Ozrus gazed upon the being before them with curiosity, scanning his memory for what exactly it might be. "I apologize for the intrusion, but we are here because we bear the mark of the green star and have come to claim the wand that Esmeralda left for us here. We do not seek violence. Do you happen to know the location of the Blue Ice wand called Winterchill?"

---

Here is a knowledge roll for the snake creature. Add 2 if Nature is the appropriate knowledge category.
21:49, Today: Ozrus Wither rolled 38 using 1d20+18.  Knowledge Check: snake-creature.

It's definitely not a creature of nature, but it's readily identifiable as a Naga, probably a Guardian Naga.

"Ah, yessss, the Wand," replies the creature. "Long have I been guarding it. You may find it in the corner of the Field."

With that, she lowers her upper body back into the poppies and slithers away.

If her guardianship is now at an end, she will be looking for something else to guard.
This message was last edited by the GM at 18:11, Mon 18 Oct 2021.

"Thank you," Ozrus replied. He watched the naga begin to leave, but then a thought occurred to him when he realized she might be looking for something else to guard. He called out to the being once more.

"Excuse me, miss? If you would like something new to watch over, I may have a location that will interest you. At least in the short term. A monastery where these powerful items are being gathered by people fated to try and... save the world?" Ozrus was still slightly unclear what their fate was to be, exactly. But the exact details were not the point. "My point is, we could use as much security as we can get, and you seem well-suited to the task. Is there anything we could offer you for your assistance? Or any way I can convince you that our cause is worthy of your time and attention?"

The rippling of the poppies stops before it seems to reverse and a moment later the naga's head rears up out of the flowers once again.

"What placsse isss thisss of which you ssspeak?" she asks. "I wasss not aware that there wasss more than one sssuch item. Indeed, it sssoundsss quite worthy of my guardianssship."

"Tell me more. Tell me where thisss placsse isss."

Whereas before her head and upper body had remained motionless while she spoke, now they sway and bob as if in excitement.

"The place is called the Green Star Monastery," Cassandra replies. "You can get there through this magical tunnel."

"Lest they think you are a monster that ate us, say 'Green Star' and tell them Ozrus sent you."

She thought his name would carry more weight than hers, but didn't think it was worth the risk finding out otherwise.

"Alternatively, you could wait until we gather up the wand and we can escort you back in person. Show you around and let you decide if you would like to stay. In the end it is up to you, miss... Sorry, but do you have a name we should call you? I am Ozrus Wither."

Whether the naga decided to wait or not, the elf would be heading over to the corner of the field to collect the wonder they had come for. Just as soon as it would be polite to do so.

"My kind seldom have need for names, but on the occasions when I do need one, I go by Sh'kira," the naga replies.

"I will wait until you are ready to return and then accompany you. That seems safest for all concerned."

She watches as you go searching for the wand.

As Ozrus heads off for one corner of the field, Cassandra looks around as she realizes that the huge field is more-or-less rectangular, meaning is has four corners. Sh'kira never said which corner it was in.

"I'll go check one of the other corners," she told Ozrus as she headed in a different direction. She wasn't sure what she'd do when she got there, but it didn't seem likely that there was any threat here since the guardian naga would have dealt with it.

Ozrus nodded, then headed in a different direction. "Don't forget to mind the poppies," he reminded Cassandra. He collected a few more of the pretty flowers for his herb pouch as he walked.

When he got to his corner of the field he scoured it for any signs of wands.
This message was last edited by the player at 13:22, Thu 28 Oct 2021.

It's not like the vast field has nice square corners or even long straight sides. Both are irregular but the roughly rectangular shape does have corners to it.

Cassandra heads off to one of the other corners. She looks around the area, trying to spot something beneath the poppies. After a half hour of searching, she finds nothing.


Ozrus pretty much has the same result. It didn't seem likely that the wand would just be laying there on the ground, but some sign that it was buried there would have been nice. Convinced that there must be some indication of where it was located, he searches the area a half hour as well... with no result.

That leaves two corners to go.

Ozrus was certain there were more efficient ways to search for the wand. For instance, they could have asked Sh'kira for more clues. Or he could try changing shape to use alternative methods of searching. However, the elf was enjoying spending a bit of time simply strolling through the poppies. Especially after he had spent the last few hours hunched over his spellbook.

So when he finally conceded that there was no wand to be found in the first corner he checked, Ozrus casually strolled over to the next corner to repeat the same inefficient process. After all, as far as he was aware, there were no immediate reasons to rush, and he thought it would be wise to save as many resources as possible for the next item he was going to search for. He assumed this would not be the last item he helped to track down today.

Not particularly disappointed that she didn't find the wand in her corner... or at least no sign that it was there, she headed off to another corner, noticing that Ozrus was doing the same.

She supposed she'd be excited if she did find it, but it didn't quite have that sense of wonder.

Reaching the other corner, she again commences searching the ground under the poppies. She had no idea what she was looking for, but she thought there must be some sort of sign. Then again, if it was just buried, how would they find it? Digging up half the field didn't seem reasonable or even a good idea!

After centuries of being buried, if there was a 'sign', it was mostly likely buried by now.

She pulled out her dagger, dropped to her knees and began probing the ground with it... poking straight down as well as at an angle in case poppies had grown up over it.

Perception (search) check: 18:04, Today: Cassandra Darkwhisper rolled 27 using 1d20+15 ((12)).

When Ozrus reached the other corner, he began searching the ground for any signs of the wand... some sort of marker where it might be buried. As he searched, though, it occurred to him that there might be two other possibilities. What if the wand had been polymorphed into a poppy? The second possibility was that the 'corner' wasn't strictly on the ground. A corner in a room wasn't just on the floor--it was all the way up the wall to the ceiling.

He doesn't find anything obvious on the ground, and starts eyeing the poppies to see if he could tell one from the other.


Cassandra's probing with her dagger goes smoothly for several minutes without her finding anything. Then her dagger hits something hard... and metallic... about 3 inches down. After spending another few minutes digging and scraping the dirt away, she's uncovered an 5-inch diameter ring fastened to a stone beneath it. After scraping away even more dirt, she fins that the stone is about 8 inches in diameter, is surrounded by a metal strap, and further set inside another stone which is about 15 inches in diameter.

While she can stand the ring up, pulling on it doesn't make it move upward.

When his second search turned up fruitless, Ozrus began making his way back toward the naga to ask for additional clues. Realizing that the wand might be polymorphed, he figured the easiest way to search for it would be to burn the field and see which poppy remained unburnt. However, as a druid, that seemed like a terrible idea even if it might work. And searching the sky for something not readily visible seemed unwise as well. So he hoped to at least narrow down which corner of the field they should be searching first. He supposed he would check in with Cassandra as well, in case she had had better luck. No sense in continuing his search if the wand had already been located.

When he reached the part of the field where the naga and the door waited, he said, "I haven't had any luck in my search yet. Do you happen to have any further clues you could share, Sh'kira? Like a specific corner the wand is hidden in? Is it above ground? Polymorphed? Invisible? Or has Cassandra already found it and the two of you are letting me continue to search just for the fun of it?" The wizard smirked at his own half-joke, then scanned the field to see if he could see Cassandra from where he stood.
This message was last edited by the player at 13:34, Thu 18 Nov 2021.

"I know nothing more than what I have told you," Sh'kira answers Ozrus. "There are only four cornersss. How hard can it be to sssearch them? You sssearch two, Cassssandra sssearchesss two... one of you will find what you are looking for."

"And it looksss asss if Cassssandra hasss found sssomething."

Ozrus looked over toward Cassandra at the Naga's indication. "So she has. It doesn't look like a wand though. Hmm." The elf walked toward Cassandra to help her investigate her find. As usual, he left no trail as he walked through the densely packed poppies.

When he reached her side, Ozrus asked Cassandra, "Do you think the wand is inside? It seems unlikely that this would be an unrelated hidden treasure." The wizard-druid scanned the item with both skill and spell, doing his best to try and figure out its secrets. Even going so far as to use his Traveler's Any-tool if it seemed appropriate. "By the way, great job tracking this down!"

---

Using Detect Magic and Guidance (repeatedly) to probe the weird item's mysteries. Also using my Any-tool to open it if it seems appropriate.

Knowledge Arcana: 25
Knowledge Engineering: 27
Knowledge Nature: 32
Perception: 42 (take 20)

"I didn't do anything exceptional," Cassandra protested at Ozrus's compliment. "I just probed the ground with a dagger. If it had been any deeper than the length of the blade, I wouldn't have found it."

<brown>"As you can see, it's an iron ring attached to a stone beneath it. I tried lifting it, but either don't have the strength to budge it or else there's a trick to it that I've figure out yet."

Scraping away a bit more dirt, it becomes clear that the ring is attached to a circle of stone set into a second larger stone. The ring stone is only about 2-feet in diameter, while the outer stone is about 3 feet in diameter.

A bit more probing reveals that the edge of the outer stone ring slopes away as it goes deeper, so it's something like an iceberg, where only the tip appears at the surface.

Ozrus can't see any way that his Any-tool could be used to open it. It's clearly not just a simply 'door' that swings up and away. That probably means it's a cylinder set down into a hollow chamber that's the same size as the cylinder.

While he can see that there could be any number of clamps and cogs holding it in place such that it might require solving the puzzle or picking the locks, there's no sign of anything to allow that.

It might just require great Strength or perhaps stature--after all, you don't know how deep/long the cylinder might be. If it's more that 20 feet long, that could be a problem.

On the other hand, it occurs to him that it might unscrew!

Ozrus cast Create Water atop the object to rinse the dirt off, then used Prestidigitation to dry and clean the surface to see if there were any new hidden details. He commented to Cassandra, "Well, it is made of stone, so a Stone Shape spell might be usable. But I am thinking lifting this thing will be the right way to go. Possibly unscrewing it too."

Ozrus contemplated his options, saying his thoughts out loud so that Cassandra could weigh in as well. "I could always Shapeshift into something large and strong. Probably an earth elemental so that I could check this thing out underground as well. Or I could summon a creature of even greater strength. Alternatively, as I alluded to earlier, I do have the spells prepared commonly called "Stone Shape" and "Soften Earth and Stone" if those would be useful. I can't soften this container directly with the second spell, but I could loosen the dirt around it." He studied the container thoughtfully for a few more moments, then asked Cassandra, "Do any of those sound like the right way to go? Or do you have any alternative ideas?" He gave the ring a tug and twist, just out of curiosity.

---

Cassandra, feel free to choose any of the options Ozrus mentioned and he will use it/them. He has Summon Monster V and Summon Nature's Ally I through V available, and can use the Wild Shape options that a level 10 druid has.

"I keep getting confused between what we can do and what we should do," Cassandra answers. "I mean... whatever this thing is, you could obviously pull it completely out of the ground. But, is that what we are supposed to do?"

"And if we find the wand, do we then put it back? The stone, not the wand."

"And how do we know what will disrupt the area?"

"We might as well start simple. Let's try unscrewing it first. Never thought of that."

Personally, Ozrus wasn't too worried about doing something they weren't "supposed" to do. If they were supposed to follow specific instructions, then they should have been given specific instructions. Still, he could understand and respect Cassandra's concern. But they did have to try something eventually, so Ozrus began enacting Cassandra's suggestion.

"Right. Let's try unscrewing it then. If it disrupts the area somehow, I guess we will find out shortly." The elf took out his Traveler's Any-tool and formed it into the shape of a pry bar before wedging it into the ring. He then Wild Shaped into the form of a large earth elemental. His flesh was of a color of stone the same as what the ring was attached to, covered in lichens. There were pockets of dirt in the nooks and crevices of his body where little poppies were growing. His elemental body looked almost as if it had sprung up right out of the local geography.

He took his powerful stony arms, grabbed the pry bar, then twisted and lifted at the same time to see if he could make it budge.

---

Noteworthy effects:
Large size
+6 strength (17 total)
Traveler's Any-tool
Ant Haul still active from earlier (for lifting purposes)

If it still doesn't budge, Ozrus will earth glide around it to check out everything underground too.

Ozrus quickly realized that just unscrewing it was enough, he didn't have to lift as he did it, since doing so made it harder.

After about the 3rd complete turn, it also occurred to him that the design made it virtually impossible to have just pulled it up since you'd have been standing on it while you pulled.

It takes another three revolutions before the stone cylinder pulls free of the stone casing.

It would have been hard (but not impossible) to put any compartment in the side of the cylinder, so it was sensible to look at the bottom. There was clearly a compartment there sealed with a lid with a recessed bar across it. It, too, had to be unscrewed, but it was only a lid, and easily came off. Inside was a leather tube that slid out easily.

You could now see that the inside of the compartment was lined with lead.

Inside the leather tube is what appears to be a wand.

"I am going to go out on a limb and guess that this wand is Winterchill," Ozrus said in his deep and gravely earth elemental voice. He opted to let Cassandra handle the task of actually picking up the wand since his own hands were not exactly dexterous at the moment.

"Shall we head back and go look for another of the wonders? I think I will keep this shape for a while. Being an earth elemental could be handy for exploring that mine where the bracers are supposed to be." Even though he was ready to head back and introduce Sh'kira to the rest of the group, Ozrus still took a moment to scan the wand with his Detect Magic. He would hate to return with what turned out to be a decoy stick-carving.

---

Examining the wand with Spellcraft (aided with Detect Magic and Guidance).
13:57, Today: Ozrus Wither rolled 37 using 1d20+19.  Spellcraft, with Guidance - Winterchill.

Now that it's outside of the lead-lined compartment, it readily detects as magical.

It's unmistakable aura is that of evocation (cold). Ozrus definitely gets a sense of multiple overlaying such auras indicating that there are subtle nuances to the spells held within the wand.

Ozrus shared what he had observed about the wand, then said, "Let's head back. I will let you go first, Cassandra, since I don't want to startle anyone in my earth elemental form. Then Sh'kira can go, and I will bring up the rear to make sure the tunnel doesn't close on her." Ozrus nodded, approving of his own plan. "Then once we make sure Sh'kira will be alright, I am going to head toward the mines to see if I can find the bracers hidden there."

---

I am ready to head back to the Wonders Investigation thread.
This message was last edited by the player at 16:12, Tue 28 Dec 2021.