Tales from the Windswept Dunes: Liam's Treasure Hunt [IC]

[Haluesen]

There is no sound as Liam listens at the stone door, and it pushes open with just a small amount of effort. Inside is a room that is dimly lit by a floating blue spark. There are a couple bookshelves with dusty and web-covered books and some old and moldy chairs. There was also a couple tables, including a long one in the corner.

[EdroGrimshell]

Liam perked up, books were useful. Still, best be careful. He pulls a screaming flask from his belt and has it ready for if anything tries to jump him. He walks in slowly and looks around, then goes to the books to check if any were in good enough condition to actually be read.

[Haluesen]

A lot of the books were in pretty bad shape. Too dirty or dusty to read but too fragile to clean off carelessly. There were some though that weathered time better. Mostly books on religious practices and a bit of history, but there could be something useful in them. One book however looked pretty clean, stacked between a couple others. It was a book with a golden cover and instead of words just had an image of a very strong looking person standing proudly on the cover.

Spoiler: OOC

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Any Knowledge (history) or (religion) checks made in this room have advantage.

[EdroGrimshell]

Liam hums, then calls out, "Father Turk, I may have found something that might interest you!" he pulls the gold book gently from the shelf, blowing away any dust.

Spoiler: OOC

Show

Knowledge (History): (1d20+6)[12] or (1d20+6)[26]
Knowledge (Religion): (1d20+4)[9] or (1d20+4)[21]

[Haluesen]

Father Turk was careful as he walked in. He looked around curiously. "Well isn't this a pleasant chamber. It if were so ravaged by time, it would be a nice place to rest between bouts of our work here." He himself ran his fingers over the books as he checked them out and waited for what Liam wanted to show him.

Spoiler: OOC

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Not many in the world know about magical tomes that enhance the capabilities of whoever reads them, and such are typically hard to remake and useless after being used. Even fewer know that there was a basis for these books, and original or multiple original books meant to foster self improvement in a dynamic way. From a brief look, as well as some notes in this room, it seemed like this may be one of the original tomes.

[EdroGrimshell]

Liam brought the book over, "this," Liam started, "this has significant historical value. There are magical tomes, called manuals, that improve the physical abilities of the one to read them, but can only do so once, the magic spent. This," he indicates the book, "appears to be what they were originally based on. I'll need to study it further to be sure, but, if it is what I believe it is, it's a treasure that could be worth a fair deal out of sheer history. The fact it is stored here, and was displayed so proudly, indicates it may have some religious significance as well, though I'm not quite sure on that front."

It was clear Liam was excited about the discovery, but just as ready to give the book up if Father Turk thought it fell into their agreement. He even readily proffered the book to the priest so he may read it himself.

[Haluesen]

"How intriguing! Nothing about Chronepsis has to do with self improvement but perhaps it was sent from another temple, or held by someone like myself who followed the whole pantheon. Something like this would fall under Aulasha's domain, or Kord, maybe Zuoken..." As he mused he took the book and read it. "Well these is definitely magic upon it, quite strong magic in fact." After another minute he closed the book and smiled. "It is something I would like to take for the temple, but I do believe we can make use of it before it is taken into the temple's safe keeping. I will need to study it a bit longer in here, to be certain. But I believe it should work like the copycat tomes, but without fading away upon use. Again, it is simply a theory."

[EdroGrimshell]

Liam nods, "if I can aid in that endeavor, I'd be happy to help," he comments.

[Haluesen]

For about 5 minutes Turk went through the collected books with Liam's help and did some reading about this tome as well as a little magic detection and then nodded. "Very well, reading it should not destroy it. From what I can tell, it can be used by a person once and then not again for a year. So all of us could gain a benefit from it and I could still have it put in the temple in Breezle. This may even make the town a pilgrimage site for people across Wyral!" Turk looks very excited about this, and shakes Liam's hand eagerly in gratitude.

[EdroGrimshell]

"A great boon, indeed. This alone has made the trip here worth it, in my opinion," Liam replies with an honest smile, then grows thoughtful, "although this will likely be the target of attempted theft, keeping it safe, and secret, should be a high priority until it is well guarded within the church," he continues, still thoughtful, his excitement not dimmed in the slightest despite the topic, "would you agree?"

[Haluesen]

Father Turk twiddles his thumbs with a somewhat conflicted expression. While this is certainly true, that is certainly easier said than done. There are only so many people of skill in town who aren't already serving the militia, and getting proper guards from outside of Breezle could get costly. Same with trying to place any magical protections on it. It may simply be better for us to hold onto it until a viable solution can be found."

While they are talking Tim comes in and speaks in a whisper. "Hey, be careful around here. I just heard that buzzing sound get...well it changed. Louder I think. Maybe it was faster? I don't know, but whatever is in there reacted to something." He held his wooden club defensively.

[EdroGrimshell]

Liam nods at Father Turk's reply before turning to Tim, "Let's, go check on that, then, shall we?" he says, getting his crossbow ready.

[Haluesen]

Father Turk nods with a furrowed brow and brings along his quarterstaff. Tim is nearby as and Bharat leads as they go to the stone door, with Kel still working in the alchemy room. After a bit of effort Bharat shoves the door inward. The room appears to be another mini-library reading room like the other, although with some different furnishings. It also has 4 more of those scarabs from before climbing on the walls and ceiling and making a buzzing sound with their wings, clearly knowing something was around.

Spoiler: OOC

Show

Not doing combat stuff until seeing what you want to do, but I am rolling initiative just in case

[EdroGrimshell]

Liam quickly scans the room for what may have caused the scarabs to be so agitated, then readies a bolt at one of the insects, and holds fire until he knows there hostile, or whatever's agitating them if it seems more dangerous.

Spoiler: OOC

Show

Initiative: (1d20-1)[17]
Spot: (1d20)[16]
Listen: (1d20)[8]

[Haluesen]

There doesn't seem to be anything else in this room, nothing moving or alive. Tim hides out of their sight and pulls out a healing salve, ready to use it just in case.

Bharat has his axe ready and the things are hissing and buzzing at all of you and so he decides to go in and attack. Unfortunately he fails to strike it, swinging just a little too high.

Liam's reaction shot pierces one of the scarabs and it screeches in pain. This causes it to back off to a corner, still with the bolt inside it.

The other three are still very aggressive though. Two of them go to bite at Bharat, and one is pushed back by his shield but the other pierces his leg and he shouts in pain. It's a very deep bite into his thigh. The other moves to go past him towards Turk and avoids Bharat's wide axe swing to try to stop it. It then goes to bite the priest but is warded off by the quarterstaff.

With this creature near him getting off a spell is challenging, so instead he tries to smack it with his staff. Unfortunately he doesn't put nearly enough force into it, essentially just annoyingly poking the thing.

Kel hears Bharat's yell of pain from the other room and draws his hand crossbow, hurrying to assist. He moves as far in as he can to see something and takes a shot at the scarab biting Bharat. Red psychic energy surrounds the bolt as it strikes the scarab, immediately making it fall limp as Bharat kicks it away from himself. Two remain offensive though.

Tim takes a deep breath then hurries to Bharat. He takes the healing salve and applies it to his leg while hiding behind him from the scarab. The half-orc breathes a sigh of relief, as the alchemical compound handles all of the piercing and most of the acid on his wound.

[EdroGrimshell]

Liam pulls a flask, "Bharat, Tim, move. Gonna use something a bit bigger," he says as he grabs the ripcord of his screaming flask and sets it just right to hit both scarabs and, hopefully, not hit either of the two in the room.

Spoiler: OOC

Show

Screaming Flask
Damage: (1d8)[1]
Deafened for 1 round. No saves for either.

[Haluesen]

Bharat ducked off the the side, pulling Tim with him just before the sonic wave. The two scarabs screeched in pain and for a moment were swaying side to side. As soon as the flask was done Bharat went in and sliced at the one closest to him. While the thing was off balance his axe came down and cleaved it in two.

That just left the one that was cowering in the corner and the one next to Turk was frightened by the screaming flask. The hiding one tried to flee from the room, but Bharat still took his chance to swing at it as it passed due to wanting to deal with the danger. Unfortunately he didn't put enough force into the swing and it glanced off the chitin shell. The other one also went to get out of the chamber which Turk allowed since he didn't care how the fight ended. Kel was thinking like Bharat though and went in with his rapier to try to deal with it. It did pierce the scarab but didn't finish it.

[EdroGrimshell]

Liam pulls a vial of sleep gas and tosses it at the fleeing beetle.

Spoiler: OOC

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Sleep Gas
Attack: (1d20-1)[14] vs. Touch AC
DC 15 or Fall Asleep

[Haluesen]

The thrown bottle lands just ahead of the scuttling beetle, and it manages to crawl a little farther towards the entrance before passing out on the ground. As for the other injured beetle, it manages to make its way away from Bharat and Tim and starts to move the other way towards the direction they had not yet explored. Kel tried to take a fast shot at it with his crossbow but there was a click as the firing mechanism jammed and nothing happened. The tiefling cursed as he tried to fix it.

Bharat came out of the room and out into the hall. Then he quickly looked to Liam. "Well, what are we doing then? Kill or leave it?"

[EdroGrimshell]

"Leave it, we'll find it again later, this one though," he points to the unconscious one, "well, honestly I'm not sure. Kinda thought about seeing if we could cage it up somehow, perhaps sell it back in town, could probably find an alchemist willing to purchase it for its acid. Not so sure we have the resources to hold it though, so... we'll probably have to kill it. Still, makes it easier to put it out of its misery this way."

[Haluesen]

"The real problem is that acid spray. I don't have anything that we can use to counteract that, so moving it would be rather dangerous." Turk comments with a sad expression.

Tim searches through his bag. "Eh, I primarily have healing alchemical items and a couple potions. Some rope and some simple tools as well. Nothing that could stop the acid problem though." He just shrugs at Liam.

Bharat also shrugs, looking down the hall at where the other one went. "I'll keep an eye out this way. All the rooms seem to be safe now, so this is the only dangerous direction now."

"And unless something else happens, I am going to return to working with that strange seal." Kel adds while motioning with this tail and crossbow. "I think I might be able to work it out soon here. I hope whatever it is hiding is worth it." With that he walks back into the alchemy room.

[EdroGrimshell]

"Then it's best we not try and keep it," Liam says and debates with himself. After a bit of thought, he pulls his dagger and simply slides it into the beetle's head to kill it. He stands up again, then looks at the room the beetle came out of, "let's take a look in there, see if there's anything useful."

[Haluesen]

With words of agreement Tim and Turk walk into the now safe room along with Liam. Like the other room there are a lot of dusty books here, some still in good enough condition to read. Most of the books have either fictional stories or research and study into arcane magic, strange creatures, and the unique worlds separate from the Material. A number of weathered chairs are around the room.

Spoiler: OOC

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200 exp for defeating the scarabs. Feel free to make any checks now.

[EdroGrimshell]

Liam started to look around and try and see if he recognize anything in the room.

Spoiler: OOC

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Search: (1d20+3)[15]
History: (1d20+6)[16]
Arcana: (1d20+5)[19]
Religion: (1d20+4)[24]
The Planes: (1d20+4)[14]
Geography: (1d20+3)[19]

[Haluesen]

The room is quite similar to the room across the hall with books; the main differences are in the furnishings and the readable books' topics. A Chronepsis temple would naturally have rooms like this for contemplation and research; even small shrines will at least have a corner for meditation and some books near it. However none of the books are specific to anything about this temple in particular; nonetheless the books are likely worth something out of this place.

The books also have a lot of information about magical creatures, so if there was a need to look up a particular being there is likely to be something here. The scarabs are a creature that is natural to Wyral's deserts, at least for the last couple hundred years or more.

Liam does stumble across one interesting tidbit though in the research. Pelor's temples of the past would lock secrets and relics behind seals that are composed of movements of the sun and moon. The solutions for such seals were usually set by a particular cleric in their creation, but sometimes had something to do with what they were guarding or where the seals were. Some however were also known to be guarded by magic if opened improperly or by someone not of Pelor's faith.

While Liam is looking about, he also finds a small peridot in one of the soft chair cushions.

[EdroGrimshell]

Liam frowned at that tidbit, then asked Father Turk to follow him to the Alchemist's Lab, "Kel, I found something that... might be important, both for helping with the puzzle."

Once he had the attention of both, he set the book with the information down, "it's based on the movement of the sun, but, it may have an enchantment to make it impossible for someone that doesn't worship Pelor, or another appropriate deity I suppose, from opening it," Liam pointed at Father Turk, "your worship of the full pantheon will likely allow you to open it," he shifted the gesture to Kel, "and you can help figure it out, there's more to it as well, where the seal is placed may give a clue as well, and Alchemy is known for having an association with both the sun and moon. It's entirely possible what we need to know is somewhere in here. I think we should do a thorough search of the room to find whatever clues we can."

Spoiler: OOC

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Search: (1d20+3)[18] to Aid Another with Kel, assuming he takes 20 and has a few ranks in the skill (or a higher Int bonus than Liam does since that's what Psychic Rogues use for their manifesting).

[Haluesen]

"Sounds pretty smart. Here, use this to make the marks. Just using a hand doesn't seem to do it." Kel passes his dagger on over to Turk who leans down over the seal to examine it and wait to act. From there, Liam and Kel do a very thorough exploration of the room. And they manage to find two very small etchings on the planter where the tree with the blue fruits is: a sun at the north compass direction and a half sun at the east compass direction. Kel smiles and calls back to Turk. "Make two marks from the center, one going straight up and one going straight to the right."

Kurt does this slow and carefully to make good lines. Once he is done there is a bright light coming from that area of the room. "There's a very bright glowing ball here! Definitely something like what followers of Pelor would obtain. I don't know if it will have an effect on being touched though. It definitely radiates with magic."

[EdroGrimshell]

Liam grins and approaches to get a look, "I do believe it's your decision what to do with it, it looks like it is connected to one of your deities, after all."

[Haluesen]

After a moment of hesitation Turk picks up the glowing orb, and nothing seems to immediately happen. He spends a moment looking it over. "There's certainly some sort of power from this item but I am uncertain as to the specifics. I don't have the sort of magic to learn more in detail, at least not with me. But since it seems that nothing hazardous has been triggered by this reclamation, we should definitely take it with us. It'll be quite a sight in the temple, yes?" His pondering done with, he smiles proudly and puts the glowing orb in a satchel on his pack.

After that, everyone convenes in the alchemy chamber with the three of you. "Rest of the rooms are clear. The chamber ahead is quiet, and looks rather large. Probably some sort of primary ritual chamber or something of that sort." Bharat reports to Liam.

[EdroGrimshell]

"We should rest for a while? Recover from those beetles before we push on?" Liam asked, primarily aimed at those who were actually injured in the fighting.