Syrissa and Edmure do not know how to fly the earthrocs, so they ride with the others.

As you fly out above the sky toward the northeast, you see the dark skies from the distant volcanoes, the flooded earth, and mountains over the farms.  You realize that the world is already turned upside down, regardless of what happens now.  Even as you fly over a grassy plain, you suddenly see geysers erupt out of nowhere, as the earth rumbles, and water is sent in fountains to the sky.  You fly over one small village that has been turned on its side -- literally -- where an earthquake has brought a mountain up in the middle of it.  And you realize that northeast is slightly closer to, not away from, the demons that hunt you.

But Syrissa points the way, and finally you arrive at rocky outcroppings.  The earthrocs have to land about 100 yards away because it is too rocky for them to get closer.  The rocks point like fingers and pillars toward the sky, sharp rocks pointed at all angles.  Syrissa explains to you that some of these rocks were once a part of Harkahnon, but before the gods were angry and sank the entire city into the ground.

She says, "The inhabitants were arrogant and thought they could harness the power of the gods, time and earth and space.  So they were punished.  But even though the city was covered with earth, their Crossroads Ark was activated, and it protected them and their creation.  Even so, they were left under the earth to die without food or water.  Or so the legend goes.  The other legend says that they escaped using the Crossroads Ark, and not a one of them was harmed."

You cross the rocks with her, and soon you find that you are staring at several statues of men.  "My sister's work," she explains.  "We are close to the entrance now."

When she finds the entrance, it is little more than a crack in the earth that leads down into darkness.  "The Harkahnon Ruins are down there," Syrissa says, "one of the few places where magic still had a place after what happened a thousand years ago."  Then she turns to you and says, "If we find my sister, leave her to me."

OOC:  This adventure is going to be part original and part from a published adventure, so you will get maps and pictures as we go.  However, to avoid it becoming too long of an adventure, some areas in the published adventure will be caved in or blocked.  This is simply to help the game move smoothly and quickly.
This message was last edited by the GM at 21:18, Fri 04 May 2012.

Borimer dismounts from his earthroc and sees to its care before rejoining the others to prepare for the descent.  Gripping Chianta with one hand and holding a lantern with the other he leads the way into the darkness.

Kahan, who still hasn't spoken since snapping at Adaran, dismounts his roc and does the same as Borimer, making sure the creatures were tethered in the safest place they could find, hopefully with something they could eat as well. Drawing his shield from his harness, Kahan pulls Grung's brooch out and shows it again to Syrissa. "Is there a way you can tell what this is, or what it does? It was said to be an artifact, perhaps you have heard of it." he suggested.

Syrissa takes a long look at the brooch through her jingling veil.  "I should have known this was an artifact.  That's why it didn't turn to stone.  It is a thing of great beauty.  This must be the Berillian Brooch.  It was crafted thousands of years ago, yet never tarnishes.  It was reported to be used by the great King Slovaman, one of the wisest of the ancient kings.  They say it helped bring him wisdom and goodness.  But it was lost to the world nearly two thousand years ago."



The sky is darkening quickly, and flakes begin falling on your skin.  As you look up, you find the clouds are dark and moving faster than any you have seen before.  Lightning flashes between the clouds.  They billow and are black as night.  In moments, the darkness overcomes you, but as you look at the snow falling around, you realize how warm it is.  These are not snowflakes; they are ashes.  The countryside is being rained down on by ashes.

As Borimer begins to climb down, Syrissa looks down into the hole and then back at the nearby woods.  "Esylia," she says, referring to her sister, "is either down there or back in those woods hunting.  If she is in those woods, these ashes will bring her quickly.  She will know the time of using the Crossroads Ark has come."  She clambers down after Borimer, helping Edmure to follow.

Borimer doesn't hear Syrissa climbing down after him so much as he feels her at his back.  Although the warrior had no choice but to trust her, he still didn't like the idea of a creature able to turn someone to stone walking behind him.  Borimer found himself wondering if her skill could hurt the undead horror chasing them but he quickly discarded the idea and resigned himself to another bout with the inevitable.

Harak moves to follow the creature down.  He is ever quiet as he tries to accept what it is that is happening.  He watches the others, his new companions, as they try to flee this dying world before it is too late.  His training is being put to use, maintaining his focus on the here and now even as his life, or the life of this world, seems to pass before his eyes.  He makes the grim decision to survive with this new group, as there seems little to gain in any other choice.  With these thoughts heavy in his mind, he begins the decent, ever concentrating on his movements nonetheless.

You descend down into the darkness.  This is clearly a natural crevice opened by an earthquake or some other product of nature.  You climb down through the rocks and duck under overhangs for about a hundred feet, and then the cave drops down about five feet into the temple itself.

Two crescent-shaped devices are on either side of a large pool (see arrows).  They emit light and can be removed like torches in a sconce.  (These are effectively cast with a perpetual light spell so long as they are within the ruins, but their area of effect is the same as a regular torch.)

The room itself is a magnificent circular room.  The domed ceiling overhead is covered in faded murals.  A 15-foot-diameter fountain filled with black, foul-smelling water dominates the center of the room.

A flight of stairs leads up to a nondescript metal door.  The staircase itself is badly cracked and damaged.  An arch made from the bones of a dragon spans the foot of the stairs.  The dragon's skull, mounted at the archway's highest point, looks down on you from dead black sockets.

Arrow slits are in the northeast and northwest walls (see map).


This message was last edited by the GM at 00:27, Tue 08 May 2012.

Flint came along with the group, making notes and studying things found.  He walked into the room hugging the left side of the room
This message was last edited by the player at 00:29, Tue 08 May 2012.

Kahan, still holding the Berillian Brooch, casually investigates the odd sconces and pulls one out, holding it outward as he follows Borimer and Syrissa. "Edmure, would you like me to guide you?" he asks, realizing the blind man would likely have a hard time navigating a foreign structure. Sliding the brooch into his haversack, he reaches to take Edmure's hand, assuming he accepts his assistance.

Borimer moves across the room to stand at the foot of the stairs, just out of view of the arrow slits. He keeps his eyes steadily gazing around the room, including behind him to the metal door.
This message was last edited by the player at 03:12, Tue 08 May 2012.

The room appears to have been empty and unoccupied for quite some time.  Your feet leave footprints in dust and dirt that has fallen or blown through the crevice you just entered.

"This is very odd," Syrissa says.  "It's what I don't see, I mean, that is so odd.  I see no statues and no sign of my sister here.  This is not what I expected."

She leans down and runs her fingers across the dirt on the floor.  "No one has been through here in at least a month."

Edmure thanks Kahan but says he will remain by Lady Syrissa.  His arm is clasped around hers at the elbow.

OOC: The Berillian Brooch, when worn, gives a +3 to all saving throws and skill checks involving wisdom, intelligence, or charisma.  (Like the Sword of Chianta, it may have other magical properties that will be discovered over time.)

"Maybe something happened to your sister? Or perhaps she figured out how to get the Ark working?" Kahan mused aloud, taking a place behind Borimer unless Syrissa was firm on staying behind the warrior. If she was, he stood nearby, looking around the room and paying careful attention to what his ears picked up.

OOC: Sorry, didn't realize Edmure was already being led, hence why I asked.

Harak moves along the right wall and stops just short of the arrow slits, which he carefully looked into from the side revealing as little of himself as possible to the slit.

The left side looks into a hall that extends north to a door.

The right side looks down a hallway with a small hall breaking off to the right.

Both halls are currently empty.

Borimer moves to the metal door and examines it.

The door is nondescript and metal, yet it is securely closed, emitting no cracks.  The handle appears to be the claw (i.e., the curved nail from a finger) of a large dragon.  Testing it shows that it is locked, but there is no apparent locking mechanism, and it could be magically locked.

Just above the claw is the following inscription in an ancient script:


-uei/\

Kahan walks up to the door and looks at the script, studying it curiously as he feels the claw to see if it has any give.

PM

Grizz looks to Flint.  "This appears to be a lock a wizard needs to open."

"Syrissa, do you recognize this language?" Kahan asks, pointing to the writing as he tries to figure out if the letters would sound the same in their tongue as it did in whichever language this was written.

Flint nodded to Grizz and moved forward to have a look as well.  "Intresting looking writing to say the least". He wordlessly tried pronounce the scripting .
This message was last edited by the player at 13:22, Wed 09 May 2012.

Borimer gets confused looking at the strange script on the door, and so he keeps vigil over the others studying it, his eyes darting around the room as his ears listen for signs of attack.

"I might be able to knock the door open myself...if necessary..."
This message was last edited by the player at 02:23, Wed 09 May 2012.

Harak, somewhat reassured that the room is empty, also looks at the script to see if he can fathom it's meaning or pronunciation.

Syrissa says, "That does not look familiar to me.  The horizontal line is Ancient Allevian for '1,' and the last symbol almost looks like an arrow."
This message was last edited by the GM at 17:51, Thu 10 May 2012.