Grand Duchy 102

Grand Duchy of Adventure

Session 102
September 29, 2016

The Knowledge of Elders

Nytdain 8th Klarmont

Griffin steps in to the left and sweeps the room looking for trouble and sees that the rest of the room appears to devoid of unnatural dangers. Debris lines the outer edge of this room. Some dragging tracks can be seen through the dust and dirt in the middle of the room, probably mummy tracks

Iris pokes her head in the room and looks for mummies and Draven begins picking through the rubble near the walls in a search for secret doors. There are no mummies present so Iris searches the room for symbols, text, inscriptions with help from Kifein. Griffin says, "Okay, we can't do any other doors until we're done here." Griffin checks for secret doors too. The search goes on in relative silence and the rest of the Vault remains silent.

While the others search the room, Remar keeps an eye out for enemies approaching from where they came, especially the hole in the ground since it appears the doors seal when 1 is opened. Kasiex remains in the silent vault with Remar, his bow ready.

There are no writings on the walls that are visible but it seems that the debris in the room seems to have been racks or bookshelves and much of what is there is made up of ruined books. Over the course of 20 minutes, Draven and Griffin find no secret doors or anything of the sort though Iris and Kifein find a handful of potentially salvageable writings.

Iris says, in Thyatian, “I think...I think this may have been a small library”

Kifein says to Iris,”I will hold these and we can examine them once we return home,” and carefully stores the writings in her pack.

Draven intones, "well, I hope your searches are more fruitful. There's no way forward in this room that I can find. So, where to next?"

Kifein mentions that there was a set of stairs at the far end of the main vault chamber.

Hearing his friends discussing the search in the next room, Remar calls out, “Thankful to say that my searching out here is also proving fruitless.” Iris giggles at this.

Iris says, “Thanks, Kifein! That's a great idea. Basement does sound good for our next move”

The Company closes the door and moves to investigate the door at the bottom of the stairs.
The group approaches the door at the bottom of the stairs. Kasiex reaches out and pulls the door open. An L shaped room lies ahead. The floor is covered with much debris. It looks to have once been an old store room, but all the contents have been destroyed by time, or other hands possibly. Draven steps inside and glances around, seeing that there is a door off to the left side of the room. The group moves through the debris to the next room and in the process, Kasiex catches his leg on a sharp piece of debris while crossing the room and cuts his leg! He lets out a pained yelp.

The next door is similar to the other doors, dark wood, ironbound, well fitted. Griffin says "Okay, we have another door. Let's skip searching the trash in here and press on."

Kifein closes the door to this chamber then nods to Kasiex to go ahead and open the next one. It reveals a small storage room, possibly a wine cellar or something. The floor of the room is about 3 feet lower and the ground is covered with what looks to be broken wood and debris from a time long past. Bits of broken glass glint in the shining light of flaming weapons

Griffin says "OKay, split up. Let's take both rooms on at the same time."

Remar adds, “Be careful not to allow your weapons to aflame the debris in here”

While searching in the first, larger, room, Ree calls out that she has found what looks like a secret door and Griffin rushes over. In the corner of the room she points out what appears to be the outline of a door in the wall. Iris takes Griffin's weapon in her off hand so he can get a better look at it. He quickly finds what he thinks is a hidden latch. Griffin maneuvers the workings of door and after a moment he hears a click and a section of wall slides away revealing another chamber beyond.

Griffin takes back his sword from Iris with a short bow, then enters the secret room. This next room appears to be much less destroyed and ruined as the others. Iris smiles wide. There are several old tapestries, similar to the one from the homestead, but depicting different images, some intact bookshelves and books. Iris seems anxious to explore this ancient find.

Draven says, "Let the lady through..."

Iris says, “Be careful of your weapons! There are delicate flammables in here. Kifein! You should see these tapestries! And the vaulted ceiling!!”

The door in the northwestern wall is about 15 feet overhead. A wooden ladder leans up against the wall below it. The ceiling in this room is nearly 25 feet overhead, terminating in a decorated dome. Iris and Kasiex gawk at the ceiling from the doorway of the chamber.

Having an idea, Iris asks Draven for the enchanted needle they had used previously to reveal clues from some of the tapestries. The priest holds the needle out to her and Iris accepts the needle, and carefully touches it to the closest tapestry. Each of the tapestries are at least 10 feet high and 3-5 feet wide. They would weigh hundreds of pounds if they had to be carried.

As the needle touches the tapestry, it moves of its own accord and begins weaving itself through the tapestry, pulling a magical golden thread behind it. When it is done, the image remains the same, but the gold accents now give it a different focus. No one has any idea what it refers to though. Kifein scratches her head. This is wonderful, though I do not know what it shows.

Iris muses, “Perhaps we should sketch it?”

Kifein responds, "That would be smart."

Iris produces some drawing material and sketches the tapestry while Griffin checks out the ladder. The chamber contains several other items as well. Several valuable items appear on various shelves. A tea service, a writing kit, some other metal objects, possibly religious implements.
The ladder looks to be many hundreds of years old and probably would not support much weight. Instead, Griffin decides to climb the wall to check out the door

While moving about the room and searching, Draven exclaims that he has felt a terrible evil and blackness wash over him. Iris half turns, clearly concerned and pales visibly. She says, “I mean, you still think you could handle it, right Draven?”

Draven says, "It's not so bad that I feel the need to flee, but we must be vigilant"

Iris nods and furrows her brow. Iris says, “Kifein, do you feel this darkness?” The Hutaakan priestess nods that she does not.

Draven searches the northwest half of the room more closely, looking for anything out of sorts and then activates his boots and floats up to the high door. Draven says, "Let me see... the feeling of foreboding doesn't increase at the door..."

Griffin reaches the door just as Draven floats up and searches around. There is a small ledge at the door. Standing on the ledge, Griffin checks out the door and finds it to be not trapped or locked. Feeling brash, he opens the door. Griffin sees another squarish room. It's ceiling is of normal height. The walls are carved decoratively and to the left, he sees a golden pedestal containing a thick, leather bound tome.

Upon hearing that the object of their desiring is potentially in the next chamber, Iris makes her way up into the room. Iris says, “I'm going to keep looking through this room until everyone else is up, if that's alright” Griffin, Iris and Draven search the newly discovered room. Iris looks at the tome and pedestal, but doesn't touch it quite yet. Next to the book on the pedestal is a golden necklace and a finely wrought ring.

Draven says, "The book and pedestal are not the source of the ill feeling. Hutaakan sanctity which, while different, is not evil."

Iris oh so carefully turns the cover of the tome. Iris excitedly whispers, "This is it!!"

Down below, Remar senses the importance of the discovery and says to the Hutaakan priestess, “KIEFINE REMAR GET YOU HIGH?” in very awkward Traldar.

Kifein calls up above "Have you found the Knowledge of the Elders?" then turns to Remar and responds "Yes, Remar. Can you help me get up there?" though Remar’s unskilled ears hear “Yes, you get me off” while Kifein points up to the door and makes butterfly motions with her hands.

Remar hears, "See, yer a regula lady killa Rema. Fun fer all ages, shapes, sizes, and races"

Iris says, “Griffin, how about you examine the jewelry while I look at the tome?”

Draven looks over Iris's shoulder as she whispers, “That's a special ring”

Griffin examines the necklace, holding it up to the light of his flaming sword. He smiles wide. "This looks VERY valuable. Very fine craftsmanship. Some of the most well made stuff I've ever seen.

Iris seems completely absorbed in the tome. The cover of the book is heavy, written in Hutakan and possibly some other language as well. Iris sees some Nithina writing as well as a third language she does not recognize but have seen in the Hutaakan library back at their village. The book is very old and feels that rough handling of it could easily damage or destroy it. Iris mutters under her breath, "I wonder if this is some kind of codex," then louder, “This is a fragile piece.” Iris walks to the door and pokes her head out looking for Kifein as the Hutaakan priestess floats up to the doorway awkwardly. Iris helps Kifein get her feet on the ground.

Once she gets into the chamber, her eyes widen and she looks around. Tears come from the corners of her eyes. "This vault and this tome have been lost to my people for centuries. Thank you for recovering such valuable artifacts for us.” Kifein carefully hugs Iris, Griffin and Draven, watching out for their flaming weapons. Iris feels freakin' awful and looks at Griffin guiltily.

Griffin gives her an "It's okay" look

Kifein says "How do we get the book out of here? I fear that carrying it in a backpack could damage it. I would hate to have come all this way only to ruin what we need to save the valley and all its inhabitants." Kifein looks carefully at the book and pedestal and the space to either side of the book. Fortunately there are no dust lines indicating the missing items.

Griffin says, "Should we try and glean the knowledge we need from it while we're here? How long would that take?"

Kifein says "Oh no, that could take days. We should return this to Kforedez."

Iris says, “Well...Kifein, I was thinking about transporting the tome. Perhaps if we wrapped it carefully, and carried it by hand, that would be for the best,” then adds  “And it may be a good idea, as Griffin suggested, to read what we can while we are here and it's safe. If Remar could levitate the book as he did you, that might help as well, but I'm not certain as to how much effort that would cost him.” In Traldar, then Thyatian, Iris says, "There are no less than three language in the pages I've already seen"

Kifein gives Remar the thumbs up and has Iris tell him that she no longer needs the magic. Iris raises an eyebrow.

Draven comes back over from examining the other side of the room. "Whatever this evil, we need to deal with it before we leave this place. It is a blight upon all that is good and just."

Iris sighs then  shakes her head and grins

Ariadne says "So what's the plan?" she yells up?

Notes

This part of the Vault is also a Dyson Logos Map. Flear's Temple has been altered a bit and combined with another Dyson map to create the Vault. Thanks +Dyson Logos for all your wonderful maps!

Cast of Characters: 

Garrett "Griffin" Constantine, a Thyatian rogue of a gambler from Penhaligon rolled by +Arne Jamtgaard 

Draven Rickart, a Thyatian Acolyte of the Church of Karameikos ministered by +Jason Packer with help from +Patrick Burke 

Remar Umerus, an Alphatian battle mage that escaped forced service in the Thyatian army currently marshalled by +Patrick Kelly 

Iris Varda, a Thyatian explorer and historian searching for answers and adventure, now guided by +Stephanie Kelly 

Kasiex, a Hutaakan Wildsteward used to ranging the mountains and valleys now led down a new path by +Patrick Burke 

and +Jason Woollard as The DM