The party gains access to the cistern after flashing the key from Ozekai. Despite the lock’s age, the mechanisms work beautifully, granting access to the rooms beyond.
The door gives way to a long room flanked by numerous alcoves extending out in a radial pattern. Each opening houses a vertical stone sarcophagus, which are all carved with exquisite craftsmanship. They depict a wide range of individuals wearing an assortment of clothing, from exquisite finery to intimidating armor. Tiny shards of opal are pressed into the floor, creating a thin path from one end of the room to the other.
Another set of stone double doors marks the end of a short incline towards the north. Flanked on either side of the doors, are some huge rudimentary stone carvings shaped like large, rounded human caricatures. A bright aquamarine liquid seems to flow off the front of them.
Fyn recognizes these as tiberoliths, constructs that are typically used as guardians in ancient ruins. When the party tries to walk into the next room, the constructs animate, gently warning them that they are trespassing.
Diplomatic relations break down, as the party has a quest to fulfill. Even name-dropping Ozekai has no effect. Left without choice, the party tries to disable the constructs through trial of combat.
The conductive tiberoliths blast out an electrical shockwave in all directions. For Barnaby and Krask, the damage is nonexistent, but Fobias and Trace take it on the chin. It honestly doesn’t take long for the party to subdue these constructs. Maybe sitting around for hundreds of years softened them up?
History Lesson
The next room is bare save for the six pillars lined up on either side of the opaline stones running from the door to the far end of the room. A series of pristine pearlescent tablets adorn each pillar, numerically marked to indicate the proper sequence of interpretation. The northern end of the room is marred by a massive pile of broken stones and rubble, possibly indicating a cave-in, but also blocking any potential doorway that may have existed there. Simple stone doors mark exits to the west and east.
As the party investigates each tablet, here are the contents:
- 1498 – 1519: The Plague of Madness. A cloaked figure with hollow eyes holds their hands outstretched, standing above a mass of distressed individuals. Bouts of flame are falling from the sky in the background while musical notes dance around the central figure.
- 1520: The Shattering. A woman approaches the cloaked figure, musical notes emanating from her lips. In the background, several individuals in various sets of regalia are poised with weapons and crackling energy. A secondary image below the first reveals the cloaked man who possesses three faces, each wracked with pain. Several shards of something broken plummet to the ground.
- 2191: Ahk L’minsha (Stifling the Babble). A slivered shard surrounds a solitary figure encased in a rough bubble. Above, the tri-faced figure observes, eyes seemingly closed in peaceful reverie.
- 4337 – 4340: The Swallowing of the Minakaan Lake. Three panels adorn this tablet, showing the progressive wasting of a seaside town. Eventually the water completely subsides, along with the coastal plant-life, and the buildings are in decrepit disrepair.
- 4542: Sarenrae’s Gift. A craggy mountain outcropped with small caves rests underneath a sprawling willow tree. Smaller figures stand in an orderly line, their heads bent in silent reverence.
- 4543 – 4545: The Dune Marches. An army advances over rolling sands towards a terrifyingly large mass of various creatures. Among them are mangled giants, winged devils, malicious genies, and writhing tentacles.
Underneath the pile of cracked rubble to the north, Krask finds the two halves of a seventh tablet. Since this passage appears to have been built with masterful expertise, the cave-in seems surprising. Krask puts the two halves together, yielding additional information:
- 4546: The Second Founding of Mihlaj. Underneath a broken shard, smiling figures have assembled on top of a cylindrical structure. The space below them is occupied by the bones of the creatures seen in the other tablets.
Keep in mind, that the year is 4707.
Palms Outstretched
With their minds filled to the brim with new knowledge that they’re sure to remember forever, the party opts to head to the west. Interestingly enough, the door is trapped, but it’s not armed. Krask deduces that someone intentionally disabled the trap by disengaging the trigger mechanism.
A handful of simple picks and shovels litter the polished stone floor, cast aside haphazardly next to an extinguished cooking fire alongside an occupied sleeping mat. Broken bits of pottery lay discarded among priceless vases and sculptures. There are several blank tablets that line the walls here. The far end of the angled room drops off suddenly to natural rock and dirt, its irregular edge is sharp and steep.
Fyn gathers the group together and steps them, dimensionally, down to the bottom of the cavern. The wizard dances flames across his hands in an intimidating display, perfectly out of view of a figure lying on the ground nearby. They rush over and find a woman, dressed as a member of the Palms of Charity, badly injured.
Trace lays on his healing hands and restores life to the woman. She thanks them, but is distraught. Apparently, worms had pulled her brother into the winding cave passages. Her story is corroborated by a dark smear of along the cave floor.
Apparently, Master Ryn commanded them to come here to take advantage of the water situation. The conversation is cut abruptly short, however, when the ground begins to shake and rumble. A gargantuan purple worm bursts out of the ground, its radial rows of sharp teeth displayed in a terrifying tableau.
Why are the Palms of Charity in the cistern? What caused the cave-in? Will the GM be able to generate a challenge for these snot-nosed players?