The Reliquary of Ahazi, part 4
Log Info
- Title: The Reliquary of Ahazi Part 4
- Emitter: Whirlpool
- Characters: Dax, Aryia, Paenitia, Venom, Seyardu, Ravendar, Lyme
- Place: Farmlands of Alexandros
- Time: Wednesday, June 30, 2021, 8:41 PM
- Summary: The adventurers have found a trap door in the mural, leading to an underground space. They finish dinner then decide who should go down first. Venom, as she may be skilled with traps, and is quiet. Immediately after she's followed by the louder adventurers. They are in a room with a cobweb and root clogged passage. They force their way through to a much larger room with a mural on the surrounding walls. At the centre of this room is a drum. Venom and Aryia determine that some parts of the mural are notes. Once the tune is written down, Ravendar plays it on the drum. The mural lights up, and a dark stairway heading deeper appears. Bad Portents abound!
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= Appearing sooner or later =-=-=-=-=-=-= Dax 5'0" 110 Lb Human Female A 5' tall red haired human with piercings and tats. Aryia 4'8" 110 Lb Shadow Elf Female A heavily scarred mul with a curious look about her. Paenitia 3'0" 34 Lb Halfling Female A Lucht knight, dark skinned in bold feathery finery. Venom 5'6" 130 Lb Human Female A woman(?) about 5'6" in a ragged black veil and poncho. Seyardu 5'6" 150 Lb Sith-Makar Female A friendly silver sith-makar with a perpetual squint. Ravendar 3'1" 40 Lb Halfling Male A red-haired Lucht Siuil man. Lyme 7'2" 435 Lb Orc Butch Black-skinned oruch of suitable stature. =-=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--= -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= Definitely later -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= Davienne 5'1" 101 Lb Half-Elf Female A ranger with a cat. =-=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--= -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= As the GM =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= Whirlpool Otyugh I am stinky! =-=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=
The Story So Far
The adventurers have uncovered part of a mosaic in the farmer's goat field. It appears to show the cult of Ahazi, getting magic gifted to them by Animus. It also warns how mages will rise one day and try to sieze all magic for their own. It's almost seasonal, a series of six images. Digging continues. There's more digging. Even more Digging! Smashing, is decided against. Finally, Davienne has the luck and keen eyes to notice a trap door which opens into a tiny, dark hole.
Which is enough for the party to immediately have dinner.
A quick rest, kept company by the noise of so many goats. In fact, by the time you're done, the goats have rolled back around to greet you and your exposed foundation. The ginger lucht is staring at all of you. "So this shit is what you've been digging up my land for? A bunch of people getting smooshed by their phony gods?" She squints down at the fresco. "No, wait. Not phony. Just dead. Least you won't have to worry about Animus doing any squishing, right?"
"Or zotting, I guess. This looks like a zot."
The Next Installment
Venom continues to eat, tucked in tight over her meal. There are things that had to be unfastened under that veil and some of them sway in silhouette rendering her shrouded features much less human as a result. She dines with methodical use of utensils, pausing to consider the farmer's query, weighing the effort/benefit of formulating an answer. The shrouded woman sets the spork on the plate to wave her hand in a so-so fashion before the consumption of Seyardu's cuisine occupies her hands.
The resting and eating is good. Dax has taken a break from all of her digging, and she even takes a swig from her flask. Offering to the others and looks up as the farmer comes on by, "I ain't none sure what a zot is, but not much stands up to the claws of a woman scorned." She offers, with a pause, "Or at least the sayin' goes." Then she's right back to eating till she's ready to go down the dark dark hole.
Ravendar is happy to have a meal after a day of walking to all the different farms in the area and having to solve each farmer's problem. He's glad he was part of a team he'd have probably gone crazy if he had to do it all himself. He takes a sip of his waterskin as he hears the ginger lucht come up and starts speaking about what they discovered. "Aye and there's a dark hole that we are about to go down into, but if you want to go in first be my guest. Who knows what dark nasties are down there. Or you could let us rest so we can face these dark nasties so that you don't have to. Lucky for you we are here, who knows how much longer those dark nasties would stayed down there instead of coming up here."
Paenitia seems skilled at eating with her mask on. Although it is not a quick affair as she maneuvers a spoon behind it. Drinking involves part of the mask submerging in a mug. After a large amount of time is taken for her little meal, she turns to feeding her hippogryph.
This goes swiftly. Ramirez swiftly scrapes the bowl empty with his beak while the Red Knight stands with it balanced on her hat, on her head. He finishes in time for the ginger Lucht's observations.
"As the troubador say, I am sure there is much worry in the hole!" She laughs, beckonning at the farmer, "You want to come with to see we do not cheat you, trip in the traps with us?"
Once all the food was distributed, the silver sith-makar made a plate for herself, and sits down by the fire for her meal, facing the area where the work was under way. "I hope that this food is enough for everyone, I can make more if needed. Though the main concern still remains what we do from here, yes? Does anyone have suggestions about how we should move forward?" Seyardu asks.
"There's a door, I say we go through it." Dax's vote, at least. "I mean, it seems if we're lookin' for something, it ain't gonna be up here. It's gonna be down there. That's how I'd wager it if I were hidin' something important. Stick it behind at least one door, maybe six, ta be safe."
Aryia nibbles on her meal as well, pleased with the meal and glad to have it from working so much. She watches Venom for a bit and the shadowy articles sway. She asks an innocuous question with a few motions, "Are you like me where you can't talk? Or do you just not talk?" <Handspeech>
Aryia shakes her head at Seyardu once she was finished eating.
"Yes. This is the plan. Ramirez. Do not eat the Sheep." Paenitia stands decisively, taking her shield, warhammer, lucern hammer and sword off the peacock-andalusian's saddle. Her sword is on the same side as her shield, perhaps to balance the warhammer on her opposite hip. The shield is shoved back, so she can grip the pole arm.
She marches over to the hole. Clank. Clank. Sloooooowly. "I ready to jump in."
The Red Knight looks about to, "Not the goats either."
Venom cocks her head slightly on Seyardu's question, setting her spork down once more to point to herself, then hold up a single digit skyward.
"I have some experience with traps." she elaborates with a few more signs.
She turns her head a little further to Aryia's gestures, considers for a moment, then, "Personal." <handspeech>
The clanging of the Red Knight prompts a short, sharp whistle, and the shake of her head before she sets her mess kit aside and pushes to her feet, taking up the dragonspitter that had been resting in her lap.
Ravendar finishes up his meal and he goes to pick up his fiddle, "If you'll allow me to help with clean up." He starts to play a bit of a simple but bouncy melody as he casts prestidigitation to clean up all the dishes and utensils that were used for the meal." He starts to help get things packed away. "I agree with Dax, there is a door and we should go through it, although if someone knows how to find and disable traps they probably should go first." He gets his things ready but keeps his fiddle out. A goat is nearby. Must've wandefred away from the hed. Either way, i's near. Baaaa, goes the goat.
It is going to headbut Ravendar. Becaue it's a goat. That's what goats do.
Still, the way down is now clear. It is very dark. You're going to have to light it up to get down there.
The redheaded human still has her circling continual light source. She's got the sharp capable eyes of a human... so she needs light at night always. Stretching as she stands, Dax lets out a loud quick sound of satisfaction, "Well, that was good." And lets the others who are cleaning up, do just that, clean up. She starts heading toward the door where Pae happens to be and flicks her Orcish claws forward so they are at the ready, "Traps? I guess there could be an amount of those..." Her eyes get a bit wider as she looks around, "So, anyone good wit' them sorts of things? I jus' end up stumblin' on them and hope they aren't filled with witch spells or the like."
Aryia seems satisfied at the answer that Venom gives, even just that little bit helped her understand the mysterious strange a smidge better. She stands and rolls her shoulders, ready to go whenever the group is.
"A vow of silence then, or something similar. And thank you very much for the assistance, Ravendar." Seyardu notes, catching the symbols out of the corner of her eye. Though she turns her attention quickly to the other Lucht, and she waves violently to them. "Please, a moment, Paenitia! I understand if you are ready to go, but we should all be prepared as well. At the very least, we cannot leave a fire unattended."
Ravendar oofs as he's headbutted and he rubs where he got hit, "Ouch, that was not very nice. I'm going I'm going, I'll get out of your spot.' He look at the goat and then on a whim casts detect magic as he looks at the goat. You never can tell, it could just be a goat, but it could also not be a goat.
It's just a goat.
It is now eating grass.
"It is the goblin friend that handle the traps for me. He smack them with 'torchie'." Paenitia explains, looking upwards at Dax and her orcish claws. "The stumble on method, that is the one I use, yes."
She looks over at Ravendar, tilting her head, "You have find a friend. Do you know the trap disabling song?"
And some more laughter, "Friend Dragon, the Lady of the Farm attend the fire. I am ready to go and await someone jump in before me." It's why she's got her polearm ready.
Venom holsters the weapon and reaches up under the veil to reaffix... whatever is beneath to it's place and she nods to Aryia, reaching out with to lightly tap a knuckle against the Mul's arm before stepping toward the torch she'd left Everburning over the trapdoor. She pauses though and looks back to Seyardu, whilst the musician's arcane divinations detect a certain radiance from her forearms, something at her waist and on her back beneath that poncho.
Ravendar shakes his head as it's just a goat, not some horrible shapeshifting Lucht Siuil eating monster. He lets the spell go as he looks over to Paenitia, "Oh not specifically trap disabling, I'm sorry. The only songs I know is one that will rouse my companions to perform great deeds of heroism, or to distract others or to cancel out other songs."
Aryia blinks, then lightly smiles and silently chuckles, stepping up with Venom but keeping a distance so she, and the others, could work.
"We should still not leave the place a mess, we are still using their land, even if it is to help them." Seyardu replies, but there wasn't much left to do at the camp. And so she joined the group gathering at the hole.
No, no. It's not a horrible monster. It's a goat for god's sakes!
It makes a lot of noise and proceeds to get back to nomming the grass happily.
Still, you're able to set the rope and tie it off to a piece of revealed foundation, descending into the gap you've revealed in the earth. It is dark down here, but with Dax's light, you're able to see a very dirty, very dusty, and very old room. The air here smells of staleness. Still, you're *definitely* in a chamber of some kind. Behind you is a half-collapsed room, cutting you off from whatver's that way unless you want to dig it out. One door sits to your left, half-rotted wood and hanging from it's metal hinges loosely. It doesn't look like it'd take much more thgan a poke for it to fall away. On the other side of the room entirely from where you descended, opposite the collapsed area, is a wide open passageway full of cobwebs, vines, and weeds.
Into the rift, er, hole. Dax is somewhat impatient and will look around once the rope is tied off. "I either can go down first, or after some others. Anyone gonna take the lead on this? If not, I'm bound ta get us all tied up and murderified." She mentions, though she waits a moment to see if someone else is going to take the lead. Including someone who might look like they can find traps a better way than walking into them.
Paenitia looks over at Venom, carefully extending her pole-arm, "I dub you Knight of the First Trip. Go down, check the traps, we follow."
Venom looks to the others as the question of who's on first, and slaps her chest a couple of times before she is given her new title by the little Knight. She cocks her head a little, nods, then takes a few moments to examine what can be seen within the available light. Satisfied enough, she swings down onto the rope and eases down enarly to the floor, where she dangles. She spents a few more moments gingernly probing the floor with the split toes of her odd footwear, then sets her weight upon the floor proper. She sighs up, "Signs of collapse to that side." then points to the direction of the filled in doorway, "Don't clump up there." <Handspeech>
The veiled woman then carefully starts to go over the tiles, seeking signs of trap or hidden access.
Ravendar gives the goat one last look and narrows his eyes at it before he heads down into the hole after all the others.
Looking down into the hole where Venom went, Dax just grumbles, "Well, I ain't understandin' a lick of that." And she grabs the rope and proceeds to the earth below. She's going to follow this appointed person, but she has no clue what's being said just if there's some kind of halt/danger/shaking of limbs wildly. But at least she's lighting the place up with a little stone that slowly meanders about her head.
"They are saying that there are signs of something collapsing in one area, so we should not group up there and be careful, in case our work and further exploration causes further collapse." Seyardu explains, waiting at the back. She wasn't the most graceful, and she did not wish to start trouble before they even began. "If anyone begins to feel light headed, we should make our way back to the entrance. This place has likely not seen air for a long time."
"Ole!" Paenitia calls, throwing down her pole-arm, which clatters loudly. "Ole!" She calls again, grabbing the rope and sliding down, landing with a clunk. She may be small but she is not quiet, at least, not right now, and she grabs her weapon and raises it to the ready.
Advancing on the cobweb filled corridor, she looks back at Venom, "Thumb up for 'go in', thumb elsewehere for wait, I am not good with the hand speak. But get the gnoll or bark like a dog, I am there."
Once there was an okay, Aryia waits for a few others to go down before grabbing onto the rope and sliding halfway down before letting go and hitting the ground with an oddly balanced and quiet landing. Mul'neissa eyes prove helpful here, the darkness easy on her eyes.
Ravendar is the last to go down and he is glad that someone brought a light with them. He brings his fiddle up and he has his bow ready for whatever might wait them.
Simple enough parameters. While initially startled to the point of whirling around when Paenitia dropped in, she seems to accept the translation conventions with a little nod. To that end, she holds a thumb out to the side and continues to examaning the area. She holds up a warding gesture and creeeeps over toward the half-rotten door, trying to get a bit of a peek with whatever light is bleeding into the room from their light sources.
Simple enough parameters.
While initially startled to the point of whirling around when Paenitia dropped in, Venom seems to accept the translation conventions with a little nod. To that end, she holds a thumb out to the side and continues to examaning the area.
She holds up a warding gesture and creeeeps over toward the half-rotten door, trying to get a bit of a peek with whatever light is bleeding into the room from their light sources while the others make their way down.
Dax watches as Pae creeps, and she quirks her mouth to the side, and then takes in a deep breathe and lets out an audible sigh. A few moments later, "Hellloooooo?!" She calls out, and shrugs, "Ain't nothin' here but dust an' rotten doors. I say we press on." She comments and then wonders, "What was it again we were 'spose ta be lookin' for? Some kind of box or an icon or somethin'?" Idly she kicks at the ground to scuff up some dirt.
"Ok. I wait." Paenitia says decisively, standing guard in front of the cobweb filled corridor. She peers down it, looking for eyes, multiple sets of eyes as the webs suggest. She holds her pole arm at the ready, "Heeere I am. The very tasty small snack. You come out now, lurking in the dark."
She turns her Smiling Mask towards Dax, "Yes. The box or icon or something. They lying priestess did not give details." No spiders lunge out at Paenitia. Thankfully.
The tunnel just sort of sits there for the time being.
Waiting. Taunting.
Or, you know, just being a tunnel.
Aryia flinches from the yell. "Shhh!" she hushes Dax, casting a glare as shes moves up behind Venom some distance away, giving space. She tilts to the side to look past them.
Ravendar moves behind the others a bit slower as he's being careful to stick to the shadows. He really don't want anything to see him down here if he can help it at least not until it's seen the rest of his party first. He doesn't mind that Dax is being loud as it's all the more cover for him to be quiet.
Venom hisses a harsh 'Shhhh!' as well, then starts to move through the door, carefully and trying to be mindful of the fact that those that constructed this place likely intended to protect it's contents, somehow and so she keeps searching with her available light for signs of danger or misdirection.
Finally, the sith-makar slides down the rope slowly. Thankfully holding up to her weight, which was a good sign. They look around, lingering near the entrance. "No, we were not given any suggestions for what to expect." Seyardu agrees. "Do not touch anything without investigating it thoroughly beforehand. We do not know what we are looking for, or are not looking for, and what it can do."
The shhhooshing gets that same annoyed look as a response that the jock gives the nerdy librarian in a library. You know, squinted, confused looking, like, 'where are we a library?' and the she huffs some. With the second shh she raises her hands up a bit, bent arms, "What? I'm jus' saying. Dead things stay dead..." A pause as she thinks that through a little more, scratching at the side of her head, "Well, there was that undead minotaur, an' some zombie fodder. Other than them tho', that which be dead is dead... 'cept well, that fella I knew, said he come back from the dead." Now thoroughly confusing herself, she offers, "Okay okay, my lips are sealed. Quiet as a mouse. No more words from me..." She rattles on..
<OOC> Whirlpool says, "Roll stealth, everyone! :D" <OOC> Paenitia says, "I have Stealth Synergy, we all roll stealth," <OOC> Paenitia says, "then take the highest number of our group roll and add our mods to it." GAME: Paenitia rolls stealth: (12)+8: 20 GAME: Venom rolls stealth: (11)+11: 22 GAME: Seyardu rolls stealth: (15)+-6: 9 GAME: Dax rolls stealth: (5)+2: 7 GAME: Aryia rolls stealth: (6)+10: 16 GAME: Ravendar rolls stealth: (20)+12: 32 <OOC> Paenitia says, "So! Ravendar 32, Venom 31, Aryia 30, Pae 28, Dax 22, Seyardu 14"
The Red Knight looks around the party, lowering her voice, "Follow and step with me." She indicates Ravendar, "Where he step is good too, now, shhh! We go."
Turning, creeping, she heads forward.
Dax will continue along after the group, trying not to make a terrible amount of noise, but mostly just following the instructions.
Ravendar doesn't mind that all the attention is on him as he focuses on being as stealthy as he can. He's sticking to the shadows and staying low to the ground as he can. He's got his fiddle and bow held close to him so they don't get snagged on anything. He tries to avoid touching the cobwebs as much as he can as he doesn't want to alert any giant spiders to their presence.
Aryia nods along at the instructions and sinks low. Mul'neissa plus shadows equals a blob of umbra coasting crossing the ground. She's quiet, and very alert, not wanting to touch anything at all as she follows Venom's lead.
Seyardu followed behind everyone else. though squeezing through a few areas, her shield arm got jostled around slightly, and when she stopped to adjust it, a strap needed to be tightened. While others moved alright, there were more than a few rustling noises and thunks of wood against stone or metal. She couldn't speak up to apologize unfortunately, as that would just make things worse. But she did eventually decide to remove the shield, for the time being.
If it weren't for the light bobbing around Dax's head, she'd probably be pulling a pretty good stealth trick by following the much quieter, much less obvious people. Though cobwebs get on her and she sputters some, "Damn the sea of hell below." She grumbles, albeit quietly as she spits some web from her mouth and wipe it off her face and hair.
The little Red Knight is oddly quiet despite her massive amounts of metal and weapons. Perhaps it's her bare soled feet, how she steps just shy of her sabaton touching and rolls her foot flat and gently easing forward.
Her days as a revoluationary are more believable now, if she can move so quietly. Webs are waved out of her way with her lucern hammer and she peers intently forward, through her grinning mask.
Venom is not happy.
She's continuing to search for any signs of danger before it blows up in their faces, and there is an accumulation of cobwebs and dust gather over the woman's shrouded veneer.
She is somewhat mollified by the guidance of the Red Knight getting the stealthful cohesion to congeal, which makes it easier to concentrate.
She doesn't raise a fuss, though, so.. that's something.
Pushing through weeds and vines and cobwebs is neither easy not fun. They cling, grab, stick, and hold on due to thorns. Nothing leaps out and bites you, in any event, except maybe a few tiny spiders.
Still, it's slow and time consuming and it isn't a use of time anyone enjoys. Slowly, the roots begin to thin, though, and you emerge on the other side of the hallway. There were definitely some doors you misosed on the way, mostly blocked off by the sheer number of roots and cobwebs you had to go through. You feel confident of that, even if you didn't necessarily see them.
Now on the other side of the passage, however, you find yourselves quietly observing a circular chamber, the walls adorned with frescos not unlike the one you saw above. This one showing a building in constructiom -- no doubt one of the ones you're in now. It's more together than one you saw upstairs, though there are still chunks stolen by time -- missing pieces in a lost history of the Ahazi. They seem to have been guided here by a 'great calling', according to the story being told here once you've identified the beginning, a sound bringing them here and causing them to settle, where they raised their voice in eldritch song to the God of Magic, who bestowed on them magic, at least according to the story.
At the center of the room is a raised pedfestal with a single, ancient drum. Clearly, you're supposed to do something with this.
Oh no.
...were the Ahazi BARDS?
...or even worse, drummers?
Just who were the Ahazi? Lost group of spellcasters that disappeared after the sundering, that's all anyone really knows. That they existed. And apparnetly were musically and artistically inclined worshippers of Animus.
Who knew?
Looking around the room, Dax can't help but whistle, that long, piercing kind of whistle that says, 'Wow this is impressive' and then she stops, and sighs. Rolling her eyes, she grumbles, "I know I know, shhhhh." She comments and practically folds her arms to pout as she is about to lean against a nearby wall, but the spider webs, egads, the spiders as well. Shivering a little with the feeling of things crawling on her skin she steps forward and then wipes at her shoulder... just in case. Quieter now she asks, "So, should we be hittin' that?" She points at the drum.
This place represents the greatest insight to them. The party is the first to learn about them. Not only were they musical and magica, they were also very fatalistic. Given the frescos above, they saw their destruction as inevitable. Magic is learned, magic is used, magic is eventually abused and you get smote by Animus.
And sometimes, Animus is smoted instead. Which led to the present predicament, investigating a tip from the smoter's priestess.
Ravendar brushes a few of the spiders that managed to try to cling to him. He doesn't make any noise as he gently brushes them off. He takes immediate interest as he sees the frescos and he moves over towards them carefully as he starts to look them over more intensely. Ravandar motions the others over as he looks for any musical notes or instructions on the frescos or the borders of the frescos that might help them. He looks towards the drum, but the drums were his cousin's instrument of choice, not his. "Look at this, it looks like some sort of song or ballad that they were singing or chanting." He says quietly.
Paenitia pulls herself free of roots and vines. Her Smiling Man mask is covered in cobwebs, except for the eye-holes which she keeps poking clear. She takes in the Frescos, and the drum.
"No." She answers Dax decisively, gesturing towards Ravendar, "The troubador lead us on the drum. Maybe we follow with the singing, get magic bestowed too? Ha! I jest. There are no lyrics on the walls."
She looks about, "the drum banging, that should be the expert."
Venom gives the place a once over and, once the safety inspection is done, takes out her notepad to begin making her notations again. She bats at her clothing now and then to dislodge the wildlife, then, with a look first the Ravendar, then to Paenitia, she starts to scrutinize the walls for text, looking for a crackable cypher.
There might be something to that, theory.
Seems like Paenitia is getting down handling Dax. Treat her like she's some misbehaving hound. With the decisive No, she just sort of stops, takes in a breath and continues to look around the room. She's not learned enough to be able to decipher anything on the walls, nor really appreciate the art, but something about how it's all put together even gets her eye of approval and interest.
Aryia didn't mind the spiders that much, in the grand scheme of things. Though she had a decent view of the chamber, her looking to and fro. She glances to the drum, but scratches her head. Weren't they looking for a box? Oh well. She'd leave that decision to the more knowledgeable of the party.
She sticks to the side, watching the dark corners. Mul in pitch black places. She probably wouldn't mind being stuck down here for a few hours.
Whatever cobwebs and vines Venom missed, the equally tall sith-makar picked up from the back of the group. And Venom was much better at moving through the area. So the sith-makar spent some time brushing off her face once they finally emerged in the room. Clear, she looks around. And squints even more. And sighs.
"I am assuming based upon what everyone is saying, there is more to this room than the drum in the center. It is unfortunate that they preferred paint to engravings."
Ravendar continues to look to see if he can find anything, "I'm looking to see if there is any music that we are supposed to play or not play. I'm not good at the drums. I preferred the fiddle, so I'm trying to find out as much as I can about this drum and what might happen before I or someone else starts to play it. There could be some secret hidden niche that has what we are looking for and we don't have to play on the drum." He does look towards the drum, "Let me at least check it over." He says as he slowly heads towards the drum trying to keep an eye out for any trap as he goes, although he's not trained in it, it makes sense that this would be trapped, at least to him.
GAME: Aryia rolls perception: (14)+12: 26 GAME: Seyardu rolls perception: (7)+3: 10 GAME: Dax rolls perception: (4)+0: 4 GAME: Paenitia rolls perception: (9)+4: 13 GAME: Ravendar rolls perception: (16)+9: 25 GAME: Venom rolls perception: (18)+10: 28
The Red Knight follows behind Ravendar, standing back and holding her hammer casually above his head, "You get possessed, I give you the light tap, ok?"
Ravendar looks over at the Red Knight that's following behind him, "Um please don't I have a nice shaped head and I'd like to keep it that way." He says as he slowly goes step by step towards the drum.
"Do not worry, it will be very light." It doesn't help that her mask has a wide grin when she's sounding so cheerful about the prospect.
<OOC> Whirlpool says, "Rave, Aryia and Venom: Roll linguistics." GAME: Aryia rolls linguistics: (1)+2: 3 (EPIC FAIL) GAME: Venom rolls linguistics: (12)+7: 19 GAME: Ravendar rolls linguistics: Trained Use Only: 0
Aryia's attention goes towards the murals, though she scratches her head and has not a single clue at what she was looking at. She glances to Venom, hoping her fellow mute had some answers.
Dax looking around at the others she looks back to the drum, "I think we need'ta hit it or somethin'. It's a drum. Am I the only one who's thinkin' this? Maybe it needs some kind of song to it, or somethin', but that shouldn't be too difficult. Jus' play whatever they'd of played." She does start taking steps toward the drum, eyeballing it. Could it be moved? Is it attached to anything? She squints, heading it its very direction.
Venom is rather studious as the murals demand more devoted study. She gently wipes dust away here and there, scribbling copies of certain symbols she notes hidden in the underlying hues. She looks to Aryia, taking her partner in silence's indications of similar notations and she nods, repeating her earlier knuckle bump. The veiled woman twists some to lay eyes on the musician, giving a little soft whistle to get his attention before she hastily scribbles a single, inquisitive word beneath her copy of the symbols:
Music?
Ravendar looks over his shoulder towards Dax, "Playing the drum well requires a lot more than hitting, you need to know where to hit it and how hard and how fast to produce the sounds you want. Randomly striking it could bring this whole place down around us, then we'd never find any treasure." He notices Venom's gesture and he moves forward to look at it. He squints a bit as he really doesn't understand the language, but he does know music. "So there is music here, definitely a song, but I'm not sure how I would play it, there is no context for me to know where to start." He sighs softly.
Paenitia has taken to marching around the pedestal that the drum is resting on. Largely because she's full of Lucht energy and a pole-arm needs to be held erect. Her head snaps efficiently to the side, her grinning mask facing Dax as she passes, her dark eyes smouldering in the eye-sockets, "The song and dance man is figuring that out for us, and the silent scribblers."
Eavesdropping, so to speak, on Ravendar's commentary she interrupts, "At the beginning! The point of the mural where the feet is, or the door, or where the hand points. The clue is in the pose."
With that said, she halts and carefully examines the mural, in case something obvious leaps out at her.
Hopefully, not a spider.
At the very least, Seyardu could make out what others were doing in the room. And it seems that there was something of note over where others were gathered.
"Are you looking at something there? Perhaps if the light is held up close, I can pick up the differences in shade." She suggests, peering at the stone. "I may have come across some writings at one time. Scrolls shared, and things such as that."
Lyme stares at the walls, the murals, blinking a little. This is a ... lot. He asks helpfully: "Does anyone need me to hold anything up high?"
Investigation reveals that the pattern repeats enough that any particular sequence could be a start. It's not hugely complicated, it takes some time to notice. Regardless of where the musician starts, sooner or later he'll get to the 'start'.
With that in mind, they will jot down all the notes so Ravendar only has to look in one place for them.
Aryia smiles a bit at the nudge. Felt like the start of some minor thing between them now. She pokes Venom back with a knuckle on the arm as well before watching her back while she took notes.
Dax pauses as she's talked to, straining a bit, but Paenitia lays it out pretty well for her, "Ahhh, song an' dance fella do some part of it, and them hand wigglers, they do the rest. Got it. Why couldn't things just be buried inside of a giant worm or somethin'? Makes it a lot easier ta get, an' that'd at least be something I understand." She waits it out though, as she walks to an opposite side of the room from where she was only moments before, the little ioun stone bobbing about her head, circling eternally, slowly.
GAME: Ravendar rolls perform/percussion: (12)+3: 15
The little Red Knight continues to march. Around, and around. At Seyardu and Lyme's offers, she pipes up, "I can attach the light to my hammer too. Hold it up high."
She's also more suited to the direct, combat approach, even though she's being a little more productive about it. Well, she's walking and not getting in anyone's way.
Ravendar takes a moment to take a breath and he looks to Venom and Aryia, "So shall we try to do this together then?" He turns to smile at everyone else, "So Venom was able to find that there are music notes in the mural, I think I can play it on the drum with Venom and Aryia's help. I think we are ready to try this." He looks to Venom and Aryia for confirmation before he starts to head to drum. He looks to the notes that Venom and Aryia made and he reaches up to start to slowly strike the drum with his hands. He does one slow run through of the all the notes before he starts up again and then again, getting a little better with each pass.
Venom nods, passing what she's compiled of the notes after going about the room for a while to Ravendar and giving a little thumbs-up as he decides to make the attempt to play. She looks to Aryia, repeating the gesture, then seems to become more alert as the perfomance begins, perhaps expecting trouble.
Lyme nods slowly, stepping back and crossing his arms on his chest to listen. "I wonder what we'll find."
"If you are certain that you have enough to go off of, then. I will trust your judgement on the matter." The sith-makar says as everyone walks off. So she walked around as well, looking at the door, in case anything or anyone planned to follow them into the area.
Thumpa-thumpa-thumpa. Ravendar's able to play the drum, well enough. Though it is ancient, it maintains just enough lingering enchantment, perhaps, to have survived the ages well enough to remain durable in play. After a while, the marks on the walls originally identifed by Ravendar, Venom and Aryia light up, as if they finally caught up to where they were supposed to start with the building of the site here, and it's easy to see the way the drumming is meant to accompany the story as it does. Clearly, this was meant to be part of something greater, the whole picture of which you are missing. Perhaps there was more of a performance? Or a storyteller to illuminate what's happening in the murals? But you're still missing pieces ... and apparently, at least a little of the music, as when it reaches oine particular spot, the eldritch musical beats stop. There's an interruption there.
... this forces Ravendar to start over and try to guess what's appropriate, and fortunately, a good sense of music and a few attempts are more than sufficient to get it right. There are, after all, only so many ways to use this particular drum.
Once all the marks are lit up, the the ground shakes lightly as a panel in the earth opens, revealing you down a set of stairs deeper underground.
"Ole!" Paenitia says, having stood still through the whole performance. "There is more down to go."
Ravendar continues to play for a bit until the ground stops shaking and he looks around, "Hey we did it." He smiles at Venom and Aryia, "Thank you both, I couldn't have done it without you." He says as he starts to rub his hands, "Definitely not used to drumming bare handed." He mutters to himself as he goes to get his stuff so that they can head down deeper.
Lyme peers toawrds the stairs, and starts forwards, gripping the hilt of his falchion as he advances. He is measured in his advance, putting his back to the light sources and letting his vision do the work into the darkness.
"Well, good on you, finally got the music." Dax offers, as she shakes her head a little, "See? I said ta hit it." This mostly to Paenitia as Dax is nearest the small mask wearer. "More down is better'n standing around all day waitin' on a fiddle ta dance." She does move forward though, her light still bobbing about as she moves.
Aryia flinches as the ground shakes, but flashes a thumbs up to Ravender. She waves off the praise and jabs a thumb towards Venom. She nudges the mute, gives a closed eye smile, and readies to go down the stairs with the others.
Venom claps several times and gives a thumbs up as the musician's efforts reveal the next leg of their journey. She knuckle bumps Aryia, then Ravendar as she moves between the two, then starts to examine this new portal for hazards.
Venom doesn't notice any particular threats, and starts to descend into the further depths of the temple... tomb?
She's still trying to be cautious, because they're not finished yet, and premature pride usually ends in pieces.
