{Modern Setting} Beneath the Yellow Lantern

[patransom]

Marcus' search efforts bring his attention to "rod" in the hand of the unfinished statue. The rod is not part of the carving; rather, it is made of an unknown metal alloy and six grooves have been cut along its shaft, suggesting seven segments. If Marcus removes it from the statue's hand, he will find that the staff is extraordinarily light and well-balanced: a finely craft weapon.

OUT-OF-CHARACTER:    The staff with seven segments is a quarterstaff of mastercraft quality. Furthermore, additional examination will reveal that some of the segments can be unscrewed, converting it from a mastercraft quarterstaff into a mastercraft three-section staff.

Brad finds that the stone carving tools on the table are rather archaic and probably not of much use or interest, except maybe as museum pieces.

Eric shines his light into the eastern half of the north room and finds nothing new there.

Tividius doesn't spot anything new about the stone block.

Around the corner, Sahid finds that the western face of the pillar includes a basin, obviously set up to be a bath of some sort, although it is now empty of water.

[Duniagdra]

Marius will remove the staff and unscrew it to fold and stow in his backpack. Marius will then move to 1618 and have a good look at the contents of that room. Marcus Search/Knowledge: Arcane Lore at 1618 (1d20+6=19, 1d20+9=12)

[cave_lion]

Tividius will take a look at the egg artifact (without disturbing it) and statues trying to make sense of it all...

OUT-OF-CHARACTER:    Knowledge: theology and philosophy (1d20+7=17)

[tdsprouse]

Brad relaxes a bit and walks with Sahid to the basin, give a look.

Search Basin (1d20+2=13)

[CGM3]

Eric moves to 1016 and looks back down the corridor by which we came to see if anything's following us.

[patransom]

Marcus can identify the glyph on the large bas relief statue in the south room as the personal symbol of one of the Vaati (aka Wind Dukes), because it is similar to the glyphs photographed earlier and identified for you by Professor Stanley. [See here; the Professor identified glyphs belonging to Icosiol and Zosiel] This glyph (pictured below) obviously represents yet another Wind Duke, but Marcus can't translate the name. It is likely that Professor Stanley will be able to tell you more.

nadrocglyph.jpg

Further searching the chamber, Marcus notes one thing of interest: the bed-shaped stone slab emanates a thin layer of whirling air from its top surface. The force of the air would be strong enough allow a normal sized human to lie atop it and be suspended just above the slab's surface.

The statues are meaningless to Tividius, but he recognizes the gold symbol on the ebon egg as the personal device of Ogrémoch, a mythical elemental prince of evil. [Marcus already shared this information, but Dr. Alexander's separate knowledge check confirms its accuracy]

Brad's check of the stone basin discovers several small holes. From stains and a small amount of mold on the stone around the holes, it appears that water once flowed into the basin from the holes. This would seem to confirm that the basin was a sort of bathtub.

Eric doesn't notice anything following you down the corridor. The green gas cloud has entirely dissipated.

[CGM3]

Eric goes to 1320 and informs his colleagues that the cloud of vapor seems to have dissipated. He watches Marcus investigating the southern room.

OUT-OF-CHARACTER:    A bathtub in a hallway? Think about it...

[tdsprouse]

Brad walks to the door and gives it a cursory search before the others get there. Search Door (1d20+2=13)

“Sahid, have you gotten pictures of all this so far?”

[cave_lion]

Tividius continues to walk around the area looking at the items of interest. “So Marcus--ya gonna take a nap there on that slab? See how it rides?” He'll then look at the blocked off column area again “I wonder what would possess someone to seal this off like this?” He'll look around the column area for any possible sources/switches for activating the water and food sources.

[Duniagdra]

“There seems to be a cushion of air over this slab. It could be for therapeutic purposes, but until I'm certain, I'd not risk it unless one of us are seriously injured or dying.” Marcus takes additional pictures documenting all that he finds. Between him and Sahid, Marcus figures they'll leave little to nothing undocumented.

[patransom]

Tividius continues to walk around the area looking at the items of interest. “So Marcus--ya gonna take a nap there on that slap? See how it rides?” He'll then look at the blocked off column area again “I wonder what would possess someone to seal this off like this?” He'll look around the column area for any possible sources/switches for activating the water and food sources.

OUT-OF-CHARACTER:    Want to give me a search check?

[cave_lion]

Tividius continues to walk around the area looking at the items of interest. “So Marcus--ya gonna take a nap there on that slap? See how it rides?” He'll then look at the blocked off column area again “I wonder what would possess someone to seal this off like this?” He'll look around the column area for any possible sources/switches for activating the water and food sources.

OUT-OF-CHARACTER:    Want to give me a search check?

OUT-OF-CHARACTER:    hehe-based on my latest rolls not really....but here you go...searchin' and hopein' (1d20+6=20)...hey that might be enough to actually find something!

[klakxor]

“Seems Marcus has been doing a pretty good job of documenting with pictures and such.” Sahid laughs a little.

“So, where do we go from here guys. We haven't found the missing lanterns yet.”

[patransom]

Brad's search of the door turns up nothing interesting. Marcus documents the unusual bed while Eric watches and Sahid comments. In the meantime, Tividius gives the central column a thorough search. In a few moments, he discovers a hidden button to the east of the blocked off section.

[CGM3]

“So we have a choice,” Eric declares. “We can try to open that door to the west and see where it leads, or push this button to find out what happens. I vote for the button, and think we should gather around before doing so.”

[tdsprouse]

Brad walk to 1322, “That sounds fine to me, but you might not want to stand there.” he says to Eric.

[Duniagdra]

Marcus moves to 1318. “In case the block slides out this way, let's not stand in front of it. I say push the button.”

[klakxor]

Sahid moves to 1323 “The button sounds good. This is a good position to see if anything happens.”

[CGM3]

Never one to ignore intelligent advice, Eric moves to 1321. “Push the button, Max!”

[patransom]

Once everyone gets to a safe location, the Doctor pushes the button. This causes the odd stone slab to rise up into the ceiling and crunch firmly into place with a loud grinding sound. In the alcove formerly hidden by the slab is the crushed skeleton of some unfortunate individual who was obviously standing there when the slab came down. Curiously, while most of the skeleton's clothes seem to have moldered away into rags, the bones are still covered by a long leather coat that appears to be in mint condition. The coat appears to be the kind you might see worn by a gunslinger in a western movie. Next to one of the skeleton's outstretched hands is a tattered leather bag whose contents don't seem to have been completely crushed by the slab.

The back wall of the alcove is covered with a series of pegs. While most of the pegs are empty, three items still hang from them: an odd set of steampunk-looking goggles, an ornately designed hammer, and a small carved wooden rod that brings to mind nothing other than a magic wand.

[tdsprouse]

“Nice Coat. Not too lucky for this guy though. Those Goggles are kinda neat lookin too.”

Brad moves to 1221 and tentatively reaches out for the coat, and tries to pull it and anything that comes with it out from under the slab.

[Duniagdra]

Marcus takes the pack and empties it out. a cautious tone: “I'd stay clear of those thing for the moment. I suspect that this person went to take them and was crushed by the stone.” Marcus has a loon at the contents of the pack.

a curious tone: “Is there anything in the pockets of that coat?”

[tdsprouse]

“I'll check.”

Backing up a step, and pulling the coat with him, Brad will remove it from the skeleton and check all the pockets, and search for any hidden pockets.

OUT-OF-CHARACTER:    IC is down, search is +2

[CGM3]

Eric stays out of the way of the others, looking at the objects hanging from the pegs in the recess.

[klakxor]

Sahid looks at the body and everything around it. “Still seems like a horror movie to me”

[patransom]

The sack crumbles into bits as Marcus pulls it out of the alcove, scattering its contents into the hall. The contents are three small statuettes, about the right size to be held in two cupped hands, along with numerous stone fragments, obviously from other statuettes that were crushed by the stone slab. The three intact statuettes are of a grand palace, a slim spire with eight connected smaller towers of different heights, and what looks like a grand stadium.

Brad pulls the coat out, dragging some bones with it. The coat, unlike the sack, is still in fine shape. The leather is supple, showing no signs of age. After shaking the broken bones out, he searches the pockets to find a small, wood-bound notebook with an eight-pointed star burnished on the cover. The yellow, brittle pages contain some sketchy maps and rather cursory notes. The information is a bit difficult to read, but it's in English. Reviewing the pages reveals the following information:

This guy was obviously part of a small group of treasure hunters exploring this cave for "arcane relics." The group had six members: Uhle, Claus, Anders, Wayne, Jacob, Fred, and the author. Together, they entered the cave and got as far as the big room with the lanterns. The description of that part of the cave complex is consistent with what you've seen so far, except that all the lanterns were present. Wayne was badly burned by the trap in the sarcophagus lid, but they figured out how to operate the elevators and decided to split up to explore further. Jacob was planning to climb up to a passageway above the blue lantern. Fred was going to descend the elevator beneath the indigo lantern. Uhle, Claus, and Anders descended an elevator beneath the green lantern (which apparently was working at the time this expedition took place). They took the red lantern with them, because the group didn't have enough light sources of their own. The author descended the elevator beneath the yellow lantern. The injured Wayne remained behind in the main chamber. He had taken the indigo lantern an was using it for light. The notes indicate the group found one interesting item in their brief investigation: an intricately carved armband bearing a repeating leaf motif. Wayne was carrying that.

[CGM3]

OUT-OF-CHARACTER:    I, uhm, think you mean Brad pulls the leather coat out and examines it... unless Eric has gained the power of mind control!

“Well, that explains how the missing lantern got that way,” Eric observes as he peruses the yellowed pages over Brad's shoulder. “Now all we have to do is find it.”

Edit: fixed

[patransom]

OUT-OF-CHARACTER:    I, uhm, think you mean Brad pulls the leather coat out and examines it... unless Eric has gained the power of mind control!

OUT-OF-CHARACTER:    Um, yeah. Fixed. As a side note, you should recall that you have found the indigo lantern (it was in the wolf den upstairs); the only missing lantern is the red one.

[tdsprouse]

Brad hands the book to Marcus after telling the others of its contents.

“Anyone mind if I take this, it looks about my size?” Brad asks holding up the coat?

If no one objects, he puts it on over his bulletproof shirt. His face clearly shows that he enjoys the look of the old gunslinger. “Now I just need a flat brim hat and a poncho.” he says with a smile,

[Duniagdra]

response to Brad: “No objection from me.” Marcus accepts the book from Brad and puts it in his pack. a teasing tone, Marcus says: “Anyone wanna play Kings and Castles?” He then stows them into his pack also.

a cautious tone: “Anyone think we should try removing those three items the slab was hiding?”