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Selena: The corpses on the ground all show signs of starvation, upon examination you are convinced that to a creature (other than the rust monster which has been living off the metal detritus in the room) they all starved, and looking at many of the bodies it seems they starved quite some time ago. Based upon everything else you've observed in Kavorquian's lab complex, it's obvious that he's not been down here in a while. Putting some pieces together you can conclude that Kavorquian was the only person taking care of these creatures, assumeably something happened (whether old age or other) that kept him from coming down here to properly care for these creatures and they starved.
Armand nods at the discussion and walks over to the wooden cage.
"Excellent question Selena. Was the rust monster released or did it escape it's confines itself? Lets see what we can see."
Bending down Armand starts examining the large wooden cage. "Assumeably, since the monster obviously can destroy any metal it touches, this would be the only conceivable place to have held it."
Walking around behind the cage he examines the slats and nods appreciatively. "I see where your 'dagger' came from Lash, someone cut one of the boards along a crack back here for the raw materials." Armand gets a pensive look on his face. "How would anyone have gotten this close to the cage with the monster still sitting in there?"
Moving around to the front of the cage he examines the door. "The wood here is warped and cracked, it's obvious something from inside the cage tried to push it's way out. Due to the snapped wooden spike down on the floor here I would expect it succeeded in breaking down the door."
Nodding at the room around Armand says "And that would make sense, look at the monster's corpse? It's still rather healthy looking...well other than it's broken neck..." Armand stops and gives a sympathetic look to Selena.
"These other creatures, they all look like they starved to death. If the rust monster had only recently been released, it would have been half dead. Too, look at how much this creature would have had to have destroyed and devoured in such a limited time? No, I expect this creature has been free for a while."
Slowly looking around Armand says in a puzzled voice. "I don't get it. Setting that trap on this side of the door had to have taken time. Cutting the wood off the cage and shaping it into the form of a dagger and then PAINTING it to look like a dagger had to have taken time. The creature couldn't have been trapped in it's cage, the lock is clearly broken and the only way to have held it shut would be to have stood within the creature's reach. The creature isn't wounded or otherwise damaged, so it's not like it's been attacked in the past...yet there are sounds to the south of us, in a room our map shows no other access to but the door south out of this room."
"Perhaps Dirk is right, maybe there's another passage to the last room on the map. Or perhaps our trickster friends had a way to get past or distract the rust monster while they worked in the room?"
"Assuming this monster was from the Wizard I would say that he or someone else needed to feed it, and creatures usually don't attack people who feeds them"
"So, may be there is a connection with our friends and our contractor, or someone who used to came here and work for the wizard."
"Knowing the dungeon he would be able to enter the room from a different passage and set the trap, without get disturbed by the creature."
"But the only way to really figure it out is to go over that south door and kick some butt"
Selena smiles. "I was about to say the same thing. Conjecture does nothing for us when it is obvious our answers lie just beyond a door. Or at least some of them."
Turning back to face the center of their current room. "What I do not understand is why were those that set up the trap not attacked by the rust monster? It's possible they just knew a way to avoid it, but it seemed rather agressive when we entered the room. Is there any evidence that they fed it a large amount of metal to keep it occupied?"
"Or," Selena says, growing sad again. "Maybe it was just hungry and went toward the first large amount of metal it could find."
For the next several minutes the 7 of you fan out and go over the room looking for hints or signs of a secret door that you know should be there. Your search, however, turns up nothing. On a whim Lash asks "What if the secret door isn't in the room?" and proceeds back up the north hall, looking carefully along the walls for any signs of a passage you all might have missed.
Fifteen minutes later, the seven of you look around at each other in confusion. Regardless of how thorough you are, you simply cannot find a secret passage that you have missed.
As strange as it sounds, you are starting to believe that the others in this complex came through the room ahead of you and managed to find some way to appease the monster long enough for them to have reset your trap and get through the door at the south of the room.
Selena: your detect magic spell lights up the room. Half the wall mounted cabinets, at least, are glowing as are the vast majority of the dead creatures on the floor of the room, not the least of which is the corpse of the rust monster itself. Even some of the piles of rust on the floor glow very very faintly, whether because the Rust Monster's magical decomposition of the item has left a magical residue or because the destroyed object itself was magical before being eaten, it's impossible to tell. Smiling wryly at yourself you realize you just cast a detect magic spell in a wizard's magical storeroom. Focusing your attention a bit more you scan the walls of the room to see if there are any wizard locked or illusion protected doorways in the room. Nothing shows itself.
You are unsure what creatures might be behind this. There is strong evidence supporting something humanoid given the ability to set various traps in your way, and whatever or whoever is ahead of you they're obviously intelligent and don't seem to mind hurting or killing you in the process.
** spoiler omitted **...
Completing his search of the room Thantos notes, "You know it is also possible that whoever was in here was killed. Between the Carrion Crawler and the Rust Monster, it is not beyond possibility that this person or persons could have been killed and devoured. The Rust Monster would take care of any metal items while the Carrion Crawler would take care of the body."
Perception check: Specifically looking for signs of the remnants of other people.
"I know one thing for certain, this Wizard has a most exquisite wizarding chamber. I wish I could have known this Wizard before his end. He must have been a great and powerful man."
Thantos: You see no signs of humanoid remains. With your knowledge of Carrion Crawlers and rust monsters you know that there would be things that would likely still survive a "cleaning". Leather items like belts or wrappings from hilts of weapons would likely remain untouched. Backpacks, bags, and cloth clothing, while likely destroyed, would also likely survive to show that SOMETHING had at least been here...none of that presents itself in this room to your inspection.
Fyird: The trapdoor concept was an excellent thought and you go around poking at some of the stones in the roof and floor, wedging your axe blade into cracks to see if you can pry something up. Unfortunately, nothing turns up during your search. You're reasonably certain that you have been thorough but haven't found anything.
As Dirk steps up to the door all 7 of you realize that the sounds of fighting from the hall beyond the door have faded away, whatever was happening down there has ended.
Grasping the door handle, Dirk pulls the door open.
The "ping" of metal on stone and the sound of shattering glass are the only warning you get that perhaps you did, indeed, miss something.
As Dirk opens the door a slight tug indicates a problem, almost without realizing it Dirk yells "BACK!" and dives backwards, knocking Armand down in the process, Lash's backflip passes just over both their heads as she lightly lands on her feet.
The crash clang of metal on stone and the shattering of glass is almost immediately followed by a brilliant light as the Alchemist fire potion breaks and spatters the oily liquid into the room. A couple drops are faster than either Dirk or Lash, splattering onto exposed skin and burning only slightly ().
For the rest of you who's eyes adjust you are amazed at the scene before you, the wooden door is a a torch, the entire thing completely engulfed in flame and burning furiously. Taking several steps back due to the heat of the newly created inferno, you watch as the door turns black. For several minutes the blockade between you and the southern hallway burns fiercely, and almost as quickly as it started it starts to die down.
Several minutes after that the door is almost completely out, the remaining patches of oil burning off while still not "catching" on the wood of the door. While blackened and scorched from the heat of the fire, the door itself is still mostly intact and standing half open, allowing a view a ways down the southern hallway...at the end you can barely make out another door.
A quick examination tells you the story. Laying on the ground, the leather grip burnt off, is Lash's dagger. The shattered remains of a glass vial, obviously an alchemists fire potion from the effect, laying in pieces on the ground. With the door open now the slight smell of lantern oil assaults your nose.
Hanging from a chord, tied off to an iron spike wedged in between the door frame at the top and the ceiling is a cork, obviously meant to stopper the top of the alchemists fire potion.
Lash shakes her head at the improved upon version of her firetrap. The dagger, holding up the alchemists potion is wedged into the door in such a way that when opened, the dagger drops off, allowing the alchemists potion to fall. The chord, attached to the loosened stopper, pulls tight and yanks the cork out of the bottle at around face height, allowing the potion to start reacting while still in the air, spitting burning oil and flame out of it's tip. The potion then falls to the ground, shattering and splattering the burning oil everywhere. The door, obviously soaked in oil and a puddle of oil on the ground behind the door bursts into flame and lights up like a torch, further engulfing the person who opens the door, or who would happen to try to bust through it.
A piece of parchment, spiked into the wall a few feet down the corredor, well above the floor and thus outside the splatter range of the potion reads:
"Now THAT is how you should have set that trap properly. Trust the Thieves Guild to fail to train their members on the appropriate way to kill someone."
And below that:
"Never send a boy to do a Man's job...or in this case, a girl."
The hallway beyond the southern door continues to the edge of your light, at the end of which you can barely make out a more normal metal bound door.
As you move up toward it you see a thick, heavy oak door blocking your way into the next room. Even through the thickness of the door, however, you hear people arguing with each other and the sound of chanting.
Armand quickly hands the note he is still carrying in his pack over to Selena. The detect magic spell indicates no magic within either of the two pages. The writing is definatly dissimilar, though admittedly one seems to be hastily scrawled while the other was not. While you're certainly no expert, you get the sense that the messages were written by different people...the flow of the writing seems different, straight lines in places where there were loops on the other document, etc.
However as you re-read the newest message one thing does occur to you. The emphasis on the words "Thieves Guild" indicates several things to your quickly working mind.
First, it's obvious that whoever this is has linked Lash to her past history, at least her recent past history (her time in Landfall) since, to your knowledge, Kethlenica has never had a "Thieves Guild". Secondly, it's also obvious that whoever this is has a particular disdain or dislike for the Thieves Guild. You can almost see the sneer on the writer's face as he's penning the note. (Actually, for a second, you DO feel like you see his face in front of you...)
There is no direct link between the two notes. You don't either have enough evidence or experience to determine whether they're both "brotherhood". You are fairly certain they were not written by the same person.
Selena is silent for a moment as her eyes peruse the papers.
"Hmm. Well, no harm in trying. I thought that perhaps the ones who sent the letter to the Orcs might have then come here to collect. But my intuition was wrong in this case."
She hands both papers back to Armand.
"Now I think I hear quite a commotion down that hallway. Shall we see what that is? I hate to think that all of those voices are hostiles."
As Selena brings your attention back around to the noises you all realize that the sounds of combat you heard minutes earlier back in the laboratory room have died out completely. You can still hear conversation coming from down the hall, clearer now, but not enough that you can make out what's being said.
By the sound of it, a battle has just finished at the end of the hall in the next room and whoever it is down there is just "cleaning up" after it.
Selena pauses, as though uncertain if she should speak out.
"If you wish to hit them hard, I believe I have a power that might come in handy. I've been.... working, I guess is the correct word, with this." At that she summons the heavenly fire to her hand. "I believe I can release it as a powerful blast. I haven't tried to do it yet, but if you'd like me to try, I just need you all to stand out of the way."