There are no visible regio boundaries.
Gregorius thinks he's seen something like this mosaic before. The patterns suggest that it might have some ceremonial role, though what that role might be is well beyond his knowledge.
Scott
"Well I say, this is exceptional", as Fray stares at the mosaic. He will also assist with checking through the room's debris, just to make sure the magi do not miss anything.
"Seeing as this room appears stable, perhaps we should not dally too long here? Are your InTe magics strong enough to determine the age of the flooring or the carvings?"
I'm assuming the mosaic is inset tiled as part of the floor, not some other material which has been layered on top?
You're correct--it's inlaid tile.
Scott
Gregorius nods. I should be able to manage it. He gestures towards the mosaic, casting an Intellego Terram spell as he does so.
[Eyes of the Eons - InTe 10, determine the age of an unliving object. Casting total is (In 6 +Te 7 + Sta 1 + Aura 5 + die 6)/2 = 12.5, so works. He'll cast it either on the whole mosaic, or an individual tile if he doesn' think the mosaic will work for an individual target.]
It's maybe 1300 years old--so, a little less old than the tombs Gregorius got ages for.
Scott
Gregorius passes this on to Fray:
"A bit younger than those tombs in the barrows - about 1,300 years old."
If Fray is ready, he'll move on through the passageway.
The passageway runs on a bit more, before coming to a rather interesting end. Straight ahead lies a staircase--the foot of the staircase is strewn with rubble, and a quick look inside confirms that it's blocked at the top. To the right of the staircase, another waterfall cascades into a pool, from whence the water continues down the stream you've been tracing. There's rubble in the pool, too, and it looks as it the course of the stream above the waterfall has been widened some some sort of violent event.
Scott
"Hmmm - I wonder, have we got back to the caverns directly under the covenant?"
Assuming it's safe to do so, he'll ascend the staircase carefully and use a Prying Eyes variant on a rock that looks like his best bet for going all the way through the pile.
[Base 1 - use a sense at a distance + 1 Touch = 2. Should give a momentary glimpse of what's on the other side of the rock - if it is the covenant, there should be light. He'll cast it without fatigue. Casting total is (In 6 + Im 0 + Sta 1 + Aura 5)/5 = 2.4, so suceeds (although may just end up with another rock/blackness if the pile is too thick).]
It's the same problem as the last rock pile: too thick.
Scott
Let's go for the same next step - finding out quite how thick it is.
[Intellego Terram Base 2 (learn a visible property of an object - in this case, the dimensions of the rockpile, i.e. its size and shape) + 1 Touch + 2 Group + extra magnitudes to size = 5 + size magnitudes. Casting score is (In 6 + Ter 7 + Sta 1 + Aura 5 + G 1 + die 8 )/2 = 14. (invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/4472329/) So should work on a rockpile up to size + 1.]
Roughly the same as the last one.
Scott
He'll suggest to Fray:
"It's another thick pile - shall we go back and try the other corridor? I do wonder whether the similarity in thicknesses implies they were created in the same way, or whether it's just co-incidence."
"Rather difficult to say. However I think after we search each chamber, we should pick a pile and remove it. Given this staircase is not holding back the water, it might be a good candidate. I suspect we will have few other options shortly. Lets go to the other corridor."
The other corridor proves to be a short passage to a small cave, decorated in a fashion similar to the large one: a tile mosaic fills almost the entire floor, and carvings adorn the walls. There's also an altar made from stone and bronze.
Scott
Gregorius' nose turns up a bit at the altar.
"Great. Maybe I shouldn't point Viola down here after all...Oh, who am I kidding. She'll find it eventually anyway. Start worshipping some other random faerie."
He'll nonetheless start inspecting the carvings, mosaic and altar. Are they all in relation to Poseidon/Neptune still?
[And am I right in thinking we've now explored all of the accessible areas of the cave system?]
Yes, it's apparently an altar to Poseidon. On closer examination, Gregorius and Fray find a couple of compartments that were probably used to store relics, but that are empty now.
Yes, you've now explored everywhere that doesn't require moving rocks aside.
Scott
Looking to Gregorius "I think it time to move that upper blockage a little".
Fray will return to the blockage at the top of the stairs and look at what effect moving some of the rock will have. He will try to ascertain what will happen if part of the rock slide is moved and a "disaster" occurs. Specifically, if he uses a spell to alter the pile, how far away (at worst) will he need to be to be safe.
Also looking for signs that water is or is not moving through the rubble blockage. He's not do this if it is holding back water.
Then assuming all is ok, Fray will use MuTe/Aq to alter a segment of the rockslide, to that it is water-like, and slowly move the effect across the pile.
I've seen effects that allow a caster to do this type of rock shaping by touch, but I'll be using voice to not risk standing at the base if it collapses.
- Target effect is MuTe10/Aq 15 - Base 3 to alter to liquid (or base 2 but anyway) +1 part, +2 voice, +1 to affect stone.
- CT: 31+roll. As Mu 21, Te/Aq 0, Aura 5, Int 3, W&G 2,
- Roll: 1d10=8, Weirdness check is ok: 1d10=7
- CT is 19.5 [(31+8)/2], so it is cast. If it works as intended, then he will slowly and carefully move his "voice" over the pile.
Let's make a long story short and say this works as planned. Once the rock pile has been moved, the magi discover that, as Gregorius expected, this stairway leads up into the second level of the caves, which was explored two years ago.
Scott
[I'm not convinced it would work, both because I'm not sure about moving the effect (although if you have the entire volume in the "target", you could possibly only have the effect spread out gradually with a complexity magnitude), but also because you need a duration. But there are enough other ways we could do this, so I'm happy to just handwave and move on.]
Gregorius smiles.
"Excellent. Shall we have a look at the blocked off rooms on the second floor? Now that we've got somewhere for the water to go..."
[MTKnife, are any of those caves positioned such that the waterfall could potentially have been coming from them?]
Indeed, that was the "long story short" part. If he has to, he can always move one rock at a time.
Yes, absolutely--the educated guess would be the stream runs through that easternmost room on the north side.
Scott