4. The First Expedition

Zacharias sighed heavily as he retraced his steps for a second time. I joined this party for treasure, not for aging and calisthenics, he thought wearily. As the party breached the baboon, he leaned on his sword while the party decided where to go. From his perspective, he didn't care. Then he said, I'll go where Thrustmore goes, we can watch each others backs as we get overrun by monsters, but let's go somewhere new for a change. I'm tired of retracing my steps.

Exiting the baboon fresco, you turn right and head southeast. You continue past the corridor on your right that leads back towards the room with the murky pool and after 10’ you arrive at another junction (already shown on Jacky’s map).

To the east, a corridor continues for 5’ before reaching a flight of stairs that descend 10' to a closed door.

To the southeast, the corridor continues for about another 30’ before opening into a larger chamber. From where you are at the junction, it’s too dark to discern much detail about the room’s contents, although you can see that a layer of grey-green mist rises 3’ from the floor (similar to the room with the sludgy pool).

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13:00 pm, Basilsday 2nd Lucreon (April) 2993 AEP
Ellagel, Elven Fighter/Magic User 1/1: 6/6, 90’
Grimidek, Dwarven Cleric 1: 9/9, 60’
Jacky, Halfling Fighter/Thief 1/1: 6/6, 60’
Thrudmarr, Wiskin Fighter 1: 5/5, 90’ (Lantern)
Zacharias, Archontean Fighter 1: 10/10, 60’

Link to Jacky’s maps …

Thrudmarr shines his lantern down the flight of stairs revealing the door. "More stairs....Thrud legs tired, no more stairs!"

He looks to the southeast instead, shining his light into the room to get a better look.

It would be prudent to check for traps on the door, Josephine.

"Would it now?" Jacky raises his eyebrows at the other man. Still, he complies. "Is it the plan to go through this way then?"

Ellagel, seeing that Jacky was about to busy himself with the door, walked down the southwest tunnel by herself. She did so as silently as she could, trying to have a better view of what lay in the chamber with the green mist, without entering it.

Jacky descends the short flight of stairs to the east and inspects the door. It is of simple wooden construction and there’s no apparent lock. He spends a turn carefully checking for traps but doesn’t find any.

Meanwhile, Ella and Thrud continue south-east to inspect the misty room. Through the haze, it’s difficult to gauge the full extent of the chamber as it extends beyond the range of Thrud’s lantern. However, north-to-south, it extends 30’. More or less opposite the entrance where Thrud and Ella are standing are three stone benches (also running in a north-south direction). They appear to be facing a sunken area towards the west of the chamber, although you can only make out a small portion of that on the edge of the lantern’s light. Empty torch sconces line the wall and the usual mixture of trash litters the floor.

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13:10 pm, Basilsday 2nd Lucreon (April) 2993 AEP
Ellagel, Elven Fighter/Magic User 1/1: 6/6, 90’
Grimidek, Dwarven Cleric 1: 9/9, 60’
Jacky, Halfling Fighter/Thief 1/1: 6/6, 60’
Thrudmarr, Wiskin Fighter 1: 5/5, 90’ (Lantern)
Zacharias, Archontean Fighter 1: 10/10, 60’

Link to Jacky’s maps …

"Sitting place? What that over there?"

Thrudmarr will cautiously enter the room enough to cast a little more light into the western side of the room.

Grim waddles cautiously into the room. His dwarven vision untrammeled by darkness.
Well now, let’s see what we ‘ave in ‘ere…

Thrud’s lantern messes with Grim’s infravision, but by entering the room they are able to gauge its full extent and contents.

The chamber is shaped, somewhat unusually, as a parallelogram. The north and south walls run in an east -> west direction, but the two others run southwest -> northeast.

In the western half of the chamber, just visible through the grey-green mist, is a sunken area that sits 3’ below the level of the floor. Five steps lead into this sunken area, the centrepiece of which is a single onyx pillar that rises 15’. High up on the western wall is an inscription in Mithric that Grim reads as:

Thou May Ask of Thoth What Thou Will, Provided Thou Accept His Judgement.

Mapping information: the room is parallelogram-shaped. The north wall and south wall run in an east -> west direction and are 60’ long and 30' apart. To the east of the chamber’s entrance, the north wall extends 20’, and to the west 30’. The east and west walls both run in a southwest -> northeast direction (i.e. at 45 degrees). The sunken area is similarly shaped as a smaller parallelogram. There are no other visible exists.

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13:10 pm, Basilsday 2nd Lucreon (April) 2993 AEP
Ellagel, Elven Fighter/Magic User 1/1: 6/6, 90’
Grimidek, Dwarven Cleric 1: 9/9, 60’
Jacky, Halfling Fighter/Thief 1/1: 6/6, 60’
Thrudmarr, Wiskin Fighter 1: 5/5, 90’ (Lantern)
Zacharias, Archontean Fighter 1: 10/10, 60’

Link to Jacky’s maps …

Zacharias followed Grimidek into the room. Eying the Mithric characters, he asked Grimidek Master Gemstone, can you help me understand those words? After a bit of patient tutelage, Zach also comprehends the meaning: Thou May Ask of Thoth What Thou Will, Provided Thou Accept His Judgement.
Oh boy. Not another one of these, Master Giraffenose. What will the judgement be, another ten years of my life??

Grim runs calloused hands over the writings the wall. Instructing ol’ Zach in reading the ancient inscription. Yer per-nunciation’s gettin’ better, lad.
Hmmm…well now, I can’t speak ta de judgement of an ancient diety, but s’ffice ta say, it’s a riddle we gotta solve. Af’er all, I dunno what we really gotta ask. Meh-be de safest way forward?

The safest way forward may well be to retrace our steps, Zach says in an unexpected moment of contemplation. Perhaps most profitable or most advantageous would be better, Master Gallbladder.

Jacky rolls his eyes. "Shall we spend the whole day walking in circles?"

The halfling steps forward, hands on hips, and glances up at the pillar. "I hope Thoth understands Archontean as well as your language, mister Grimidek, else I'll need a translator to help!" He clears his throat. "Where is the closest treasure, O great Thoth?"

Jacky wades through the mist, which pretty much envelopes him, and descends the steps into the sunken area at the western side of the room (by which time he is fully submerged in the mist). Standing in front of the tall onyx pillar he asks his question. There is no response.

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13:10 pm, Basilsday 2nd Lucreon (April) 2993 AEP
Ellagel, Elven Fighter/Magic User 1/1: 6/6, 90’
Grimidek, Dwarven Cleric 1: 9/9, 60’
Jacky, Halfling Fighter/Thief 1/1: 6/6, 60’
Thrudmarr, Wiskin Fighter 1: 5/5, 90’ (Lantern)
Zacharias, Archontean Fighter 1: 10/10, 60’

Link to Jacky’s maps …

Probably lost all magic or connection to the divine centuries ago, mused Zach. In that case, I might as well try too. Zach sheathed his bastard sword and slung his shield on his back, so as to provide a more supplicative stance. Following Jacky down the steps, Zach composed his request in his broken Mithric, reasoning that the request should be in the language of the notice:

Mighty Thoth, this one humbly requests to know if there is an achievable way for his youth to be restored unto him.

Zach joins Jackie in front of the onyx pillar and asks his question. Again, there is no response.

Note: As I understand it, Zach has been "learning" Mithric for a little over a day. There is no way he could ask a question in the way that you phrased it. Moving forward, if Zach wishes to attempt to read or write Mithric, it will require a roll for it to be intelligible. For now, we’ll assume Zach asked the question in Archontean.

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13:10 pm, Basilsday 2nd Lucreon (April) 2993 AEP
Ellagel, Elven Fighter/Magic User 1/1: 6/6, 90’
Grimidek, Dwarven Cleric 1: 9/9, 60’
Jacky, Halfling Fighter/Thief 1/1: 6/6, 60’
Thrudmarr, Wiskin Fighter 1: 5/5, 90’ (Lantern)
Zacharias, Archontean Fighter 1: 10/10, 60’

Link to Jacky’s maps …

"No answer and no judgement," Jacky addresses the others. "It looks like we'll have to find the treasure the old fashioned way!"

"You know, I didn't actually try the door that we saw earlier. No traps that I could see."

We should backtrack and try the door.