Both of the prisoners remain quite, refusing to even look at their captors.
Sophy sighs heavily. "He's right," she tells Lyrie. "Sandpoint is looking for someone to blame, and whoever it is may well hang. You can't possibly have a grudge against the town like Tsuto and Nualia had; you can't have been the one to plan the goblin attack. Tell us what you know; there's no reason for you to die with him."
Victor, refusing to get nothing from these two, nocks an arrow and points it at the women's head at point blank range. No wait, that was not the question. Oh yes, I got it... He inches the arrow ever closer to her face.
Lyrie glares at Victor and tells Sophy, "Call off your neutered dog, we have nothing to say to you."
"That neutered dog was instrumental in your defeat," Kern says, leaning in close to her. "Twice. But if you don't want to say anything, I guess we'll just take you back to Sandpoint where they'll hang you. Or maybe burn you at the stake or something. I'm not sure. Whatever they do, it won't be pleasant and you won't survive it."
He turns to the group. "We should take them back before exploring any further. We can't risk leaving them alone."
Lyrie's defiance wilts under Kern's gaze, "Malfeshnekor."
Tsuto shouts, "Hold your tongue," but the mage continues.
"Nualia received a vision from Lamashtu to seek and find Malfeshnekor, a great goblin-wolf beast. He is a chosen champion of the Mother of Monsters trapped in an ancient prison. She believed if she released him, our goddess would reward her further and transform her more into the fiendish creature she so desired to be. "
"Does she think this demon is here? Or is there a tool she is looking for to help free the demon?"
Know. Planes
"Nualia communed with Malfeshnekor at the Alter of Lamashtu. He is here, yet we have not been able to find his prison or discover the nature of his bindings." Lyrie says in response to Wern's question.
Tsuto sneers, "Go ahead, see if you all can find him. Once he is released he will tear your bodies apart and then we will have our revenge on Sandpoint." He spits as he names the town.
DM
DM
Tsuto sneers, "Go ahead, see if you all can find him. Once he is released he will tear your bodies apart and then we will have our revenge on Sandpoint." He spits as he names the town.
"I see no reason why he shouldn't just rot in his prison," Kern says. "Then he doesn't destroy anything, and you don't get your revenge on Sandpoint. Seems a pretty good deal to me."
"But can we walk away knowing that it is there? Can we be certain that no one else can or will release it? Can we destroy it, or at least banish it?"
"We should go back and tell Father Zantus about the demon," Sophy says firmly. "He'd know what to do about it. It's nothing we should interfere with."
"We need to turn these two over," Kern says, indicating Tsuto and Lyrie. "We can't take them with us to the demon, and we can't leave them unattended. So back to Sandpoint is our only option. We can always come back after."
Eponine reluctantly agrees to return.
Orik says, "I know where the keys to the cells up stairs are, we can lock them up if that makes things easier."
Wren makes sure she is out of earshot of the captives before addressing the others. "Orik, I know of a spell that wizards can cast to open locks. I don't know it myself, but your girl might, for all we know. Have you ever seen her use it? Last thing we need is for us to find the barghest and then they attack us from the back."
Wren motions for everyone to return to the first room, leaving Kern as a guard over the prisoners the rest of you are now able to speak with out Tusto and Lyrie overhearing. Orik shrugs his shoulders indicating he is unsure what kinds of magic the mage has. A quick pass though her spell book shows what spells she has access to.
Orik suggests, "I have never been on the lower level until today, I can not be of any help to you in finding this hidden prison. However, I could help by staying with the prisoners to ensure they do not escape. I want to see Tsuto hang for what he has done, and maybe I can convince Lyrie to have a change of heart, the same way Miss Sophy convinced me."
"I'd be fine with you standing watch, Orik. But if anything untowards were to happen, you have to yell to us, and we'll back you up. Tsuto must face the town's justice. If you can talk Lyrie down, we can see how that goes as well," Wren suggests remembering Orik's lamentations to the young mage.
"I'm not so much worried about them," Sophy insists stubbornly. "Well, maybe a little. It's foolishness to go hunting for a demon that's safely locked up right now. What happens if we free it and it defeats us? We'll have succeeded where Nualia failed and done her work for her. If we go back to Sandpoint, we can get some men from the Watch, maybe even some soldiers from Magnimar to deal with the danger. This isn't an immediate danger like the goblins or a situation where we have to rush to save Ameiko. There's no reason for a handful of amateurs who have had to retreat from every battle we've fought to do this alone. If we have to run away, the demon's not going to be obliging enough to sit around here in an abandoned fortress and wait for us to come back with reinforcements; we'll have unleashed an unspeakable evil into an unsuspecting countryside."
Eponine absentmindedly fingers her holy symbol as she says "I'm willing to trust Orik to guard them. Be particularly wary of Tsuto; even without a weapon he is a threat."
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We don't know how far Nualia got in her efforts, Sophy. What if the barriers holding this thing are on the verge of crumbling anyway? Should we not at least investigate, just to be on the safe side? If it was so difficult for her to bring this goblin to the material plane, I doubt we'll simply do it by accident, no?
"I do not wish to fight this demon thing. But I also do not wish it to go free if the barriers that have it contained do crumble. I am torn. Whatever is ultimately decided, I shall follow."
Sophy sighs. "How could we even tell if the ... 'barriers' are 'crumbling?' We don't have the slightest clue what we're dealing with. It's foolishness to disturb things we don't understand. What if us interfering with its prison is the very thing that unleashes it? Tsuto has all but implied that might be the case. This isn't a task for well-meaning but presumptuous amateurs."
Orik looks at Sophy, "Miss Sophy, nothing about things you have done in these past weeks says that you are an amateur. You and the deputies have ended a goblin tribe, stopped a cultist of Lamashtu, and captured those who were terrorizing your homeland. You are very brave, but if you would like I can escort you and the prisoners back to town while the others deal with what ever monster is sealed behind these doors. Once Tsuto is in their hands perhaps my name can be cleared."
"I've seen a few things in my years. I might be able to determine it. You know, while erring on the side of not unleashing an abomination on the town."
"I don't think we can risk that it could have weakened or broken the barriers holding it back. If so, it could be on the town before we know it. It might be one of those creatures that get stronger the more people it kills...and if we don't find it and stop it now, we might never be able to."
"I suppose if Orik is willing to watch the prisoners, then we should go after this demon thing," Kern says. "I just worry that we're doing exactly what Tsuto wants us to."
Orik looks at Sophy, "Miss Sophy, nothing about things you have done in these past weeks says that you are an amateur. You and the deputies have ended a goblin tribe, stopped a cultist of Lamashtu, and captured those who were terrorizing your homeland. You are very brave, but if you would like I can escort you and the prisoners back to town while the others deal with what ever monster is sealed behind these doors. Once Tsuto is in their hands perhaps my name can be cleared."
"They did all that," Sophy tells Orik flatly. "All I've done is run away and come back when the danger's over to help patch people up. I'm a librarian, not an adventurer." She turns to the others. "If you're determined to go, then go. I'll come with you if you want or stay up here with the prisoners. It doesn't matter to me."
"I would prefer you come with us, Sophy. I believe you undervalue your contributions, and I trust Orik to keep watch here. You may not truly be an adventurer yet, but you are certainly far, far more than a mere librarian."
"That's true," Sophy smiles wanly. "I've also run away with the only light source, leaving everyone to fight in the dark, fired a lot of bolts into walls and ceilings, and thrown my crossbow at Wren a few times. You're sure you want me to come?"
"If you want a recital of all the mistakes any of us made along the way, well, I'm sure Belril is keeping a journal of them somewhere. What is important is that you have been there to salve our wounds and be our conscience."
Wren wrinkles her face, listening to Sophy recount their failures. "We've all had issues. Everyone does." Wren remembered the unfortunate incident where she blinded everyone including herself with the Glitterdust mishap. "This is a new day, so suck it up, and come help us. If the thing is still trapped, we can leave it be. But if it has broken free we need to deal with it now."
Before the party separates from the prisoners and their guard, Sophy dashes over to Orik and whispers something to him.
With the decision made the Heroes of Sandpoint take their prisoners up one level into the chamber that once held Ameiko. Orik goes and searches through the chamber that once belonged to the goblin jailer, and returns with a ring of iron keys that lock and unlock the cell doors. Tusto and Lyrie are secured away and Orik takes up a position to stand guard.
The party is ready to return to the lower level when Sophy dashes over to Orik and whispers something to him, a perplexed look crosses his face and he glances oddly at Lyrie but he says nothing in return.
Without much ado, the group reassembles on the lower tilted level of the chambers below the goblin fort. The trapped hallway is still secured and Eponine checks the other door leading out of it. The door opposite the round chamber where Tsuto and Lyrie were discovered arguing.
Behind the door is a short ten-foot hallway that leads to another door. It opens to reveal another unusually shaped chamber. The southern wing of this L-shaped hallway ends at a pair of stone doors carved with the depictions of two skeletons reaching out to clutch a skull between them, while to the east the hallway narrows down to frame a circular carving of what seems to be an immense stack of gold coins that rises from floor to ceiling. The edges of these coins are carved with tiny, spiky runes.
Eponine heads down to the southern double doors and checks them for traps. She'll unlock the door if needed. Once the others are gathered with weapons ready, she'll open it up.
Perception
Disable Device
While Eponine is examining the doors, Sophy gives the carving a sideways glance, as if afraid that merely looking at it might be the catalyst needed to release Nualia's demon.
Sophy and Belril move over to the stack of gold coins to investigate. Sophy sees the runes are indeed Thassilonian designs. Belrill eyes the carving and the wall closely. Eponine carefully opens the door to the south with Kern, Wren, and Victor close behind. Inside four pillars support the domed ceiling of this room. Several alcoves containing standing sarcophaguses grace the walls, and a statue of a stern man wielding a glaive and holding a book stands at the far end of the chamber.