"Besides, the tunnel stays open until they return," Cassandra says.

"I wonder now if saying the magic word again will close it? And what about at the other end? Could you close it from there by saying the magic word?"

"I don't think any threat would have come through. Wouldn't Esmeralda have foreseen that?"

Kurat stood and listened. He was seeing what ideas the others had while he thought about it.

GM StarMaster:

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.

Ozrus is just chilling, copying his new spell into his book. Not much to add story-wise at this time since he isn't adventuring out again until he has rested for the night. So I'm not going to further crowd a very crowded thread with his active presence at this time. I will go ahead and add Secret Page to his list of spells known though.

While the others go about their business, Bash goes back to studying the murals. She wasn't expecting there to be any more secrets hidden in them... but you never knew! Instead, she was just trying to get a feeling for the items, both individually and as a whole.

Maybe that way she'd get an idea or even a feeling of which one she should go after next. Clearly, the fighters were meant to wield the sword and the shield and the armor. Did they have three fighters? Were they all supposed to be wielded by one person?

"Well, when it gets down to only one item left to retrieve," she said to the others still there, "it'll make our decision for us!"

"Of course, then we're likely to fight amongst ourselves as to who goes to get it."

 Lucien mere looks at the growing collection of items. He says "Do we have any clearer idea of what to do or who gets what relic?"

"No, we don't have any clearer idea now than we did when we started," Hsang replies.

"However, given that there are 12 Wonders and 12 of us, I think it follows rather logically that we would... and should... each wield one of the items. While I do not know this for certain, once the threat is defeated, any of us that survive would get to keep the item."

"It may be that their full power can't be realized until we have all of them together."

"As to who wields which item, I suppose it depends on preference. I would suggest starting with the armor, shield and sword, since clearly they are meant for those of us you can fight and use such items."

"I would think that most of the Wonders can be used by anyone, such as the Cape and the Hat and the Ring. Unless, of course, it has a special property that only one of us can use. For example, if the Hat turns out to be a Hat of Prophesy and Foresight, then perhaps only an Oracle can make proper use of it. But, it could just as easily work for anyone. A fighter might make use of it if it grants him the ability to use True Sight."

In any case, I'm pretty sure that, should you chose an item, it will be of benefit to you as Esmeralda could have foreseen you choosing that item."

After knowing that there might be some chance of a battle she looked to Vashon "I would gladly accept your company or anyone else that wishes to go after the ring. she smiled.

Then she waited for anyone else that might wish to join her before speaking the word to open the tunnel.

  "Well then what's left to collect?" he asks unsure of what to do at this point. "We brought back the sword. That was both more and less difficult than I would have thought."

Ozrus was over in a corner, relaxing as he studied his new scroll in preparation of copying it into his spellbook. He was barely paying attention, but still spoke up to answer Lucien's question. "So far we have retrieved the sword, the armor, the hat, and the cloak. Tyrol and Vogh have gone to try and get the medallion. That means that the wonders remaining are the ring, wand, staff, boots, gloves, and bracers. Take your pick." The druid hadn't even bothered to look up from his scroll as he spoke.

"Since Deridor's Tower was a natural pinnacle of stone," Aniyu said, "I'm guessing that The Rock and the Spire of the Moon are probably similar natural features."

"Back in Vasa, there's Ringing Rock, which is often just called 'The Rock'. This one could be the same. It might be known as Barton's Rock and Esmeralda just used the more colloquial name. An added level of security."

"So, anyone else want to go after the Staff with me?"

"Sure why not? This stands to be fun." he says as he walks past the collected Wonders so far.

"I'm as excited as the rest of you to get all these Wonders," Bash says, "but now that we have some of them, some of us should stay here and guard them, right?"

"For that matter, do we want to just leave them here in the foyer on the floor?"

"As I think about it, it occurs to me that maybe each of us was supposed to go get a Wonder on our own all at the same time. Makes sense, don't it? That way, we'd all get back here at about the same time and we'd have all the Wonders together at once."

"That certainly would have saved time!"

"Okay, Lucien," Aniyu replies, "the two of us should be able to get it, based on what we've already learned."

"Clearly, there's going to be some sort of guardian for each Wonder, but if we announce that we're the... Green Stars... that seems to satisfy the guardian, and we won't have to fight it."

"It may not work every time, though. In the case of the spike-stone guardian, it may have been put there as a guardian of the tomb, rather than the Wonder. That just means that Esmeralda chose the tomb because she knew it already had a guardian."

He didn't bother asking if anyone else wanted to go; if they did, he figured they'd just follow he and Lucien through the tunnel.

He stood in front of the Staff mural and spoke the magic word:: "Shazam."

"Yes, guarding the Wonders we've already retrieved is a good idea," Vashon agrees, "and a task I am quite suited for."

"Others who wish to stay might try discerning the abilities of the Wonders we do have."

In reply to Aniyu (msg # 302):

In fact, stein did, quite simply, follow Aniyu and Lucien up to the magic passageway. Ready to follow them through, he leaned over and leered passed them to through the passageway.

"That's a great idea, Vashon, but I think all those that can determine magical properties have taken off!" Cassandra finally responds when no one else speaks up.

"I can give it a try, but I'm not that good at it, as all I have is my magical magnifying glass."

"Oh, that's a very good point, Cassandra!" Trickster agrees with the Investigator.

"I wonder if Esmeralda foresaw just how the magic items would be used? If the bracers increase one's strength, do they have to be used to lift some gate or bash down some door? For that matter, do we all have to be together at that time? Otherwise, how would we know who needs to go where? Or will the Wonders direct us?"

"Anyway, I have an alchemical formula that can identify magic properties. I can attempt to help in that regards."

"That's good!" Cassandra responded.

"How in-depth can you probe? How many times can you do this? I mean, today... right now?"

"I'm not all that good at waiting around," Hsang comments, as he glances at Ozrus resting and studying his spell book.

"Aniyu, Lucien, Bash... anyone interested in going to fetch another Wonder?"

Ozrus gave a half-wave to Hsang at the comment, but didn't actually look up from his work. Truth be told, it would have probably been fun to go collect another wonder or two. But he was still content to at least finish his spell-copying before heading out again. He thought it wise to wait until morning to head out again, but the wise answer was not always the correct answer. He would need to think on it.

"Depth depends on the item and how long the potion lasts," Trickster answers.

"The more potent the magic, the quicker it uses up the potion. And I can only do it three times today."

He decides to start with the armor. He expects the potency of the magic to be all the same, or nearly so, for all of the Wonders, but he thinks the armor might be the least useful, so if he doesn't figure it all out, it won't be a big loss.

Unless the spell, he doesn't actually have to use the item, such as donning the armor. The potion enhances the magical aura of the item and those properly trained can read the various nuances of the aura.

Here's hoping he was trained well enough... and that he still remembers that training.

Trickster uses one of his potions to enhance the magical aura of the armor so that he can read what school of magic has been cast into it.

He easily discerns that the primary auras are Transmutation, and further determines that it's the spells Bull's Strength and Fly forming the basis of the Transmutation aura. The Fly spell has a different nuance, though, and after a minute or so, he figures out that it's two separate flying spells 'woven' together: Fly and Overland Flight.

The Bull's Strength aura is also a bit strong... more so than just what it should be... it's clearly been enhanced. While the normal spell just boosts a person's Strength, the armor seems to give the wearer a fixed Strength... of 25, roughly equivalent to that of a Hill Giant.

Trickster further realizes that the armor is not charged--the Fly and Overland Flight can be activated at will.

There are other auras, too, but he can't quite figure out what they are. Either they are 'new' spells or else they are merely enhancements. There does seem to be a charge to them, though.

In the final analysis, he determines that the armor has an enhancement to it of +5.

 "None should be left alone. We need all of us to make this work. Aniyu went to get the staff and that is where I am headed." with that Lucian steps into the portal and follows after Aniyu.

"Interesting armor," Cassandra comments upon Trickster's explanation of what he discovered.

"Anyone else able to do that? How about you, Ozrus? Your spell ready yet?"

Ozrus looked up from his work and replied to Cassandra. "I can identify magic items, but not like that. Not exactly. I would use a spell instead of a potion. I imagine the results would be similar though. I plan on preparing several iterations of the spell commonly known as Identify after I get some sleep.

He looked down at his work, then back up at Cassandra again, then continued. "I was originally going to rest and prepare spells after I finished copying this spell into my book, but I have been having second thoughts about that, actually. Would you like to go investigate another of the wonders with me when I finish up here, Cassandra? Everything will still be here to Identify in the morning.

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Ozrus is currently copying Secret Page into his spellbook, which would take about 4 hours total (1 to study it, and 3 to copy it). GM, how much longer until he is finished?