Immersive Ink

The party moves counter-clockwise around the obsidian spire, except for Dougal who moves clockwise.

To the north (area #15) is the giant sloth's lair. The beast is sound asleep, snoring loudly, recuperating from the after-effects of the giant spider venom.

There is also a wide passage leading west to area #10 (the sunken quarry with the mine-cart ramp).

OOC: Dougal failed his hide in shadows with a roll of 2, but this is trumped by the entire party achieving surprise with a roll of 1d6=5. The sloth is out cold and doesn't react to the party's lantern light.

Dame Simonetta isn't eager to leave a potentially dangerous beast at our back, but on the other hand she doesn't relish slaying a potentially harmless beast while it's sleeping.

Overall, she favours leaving the animal alone and heading west.

Kiplyn backs out of the room quietly once he spies the poor creature.

"A sleeping giant sloth!" Robur chuckles softly. "Well, for a minute there I thought we found ourselves a real life dragon! Before going on, anyone up for examining that black spire more carefully? There must be something more to it..."

While the party is discussing what to do next, Robur notices a clue: Looking at the northwest face of the spire (facing the mine/quarry area #10) he sees a faint indentation in the glossy obsidian wall, about four feet above the floor. It looks like a 'Hollywood walk of fame' handprint. The handprint is roughly the size and shape of a human hand, but the fingers are unusually thin and spindly.

Robur reaches up to try and put his hand in the hand print to see what happens. Are there other handprints too? Robur wonders...

Kiplyn would move away from the block, quickly.

Robur stands on his tip-toes and puts his hand into the indentation. He feels an electric "tingling" sensation that lasts a few seconds. It's not painful; more ticklish. The tingling starts in his fingers, then moves down to his palm, and then back up again to his fingers, like something is "scanning" his hand. Then he hears a "buzzer" noise (like when you get the wrong answer on a quiz show).

Nothing else happens.

The giant sloth grunts in its sleep, like it's having a strange dream.

"Ok someone else needs to try," says Robur. "Maybe my hand doesn't fit right..."

"I don't think it's going to match any of us," Dame Simonetta opines, "It's not a hobbet-hand. And making more noise will probably wake the sloth".