"The crypts are right across the hall and down the stairs," Jarvis tells Chess ala'riina, and leads her to it.

The stairs go down about 3/4 of a typical story then switch back to go down another 3/4s to exit into a cross hallway. Several openings are in each wall in both directions, but the shorter end of the hall ends in an iron grate.

He leads her down to the grate. Beyond, you can see a stone bier across the room, with a stone sarcophagus sitting on it.

"That's where Esmeralda was laid to rest those 500 years ago. Unless you have some reason to need me in there, I would rather not enter as a sign of respect."

Chess ala'riina nods her head to Jarvis and thanks him for guiding her down to the crypt where she needed to be for the spell to work as best as possible.


Moving to a spot where she would hope that Esmeralda body might of been lay to rest.

Taking a sitting position on the ground she slowly pulls the scroll out and begins to read it as she allows the Goddess of Magic to hear her plea.

"Great Goddess I seek your wisdom and ask for answers that are within your Domain and Realm of Magic, Knowledge and Hidden Secrets.

Is the body of Esmeralda in this Material world?
she waits for a reply before she is able to ask the next question.
This message was last edited by the player at 19:55, Fri 09 Apr 2021.

As Chess ala'riina stares ahead more or less at the sarcophagus (as a focus), she notices the decorations on the side begin to twist and squirm, forming into runes that spell 'yes'.

"Is her body with life?

The decorations again twist into runes that spell "No".

“Can her body be located above ground?

This time, the decorations give an odd answer: Both.

"Has her body been desecrated by divided into pieces? there was a sad look upon her face when she asked this question.

Once again, the decorations shift and turn and twist into a single word answer: NO.

"Am I able to retrieve her body from where it is located?

It was a good sign that her body wasn't desecrated.  Now the only thing is to know if its possible to be save and then to discover if she wishes it to be saved.

The markings on the sarcophagus move into a new answer: YES.

Things were looking hopeful and she had only a few more questions to ask the Gods.

“Can the location of her body be discovered in the paintings ?

Although it seems to take a bit longer to form an answer, the scrollwork reshapes itself into one word: NO.

The first ones to return with a Wonder are Bash and Vogh with the Cloak.

Tyrol is the next to return, but only because he never actually exited the tunnel.

Hsang, Ozrus and Vashon are the next to return with the Armor.

A little bit later, Aniyu and Hardcore Jimmy return with the Hat, but only because they didn't use the tunnel; instead, they traveled overland.

You are still waiting for Lucien, Kurat and Cassandra to return.

"Hey Trickster," Vogh said as she entered the chamber once more.  "We managed to find the cloak.  It is right here, and both Bash and I were able to tell a little bit about it but there is more that is there.  We just can't identify it.  Are you able to?"

"Same with this armor," Ozrus said as he lugged the suit of field plate into the room. He set it down in a spot where anyone who wanted to could examine it. "As far as I can tell, this is a suit of field plate made of a mithril-steel alloy and a third material that might possibly be aurum. Not sure. Looks like it is also designed to hold an augment crystal," he added, pointing to the metal green-star plate covering the heart. "When I scanned its aura I noticed transmutations consistent with effects of Fly, Bull's Strength and Mending spells, but enhanced. But I got the feeling that its magic was even deeper and vaster than that..."

Ozrus put his hands on his hips and stared at the armor for a few more moments before turning his attention to the other wonders. "So you guys managed some success as well, it seems. Anyone have to fight an armored spikestone golem for theirs?" He gestured toward the couple of scratches he still had from where his cure spells hadn't quite fixed him up all the way. "Or have to disarm an explosive swamp gas trap?" He aimed a thankful nod toward Hsang.

---

What is an "augment crystal"?

Steiner walks into the building with heavy steps, a billowing cloak, and the artifact twirling around his finger. A large smile branded on his face.
This message was last edited by the player at 13:54, Fri 30 Apr 2021.

"Those are all transmutation spells," Trickster replies to Vogh.

"You would think I would be able to identify such things, wouldn't you? Alas, I cannot. However, I will probably take Ozrus up on his offer to share the Identify spell."

He eyes the hat Hardcore is twirling around his finger.

"Are you sure that's a Wonder?" he asks, and looks to Aniyu for confirmation.

"Then again, that would seem to be a great way to hide it. 'Here. Smear this mud on your face. You look good now.' Hmmmm. I may have to try that trick at some point."

Ozrus pulled his spellbook from his pack and handed it to Trickster with surprising casualness. Most wizards were quite protective of their books. Not that Ozrus wasn't, but he figured his fellow Greenstars were trustworthy enough. "Page 14. Don't spill on it or mark up the pages. Maybe I can copy one of yours later? I don't sleep much, so I can copy one at night if that works into your schedule better."

"In the meantime, I think I'll make a few potions quick. Maybe a scroll too? Not sure. But I don't think I want to go tracking down another one of those wonders until tomorrow. Now that we have a better sense of what we are dealing with, I can better prepare for the challenges we will likely face. Anyone need anything before I go find a spot to relax in the garden?" Ozrus still lingered for a bit to see what everyone else's plans seemed to be.

In reply to Trickster (msg # 257):

Steiner unceremoniously tossed the hat towards trick "why Don't you try it out and let me know?" His jovial smile confusing the manner of the action. He would then look towards Ozrus question and waited.

Chess ala'riina knew she only had two more questions to ask and it must be right.

"Is her corpse located in the Northern Hemisphere?

Is her corpse located  in the Eastern Hemisphere?

With those two last questions it would give a better area to locate the body.

The answer to both questions Chess ala'riina asked comes back 'Yes'.

As she ponders the answers she got, which seemed mostly straight forward, she does start to wonder about one of them. While it was consistent with the spell as she knew it, taken in context, there was something slightly odd about it.

It made her wonder about where the body might be hidden... if it even was. It made her think of one of those old fairy tales parents told their children, about a princess sleeping in a glass coffin. The sleep was a curse, of course, and the glass coffin was merely to protect the princess from dust and spiderwebs and similar things. So, she wasn't hidden at all. The real question was how far away would you have to be to not have heard of the princess. Could you be 'hidden' without being  hidden?

For that matter, where was the last place you'd look to find Esmeralda's body?

Trickster accepts the hat from Hardcore and examines it for a moment before putting it on his head.

"Any idea what it's supposed to do?" he asks. "You don't suppose it will tell us what it does just by wearing it, do you? I've heard many items like this require a period of... what's the word they used?  Ah, yes--attunement."

"Curiously, I don't know how else to explain that. I suppose... it has to get use to you... and perhaps you to it? The usual period is a day, sometimes a week. If this is such a crisis, though, why would it take so long? Perhaps just an hour? Ten minutes? Five minutes?"

He takes the offered spellbook from Ozrus.

"Thank you. That should help. Hey! Maybe this is a Thinking Cap! Let's me learn spells quicker and easier! The oddity there is that then I wouldn't need the Identify spell anyway! Ha-ha-ha!"

"Well, I didn't really go on any of the first round of Wonder retrievals," Tyrol says, "though I did help a bit getting the armor. So, I'm ready to go get another one!"

"Now that I've had a moment to think about it, I'm wondering if that spikestone guardian was put there to protect the Wonder, if it was there to protect the body."

"From what the rest of you have said, identifying ourselves as Green Stars would have eliminated the threat... except, I don't think it would have, in this case. I suppose it's possible that Esmeralda put the armor there because there was already a guardian in place."

"So, whoever goes after the next one, if there's a threat, just say 'Green Star' and that should take care of it. Well, maybe. If it works, great! If it doesn't, then you're no worse off."

"So, what do you think we should go after next?"
This message was last edited by the player at 00:28, Fri 14 May 2021.

When Trickster made the comment about the hat or other items needing attunement, she hadn't thought about that.  Perhaps that was why she couldn't figure out the rest?  Time would tell though she was sure.  For now she kept the cloak on so that she would hopefully attune to it and find out what it would do.

"We had a genie guarding the cloak.  Thankfully, we were able to say the right thing and retrieved the cloak.  I did happen to say Green Star when I spoke to it so perhaps that is what is needed.  I would be willing to go help find another of the wonders."