[IC]Secrets of the Fire Swamp

Ancient History · Post by **Ancient History** » Wed Nov 04, 2015 8:59 pm

Orr and Archimedes fly about a hundred feet above the treeline, following the general shadow of the road. After a few hundred yards, the trees begin to thin out, giving way to patches of tall grasses and marsh. Many of the clearings are spotted with white stone, half-sunken into the earth; ruins of some sort.

About three miles from the river as the half-minotaur flies you come across a long, irregular line of black obsidian posts - you missed them in your first reconnaissance mostly because you were not looking for them, and many are bent at an angle or half-buried in waters. No trees grow beyond that line, which seems to curve around in a great arc as far as you can see; the space within is almost all tall grass, with many more ruins - some more intact than others.

At the place where the road meets the line of markers, you can make out a round marble basin, half-hidden by ferns, and full of clear water. There appears to be a kind of pillar or statue in the center of it.

radthemad4 · Post by **radthemad4** » Wed Nov 04, 2015 10:08 pm

"The healing spring, I presume. Feel like going for a swim?"

Orr will examine a few of the posts.

Dominicius · Post by **Dominicius** » Wed Nov 04, 2015 11:09 pm

Vian rolls his one eye. "Assuming this is what we were looking for..."

He said before stepping up to the waters. He examines them cautiously before taking a small sip to determine their effects.

AcidBlades · Post by **AcidBlades** » Wed Nov 04, 2015 11:12 pm

"Ai, we don't need you getting miffed up anymore than you have to. I shall first taste this spring, as I possess an extreme resilience that many folk take for granted." Dragaan roughly tugs Vian away from his sip, and then caught a handful of water to drink.

Ancient History · Post by **Ancient History** » Thu Nov 05, 2015 2:53 am

An hour after the flyers have landed, the earthbound members of the party stagger out of the trees, not too much the worse for wear, though Clara nearly succumbed to an unexpected burst of flame, Alim swears he saw a female beguiler skipping through the trees at one point, and Malagos detects what could be a secret door.

The pool - which greatly resembles an ancient bath as much as anything, gone somewhat back to nature, with newts frolicking around the edges of the marble steps, and clambering over the central statue - a sort of carven pillar whose scaly curves uncomfortably suggest both a human female and a male amphibian, and from whose orifices the clear, pure water pours.

It seems to almost glow gently, though the water has no especial luminescence when scooped into Dragaan's palm, and he finds it cool, sweet, and refreshing, so that he at once realizes how thirsty he has been.

Orr, investigating the posts, finds them to be black volcanic glass much like the breakers they encountered out on the coast, though smaller, and they seem to consist of two faces. The "outward" face appears to show very leprous rats, the flesh falling from their skulls, while the "inward" faces are stylized reptilian skulls. Many of the rodent-like faces appear to be defaced, as though by a blade.

Darth Rabbitt · Post by **Darth Rabbitt** » Thu Nov 05, 2015 3:10 am

Archimedes will sniff around the spring in order to see if he can notice anything unusual.

Ancient History · Post by **Ancient History** » Thu Nov 05, 2015 12:33 pm

Archimedes catches an odd scent - like garlic wrapped in ozone - and follows it carefully perhaps sixty feet from the spring, where he finds a cluster of three markers not part of the regular line, but arranged in a sort of triangle around a large black egg, about a foot high, which floats about five feet off the ground.

radthemad4 · Post by **radthemad4** » Thu Nov 05, 2015 10:12 pm

Many of the rodent-like faces appear to be defaced, as though by a blade.

(As in they were carved to look defaced, or they look like they were actually defaced?)

Orr will check to see if all the posts look the same.

Ancient History · Post by **Ancient History** » Thu Nov 05, 2015 10:31 pm

They look like they were actually defaced. The posts look generally similar, though they were often made by many different artisans and feature slight variations.

radthemad4 · Post by **radthemad4** » Thu Nov 05, 2015 10:51 pm

"Apparently, someone doesn't like rodents. I wonder if there's anything unusual beneath us."

Orr will expend an ethereal token to start greater blinking (duration 2 minutes). He'll rest for 18 seconds to get one back. He'll then spend a fire token to boost his fly speed to 65 (45 while blinking) and use a run action to dive under the ground as far as he can while still being able to get back to the surface on his turn, resurface and report his findings. (he has low light vision and can see perfectly to any distance in darkness)

Ancient History · Post by **Ancient History** » Thu Nov 05, 2015 11:17 pm

The ground isn't exactly...solid. The water table is quite high around here. But Orr doesn't detect any chambers or underground tunnels. What he does detect, are several structures in the coadjacent space of the ethereal where the pillars are - they look almost frozen, like statues, inhumanoid creatures with too many eyes, almost looking like some kind of abstract, pseudo-organic art - but then one of them blinks, and Orr can tell its eyes are tracking him as he comes back up to the surface...

Darth Rabbitt · Post by **Darth Rabbitt** » Fri Nov 06, 2015 1:16 am

"They hate rodents, eh?" Archimedes muses telepathically. "Well, there's a funny-smelling black egg floating over where I am. There are some markers around it; if it wasn't off the path I'd figure that it was part of the shrine. Perhaps it was placed here by whoever, or whatever, carved up the rats? Anyone got anything to try?"

CapnTthePirateG · Post by **CapnTthePirateG** » Fri Nov 06, 2015 5:40 am

Malagos decides to investigate the feeling of something hidden.

Ancient History · Post by **Ancient History** » Fri Nov 06, 2015 11:52 am

CapnTthePirateG wrote:Malagos decides to investigate the feeling of something hidden.

Malagos shakes himself out of his brief philosophical reverie as he hears a faint popping noise from beneath him, and manages to move before the jet of flame emerges from the ground.

radthemad4 · Post by **radthemad4** » Fri Nov 06, 2015 6:44 pm

(Forgot I could see Ethereal. Adding it to my sheet. Thanks

)

"Not much down there but I did find something interesting. The pillars go deep and have eyes down there... but in the ethereal plane. So guys, fancy a trip there for a better look? Or do we want to go see the Bone Mother first?"

Orr will attempt to telepathically contact the eyes. "Uh, hi? How's it going?"

Darth Rabbitt wrote:"They hate rodents, eh?" Archimedes muses telepathically. "Well, there's a funny-smelling black egg floating over where I am. There are some markers around it; if it wasn't off the path I'd figure that it was part of the shrine. Perhaps it was placed here by whoever, or whatever, carved up the rats? Anyone got anything to try?"

"All alone? Odd. Can you see if it has a trail? I'm wondering if it fell off from something or got moved somehow"

Ancient History · Post by **Ancient History** » Fri Nov 06, 2015 8:22 pm

radthemad4 wrote: Orr will attempt to telepathically contact the eyes. "Uh, hi? How's it going?"

A single word seems to slither itself into Orr's consciousness; like a babble of voices he's been hearing without noticing but finally comes to the fore with terrific clarity.

Clean.

radthemad4 · Post by **radthemad4** » Fri Nov 06, 2015 8:54 pm

"Do you mean that we're not affiliated with Those Who Change Scales? So, who are you and what do you know about this place?"

Ancient History · Post by **Ancient History** » Fri Nov 06, 2015 9:05 pm

Orr waits for what seems like a long time, but the strange figures say nothing else.

radthemad4 · Post by **radthemad4** » Fri Nov 06, 2015 9:19 pm

(Orr will have used this time to blink once more and refresh all his tokens)

Orr will talk to his dog (who presumably traveled on foot with the others, riding dogs have scent and track as a bonus feat). "Go help out Archimedes. See if the egg has a trail. I'm keeping this channel open. If you get into any danger, run and contact me."

Orr will then fly through the outer/upper areas in the nearby ruins and check them out, readying an action to blink out of the way should he detect any hostile action towards him (greater blink has this as an option, and any physical or magical effect misses automatically, unless it affects ethereal beings like a force effect of some sort).

Ancient History · Post by **Ancient History** » Fri Nov 06, 2015 10:09 pm

The dog barks, and dutifully runs over toward the egg, stops about fifty feet away, sniffs, and then backs away slowly with its tail between its legs.

As Orr ascends, he notices a particularly thick low-lying cloud above him. Does he ascend through it?

Meanwhile the skeleton, still holding the stone puzzle-box, finally emerges on the road, following the rest of the group.

Darth Rabbitt · Post by **Darth Rabbitt** » Sat Nov 07, 2015 1:22 am

"Wish me luck," Archimedes murmurs telepathically. He will start sniffing where the dog stopped, attempting to track the egg's trail (if any) by scent (Survival +9, assuming no other modifiers).

Ancient History · Post by **Ancient History** » Sat Nov 07, 2015 1:36 am

There doesn't seem to be any "trail" - the smell is centered around the egg.

Darth Rabbitt · Post by **Darth Rabbitt** » Sat Nov 07, 2015 1:46 am

"No trail," Archimedes tells the party. "And what's going on down there?" he asks Orr.

radthemad4 · Post by **radthemad4** » Sat Nov 07, 2015 7:00 am

Orr will try to maneuver to move around and above the cloud and get into a position to be able to get as much of it in a straight line as possible, and blast it with a 60 ft gust of wind (severe), towards the ground.

"The pillars have eyes underground, but in the ethereal plane. They're not very talkative but they did say one thing. 'Clean'. I'm guessing they're sentries and we're 'clean' because none of us are 'scaly folk'. If you guys are up for it, I can take us into the ethereal and back for a better look, but I'm not risking going there alone."

Ancient History · Post by **Ancient History** » Sat Nov 07, 2015 12:10 pm

Flying above the cloud, Orr sees...well, it looks like a hermit crab's shell sculpted out of white, fluffy cloud. If the hermit crab were a tentacled nightmare of silver the size of a dragon with blue-on-blue eyes. It starts to crawl itself outside of its hole, grabbing the cloud for purchase to get a better view. The gust of wind does not move the cloud, but it blows some of the tentacles back. The thing unhinges its tri-partite jaw and reveals a maw full of teeth, the veins inside glowing a faint luminous green.