Serpent's Skull [Racing to Ruin] (IC)

[Blackhawk101]

Fronaldo crumbles to his knees in the soft jungle loam, “Nooo!”

[BuckGodot]

Book will cross to Fronaldo and gently help him up, leading him away... "Come, my friend. We must be strong for them."

[lostsole31]

Lacking a body, Aron will begin a much smaller cairn for Pim's head.

Anyone say anything for Pim?

[Blackhawk101]

Fronaldo overcome with grief, sobs softly and plots killing charau-ka in a variety of unpleasant ways.
“Words fail me when it comes to describing my friend Pim. Vibrant, Full of life, and vivacious all seem to fail to capture his essence. So much joy was packed into his tiny frame.”
“Know this; I will avenge you, Pim. This I vow.”

[lostsole31]

Okay, now what do you do? Climb to the top of the ziggurat again (a very easy climb), or attempt the obscured doors?

[BuckGodot]

Book looks up. "I think we should finish out what you started up there... But that's just my opinion..."

[Blackhawk101]

Fronaldo steps purposefully to the ancient stones and begins to climb.

[lostsole31]

A few minutes later, the party is at the top of the Ziggurat. Which set of stairs do you descend?

[Blackhawk101]

With his enchanted dagger in his hand, Fronaldo gestures to the Southern stairs. Assuming no objection, he proceeds taking the lead and moving with stealth.

[BuckGodot]

Book will follow close behind keeping a watch for traps.

[silphael]

Xhanfaerd tries to get a new look at the mural with the slots for gems.

[lostsole31]

The party makes its way to the center room, the one with the pillars and lots of wall reliefs.

You didn't quite have a lot of time to study them before. Just to refamiliarize everyone with this room ... A circular grid formed with deep grooves sits in the center of the floor of this roughly circular room beneath a domed ceiling decorated with crystalline patterns. At either end, passages open to the building’s exterior. Four elaborately carved columns stand in the passageways, one to the north and three to the south in a triangular arrangement.

Built by the Azlanti hero Savith, this entire chamber essentially functions as a giant map. The circular grid on the floor is approximately 10 feet in diameter, with 1"-square grid-boxes set in evenly arranged rows.

The four columns in the room are carved with elaborate arcane symbols and etchings. The symbols on each column represent one of four celestial bodies or forces, easily recognizable to the party—the sun, the moon, the stars, and the space between the stars known as the Dark Tapestry. Each column contains several deep holes bored into 4-inch sections that swivel around a central shaft.

With Book's assistance, Xhanfaerd realizes that the holes in the columns are designed to hold crystals or gemstones, and that the swiveling sections must be set in the correct configurations.

As far as the murals, they are more general ancient symbols that gave insight to the above information, but nothing worthwhile on their own.

[Blackhawk101]

“Whatabout the crystals we found on the serpent folk? Will those work in the columns? How do we align the columns to the correct constellations? Use the map on the ceiling?”

[lostsole31]

Aron points out that there are three crystals, but four columns .... just to throw a wrinkle in there.

[silphael]

"Well, that simply means that one crystal is missing."

[lostsole31]

"Oh, wait a minute," says Aron, upon closer inspection. "Nope, there are many holes per column. Okay, so either there are a LOT of crystals missing? or, there is one crystal missing, and each crystal goes into a column, which is the one I'm inclined to believe. This means that either there are a lot of red-herring holes .... or that there are different effects based upon the combination used."

[BuckGodot]

”Well! Looks fruitless to stay here then… We should move on. Besides, I know a guy who had a bad experience with fitting gems in holes…”

[lostsole31]

Where to (for) now?

[Blackhawk101]

“Okay, we keep searching. But first, what are we going to do with the dead snakefolk upstairs. Was it where we left it…?”

[lostsole31]

Aron shrugs. "The jungle reclaims its own."

[Blackhawk101]

Fronaldo shrugs and heads off to the main corridor to the North, moving slow with stealth. There is a dangerous gleam in his eyes.

[lostsole31]

Then what? The only unexplored, or rather ignored, section is actually opening the door on this level (which is pointless), and a large hole in the floor in the room where you spent most of your time fighting Issilar (that room was never really explored).

[Blackhawk101]

After a quick check of the Charau-ka nest and finding no new exits, Fronaldo returns to the room where they fought the snakefolk and explores that.

[lostsole31]

This wide room has a high, arched ceiling painted with fading pastel swirls. Its walls are carved with seemingly random combinations of branching lines, connected to patterns of overlapping circles of various sizes. Along the southern wall, a flight of stairs leads up to the next tier.

Now, it is Book's chance to shine as he identifies the marks on the walls as depictions of the genealogy and immigration routes of the Azlanti people before the Age of Darkness. Unfortunately, the worn markings lack a precise unit of measurement and fail to provide names or other positive authentications of ancient landmasses and settlements.

There are a series of later etchings, but it is written in a language that only an "archaeologist" like Dr. Booker would know ... Tekritanin. Written in Tekritanin, several names are scrawled in the stone, including Tazion and another place .... "Saventh-Yhi." There are names of several other Azanti settlements, but the writing and preference notes that Tazion was a major settlement ... that itself seemed to be beholden to this place Saventh-Yhi.

Nobody among you has ever heard of "Saventh-Yhi" ... and the very fact there is another major Azlanti settlement possibly larger even than Tazion (itself which was whispered at by only the most knowledgeable until recently) is no small thing. This is a major discovery.

In other news, there seems to be hole tunneled crudely into the floor. It can not be seen "through" as it seems to turn at some point out of view.

[silphael]

"So, either we descend that way, or we go to the closed doors we saw earlier."

[lostsole31]

Aron looks suspiciously at the hole ... "Looks like some type of hard burrower that is a critter, not an intelligent race did that. I think we should climb back below from the outside and enter those doors. If that doesn't solve the issue of this hole for us, then maybe we figure it out later?"

[BuckGodot]

Book nods his agreement to Aron and heads back down.

[Blackhawk101]

Fronaldo nods and heads for the closest stairs. “I could probably fit down the hole if needed.”

[lostsole31]

"Sure," says Aron. "You could also die all alone down the hole or wherever it goes. So let's climb down the outside together and go through those vine-obscured doors at the bottom, okay?"

[BuckGodot]

Watching Fronaldo disappear down the steps, Book turns to Aron and quietly says, "I'm kinda worried about the little guy. He seems to be taking the situation pretty hard and I think it's affecting his decision-making... Rash, comes to mind. You know him better than I do but... What do you think?"