Immersive Ink

Desmond/Mondes and Dieter are the first into the room, giving it a seasoned fighter's once over as they enter. There is nobody to be seen, so the others follow, bringing with them their lanterns...

It is an octagonal-shaped chamber about 30ft wide (which would be crowded if the whole company of nine were to push in). The ceiling is as the inside of an octangonal pyramid. Standing in the center of the chamber is a 3ft wide, four-sided stone menhir with steeply pitched sides, tapering toward a near-point some 8ft from the ground. Each of its sides faces one of the four exits from the crossroads room, and is graven with alien runes.

To the left, a narrow stair descends into darkness. To the right, and directly ahead, dark passages continue at this level.

Armando approaches the long stone and examines the runes by the light of the lantern, hoping to at least identify motifs, if not comprehend the whole.

Helmut mutters a mantra to Thuul, and awaits developments at the head of the line (where the real heroes are).

Sorry, Desmond went right, opposite the stairs.

Yeah, I thought Desmond went right, but wasn't sure enough of that to say so.

Our heroes sidle into the room cautiously. Once the area is deemed clear, Armando approaches the obelisk to examine the strange markings. As he assays them dubiously, Olaf attempts to scratch a mark into the rock of the entry-way, but he finds the stone is uneven and very hard; despite is scraping and scratching he can barely make any impression upon it. With all the scratching and muttering and moving about of almost a dozen men, neither Desmond nor Mondes can make out any sound from the dark passages, and nor does this place look to have seen use for a long while.

Armando cannot make head-nor-tail of the strange markings at first, but soon decides that some of the shapes carry a pictorial implication. Could it be that these shapes, repeated frequently here and there, imply some system of denomination? And these things, this and this, might then portray types of destinations. See how these ones look surely like Alcazar-shapes (if one squints), this here would be, well, maybe the fortified wall between them? These could be... barracks, perhaps, and this could be... well mines or dungeons or whatever else! In summary, Armando decides the obelisk is effectively a street sign, with the markings indicating destinations, along with a bunch of indecipherable gibberish.

By his best guess, straight ahead would lead to a fortified area of wall--possibly that adjoining two neighboring Alcazars. Left (and down) would lead to a mine or dungeon zone. Right would lead to an Alcazar and--judging by the direction alone--probably not the nearest one...

A 3rd level thief can, apparently, decipher the meaning of any non-magical markings. Thus 1d6=3, so Armando gleans some meaning form the runes...

"Well done, Armando!" Desmond quips after the explanation of the signs.

"Surely we're not headed down, so... to the barracks or an Alcazar? Don't know if there is any way of knowing precisely WHICH Alcazar it is and whether or not that is the one we want, unfortunately. Unless we want to try the Sai... er, Josiane's coin again, we'll have to decide the old fashioned way. But if it were up to me, I suppose I'd say we should try one of the Alcazar's first, 'cause he ain't in a barracks. Might as well rule one out, if we can. Or would the crystal ball be able to help us out here?"