Drovya shudders, grimaces, and looks almost sick until Kanthuun takes out the Protean eye. Thank the gods, that thing was horrific. What do you think all of these books are for?
When he scans the environs with his mage sight, Drovya almost falls over. There's just too much going on in here. It's a maelstrom of magical energy. But Kanthya is right, it will boost air and shock spells significantly. Didn't Gant say that the mistress of this place liked to fling lightning bolts about? It might be near time for that protection spell of yours, Rohini. At least, once we get to the top.
He then grins at Haka. Enjoy the climb, I'll see you at the top, he adds with a wink.
As Haka looks up the long, spiraling flight of stairs, he finds himself quietly humming along to the music of the flute, then anticipating its melody slightly, and realizes he knows the piece, and its history.
He turns to his friends and says ”I don’t see how knowing this can help us, but I remember the tale behind this song, and it is a sad one. The song was composed by a man named Pelynn Obleyth – a wizard with a fairly magical musical ear. He had a granddaughter – one of several, but she was the youngest, and very dear to him, though the tale when I heard it never mentioned her name. She was kidnapped and, in the end, murdered awfully. Obleyth wouldn’t believe it, wouldn’t acknowledge that she was dead, said she was just wandering, lost and alone, trying to find her way home.”
”The story goes that the little girl was afraid of storms, more so than other things, and more than most little girls are. On stormy nights, Obleyth would stand on the balcony of his tower, wind and rain whipping around him and thunder shaking the heavens. He would call his beloved granddaughter’s name, and play the flute, play this very song, to try to guide her home. This went on for quite some time, and the girl never did make her way back to him. But folks heard the haunting song, and it carried on, even after his death. And that’s the truly odd and sad part of the tale, is he was found murdered also, though I never did hear how he was supposed to have been killed.”
Haka pauses with his head down, then adds, ”Well, nothing brightens a creepy library full of hands and eyes like a macabre tale of dead children and haunting tunes. Any ideas on whether it means anything here? Could that be Pelynn Obleyth up there, a dead wizard playing for us, or for his lost little girl?”
"If we disguise our alignments, we might be able to have a conversation with the musician above regardless of who it is." Hanethes murmurs softly under the music.
"Why don't we just go and find out?" Talon shrugs.
Maybe Uraffa is the soul of the wizard's granddaughter?
Drovya looks up at the pillars, frowning slightly.
That's one long climb. Let's take stock of how we're going to get up there. I have a flight spell prepared. Rohini might too as well as Kanthuun, although I don't know if he has enough for all of us. Does anyone have a magical rope, or something of the sort? Or another means of getting to the top? It would be better to fight them on the floor, less chance of taking a nasty fall, although we can't have everything, now can we.
He continues to ponder, playing out scenarios in his head.
Disguising our intentions might work, but if this is Uraffa's seat, I say we strike quickly, not give her the chance to prepare, or know how many of us there are.
"I'm good with that plan."
"I can jump up the stairs easily enough. Movement isn't that big a problem for me."
"Perhaps I can give Talon a bit of an advantage before he attempts to push our musician off the stage - they do tend to resist that."
As Haka speaks, he takes out his wand of Longstrider and casts it on himself.
"I love having the advantage, makes thing so much easier."
"I love having the advantage, makes thing so much easier."
In that case, let's scout out what's happening at the top. Better to do the surprising than to be the ones surprised. Hanethes, will you do the honors? Perhaps with a bit of assistance from Kanthuun.
"Alright. I'll wait, do your thing."
"I think you're right, Rohini. I get the sense something nasty is up there, and I'm for all the protection we can manage, given your history here."
Haka then lays a small hand on Talon's wrist and chants a few strange words, and a brief glow envelops his hand and passes from him to Talon.
"I can cast that on at least one other of us before we get started. Drovya, Han, or myself seem to make sense, as it helps with striking with weapons and resisting ill affects."
Rohini will gather in the middle with everyone circled around. She will raise her symbol, close her eyes and incant a prayer, casting communal resist energy (lightning) and communal protection from evil.
Should Rohini align someone's weapon? Rohini has some scrolls -- it only lasts two minutes. Could Black Ivan even stand being aligned? Does our quarry have DR versus nonaligned weapons? Knowledge (planes): If folks are reasonably grouped together, Rohini will cast blessing of fervor once we are in combat with our main foe.
"There. I feel we are much better prepared to face our main foe. But remember that my Lady's blessings won't last all day. If we don't find our foe in this nightmarish chamber, we must move quickly to find her."
Kanthuun hands Hanethes a potion. "A spot of invisibility for you, good sir? It keeps me from using up another spell today."
"I have some other useful potions," he says, rummaging around in his quiver. "Barkskin, Ablative Barrier, hmm...earplugs, why did I pack so many...scroll, scroll...anyhow, Barkskin, anyone?"
Hanethes leans back and waits for the others to decide what to do. Not having much magic at his disposal means that he doesn't feel like he relies on it that much. "What do you suggest for me? I can take the stairs easily enough."
18.
Kanthuun steps back about 10 seconds in time and casts Invisibility and Gaseous Form on Hanethes.
"Give yourself 5 minutes up there--you have fourteen, but you never know," he says to the vaporous rogue.
"Yea, stay safe Han."
Urrafa (true seeing)
The party made their way into the chamber and towards the middle staircase. Despite a sense of foreboding, they ascended en masse, with the two yamah trailing a short way behind. The music continued, and while a drum accompaniment from Haka may have made it more palatable after the fourth round, the footsteps of the group more than made up for a lack of percussion.
30 feet in the air, the party made their exchanges of magic and wished their scout luck. Hanethes made it up the rest of the way effortlessly, relatively confident that no hidden traps would hinder his allies, despite an unnoticed, sinister protrusion concealed within the central pillar almost directly at the the top of the spire.
Hanethes encountered the flute-player once he rounded the final portion of the stairway onto the platform. She was small, hardly three-and-a-half feet tall, her head proportioned on her body like a child, like most of the vulnadaemons encountered up to this point. However, her eyes were open and strangely alive, calculating and bestial. Catlike, they glinted with the red lightning streaks originating from a sizeable orb centered in the ceiling above. She gave off an aura of authority and eminent danger, staring in Hanethes direction. However, she gave no sign of seeing the roguish mist.
Not an arm's reach away stood a familiar figure, though it was now encountered lopsided, its head barely connected to its mangled, stitched body split down the middle. Its tongue lolled out of its beak, speaking further to the suspiri's undead state. Still, it swayed to the music, blackening tongue twitching perversely.
Another suspiridaemon squatted silently next to its master, cocking its head to peer at the musician after several seconds had past. It stood up, allowing Hanethes to see the monstrosity was wearing footwraps.
It used its tongue to reach into its feathers, smearing it in some form of a foaming yellow substance. It then moved directly next to the spot where Hanethes lingered and proceeded to step off the edge, away from the stairwell. Surprisingly, the creature didn't fall, but merely clung to the pillar's edge with its feet, coiling its tongue in wait and sitting absolutely still.
Hanethes returns and reports to everyone what he had seen (via message if necessary)
"It seems perfectly fine, as far as traps go. Which is unusual, since I was kind of expecting one to be there."
"Which just means the trap is even more elaborate than we thought. Or it's just that easy." When everyone is ready Talon will lead them up the stairs and get hit by the shard.
While the shard pierces Talon's flesh, his system fights off the poison.
Once Hanethes describes the situation atop the pillar, Drovya nods grimly and waits for Rohini to apply divine protections to the rest of the group.
Once this is done, he waits at the midway point for Talon to get close to the top before casting fly on himself, downing the elemental breath and preparing to enter the fray from behind the vulnadaemon.
Kanthuun nods at Drovya and also casts Fly, drinks his Elemental Breath, and then drinks his potion of Invisibility for good measure.
Before he vanishes, he does an amazing series of gestures that immediately explain to the rest of the party that he will cast Web on the daemons from above prior to melee.
From a great distance (200' or so), he prepares to cast his spell...