Return To The Ruins (Warlords Palace)

[shaidar]

Xenos

"We are here, we should go take a look."

[OGRE MAGE]

Lots of folks off for a while, so if you are still here, go ahead and post. If not, catch up when you can.

Still Under The Zakath Desert
Friendly Froggy
No Idea On Time Or Day

The Ixian Witch Magda is accepted, or at least tolerated by the growing party members. She looks over the jade statue of Ymir, finding nothing more than what has already been revealed. When she looks into the Matrons spellbook however, her big brown eyes grow with interest after finding what must be a unique spell known only by the Matron. She cant read the first spell which the others couldn't either, meaning it can only be an Illusionist spell at this point, which none of our spellcasters can use. The second spell she can learn, one called Placate (W2). The third spell is unknown to her, but clearly has something to do with summoning a swarm of toads to do the casters bidding. She will need to spend some time at study and research before she can add these new incantations into her own means.

After a short discussion on where to go next, the group reboards their small boat and new raft, allowing the entire group to travel together, with both full vessels now under their command. They float across the river again and start up the east bank towards where Crestos the owl saw the first of the weird buildings.

IMG_3757.jpeg (88.46 KiB) Viewed 271 times

Onyx black structures and towers, spired or vermiform in shape, stand in the distance, all of them glowing balefully as they reflect your flickering torchlight. The geometry and curvature of these buildings bend your mind as you look upon them, causing intellectual dissonance and feelings of cosmic dread and hopelessness. Indecipherable symbols and motifs are sporadically carved into their strange metal walls, betraying the work to be crafted by intelligent, albeit otherworldly beings.

Steering your boat and raft up to the first landing platform positioned over the water, you tie off the crafts for a closer look. Walking up to the first structure, you see no stairways or ladders inside, despite the nearly 3 story height of the interior. Besides the weird shapes of the eerie walkways and other unfathomable structures, there is absolutely nothing left here to be found. The entire place seems to be deserted, as if whatever viscera was once held in these unpleasant shapes has been ejected from the inside out. The entire place gives the group an unnerving displeasure, and none can even guess who these buildings had once served.

Outside your torchlight, the place is awash with darkness, except for the area of the island in the center of the waterway, where small points of light can be seen emanating from within whatever that similar domed structure might be.

Actions?

Drest (Sc4) FA:3 AC7 16/22
Xenos (DS3) FA:3 AC5 17/17
Akhilleus (F4) FA:4 AC4 19/35
Kainaxarthos (C2) FA:1 AC6 9/11
Sik (Ba1) FA:1 AC5 9/12
Cyril (Pr2) FA:0(20) AC8 12/12 CLW, DM
Ceana (D2) FA:1 AC5 13/13
Taibhse (Sh2) FA:0(20) AC5 11/11
Belloc (M2) FA:0(20) AC6 14/14

[Rex]

Drest

Drest will see if he can find an entrance into the first building they come to. Door like preferred but a window if need be.

[hedgeknight]

Ceana

The druid doesn't like the look of these structures at all. "How can these..." she searches for a word "...these dwellings even be here? Are they not from another world?"
She notices the points of light on the island (#34) and says, "Maybe we should go investigate there instead."

[Monsieur Rose]

Kainaxarthos

Kain looks over at Cyril and asks "See anything noteworthy? All I can see hurts my head."

"We should move on lest we lose ourselves in this...place." Kain watches Belloc carefully while they are in the structure. He suspects the staff has Belloc an inch away from madness already.

Kain is torn between leaving for the boats and keeping an eye on his companions.

[subaltari]

Belloc gestures to Crestos, the small owl flying to his side. "Crestos and I are one, a splintered soul in essence," he murmurs...

Owl not raven... rookie mistake, sorry!

Magda, earlier with Belloc...

The young witch listens carefully to Belloc's sobering words, then with a prim smile she replies in her Thracian accented Common. "One should expect caution and suspicion from a fellow practitioner of the arts ‒ in greater measure in fact than you've shown me. Let's be clear that there was no love lost between the Matron and myself. Her soul was a perversion of nature and her fœtid body now feeds her toady children," she gestures disdainfully back in the direction of the hut. "She no longer has any more use for them than for her books, her dolls, her potions... nor for that matter her magic cauldron. I should like to bring that with me from this place, but it is bulky to transport, so perhaps we can return for it anon..."

Magda gets back to her point as her dark eyes flash eagerly at the sight of the Matron's spellbook, lying unwrapped next to the magician's sketches. She reaches for the bulky leather satchel at her own feet, opens it, and lifts out a slimmer bundle wrapped in oilcloth. "Ai! Here is my own Book of Shadows, still safe and sound. It must be a vagary of the Matron's spell that all my possessions polymorphed with me. I welcome the chance to share the secrets of the Matron's book with you, Magister, and might offer you a spell or two of my own to boot. Oh! And if you are wondering what person donated his skin to fashion the bindings of that grimoire... alas, she never told me.

"But what is this about a symbol? Certainly as Magda, the frog, I could not view any markings upon my body. I do bear certain tattoos given to me by my coven on Scythium, but nothing, I would say, that quite resembles that..." Magda again trails off as she gazes weirdly mesmerized at Belloc's Staff. "In sooth I have never seen that before, but its shape reminds me of a jagged crack, a fissure as it were in the vessel of reality... negative material, τι δεν είναι (what is not)... " She shakes out of her brief trance and adds, "In her warnings about the Snake-Men, the Matron did say they might possess ancient devices that could counter her spellcræft in specific ways. I see now that her dislike of them was thus rooted in the fear that they could undo her magick, and it would further explain why Magda the frog were so compelled to hop atop that staff." She concludes her speculation with a more satisfied smile.

"And the Matron's misgivings of that artefact aside, I trust your baneful sense of caution is well-placed regarding its power... you're its wielder, for weal or woe... but perhaps it's not quite as bad as you say. Foul could be fair, you know... Tell me, is there some entity bound to it? Has it communicated to you a name or title?"


Regarding slaves and former slaves (or not...) Magda did not take this to be a taboo topic given the amount of enslaved people in the Hyperborean setting; especially the environs of Yithorium. Also, when it's the nerdy sorcerers that are doing the talking and the tall strong men that stay quiet (at first) you can't blame her for asking. On the other hand, Kain's behaviour is just good RP

[subaltari]

Ceana
The druid doesn't like the look of these structures at all. "How can these..." she searches for a word "...these dwellings even be here? Are they not from another world?"

Clearly just as awestruck by the massive edifices and their strange geometry, Magda replies in a hushed tone. "If not by the science of the Snake-Men, these were built by Others even longer ago. The Matron, she spoke once of giants that raised ancient cities... giants with elongated heads, or the ones with a single eye, the kyklopes."

[OGRE MAGE]

Still Under The Zakath Desert
Friendly Froggy
No Idea On Time Or Day

The mystery of these unpleasant structures grows deeper the more you look around. Drest walks through a massive opening in the front of the closest building that might be a door. Or, it might be a window. The weird shapes and angles of the construction are difficult to comprehend, even while staring directly at them. The completely barren interiors are equally odd. There is not a soul around to explain the place either. No evidence of snakemen are found, and the entire place seems completely devoid of life.

Ceana points to the specks of light coming from the island in the center of the waterway, suggesting that might be the place to investigate instead.

Actions?

Drest (Sc4) FA:3 AC7 16/22
Xenos (DS3) FA:3 AC5 17/17
Akhilleus (F4) FA:4 AC4 19/35
Kainaxarthos (C2) FA:1 AC6 9/11
Sik (Ba1) FA:1 AC5 9/12
Cyril (Pr2) FA:0(20) AC8 12/12 CLW, DM
Ceana (D2) FA:1 AC5 13/13
Taibhse (Sh2) FA:0(20) AC5 11/11
Belloc (M2) FA:0(20) AC6 14/14

[Rex]

Drest

"Doesn't appear to be anything here. Should we spend some time searching for secret entrances or just head straight for the lights?"

[Belkregos]

Belloc
adds details to his drawings before turning his attention to the structure on the center island

yes, lets continue to the center island

[shaidar]

Xenos

"I agree, let's see what those lights are."

[Karaunios]

Akhilleus

"Aye."

[subaltari]

"To that island, then? A few minutes before we go, if you please."

Magda refuels her lantern and lights it, then sets the hood to half-open and sets it on the flat sandy ground. She picks up her staff, the dark wood of its head carved into the shape of a pock-marked egg, and begins walking in a wide circle around the lantern. Her expression is not quite trance-like, but distracted for sure, and in barely audible Thracian she begins to intone as she walks:

"So long has Skavi been mine, and I have been thine,
The cunning of two heads, a woven cord of two threads.
To the Toad Matron we came, but that led to shame,
With her I tried reason, but she repaid me with treason.
Her dark will I crossed, but you were not lost.
You stayed sturdy and loyal, e'en as I was a frog in the soil.
My Skavi, clever and black, now it's time to come back!"

A few seconds later, there is a small dart of motion at the edge of the lit circle. Something dark flashes along the sand, then scurries up the front of Magda's cloak and comes to rest on her shoulder: a big black rat, its segmented tail draping down her back past her long hair. It chitters and touches its nose to hers, then turns its red-rimmed eyes to glare at the other adventurers.

Madga slings her satchel over her other shoulder. "This is my Skavi! We are ready."

[The_Wanderer]

Cyril stares at the buildings for a long time as the party approach them. "They are disturbing. At times I forget that my connection to my patron doesn't make me any better at absorbing this sort of thing...it is a good reminder. The warm glow from the island surely will yield more progress for our exploration."

[silifi]

Sik nods in agreement that they should continue to approach the lights. Though he is fearful, the strange structures beneath the earth are darkly fascinating, and he finds he cannot resist the intrigue.

[Monsieur Rose]

Kainaxarthos

"Good, good. Let's hurry along then." Kain nods at Cyril, understanding the sensation he feels.

"Nice to meet your Skavi, Magda. Sometimes I envy the companionship the arcane arts provide. And then I go do foolish things."

He is eager to get away from the structure and onto the boat floating on the dark eery water.

[hedgeknight]

Ceana

The druid listens in awe as Magda summons her rat friend. "How did you do that?" she breathes, looking at Skavi atop Magda's shoulder.

[OGRE MAGE]

Island Under The Zakath Desert
Friendly Froggy
No Idea On Time Or Day

After watching their newest member call for her suddenly appearing rat friend, the group agrees that they should leave these empty metal husks of chaos behind and head for the lights of the nearby island.

As their 2 packed rafts cross the pitch black water by torchlight and arrive at the bank of the island, they spot a ring of standing stones that encircle the domed building in its center. These menhirs are roughly shaped and stand about ten feet high against the backdrop of the 50 foot high dome. Small cracks and fissures in the outer walls of the dome allow the light from inside to escape, hence the lights you saw from a distance.

A broad set of stone stairs ascends 5 feet up to a landing in front of a twelve foot high pair of black double doors. This entire area is silent, but a faint hint of stench persists in the air around this place. The stink is not like what you smelled in the dwarf cave, but it is earthy and pungent.

After a closer inspection, the doors have no lock or handle on them, and likely push inwards by the looks of the hinges you can see.

Actions?

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Drest (Sc4) FA:3 AC7 16/22
Xenos (DS3) FA:3 AC5 17/17
Akhilleus (F4) FA:4 AC4 19/35
Kainaxarthos (C2) FA:1 AC6 9/11
Magda (W2) FA:1 AC9 8/8
Sik (Ba1) FA:1 AC5 9/12
Cyril (Pr2) FA:0(20) AC8 12/12 CLW, DM
Ceana (D2) FA:1 AC5 13/13
Taibhse (Sh2) FA:0(20) AC5 11/11
Belloc (M2) FA:0(20) AC6 14/14

[Rex]

Drest

Drest will examine them for traps.

Manipulate traps 4:12

[hedgeknight]

Ceana

The druid gets out and stands about halfway up the stairs, looking all around the island and in the water. She tries to identify the earthy stench, wondering if she has smelled it before.
"Be careful, Drest," she says.