"Interesting," Ozrus said as he wrote down the Aklor message. "Purple flames? Ten-metal? Spire of the Moon?" Ozrus shook his mind clear. He would have to wait a moment before he pondered on all of that. First he would share his findings with the others.

"Here is what I have found out about the Staff." He cleared his throat. "If Mysterion could only be crafted in the purple flame, who better to craft it than the Wizard of the Purple Flame himself. To hide it away and keep it safe until the Time, this ten-metal staff was secreted in the Spire of the Moon."

When he had finished, he looked to the others expectantly. "Weird, right?" The staff sounded so... exotic. "I only know one more of the languages, Celestial, but I couldn't translate the shield just by looking. But if I invoke the power of my ring, I can cast Major Image one last time to try and duplicate that trick again. Think I should?" He figured the answer would be "yes," but their group had already translated so many today.

---

Knowledge rolls, with Guidance.
21:30, Today: Ozrus Wither rolled 27 using 1d20+10.  Knowledge: Geography, with Guidance - Spire of the Moon.
21:30, Today: Ozrus Wither rolled 38 using 1d20+21.  Knowledge: Nature, with Guidance - Purple Flame.
21:29, Today: Ozrus Wither rolled 31 using 1d20+19.  Knowledge: Arcana, with Guidance - Purple Flame.
21:28, Today: Ozrus Wither rolled 37 using 1d20+19.  Knowledge: Arcana, with Guidance - Mysterion.

"I've had some success with this as well, the bracers are called Armstrong and were made by one called Meta Tox. After crafting the bracers Meta Tox attempted to regain the bracers after seven years, Meta Tox was a female. Esmerelda then hid at the Lost Remson Mine, or thereabouts," Kurat reported.

"It is indeed fascinating, if only the group to the library had first waited for these details. It is possible with the clues here that there might be sufficient information in the library that we might could track down some or all of these locations. I myself am not familiar with the names or places," Kurat added.

"Celestial? I know that one, too!" Tyrol responds to Ozrus. "I ca help you with that language. Which painting had that?"

"Kurat's been able to use his mirror to figure out the writings. We should try that before you use the spell."

"How many does that leave? Has anyone been able to identify the other languages? We'll probably need to use Comprehend Languages on them. Anyone else got that spell handy? I do."

Ozrus has never heard of anything called the Spire of the Moon, so it's probably not something of major significance, at least based on the premise that it wouldn't be all that far away. He suspects it's probably something relatively close by since it doesn't seem like Esmeralda would have hidden the Wonders in places that would have been known to anyone else that might have come looking for them.

He has heard of the Purple Flame, but not of any wizard specifically known as The Wizard of the Purple Flame. The Purple Flame was supposed to be some sort of spell-forge in the land of Halruaa before that land destroyed itself with magic.

And, he's never heard of a magical staff named "Mysterion". In fact, he's never heard of any staff having a name other than its function, such as a Staff of Fire or a Holy Staff. He can't recall any other kind of magic item having a name, other than swords and other weapons. Not that a weapon's owner can't bestow a name on his weapon, such as Gunslingers do with their firearms, but the items aren't normally crafted with a name, which seems to be the case here.

"I do not have it memorized but I do have a few empty slots and it is in my spellbook so I could prepare it if necessary for us to decipher the remaining ones, have we done all the ones we could do without resorting to it yet?" Kurat asked.

"Let's see we've done the boots, the wand, the hat, the armor, the ring, the staff and the bracers, What does that leave?" he asked the others.

At Kurat's comment, he adds:

"I can make a potion of Tongues for each of us, if that'll help."

Then he makes a circle of the room and calling off the paintings that they haven't yet decoded.

"We haven't done the Gloves, the Sword, the Shield, the Cloak or the Medallion."

Kurat moves over to the Cloak and examines it more, "Save your potions for when we might need them. I have five slots I've not prepared today. Given just a few minutes I should be able to decipher the remaining ones."


He then sits down crosslegged and takes his Blessed Book from his pack. "I'll need a few minutes of uninterrupted study to prepare the remaining spells."

Assuming all goes well when he finishes preparing the Comprehend Languages spells he will use the mirror trick on each of the Gloves, the Sword, the Shield, the Cloak and the Medallion in conjunction with a single casting of the spell for each.



OOC: I know it takes less than an hour to prepare the 5 remaining slots and more than 15 minutes but beyond that it's kinda DM Fiat.

I will be preparing Comprehend Languages in my 5 empty slots (the 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th and 5th level slots that are empty).

While the others have been deciphering the scripts, Hsang has been trying to find the places on the maps.

He hasn't had much luck, though. He soon realizes that, unless it's a major landmark, it won't be on the map. Small local landmarks probably wouldn't show up because they just aren't significant.

He doesn't quite understand why Torbel wasn't on the later map.

He didn't find Deridor's Tower, but there is a spot on the map labeled 'Wizard's Tower' that's in the same direction as the mark over the Hat painting.

Not far from that is a symbol for a mine, but it's not labeled. It doesn't show up on the second map.

"Magical language comprehension sounds like it could be beneficial," Ozrus said, nodding. While Kurat was busy preparing his spells, Ozrus asked to borrow his mirror so that himself and Tyrol might try and translate the Celestial writing in the meantime. And if they still could not get it, he would try casting Major Image again to bolster their attempts.

---

Hsang, Tyrol, and Kurat, you can assume Ozrus is sharing the results of his knowledge checks with you. It didn't necessarily feel worth repeating IC though.

GM, should I roll again for Linguistics now that I am using Kurat's mirror and Tyrol's assistance (assuming they agree)? Or should I use my old roll of 24? I do have the Inspired trait if that would allow a reroll at this point ( https://www.d20pfsrd.com/traits/faith-traits/inspired/ ) Let me know if his illusion is required so that I can mark it off on my character sheet, or if he uses his Inspired trait.

Here is a roll, just in case. Using Guidance, of course.
21:40, Today: Ozrus Wither rolled 20 using 1d20+19.  Linguistics, with Guidance - try translating Celestial again.
Haha, even worse!

Ki'nae slips into the room.

"Yuns done ready yet to partake in a mutual exchange of infermation yet?" The gun-monk made to spit, then remembered where she was. "I reckon not much more reason to wait on sharin' findings on what we've got past now."

Hsang shrugs.

"I have one location.  Torbel is marked on one map but its gone ten years later."

He scuffs his shoe in the dust.

"I hate to say this but I think I need to see what Torbel looks like before I can be much more use.  I'm going to head out to reach that location.  If any of you wish to join me it's a few hours flight at most but I'm not best sure of this scale or the accuracy of the maps.  Something here makes sense to me but I can't quite understand it."

His armor unfurls into a pair of massive crows wings as he speaks.

Did my efforts in my last post not reveal anything about those last five?

Since it's going to take an hour of rest and study to load those spells into Kurat's slots, the others will have time to work on the paintings for a bit.

Ozrus can be assisted by Tyrol as the Gnome knows the Celestial as well. While the writing has all be obscured in the same way, it's clear that they were all done at different times. It's why they are also a bit harder to decipher as the format is different and the scribing isn't consistent.

However, Ozrus and Tyrol manage to un-distort the writings and then read the words.

It should be noted that the words have been repeated several times on each painting so as to fill up all the blank space in order to make it look like a design. Unfortunately, you pretty much have to read through all of it to make sure it really is just repitition and that there isn't some clue stuck in at or near the end.

That's one of the reasons it takes so long.

But, you finally get through the Celestial:


This message was last edited by the GM at 19:08, Sun 15 Nov 2020.

"Oo-oo! I know what celebur is!" Tyrol exclaims when the translation is complete.

"It's a poisonous metal, sometimes mistaken for silver. I've never had any in my lab, though; not sure I want any. It's supposed to be deadly just to touch it."

"I can make new potions every day, Kurat, if you want to save those spells for something else."

"Well, it's not as easy as you think, Bash, to decipher this script! I don't suppose you journal readers found out anything that might be helpful to us? No? Didn't think so."

"A poisonous metal?" Ozrus said, perplexed. And perhaps a bit underwhelmed since he had been immune to poisons for years now. "Why would someone want to make a poisonous shield? Hmm."

The druid shrugged. "Well, anyway, that was the last language that I knew, so I might as well head out with Hsang to scout out Torbel. Safety in numbers. I trust you two will share what we learned with the others?" he said to Tyrol and Kurat. "I'll leave my notes here in case you need to reference them. Best of luck with the last four! Hopefully you get them translated before we return."

With that, Ozrus followed Hsang out into the open sky and took the form of a large cloud-like air elemental. "Shall we go?" he asked the samurai.

---

Using Wild Shape to become a large air elemental. (Fly speed 60, perfect.) Heading to Torbel with Hsang.

Based on the map, Torbel should have been about 40 miles to the southeast.

It will take Hsang and Ozrus about 6 hours to get there, as your fly speeds are only about 7 miles per hour.

One of the things Hsang was able to figure out from the maps is that the directions indicated by the paintings are not an absolute direction, but cover a range that would fall within that compass arc.

After more consideration, it makes sense. Not only were these landmarks not on an absolute mark but if the painting carvings had pointed directly to that landmark, it wouldn't have been 'obvious' that they were compass directions.

Clearly, Esmeralda chose locations that fit into those compass arcs.
This message was last edited by the GM at 18:14, Fri 04 Dec 2020.

Trick was a fair bit behind Bash but not far enough to get lost unless she went out of her way to getaway. "So from words written by the long-gone onto relics of power then?" One route was exhausted so the more information they dug up the better, but it was all still good fun so far. He twisted around to drop the cammo and just watched seeing what the excitement was all about.
This message was last edited by the player at 03:09, Wed 21 Oct 2020.

"The others took off for one of these sites," Tyrol says as he is joined by Bash and Trickster.

"They took the mirror with them, so I can't decipher the last few writings. I don't suppose either of you have a mirror?"

Trick reached back into an overly large and overly floofy fox tail to pull out a metal bar. He then twisted it and pulled it causing it to articulate in odd ways. Before long he had it shaped into a tripod with a mirror ontop of it about the size of a man's hands splayed out. It wasnt a perfect mirror but it was well reflective and clear. "The any tool is my main weapon so do forgive me if I stay close by." he said with a wide smile.
This message was last edited by the player at 20:50, Wed 21 Oct 2020.

So in the time everyone spent doing all the above have I finished filling my empty slots?

Yes, if you still want to do that.

I was already in the process of doing it, and far as I know no one has translated the last five, though since they took off with my mirror I'll have to wait for their return.

This message was deleted by the player at 23:43, Wed 21 Oct 2020.

Trickster clapped his hands and as he pulled them apart there was a clear-ish substance that formed there. He pressed it to the floor to give it a nice flat surface before offering it out. "Not a great mirror but you can get a reflection off of crystal. Be careful though, it's fragile. Though really I can make more of it if needed."