[Back on the boat, Virgil's still being a super sekrit magical spy and avoiding that painfulness of getting injured. Smart boy. The scrying pool has settled on the re-dead body of the pirate captain. He doesn't look to be regenerating any more. Filis peers on the scrying pool with him.] * Virgil motions, and tries to change focus to someone else, like uh... Shan! [Start in here.] [Shan doesn't look too well. She's holding some kind of necklace.] Hmm, I wonder about that... * Virgil zooms in on the necklace to get a good look. [Nasira and Naiya manage to steady her.] [Virgil gets a good look at the necklace. He recognizes the period from *long* ago. It has to be an archeological find. And valuable? You bet ya. The symbol most prominent on the necklace is the ancient symbolic rune for the "Earth" element.] * Filis peers at the scrying pool. "What's that?" It's an old necklace... * Filis nods and keeps looking. She seems as if she expects Virgil to continue. It's an old artifact... I'm not sure on the details completely, I'd need a closer examination to discern its origins. Mmm-hmm... So what does that have to do with him? He was holding it. * Virgil does another motion, bringing the view out to try and get all the people in the rough proximity. Yes, but.... * Filis says that. * Filis then stops and looks thoughtful. But? I'm just wondering...why would he have such an artifact? Personal keepsake? Intrinsic value? Artifact of phenominal power? Could be anything. And the unnatural occurrence.... They're going to need help once they get somewhere I can recognize. * Filis nods and sighs. We need a way of tracking them. That'd be good, but how do you think we should do that? * Filis ponders. "I can't say I really know about magic in that sense..." * Virgil thinks. "I can try and figure something out, but it'll take a little time for research." Time I'm not sure we have. I wonder where they're going. I don't know... Naiya seems to have disappeared. Hmmm, that's true. I wonder where she went. Can you find her? I can try, hmmm... * Virgil tries to focus the scrying on Naiya! [Virgil manages to shift focus to Naiya. She's meandering through the walls of the canyon. Alone. She looks pretty wounded too.] Mmm, that's not good. Where is that canyon? * Virgil tries zooming out to a much broader view, hopefuly to get a relation to some large landmark. [Virgil finds a large landmark actually. The shrine. Whose description I'm not repeating.] [At the end, they find Naiya standing in awe of what looks like a formerly majestic sight, now in ruin. (con)] [Dug into the cliff face seems to be the remains of an entrance. Pillars line the structure, now broken in two, three, or several pieces. Laying strewn among the wreckage is a symbol that looks like a larger version of the one carved on the amulet Shan was carrying off the pirate captain. (con)] [As you approach the former entrance, parts of the canyon wall seems to have collapsed in. Patterns and runes etch into the cliff walls, but most seem to have weathered in the tests of time to the point of illegibility (even if one of you present could read it). In the center, with a large piece of pillar smashed against it and breaking it in two, is what looks like a large sundial on a pedestal.] [The actual archway looks as if it's completely blocked.] * Filis just stares at the scrying pool. "Impressive." Very. Hmmm. [Virgil's heard of some ancient shrines before and some ancient worships. This shrine seems like it was more impressive than the last. No one's really mapped it before in the Zaxon or Maltan literature. And though similar shrines might exist, they are noticeably smaller in scale.] You said something about a temple? Mmm? * Filis glances at Virgil. It seems hard for her to do. You at one point said something about having dreams of a temple, or like you needed to go to one, or something along those lines? Yes... * Filis turns back towards the shrine. "But no. Nothing like this." Mmm, gotta keep looking then, right? I suppose so... I think... mmm... the Earth Shrine. I suppose there were several of them... Wait, can you understand that rune? Yes. It's around the time...when the nations were whole, there once were a group of shrines. Each nation built them around the fonts of their power. The Earth...deep and buried to be sturdy and stable for the years to come...but that is not... * Filis blinks and comes out of her revelry. "Wait...what am I saying?" * Virgil looks like he was listening intently. "I don't know exactly, but I'd like to hear it again." I...can't remember. You can't remember? I.. guess that makes sense. * Filis seems rather dazed and confused at the moment. I guess it might have been a story I heard when I was young. I'm not sure. Mmmmhmmm. * Filis looks at Virgil. "What?"