“It shouldn’t take long.” Aureliana hurries out to speak to everyone : “Oktavia found the regio! We should investigate it before something comes out we don’t expect.”
Sceparnius quickly casts Eyes of the Cat upon himself and walks cautiously into the tower.
"This is gonna be great!" Osbertus rubs his hands together in glee and follows Sceparnius. "If there are ghosts down there do we fight, flee, or negotiate?"
"Ghosts?" Sceparnius thinks for a minute, then smiles. "I think we ask them where your treasure is! But if they look anything like that vision, we'd better head back upstairs."
"Well, we can try... but ghosts like keeping treasures.” Then Osbertus grins. "I can mess 'em up a bit if it comes to that"
”I’ll let you two handle that while I scout the place,” winks Aureliana. ”A regio underneath an ancient Roman fort? Who knows what magics lie within?”
The group enters the sublevel, where Oktavia is waiting.
”I didn’t see anything in there from outside... but we’ll find out,” Oktavia chimes in as she hears Aureliana’s last remark while approaching. She smiles at everyone in turn. ”Should we take any precautions? I’m not an expert by any means, but I know regiones can occasionally be treacherous...”
"Well, it'd be nice if we could find the entrance without using magic... just in case... but there aren't many precautions we can take,” Osbertus answers.
”Not until we’ve seen what’s in there, anyway.” Aureliana is almost bouncing on the balls of her feet now.
Oktavia nods. “Well... alright, then. I’ll just be prepared to back us out if anything seems off. When you’re all ready, link up your hand in a chain connecting to me.” She takes a deep breath, then gestures forcefully and recites the incantations to see the path before her again.
The spell works flawlessly, and the group steps through to the next regio level. Immediately, you are assaulted by the sounds of loud conflict, with slamming rock and metal ringing on metal coming from above. The room you are in is stocked with Roman style weapons and armor, but made out of a deep blue steel none of you are familiar with.
Ozymandius whispers, "I have a bad feeling there are a bunch of Romans upstairs...do you think ghosts or some sort of time displacement? I can try to talk to them if you think it's a good idea..."
Jadranka listens to the noises coming from somewhere above and/or around them, and then she hears the comments about the voices being a bit disembodied. Realizing that ghosts don't give off body heat, she casts a quick formulaic spell, taking a look around to see if anything is giving off any kind of heat...and if a trail of that heat can be found.
"Well, they aren't ghosts," Jadranka says as she moves her head about. "And there are several of them up there. Not sure how many, but they are warm enough to be seen through the ceiling. Some moving about - a bit faster than I'd like - and some standing still."
Osbertus raises an eyebrow. "Can you see people through walls? Or do you think they're fire spirits or something?"
“With the spell I've got activated, I can see their body heat. And with this next one..." Jadranka moves her arms about, casting another spell. "Oh boy. 12 of them. Not human, but humanoid...ish. The youngest one is 200, while the oldest is 800. Not sure if they are male or female, though."
"Fey, then? Something humanoid but real enough to give off heat..." Sceparnius trails off.
”Could be. But we’re outnumbered and there is certainly either a battle or a very realistic training exercise going on,” adds Aureliana.
"I'm going out there, back me up? I'm going to try to make nice." Osbertus steps through the doorway (but not so quickly he can't be stopped).
I guess I did just tell him to negotiate Sceparnius thinks. He moves carefully to follow Osbertus.
Aureliana will also follow, but will stay back to help Oktavia if she is going too.
Jadranka follows slowly behind.
