After nearly a minute's time, Alis awakens and groans slightly. She shakes her head and with Alexis' help regains her feet. "What the hell happened back there and why did Uncle Morg freak out like that?"
Her nose wrinkles and she looks about, "What in the name of all that is holy is that ungodly smell? Did someone make a bonfire out of rats or something? Uuugh..."
"Umm yeah, It 'ad somethin' ta do wit' th' pool, some sorta magic, I guess." Felmor replys to Alis after returning Morgaards axe to him. " As fer th'smell...ehh ye is close enough, Cap'n."
He looks back at the door, and shudders, "I dinnae wanna do that agin, mebbe we should find another way."
"Unfortunately, I think we may have to brave that room again... to get through that barred gate. When we do, I think we have to avoiding looking in that pool. After the stench has died down, we might need to someone in to take a look around - particularly through that gate. I'm volunteering."
test
test2
still testing search parameters...
Hmm, let's see if dots work where dashes fail.
Gah, dots don't work either. Forward slashes maybe?
F+@%ing hell, the damn boards just don't consider the order of numbers if there is any sort of punctuation in between them. Geeeeeez, even quotes don't work? WTF Paizo?! >:|
dart
"Yeah, we don't need a repeat of that nonsense, that's for sure..."
After a few minutes of catching your breath and regrouping, Alis stands and says, "Priyya, I'll check that gate with you. My light spell can move around corners for a better look. Felmor, keep an eye out at this door here in case we need you. Uncle Morg, if you can watch the eastern entryway to this crypt while Sis backs you guys up that would be great."
With that, Felmor opens the door, crossbow at the ready. The air in the long room beyond is still hazy with smoke but the worst of it has dissipated. Even so, the smell is nearly enough to turn your stomachs...
Fort Saves DC 12
...yet your resolution remains strong and you each force the rising bile back down to where it belongs.
The illusions that assailed your senses when you first entered this chamber are now absent, though you are still disconcerted by the fact that the pool now casts no reflection at all. The south end of the chamber is covered about a foot deep in the smouldering, stinking remains of several thousand dead bats — those not slain by flames killed by heat and asphyxiation. At each step you are greeting by the crunching of their tiny bodies underfoot.
The gate itself remains closed. It appears to be constructed of iron and is set into deep tracks in the stonework, rising up into the ceiling by some unseen mechanism. Each bar is bigger around than the hilt on your swords and you have little doubt that it must be massive indeed.
With Priyya by her sides, Alis maneuvers her dancing lights into the darkened room to the south and reaches thru a gap holding her mirror to get a better look around.
When she does so, the reason for the bats and the speed with which the smoke cleared becomes evident. Like the room the others are guarding, the chamber has a number of recesses carved into the walls. However there is also a sizable fissure in the ceiling thru which the smoke is rising. Judging by the rubble lying in the center of the floor, it doesn't take a dwarven mason to realize that it is the result of damage rather than design.
After satisfying her own curiosity, Alis hands the mirror to Priyya and move the lights as she directs until she too is done surveying the room beyond.
From what you can both see, the room looks deserted now. There is also a passageway leading north from the eastern end of the crypt's north wall.
MAP: Room 20 #00
"Well, looks like we gotta find th' opening device first, afer we go any further. Guess we need ta go back to th' other side?"
"It would seem so... if the clues on the tablet are correct, the East passage probably opens the gate here. Before we do that, I'd be inclined to try the South passage. Who knows what might come through that gate once we open it."
Felmor nods at her. "Aye, sounds like a plan. Lead on Cap'n."
Priyya offers him a quirky smile, "Cap'n? I think you are mistaking me for Alis... Granted we look so similar - being 5'4" n' all."
"Well... when she wears heels anyway." Alexis notes with the faintest hint of a smile.
Alis rolls her eye and gives a small sigh. "Yeah, yeah, you're half an inch taller and I'm half an inch thicker. C'mon, let's go!"
As 'Cap'n Wardove' leads the way out of the room, Alexis gives Priyya a wink before following after Morgaard.
Returning to the room with the inscription on the floor, the short passageway leading south takes a bend to the west. It ends in a small chamber dominated on the far side by a silver fountain quietly burbling perfectly clear water. An inscription above the fountain reads "Kassen's legacy lives on with his people. Drink and be refreshed."
Perception Checks:
Stealth Checks:
Assuming you cast detect magic, you note the aura is a restorative conjuration effect of some kind. While the aura is permanent, you believe that it takes time for the aura to regenerate if depleted.
MAP: Room 17 #00
Felmor loosens the collar on his shirt, as a flush starts building again, and says haltingly, "Well, what I mean is...eh...that ye both are cap'ns, ta me, uhh yeah...ye both kin tell me what ta do, 'n I follow ye orders." Man, it is gettin' hot in 'ere again. on seeing the fountain, he thinks Aye, jes what th' doctor ordered.
Priyya drinks the water to test it before commenting. "This appears to be divinely enchanted water. If you are injured, this will probably help. I think we should be judicious in how much we use. I suspect that if we take too much the enchantment will fade for a time before it restores itself. After you've had whatever you need... I'm thinking about filling my waterskin with it and hope the enchantment lasts. It might be an effective weapon against whatever waits for us in the crypt."
"Aye, some good news fer once! Hopefully this water kin undo all th' damage we is bound ta git when we go up against th' guy."
Felmor loosens the collar on his shirt, as a flush starts building again, and says haltingly, "Well, what I mean is...eh...that ye both are cap'ns, ta me, uhh yeah...ye both kin tell me what ta do, 'n I follow ye orders." Man, it is gettin' hot in 'ere again. on seeing the fountain, he thinks Aye, jes what th' doctor ordered.
Priyya watches Felmor circumlocute with amusement and not a small amount of affection. She debates whether to let him off the hook or gaff him further. He's cute when he's flustered.
She sees he is overheating. Priyya smiles away his explanation and uses her wineskin (normal water) to soak a handful of her headdress' hem. "It IS a bit warm in here." She pats the damp material across his hands, forehead, face, ears, and neck. Then she blows lightly across his neck and ears to 'assist' the cooling process. "Is that better, Fel?"
She sees he is overheating. Priyya smiles away his explanation and uses her wineskin (normal water) to soak a handful of her headdress' hem. "It IS a bit warm in here." She pats the damp material across his hands, forehead, face, ears, and neck. Then she blows lightly across his neck and ears to 'assist' the cooling process. "Is that better, Fel?"
Felmor turns a bright shade of red, but somehow keeps his composure. Fighting the urges rising in him, he turns to Priyya, a look of naked desire in his eyes, and says, "I...uhhh...think yer 'avin th' opposite effect on me."
He gives her a fierce hug, briefly, and a kiss on the cheek, before disengaging. Aye, I must be goin' insane, is this what it feels like fallin' fer someone?
Priyya goes through a range of emotions. She feels oddly sexy/feminine and pleased and just a little guilty for having stoked him up. And she feels a bit guilty that she was actually pleased to have had that effect on him. I haven't helped him at all, I just made things worse. That's not like me. Priyya decides to really help him out. Unfortunately, the only way seems to be shocking. Oh I hope he doesn't hate me for this...
She upends half the waterskin on his head. She stifles his yells at the cold dousing with a swath of her headdress which she uses to quickly dry his hair. "I'm sorry, Fel! I'm so sorry. You needed to get cool and this was the only way!" She starts out genuinely distressed and ends up laughing at his spiky haired bedraggled rat appearance.
Felmor looks at her with a shocked looks on his face, almost like a fish just yanked oout of the water into the fishing boat. His mouth opens and closes for a moment, and he resolutely ignores the stares from the Kirmoons and Morgaard.
He looks at Priyya, and then gets a bemused look on his face. "Ye sure ye isn't a sailor, fer that is how we cool the ardor of sailors, who find themselves overcome with passions." He finishes toweling off and cannot help but chuckle at the absurdity of the situation.
He returns her headress back to her, and says, giving her an awkward bow, and then finally hands her the waterskin."Here ye go, ma'am. I do believe ye dropped this. I think ye needs ta fill it up again."
Priyya snaps off a smart, mischievous, whimsical, and utterly incorrect salute, "Aye-aye, Mr. Traker, sah!" She proceeds to finish off the wineskin and pass it around to anyone who is thirsty before refilling it from the fountain. Even if this doesn't retain it's magical properties, it is probably still holy water. That might be an edge we need.
All the while she thinks about the hug and what he had inadvertantly, or perhaps purposefully, pressed pleasantly against her belly. Her hand roams down to the spot, ostensibly to smooth her robe, but she is trying to physically hold on to the memory of what he felt like pressed against her. She chuckles silently to herself, I thought it was his belay pin for a moment...
It surprises Priyya to realise that friendship and desire were buoying up her spirits in this benighted crypt. For Surya-ka-Vahaak it is a foreign concept. The hunt was enough and it alone spurred her on - destroy the evil there is nothing else! But for Priyya, those 'other forces' were not trivial. They were making her happy while doing the work of Surya-ka-Vahaak.
I've been alone for too long. Perhaps Sarenrae sent me here to reconnect with others? To remember what friendship was like? To experience desire again? To be a woman not a weapon for a little while? She watches Felmor from under her lashes, while brushing a smudge from her robes. Oh, I do want to feel like a woman again for awhile. Please Sarenrae, grant me a little time at least.
Felmor walks off to the fountain and looks into it, studying his reflection in the water. His face, always lean and rugged, with those piercing green eyes, have certainly attracted their fair share of beckoning looks from many a maiden. But he never was that promiscuous to begin with. Aye, never stick ye oar somewhere where ye might lose it, sound advice givem. Plus, he knew he would made a lousy husband if only because he was a sailor, and he would never do that to a woman, sail off for months at a time, with no way to stay in touch. And if the ship was lost at sea...no he refused to do that. All of that was before he made some poor decisions. If it hadn't been for Armandia...he tried to remember her facial features, As pure Chelaxian as ye can get, but now he sees a pair of dark eyes with long sooty lashes, and a lean supple body glowing with an inner light. He reflects on how close he came to nearly going back to the shiver, once Armandia had left him. Now, he has no desire to do it. Where before he saw a man who was filled with self doubts, and confusion, now he sees someone who is happier than he has ever been.
He glances at Alis and Alexis, talking quietly with Morgaard about...something, he didn't know, but he knew all three of them were his friends. And Priyya, she was certianly that, and more! No matter what happened, should he be slain in this place, he would die a happy man. Not that he wanted to mind you, remembering the hug earlier. He definitely wanted to do that again. Hopefully he will get the chance.
Priyya watches Felmor staring into the pool. She debates leaving him to his thoughts. Somehow her legs make a decision her mind isn't sure about. She walks over and stands next to him, staring into the basin. She takes a small sidestep closer to him. Their reflection looks like a portrait of a couple.
"So... is it any water that calls to you - or just the ocean?"
Felmor looks up from his reflection and looks up at Priyya, chuckling slightly. His eyes gaze at her with a warmth and a gladness as well. "Not really, I jes like lookin at me reflection, sometimes. Kinda makes me think a' who I am, what I wanna be, what I should do wit' me life. It's really all ye kin do when ye is on a ship and ye is keepin' watch in the night hours. when th' moon reflects down on th' sea surface, aye tis' beautiful though."
He turns to look into her eyes, and puts his arm on her shoulder, saying quietly, "I am glad ye is here wit' me.". His hand seeks hers, grasping her gloved hand and holding it tightly, he continues, "I dinnae think I cannae make it outa 'ere wit'out ye, Priyya." He is tempted to touch her more, but he is afraid of ruining this moment, so he contents himself with holding her hand, for now, treasuring her touch.
Morgaard notes the tender moment Felmor and Priyya are sharing and comments on it to the girls.
Priyya looks over at Morgaard's comment and nods, acknowledging the truth of it. She turns her attention back to Felmor.
"Fel, with those 3 folks - you absolutely will make it out of here. And I am absolutely planning on getting out of here as well because you and I have some unfinished business." She stares at him intensely, her eyes glowing.
She doesn't want to stoke his furnace again, particularly with an audience, but she wants to send a message. She puts on her 'hardass Priyya' face. "Listen, sailor. You need to work on your aim." she rests a finger on her cheek where he kissed her. "Next time - I expect you to hit the target." She taps her finger against her lips. "Get me, sailor? And if you don't hit it, I will."
She smooths out the front of her robes, lightly taps him on the shoulder as a sign of affection, and wanders over to the rest of the party to see if they are ready to move out.
When Morgaard switches to speaking dwarven and continues explaining things, Alexis blushes a deep shade of red. The entire time, Alis grins at her twin's discomfort and makes several amusing hand gestures while Morgaard's back is turned.
Once Morgaard is done talking and puffing on his pipe (which somehow became lit during his fatherly 'talk'), the flustered young mage says, "Alright well we really should get back to rescuing that Dimira girl now shouldn't we? Let's just fill up some flasks at this font and be on our way then, shall we?"
You note with some amusement that she soaks the end of her sleeve in the cool, clear water and then proceeds to press it to her face, neck and cleavage to cool herself off. "These small chambers do get stuffy, don't they?"
You return to the room with the inscription. From here the eastern passage begins to slope down. Just past the threshold of the open doorway, water has collected on the floor of the corridor growing deeper as the passage continues. This is the source of the dripping noise you hear earlier as evidenced by the many leaks Morgaard points out in the ceiling.
Perception Checks
Stealth Checks
Priyya, Morgaard, and Alexis note that a strange echoing gurgle comes from the east as well, but it is relatively faint. The water on the floor becomes deep no matter if you head north or south.
To the north, Alis reports that it is about 2 feet deep with a swollen wooden door barely contained within its decaying frame. "I can hear the faint sound of frogs croaking," she says.
To the south, the water is about a foot deep and no door stands in the way. "There's a strange blue fungus covering the walls, ceiling, and pillars. There are tendrils dangling from it like roots and they even stand out from the walls and sway like there's a breeze. There's also three big, dead rats and a giant frog floating in the water, all decaying. They have strange burn marks all over their bodies. At the opposite end, it looks like it opens onto another north-south hallway like this one."
"Which way should we try?"
MAP: Room 15 #00
Felmor sighs, "i dinnae think it matters which way ta go, ta be honest, but I dinnae like th' sound o' th' room, lets go th' other way."
There doesn't appear to be a current like in a stream or anything like that. While you stand talking, you hear a crackling sound come from the south room and a bluish-white light illuminates spills from its open doorway for a split second.
Felmor blanches when he hears the sound, and he looks towards Alexis , asking, "Wait, lemme guess, that is not a light ye want ta be caught in, right?"
Alis gives a slight, involuntary jerk each time the light flashes, although the rest of you seem to be fine. After the second shock, she steps onto dry land.
"What the hell? The water tingles each time that light flashes!"
Felmor nods at this, "Aye, jes as I figgered, those are lightnin' strikes, though I dunno how they got a storm down 'ere. Anyway, I would 'ate ta be in th' water if one of those flashes hits at th' wrong time."
He looks off to the south, and starts timing the period between flashes, counting one...anchors awaeigh...two...anchors aweigh...
Felmor counts to almost 50 before the next discharge.
Shortly after that, there's another one then nearly a minute and a half before the next, then one at about a minute.
"It appears that the intervals between the static discharges varies, doesn't it." Alexis notes.
"Ahhhh....crap" Felmor mutters under his breath.
Following a strike, Priyya walks down to the corner, hurls a copper coin into the fungus room, and races back onto dry land.
Priyya tosses a copper piece into the room. Arcs of electricity contact it as it brushes some of the tendrils of fungus dangling from the ceiling, but not while it is merely sailing thru the air. Priyya does notice however that the fungus covers all of the walls and makes contact with the 1 foot deep standing water in the chamber.
At the end of its arc, the coin plinks into the water and sinks out of sight with a faint sizzling sound. Priyya then retreats to dry land before another discharge can take place.
"Well unless someone has a raft, this is going to be an unpleasant experience. If we can't get rid of that fungus, we are going to be treated to a small or large electrical blast. Maybe we should think about going the other way and hope that it wraps around to the far side of the fungus room." Priyya is unsure what the best thing to do is.
"Aye, ye is right Priyya, too bad I left me raft in me other pack." Felmor grins at his own lame joke. "Looks like we dinnae have a choice, wonder if'n Roldare made it this far."
"I don't remember him saying anything about lightning fungus... but who knows. What do you reckon, Fel? What do you think we should do?"
"Well, as long as we don't need ta go in there, let's see if'n thar is another way 'round the fungus room." Felmor gives her a reassuring smile, although he is feeling unsure about having this leadership role thrust on him. What if he messed up? "Well Cap'n, I guees ye knows th' drill..."
A thought occured to him, "Lexis, do ye knows of any magic effect that kin be causin th' lightnin' charges, instead o' the fungus? Mebbe we kin dispel it?"
"Works for me. Just keep in mind, there was a dead giant frog in the south room and I can hear frogs croaking behind the north door..."
Perception Checks
Stealth Checks
Alis leads the way and Priyya and Morgaard can also hear the sound of the frogs. As you head north, the water grows deeper reaching a depth of 2 feet. You all feel a mild tingle as the south room crackles again behind you.
At the end of the passageway, Alis stops and turns around after trying the door. "It's stuck in the frame!"
Morgaard indicates for Alis to trade places with him and to duck.
He hefts his axe and swings!
The sodden old door along with its frame are blow out of the doorway and falls into the room with a loud splash.
The room is filled with water, probably as deep as the outside corridor. It is in an advanced state of decay, with a gaping hole in the ceiling admitting a constant trickle of water. The three stone sarcophagi in this room are almost completely covered in a thick carpet of moss and fungus.
The sudden noise startles a giant frog that was crouched just inside the entrance atop the nearest sarcophagus. The top part of the door hits it in the face stunning it for a moment.
Initiative Rolls
, Alexis, (enemies), Morgaard, Felmor, Priyya
Alis calls out, "Frog! Just inside the door. Another one dove underwater further back!"
She lowers her crossbow at the one that's still in plain sight and fires...
...planting a bolt squarely in its side.
Alexis follows suit and fires a crossbow bolt without the aid of a crossbow...
...and buries a shaft deep in its shoulder.
Morgaard steps forward to get clear of the passageway and close for melee. He gives a surpised grunt at the unseen step he walks off of and as the water laps up to nearly his shoulder blades.
"Mind the step!"
With difficulty, he skirts around the frog to set up a good flanking position for others.