DM Rah's Thornkeep - "Part 4 - The Dark Menagerie" (Inactive)

Game Master Kobash

Pai sniffs and turns away from Ayaki and the mite's lunch. "Anywhere else we have yet to explore?"

Stone steps lead away to the south.

"Let's get a hustlin' before my spell goes out." Barlor insists.

"Get downstairs to the totally secret treasure room! Be sure to yell if you find anything!"

Turg contains her anger for the totally unwarrented offensive comments directed at her, taking her anger out on the mites as she trudges down the steps.

Turg's minions run ahead, racing down a set of steps carved into the passage and bursting through a curtain made from chains and metal rings—eerily bedecked in animal paws, humanoid hands, and skeletal fists—hanging from the archway of this chamber’s entrance.

Beyond the curtain a single row of stone columns files down the center of a long, soaring chamber. A short ledge at the south end of the room leads up to a pronounced dais, which is decorated with two mighty statues carved from black stone. The statues depict a scholarly man bedecked in robes from the waist up, but with thick, writhing snakes for legs. Cobwebs hang from the ceiling and pillars like dozens of sagging tapestries.

Chained to the back wall is a creature with the body of a lion, the wings of a falcon, and the head and torso of a beautiful human woman. Around her lie piles of coins and valuable objects.

"Stab??" Asks one of the mites.

The second mite shrugs.

The third runs forward with a victory cry, but is sent back to the first world by an almost casual swipe from one of the creature's paws.

paw vs mite: 1d20 ⇒ 16

The other two mites yell in unison.

"It sounds as though your minions have encountered something of interest, Madame Turg. Perhaps we should investigate, yes?"

"Probably a good idea, Lazslo. Let's be careful though...after the crazy things we've encountered so far, I'm halfway frightened to see what else is in here."

Turg is visibly pleased with being a "Madame." "I suppose you'd be right, Mr. Laszlo." "Good thing the birdbrain used his name before, or that'd been EMBARRASSING." She calls for the mites to either return or not respond, and upon answering the query of "What's in there," Turg informs the group that a "mite-eating cat lady."

Turg strides down the steps, easily outpaced by the bigger folk (if they attempt it.)

Those that enter the chamber spot the source of the mite's alarm - you can't miss it actually. The creature watches from the far side with an imperious gaze.

Then it speaks.

"Lo hvash il Melabdara. Gor ta hvash?"

Knowledge (Arcana): 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (10) + 5 = 15

Maddie casts Comprehend Languages in case the creature repeats itself. "It's a sphinx. It probably just asked a riddle. If it speaks again, I'll be able to understand it."

Linguistics: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (5) + 5 = 10

"I'll dismiss these goons as a show of good faith, then, if we're parlaying." Turg dismisses the Summoned Allies of Nature.

Linguistics: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (2) + 6 = 8

"This is no time to lay down Turg."

László looks confused. "I do not speak that language, I fear." He tries greeting the creature in Kelish.

Barlor looks on, generally confused. "Does it want to eat us?"

Linguistics 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (18) + 8 = 26
Know. Arcana 1d20 + 14 ⇒ (20) + 14 = 34

I have to run. Please read the DM spouilers! Ill be back on this afternoon.

The sphinx waits, quietly observing your group as Pai explains what she knows. When she is done, it speaks again, using an ancient tongue that Maddie translates with her spell.

"What your friend says is mostly true. My name is Melabdara and I am a sphinx, but I have no riddles to ask today. I assume, by the readiness of your weapons and the caution by which you entered this chamber, that you are not servants of Nhur Athemon. If that is true, then I implore you to set me free from these chains that bind me here. In return I can offer you this treasure, and perhaps insight into this place."

Maddie listens carefully to the sincerity of Melabdara's words before translating for the group.

Sense Motive: 1d20 + 9 ⇒ (12) + 9 = 21

Pai nods. "We certainly don't mean you any harm, and I don't know Nhur Athemon. If we can break those chains, we certainly will. I couldn't imagine being a prisoner in this awful place!"

"Nhur Athemon has long since departed this place, yes? At least, so far as we know. Did he make you one of his exhibits in this dark menagerie?"

1d20 ⇒ 19

Maddie feels like Melabdara is telling the truth.

Melabdara eyes Turg as she talks to Maddie. "Inform the gnome lady that I can understand her perfectly well, though I am unsure what she means. Is it a riddle?"

To Pai and László, she responds, "Unlike most other chambers in the Dark Menagerie, Nhur Athemon did not use this room to house treasured pets or create a grandiose display for his guests. Instead, he imprisoned only the currently most prized and most powerful creature in this chamber, using me to cow apprentices and business partners into submission. He claimed he would eventually free me when he found a new prize, but your words make wonder if he will ever return. I only awoke recently from the magic that preserves this place, but let me ask this - How long was the Menagerie in status?"

Barlor's head swims with all this academic speak. "Nu-her Ask-him-one? Riddles? Status?"

Status, or stasis?

"It is 4714 by our reckoning, which would mean little to you. Nhur Athemon has been dead for over ten millenia."

Er.. Stasis. :)

"Then you are my only hope for freedom."

"How can we get you out of this place, Melabdara?. Pai begins looking in the room, seeing if there was a simple way to free the creature.

Is Maddie's Knowledge Arcana roll high enough to determine the common alignment of gynosphinxes?

"What sort of chains are they, exactly?" Maddie inquires, "Do they dampen your power or just keep you here?"

Maddie, you rolled very good, so you know they are most often very neutral in alignment.

"They are adamatine. I am not strong enough to break them on my own.

Hardness 20, 30 hp, break DC 30.

László examines the chains for any sort of locking mechanism. "I am no historian to speak of exact dates and such--however, I think Nhur Athemon died before Starfall, when the Azlant Empire was wiped out. We count our years from when the last Azlanti founded Absalom, the great city at the center of the world. I know much of the city itself--should you travel there and wish a guide, I can be of assistance."

Diplomacy check: 1d20 + 9 ⇒ (10) + 9 = 19

Perception check (add 2 if a trap is involved): 1d20 + 9 ⇒ (20) + 9 = 29

ETA: Any way to tell how the chains are anchored to the wall? Would it be easier to dig them out?

Have we found any keys on this level?

Yes.

Once the rest of you are convinced, I say we use the key and let it out. Of course, Pai is convinced already. She loves the thought of helping an ancient sphinx like this. It'll look wonderful in her journal. .

"Yes, your knowledge could be a great boon to our modern people, I do hope you would be willing to share it with us once you are free." Maddie adds, "I have a spell that may help free you."

Maddie casts Liberating Command on the sphinx, which allows it to make an Escape Artist check with an additional +10 competence bonus.

Your group has the means to eventually free Melabdara, either through brute strength or magic. Before I move on though, I'd like to hear from Barlor, Ayaki, and Turg - any last thoughts before this is attempted?

Turg just hopes really hard that she grants wishes.

Is the whatever-it-is flying by Pai reacting in any way to the sphinx?

The helm floating next to Pai isn't doing anything new.

I'll toss in a sense motive, just because I feel like we're all about to be murdered.
Sense Motive: 1d20 + 3 ⇒ (10) + 3 = 13
ah, shame

"Nobody should be in chains for so long. Try the key.

"I agree wholeheartedly, Ayaki! Let's see if we can get this magnificent creature to its freedom!"

What's the worst that could happen, lol!

Looks like we're going to try to release her.

guess so

-Posted with Wayfinder

Let's do it, there seems to be no reason not to.

Once set to the task, freeing Melabdara is only a matter of time. Although Maddie's liberating command is a powerful enchantment, the chains are masterfully crafted and inescapable in that way for the sphinx. However, with a few strong arms to aid her, they are eventually pulled from their anchors to the walls.

True to her word, Melabdara offers all the treasure in her possession, admitting that most of it was placed there by by Nhur Athemon to make the appropriate impression on his guests.

Among the treasures offered is one piece of particular value and importance - a pendant, consisting of a leather cord attached to a clear spindle ioun stone. Melabdara explains the powers of the stone, and tells you about another connection the stone has to Nhur Athemon's dungeons.

"At the peak of Nhur Athemon’s power, three of his apprentices sought to betray their master by constructing a powerful array of ioun stones meant to project themselves into the distant future, far from their mad master’s grasp. The enraged archmage discovered their treachery too late to put an end to the plot, but early enough to bend and pervert the magic that fueled it. Instead of transporting the wizards to safety, the corrupted time vortex became a time lock, sequestering the three apprentices and their sprawling lair into a single moment of time that would itself stretch into eternity. The traitorous apprentices were forced to eke out their endless existences in these isolated halls for millennia. In the dungeon above is a hallway of lights and mist that is the entrance to their prison. This stone is one key to their prison, used by Nhur Athemon himself at times. Should you be brave enough to venuture within, you might find great knowledge and treasure in that Sanctum of a Lost Age."

THE END

Good work everyone. Let's get some Day Job Rolls and I'll put together some Chronicles in a day or so.

Also, Sanctum of a Lost Age is the last and final part of Thornkeep. Is everyone up for continuing?

Yes! Let us continue.