I'm confused. There are three doors: two down on the right (one at the end and one on the wall towards the front of the building) and the double doors more or less in front of you that are made of copper and green glass.

The door at the end of the balcony doesn't appear to be made of glass but does look like it's copper.

OOC: I was referring to the one described as being "at the far end to the right". I got the impression that the double doors were essentially forward of us and there was a door opposite that far end to the right... but I now see that the latter door is more likely just near that door with no specific relative direction given (in the front wall), which makes my sinister/dexter thing kinda moot, but oh well.

Honestly, though, whatever door to the right you prefer, Vasily could have easily randomly picked; he just wanted to go "the right way" before going to the left. :D

"Well, we can see what's on the other side of these double doors," Anders says as he agrees with Vasily, "unless it's just an illusion, so maybe we should check out these two doors down at the end of the balcony, since they are closed and opaque."

He follows Vasily down to that end of the balcony.

When they get down there, he reaches out and grabs the doorknob of the end door. If nothing happens, he turns it and tries to push open the door.

The door opens easily enough as there doesn't appear to be any obvious lock on it.

It opens in the side wall at one end of the room which extends off to the right. While it looks a bit strange at first, it soon becomes evident that this is a loo.

There are two built-in basins along the left wall set in a cabinet, a single bathtub also on the left wall past the basins, a cubicle on the right wall at the end with some sort of plumbing on right-hand wall, and two commodes with a half-wall separating them also on the right wall . It's all made of green crystal/glass, though there is some variation in shades.

About the only thing of interest here is that there does not appear to be any type of personal belongings, such as a comb or brush.

"Is anyone in need of freshening up?"

Vasily looks at the green glass waterworks. Very advanced but, perhaps, a bit disturbing, given that you can see through them, at least to some extent.

Vasily turns to the nearest unopened door; "Unless there are objections, I guess we could check this door next."

"Yes, an organized approach is called for here," Anders responds. "Otherwise, we could wind up going in circles, retracing our steps many times, or simply miss something of significance."

"I admit that I know little about the Syrne. I attributed most of what I heard to 'old wives' tales' and so I didn't pay much attention to them. How accurate they would have been is problematical, anyway."

Vasily opens the door in question, to see what it hides.

"I admit, I know more about the Syrne than most folks," Valentino says as he peers over Vasily's shoulder. "I'm by no means an expert but I found the subject fascinating."

"The term generally gets applied to any advanced species that predate Humans. We don't really know how long ago that was except they have left structures like this cathedral behind, as well as other relics, like the Black Pearl."

"Although it was originally found amid Syrne ruins, there's been some doubt as to whether the Syrne actually crafted it. It may have been made by one of the earlier species."

The door swings in to the left against the end wall of a long room that opens out to the right. The other side of that wall is, of course, the loo.

The room looks to be some sort of living quarters as, at this end, there are sofas and chairs arranged around an odd round table in the center. It's the first sign that everything isn't made of green glass, but they still can't see to have gotten away from the color green.

There are two curved sofas on either side of the table, in the same shade of green as the glass walls. Between the sofas are two plush chairs, each in green but a different shade. Between each chair and the sofa it's next to is a green glass table, long and narrow with a shelf underneath it. Both chairs and sofas have several throw pillows on them, in various shades of green though none match the green glass.

The center table is large enough for all the furniture to fit around it, and it has a large  hole in the center. This hole has green glass and what appears to be iron slats curving down to the bottom center of the table.

At the other end of this long room, there are two sets of three bunk bends, stacked but staggered in such a way that you could step on the lower bed to reach the second and then on to the second to reach the third one on top. There does not appear to be anything that you would call a mattress or bedclothes on the beds, but there are over a dozen pillows on each one.

There is also a green glass chandelier hanging over each half of the room.

The wall opposite the door is end wall to end wall green glass windows that look out onto the moor where you entered the building.

Somewhat oddly, you think, there does not appear to be any personal touches in the place. No paintings on the wall, no vases, no knickknacks, etc.

"This seems like a very nice room, and directly adjacent to the latrine, which would be convenient. The view is fine as well. But it doesn't appear anyone has stayed here recently. Still, this may be a nice place to live out one's years, if one could find a way to acquire food.

Shall we see if there's anything of any use in here? It does not yet seem to be the place that the Black Pearl needs."

"No, there's no reaction from Prad here, so this probably isn't the place the Pearl is trying to get to," Anders responded.

"Don't know if there's anything to find here. It's not like we can look under a floor board."

"At a guess, I'd say this is some sort of guest quarters. But that may mean this is the living quarters level."

He continued to keep guard on Prad. While Prad was acting mostly like a zombie, he didn't want to get caught by surprise if Prad suddenly made a dash for it.

"Very well. Shall we go check the hallway behind the remaining door then?" Vasily asks rhetorically as he heads to the door and opens it. Behind it he begins opening doors in the hallway as they move down it.

"Our hypothesis that the Pearl is trying to recharge itself may be wrong," Valentino replied. "Maybe this is just home and it just wanted to return."

"It could be that some event or circumstance triggered that return urge. Or perhaps Prad had a weak mind and was the first that the Pearl could dominate."

He was beginning to feel like his mind was being overloaded by all that they were finding. It wasn't that it was disturbing or hard to understand (mostly), but there was just so much of it that didn't have any context or explanation. It was start to feel a bit overwhelming.

He followed behind Vasily back across the balcony to the hallway that headed towards the back of the building.

"If it is home, then it seems like it would have a place to sit. For itself, I mean. It may not guide us any further towards that, but we haven't seen anywhere that a pearl could be placed that it wouldn't move if there's any disturbance. Even if there is no such place, we should probably explore the entire place anyway, if only to assure ourselves that no such place exists."

"Another good point about a resting place for the Pearl," Anders says.

"It's a bit large to be put on a ring. Maybe a necklace? Otherwise, you're right, there has to be a place for it. Or, our first guess was right--it's here to recharge."

"Frankly, I want to know what it can do before I'm gonna let it recharge itself!"

At first glance, the hallway looks rather long since it goes to the back of the building, though not all the way, but there are only 3 doors in each side, so that makes it seem a bit shorter.

Walking down to the first door on the right, Vasily opens it. Remember, the floors, walls and ceiling are made of green crystal, but the walls are only translucent, not transparent--they light penetrate but  you can't actually see through them. The door is the same way... even the hinge (it appears to be built like a piano hinge--it runs the entire height of the door) and the door knob are green crystal.

On the other side of the door is another living quarters type room. There is furniture in here that appears to made of green crystal but it have cushions and pillows made of a light green clear fabric. They look 'soft', but could really be hard crystal.

There's another doorway down on the right that has a curtain hanging partway across it. The curtain seems to be a translucent green fabric. Through the doorway, you can see what appears to be a bed.

Out in the hall, there's no reaction from Prad.

Glass, stone, or steel, such hard surfaces echo like no wooden structure can possibly match.  While the voices of the group may conceal other sounds for a time with their echoes, eventually the soft tapping of boots against glass rises to audibility as another individual makes their way into the strange structure.

The geometry of the place blocks sight nearly as well as solid stone, showing somewhere else instead of the other side of a wall that looks like one could see through it.  As such, the newcomer is still out of sight when she speaks up, a Vodacce accent clear in her voice.

"Hello?"

Being at the back of the procession still keeping watch on Prad, Anders hears the footsteps and the voice better than anyone else.

A quick glance around lets him realize that it's coming from below. He steps back to the balcony, Prad still in tow, and glances down. That's when he sees a woman. The voice sounded feminine, but it was hard to tell from just one word.

The woman did not look like a Syrne, but, he had to admit to himself, he had no idea what a Syrne looked like. He seemed to recall Valentino had suggested they were normal people like him.

"Hello to you, too, M'Lady," he calls down to her.

The woman below him matches the accent, with dark hair and dark eyes, the latter revealed when she lifts her gaze and turns to look at his voice.  Olive skin contrasts against a white dress, not the most practical garment for exploring ancient maybe-ruins, but at least the hem is a handspan from the ground so it won't drag in the dust.

"Ah, there you are, or one of you." looking up at the balcony with a smile, she sheaths the dagger in her right hand to give the man a wave, though her rapier remains in her left.  "Would you know what this place is?  With this much magic I want to say Syrne, but I can't say I've seen their architecture before.  It's fascinating, all these doors that don't lead to the other side."  She tries Vesten first based on the sight of him, though if the guess as to his nationality is wrong she comfortably continues in whatever language he answers in.

[OOC: With Read active Fiora can see his Arcana.  So what are his Virtue and Hubris?]
This message was last edited by the player at 14:16, Tue 03 Aug 2021.

Vasily is in one of the hallway "bedrooms", and being awful chatty with Valentino, so he misses the "hello" from below... but Anders and Prad taking off is somewhat alarming.

"Valentino... where did Anders and Prad go? I think we better go after them!"

Vasily heads out looking for the pair, but it doesn't take long to track them to the balcony and overhear conversation with a newcomer, apparently in Vesten, though she did not look like a local. Vasily waits on his questions until Anders is done questioning (Vasily assumes) the lady.

OOC: Virtue: Victorious, Hubris: Manipulative

When the new figure enters her field of view, Fiora's eyes slide over to him briefly and she gives a polite "Hello" in Ussuran in between her conversation with the first man.  Soon enough she adds another question to her list "Where are the stairs? pauses and looks around again.  "One moment, long conversations from a balcony are for courting."  Turning away, she heads over to the staircase and quickly makes her way up to where the two men she doesn't know are standing.


Edited to reflect GM post below about the cathedral layout.
This message was last edited by the player at 17:28, Wed 04 Aug 2021.

Fioria entered the building through the front doors, so the two sets of curved sweeping stairs are to either side and lead up to the balcony.

Straight ahead was another wide set of stairs leading down.

Going to the back of the building at this level is via side hallways to the outside of the stairs.

In Ussuran, Vasily responds; "If you know Thean, we tend to prefer it, to aid in communication amongst us."

"Of course."  She answers in Thean with a nod.  "So what pulls you here?"  The turn of phrase is also distinctly Vodacce, the cultural assumption that everyone dances on the puppet strings of fate baked so deeply it shines through  in their dialect even when abroad or speaking other tongues.

"We're here regarding an artifact of the ancient races. Trying to prevent the misuse of its power. And what brings you to this place?"