One Last Night of Peace, Spell List?
Subject: Re: The Mountain; Burial Chamber
"That," Sa'id replies quietly, "I agree with wholeheartedly." He nods. "Thank you."
When he returned to Nesalin -- as he would have to, after all that had happened here -- he would have to write and present a paper. Perhaps it would help him to get back into a more civilized frame of mind, as well. Farron might even be interested in co-authoring...
...if they both lived. There was always that, lurking in the back of his mind.
Nonetheless, this was a momentous discovery. If only he had some way of recording it... well, he would have to make do. Sa'id re-enters the tiny hut, extracts some paper from one of the scroll cases in his pack, and begins to jot down neat and organized notes regarding everything he has learned so far, trying to put each discovery in chronological order from Overlook onward, and then, on a separate sheet, trying to sketch out a rough history of the halfling tribes.
What's lacking in all of this, Sa'id thinks, is a timeline. I wish there was some way to tell... he stops. Perhaps there was. He finishes his notes and ducks back out of the hut.
OOC: Ty, I want to try and figure out how old the tomb is. I'll look at the coins and the wall carvings if there are any, as well as any carvings that may be on the tomb itself.
From: Ty
Subject: Re: The Mountain; Burial Chamber
The carvings look ancient, but the room is well preserved, so the actual date they were created is difficult to discern. Sa'id sees what looks like date runes on some of the coins, but even if he knew what they were, it would be meaningless. Sort of like, "Year 1397 since the reign of Bullahoo the Magnificent."
From: Ty
Subject: The Mountain; One last night of peace
After a time, even Sa'id's curiosity must give way to weariness. He climbs into the hut, and rolls up in his blanket. Rennik and Garyth join soon after, and within minutes all four are in a deep sleep.
Outside, Mission sits on watch. Twenty feet away, on the other side of Farron's hut, Cadfael squats, rocking back and forth. Occasionally, Mission can hear the priest mutter angrily to himself. It must be unbearable, being this close to the source of his madness. The weight of Kor Garesh's evil presses down on them all, but Cadfael bears the brunt of it. With a sadness that surprises him, Mission wonders if Cadfael can ever be whole again. Is he intended to give his life in this quest? At this point, it might be a mercy.
After a few hours, Rennik relieves him with a pat on the shoulder. A look passes between them. Both may die tomorrow and they know it. But each knows that the other will sell himself dearly first, and on the eve of battle, that is the only bond warriors have ever needed from each other. Past strife is forgotten in that moment.
When Garyth relieves Rennik, the Halfling clasps wrists with him once and says, "Luck tomorrow, Soldier." Garyth says, "And luck to you, Hunter." Rennik returns to the hut.
A few hours later, Mission's excellent internal clock wakes him up. Garyth is still sitting watch, his sword in his hand. Cadfael is in exactly the same spot he was when Mission stood his watch. The priest has not slept at all. The wizards both crack open their spell books and prepare their spells for the day, while Rennik and Garyth prepare food. [Raja and Karl, please send me your spell lists]
After a quick breakfast that almost wipes out the remaining supplies, the group gathers up their gear. Cadfael finally stands up. He turns to the rest and says, "We must leave behind Pelor's gleam for Garesh black. On your soul, stay behind me." He turns to Mission, and with a look of great intensity on his face says, "Folly's father, leave my side and all promises die this day."
With that he spins around and heads swiftly to the door on the other side of the hall. Moving through sections of the hall not yet seen, the quantity of gold here becomes even more ludicrous. Farron says to Sa'id, "You're right. Not ten islands like Huss could have mined this much gold. This place gives me a headache, or I would have seen it myself immediately." He sighs and reaches into his pouch. Clearly, this place was no kinder to Jack than to himself. The creature had not stuck even one whisker out of the bag since they entered this cave. He wouldn't eat anything last night. Farron worries about him.
Cadfael does not pause once he reaches the other door, but immediately pulls it open. Beyond is a hallway matching the one they came in through, though it is much shorter. Within fifty steps they enter a larger chamber. This chamber has one large stone altar, or table, in the center. All around the sides of the room are stone shelves cut into the walls, and covered with ancient instruments. On the floor are many fired clay and stone pots which, while empty, still give off a faintly unpleasant scent.
"This is the preparation room," Sa'id says. "Here they preserved the bodies of their kings for burial." He takes an instrument off one of the shelves and holds it up. With a sardonic grin he says, "This they used to pull the brain out of the skull through the nose." Rennik shudders and just says, "Abomination. The dead belong to the earth." The group quickly leaves that room through the passage on the other side.
That passage extends only a few dozen feet before it ends at a square shaft going up. The shaft is ten by ten feet, and even Cadfael's glowing glove does not illuminate its top. On the floor at the bottom are several large pulleys of ancient and rusted metal, and a lot of dust. Farron says, "I would be willing to bet the pulleys mean that this shaft at one time had a man-lift. Perhaps the bodies lay in state in another part of the temple for some mourning period, than were brought down here to be prepared for final burial. I have read of such rites in other cultures." Sa'id nods agreement.
Rennik has been examining the walls closely. "There are no hand or footholds. The walls are as cunningly carved as the passageways. This would be impossible to climb, and there is no way to tell how far up it goes."
[Please check in. Feel free to do RP for any of the sections described in this turn. I moved through it quickly, but sufficient time has passed for other things to have happened during this period.]
From: Raja
Subject: Re: The Mountain; Burial Chamber
Heh heh heh. Bullahoo the Magnificent. :P
All right. Sa'id is ready for bed. In other news...
Guys, I'm trying to sort out my spell list for tomorrow. I have a few tricky decisions to make, but it basically boils down to "how much firepower do we want?"
In order to memorize fire spells (burning hands, scorching ray, fireball) I need to sacrifice protective spells (pro' evil, mirror image, magic circle against evil, invisbility sphere) and other potentially useful spells (command undead, halt undead).
To balance my spells as well as I can, I need confirmation that we ARE in fact planning to attack the main gate tomorrow, provided we can get back out of the mountain. I don't think it was ever clearly agreed upon. If we're planning to attack the main gate then I'm going balls-out destructive power. If not I'll mix in more utility-type spells. If we need more IC discussion on the subject, we can always hash it out in one of our big arguments. :P
Raja
From: Raja
Subject: Oops
I sent my message before reading Ty's. Never mind, then. I'll send out my spell list this afternoon. :)
Raja
From: Ty
Subject: Re: Oops
Feel free to discuss it anyway.
From: Raja
Subject: Re: Oops
In that case... anyone have any input?