A flash of memory, a lecture on one of myriad beings suitable for summoning, and some standout characteristics besides.
"One hundred and one years..." Kriv murmured briefly, glancing at the state of the doors. He briefly checked his notes.
"But Wave Echo Cave's location was lost multiple hundreds of years ago."
Everything clicked into place.
"Oh greatest of all Spectators, your term of service expired centuries ago. You are no longer bound here and are free to go as you please. Your summoner could only call you for a century and a year, but many centuries have passed since this door was last open. You are free. You have successfully carried out all of your duties for the maximum allowed duration."
DM The creature hesitates with it's answer, seeming confused. Then adamantly it declared, "Time of service is NOT over!" Evidently it is possible to communicate and perhaps even to convince it to end it's service. But this particular line of reasoning did not persuade it. Maybe approach another will?
He glanced back at the others, eager for their input. Quietly, he informed them,
"It is a Spectator, they can be summoned as guardians for just over a century. They disappear if the object they guard is lost or stolen in that time, so we're dealing with one whose service has elapsed naturally and has chosen to remain. Over time, they tend to get a bit..."
He glanced in Chandan's direction.
"They're generally civil. Talking to it should be safe. It is not currently bound here. I'm open to ideas."
"Well I would rather not have to fight it, so convincing it to 'go home' sounds like a great idea. Maybe you can ask it why it thinks the contract time isn't over."
Not wanting to waste his spider form unless absolutely needed, he will simply listen to what everyone has to say and will go with whatever they decide to do.
He listens to the conversation being relayed. The Spectator (apparently a more passive cousin to the Beholder) believes its term of service hasn't expired, so Chandan reckons they must convince it that they have the authority to terminate its service.
The old monk whispers through the door crack, like a prompter in the wings.
"Tell it you represent the Lords Alliance and the mine is being closed due to... poor returns." He says, then pauses for thought.
"Tell it you're sorry, but it's now out of a job. If it has a problem, it should take it up with its summoner."
[Chandan can step in and make the roll if repeated attempts from the same character aren't permitted.]
It was a rarity for the noble to follow the vagrant's orders, but in this case it seemed the most reasonable. Kriv had a great distaste for lying, so endeavoured to tell the truth in a manner that best suited their ends.
"Behold. I speak with authority here. Witness my arcane mastery."
He shrouded one hand in flame, limned the other in magical light.
"I have the ability to tell you that your time of service is at an end. I am exercising that ability. I reiterate, your duties here are now over."
Kriv Different persuasion check on the Spectator AJ rolled 1d20+3 and got 15
The spectator doesn't reply right away. Then it starts talking telepathically.
"You don't look like a wizard" "Wizards look ugly" "You are ugly" "Your hand is on fire" "You are not hurting" "Your hand is glowing" "Wizards make hands glow" "You are a wizard" "I am to obey the wizard" Suddenly it starts to vibrate and it vibrates faster and faster until it's features cannot be distinguished. Then POOF! It has disappeared.
DM The party eventually makes it's way into the room. The most prominent item in the chamber is the brazier of green flame which sits atop a stone pedestal. Also of interest are the two workbenches; one in the north west corner of the room and the other in the south east corner. OOC: very good use of skills. More are needed now. I'm glad you didn't give up and walk away.
With the creature gone, he will enter the room with the rest of the group and being careful not to touch anything that might be dangerous as he peruses around the green flame that reminds him of the flying skull from the other room.
She nods to Bern as she moves to enter the room. Because of the arcane connection she feels she might be of more use inside the room and she knows that Bern is as conscientious a rear guard as she is.
She walks over to Kriv.
"That was impressive Kriv. I think only you have that sense of authority enough to have carried that off."
She smiles at him before turning to look at the room in detail to see what she can make out and if she can identify the source of the arcane power, though she is fairly sure it is the brazier.
DM As the group starts to look about the room they find some items of interest on the southwest workbench. Laying there is a mace and a breastplate. The head of the mace is shaped like a sunburst and is made of solid brass. The breastplate has a gold dragon motif worked into its design. There is also a door in the north west of the room.
OOC: I'm sensing the need for more "skill" uses here. Rolls would be helpful.
The pedestal, free-standing and aglow with magical green light is eye-catching. If it weren't for the workbenches, Chandan would be reluctant to approach the thing at all. But workbenches suggest working and workers, so the ritualistic looking brazier can't be horrendously dangerously to be around.
Stepping lightly and prodding anything suspicious with the tip of his spear, the monk investigates the work surfaces. Has the room been in use recently? Are the surfaces dusty, disturbed, and so on.
That there's a fine mace and breastplate here suggests not. And might also suggest the brazier has a function related to arms and armour...
"Could this be the Forge of Spells?" He says, as much to himself as to his companions.
"Hmm. But shouldn't a forge of spells be used for creating spells?
"Ah, or maybe it is a forge made of spells. What a riddle this is!"
He licks his lips, feeling suddenly in need of a sweet, stimulating drink. Mead, perry, something of that sort.
DM Jaliera studies the brazier carefully and nothing about it makes sense for a while. Then she starts putting things together and guesses that it must be the source of magic that suffuses the surrounding caverns. The magic has waned over the years, to the extent that it can no longer be harnessed to permanently enchant magic items. She guesses, however, that any non-magical weapon or armor bathed in the green flame for at least a minute would become magically enchanted. for a period of time. She also guesses that the brazier cannot be moved from here.
After a more care search of the room, you find a scroll tube under debris on the north west workbench. Although scorched on the outside, the scroll tube looks relatively intact.
OOC: The skill was correct, but the roll came up short. You needed a 15....wait. Hmmmm. It looks like it changed to a roll of 15. How did that happen? Well, it looks like you actually rolled a 15. Let's consider that a use of an inspiration point, the one I would have given the party for handling the room the right way
As for the items on the bench, you need the "Identify" spell to identify them but then again, nobody in this party has that spell. Oh well
(OOC - Nep - Keep in mind that in 5e you can identify items w/o the Identify spell.)
Some info from the Rules and elsewhere on how to Identify Magic Items:
"Identify Spell The identify spell is the fastest way to reveal an item's properties.
Short Rest Alternatively, a character can focus on one magic item during a short rest, while being in physical contact with the item. At the end of the rest, the character learns the item's properties, as well as how to use them. Potions are an exception; a little taste is enough to tell the taster what the potion does.
Experimentation Wearing or experimenting with an item can also offer hints about its properties. For example, if a character puts on a ring of jumping, you could say, "Your steps feel strangely springy." Perhaps the character then jumps up and down to see what happens. You then say the character jumps unexpectedly high.
Note that knowing that an item is a "ring of jumping" might not mean anything for the character, unless he has knowledge in magic items - simply knowing it makes him jump higher could be enough.
The item says a lot about itself Sometimes a magic item carries a clue to its properties. The command word to activate a ring might be etched in tiny letters inside it, or a feathered design might suggest that it's a ring of feather falling.
House Rules Anything else your DM wants, or, if you are the DM, whatever you want. In particular, an Arcana check along experimentation or if the item is characteristic is a common (from my experience) house rule for acquiring full knowledge of the item. I have used Arcana checks to identify items; experimentation and identifying important features of the item before making the check would give advantage on the roll. Note that this usually makes the identify spell a lot less valuable, so, as a DM, make sure your Wizard (the character who probably has the spell) who spent 100 gp on a pearl to cast it is fine with house-ruling it this way.
Variant Rule: Making it harder Your group might be right if they are following the rule for harder identification of magic items, also described in the same section.
If you prefer magic items to have a greater mystique, consider removing the ability to identify the properties of a magic item during a short rest, and require the identify spell, experimentation, or both to reveal what a magic item does."
†Restricted forums can only be accessed by DreamLyrics members of the age of 18 years or older. Access which is granted by the Behind Closed Doors Procedure. ™DreamLyrics Play-by-Post. DreamLyrics Play-by-Post does not own copyright on DreamLyrics texts or graphics, except trademarked DreamLyrics logos and logotypes. The works contained in DreamLyrics are copyrighted (automatically, under the Berne Convention) by the original authors and may be available under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Licence. (See Copyrights for details.) Privacy Policy
