Endar follows closely behind Kinn, ready to poke things if needed.
The door opens onto a grand hall nearly one hundred and fifty feet long, with a vaulted ceiling twenty-five feet overhead. Niches in the walls frame marble statues of monks in poses of meditation, and thick pillars run down the center of this impressive chamber.
|
"Grioths! Back out! Use the choke point!"
Mordenaar steps back and flanks the door, hoping to draw them to us.
-Posted with Wayfinder
Round 1
Valgrim
Endar
Achmed
Mordenaar
grioths
Kinn
Endar will step back and ready an attack with his pike on the first one that comes through the doors.
Valgrim steps back acknowledging the current plan is to bait the foes towards the team...he grabs an arrow to nock for when the time comes...
All four soar out of the room toward the party, and Endar's pike sails past the lead grioth ineffectually!
Red is dropped by a combination of Endar's spell and Kinn's AoO, while Mordenaar's flame tongue dispatches Green! Kinn five-foots and Wyrmsmites Black!
Valgrim takes a step away from the blue foe and sends a couple of arrows at it...
...
...
One of Valgrim's arrows strikes the grioth!
Endar moves toward the remaining grioth and stabs at it.
The party dispatches the grioths in short order, then thoroughly investigates the room beyond to find it filled with grioth dung and not much else.
"Sigh. Disgusting creatures." Endar follows his allies, and checks the trapdoor quickly before Mordenaar dares open it.
Valgrim provides cover for Endar as the man searches for traps and opens the door.
The trap door opens into a 10-foot-deep shaft fitted with a ladder. The shaft leads down to a tunnel heading east that connects to a second shaft, also with a ladder, that rises to an identical stone plate. The dusty chamber beyond has walls painted with fading frescoes of monks engaged in acts of acrobatic prowess. At the room's eastern corner is a high-backed stone chair, upon which sits a mummified figure in rotting white robes, with a braid of black hair circling its neck like an adornment.
As the party enters, the creature looks up, staring at you with dead eyes. It holds up his right hand, signaling a request to halt, as it rises to its feet. In a raspy whisper, it speaks: I, Kanjougas, know not of your convictions. I must know whether you possess the aptitude to close the Dark Window.
|
Kinn ostentatiously sheathes his sword, signaling to the others at the very least that a fight need not be immediate. "To close the Window and confront its student is our intent. We will rise to the challenge."
His tone is polite, even friendly, as he hopes that this strange being may be an aid against the dragon.
The decrepit form studies Kinn a long moment, then whispers again. I feel the flame of the Dawnflower in you, half-child of the Fangwood. I accept that your intent is true.
My folly brought the evil through the Dark Window, and my self-imposed penance is before you. I will not rest until I know it will be closed forever. Those who can defeat me in this state should be strong enough. Tell me, how else might I know you are capable of this?
|
|
Kinn rips Wyrmsmite from its scabbard and holds it aloft, allowing the shining weapon to transform into its original long-blade. "This weapon is the fabled Wyrmsmite, favored blade of Tula the Dragonslayer herself. We walk with her arms and her graces to accomplish this task."
Kinn returns Wyrmsmite to its sheath. "My gifted companion," he gestures at Achmed, "has learned some of the Dark Tapestry from the writings of a great wizard of Belhaim. This knowledge will be a key to sealing the Window forever. And if you need proof in strength of arms, look no further, for we have together dispatched the meddlesome dragon's trio of lieutenants: a naga, a monstrous grioth, and a cunning fire-spewing magician."
"But truly, you need look further than the oaths of Sarenrae herself: 'Each day is another step toward perfection. I will not turn back into the dark.' You pay a penance for a folly you do not describe. Perhaps this history may be another step for us to take, together, to ending this evil, if you will share what you know."
"This emissary of the Dawnflower speaks the truth. We are prepared to take on this task, and do not wish to fight you if it needn't be necessary, if only to save all of our resources for the true task at hand. Rest assured, we would have no problems defeating you, but why would we deprive you of your penance?"
If a mummy can relax, you see Kanjougas do just that.
Our order had been researching forbidden lore on the Dark Tapestry, under the belief that knowledge of entropy and chaos would only further our understanding of Irori's teachings and the purity of order. I learned a method of contacting alien beings from distant worlds via a portal called the Dark Window and reached across infinity to connect with them. Alas, my plan was both mad and heretical.
A vile yangethe answered my foolish call, and teleported across the universe into the monastery to attack us. A terrific fight ensued, and while I managed to force the creature back to the Dark Window, all of my brothers and sisters were dead, slaughtered by the fell aberration. I buried my Iroran kin and withdrew here, ritually destroying myself into eternal unlife as an act of penance with poisonous nuts and teas to preserve this flesh after death. I am what you see now — an Iroran mummy — sworn to remain at the monastery until Irori sees fit to send heroes to finish the job I could not.
Perhaps you are these heroes. Destroy the beast. Close the Dark Window. Return honor to this humble monastery, and I can perish in peace.
The Iroran mummy sits again, appearing to go inert, though his hand is outstretched. In it is a black key.
|
|
"Your strength does you honor," Kinn murmurs, taking the key from the outstretched hand with melancholy. He bows to Kanjougas, and departs.
Outside, Kinn shares the spoiler vision. "We must be determined, resolute, and prepared," he says solemnly, looking each of the others in the eye. But first, he suggests investigating the sole remaining outbuilding.
"You OK Kinn.... you looked lost in contemplation a few moments ago..."
A side trip to the remaining outbuilding, though there are a few humans — lie in a mound in the middle of this outbuilding. The chest of each corpse is cut open, and the eye sockets are bloody and empty. Most are weeks old, though a few were victims mere days ago.
|
|
With agreement settled, Kinn returns to the well and tosses in a handful of dead leaves, then sits to hone Wyrmsmite's edge to a wicked sharpness.
He stands when Azmur enters the courtyard. "It is time to close the Window. We face, first, a terrible alien blackness of many arms and a terrible eye, then the challenge of sealing the aperture itself, and finally: the dragon. Will you stand with us?"
"A rest for Compy and I wouldn't be too bad of an idea."
Endar sits down next to Kinn, watching his artful sharpening of his blade while eating a bit of jerky and feeding some to Compy.
Azmur listens as Kinn recounts the experiences throughout the monastery, clearly impressed at the party's efficiency. He considers the paladin's offer. I will aid as I can in closing the Dark Window, he says, but while Rima remains a captive I cannot stand against the dragon openly. I am sorry. He appears genuinely unhappy that he feels he has to make this choice.
However, Azmur offers to cast what healing magic he has for anyone who needs it, and reminds you that once you close the Dark Window, Lord Aeteperax will know you're coming for him, and will likely respond by killling his captives and attacking Belhaim. Are you certain you are ready to invade the dragon's lair immediately afterward?