09/03/2021 - Raucous rocs, mountain murals and a super-sized skull

## Out of the swamps and into the mountain

* Leo has leeches and is poisoned but everyone else was very good at it
* Landslides geology simulator
* Alluvial fan?? Idek
* There are 2 rocs circling the mountain
* Khiaxi says she's going to head back and look where we found Clovis' necklace - she will meet us back at last nights camp in 2/3 days. She gives us a whistle to blow 3 times every hour when we're done. If we don't meet up in 4 days we'll look for the other.
* Scree slope looks climbable but much steeper above it
* After the rocs go, Breena drinks a combined potion of Fly and Locate Object to try and find the tablet (Ellie goes with her to keep an eye on her)
* She sees goat tracks up the debris fan, no paths, tunnels or caves, bedrock is a different colour - mostly dark grey black, occasional lighter colour; no pings on Locate Object
* Very hot out of tree canopy
* We climb the mountain and are kind of okay but not great
* The roc comes back and attacks us, but we kill it
* We track up the mountain and just about make it to a plateau at the top of the debris by evening
* Breena sees a carving in the bedrock, maybe the top of a letter buried - abjuration magic?
* We decide to clear the rocks to see the rest of the letters; Kunai, Breena and Bayul clear the smaller rocks, Lysander, Leo and Tamsin blow up/freeze-thaw the bigger ones
* The full uncovered phrase says "Orion's view shall be but a clue" - in Celestial
* Below, is a big hole / alcove cut into the rock – in which is some sort of mechanical turnstile, with a large letter - A in Celestial; cycles through most of the alphabet
* Eventually uncover 8 of these turnstile things.
* Orion the constellation is v common, don't know any references to "Orion's view" - usually above the sky of Ostaria
* Can see that the dark grey rock is what the mountain is, whiter rock is marble like, not natural
* At 1am – they notice glowing on large surface of the marble rock, to reveal a puzzle.
* Solution to the puzzle is the word “Jazirian”. On entering this into the turnstiles the mountain starts to vibrate and everyone hears a mechanical grinding - 70 foot above the marble bedrock opens to make a 80x80ft gap
* Jazirian is a lesser deity of peace and learning, resides on Solania, 4th level of Celestia, creator of Couatls and patron of scaled folk such as Kunai
* We in turn make it up the top - Tamsin Misty Steps up with rope, Breena and Kunai climb the rope, Belgaer and Lysander fly up
* The doors almost shuts, but Breena pulls the lever to keep it open and Leo and Bayul make it up
* Inside, stone is covered in scratches and claw marks - gargantuan ones, but one creature only, and has not been disturbed recently
* Big Ril says we're safe here to rest and Leo feels reassured
* Completely silent within the mountain, Bayul has a short watch to make sure
* No movement within the tunnel; tunnel is fairly rough, no carvings or offshoots
* Breena casts Locate Object again and gets a ping!

## Mountain Murals

* Walls become slabbed walls - huge doorway ahead, with 4 murals painted leading up to it
* Two large serpents, biting the tail of the other to form a ring - ouroborus - one is red/yellow, the other is green/blue. Blue serpent has wings like a coatl - emanating out is cosmic explosion, forming rings and spheres
* Same two serpents, now ripped apart; blue/green above and flying, red one falling. Both furious - tails dripping with blood, forming fire creatures and celestial creatures
* Depiction of the World Serpent Archetype - believers think the cosmos was formed by primal spirits, the most powerful being the World Serpent who is the two together - Jazirian (coatl) and Ahriman (snake) - they created everything then had a huge fall out over where the centre of the universe should be and split apart in anger and rage
* Cosmic battlefield - Ahriman on left with avatars and huge army of fiends; Jazirian and Celestial army on the right; Bahamut and Tiamat are also there is Rilifane (on Jazirian's side) and Lloth on (on Ahriman's side). Tyr, Torm and Ilmater are there on Jazirian's side, all have both hands (usually Torm has one hand). Head elf deity and Sylvanus also on Jazirian. Dead three on Ahriman's side, Bane (Lord of Darkness), Bhaal (Lord of Murder) and Myrkul (Lord of Bones). Symbolic, pre-battle
* Ahriman falling into fiery chasm with Triad stood at the top

## Skulls

* To get through the next door need to solve a puzzle involving candles and prime colours, this leads to a room with a HUGE DRAGON SKULL in the centre
* Skull is easily 2-3 times bigger than an ancient white dragon - writing underneath in Draconic *"Here lies the skull of Torgusdom, Great Champion of the Platinum, Defender of the Righteous, and a true and loyal friend. As the Life-Scale Tree stands as a testament to his actions in the great battle, so too does his skull, lain here amongst the remains of those he vanquished"*
* Life-scale tree is icon of Bahamut, never been found but many have searched for it, said that if you find it you would receive a great boon from Bahamut
* Other plinths around the room with still large skulls; wooden door to left, metallic door above, archway to right leading to another cavern - a very large crater inside it covered in big scratches and scar marks
* Smaller archway leading to another temple inside, and tunnels going up (which do not look the same, much more rough, more modern, smaller and recent)
* Going into smaller archway, corridor similar to skull room
* Carving in the wall, 'Barachiel the Messenger, Lion of Lunia' - Lunia is a level of Celestia, 1st level
* Leads to some steeply descending unstable stairs with light below - a large cavern, 200x200ft, floor 400ft below us, cavern is covered in lava except for paved section on the right with some stuff on it, which looks as old as everything else here