I feel what Xanos done in his own private time with the parts of our dead enemys is his own buisness. He hands the undead a sack. Gather all of the materiel goods and carry them with you. You may drop them if you need to render aid in combat.
Slowly, the thing that was once a man obeys.
Nobody seems to notice the little thief bathed in blood, as her eye twitches a little. It's more than a little eerie how calm her voice is.
"I've now been covered in my blood and someone else's blood. I'm not sure which is worse. Please tell me one of you magey types can get this cleaned without me having to strip naked."
The expression on her face could charitably be described as annoyance at her situation. Surprisingly, she still manages to look cute.
Xanos looks at her and nods. "Your disguise may be harder to maintain without the illusion of purity."
With a gentle sweep of his hand, the blood and grime dried, turned to dust and was pushed by some unseen force off her clothes and skin to the floor. He even went so far as to smooth and clean her hair and add faint pigment to her lips and cheeks, leaving only a faint charchol scrape on her face and down her chest.
"That should provide the desired effect." the tall wizard said with a self satisfied nod.
Gwyn couldn't help but be surprised at Xanos' reply and at how easily she cleaned up.
"If you could teach me how to do that, I'd steal anything you asked me to."
"Learning it may be frustrating for you, but soon I will be able to provide you with an object which can do it for you. I will let you know what I need stolen."
Wow, this has to be one of the best things to happen to me since that night.
"Thank you good sir. I only ask that you call me the goddess of all things sneaky when you need me to do some thievery."
A playful grin shows she's not serious about being called a goddess, but she seems to be getting a little more comfortable around the hulk of a wizard.
"If I ever call you a goddess, you will know I truly dispise you."
Cain slings the bulk of the blood from his wicked blade with a few swipes, then uses some cloth from the bed in the corner to finish the job. As he watches the undead thing stash all the fallen knight's gear, he sheathes his own blade and reclaims his bow, testing it a few times to make sure it's undamaged.
He looks over at Price and -- when she looks back at him -- he nods knowingly to her. She knows what he's thinking. One traitor down...
"We ready to go visit this idiot's follower? Or do we test this screamer?"
"Don't see another way out, do you?"
Gwyn checks her weapons before going to the door on the other side of the coffin filled room, hurrying noticeably while in said room. She cautiously puts her ear up to the door and listens for several minutes.
Cain stalks up behind her, pressing his own ear up to the door.
Eyeing the hand that the tattooed mage carried, Teon had an idea of his own. After taking the sword from the undead, he walks back to the room with the body. When he returns, he is holding the sword in his right hand and the head of Sir Eldon is forced onto his left.
Shulme leans on his spear. He murmurs a charm to close his wounds as he awaits the rest of the party getting their fun in.
An examination of the next door reveals nothing in the way of traps. Opening the door it is pitch black inside, though a natural darkness this time.
Price signals for the door to be closed before she says, "There's a patch of earth in there and some huge mushroom on top of it."
"A single large mushroom in an otherwise empty room? Nothing else?" Xanos says with a bit of incredulity.
"Wait," Cain says, eyes shifting into the room with confusion, "... this the screamer room? Aint never seen a screamin' mushroom."
Gwyn loses her self in thought at the mention of what's in the room, and starts to hum, then softly sing a haunting tune about a nymph and a dragon.
"A screaming mushroom is exactly what it is, Cain. Light causes it to vibrate at a rate which creates a surprisingly loud high picked whine. It reacts to light and can be used as a somewhat crude sentry system. Due to the precise internal structure required to create it's shriek, it is quite fragile."
So no light means no shriek?
"It's loud... gotcha. All you had to say. Price can see in the dark. Anyone else? Cuase those folk should go smash the shroom for us."
He looks over at Gwyn as he leans against the wall, "I'll just be here enjoying a serenade."
I can
"Indeed. Price, your bow may be the best tool for this task."
Gwyn continues to sing, oblivious to the world. She begins the second verse about the Dragon taking the nymph and locking her deep in his lair as Xanos talks to Price.
Bored now Teon strides into the room and approaches the mushroom, destroying it if nothing attacks.
"I can see in the dark. Though it seems of little consequence, as we have already defeated the dead men who were to be alerted by this thing."
Shulme watches over the room as Teon moves forward into the darkness.
The mushroom easily falls from Teon's strike. No enemies rise up to assault the fused summoner as he makes his move. With the mushroom gone, a search of the now possibly safe room reveals another secret doorway leading to a set of stairs. The stairs themselves lead up into the mansion, a secret way into this dungeon below.
And that is our way out. We still mean to visit the young squire and give him the grievous news Teon gestures with his left hand, still shoved up inside the head of Eldon [/b] And collect our snakes. Anything else?[/b]
Gwyn suddenly snaps out of the half trance she was in and stops singing when Teon asks if there's anything else.
"Hmm? Hey, did we ever find an amulet with real rubies? I don't think the one with the fakes ones is going to cut it."
Gwyn thinks for a moment and remembers that there were a few doors that weren't opened the first time around. She doesn't waste much time getting to one of the doors and begins checking the door.
Thou hast followed the herd.
Gwyn Pulls her ear away from the trapped door and begins to sing a disturbingly cheerful ditty about a goblin impaled on a farmer's pitchfork.
"...And a snicker-snack
His head rolled down his back.
Squirm and writhe he did no more
With his head rolling 'bout the floor..."
Satisfied that the trap isn't going to skewer her she opens the door cautiously. She stops singing abruptly to stare at the sign until everyone is in the room.
"Well, that's just great..."
Xanos rolled his eyes.
What to do first, grab the snakes or go see Timeon?
"I have no desire to interact further with the squire. I will retrieve the serpents."
Gwyn heads for the first room and checks the door again for traps before carefully placing her ear on the door. She isn't singing this time around.
“Thou wert deceived. Pain is thy reward.”
Gwyn leans in over the Trap and begins fiddling with the lock.
"I am seriously considering putting a knife in someone's eye."
Gwyn stomps back to the podium that has the fake ruby necklace and snatches it up before going to room where she got splattered with blood and begins to methodically search it.
Teon makes his way back to the chamber where Timeon was left with any who choose to follow him. Before getting there, he retriggers his disguise as the kindly old wizard and keeps his left hand behind his back as he approaches.
"By Iomedae, you still live!" Timeon visibly pales after he speaks. "I mean, of course. I'm free to go now, right?"
I think that we can arrange for you to leave this labyrinth. You will need to ask Sir Eldon. We found him.
An expression of pure hope comes across Timeon's face, the most life you have seen him to date. "That's, that's wonderful. Is he okay? Please, take me to him! Thank you so much, thank you."