A shadow passed across the opening of the front door as a figure stepped into the Citadel's central chamber.

"Greetings, everyone!" the woman calls out. "I hope I'm not too late! My name is Cassandra Darkwhisper. I came from a long way away. I tried to give up several times, but those damned green stars wouldn't let me!"

"So, what have I missed?"

Tyrol's first reaction to the female Drow was one of threat, but he quickly realized that if this Cassandra was a green star, she couldn't be one of the evil Drow. Well, he didn't believe it, at any rate. He just couldn't imagine how the Green Star would have included an evil Drow in the Cycle.

"Hello," Tyrol greets Cassandra. "No, you're not too late for the End of the World! But maybe you are just in time to help us all prevent it."

"You haven't missed anything, except for deciphering the scripts on these paintings."

He then turned back to the others, leaving further introductions to someone else.

"Okay. Hsang had started making a list of the Wonders. He left the list with me when he went off with Ozrus. I've been working on finishing it as Kurat deciphered and translated all the paintings. Well, we all did... kind of."

"Here's what I've got:"

He shows the list to the others.


"Did I miss anything?"

In reply to Tyrol Halverschlagen (msg # 128):

Timmy pushed himself off of the wall and turned to Cassandra, "hey, good to know we werent the last to arrive." He drew an apple from his sash and offered it out to the Drow "This group seems to be a rather focused bunch. what I got so far is there are 12 Wonders in order to stop the disaster, the list there that he is showing are the wonders, I think. They said something about drow sign language and deciphering but I think they just finished all that." Then, gesturing to each person as he names them off, "The gnome who just spoke is Tyrol, Kurat is the one with the mirror, the Tongue is trickster, um... and theres a chess and a vogh."

Looking back to Cassandra, "there seem to be about 12 of us, including you and me, in total but you can go ahead and consider that to just be 11, I dont actually count I suppose... Which comes to me and stein, you can call me timmy and Stein went to the volcano since Tyrol said the Volcano was the disaster."

He started turning to look back to the group but then seemed to remember another thing, "oh, right, and this is supposedly something world ending and has something to do with some kind of cycle. Us too, part of a cycle that is."
This message was last edited by the player at 22:21, Mon 16 Nov 2020.

"Welcome to this little shindig," Aniyu says to Cassandra.

"I am Aniyu. Timmy there has it mostly right. He would be Number Eleven and you would be Number Twelve. I'm not sure what would happen if there weren't 12 of us, since there are 12 Wonders."

"That's Lucien. Then there's Vashon... Kurat... and Bash. Two of us, Ozrus and Hsang, have gone off to the find one of the Wonders."

"This was all set up by an Oracle named Esmeralda about 500 years ago."

Chess ala'riina looked at the half elf in a bit of an annoyance expression for she needed to make it clear that she did not like the short abbreviation of her name.

Gazing a bit at the newcomer and seeing if she was able to spot any House Insignia upon her.  Before speaking

Timmy caught the expression directed towards them and scrunched up their own face in a 'wtf', giving a double take to look back and forth between the two drow twice before settling back to looking towards Cassandra.

the apple still out, in offering.

Cassandra wears a gold oval brooch with black enamel within the oval and the red symbol of House Auvryndar.

"That's... incredible. Pleased to meet all of your," she replies.

Then she notices the other Drow.

"Greetings... Chess, was it? I suspect that is not your full name. I was on the other side of the glacier when the... summons came."

Her hand strayed subconsciously to her right leg.

Cassandra could see that there was a House Insignia pinned on the knot of her hooded cape.  It shown House Nasadra, but she could see that it was in silver.

"Those that don't have a tongue to speak our language seem to find it easier and dishonor one's name buy shorting it.  A human trait. she said the last part with such sarcasm

"I am Chess ala'riina.

Lucien waves at the 12th member of this little group. He looks at the man named Timmy "Debate is all well and good, but assuming that the Elemental Plane of Fire is involved somehow is a good bet. Superhot magma, Fire elemental beings, and somesort of thing rising out of said magma. These are indicators. I think we can cross The Planes of Water and Air off of the list. But Earth might be involved somehow." he says to the room. Then he sighs and follows it up with vigor no less. "Honestly I think this is just the beginning of this whole cycle. And this Oracle is leaving a lot of blank spaces. Which means we don't have time to wonder or argue about what it could be. We have a month until it spills outside of the current containment if it doesn't start rising faster. So do any of you have contacts at any of the bard colleges? Or sages involved involved with the plane of fire or Kossuth's clergy? Any of them might know something. We have 12  Wonders 12 of us and 12 wizards involved in their creation as well as 12 languages. Thoughts on any of this folks because now is the time." he is trying to be inspiring and get your thoughts flowing rather than force his thoughts on you.

OOC: The last line about trying to be inspiring and get your brains working is more literal than one might think. He is a paladin they lead or at least try to.

Being that cassandra did not decide to accept the fruit offered, While Chess spoke, Tim made a quick glance between the one he was already munching on and the apple. As the drow made a snipe about humans, he then let out a brief cough type of chuckle, "ahem, oh how rich, miss priestess thinks I'm human. Ironic a drow would condemn the wrong person though, you never gave me your name..." Timmy then leaned back against the wall, "how do you think I came by it?"

Regardless of if an answer came, he then turned his head to face Lucien, "Oh, no, it is sound to think this is fire planes funniness. Just asking the question because it's best to brainstorm other possibilities in case it's not fire plane wierd. Do we have the oracles name? It's curious that there are so many 12's involved, and this monestary... almost seems like a clock. You say a month? but it could speed up, I'd be willing to bet a silver that it's actually another 12... just a theory though."
This message was last edited by the player at 06:57, Tue 17 Nov 2020.

Vashon gave a nod to the newcomer as he listened to the others. Now that all the paintings had been deciphered and translated, they knew where all the Wonders were concealed. It only left them to go fetch them.

"Not a clock, Timmy... a compass. The mark above each painting indicates the direction in which the Wonder lies," Vashon says.

"You may be right, Lucien, but I think we may be overthinking it. There were 12 Wonders because Esmeralda foresaw 12 items would be needed. After that, it just follows logically. If it required a separate person to wield each item, then that would mean 12 people. If it only required 6, then we'd only be six in number."

"The same applies to the wizards and the languages. Both deal with secrecy. Even if she could have gotten one wizard to make them all, why would she? As the inscriptions say, she went with the wizard that was best suited at crafting a particular item. That was true for... what? Three of the items? That thus established a pattern."

"Further, by using 12 different languages, it offered an extra layer of secrecy to the scripts as you couldn't readily see a pattern between them."

"While we wait for Hsang and Ozrus to get back with whatever they found, we should continue looking over these maps. It's clear from what we've already discovered on the maps that some of the features have changed over the years. Some may have changed names and some may simply be forgotten."

"This Ice Cave, if it still exists, should be easy enough to find. I'm just not convinced that we have to scatter in 12 directions to find each site."

"You may be right, Vashon!" Bash chimes in. "I told you all hours ago that there was more writing on the paintings... down in the lower right corner in those brackets! It's really, really tiny, though, so it's impossible to actually read it."

"I don't think Tyrol's illusion trick will work because he can't actually see what's there."

"Hey, Cassandra! You got a magnifying glass on you?"

She didn't think anyone else had one... or else they would have said something earlier, right? So that left the two newcomers. She still wasn't sure what was up with this Timmy 'thing'. There was something off about him, but she couldn't quite put her finger on what that was.

Vogh had relayed what she knew thanks to a bit of insight from Chess ala'riina's light touch as she thought.  Perhaps it would bring back some lost memory to one of the others as she told what she knew.

When the new person entered the Citadel Vogh knew they had the 12th wonder to wield the items that Esmeralda had commissioned.  Vogh smiled and waved to the new person.  "Pleased to meet you, Cassandra.  Your presence here is most anticipated.  We now have the correct amount of wonders."

Vogh paused when Vashon said they should wait for Ozrus and Hsang.  Vogh didn't think it a good idea.  She wasn't sure if he was planning that they all go after the wonders together or if they could better plan to get them.  Waiting might not be a good idea.  "Vashon, do you think it wise to wait for Hsang and Ozrus?  With the list we have, we should send out others to recover another wonder.  It should include someone that is able to speak the translated language hiding it, I think.  I think maybe at least four should go at a time.  What do you all think?"

 "Did any of the other translations mention the payment? And where is the Master of the monastery because I would love to know what that vision was as payment. It might be important." he says as there was debate about the relationship between the various Wonders.

"You mean the vision that Turambar asked for?" Aniyu asks. "If it was of a personal nature, such as Turambar wanting to know if he'll find his One True Love, it probably isn't important. If it was something else, Esmeralda might have written it in her journals."

"I don't get a sense that all of these wizards were working together. It sounds like Esmeralda feared they wouldn't believe her so she commissioned magic items from different wizards to avoid having to convince them. The few wizardly friends she had, she could tell."

"I was thinking the same thing, Vogh. We split up into four groups and each group heads off in a different direction based on the grouping of the items."

"The question then is: do we split up based on an item that each person in the group things they might be able to use? Or do we just do it randomly? My concern here is that a Wonder might bond to the first person that touches it... or perhaps just finds it. That's why I was suggesting we wait for Hsang and Ozrus, to see if they found the armor and what it does."

  "Waiting for them and the Armor sounds at least sensible because if it bonds to the person who finds it or first touches we got a real problem. Then we have to consider who can use what best and send them and only them into the area to find it alone. Or at least that would be my plan on that, but without knowing what each piece does itself no real way to know who would be best suited for it."

Kurat watched the drow wish suspicion, drow females were most commonly priestesses of Lloth and were not to be trusted, they'd only keep their word as long as it was convenient for them and one was lucky not to be sacrificed on their foul altars to the Spider Queen.

"What can be inferred. If each requires a separate wielder then these are not ordinary items. Most likely each of the items is in itself intelligent at a minimum and perhaps of artifact level at the maximum. Rare is it that someone would wield two artifacts and remain sane," the hobgoblin lectured.

"Six of them to the north and six to the south, six to the east and six to the west. We should divide into at least two teams, one team going north and the other south or one going east and the other west. While we could divide into smaller groups it might leave us unprepared for whatever guardians have been watching for all these years." he added.

Tim glanced over the symbols on the walls for a moment, mumbling numbers and not talking to anyone specifically, then counts using his fingers. "4, 5, 6, 7, 8...." Glances over at the person who showed the room the list as if looking at the list again, then continues counting "9, 10, 11, 12, 13... Are you sure it's a compass? 8 or 16, the numbers and directions don't add up to that, but if you are sure, you are sure."


He then changes from a mumble to a conversational voice, "Stein has our lens, but if Cassandra doesnt have one then we can probably make one... no problem. Some of these items seem to be in very nearly the same direction... and Youve said there are people retreiving the armor already and some at a tomb, the boots are in a tomb, seems likely that weve already covered 2 items if those parties succeed."

"Of course, I have a magnifying glass!" Cassandra replies to the one who'd been identified as Bash as she pulls one out of a pocket.

"No self-respecting Investigator would leave home without one! In fact, if the writing is as tiny as you say, we may actually need two!" She pulls a second one out of another pocket.

"I always carry a spare! Now, you say these corner brackets have tiny writing in them?"

She moves over to the nearest one and uses her magnifying glass to examine all four brackets.

"Yes. Interesting. Brackets are definitely cleverly painted onto the plaster to make them look three-dimensional. Only the lower right corner one has writing in it."

"Wow! It really is tiny! I think an ant would have trouble reading it! It's going to take both magnifying glasses."

She then moves on to the next one. "Yep, this one, too!" And so on around the whole room.

Tyrol looks at Timmy speculatively after his comments, frowns in concentration for a minutes and then seems to brighten up.

"Ha! Now I know why you don't seem quite right! You're a simulacrum!" Tyrol identifies Timmy.

"There may be a flaw in your Discovery. Look: front door, south; back door, north; left wing, west; right wing, east. Four cardinal directions plus 12 paintings equals 16. A compass. Not a clock."

He then turns to Cassandra.

"Don't keep us in suspense! Tell us what it says! Can you even read the writing? Or is it in some exotic language? I think Chess ala'riina said she can read anything."

Timmy raises an eyebrow and sighs lightly, "Well, so much for getting along."

"Well, of course I can read them!" Cassandra responds to Tyrol. "Sort of. I mean, they are in Common... I think. If they aren't in Common, then I probably can't pronounce them correctly anyway, but I think they are command words. But, of course, I have no idea what they command."

"Since each one is different, I'm guessing that the command word on the painting pertains to that painting."

"We could start with this one... the one where Hsang and Ozrus have gone to the village mentioned in the script. It's just one word: I-N-C-A-N-T-A-T-O." She spells it out rather than trying to pronounce it.

"I don't suppose that word is significant or familiar to any of the rest of you? I've never run across it."

"Incanto. Like Incantation. Yeah sounds familiar." he says from his corner of the room.

"But it's not a word in Common... at least, not one I'm familiar with," Vashon says, still fairly close to Lucien in his 'corner' of the round room.

"So, who's to say it's pronounced the same way in, say, uh... Abyssal? If I understand what Cassandra is saying, or, more exactly, not quite saying, these command words or phrases, since she's implied that some consist of more than one word, are all written in what appears to her to be Common script. So, what we need to consider is what languages do we know that use the same script as Common?"

"How about you, Chess ala'riina? Does your ability cover that kind of knowledge?"

"Would it not stand that the command words might be in the same language as the writing itself, It will take some time to decipher them all as well. Do you know Comprehend Languages?" Kurat asked.