Adam Spragg
No treasure, but interesting stories.
First, the tunnel down to the base of the cliffs is mostly OK. I mean,
it's dark, but not treacherous or anything. It comes out about 20 feet
above the plain below, behind the falls. Looking out from behind them
is amazing! And LOUD!
The last 20 feet is tricky, but if you've got a rope and take it steady
you'll be fine.
The plains are, well, a bit plain, but they're flat and easy to travel
over.
Watch out for bears though! On the first night we were startled by a
bear. It seemed more curious than aggressive though, and Bryar and I
scared it off with bright lights and fire without too much trouble.
Still, something to watch out for. Also, apparently in the summer there
are nomads that travel through those plains, hunting and gathering and
stuff. We didn't see them, but we were told about them later... I'll
get to that.
Around the first bend in the river, where the large + four small
hexagons are marked, there were a couple of massive stone columns with
a hexagonal symbol inscribed in a circle on them, and some runes carved
in too. The runes weren't the same as the ones marking the place we were
going to, but they looked like part of the same script. They marked the
start of a path that led to some massive stone doors in the side of
the hill! Coming from behind the part of the hill we could see, there
was some smoke coming from somewhere too!
That all looked really interesting, but we didn't want to spend too long
investigating it as the runes were calling, so we continued on.
Some way after the river straightened out again, it slowed right down
and spread out into this huge marshy area. We trudged through it
carefully, ready to try and go around it if the going got too tough or
treacherous, but the ground itself wasn't too bad. I mean, our feet got
wet, but I don't think we were ever in danger of being sucked into the
mud.
You do need to watch out for the giant frogs though! Man, these things
were HUGE. Like, the size of a cow - but with a much nastier bite! No
kidding. Watch out for what lives in that swamp, and don't linger if
you can possibly help it.
The swamp eventually turns back into having a proper distinction
between land and river, and then we got to the fork in the river we
were headed for. Between the fork, there's a bluff, on top of which is
a massive stone building with a tower on one end. On the west/right
fork there's a bridge over the river, the near side of which leads into
a wood to the west, where there lives a community of Gnomes in a place
called - roughly translated - Riverglade. They seem pretty friendly.
The gnomes are the ones who told us about the nomads that travel the
plains below the waterfall. After we told them we were from the north,
they asked us if that's who we were. We said no, but kept quiet about
where we were from. Mum's the word!
But also, their kids knew about the building with the tower and played
there, and were able to tell us about it.
So, there's this entryway which is blocked up, but has the runes on the
map above it. The gnomish kids told us that it worked on some kind of
magic, and that the name of the tower is En Ta Tra Ta Shan, and that
you have to say "Daresh, En Ta Tra Ta Shan" to get in. Apparently
"Daresh" means something like "Open" in whatever ancient language the
builders spoke.
And Bryar figured out that because there were five runes above the
door, and the 2nd and 4th were the same, that the runes probably
signify the sounds "En", "Ta", "Tra" and "Shan"! She's a genius!!
So yeah, we said the magic phrase, and the entryway just... dissolved I
guess, leading us into the building. It was mostly empty, with a few
crystals (which looked pretty, but not inherently valuable) lying
around, and some bits of metal that looked kind of like tools, but not
any tools I've ever seen.
Anyway, the room inside was about 40' by 40', but the building outside
was 40' by 60', so we knew there had to be a secret - well, an even
more secret - space inside. And it looked like it was under the tower.
The thing is that there was a hexagonal carving about 7' up on the wall
adjacent to the missing space, with holes at each corner. So I gave
Torvar a leg up, and he put his fingers in the holes (braver than I
am!), and the whole wall opened up!!!
On the floor of the secret-secret room was another massive hexagon,
inscribed in a circle (whoever lived in these parts long ago sure liked
their hexagons and circles!), surrounded by more runes including some
of the runes Bryar had already figured out. At the corners of the
hexagon are more holes, this time colour-coded, and three of them have
coloured bolts screwed into them. But not only are the bolts
colour-coded, but their heads are also pointy, so as you turn the bolts
in their holes, they "point" in different directions around the circle!
It's all very peculiar. But also full of conjuration magic - which the
others said could mean teleportation?
Also in the secret-secret room was a bench with a depression in it that
looked about the same size as the crystals in the outer (single-secret)
room. Kallista tried putting the crystals in it, and while a few of
them made a bit of a sputtering noise but not much else, another one
caused a vision to appear of blue people looking out over a golden city
of towering spires! Like, the hugest city with the tallest spires you
could ever imagine, but huger and taller!! It was magnificent.
But after that we kind of got stuck. We had a look around some more,
thought about what it all might mean, and threw around some ideas, but
we didn't know what else to do. There wasn't any treasure as such
(boo! /s) and we knew that people would want to know about what we'd
found, so the next morning we headed back.
That's about it. I suppose it would be really interesting if any of the
other parties turned up a coloured bolt with a pointy head - that might
make a return trip to the tower an interesting proposition!
Some of the others have good drawings of the things we found - better
than anything I could do. I'll leave it to them to show you those.
How have things been up here this last week then? Any new gossip?
Bran.
Andy Clark
(Another set of notes on the session!)
The Journey to ‘En Ta Tra Ta Shan’
Travelling Companions:
Bran – Human Fighter – 5’ 10” – spends a lot of time in the Inn
Kallista – Hexblade Warlock – 5’ 11” – 27 yrs old – Explorer (has been mapping the areas around valley)
Torvar – High Elf Druid – Wanders around valley
Briar – Cleric – Healer who works in the village temple.
Sariel (Sai) – Wood Elf Ranger - from the Feygrove. Author of this journal...
Leaving Home
Together we made our way south from the village, following the river through the mountains towards the Falls. About 500 foot from the falls, beneath an outcrop of rock that until recently had been smothered in a dense mass of thorny bushes was a newly exposed tunnel. The after clearing the way dwarves had followed the tunnel down, finding that it connected with an abandoned part of their mines which eventually lead to down to the bottom of the cliffs. We carefully picked our way down the tunnels; following the marks the dwarves had left to guide us and trying not to slip on the damp rock floor. As we climbed down, we began to hear a soft rumbling which slowly grew to a deafening roar and we emerged onto a ledge behind the falls. To the right, down a 20 foot drop, a route out from behind the falls could be seen. We secured a rope and made our way to the ground. Once we were all safely down, Bran carefully climbed part way up the cliff and hid the rope before we all made our way across the water-slicked rocks and out from behind the falls.
We took a moment to gaze up at the thunderous torrent, but it was already midday and we were all desperate to make progress so using the river as our guide, set off south across the plains.
The Journey
As we walked we passed a forest to the west. It felt wrong somehow. In the sky above the plains we had seen birds circling, and there were tracks of small animals beside the water, but nothing lead towards the forest, and no noise could be heard from within it. Stand on the edge of the wildwoods and you could hear the life living within it, but this forest, these trees. Silence rulled. But, we were set on our way, so kept going south.
Further down the river we could see hills rising above the plain, and before them another forest grew on both sides of the water. As we approached we were relieved to hear the sounds of life, and we made our way inside. Before long it grew dark and we scouted around for a place to make camp. We found a hollow a little way from the river and up a rise, and set up camp, lighting a fire and setting watches. A few hours pass before Torval heard a noise and stepped out to the edge of the hollow to see what he could hear. A black bear was sniffing the air, attracted by the smell of our meal. Calmly, he attempted to persuade the bear to leave, casting a spell to send it on its way. Unfortunately the bear was too hungry, and the smell of our meal too enticing, and it decided to charge. Torval ran back into the hollow shouting, rousing us from our sleep. Briar tried to startle the creature, summing a flame infront of the bear to try and scare it into leaving, but it keeps coming. As the party scrambles to its feet, Bran grabs his axe and a flaming branch from the fire and, with a terrifying cry he charges at the bear, waving the flames before him. Startled, the bear turns and flees. After checking everyone was safe, people return to their sleep. The bear does not return…
In the morning, Kallista goes foraging and Sariel heads down to the river to fish for breakfast. Torvar has a lie in.
The party continues along the river and out of the forest as it bends towards the south-west and the hills begin to rise. The river continues into a valley, and we follow it in. As we walk, we see two large columns on the other side of the valley, a path leading between them up to a large pair of stone doors set into one of the hills which makes up the valley. Smoke can be seen rising from beyond the hills on the south of the valley. The river is shallow enough for us to cross, so (with a little help for the Halfling) we cross to inspect them. There is a dirt path leading away to the north east that does not continue past the columns. It shows signs of people having been along it in the past few days. The columns themselves are hexagonal in cross section, maybe 40 foot high, 4 foot across and covered in runes. The runes are heavily weathered and are similar but not the same as the ones from the map the dwarves had found. Leading between the pillars, a path leads a couple of hundred feet into the hills to a pair of large stone doors. The stone doors each have a circle inlaid in them, and within the circle is a hexagon, the points of which touch the circle.
But we have to move on, so cross back over the river and continue on our way. The river turns south again and we head a little further to where the hills peiter out. South of the hills the river spreads out into a wide marshland, flanked far away on both sides by more forest. Within it there are occasional trees and reedy bushes. We decide to camp before entering the swamp, and pass an uneventful night before rising and progressing slowly through the marshlands.
After a few hours trudging through the ankle/thigh deep soft mud and halfway to the stone bluff, we notice a pair of odd patches of mud, which begin to rise. A pair of giant frogs leap at us, one at briar, trying to bite her in half but missing, one at Sariel, catching on her arm; Torval hits out at the frog attacking Briar, and Kallista tries to blast it with fire but misses. Briar hits her frog with a mace and Bran using an axe to slice at it. Sariel breaks free from the frog, which joins its companion as they both attach Briar, thankfully missing her. Torval missed with his staff, but Kallista catches it with her quarterstaff, killing it. The second frog is quickly dispatched by Briar and Bran. Whilst the party regroups, Torval tends to Sariels arm.
The party squelches on, reaching the point where the marshland dries out and the river proper returns, forking around the bluff, which rises a couple of hundred feet above river. On the bluff we can see a large white rectangular building, on top from which is a white chimney. The forest curls around the marshland towards the edge of the river, and a little way along there is an old but sturdy stone bridge. There is a smell of smoke from within the forest, and around the bridge there is signs of small bootprints. We head across the bridge and up the bluff to the building.
The Tower of ‘En Ta Tra Ta Shan’
The building is a rectangle, 60’ by 40’. At one end of the building, the tower rises from the roof. It is covered in grooves snaking their way up the building like filigree. There is some metal inlaid into the grooves, but there isn’t much left. A third of the way up one of the long sides (from the opposite end to the tower) there is an inset doorway, but no door.
|
 [Picture of outside of building] 
[Picture of runes above the door]
|
Above it are the runes which could be seen on the dwarven map. Torval casts detect magic which shows the glyphs are magic – a ward protecting the doorway, maybe a way through with a passphrase? The small footprints can be seen coming into and out of the door.
Climbing on top of the building there is a low ledge around the whole roof. Around the base of the tower is the rusted remains of the metal which has flaked off the building. Sariel gathers a sample.
To the south of the building are some standing stones. We go to investigate but they do not have any markings on them.
Frustrated, the only remaining cause of action is to try and follow the footprints into the forest back by the river, but the sun is setting so we camp next to the building until morning.
The next morning, as we are getting ready to break camp, a pair of gnomish children come running around the edge of the building! In broken common, Bran and Briar talk to them. They tell us that they come here to play, and ask if we are from the herds people? We explain we are don’t know of the herds people and that we came to find what was here. They ask if we want to come inside - “The tower has a name! and you have to ask the tower to let you in by saying its name! You have to say ‘Daresh, En Ta Tra Ta Shan’ to get in!”, at which point the door dissolves! We check what you have to say to open the door from the inside, and apparently it is the same!
We head inside to a square room 40 foot a side. There are some crystals on the floor, and strange metal tools (large wrench sized) which none of us recognise are scattered around. When asked if they know how long the building has been here the children tell us “At least 6 years” (their age) and “Gods built this place when they built the world”
We inspect the wall, and half way up (Around 7 ½ foot up) is a hexagon shaped depression, a large hands span across. At each of the points of the hexagon is an indent about 2” deep. With the help of Bran, Torval inspects the hexagon, and tries (using both hands) to put his fingers into the holes. This causes the whole wall to vanish upwards by 7’.
The gnomish children have never seen this room and are VERY excited!
|
Room Layout
|
Mechanism
|
|
 One of the keys |
On the other side of the wall is another room, 20’ by 40’. In the middle of the floor is a circular “Mechanism”, 15’ across. In the circle is a hexagon, the points of which touch the circle and at which points are coloured holes matching the colours shown on the Dwarven map (Red, Orange, Yellow, Green, Blue and Purple). Three of the holes are filled with “Keys” (Yellow, Green and Purple), which when inspected are turnable “bolts”, with heads on them which are shaped in such a way that they have a point so the head can be pointed in a particular direction. The keys cannot easily be inserted into the holes which do not match their colour. Detect magic shows the keys and the mechanism are magical, from the school of conjuration (teleportation?). Around the circle are a set of runes. Briar inspects them and spots that 5 of them match the runes above the door, and from that deduces that the syllables that make up the entrance passphrase each correspond to a rune.
|
[Picture of the circle with the runes + Syllables assigned to each rune |
Against one wall of the second room is a stone table (high-chest height) which is covered in inlaid gold metal in an ornate pattern and which has a depression in the middle the same size as the pair of crystals which were scattered on the floor, and there are two more crystals resting on the table. It looks like a workstation. From the depression, more filigree metal (which is intact) rises up the wall and across the ceiling to form a circle above the mechanism (above which we believe the tower is).
Kallista puts one of the crystals in the hollow on the table, which causes it to light up briefly, sputtering. When nothing changes, she tries the second crystal, which does the same. The third crystal though stays lit, and above the table an illusion appears, images move in a loop a few seconds long which repeats itself. A group of tall blue skinned humanoid figures with 6 fingered hands (two sets of three fingers on each), flat faces and no hair are stood in front of a glistening golden city filled with tall spires. They are dressed in clothes and are talking to each other, but no sound can be heard. The fourth crystal does nothing.
Visiting Riverglade
After exploring the second room, we close up the wall (pressing fingers into the holes seals it), and leave the building, repeating the pass phrase to close the door.
Figuring it would be rude not to go and speak to the children’s parents, we then walk with down to their village. A group of 20-ish gnomes greet us, formed into a couple of families. Looking at their houses this is more of a permanent settlement. The village name translates as “Riverglade”.
We ask them about the herds people the children mentioned. They are nomadic herds people and hunters that come through this area in the summer from the north. They are not necessarily bad people.
They cannot tell us more about the tower than we already know. The name of the tower has been passed down through their families for generations. We check that they are ok with us going to the building which was built by Gods, but they are not concerned as they aren’t their gods!
We thank them and begin the 3 day journey home which is completely uneventful.
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Andy Clark
Adam Spragg
> > [image: Valley Map 2.jpeg]
> >
> (Annotated Map)
based off of is very stylised, and the river is obviously not exactly
the same shape as drawn.
Would it be possible for someone - or a group of people - in the village
to use this map, and our descriptions of where and how far we walked,
and the view of the plains that we can see from the top of the cliffs,
and try to construct a more accurate map of where the sites were?
The Builders obviously gave a lot of reverence to the hexagon. Hexagons
have been obvious symbols in all the sites we've visited so far. It
seems possible to me that they might have made these special buildings
at the points of a hexagon, and that if get a good idea of where the 3
buildings that we've already visited are, that might be able to tell us
where to look for some of their other buildings.
Also, can anyone else who visited EnTaTraTaShan remember the
orientation of the building on the bluff? Was the wall with the doorway
on it on the south? I don't think it was, but *if* it were, then the
orientation of the coloured sockets on the floor of the inner room
might also give a clue - because the red socket would be northernmost
and could correspond to the location of the "temple of power". However,
I think that the wall with the entrance may have been on the
north-east(?) in which case that would be a dead-end.
Bran.
Adam Spragg
"Outlander" background could use their "excellent memory for maps and
geography" and their ability to "always recall the general layout of
terrain, settlements and other features" around them, along with, like,
borrowing some Cartographer's Tools from someone in our town or
something, and asking our benevolent GM if they could make some kind
of Int or Wis check with whatever bonuses/advantages they can plausibly
argue they should have, to draw a better map of the plains and the
locations of the places we've already been to?
Adam
Adam Spragg
Because slightly drunken maths is the best kind of maths!
The "temple of power" is roughly 1 full day's walk due west from the
base of the waterfall. And based on how long it takes me to walk around
the valley lake, I'm going to call that about 25 miles.
The "temple of healing" is near the river about a day and a half's walk
away. The river, as I recall when I walked it on the way to
EnTaTraTaShan, goes mostly south for a day, before turning south west
for half a day before reaching the path to the entrance. That puts
the start of the path... 33 miles south and 8 miles west of the
waterfall? But the entrance itself is another couple of miles east from
there, making it 33 miles south and 6 miles west of the waterfall.
To get to EnTaTraTaShan, you follow the river from there for another
couple of hours to the south-west, and then the river heads south again
until the end of the third day's walk. That puts EnTaTraTaShan 70 miles
south and 12 miles west of the waterfall?
Based on where the sun was as I was walking, and how long I walked for,
and what I can see from the top of the cliffs (I think the fork/bluff
at EnTaTraTaShan is visible from the clifftop on a good day, based on
the excited chattering of the crowd at the top of the cliff the morning
after the map was found) - does that seem about right?
(Ed - Bran's passive "survival" ("Passive Checks" - PH pp. 175) is 14,
but his passive "investigation" is only 10. I'm not sure which is more
appropriate here. But also, I'd be asking for help from anyone else in
the Lakeside Inn on whether this sounds about right, only getting help
("Working Together" - PH pp. 175) in 5th Ed gives advantage rather than
a set bonus, and it's not clear how passive checks and advantage
combine - if they do at all. Also also, Bran's Int is 11, and I'm only
using GCSE-level trig here, so these sorts of calculations aren't
totally outside the plausible realm of his ability, are they?)
(Also OOC - I just noticed the "Group Checks" section for the first
time. Doh! Must bear that in mind in future...)
If anyone else agrees with those numbers, the distances from the
"temple of power" to the "temple of healing", and from the "temple of
healing" to EnTaTraTaShan are almost exactly the same length. So they'd
make two sides of a regular shape. The angles between the lines joining
the sites are a bit too big to make a regular hexagon, but not much too
big. Probably easily within the margin of error in my calculations -
especially given how long we've been in here and how many empty beer
glasses there are on the table!
So, if the Builders did locate their building sites in the shape of a
hexagon, the next nearest one will be... roughly 38 miles from the
"temple of power" on a bearing of 260°.
Any thoughts on that? Anyone else have any other ideas on the next best
place to investigate otherwise? A beer for the first other suggestion!
Hurrah!
Bran.
On April 14 2019 at 09:27, Adam Spragg wrote:
Rory Cullen
The "temple of power" is roughly 1 full day's walk due west from the
base of the waterfall. And based on how long it takes me to walk around
the valley lake, I'm going to call that about 25 miles.
(Also OOC - I just noticed the "Group Checks" section for the first
time. Doh! Must bear that in mind in future...)
If anyone else agrees with those numbers, the distances from the
"temple of power" to the "temple of healing", and from the "temple of
healing" to EnTaTraTaShan are almost exactly the same length. So they'd
make two sides of a regular shape. The angles between the lines joining
the sites are a bit too big to make a regular hexagon, but not much too
big. Probably easily within the margin of error in my calculations -
especially given how long we've been in here and how many empty beer
glasses there are on the table!
So, if the Builders did locate their building sites in the shape of a
hexagon, the next nearest one will be... roughly 38 miles from the
"temple of power" on a bearing of 260°.
Any thoughts on that? Anyone else have any other ideas on the next best
place to investigate otherwise? A beer for the first other suggestion!
Hurrah!
GFSTaylor
Taika
Ed Chivers
I'm sure that Tagariel must be wondering - if someone were to attempt to climb to the top of the tower at Entatratashan, might they might be able to take bearings to the other sites? That might help - you'd be able to confirm directions, then. If some enterprising individual(s) also took bearings from a high-up position in the valley (say, from Kazkan's farm) then you'd have some lines that would cross at your points of interest. Of course you'd need to know the baseline distance from the farm to work things out, but it's a start. Maybe there might be other things to see from up there, too. Won't know until you try.
If this is something you folks want to do, we can run the Kazkan end of the survey on a separate thread on the group, as in-character discussion (no need for dice) then do the other end of the survey as a proper session after the May bank holiday weekend (we're away with the Clarks that weekend so I can't run a game at home).
Rory Cullen
On Wednesday, 24 April 2019 11:45:09 UTC+1, GFSTaylor wrote:
There may well be some kind of magical movement set up, but don't forget that these places were built by a race much taller then humans and elves, and possibly stronger. No doubt they walked faster than us, so distances between buildings were relatively smaller for them. There may have been better trails then, also making travel easier.
Taika
Rory Cullen
Adam Spragg
the building are below? I thought the cliffs were about 500m tall?
And where is Kazkan's farm? I can't find any mention of its actual
location in any of the messages where it's mentioned.
Adam
Rory Cullen
On Wednesday, 24 April 2019 12:21:59 UTC+1, Adam Spragg wrote:
Isn't all of the valley a high-up position compared to the plains where
the building are below? I thought the cliffs were about 500m tall?
Adam Spragg
> > Any thoughts on that? Anyone else have any other ideas on the next
> > best place to investigate otherwise? A beer for the first other
> > suggestion! Hurrah!
> >
> We can always go and turn the power on, then re-investigate the other
> two sites. Those lights might reappear and point us somewhere else as
> well.
>
> I'm also reasonably convinced that there's some sort of teleport or
> other fast travel network that we haven't found yet - why build
> everything so far apart, unless spatial distance wasn't a huge
> factor? Especially your medical facilities (if that's what they were)
> - you want those accessible in case of emergency.
idea. So glad you're here.
Ed Chivers
Evie
Adam Spragg
> Regarding the bearing and location, I would be up for randomly
> wandering according to drunken maths done by a character with Int 11!
is probably better than mine. He is a wizard, after all.
:-)
Bran.