IC [The Desert Cave]
As they settled in, Vasati's face became serious.
"Well then, let me tell you all a tale for the ages, the story of the Cave of Cannān. It's a simple enough tale, with no satisfying ending, but perhaps there is a moral that we can apply to our own endeavors, no?"
It was a nonsense name, and not one that any of them had ever heard before. It sounded like something that he had made up on the spot. He began to weave a fantastical tale of of merchant prince of thieves attempting to plunder the secrets of a long forgotten cave. At first the tale sounded like many that he had told on the journey over, but it rapidly became clear that it was different in many strange and noticeable ways. The most obvious with these was the rather focused detail in which he explained the defenses of the cave that the thief had needed to overcome in order to triumph. What was noticeable was his complete lack of theatrics or embellishment as he spoke, and it sounded more like he was laying out the details of a heist than telling an ancient myth. This feeling was only made stronger when Vasati completely skipped over how the thief had overcome each challenge, speaking only of its existence, and possible solutions the hero might have attempted.
Quickly, the pantheon learned that a moderate sized group of mercenaries bearing weapons and equipment of the Bright Republic sat astride a variety of mounts outside the mouth. Mercenaries whose primary purpose was to detect any and all who might approach the cave unseen. The prince of thieves would have had to sneak by them, or incapacitate them all instantly, in order to avoid triggering the alarm.
They learned that the front entrance of the "Cave of Cannān" was similarly protected by a large amount of Bright Republic technology, as well as an enchantment of alarm. The thief hadn't been particularly worried by the strange technology, but the alarm spell had caused him considerable consternation. He could have overcome it, but he would have had to expend all of his power to do so.
Once inside, stealth would have been next to impossible. The tight quarters of the cave, combined with the large numbers of thaumaturgical instruments, experiments, and slaves, would make any stealthy approach doomed to failure. In addition, there were a large number of low magic practitioners, and even higher level theurges within the cave. There were also several automatons, a word Vasati assured everyone he'd just learned, as well as an extremely powerful eldritch mage who personally bore the nameless treasure of the Cave of Cannān. ALl of it, of course, protected by an anti-scrying work of theurgy of considerable power.
How the prince of theives had pierced this theurgic ward, Vasati had not said.
"Of course, what the Prince had not known was that there was a back door. Sure, it would have taken two days of flying to get there, and another two days crawl through a sandy river bottom, but it could have been done. Had he been willing to invest the time and his clothes, he could have skipped the guards in front entirely. Oh well, live and learn, no? Not like it would have helped him with any of the mages or automotons inside though, eh? Let alone the slaves and experiments that could have been unleashed."
This message was last edited by the player at 22:10, Sun 10 Feb 2019.