Loose threads Many depictions of divination rituals of an unknown nature and purpose were discovered marking the walls of the complex buried beneath the sands. A library was found there as well. Although some tomes were recovered, more efficient means of transport will be required to haul the rest back to First Landing. Lafley also activated a magical sigil and received an awesome vision of a sky filled with dragons doing battle against some kind of titanic tree kaiju. In addition, traces of some sort of unidentified blood-drinking monster were found near the boundary of the desert, leaving drained carcasses to rot in the sun.
Participants Mindy Vanderbeeker, Vaelindra, Lafley Maple, Amias, Eirich Array.
Locations This quest took place largely in the Desert of Rydess north of First Landing. It was a short expedition between the boundary of the desert and the Great Library where a small complex was discovered buried beneath the sands.
Short summary:
The party traveled north to explore the boundaries of the Desert of Rydess in the direction of the Great Library. The primary goal was to discover new locations and lore concerning the former inhabitants of the desert (the Saqqaran elves) [Alissa has scratched out this comment] and their magic. Many murals of divination rituals are discovered along with a number of minor magical artifacts and treasure items.
Full Report
Mindy Vanderbeeker, Vaelindra, Lafley Maple, Amias, and Eirich Array gathered in the Blinking Pug to discuss possible avenues of exploration. The quintet of adventurers had varying levels of experience and interests, but it was the lust for knowledge of the mages of the group along with Mindy's previous research that got them the most concrete leads on what they might want to do first. The first thing that had called to Mindy were the Oracles of Saqqara and the desert where they once dwelled, and so that was where the party would be heading. As they prepared to venture forth, however, Alissa, the guild's secretary, announced her own interest in accompanying the group and was added to the roster.
The journey to the Desert of Rydess was blessedly uneventful save for what was to be expected and already prepared for. The party planned their route well and made it safely to the boundary of the desert right on schedule. It was a stark divide indeed, transferring almost all at once from vibrant plains and forest to desolate desert sands. This in and of itself was plenty interesting to a scholar and naturalist, but it was not the main thing the party was there to investigate. Instead, they continued onward with their preparations for the heat of the desert.
It is about a day into their sandy trek before the party discovers anything else of note. It's a tough job to find anything specific among the dunes, but after some definitely not aimless wandering they come across a mostly-buried building of heavy stone blocks jutting out of the sand. The stone seal that had once kept it closed against the elements is cracked and crumbled, and so the party finds easy entrance inside. Less fortunately, other creatures had already done the same and so they briefly fight to fend off a nest of Prairie Drakes making the sheltered place their home.
Once those inhabitants are dispatched, the party can investigate what turns out to be an antechamber and the still-intact door leading further into the buried building. With some elbow grease, the door is pried open revealing a seemingly bare hallway leading to yet another door, this one partially ajar. The party proceeds to explore the underground complex, discovering another nest of critters to scare away along with some much more intriguing finds.
There are paintings of humans, in daily situations. Farming, harvesting, supplicating themselves before religious idols. Looking at the paintings on the walls, there does seem to be one drawing of men burning an offering (?) of wheat bundles, with a series of four-pointed stars overhead. The starry segment is too small to be considered any sort of chart, more some sort of symbol, but Mindy feels like she might put together some sort of cohesive narrative if there are more pieces like this deeper in this place. There are more images of rituals, harvests, important people, symbols that seem to be part of a language Mindy does not know.
Specifically, there is a cycle of variations of twelve scenes that is repeating. The walls are densely scrawled enough that there are probably a few dozen cycles here,
some featuring more people, some less. Some with children, some without. The settings recur exactly, with altars and mountains and rivers in the same relative positions every time.
In the middle of each group is a magical symbol related to divination magic. Mindy's examination comes with a sudden realization. This decorated wall a record of rites performed over the course of years, to serve as a way of recording the circumstances these divinations were performed in.
If these glyphs are magical, then they in all likelihood contained the result as well! Copies of the prophecies, or accounts of them, must have been stored in the glyphs. Sadly all of the ones in this room seem to be non-functiona, faded by the ravages of time and irresponsive to detect magic.
While the exact nature of what was being divined for is still mostly unclear, the results don't seem to have made a big impact on the daily lives of the diviners, there were depictions of that in the previous room. These divinations may have delved into times unfamiliar to the performers.
Concluding the party's investigations, the party finally enters into the last room to collect what can be found before heading out for First Landing. Unfortunately for them, though, the room is trapped! The combined weight of the party triggers a mechanism which causes the entire room to begin sinking into a pit of sand, threatening to bury them all alive if they do not escape quickly. Mindy, Vaelindra, Amias, Eirich, and even Alissa flee the room, but Lafley hesitates over the glyphs and the treasure that would be left behind. Either bravely or foolishly, he scoops up the loot and risks his life to interact with the magical glyphs before hurrying to activate his Recaller and teleporting safely back to town.
He receives the following vision from the activated glyphs:
Immediately, light washes over his vision. Suddenly, Laf isn't in a dark room anymore, and instead looks over a luscious forest from above. He isn't falling, but the sky is still frightening. Why? Because it is swarming with dragons. There are dragons of every variety, every color, every form. Long snake-like dragons, and massive four-clawed winged beasts that look more like armored fortresses. They are breathing fire, acid, lightning and more elements, even a rare spark of dreams. These dragons pay him no heed, for they are fighting fiercely, battling against ... a tree? No. Not just a tree, for it is moving. An arm the size of a mountain but made of wood sings around and swats four dragons out of the sky with one blow. They seem to be fighting the forest itself, setting it on fire or turning it to dust wherever they can. The scene is confusing, too much is happening at once. Laf notices one more thing before the scene abruptly vanishes, and that is that a certain overgrown mountain is awful similar in shape to a mountain the party saw on the way here from First Landing, plus a bunch of trees of course.
The other sigil has a different sensation. While the scene washes over Laf, this vista is blurry, as if his eyes were tearing up. Also, the sound is muffled. Perhaps the image is unclear because what it depicts hasn't happened yet? It is bright, but not abnormally so. Laf is on a white landscape, dusty and dry, but the sky is black. With no air to obscure them, the stars twinkle in the sky, alongside a bright sun. To his right, a blue and green planet slightly larger than what the moon would look like from the New World. On his left, inky lines are appearing. Miles long and meters wide, they spread like thin links in a chain, sometimes forming circles, other times straight lines, spreading now in every direction. And the lines seem to be converging on this location, or to be more exact, behind him. Laf turns around and sees... a clown? And a huge spider that seems to be talking to him? Convinced he must be hallucinating Laf tries to listen in, but the scene merely gets stranger. He swears he heard one of them say 'Monday' in Old World Common. (Why is there sound?) The clown is making dramatic gestures and pulls out [REDACTED]. He chants words that seem to burn in Laf's ears, and the place starts shaking. A glow suddenly starts spreading through the dark lines. Slow, then faster and faster and brighter than the surface of the moon itself, light is spilling forth with an intensity that could only be called divine. The bright lines are widening, as if cracking open, like an eggshell torn into pieces. While the scene fades to white, Laf can hear the clown cackling manically. The spider is gone.