Moments later the group can see Chess ala'riina walking into the room where she heard noise.

Welcome back.

How was your findings? she said but there was a slight puzzling look upon her face.

"I was in the crypt and discovered that the body of our wondrous Oracle has been taken.

"That does not sound good," Vashon replies to Chess ala'riina.

"It sounds as if there was no indication of why it was taken. Do you think that bodes ill for our quest? Or is it just incidental?"

"I've afraid I don't see any significance myself. Were you hoping to speak with her after all this time?"

Looking to Vashon "I was hoping to speak to her spirit but there was no body for the spell to work and I am a bit worried as to why someone would take it.  And the caretakers of this place never tried to find it.

Waving her hand slightly in the air "Seeing that this place was created by her and she would be a very valuable asset to this place of worship.

"I'm good to go!" Bash says. "I vote we go after the ring!"

She holds up a hand and wiggles her fingers for emphasis.

Vogh listened to Chess as she arrived saying that the oracle's body was taken,  "Another thing to consider is that it was taken for the same purpose that you wanted it for.  To find the wonders.  Speaking with the dead is not such a difficult task for someone with sufficient power to do so.  Did you get any indication of where it may have gone?"

Chess ala'riina smiled to Vogh's comment and it seemed that they were thinking of similar patterns.

"Location is slightly known but not precise.  That is a Mystery that I am faced with at the moment. she said as she looked at Bash wiggling her fingers.

Taking noticed of the new item that Vogh is now wearing it was only proof that her time also succeeded in getting the Wonder.

"We must be careful, for those that wished to gather these items may now be aware of your presence and the gathering of them.

Be forewarned.

Ozrus thought about how the other Wonders guardians had been dealt with while the group discussed Esmerelda's missing body. Perhaps it would have worked to speak with the golem instead of attacking it. In hindsight, perhaps that is why the golem had not been linked to a shaitan, and why there was also no control ring like he would have expected. Perhaps it was bound in such a way as to be loyal to the Green Stars.

He had no way of suspecting such a thing at the time, but it was something to take into consideration in the future. He even made a point to mention his observations to the others once there was a lull in the conversation's current topic of discussion.

After that, he half-excused himself. Far enough to go do his own thing, but still close enough to participate in the conversation. He mixed up some seemingly random herbs, funguses, and roots from his pouch as he spoke. "If you discover more about Esmerelda's whereabouts, (or why it is necessary), please let me know. And I wish the rest of you luck that are going out to search for more wonders today. I myself am going to relax until morning though. It's been a long day of taraveling here, then deciphering the doors, then flying out to the crypt I helped search, and fighting off a golem. Sure, I could press onward, but I see no reason not to take things easy for now. No sense in overexerting or overextending, right?" The young elf had the general vibe of a long-retired grandfather.

"But here are a few gifts for those of you going out again." He took the herbal mixtures he had been concocting and sprinkled them into vials of water he had on his person. The resulting mixtures were sludgy, muddy, grainy, and/or inky in appearance. "Here are some potions of healing, restoration, enhancement, and improvement. Take what you would like. I can make more tomorrow." He would of course give more details to those who were interested.

---

GM, what time of day is it? I was thinking about scribing a scroll tonight and possibly transcribing a spell into my spellbook, but I want to know how much time there is before dawn. (Ozrus only needs two hours of "sleep").

Trickster, Ozrus will help you decipher his spellbook when you are ready to copy the spell, so you shouldn't have to make the extra roll to know what exactly you are looking at.

Druidic potions up for grabs (I'll keep what isn't claimed):
Cure Moderate Wounds (2d8+10)
Cure Light Wounds (1d8+5)
Lesser Restoration
Haste (10 rounds)
Tongues (100 minutes) - claimed by Vogh
Resist Energy (Cold 20, 100 minutes)

This message was last edited by the player at 13:06, Tue 11 May 2021.

It's late afternoon.

"Maybe it's just me," Tyrol suggests, "but what did you expect to find out from Esmeralda?"

"I mean, she told us where all these things are hidden with these pictures. Do you honestly think she's going to tell you where they are? In any more detail than these walls do?"

"Keep in mind, too, that she was an Oracle. Don't know how that carries over into death, but won't she just give you more riddles to solve?"

"Also, now that you have me thinking about this, do you know for a fact that her body was removed? Or has somebody told you that? I mean... did you actually look in the coffin or sarcophagus or whatever it was?"

"I'm an alchemist. We never take anyone's word for something without testing it ourselves."

In reply to Chess ala'riina Nasadra (msg # 270):

Steiner watched the conversation transpire and chimed in towards chess "Perhaps we should investigate why the body has disapeared, perhaps try to relocate it. If there is competition for the relics then we may have to find it eventually. Especially if said competition gets ahold of any of the relics".

"I believe Chess ala'riina was attempting to locate the body," Aniyu says.

"While I'm not saying some of your ideas might not be right, there could have been other reasons for her body to have been removed. Cultists and other would-be Oracles come to mind."

"I don't claim to be the wisest of people, so my ideas are no possible that yours. I just believe we are over-thinking it."

Vogh listened to them talk back and forth about the body.  She thought it very important but she also thought it very important to find the other items as well.  "There are still quite a few of us here I think we should split up and go find the other wonders.  I will go with someone to get the ring while others get a different one."

Her eyes gazed at Tyrol slightly with disconcert when he mentioned about her being an Oracle.  But then again what was she to expect from one such as him. He knows little about the Mysteries of Life and Time.

Taking a deep breath she spoke "Tyrol her body is not to help us find what WE should be able to achieve.  It is a desecration to allow her body to be used for evil and possibly corrupt the fabrics of Fate.

Her body should should be found and place in a safe place for other Oracles of the future to praise for her great deed to save the world. That is if you don't have any issues about that and we do find the cause of all this

"Oh, when you put it like that, no, I don't have any objection," Tyrol replies.

"I was thinking I'd go after the Medallion, if anyone else wants to go. Otherwise, I'll go with Vogh for the Ring."

It takes almost an hour to find a scroll in the monastery's Archives that has the spell Secret Page on it for Ozrus to study and copy into his spellbook.


Lucien, Kurat and Cassandra return with the sword. As with the others, once they step out of the tunnel, the tunnel disappears.

"We have yet to get any sense of urgency to retrieving these items," Vashon comments, "but the lava-magma continues to flow. Unless the volume of flow increases, it will rise more slowly as it does, since the area it now has to fill will keep growing."

"The day of destruction, will possibly come when the magma overflows the valley walls, or so I believe. The entity behind this won't probably feel secure enough before then."

"Also, we have yet ask any of the people living here about any of these places. While I don't expect them to know many of them, surely they will know some. Take this Golden Lion where the Medallion is. It sounds like a tavern to me. If it's been around that long, someone here must have heard of it."

"These magic portals will take us there, but it would be nice to know what to expect. That way, we can send whoever suits the location best."

In reply to Tyrol Halverschlagen (msg # 278):

"Tyrol, I will go with you to get the medallion.  Someone else can get the ring if they want.  I was just trying to get us moving."  Vogh said when Tyrol said he would go to get another of the wonders.

To Vashon she said, "Yes, but like the dirt road, no one would have known what to expect there I am quite certain.  If the medallion is in a tavern then that is a good place for me to head next as I offered."

"Well, Vashon had a good point," Tyrol says as he steps in front of the mural with the medallion. "Is this tavern still a going concern, or are we looking for ruins?"

"If it's still open for business, where will the tunnel take us? Do we have to ask permission to search the tavern, or do we just ask for the medallion?"

"See what I mean?"

He then turns to the mural and says the magic word: "Malikarinian!"

"Those are good points, Tyrol!" Bash offers as she watches to see if the tunnel opens.

"I'll go find Jarvis and ask him. Remember, he didn't know about any of these hidden sentences and magic words."

Once the tunnel opens (if it does), she'll go looking for Jarvis.

It is unclear if Tyrol pronounced the magic word correctly or not, though presumably he did because another tunnel appears in the wall.

At this end, nothing is visible out the other end of the magic tunnel, but can't quite be sure why. Some sort of distortion until  you get closer to the exit.

"Shall we Tyrol?  You want to go first or shall I?"  Vogh asked.  Once decided she will either follow or enter.

Chess ala'riina was a bit shocked to see Vogh going after the Medallion before the Ring.  But then again all these items were unique in their own way but the Ring was interesting cause it was crafted by a sword-smith.

"Be well on your journey.  I will go seeking the ring at The Rock. she replied before they entered into the tunnel.

Now she had to wait and see if she can open the tunnel to The Rock after they were gone.  Not wanting to cause some parallel effect with two opened at the same time.

"It goes to a tavern, right? So how dangerous can it be?" Tyrol replies to Vogh as he steps into the tunnel and begins walking to the other end.

It wasn't long... maybe 30 yards as opposed to the miles it bypassed. As he approaches the other end, he peers carefully, cautiously, and intently ahead to see what lies at the other end.

Bash returns with Jarvis just then.

When she reads off the locations, he does know about some of them.

The Ice Cave of Parnouth is a famous location in the area that travelers frequently go visit because it has ice in it all year around. It was named after Kester Parnouth who discovered it and owned it for many years. It's up in the foothills about 10 miles west-northwest.

The Rock is a spire of greenish rock about 22 miles northwest. People have often gone there to chip off a piece for good luck.

He's vaguely heard about the Ruins of Kral Kagarrak. It's supposedly an old Dwarven keep somewhere up in the mountains.

Spire of the Moon he's never heard of.

Deridor’s Tower he's never heard of.

Misty Waterfall he's never heard of, though there are several waterfalls in the mountains to the northeast.

Field of Dreams he's never heard of.

Crypt of Kaballah Kabar he's heard of. It marks the site of the old village of Torbel somewhere to the southeast... maybe 40 miles away.

Old North Road is a short section of old road that connects the North Road with the Mountain Road. The old North Road was the road north of the Old North Road, the Old North Road, and the Mountain Road south of the Old North Road. The western part was changed as it was used to connect the villages to the south and became the 'new' North Road while the eastern part was used to connect the Dwarven mines up in the mountains and thus became the Mountain Road.

Inn of the Golden Lion is in Smudge, the closest village to the Citadel. It's about 12 miles to the south-southwest. The monastery gets supplies from there about once a week.

While he has heard of the Lost Remson Mine, all he knows is that the rich silver mine is lost. Supposedly, it lies somewhere to the north-northeast, but after old man Cyrus Remson died, its location died with him. People have been hunting for it for years.

He doesn't know of anything in the area called a 'Tomb', and has never heard of anyone called Zama Kindu.

"We've had up to three tunnels open at the same time already," Vashon comments to Chess ala'riina.

"I'm guessing that we could have opened all of them at the same time and each of us gone through one to fetch the Wonder."

"If one of us had gotten killed by whatever guardian was there, I'm guessing that it would have been a sign that he wasn't... worthy... or whatever. Someone else would probably have been... summoned."

"That being said, do you wish to go alone, or would you prefer some company?"