Here are the Columns on the North and South side of Room 1.
Column 1
GREETINGS. SEE THE FRUITS OF RESEARCH. DO NOT GO TO HIGHER LEVELS WITH NO SAGES.
Column 2
WE SEEK BETTER SENSE OF HERE. SIGHT TOUCH SOUND TO KNOW MORE PLACE.
Column 3
WE SEEK SENSE BEYOND OUR POINT OF PLACE. CAN WE SENSE FAR AWAY HERE?
Column 4
WE SEEK FAR STEPS FROM HERE TO THERE. CAN WE WARD FROM FAR STEPS? CAN WE SENSE MORE AT ONCE?
Column 5
WE SEEK TO BE MORE PLACES AT ONCE. WE CAN TIE PLACE TO PLACE NO MATTER DISTANCE. CAN WE USE THIS TO CATCH NOUNS?
Column 6
CHANGE SIZE WITH GATES. WE SEEK BEYOND SKY WITH CHANGE SIZE OF LIGHT. SEE THE MOON.
Unless otherwise stated, there is always SOME Float-vines in each room.
Room 2
This is a large room, 15 feet high, with thorny Float-Vines covering all exits except the one to Room 1. The vines cling to all the walls and extend from the ceiling. Along the west wall are benches and planters with the vines growing out of old soil and phasing through the floor. There is a statue of a beautiful Klaib woman (a) holding something that looks like a Compass and Square. There is a statue of a handsome Klaib man (b) holing a bowl and a yellow gem (Amber worth 15g). This edge of the bowl is rimmed with yellow dust, but the edge is cracked. The middle has a huge arch made of Bronze and steel (c) what’s sides are flat and framed with yellow dust. Parts of the frame are broken off. If reassembled into, the frames will become a portal to the frame on the other side. This was meant to be a sample of how portal magic works.
At the center is a giant statue extending 10 feet up of an old Klaib. He is dressed in a figure-fit robe and holds himself up with a cane. In his left hand it looks like it once held something (a scroll) but it’s long gone.
Exits North, South, and West look like they drop into other rooms, but are portals that lead to other floors. Entering one of these portals needs a Dex save, or one will tumble as gravity seems to shift under them. After a couple of times, one will get used to this and no longer needs the roll to succeed. The Exit on the Northen East wall is barred off and curtained with float-vines. The exit on the Southern East wall is a bronze door, which is locked with a simple lock. It is weak, however, and can be knocked open with a hard enough shove, or destroyed if players can do 10 damage in one hit.
Room 3
This is a simple prison cell, meant to shame thieves that break in. Unless there is someone who can figure out how to open the portal to the East, anyone trapped in this room is doomed to die of starvation, but not thirst. The exit to room 2 has no door, only bars. It is curtained by float-vines. At the North are two beds made of bronze and rusted iron. The bedding has long since rotted away and will be destroyed if someone were to lay on them. The exit on the East is lined with an Orange dust frame, and leads to a flat Black-iron wall. There is a small table with bronze plates on the SW wall near the wall of bars, also curtained by Float-vines. On the south wall is a small bathroom. There is a black-iron bowl built into the wall and the edge is lined with yellow dust (e). This bowl is portaled to a spot under the river. An endless supply of water may be scooped out of it. If the yellow dust frame is broken, so too is the portal to water. There is a black-iron chamber pot built into the floor (f) which allows prisoners relief. It, too, is portals to…somewhere, but it’s opening is barely the size of a human head. It smells like dust, and not waste. If something is dropped, it will clank after falling 200 feet into a cavern portaled below.
Room 4
The Cloak Room. This room was meant as a go-between for official researchers. There is a set of lockers made of petrified wood (g) on the South wall. Inside are a 2d6 gold coins with Klaib images on them, no two coins alike. Each of these coins are actually worth twice their value as artifacts. The table on the Northwest wall (h) was a place for lunching. The chairs are tarnished bronze, but in good shape. There are five, each worth 5g to a collector.
Portals: Yellow Dust is used in the ritual to connect frames to each other, making permanent portals. The exits of the floor appear to be drop-offs into something below, but they are actually portals set at a 45 degree angle. The effect of which allows gravity to shift as people walk in. The first couple of times, make the players do a Dex Roll, but after that, allow them to automatically succeed. (It’s a gimmick, not a challenge). Some portals are trapped and lead, one way, into an Orange frame. These orange frames can be activated by a “Key Wand” found deeper in the tower.
Float-Vines: These are thorny vines that are carnivorous. They are rich green with specs of yellow dust woven into the skin. Float-Vines don’t actually grow from the walls, but are partially teleporting into place. Their main root is actually located under the tower. If pulled the vines extend, and not stretch, seemingly from nowhere. If one were to enter the same space as these vines, they would require a Dex save or become tangled and held in place. After that, the vines try to wrap around its victim. They either need to be cut free by another or succeed another Dex Save -2 to escape. Failure, this time, will cost them 1d2 damage. The blood will quickly be sucked up by the vines.
Klaib Language: As of the time the players are in the Land of Four Shadows, no one has a clear handle on the Klaiben language. What is known can be used to translate one columns of text at a time. This would require a Manual of Highmen Language, which is available for 5g at Middle Pillar. The character may spend an hour translating one column and make an INT roll at the end of the hour, with a -4 Penalty. As long as a natural 1 is not rolled, the player may glean one or two words from the mess, even with a failure. After each month of studying the language, in general, it becomes clearer and the penalty is reduced to -3, -2, -1, and finally no penalty.
Next, Level 2. Stay Tuned.
Comments
Post a Comment