Dear Anya,
We had a quiet flight to Ceres. The consecrate spell continued to hold. When we get to Ceres we found that it was abandoned. No ships, nothing there. We decided to use the gadabouts to check Ceres before checking the other asteroid for horacalcum. Fyn dowses the surface as Lenata shows off her piloting skills. The only thing on the surface is a 10’ or 12’ obelisk looking item that Fyn thinks has some metal in it.

Kenari and I jump down to the surface to check out the obelisk. It has four faces and each side is inscribed in a different language. The first is an archaic form of Latin, the second is some kind of pictographic language similar to Shou, the third has classic Osirion cartouches and the fourth seems like dwarven. I try to utilize my ring and go around reading each side but at every side I feel myself getting sicker and sicker till my vision blacks out around the edges and I develop a horrible headache. I can’s make out the writing, it’s all gibberish and I think it’s saying the same thing, but there is no making it out.

Kenari finds a small door on the Osirion and is able to get it open. Inside is a small jar, made of stone, with a jackal head. Kenari says it’s a canopic jar and it’s sealed with wax. We go back to the ship and I start to feel better. Ef Utan does detect magic on the jar and says that it has been enspelled with Gentle Repose. it also has some kind of wall of force effect all around it. Fyn doesn’t get anything the jar on an aura read.

Fyn decides to touch the obelisk to see if he can get a read from that (ok Anya, I may have egged him on a bit…but really – you would have too). So we go back down to the asteroid. The Captain tells us that the whole obelisk was carved psionically and still has some traces of psionic energy. Fyn uses his pschometry on the obelisk, touching it while looking away – then faints very dramatically. Lenata tries smelling salts and Kenari throws some holy water on Fyn, but nothing happens. Eventually he wakes up screaming “It was him!” and describes an image of the obelisk and the jar – and something pouring into the jar like vapor then the top being screwed on by human hands. The Captain tells us how the imagery is similar to a dreaming symbol known as the “Cup of the Queen of Thistles.”

Lenata decides to try read magic on the dwarven rune side of the obelisk. It doesn’t look to us like anything happens but all of a sudden she shudders and then tells us how she felt like she was drowning, she couldn’t see except for a few spots of light, then had to back out of the spell. As she was backing out of the spell, an ancient figure moved out of the deep towards her and makes telephathic contact – she can’t get much except that it is an ancient, massive intellect. Based on Lenata’s description, the Captain tells us that these are the oldest form of life anywhere – Abeleth. The Abeleth have a deep disdain for both gods and Illithids.

In a moment of rare clarity, we make the decision as a group to put the jar back into the obelisk the next morning along with the sarcophagus on deck. We set watches for the night. The Captain reports that during her watch she got scanned hard by something large and powerful. But nothing else happens during the night.

The next morning we take the sarcophagus lid down to the asteroid and set it next to the obelisk. Then Lenata gets to work. She consecrates the ground, casts a magic circle against evil with a dimensional anchor then stone shapes everything down into the ground. As she does that, I put grave salt and ghost powder into the stone (can’t hurt, right?). Everything is gone and we have a nice, smooth, undetectable surface. Evil contained. Hopefully.

We go back to dowsing. On the second day, we find a small amulet on an asteroid. It reads like it’s a Sigil portal, but that doesn’t make a lot of sense. Kenari mentions how there used to be a god of portals – Aoskar – before the lady shut him out of Sigil. Ef Utan and Fyn remember that there is a Dadus on Sigil who actually talks and is a cleric of Aoskar.

We talk about the tiny time machine and using locate object to find the large version. It feels like a last resort though as the spell will probably consume the tiny copy. Lenata does an augury spell – asking if it matters where we are. The answer is yes, go back to Swansea. For obvious reasons, we don’t really want to do that.

And then, something really weird happens. Fyn decided to pray. [I know!] To someone besides himself even. Kenari prays with him. Nothing happens, but it was weird to watch I have to say.

We finally decide to check the tuning forks. The shifty tuning fork has changed again – the metal has a weird orange or red tint to it and the number is 29. We agree to shift again. We realize we are in Greyspace, but aren’t sure if it is our Greyspace. We our trying to fly casual and hoist the House of 7 Stars and the EIN Ambassadorial colors. So of course we get pulled over. Three EIN officers in gadabouts fly over to our ship. They are drow! So we are all surprised, but trying to cover it. The leader asks who is in charge, and the Captain identifies herself. They ask why we are there and Ef Utan says we wanted to refresh our air. Fyn starts talking to them in Abyssal and Ef breaks into the lower planar trade tongue. I am usually not the best at reading people’s cues, but these drow were rather repulsed by Ef Utan and Fyn. It turns out that in this world, the Captain is a man (and possibly wanted?). They talk about the war that has been going on for over 60 years, but it’s a war that was over for us 40 years ago.