Milo detected another planar anomaly not far south of Tempered Vale, and, knowing what happened at the last planar gate, wanted to investigate right away. He guided the party a little ways into the foothills of the Watershed mountains, to a narrow, secluded box canyon. The planar energy was centered here, but diffuse, difficult to get a bead on, and no gate was apparent. Losing daylight, the party camped down for the night, in the relative luxury of the protective dome conjured by Echo.
In the morning, things had changed. The canyon replaced by a cliffside cavern mouth, the snowy tundra landscape by a vast, featureless ocean. With little option, the party ventured deeper into the cave, and came upon a set of doors in limestone and green marble, adorned with bas-relief carvings of animals, monsters, and a stylized fountain icon. In an odd dialect of Celestial, Summerchild was able to read the inscription:
Seekers of truths
If you wish to learn my temple’s secrets
First tell me yours
And each in turn spoke a secret to the door’s carved ear. It opened to an echoing hall, with vaulted ceilings and more intricate reliefs. On a pedastal in front of them lay a small green marble statuette depicting a winged feline form, with a human woman’s face: a gynosphinx.
The party continued into the temple, overcoming traps, obstacles, and enemies, with ingenuity and brute force. They found more of the statuettes, some used as solution keys to riddle-locked doors. Eventually they had amassed more than a dozen green statues, depicting various animals and hybrid monsters, and the final puzzle lay before them. While the party fought off an assault from giant, burrowing insect creatures, Milo was able to solve the logic puzzle and open the doors to the temple’s inner sanctum.
In an extra-planar space beyond the doors, they entered a wide, airy grotto, filled with lush greenery, bright sunlight, and cascading waterfalls. The sphinx introduced herself as Anahishta, and bade them make a trade. If they could share a story or two that the guardian deemed worthy, she would also share some knowledge, granted by her deity, Zann the Learned.
Milo told a tale of his homeland, evidently much further away than his fellows realised. Summerchild told a rambling shaggy dog joke. Nevertheless, the sphinx allowed them access to the fountain, whose clear waters filled them with knowledge of the Marches’ mysteries. And then they were back in those frigid lands, the planar energy gone, save for the fading residue of the sphinx’s plane shift.
In the morning, things had changed. The canyon replaced by a cliffside cavern mouth, the snowy tundra landscape by a vast, featureless ocean. With little option, the party ventured deeper into the cave, and came upon a set of doors in limestone and green marble, adorned with bas-relief carvings of animals, monsters, and a stylized fountain icon. In an odd dialect of Celestial, Summerchild was able to read the inscription:
Seekers of truths
If you wish to learn my temple’s secrets
First tell me yours
And each in turn spoke a secret to the door’s carved ear. It opened to an echoing hall, with vaulted ceilings and more intricate reliefs. On a pedastal in front of them lay a small green marble statuette depicting a winged feline form, with a human woman’s face: a gynosphinx.
The party continued into the temple, overcoming traps, obstacles, and enemies, with ingenuity and brute force. They found more of the statuettes, some used as solution keys to riddle-locked doors. Eventually they had amassed more than a dozen green statues, depicting various animals and hybrid monsters, and the final puzzle lay before them. While the party fought off an assault from giant, burrowing insect creatures, Milo was able to solve the logic puzzle and open the doors to the temple’s inner sanctum.
In an extra-planar space beyond the doors, they entered a wide, airy grotto, filled with lush greenery, bright sunlight, and cascading waterfalls. The sphinx introduced herself as Anahishta, and bade them make a trade. If they could share a story or two that the guardian deemed worthy, she would also share some knowledge, granted by her deity, Zann the Learned.
Milo told a tale of his homeland, evidently much further away than his fellows realised. Summerchild told a rambling shaggy dog joke. Nevertheless, the sphinx allowed them access to the fountain, whose clear waters filled them with knowledge of the Marches’ mysteries. And then they were back in those frigid lands, the planar energy gone, save for the fading residue of the sphinx’s plane shift.
Comments
Post a Comment