The Crystal Sslugs of the Test

[Ptah]

I slowly circle the series of symbols that the Sslug created.

"You know, it's difficult to tell, but when I look at these upside down they almost look like words. Something like 'Ravanal's watching.' I wonder if that could mean anything. Do you know of anyone - or anything - known as 'Ravanal?'"

[Yerkan of Elish]

"Excellent work, Ptah. That might very well be it. We've suspected them to be words for the entirety of the time that Osis has been scrawling them."

In a much lower voice, muttering: "I can't believe I let a young boy figure that out before me. What could I possibly have been thinking, letting Thrash convince me that the first letter there wasn't an upside-down G..."

"Previously, I snuck into the flying Citadel that brought these sslugs and found their controller. He was disguised by trilobites, but seemed a tall and vaguely humanoid divine being. I expect that this is Ravanal. Knowing the name is helpful. Observe:"

I scrawl the name 'Ravanal' onto a scrap of parchment, and place this beside the Hailstone Mirror. "Foolish decision, giving a name to a diviner AND a researcher."

I scoop the sslug back up. I don't want it reacting to unidentified crystals without.

[Diamond Master]

The Mirror stutters a bit, then the image resolves.

"Ravana is watching," it shows you.

An image begins to form. It shimmers between multiple possibilities. There is a flash of limbs, a swirling of faces, until you are left staring into the face of a furious tiger, looking directly into your eyes. The tiger's lips part, revealing an insidious fang-filled smile.

You are, of course, free to pursue any form of research into this name with your own resources.

You learn much from your divinations, though the waters of Time and Knowledge are muddied by the crystal eyes of the trilobites. Ravana flies the Citadels, armed with a mightily unmatched weapon, serving some even greater being.

He can take many forms. The Mirror shows you scraps of arc segments, incomplete circles. Finally, an orange one representing Ravana appears: It is a complete circle, a whole. Yet as the Mirror's perspective scales out, it is revealed that the circle is contained within another circle, a circle it is part of.

@Ptah, please accept 4 DM Favor and 4 Norn Favor.

[the Steep Norns]

We appear, drawn to the smooth, sweet, sickly scent of the orb given a name.

"Ravana is watching.

He watches to learn from his heralds: Apathy, Frost, and Temptation.

When he comes, his terrible anger will bring shattering upon the Diamond Gardens.

His unearthly roar will bring shadow upon the Gardens.

He is the whole made up of a whole!

He holds the light to blaze the way through the fog for a new and blacker culture.

He will bring many strange decisions to the Pantheon, and all will have to decide where they stand."

[Great Thrash]

The Sslugs call Ravana? Should we redouble our efforts against them?

I'm brewing up a biiiiig caldron of magma to dump them in.

[Ptah]

"Ehm... by the sound of it, things are going to get very bad very soon. I might be a coward for saying it, but perhaps it would be best to get out of here and try to act from outside the Gardens. Or perhaps I could try slowing down the Sslugs so that they... call more slowly? I would rather not be around when this Ravana comes."

I nervously look around, hoping that someone will agree that we should, to use the common phrase, skedaddle.

[Yerkan of Elish]

"Oh, I'm all but certain that the heralds have already called Ravana. They've done plenty of data collection and have been acting much less lately. In other histories, Ravana is known to be quite an intelligent individual. I'm sure he would know to have his heralds constantly sending information to him. He already knows everything that has happened, up to and including my little invasion of the Citadel, even though that was done with the DM's assistance.

We will have to stand our ground here, for now. Perhaps we will need to hide away in secluded portions of the garden. Perhaps we will need to surrender everything beautiful about it. Perhaps, at the last minute, we will need to flee completely.

Ultimately, the time to leave this world will come. But that time is not yet."

[Great Thrash]

I'm not in favor of leaving either. Certainly anyone who wishes to may do so - or take shelter in the Hamlet of Heroes, where Ravana presumably cannot go.

[Yerkan of Elish]

"This is about choices. The simplest decisions that we make could mean the life or death, not only of this world, but of our lives in any future worlds we choose to go to.

If the Rift itself is in the Hamlet of Heroes, what will happen if Ravana attempts to cross? Presumably, he will not be able to. Of course, the Rift could simply be a distraction, or a mere coincidence."

[Ptah]

"Hm. A lot seems to depend on whether or not Ravana will be able to come through the Rift. That depends on what keeps greater deities from entering the Hamlet of Heroes. Is it mere courtesy, or is there something physically preventing you? And if that's the case, would whatever's preventing you from entering be powerful enough to stop Ravana?"