[Rina]

Everyone's attacks were surprisingly on point. First, there was the ki attack that blasted the tengu, causing it to tumble onto the ground. The winged one attempted to get back on its talons, but it was rather short-lived, as it got knocked back onto the ground with the fist to the gut. BUT WAIT THERE'S MORE! Arle's Brain Dumbed caused a surge of pain within its mind, causing it to grasp its head in sheer pain with its wings. With the bird heavily assaulted, Schezo proceeded to finish it off.


"Thunderstorm!" (14%, 20% Paralysis) LyJ|aFMKp_1d20+4

A bolt of lightning jolted from his blade and struck the bird, causing it to disappear in a puff of smoke. Well...that poor thing didn't even stand a chance. Schezo sheathed his sword once the battle has ran its course, making his way to the monument. It's not booby trapped or anything, actually. It's just this lone monument with some signifigance.

"We're clear. There is no threat to be had."

Upon close inspection of the monument, there is some slightly faded writing on it that reads...

ATBASH
ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ

Atbash? What does that have to do with the alphabet below it?

Map Update:

Damage: 0%

Current Form: Normal

1d20+4

[TheSpatialWeeg]

Rulue would try to pound the tengu onto submission more, hadn't the Dark Wizard managed to strike the avian threat down with his sword. With no peril to be spotted for now, Rulue turned her attention to the monument to see 'ATBASH' scribbled on it alongside the alphabet.

"'Atbash'...?" She went on to mutter. What was that about? Did it have...something to do with the scrambled text? Could be, but...what relation would it have? And what's with the alphabet there? Did it lead to anything? Was it even a clue?

"Well, this map creator certainly has a knack for cryptic clues."

[Mari]

"Whoever made these clues clearly had a lot of 'fun' with them... Maybe if we keep searching we'll find more."

Arle's barely contained sass wasn't difficult to pick up on, but that last part about finding more clues seemed somewhat more exasperated than sarcastic. It wasn't a bad plan, so much as her being frustrated by the cryptic clues. The frog onesie clad mage turned about to inspect the landscape from their new position. "Do you think the treasure is located somewhere outside, or in some kind of dungeon?" Arle asked, a tad skeptical of their current location.

bcPOa2wNp_1d20+4 (Arle's Search)1d20+4

[Rina]

As Arle looked onward, there's...not much to spot. It's empty. Nothing standing out, nothing suspicious. Of course, they would want you to think it looks safe. It could be rigged the moment they step onto the area that branches out.

"I would not put it past them to stow it away deep in a labyrinth."

Schezo was about to search around for more clues, until...

"Wait, I may have an idea. You two were discussing that the runes are letters, but rearranging them would yield nothing. Rather than rearranging them..."

Schezo unraveled the map again, showing the unreadable-to-everyone-but-Arle runes.

"...What if the original alphabet was replaced with another letter? It's in a code, and this 'ATBASH' being created this one specific style of code. We write the alphabet as reference, and attempt to decode this...Should Arle assist and write down what each rune represents."

Damage: 0 Current Form: Normal

[TheSpatialWeeg]

Rulue didn't answer Arle's question, but she did think about it. Was the map leading to the treasure or to the place housing it? The Fighting Queen could only ponder that and hope this doesn't end up setting up a dungeon red herring. Schezo soon brought unto light a possibility of 'Atbash' shifting the words of the alphabet to create a code.

"That's...not a bad idea, Schezo. Though seeing as we have no leads on this, we would need to guess our way out of this code, and considering the possibilities, this may take a while..." Rulue went on to say. "If there was some sort of extra hint to get us started somewhere, it would make this far easier..." The Fighting Queen went on to say, sighing a bit. She didn't meant to say deciphering it from where they stood was impossible, per se, it's just that it would take a lot of time.

[Mari]

...Arle furrowed her brows and gingerly moved to take the map so that she could get a better look. Replace the alphabet with other letters? She hadn't really thought of that. But then, if that was what the puzzle was that meant there would be certain grammatical and semantic rules left intact... Arle gazed upon the jumble of nonsense and questioned herself. ...What three letter word was liable to begin and end a sentence? ...The? Arle chewed on that thought for a moment.

GSV MLIGSVZHG OVZWH GL GSV GIVZHFIV

THE mliTHEzhT oEzwh Tl THE TiEzhfiE

Arle found herself at a loss as to what the other words said, however. Except ... That last word! That almost looked like it spelled treasure! What other eight letter word could it possibly mean? So if she assumed it meant treasure... That meant... After a long moment passed, Arle would finally speak her thoughts. "Hold on, this is starting to make sense..." she blurted out. There was also only one two letter word that began with a T...

THE mORTHEAST oEAwS TO THE TREASURE

...Close enough! Arle would offer the map back to Schezo.

"I think it's telling us the treasure lays to the northeast!" Arle would blurt out rather excitedly, her gaze searching for approval from Schezo.

[Rina]

"The Northeast, you say?"

Seems like Arle is on point with where to go! Schezo looked at the map again, taking into mind what Arle mentioned. So then, the treasure was hidden away somewhere in the Northeast of this map? He annotated the map as needed, taking note of the monument and circling the general area of where the treasure could be. With Arle's lead to rely on, it's time to advance. Upon reaching where the area splits, he took a look around, scouting for potential traps or anything rather suspicious.

ULkcKENSp_1d20+4

""

...unfortunately, Schezo's sight seems to be failing right now, not noticing anything in particular. It is slightly hazy around these parts, to perhaps that might be one of the factors of not catching anything in sight.

"I believe what you said is a firm lead. However, I seem to be failing to notice anything suspicious..."

Looks like the girls will have to pick up the pace with Schezo. Knowing that the treasure is going to be hidden somewhere in that general area, it's safe to assume it's going to be rigged, bodyguarded, or even both. Better stay on your toes, or something rather nasty might happen.

Damage: 0%
Current Form: Normal

Map Update:
1d20+4

[TheSpatialWeeg]

"Northeast, hm?" Rulue was kinda surprised Arle managed to decipher the code, but regardless, that was a big help to locating the treasure. The Fighting Queen gave the sorceress a pat on the head. "Good job there, Arle." Rulue congratulated her before moving to catch up to Schezo, all the while looking around the general vicinity in hopes on locating the treasure.

xlDgjgU|p_1d20-3(Rulue with a good WIS roll...?)

Her vision yielded a good area to observe. The hazy area didn't seem to affect her much.1d20-3

[Mari]

Arle lolled her head towards Rulue in response to being pat, giggling and waving away the hand defensively in protection of her hair. She didn't have time to stop and fix it now if Rulue messed it up again! "Thanks, Rulue! I would've never gotten it if Schezo hadn't told me to replace the alphabet, though. I've never seen a puzzle like that before!" Arle would reply, apparently impressed. She had almost started to get used to a monotonous dungeoneering experience free from entirely foreign puzzles that required abstract thought like that. She quickly moved to catch up with Schezo and Rulue, casting a diacute spell in preparation for a fight. Now that they had a good idea of where the treasure was, she felt like it would be a good idea to expect opposition...

ehwpC1Jkp_1d20+4 (Arle's Awareness)1d20+4

[Rina]

Moving onto the marked territory, the girls would take notice that the ground has rather walking-unfriendly terrain. There's spikes here and there that seems like it'd hurt if you didn't watch your step. There's also the occasional gnarled root jutting from the ground that is liable to trip the unaware.

...of which poor Schezo stumbles upon at least once, which a (WHUMP) sound accompanying it. Well this is rather unfortunate. Schezo stood up and wiped off the dirt on his face, taking notice the rough terrain that the girls did not have the misfortune on tripping on. Looks like getting to their next destination isn't going to be so easy, and Schezo took note of it well. He isn't too pleased that he made a fool out of himself in front of them.

"I take it you saw the ground before I did... I suggest you proceed with caution, but moving too slowly will likely give inch to the spikes."

((Schezo's right. You guys better watch your steps or you miiight just get hurt. If you plan to move, pick a square and make a DEX roll that runs in between 10 to 18. If you go under the target range, the spikes will inflict 5% damage. If you got over the target range, you'll trip and fall on the roots, stopping about halfway where you're planning to go. Slow characters aren't safe, however; Crit-rolling will still yield the tripping result. You'll still need your WIS rolls to find what you're looking for, but the threshold will be lower the closer you are. If you're particularly sharp-sighted, you could spot the key square from right where you're standing right now.))

[Everyone starts at D1]

[TheSpatialWeeg]

Oh goodie, spikes and vines all over the area. Looks like they were forced to tread carefully lest they trip or goodness forbid, hurt themselves by an oversight. Rulue found herself pondering what approach would work best...for her, at least. She wasn't super fast, and her perception was unreliable at best. Looks like she had no choice but to move slowly (not too slowly though, as Schezo said why) throughout the field.

(Rulue's travelling to: C1)

2XP2_xH|p_1d20-1 (Attempt at travelling)

Rulue attempted to tread carefully through the area, and fortunately she succeeded. The Fighting Queen soon began to look at her surroundings...

p_1d20-3(...)

Aaand she couldn't see anything around her. Her vision was just fine a couple of seconds ago, why was it terrible now?! One may not be able to see, but Rulue was trying not to burst into screaming angrish. 
1d20-1·1d20-3

[Mari]

( Arle is traveling to D3 )

Well, Arle couldn't see anything noteworthy from her current position... That just meant she'd need to get closer! Looking around for a moment, she promptly burst into a jog acoss the dangerous field. She didn't like booby traps, but she figured she could probably manage to navigate the field...

NVondwsHp_1d20+1 (Arle's Traveling Roll!)

...And she was right! Arle stopped after traveling a good distance. Now that she'd covered some distance she had a new vantage point from which to search... Turning about and

p_1d20+4 (Arle's search; The roll really couldn't physically be much higher, so I'm going to assume she sees something)

" . . . Is that--? Oh! Schezo! Rulue! I think I found something!" Arle shouted, waving one of her arms for the other two to catch up to her. What had she seen? Probably something buried amongst the growth. ...She hoped they were both alright. Rulue seemed pretty upset, even from this distance.1d20+1·1d20+4

[Rina]

Schezo, too, took part in trying to traverse the terrain so that he could spot the suspicious location...

(Schezo moves to C2) zcf6yDT4p_1d20

He moved rather cautiously, but he did not dawdle long enough to get spiked on whatever he stepped on. Why would spikes hamper someone with metal boots? Well...we may never know, for Arle spotted whatever was hidden in the fog as if it was never there. Schezo turned to Arle, who was surprisingly being very sharp-sighted.

"You have?"

He wondered why Arle was doing so well with seeing what he could not. Is it because of his dismal Dark Wizard Luck? No, that would mean he'd be tripping on the spikes right about now, but he didn't. He cast it aside, focusing on the current matter, being that there was certainly something very interesting from where she looked. In fact, it's coming from the north of her; square C3 to be exact! Question is, did Schezo see what Arle did? With him inched closer to Arle, he took a look around...

p_1d20+4 (Yep yep!)

That he did! The fog was a little thick, but he managed to spot what she did as well. Who knows what would've happened if only Arle was the one that saw it? Would she be imagining it? Ah, but it is not a figment of imagination. What both Arle and Schezo saw was another strange obelisk, but it is rather cubic in nature. The writing matched that of the one and it reads...

But to Arle, it reads...

SPOILER: Click to show

SOLVER OF MY CODE, PLACE YOUR HAND ON THE SIGIL.

Though, it seems Rulue can't see worth anything, as the fog has somehow grown thick where she stands. Schezo called out to her, using his voice as a way for her to travel in the right direction. Schezo has to make sure everyone is on the same page, else things might just got awry when the team gets split up for any unknown reason.

"Rulue! We have found where the hint has led us!"

Map Update:

1d20·1d20+4

[TheSpatialWeeg]

Rulue wouldn't take the risk to move while the fog blinded her weren't for the fact that she managed to listen to both Arle and Schezo. Voices weren't exactly the best way to navigate yourself through a foggy place, but it was the only way she could go somewhere now..."Okay, let me see if I can get somewhere I can see better first!"

(Rulue's travelling to C3. Let's hope there's space!)
r8HmPCALp_1d20-1(The travelling was a success. Somehow!)

The Fighting Queen mustered her courage to walk unto the field with zero vision, and surprisingly remained intact. Maybe she was lucky, who knows? Though the question of her not being blinded to what was going on remained to be answered...

p_1d20-3(Wow, okay)

Thankfully, Rulue could finally see what was going on. She quickly joined the other two onto the obelisk inspection. "...Well, you're the one who can read that, Arle. What does it say?" she asked the sorceress. ...Now she kind of wished she had something like Arle's special frog suit...1d20-1·1d20-3

[Mari]

Look at my goofy freakin' frog suit. My frog suit's amazing~ Arle waited to make sure Rulue was with them, smiling brightly at her as she rejoined the group. No fighting queens left behind, of course~ Once the group had gathered back together, Arle turned about to address the writing on the obelisk. "It says... It wants me to touch it." Arle replied, slightly flustered at being addressed directly. She sluggishly moved to reach out and press her hand to the sigil in offering.