Khayal follows but half a step behind his brother, crossing the threshold, both confident and calm.
Bartan says "Not only do I fear not the truth, but I've actively sought after it my whole life. I will enter with my friends."
|
Letting out something inbetween a moan and a groan, Yazi's eyes snap open at the familiar warmth and affection. "I'mawakeImawake-wait, why are we outside?" she lets out, obviously something else had been playing through her mind as she woke.
"Oh, right, thanks Rose." She says before kissing the Dancer back and standing up.
Hajar finds the gates still locked.
Thinking for a moment, Khayal says, Yes, Yes.
He takes a step forward to see if his way forward is still barred.
Khayal finds the gates still locked.
One of the brass images animates on the mausoleum's walls. A brass parrot flaps its' wings, saying “Truth is the most terrifying thing in the world, and the most enchanting. Dare you face it? Dare you use it? Answer truthfully and enter.” The voice is mocking at this point, instead of solemn.
You feel Vardishal looking through your eyes, and the older geniekin says Nex was an admirer of classic riddles and trickery, it seems. See the statues around you, the figures in the brass? Do not be so young, future Templar, that you think a straight declaration is the answer to a riddle. Some think themselves clever by the use of words. Nex has shown you a parrot. What does a parrot do?. Without waiting, the ghost says It mimics what is spoken around it. Your friends' words of 'truth' has not worked, because it was the wrong word.
With a sigh, Vardishal tells you It said to 'Answer truthfully'. So answer - say 'truthfully'. Do not try to use force, I fear the worst from desecrating an archwizard's tomb.
Hajar sighs I tire of these tricks already. he says aloud, seemingly to someone not present.
Hajar says loudly Truthfully. We will enter.
The brazen portals sweep inward on silent hinges, allowing access to the mausoleum interior. A wide set of stairs goes downward into the hill you walked up to.
The interior of the mausoleum dazzles the eye, almost overwhelming in its intricacy. The floor and ceiling are of polished golden marble tiles, each white-veined tile set off with a framing inlay of lapis lazuli. The cornices and joints of wall, ceiling, and floor inlaid with burnished brass glow in the light of heatless crystal lamps that hang from empty air. Within these brazen borders, each wall holds an enormous mosaic of enchanted tile that moves and flows like a living thing, replaying the triumphs and tragedies of Nex in an endless refrain.
In the center of the vast, silent chamber sits a bier of plain white limestone, simply carved, its lid unadorned but for a single rune. At the bier’s head is a large marble pedestal on which stands a golden statue of Nex the Archwizard, looking quite old, compared to the other statues of the man that you have seen. At the bier’s foot is a smaller platform upon which rests an equally strange trophy: a large reptilian skull as large as a grown man, crested and glinting golden in the lamplight.
The cat sits atop the sarcophagus, idly cleaning itself and ignoring the newcomers.
|
|
Having previously been leaning against the doors half-asleep their sudden opening casues Yazi to tumble forward a bit. Righting herself she shakes off her torpor before heading down the stairs. "Here Truth, here kitty-kitty..." she called as she makes her way down.
Making her way down and spotting the cat and the sarcophagi she lets out a serene smile. "Aww, what a good little kitty you are, keeping the dead company so that they won't be lonely. Very noble kitty, do you want some pets?" she offers, sticking out her hand towards the cat.
The cat pauses in mid-clean, one hind leg up, as Yazi approaches it. Settling itself, it cautiously sniffs at Yazi's hand, accepting the offer with a head-rub.
Behind Yazi, the man-sized reptilian skull glows from its' golden surface, and it rises above its' stone platform, the eye sockets of the creature glowing gold and ruby.
"ITS NAME IS 'SPOOKY'." a feminine voice bellows in your mind, "AND IS THE ONLY SURVIVOR OF A WIZARD WHO FLED A FIRE-GENIE AND HIS ARMY." The voice pauses, then declares and asks, "I AM VENEMA SHODAIR, FORMER MOUNT AND FRIEND OF ARCHWIZARD-KING NEX, AND GUARDIAN OF HIS TOMB. WHO DARES DESECRATE THE FINAL RESTING PLACE OF THE GREATEST WIZARD IN GOLARION BEFORE HIS BODY IS EVEN INTERRED?"
|
|
Smiling slightly as the cat head bumps her she lets out an "Oh." when she heard the voice booming in her head. "Well hello Spooky, you a very good kitty, I'm sorry to hear about your wizard, but I'm glad to hear you've had someone to keep you company." she says while gently petting the cat before turning to the floating head.
"Our deepest apologies for trespassing and disturbing this place and you, but I really wanted to pet Spooky." she responds. With that refocuses her attention on petting the cat.
After a bit she turns back. "Oh, and we sought to speak with Andy, and maybe you, oh noble lady of Nex."
"Noble? Me? Ha!" the floating skull of the former dragon smirked telepathically as she turned to face the smaller human. "While Nex bested me time and time again in battle, would that he had at least once bested me in his bedchamber. But enough of me! I have waited for Nex to come to rest here for more centuries than I care to count, yet this is no concern to me. I shall continue to wait. Yet not all who have come before me have shown the same respect as you. Certainly, the one whose spirit suffuses this place respected it — he was known as Andrathi in his day, and he came to this tomb pursued by the warlord Jhavhul. For many days, Andrathi hid here and we shared many conversations, but in the end, Jhavhul found him. It is to Andrathi’s credit that he did not drag the fight in here, that he confronted Jhavhul on the steps outside. It is there that he died, and in his rage to be gone from this place, Jhavhul did not linger, and thus I survive to continue my duties. And Andrathi lingers here as well — he is but a memory and a shade, though, his soul having long passed on from here. Yet enough lingers to advise me, and what lingers is curious — as am I. How is it you have come to be in Kakishon?" the skull asked.
Khayal marvels at the place arround him, surely he has never seen anything of such grandeur. Only the fortress containing the pit of rovagug could compare in marvel, but where that was grotesque, this was a thing of beauty.
Bartan is awed by the beauty of this place, and as the dragon's skull animates and begins speaking, he is positively giddy with excitement.
"A dragon's spirit! Oh my friend, you would be such a treasure-trove of information, that I am sure! You have nothing but time, I assume... would you be willing to grant us some of your most ancient knowledge?" Remembering why they came, Bartan grins sheepishly. "That is, after we speak to Andrathi. As far as why we are here, we were stranded here during a mishap... involving an overzealous gnome wizard. We seek Andrathi to help further our hopeful means of escape."
Hajar nods in agreement with his friends, however he does give Bartan some narrowed eyes when the gambler asks for ancient knowledge from the shade of a long dead dragon.
Indeed Mistress Shodair, we are from the Grand City of Katapesh, where we wish to return. The Efreet Jhavhul is freed, and we pursue him so that we might stop his reckless rampages on the Material Plane. Hajar bows in greeting
Hajar nods in agreement with his friends, however he does give Bartan some narrowed eyes when the gambler asks for ancient knowledge from the shade of a long dead dragon.
Indeed Mistress Shodair, we are from the Grand City of Katapesh, where we wish to return. The Efreet Jhavhul is freed, and we pursue him so that we might stop his reckless rampages on the Material Plane. Hajar bows in greeting
[dice=Diplomacy!] 1d20+18
At the multiple news, Venema's aura flickers with fire, tongues of flame sparking as she exclaimed, "Yes! I felt Jhavhul and parts of his former army leave with him, but the passage from Kakishon back to Golarion seemed...different." Addressing Hajar, the floating dragon's skull said "If that is where the Scroll of Kakishon was opened, then that is where Jhavhul emerged. While I have heard of Katapesh, even Absalom, the City of the Last Azlanti, would be hard-pressed to ignore an Efreeti general and his army appearing within their walls."
"If you seek Andrathi, then you have found his bones on the gates outside." the undead dragon told Bartan dryly. She turns, floating, to indicate Spooky on the main coffin. "Part of his spirit lives on in his familiar, which I surmise will not rest until it meets his former love, the djinni Nefeshti. Which is the only reason the feline is still alive and not dust after these decades, I suspect. Take her - if Andrathi had a last wish, it would be that Nefeshti learns of his fate."
At Nefeshti's name, your mold-encrusted arm itches, but the dead Templar adds nothing to the dragons's tale.
"I would tell you to seek out the fire-dwarf Artel Norrin in this demiplane, if you wish assistance to stop Jhavhul." Venema tells you all, "But I smell his forge-craft on you already. Jhavhul treated the proud azer worse than a servant, and no doubt the mastersmith has honed his frustrations out to a weapon to use against the Efreeti."
Coasting back to her own stone display, the dead dragon's head continues. "Archwizard Nex made me a wyrmskull and placed me here more than three thousand years ago, to await his death and guard his final resting place. While I can use my learned magic to scry Kakishon's islands, I cannot leave this demiplane, even in augmented awareness. Andrathi was a talker of a man when he arrived, and spent several days here, informing me of the war between Geb and Nex, and the outcome of Geb's last attack on Quantium, the capital. Andrathi was trying to find a way out of Kakishon while leaving Jhavhul's forces here, but I had little to tell him, other than Nex's many hunting parties and pleasure trips in the islands while he was active."
"Ask your questions." the wyrmskull fairly commands from her resting place.
Rayhan steps forward and asks his question
He also bows, as a native Garundi he knows the value of etiquette. Most Esteemed Wyrm, is there some way that we might open a portal from the Demiplane back to the Material? Some magic left behind by the Archwizard? We seek only to undo the mistake that placed us here. These others Rayhan gestures to the heroes They seek to undo Jhavhul's evil. I, Rayhan Xobadi, am interested in the Archwizard. I have some of his plates. Could these serve as conduit for a spell of Travel? Rayhan takes out the massive gold plate scrolls.
"Ah, the Golden Ram! It was Nex's favorite hunt, as well as a favored one to give to his guests to complete." Venema tells Rayhan. "But no, while the golden plates and horns are valuable, only Nex could raise the Golden Ram after it was defeated. They have no value in teleportation spells. But I do sense your extradimensional studies, wizard. They may help you recognize hints, if there are any."
The dragon's head is silent for a moment, then she continued. "Andrathi asked the same questions for hours, but I had little to offer him. When Archwizard Nex made this place, and moved me therein, I asked him why his tomb was here, on a tiny island, instead of along the central island. I remember him laughing, and saying off-handedly, 'Kakishon has no center. But it does have a heart. A seed of a heart, taken from another. But this island is for contemplation.'"
The glowing eyes of the undead dragon glow stronger as she says "So there you have the only rumor I can produce. Find this 'heart'. It may be at the edges, where the proteans Nex enslaved live, keeping Kakishon renewed and hidden at the same time. Or it could be on any of the islands of Kakishon. You will need spells that study earth and stone, or someone who can read earth and stone, to seek the 'heart'. You could ask the proteans, since it would be in their nature of chaos to know what is natural to this demiplane and what is not. But beware - after millennia of servitude to crafting order, they may chafe at their chains. And even rebel against Nex's wishes. If they learn of the 'heart', they may move to destroy it, and Kakishon, to free them from their own prison."
The spell plane shift is used to travel to specific planes. Ask if Nex made such a spell possible here (a forked metal rod attuned to the plane of travel is the permanent focus), or if any other extradimensional spells would work.
Rayhan nods along as the dragon ghost speaks. Then he asks Most Noble Venema Shodair, would the Archwizard have allowed spells of planar travel to work here in this Demiplane?
"Earth genies! So not all of them went to the Golden Bowl in Khandelwal. The proteans will hate them as much as any outsider, keeping them from returning to the Maelstrom. Yes, a properly motivated shaitan could search for the 'heart' among the islands. And many of them would make the search proceed quickly." Venema mused.
Answering Rayhan, you hear almost what would be a dragon's laughter in your minds. "Nex was jealous of his paradise - and from what Andrathi told me of the war with Geb, the last thing Nex would have wanted was intelligent undead coming and corrupting his demiplane, other than me, of course. None of the teleportation school work within Kakishon - astral projection, blink, ethereal spells, plane shift, secret chest, and so on. Even if I taught them to you, it would be pointless. Summon spells cast here either draw off of the edges of Kakishon, which were kept in a special state by the proteans to function as raw matter for summoners, or require additional concentration to cast and maintain. Anything less than archwizardry or magic of epic scale cannot defeat Nex's barrier around these islands and seas. Jhavhul raged for years fruitlessly, trying to find a way out other than through the Scroll."
The dragon head floats sideways, turning towards Yazi again. "But I smell something otherwordly on this one." Levitating and moving to within a cat's whisker of the female half-elf, the dragon's bony nose points downward to the fighter's belt pouches. "Hm. There." the undead skull announces. "Three types of crystals - one appears to be luck-based, much like Spooky, but the other two...a twisted mind has held them. Paugh! Hmmmmm...but what do we have here? Bring out the fork, young one."
|
|
Yazi silently watches as the spirit looks her over, flattered, but she knew it probably best not to proposition the dead.
"Spooky is lucky?" Yazi absentmindedly asks looking down at the cat in her arms before equally as absent minded reaches into her ouch and takes out the ruby fork. "Oh yeah, the lonely cap'n gave them to me. He was nice."
"My." Venema said. "You hold a most unusual item, youngling. When one learns plane shift, part of the spell is making a planar fork with which you attune to the plane of being to wish to travel to. That is a direct opposite - an unattuned fork. Careful you do not touch it to anything else before you find the 'heart', young one. Like those twisted rubies. You now hold a possible 'key' to leaving Kakishon without the Scroll."
The dragon's head turns back to the others. "I have something to ask you, wizard Xobadi. Kakishon feels damaged as of late. I sense energies building, matter unraveling, and Kakishon now groans with accelerated aging. What has happened, that threatens Kakishon itself with destruction?"
Khayal was unable to follow much of the conversation, but he noticeably perks up when told about the 'key'. It was only by luck that they ended up with the item to begin with. The gentleman who gave it to us was quite creepy, but perhaps Barton's Lady Luck was smiling on us for once.
"We appreciate any knowledge that you can give us, Noble One. While it is dismaying to hear that we cannot use standard teleport magic, now that we know we have a key to the way out, our hearts can once again fill with hope. You have done us a great service. Would you allow me to read the cards for you, or for the fate of Kakishon itself? It may provide you clues that we are not yet privvy to."
Bartan sits in front of the floating dragon skull and pulls out his cards. He places the nine cards representing Knowledge in front of him facedown and asks Venema to choose one.
-> The Idiot. "This signifies that someone has made a grave error, and I have a feeling that someone was the hapless halfling who sent us here in the first place. It is up to us to fix his mistake."
He then shuffles all the cards together and creates the spread, slowly flipping cards over from top-left to bottom-right.
=> 14: The Peacock (True Neutral, Dexterity)
=> 46: The Empty Throne (Lawful Good, Charisma)
=> 7: The Fiend (Lawful Evil, Strength)
=> 54: The Liar (Chaotic Evil, Charisma)
=> 20: The Survivor (Neutral Good, Constitution)
=> 24: The Mountain Man (Chaotic Neutral, Constitution)
=> 53: The Betrayal (Neutral Evil, Charisma)
=> 8: The Beating (Neutral Evil, Strength)
=> 39: The Publican (Chaotic Good, Wisdom)
"Dear me, what a strange spread." He points to the Fiend in the bottom left. "Here in your past, the process causing your current state is obvious, represented by The Fiend. Though you do not seem dismayed by your undead unlife, it still represents a strain against the natural order, as you might imagine."
He then points to the very center card, The Survivor. [b]"This card could represent either your own eternal state, or the current survival of the plane itself despite an affront against it. The Liar next to it, however, suggests that we are in dire straits, and could signify that passions for power could rip this plane apart."
Finally, Bartan points to The Betrayal on the top-right. "This is ill-seeming indeed, as it suggests that we will have a bloody betrayal in the near future. I worry that these earth spirits we seek out may attempt to harm us even while under pretense of aid. We must be very cautious, or this betrayal could undo any work we do to stabilize Kakishon."
Rayhan gasps at the implication that he's been traveling with an untuned planar fork for all this time.
Mistress Yazi. Might I study the fork? he asks, almost greedily
but not before bowing low to the Dragon and answering her question
Most Esteemed Wyrm, we believe that yes, the magic that sustains Kakishon was dealt a blow by the One Guild tearing open a portal. Is there some method by which we might halt, or at least slow this process?
"A bone-reader?" Venema Shodair interpets. Her tone is amused again. Everyone feels a wordless burst of energy come from the undead dragon and suffuse throughout the room. "Certainly. Take as long as you like. All of you may stay here for the night, or on the island - I have defused the traps and guardians, and they will no longer trouble you."
To Rayhan, she says "So. Andrathi worried that something might have happened to the Scroll of Kakishon, since Nefeshti and her Templars of the Five Winds never came to rescue him before his death. But Nex protected Kakishon even from djinni wishcraft, and Jhavhul found it impossible to destroy the barrier around the demiplane with the mortal gnolls he brought with him. The Efreeti vaporized enough of them before he learned it was impossible to use wishes to return to the Prime Material Plane, or any of the other planes. But while the Scroll was the only entrance and exit from Kakishon, damaging it means this demiplane's destruction. If the proteans were told of this, and convinced to work against it, they might slow the degradation down."
Settling back down on her stone platform, Venema declares, "You have three options to you, as I see it. One, contact the proteans at the edges of Kakishon and convince them to help find the 'seed of a heart'. That is the hardest to do, for unless they have specifically invited you, a Nexian galley will not go to their location beyond the seas. Second, contact the earth-genies to aid in your search for the 'heart'. But why the genie-kin did not leave with their general, I do not know. Third, find a way to discover the 'heart' yourself, by going from island to island. I have scryed Ismaizade near the Isle of Flint to have xorn on it, creatures brought here from the Plane of Earth. They may be traded with to seek out the 'heart', if you pay them daily in the gemstone that they consume."
"But if Kakishon is to be destroyed, know that the proteans will not help you save it, for it means their release from Nex's eternal servitude. They were bound here, forever renewing Kakishon's seas and lands, and would gladly see everything returned to chaos, so that they may leave. The only things keeping them here are the non-native-born, still-living outsiders to this demiplane - such as the earth-genies, Artel the mastersmith and his workers, and yourselves. All the proteans must do now is wait, and Kakishon will revert to a sea of chaos, with you outsiders like flotsam on a whirlpool in an ocean."
-----------------------------------
"Hm." the undead dragon opines on Bartan's harrowing. "I do not fear the unmaking of Kakishon, for I know Archwizard Nex can bring me back if he so desires. As for the earth-genies, if they are anything like their efreeti general, then expect betrayal from them at any moment, yes. I would consider it an affront if Kakishon was destroyed just because its' inhabitants quarreled over meaningless things."
------------------------------------
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
Andrathi’s spirit leaves Spooky as the PCs are vowing to stop Jhavhul. Although now nothing more than an ordinary cat in most regards, as long as she lives and accompanies his chosen PC, that character gains a +1 luck bonus on all attack rolls, skill checks, saving throws, and level checks. She's a living stone of good luck (does not stack).
Spooky the cat
Weight 8 lbs.
These Tiny animals are often kept as pets or familiars. Though small, they are excellent hunters. Grain farmers usually keep cats for pest control in crop storage areas, but cats can be found in most regions and strays occupy many cities.
Hit Points: 2
Rayhan gleefully pockets the untuned fork, and then he begins chatting with the Ancient Wyrm about various arcane topics of interest. This is the happiest anyone has seen Rayhan since he was forcibly ejected into the Sea here in Kakishon.
|
|
"Whose a good kitty? Yazi mews to the cat as she pets him, something seemingly different about him now.
| 2 people marked this as a favorite. |
Rayhan studies with Venema, gaining him the following
Dismissal
Lesser Globe of Invulnerability
Haste
Heroism
Passwall
Rayhan knows that combat will be in his future, and so he learns some more martially inclined spells. Now, his small travelling spellbook is full and he cannot scribe any new spells until he gains a new book.