Expedition 112: Syb'cartwrite Meets a God

We go through Ova's Shrine with a new group, and take along two commoners with us.

### A Song for Syb

Upon exiting the shrine, Finnjamin writes a short song for Syb'cartwrite about her accomplishments.

Sybil the intrepid, Sybil the brave

Squeezed herself into a narrow cave

Met her heroes, wished with her heart

She could see adventurers work at their art.

She got her wish, and yet, much more

For Ova looked with favor on that little girl

Perhaps, one day, an adventurer too

For she was a wizard now, through and through.

### Detailed Writeup

As we enter Ova's shrine through a small passageway in the rock, we come across the first room, filled with a myriad of brass mechanical objects, like before - but there's also something that wasn't there before - two commoners. The older one, Therrin Cartwrite, is about 25 years old, and seems to be taking his young cousin, 10-year old Syb'cartwrite on an outing to see one of the places the Compact visited. Sybil, or Syb, is a huge fan of the compact, and Clarity and Finn talk up Ark enough so that she primarily fangirls over them. We invite them to join us, as long as they don't touch anything, and Syb nearly faints with happiness.

In the first room, we pass a skill challenge and construct a mechanical model train. The final check is made with a nat 20 insight from Bea, as she asks herself, "What would Calliope do?"

The second room is filled with pieces of stained glass, we succeed another skill challenge to assemble it. It becomes a beautiful, haunting mural of a five-headed dragon ascending a series of stone pillars. The image is broken into five parts, each representing one head:

* The red head looks down at a pool of magma underneath the pillars
* The blue head twists downward into an undersea landscape, and there is a whirlpool of water that holographically moves
* The black head lies among a field of stars, and a single bright star is set atop pillars of stone
* The white head looks between two snow-capped mountain peaks
* The green head looks into a dark, shifting aquatic scene with a single brass tower.

We think this mural may be telling us things about the locations of portals to other planes located in the East.

The third room has a broad ironwood doorway with three massive cobalt pins holding it shut. There are shimmering blocks of text on each one. Each line is written in a different language, which Ark overcomes with Comprehend Languages soon enough.

1. Wise when you use me // Guilt for boots or slippers // Racks of dread for those that mistread, // Bold inlaid or oldwood greyed.
2. Harts require me, // Dammers envy me, // Night has mastered me, // Lo man moves without me.
3. Foremost in a well lived life, // Bores can contain me, by half, // Looks can give me, by half, // Coals find me faster than kings.

We realize that the first letter of each line is messed up, so we cycle the letters so the puzzle reads:

1. Rise when you use me // Built for boots or slippers // Wacks of dread for those that mistread, // Gold inlaid or oldwood greyed.
2. Darts require me, // Hammers envy me, // Light has mastered me, // No man moves without me.
3. Coremost in a well lived life, // Lores can contain me, by half, // Books can give me, by half, // Foals find me faster than kings.

With much deliberation, even Finn trying to improv as a hammer, we finally get the three answers:

1. Stairs
2. Speed
3. Wisdom

We are then let into the inner sanctum of Ova's shrine. Clarity, Ark, and Sybil make the wisdom saves, and are transported to a void where they get to speak with Ova. "What do you seek? What is known, what is knowable, or what is unknowable?"

Clarity asks to know about what happened to her father. She is transported (mentally) to a small mountain town in Selrac, near Ithmaul, to a small home in the mountains. Outside is a dwarven man with a twisted leg stirring a pot, waiting for the miners to return home, and inside the home is a dwarven toddler, maybe 6 or 7 years old. "He has returned to the world. He did not receive reward or punishment for his actions in his past life." Clarity offers up the bracers the sphinx led her to, and:

* A beautiful golden fence has appeared in the Monument to Growth, beautifully etched with the same designs as the Bracers of the Drakehall guard. It grants all members of the Ironwood compact an additional d6 hit die. (+1 beauty)

Ark asks "I want to know how to be the best at something."

Ova responds, "Ark, you practice an art the knowledge of which was almost lost. With Ash and her students you have recovered the majority of the art... but a single ability remains." New verses, a new melody bloom in Ark's mind, the notes fleeting but unforgettable. "With this song, you can unlock the lost knowledge of the full bladesinger." Ark gains the full Extra Attack feature of Bladesinger (previously nerfed), allowing them to cast a cantrip in place of one of their multiattacks.

In the inner chamber with Ova's statue, Therrin is terrified that Syb has disappeared, but Bea and Finnjamin try to comfort him.

Finnjamin offers up his song that he wrote, about how he wrote a great song and made Ark really popular, forgetting the song. In return, he gains expertise in Wisdom(Creativity).

Therrin hands over his fanny pack, which the statue crushes and hands back - the fanny pack is now a fanny pack of holding.

Bea thinks about singing the candle tree song she learned from Alluren, but after learning that Finn forgot the song he offered up, she does not want to lose it in case she needs it in the future. Instead, she offers up Fenrir's Fury, a warpick made from Kazreme's tooth and many other trophies from her conquests. The statue crushes the warpick into splinters, and forms a highly engraved, decorated tooth: Fenreme, Fang of the Hunter.

Ark, Clarity, and Syb return, Syb loudly exclaims "THAT WAS THE COOLEST!" Apparently she had asked to be just like Ark, so she now has a level in Wizard.