Curious as to what the lights might be, he stops to whisper to spirits of nature into his cupped hands to reveal if they will be experiencing bad weather.
Whisper doesn't see anything in the sky for miles. Not even clouds. Whatever the light source is, it's much closer to the ground near the horizon ahead.
Davroar's whispering results in a golden orb, indicating clear, sunny skies.
A part of him wanted to avoid the 'distraction'. But he was also curious. It did not sound like anything he had ever heard of and it might be educational to find out what it was. He nodded. "Lets get going then", he suggested. Sooner started, sooner they would have their answer.
The party proceeds along the road, the occasional flashing still occurring. It's not that frequent, perhaps one or two flashes in a five minute period, randomly spaced, and still reasonably close to their path so they don't even need to go out of their way to find it.
When they are close enough for Whisper to fly within about a mile of the light source, the familiar manages to catch one of the flashes, and returns to Jaliera to share the mental image:
A giant sword is a few hundred feet off the side of the road, its point embedded in the ground, and the length of its blade crackles with light occasionally, almost like lightning.
"Giant" in this context might refer either to the size (the pommel is about 20 feet above the ground) or that it was/is owned by a giant. In this case, the answer may be both.
What may be of interest to Whisper, or shocking all the same, is the source of the flashes. Occasionally a fellow avian will fly by and seek to perch on the pommel or crossguard. The flash occurs, and a small black bird-sized lump falls to the ground at the base.
Whisper obeys Jaliera's command to keep "being shocked" to a mental state and not a physical one, continuing to watch ahead.
As for the party, as they approach, they see exactly the same thing described: a massive greatsword with its point embedded into the ground, about a hundred feet off the side of the road. The charred corpses of birds litter the ground nearby, giving off the same smell as a freshly-cooked dinner (which may save the party some hunting tonight). There are dozens of such birds, far too few for more than about a day's worth at the rate the flashes were seen, indicating that either the sword was placed (or fell) within the last day or so, or that other creatures (human or otherwise) have enjoyed snacking on the free meals.
One detail about the sword that Whisper did not see: in its pommel is a diamond-shaped stone carved from coral, on which is carved a curious shape.
The party's presence does dissuade other birds from approaching, at least for now.
"My concern," he comments to the ogre, "is the lightning. You aren't immune are you?" He thought about what he knew regarding magical effects and didn't immediately come up with a way to protect the ogre from the effect even temporarily.
[OOC: Is there a resist lightning dmg style spell in 5e?]
On seeing the stone in the pommel, Glork roars in rage, "Magic Giants!!! These same that destroyed Glork's home! Lightning stone look like fire stone!" It is obvious that Glork wants to reach out to remove the sword but is holding back scared of the danger.
He continues to look about. He is not sure that this was not 'set up' to focus their attention on the sword so that 'they' could attack while they were distracted.
Walking up to the giant sword, but not getting any closer than 15 feet to it, he looks closely at the blade itself to try to see how deep it might be stuck into the ground. Out loud he says to himself, "Wonder if we loop rope around the cross guard if we can pull it down?"
It's obviously too big other for any of them to use, except perhaps Glork, but Davroar would like to try and prevent more avian deaths from happening here.
"I can cast Mage Hand which would allow me to extract the sword, I think, without getting zapped. If we lay out some cloaks on the floor, I can put the sword on them, then we can wrap it up."
She is wondering how heavy it might be and what limits her spell may have as she has not tested it like this.
(OOC - Aquadyne - Yes. There are several spells. One is Protection from Energy. It works on any type of energy, you just have to select the type when you cast the spell. Gypsy - Double check the weight limit on Mage Hand.)
Zhu
She examines the Rune cautiously, not touching or approaching too close. Taking out a piece of parchment and charcoal stick she carefully copies it for later reference, indicating 'Lightning' next to it.
Davroar's assessment indicates pulling the sword over with a rope is unlikely. Twenty feet of the sword are visible, but assuming it has similar dimensions to its smaller cousins wielded by humans, there may be nearly ten feet buried. It's unlikely that Glork could wield it, either. Towering over the party at about ten feet high, he's still only about half the size of the part above ground.
On closer inspection, it appears it may not be necessary to pull down the whole sword, however, if one could pry the stone out of its spot in the pommel. Which would be easy if one were twenty feet tall.
[If we took a long rest, Davroar could prepare Protection from Energy as a 3rd level spell since he's a druid. Or better yet, prepare Summon Elemental, summon an air elemental to fly up and prise out the rune stone.
However, given the ample healing we have available at present, someone with good Athletics could probably just climb with a grappling hook and grin and bear it.
So AquaDyne, quick question: What time of the day is it? or, how far are we off having to make camp for the night.]
"How about if we got a couple of branches and used them on the hilt to lift the blade? Would any magic be able to get to the stick wielders", he asked.
She turned to Glork, "Sindar is right. Best be more than careful. That bird made a big mistake," she said glancing at the charred bird.
The half elf stayed back and let the others examine the sword. Meanwhile, she searched the area for tracks and other signs of someone coming or going that were not in the party. Zindra Search for tracks and other signs Neptune rolled 1d20+5 and got 10
Zindra Search for tracks and other signs (advantage if giants) Neptune rolled 1d20+5 and got 14
"Probably =not= a good idea Glork. Could trigger some sort of 'protection' response." He turned to take in the rest of the group. "What do the rest of you think", he asked.
Zindra's search for tracks indicates some uncountable number of small animals which has come and gone, likely feeding on fried poultry.
As for signs of giants? None. No footprints, or any other indications of any large creatures having been on the ground in this vicinity anytime recently. There are a few tracks on the far side of the road indicating travelers may have given the sword an extra-wide berth as they passed by.
But tracking, on the ground, at least, reveals no sign of the sword's origin.
What time of the day is it? or, how far are we off having to make camp for the night.
OOC: You're not too far away from your planned end of travel, which did include a few hours of daylight for setting up camp and foraging for dinner. You could probably camp right here or a short distance away.
Zindra "Hey, I've looked but found no tracks of giants. One of you might want to look too - just in case I missed anything," she says, glancing towards Bern.
"But let's say there are no giant tracks. How could a giant lightning sword just get here? Anyone have an idea? I mean, a giant had to be here. Do giants fly?"
"Perhaps it was dropped by a cloud giant? The barbarians mentioned them being around." Davroar knows hardly anything at all about cloud giants, but if they live in the clouds then it kind of makes sense to him that this giant sword could have come from one of them.
Listening to the others, he did not consider that perhaps dislodging the rune stone would stop the lightning damage. Moving a few steps closer to the sword, he will cast his thorn whip cantrip intentionally missing it a few below and to the side of the rune stone to see if there is any magical reaction from it.
Jaliera says she can cast Mage Hand as a cantrip, so it's no loss to try twisting the runestone out of its socket.
"Try thy Mage Hand, Jaliera. It may work and if not we can make camp hereabouts and prepare spells for the morn." Arus says.
Arus agrees with Davroar, that the sword might have been dropped from on high. Yes, one might expect such a gigantic blade to bury itself to the hilt if dropped from a cloud in the sky but it might have hit bedrock.
"The sword might be too much for the spell but I can certainly try the rune. However, I don't suggest we camp too close to this spot as it has been advertising it's presence far and wide."
She casts mage hand and then manipulates it to try to prise out the rune. If she can get it free, she intends to drop it on Bern's blanket.
She nods to the comment about Cloud Giants. "Yes. Cloud Giants will sometimes live in flying citadels. It is possible this fell from one, although it seems impressive enough of a weapon that I would think someone would have come down to reclaim it."
She looks again at the sword and the suggestions for moving it. "Unfortunately, my magic does not lend itself to those sorts of things. Presuming it is actually touching it that is dangerous, we could simply dig a hole around it until it toppled over."
Last edited by Zeim; Sat 08/04/2313:54 UTC. Reason: spelling
"Hmm. I'm thinking a fulcrum beneath the angled part of the blade, a rope thrown over the pommel, and use the horses in a hauling array to draw it out of the earth untouched," mused the scholar.
Davroar's cantrip draws no reaction from the sword. So far the only reaction observed has been actual contact with it.
Bern begins his own search to see if Zindra missed anything. But there is no sign of any large creature having been moving here in the recent past.
Jaliera's Mage Hand manipulation of the stone appears promising, however, as the stone does appear to move a bit in its socket. It seems to be a bit too heavy for the hand to manipulate it, but the bit of movement generated is tantalizingly close to solving the dilemma. Perhaps if there were some leverage.
Kriv talks about leverage toppling the whole sword, which also seems like a reasonable plan, if one were after more than just the stone...
Glork Remember something Miales rolled d20 and got 14
While they are playing with magic. Glork goes into the woods and finds two long stout limbs and drags them to the clearing. He then starts digging a trench to the blade side of the sword about 15ft away from it.
"Ugly post. Needed gone. Papa did this to get rid of."
Whilst Glork busies himself with some plan involving tree branches, Jaliera's second attempt to use mage hand -- this time with a crowbar -- proves successful!
The large runestone is effectively dislodged from its socket, plummeting 20 (or so) feet to the ground, with a small thud.
For those who have carried similar rocks or stones in the past, they might estimate (correctly) that it weighs about 20 pounds.
Neither the runestone, nor the sword, appears to give any indication on whether further contact will be a shocking experience, or whether the party can camp here with a built-in bug zapper.
The stone looks to Arus -- and Jaliera, for that matter -- like any ordinary stone, other than the clear chiseling marks to give it the rough shape it's in, and the rune shape meticulously carved on one side of it. Other than the rune shape, and the evidence of charred avian creatures, it's not obvious it's anything more than a rock.
Speaking of avian creatures, a bird does happen upon the party, completely unaware of the demise of many of its cousins, and perches on the crossbar, peering down at the adventurers, blissfully unaware of how its life was spared by their actions just minutes ago.
As a scholar of the Art, Kriv would clearly recognize that the stone was intentionally and carefully inscribed with a symbol that he's never seen before. Combined with the evidence of flashes of light and charred birds, along with Jaliera's report of Whisper's observations, it would be reasonable to assume there's certainly more to it than just being a rock.
"I agree with far enough away that we won't be seen if someone comes looking for the weapon. However, we could set up our camp in such a way that we could keep an eye on it. I can also offer the same shelter I did the night before, which would keep us protected and might aid us in that endeavor."
He moved closer to the stone to glance at it; though he hadn't studied runes, he knew of their existence. Magic came in many forms, as he was well aware of being able to sing for his effects.
Zhu and Sindar both come to the same conclusion as Kriv. This is clearly a carefully carved rock that has recently shown evidence of being more than just a rock.
But just looking at it doesn't reveal anything special about it.
Once they have picked an appropriate spot, he sets about singing his song, this time just slightly off-key to see if anyone notices, and creates their magical shelter for the night.
He takes a moment away from his looking for incoming problems. He looks over at Sindar, eyebrow raised. It was ... out of character ... that 'off key' singing. It was not something that he had heard from him before. He shakes his head and returns his attention to the protection of their camp site.
Kriv, once ensconced, went over the rune in more detail. Had he ever seen anything that resembled it? Had he heard of anything like it? Did he understand the principles? Could he utilise or recreate it?
Kriv History Roll AJ rolled 1d20+6 and got 12
Last edited by AquaDyne; Fri 21/04/2315:09 UTC. Reason: Combine posts
From just looking at the stone, in particular the rune carved thereon, Kriv would recall that casting runes was a form of ancient magic practiced by dwarves and giants in millenia past. While the dwarven runes have made their way into more recent history that one might recognize, he would recall no specifics of Giants and runes beyond the fact that they existed long ago... and given the size of this artifact and how it was found, obviously still exist.
Given the magic observed associated with this stone, it may require more investigation than just looking at it to find out more.
It has been a long day's ride and Arus is happy to hear Sindar conjuring their magical shelter. The bard sounds a little rough though so Arus hands him a bottle of Goldengulp he'd brought from Yartar.
"Quench thine thirst, Sindar. A reminder of the Pearl-handled Pipe."
He accepts the bottle and takes a small sip. Holding the fragrant liquor in his mouth for a moment, he relishes the memories with his eyes closed. Swallowing slowly, he hands the bottle back. "That was a good time," he admits. "Thank you for sharing."
"Our magical shelter is prepared. May we all have a good night's rest.
"Well you are welcome to look at my musical notes sometime, though it is less like a traditional spell book and more like a piece of sheet music." He winked at Jaliera.
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