hole in the ground. Actually, better send the bird(s) around to check the room's magic BEFORE spending a lot of time here deciphering the text.

[sirpercival]

((No magic in the room besides what you brought with you (including the cloak).))

Sorrel spends some time deciphering script, and discovers the following:

• The plaque in this room reads, "The Enemy, so that ye may know his face."
  
• The pedestal with the knife read, "Glacier: stored and protected in ice here, for when it is needed."
  
• The trapezoidal stone reads, "Beware the coming of Woe!  Ye shall see the first sign: a plague across the world, Eidoloterra brings death invisible.  Seek ye the Wheel and Sword, for they be thy salvation."  It has a large "1" at the bottom.
  
• The carved stick reads, "Detect".
  

((Did I miss anything?))

[Garryl]

((Please assume I'm sharing the translations with everyone, both in Common and in Sylvan for our furry friend.))

"A plague? That sounds frighteningly close to home."

As you pass through the archway, the rune in the keystone suddenly flares a brilliant green, and a thin mist seems to rise from your skin, dissipating immediately.  You feel refreshed and renewed, as if a great weight was lifted from your shoulders that you hadn't known was there.  Your breathing is easier, your vision sharper.  You can't help but continue on with a spring in your step.

((There's that rune from the entrance we never really thought about. We can ignore it for now and check it later if you'd prefer, since I'll be tossing a Detect Magic on it anyways. Also, the schools and strengths of the items' magical auras? Taking 10 gives me a 21 on Spellcraft even without ritual aid, so 6th level spells/CL 13 or lower. Finally, I wanted to send an eagle down the pit, and at least see how deep it is.))

[sirpercival]

The pit is about 350 feet deep.

The cloak is abjuration (faint), the stick is divination (faint), and the knife is transmutation (faint).

[skydragonknight]

Kara scoffed. "Bah. Halflings bring death invisible."

[Sneaky_Sable]

"A plague? Halflings?" Nora'Luuu gave a raised eyebrow. "Father spoke of illness, as a foe you could only fight in your sleep. He never spoke of halflings, though."

"Can you eat them?"

(click to show/hide)

Now that we have established dedicated translation, I'll post this normally. Remember that all of Nora'Luuu's responses are in Sylvan. Also, if there's anything that folks *AREN'T* translating, just note it so I don't reply to something I shouldn't.

[Shiki]

Snowy mumbles to herself, obviously in thoughts. Shaking her head afterwards, she says to everyone "I usually am not that dumb, but this time I am. What should we go for next? What should we do about this frozen guy?" She turned to Nora and said (Sylvan) "Sure, you can eat them. But I doubt Kara would like you to do so," giggling afterwards.

[Flay Crimsonwind]

"We do nothing about him, unless the ice is thawing. If he's dead, we can do nothing but bury him, and this place seems enough like a tomb. U=If he yet lives, and he is an enemy that brings death, I can only imagine we do not wish to do anything wit him."

[skydragonknight]

Kara shrugs. "His armor might be valuable, but I doubt by what the plaque says that he'd give it up without a fight. No, probably best just to give him the 'cold shoulder'."

[phaedrusxy]

The metal dragon says "From what the plaque says, I don't think this is the actual creature. It is but an image."

[Sneaky_Sable]

"Then why is it over this pit? Did whoever put it there not want the image to get away?" Nora'Luuu asked, inquisitive as always of a world he never knew. Since this image would have to fly over here to attack them Nora'Luuu relaxed his posture, and sheathed his two knives. He then peered across the pit to study the features of this man, this Enemy.

"So if we see this enemy, we kill it."

Taller then him, two arms, two legs, head. Looked like every other humanoid he'd ever seen. That should narrow it down.

[Garryl]

"I guess. It certainly seems to be a strong warning. I'm just curious if this is supposed to be Woe or Eidoloterra or something else. But I doubt we'll figure that out sitting in a cave forever. Shall we move on?"

((This was the last unexplored part of the cave, right? I guess we should start leaving then. If we do, I'd like to check that magical rune on the entrance arch before we go, Detect Magic and so on, but I can't think of any other reason to stay.

How long have we been exploring this cave, roughly? What time of day would it be now?))

[sirpercival]

((Correct, unless someone wants to surf an underground river.  And, it's been about 2 hours.  So mid afternoon.))