The mould hisses and spits in the acid and seems to dissolve.
"Well done! You got anymore of that?" Byden asks peering at the remaining mould as he fingers the hilt of his sword.
"Aye, plenty. Ye'd be surprised how many things get caustic when ye mix 'em right."
'Tha's colder then ha blasphemer's soul! Adotiln gasps as he jumps back, 'I reckon tha' fire might only make it mad..
Anyone else got any bright ideas? he asks, then watches as Ratchet prepares his vial of acid, and breathes a sigh of relief when it seems to do something. 'Keep it up laddie, it seems to be workin'!' He encourages as it starts to dissolve.
Ratchet continues pouring acid on it until it is gone enough to move past.
Byden scowls,
"I don't like the feel of this place, I say lets make sure you two are healed up before we go on, no point in taking fool risks as Ratchet has pointed out so frequently."
"There. Ah think we c'n git by int' th' next area now. Ah'll clear the rest later."
Looking into the room:
The ceiling of this large chamber glows with what looks like natural sunlight illuminating a series of worktables, vises, spinning wheels, and blocks of unfinished marble that identify the room as a sculptor's workshop. A huge unfinished statue of an imposing bare-chested warrior wielding a staff-like rod in its left hand dominates the north wall. The hair-less figure looks similar to the bas-relief on the sarcophagus upstairs, but is clearly meant to be a different person. A short red metal pedestal against the south wall displays what appears to be a jet-black stone egg the size of a small boulder. A gold glyph - an equilateral triangle with short hash marks through each leg - marks the face of the egg.
The gold glyph is the personal symbol of Ogremoch, a legendary elemental prince of evil
Ogremoch and a legion of lesser earth elementals were said t have fought on the side of the Queen of Chaos during the great final battle at Pesh that ended the primordial war between Law and Chaos.
"Hmm. It ain't done. Wonder if'n the sculptor's still 'round 'ere somewhere. An' where's tha' light comin' from?"
"Aye. But on the bright side, some of this stuff has to be worth good coin, maybe I won't need to sign back up with the army. Still I don't trust this place, I'm thinking your talents are in order again Ratchet." Byden says, glancing about.
Adotiln fingers his holy symbol nervously, 'If'n i' be as bad as it's been so far me thinks this room wont give up her treasure so easy...'.
'I might stand back here, someone needs to survive to stitch ye back t'gether.'
Ratchet's survey of the room reveals:
- The room's light seems to be emanating from the ceiling itself.
- The staff-like rod is of exquisite workmanship and easily removable from the statue. It's carved in such a way to suggest that it is made up of seven parts.
- The red metal pedestal is made of some material that none of you have ever seen before.
"Nice workmanship on this stick. Wonder why it looks like it's made 'n pieces. This rock 'ere, though, Ah'm a dwarf an' an alchemist. Ah seen damn near every kind o' stone an' metal there is t' see. Never seen nothin' like this. Adotiln? You seen it?"
Ratchet peers up at the ceiling trying to figure out what is making it glow.
Adotiln coughs, 'Te be honest I might'n ha payed as much attention to mah fatha's tutelage as I shoulda when i' comes ta rocks.'
"Peh. Next ye'll be tellin' me ye shave."
"You reckon its safe to take this then?" Byden asks moving over to the staff, and waiting upon Ratchet's okay before freeing it and hefting the weapon experimentally in one hand.
"Ah..." Ratchet says, wincing slightly, not sure of what would happen when the staff was removed.
When nothing happened he shrugged and nodded. "Yup. Perfec'ly safe."
"Ha, this things pretty nice for a fancy stick. Stick with the sword myself though, either of you make use of it or do we just take it for loot? I suppose it might have some use in this sadist's maze, there seems to be a theme of sevens." Byden says, proffering the staff to his comrades.
"You fellas tell if any of this is magic? The light's gotta be right?"
"Gimme a sec..."
When nobody takes up the staff Byden takes another look at it, unslinging his shield and experimentally trying to see if the parts are designed to separate.
"Yep. Just some glow-y magic. Nothin' special. Might b' worth tryin' t' knock a chunk out so we have a permanent glow-rock. Might disrupt the magic though."
Ratchet pulls a chisel, a mallet, and an odd rod out of his satchel and scrunches his face up in thought. He pulls on the rod and it extends a ways and locks at that length with a twist. He sticks a piece of chalk into the end.
"One o' ye magic folks mind helpin' me pinpoint the center o' the effect? Jus' reach up an' circle th' area wit' this." he says, handing the chalk-stick back to them.
Senna smooths her hair back and re-makes her pony tail which had come loose in the fight with the wolves. Not a vain woman, Senna nevertheless had to wonder if, with her hair running wild, she looked more like a half-orc than a human. Hair in place, she eyes the staff, the strange 'egg' and pretty much everything else in the room critically... before stepping too far in.
Senna takes the chalk-stick and creates a wide circle around the spot in the ceiling that glows well in her vision. Then, for good measure, she dots a pair of eyes and puts in a ragged smile. She hands the ingenious contraption back to the dwarf, "Enjoy."
"Thanks, Darlin'. Ratchet said breaking his odd tool back down again.
Dragging the sculptor's work bench over to stand on and staking a crate on it for an extra boost, he raised the chisel and mallet to the ceiling.
Ratchet busies himself with removing the hand sized chunk of ceiling Senna indicated. It takes time, but fortunately nothing arrives to disturb your work and eventually it comes free. You are now in possession of 5lbs chunk of rock that baths everything around it in bright sunlight.
"Hullo... what's this?" Senna slides into the room to get a better look at the egg, more specifically, the glyph upon it. "I think this is the symbol of Ogremoch, an evil elemental prince - a pretty infamous one."
"Nev'r heard'a 'im." Ratchet shrugs.
"Naturally - he wasn't much of a drinker." She ribs the dwarf before turning serious. "But what's this egg to an evil elemental lord? Why is it here?" She glances at the Paladin, "Do you see any evil here?"
Senna shields her eyes against the occult glare. "This whole room is under a spell of some sort..." She continues to examine it.
Byden looks faintly surprised at the notion,
"Ah, yes, I suppose I can at that," and he focuses upon the egg trying to sense if it is evil before scanning the rest of the room and the staff.
As he does so and his gaze moves over the marble he remarks,
"Bet we could get a pretty penny for these if we haul them out, rich folk love marble. Maybe we could sell the egg to the Emporium or some collector to - if it isn't evil."
Senna rubs the bridge of her nose like she suddenly got a splitting headache. "Whatever spell is on this room, it is ridiculously powerful... Sadly, that's all I can say about it."
"You kiddin'? This thing seems t' be givin' off sunlight. Actual sunlight. Ye have any idea how many beasties tha' live in th' dark're scared or hurt by th' sun? Ah'll need t' test it somehow t' be sure, but if'n it's real sunlight d' ye have any idea how useful it is? Ah've already come up wit' a half dozen designs t' weaponize th' thing..." Ratchet rambled excitedly.
"Ye sell th' rock ifn' ye want. It's certainly unique. This glowstone's stayin' wit' me."
"Hey now, don't be claiming stuff without askin' Ratchet, we're splitting any loot we find. That said I don't object and you aren't wrong if this really is sunlight rather than just magical light then you are right its worth its weight in platinum and I've no objections to you holding on to it - it should be useful to us all."
Byden growls warningly, though his gaze remains intent on the egg.
"Now what is our next move, we can come back for the heavy stuff on our way out."
"Oh, don' worry 'bout that. If'n I c'n turn it into a weapon, Ah'm not gonna be th' one usin' it. That's what Ah keep ye around for."
Adotiln eyes off the egg suspiciously, he didn't know, nor care much for the Planes and the critters which dwelt there, figuring if he left them alone they'd return the favour. Scratching his beard, he remarks, 'We sure tha' things safe te be carryin' 'round? What're the chances of some evil critter poppin' its nasty little head out from one of them planes if'n ye look at it funny?'
Senna looks at the egg funny to put Adotiln's theory to the test.
"See? No problem. I don't fancy carrying that strange bauble around but I bet we could sell it for a nice amount. As for the chances of something popping out - I'd call it 4%. But it's a fact that 72% of all statistics are made up on the spot."
"Ah, no this thing reeks of evil. Think we should smash it?" Byden says, disappointment clear in his voice.
Senna frowns at the egg and looks for a profitable middle ground. "Maybe we could sell it to a museum or a white wizard? It's gotta be worth studying for people who stand against evil elemental-kin. Know your enemy, eh?" She tries to cajole the Paladin.
"It does? Guess you wouldn't lie 'bout that. Hmm. Here, you take it. Smashin' it might release whatever's in it though. Yer call."
Well only magic items and living things can have auras (as per detect evil) and it isn't magical. It's stone (earth) and bears the mark of an ancient elemental prince. So maybe it's a dormant earth elemental of some sort.
"Bah, I'm smashin' it, I don't want no creepy arse evil stone egg looking thing coming to life while we are unprepared, or worse engaged with some other foe - and I don't fancy lugging it to some random wizard. I'll hit it hard as I can you all make ready to do the same in case it does sommat."
Once everyone is in position, assuming they agree, and hopefully Adotlyn agrees to flank the egg as Byden urges, he takes his sword in both hands and smites the egg!
Ratchet backs up as far as he can, out the door and around the corner if possible.
Senna shrugs, "Alright. But I hope this isn't a mistake." She moves to the other side of the room and watches closely.