Expedition 86: Ova's Shrine

**Roster: Uzmir, Valorie, Nexrin, Ellie, Candelsar and**

**Gonerton**

**Summary**

we passed Ovas tests talked to a god and left with the blessing of knowledge

**Gonertons log**

Today Uzmir, Valorie, Nexrin, Ellie, Candelsar and myself make the journey to Ovas shrine in the silent cliffs. I'm eager for a chance to remedy the mistakes I made last time, and Uzimir has assured me the shrines will be reset so the damage I caused when we first discovered the shrine wont impair our progress. I'm sure this time coming with an understanding of the structure we will make much more progress.

I think I must now forgive Bea for driving us off a cliff when we were here last. I think it was truly her skill that I did not notice the difficulty of the terrain. It is far too rugged for my typical travel spells like phantom steed, or even tenser's floating disk. I am tempted to use a fly spell if only to give my legs a chance at rest. I can tell Candelsar is having similar regrets. We are losing daylight though so little time to rest.

We have finally arrived at Ovas shrine, and by some twist of fate I am not the most winded, it might do Candelsar some good to attend Yezras gym, it at least provides proper context for exhaustion. I've warned the new members about the squeeze to get into the shrine. No one thinks it's worth the effort to use magic to get inside, although i'm not excited to try squeezing in again. I can't expect to adventure in comfort.

The inside is much as I remember it when I first came here masses of clockwork parts line the walls with no apparent function. The clock that was assembled last time seems to have reverted back into its parts.Though no one in the group has studied clockwork we have decided to break up into pairs to reassemble this puzzle Uzmir Valorie have already begun on their assigned sections but ill Candelsar some more time to recover before we begin. I think I understand why he doesn't often come on expeditions.

Valorie and I have made tremendous progress assembling our sections. I think I can recall the solution last. Time Uzimr had some difficulty positioning himself on the right side of his section but I think we now see the full scope of the machine.

It took a few hours but the clock is finally working and the way to the second chamber is open. Candelsar is a brilliant scholar but I do not think he is suited to be relegated to manual labor. The next task is some artistic puzzle which might lean towards his skills. The walls of the second room are lined with thousands of glass tiles with adhesive on the back to allow for rearrangement. Uzmir can see that channels are in each piece so that when assembled correctly it will single the door. We have started removing tiles and arranging them by color on the floor. There are a few pieces that even have text.Valorie seems to have an excellent eye for finding the right tiles from the walls.

Yes it depicts some murals of the book making process. Ovas servants do have very respectable choices of professions. It appears to be a linear progression including all the hands and professions necessary for the creation of books. I think I remember the steps to making paper…  Apparently Nexrin knows a thing or two about tanning and has corrected my miss ordering. Uzmir is confidant in assembling the religious portion of the the mural, and Ellie is finely moving our completed sections to the wall. I suppose I will wait in the corner while they finish.

The next room is dominated by three riddles each with four lines. Next to each riddle lays a hand print and a set of footprints giving off a gray light. We have surmised that one must step their place their hand to the wall and speak the answer. Something curious though is that the riddles are all in different languages, even the lines in the individual riddles change languages. Uzmir can read them all but cant tell the language we don’t know how this relates to the riddles but we are hesitant to start until we figure this out.

I have the thorns of old mountains (Dwarven)

And the color of a rose (Elven)

A serpent for a guide (Draconic)

and water for a nose (Giant)

Find me in the eye of a tiger (Terran)

And the arms of a warrior (Gnome)

I am the strength of a storm (Auran)

And the laying down of a lover (Halfling)

Liars never forget me (Goblin)

Angels never found me (Abyssal)

The ignorant never lost me  (Infernal)

and dead men never tell me (Orcish)

I never knew Valorie was such a linguist. It took us a while of guessing none of us had example script to compare but we believe we have identified all the languages. Uzmir has informed us that the phrase “thorns of old mountains” is complete gibberish, and though we hazard the third riddle answer is truth give the nature of Ova we some of the phrases seem conflicting. Ellie has suggested we rearrange the text so the riddles make sense. Candelsar is casting Augury to see if this is correct.

It makes so much sense now you replace the first parts of the mortal languages and the first part of the immortal languages.

I have the thorns  of a rose

And the color of old mountains

A serpent for a nose

and water for a guide

Find me in the eye of a storm

And the arms of aof a lover

I am the strength of a tiger

And the laying down warrior

and dead men never forget me

The ignorant never found me

Angels never lost me

Liars never tell me

We are certain three is truth. Ellie has guessed two is silence. Umir will now try testing truth and Ellie will now test SIlence. I think we should have nexrin test it as he is much more survable but Ellie insists.

Bad bad bad. The punishment for guessing wrong is feeble mind apparently. Ellie found out the hard way although she appears to have resisted its most devastating effects. After consideration either Uzmir or myself should try the riddles as we are most likely to escape its effects. I've argued that I am the better choice as Uzmir can cast intellect fortress to add further protection while I can not. The door responds to Ellies guess so we know it's close. We are changing our guess to calm, the calm in the eye of a storm. I'm not certain if a tiggers strength is its calmness but here we go. Oh no we should probably figure out the first one before we risk losing a member. They think its elephant. How do elephants have water for a guide? I expect someone to fill me in a month if this turns out wrong.

Those shockingly were the correct answers. The door has opened up to a massive three headed ten armed metal statue of ova. Such incredible detail...

Meeting with a god was about as mentaly taxing as I expected. I think in my haste to wish for the knowledge to be a better teacher I didn't think about the strain compressing that much knowledge into a mind would do. I think Uzmirs intellect fortress held my head together. What I heard from the others was that as we entered the room Uzmir Candalsar and myself vanished each talking to a different aspect of Ova. I saw what was known by the many and requested knowledge to teach. Uzmir requested the knowable and was able to learn thing known by only one person and gathered knowledge on the time weft before gifting his ring of mind shielding to Ova and received both ovas blessing and an interesting ear ring. Candalsar requested the unknowable. That offer was tempting for me but I am not ready for madness yet. Candalsar seems to have learned some Alchemy and other bits of skill but did not want to elaborate on his experiences. While we were gone Valorie threatened the statue with hammers then placed a violin and some pictures on the statue which were crushed and burned in its metal palms. Nexrin placed two gold in a palm which the statue reformed into a type of wand. I think I need to take a break from writing my mind still feels slightly on fire.

Uzmir is flying Candalsar home as he isn't in the shape to make the journey by fooI is should have asked to come with instead we are walking with these mercenaries.theres a wizard in the group I didn't catch his wizards name but he might be related to the illusionist sent to disrupt clarity. Valore is talking all friendly to him. I hope she catches his name.  Apparently all the mercenaries hate  us after something valorie did something rude. I don’t know how they expect the entire compact to stay a mile away at all times though.