Octo-Galtar's soft form shivers and shudders as he changes into the form of a dragonborn once again!
"My brash actions awoke this ancient evil, but well done Katra, you are a true daughter of the mountain! Your power and your faith are certainly formidable!"
Stashing the rings and the bracelets for later, Galtar seems ready to continue.
The bored little nymph-like creature watches you closely as you pass, wading through her waters "Still alive?" she asks before submerging mysteriously.
The eastern doors open into a longer L-shaped hall, and you feel yourselves walking up a slight incline as the waters get shallower and shallower, until finally a small set of stairs sets you up higher and you leave the dampness behind.
The gas however, persists.
Finally, you pass through a set of double bronze doors and enter a great hall. This hallway is twenty feet wide and has piles of rubble and debris scattered along its length. The walls are covered with frescoes. The south wall displays scenes of a battle between natives and invaders.
The north wall depicts people questing for a new land; their experiences during the journey include crossing treacherous mountains, sailing over storm-tossed seas, and receiving the guidance of the gods in their battles to keep their homeland free from invasions. In the center of the wall is a painting of a pyramid with a temple atop it and the sun shining over the land.
Pisco immediately notices the sun in this painting is actually a little stone button.
Down the hall to the west is an archway carved in the form of twining serpents. Beyond it, the corridor continues on into shadow.
"Of course we're still alive. I'm a Dwarf." she said, as if that explained everything.
"This place looks important to someone who wants to know about history. Anyone have any stuff to do rubbings?"
"Getting out of here might be more important than history lessons. Considering all of the traps in this place, I do not recommend pushing that button unless we have no other choice."
As they walk, Cloud will try things with the axe like seeing if it will push into the wall, or if he can reach into the wall while holding it.
"Anyone have any ideas whether this thing actually does anything? Or does anyone want it? I prefer a macuahuitl sword to an axe."
"I'll take it. It's interesting, and might well add to Dwarven lore. As to what it does, we should take some time to identify all of the items that we have recovered so far."
Pesco moves forward to examine the button, trying to decide if it is some sort of trap, or maybe opens a secret door or something else.
Investigation:
Cloud, swinging it through the air seems to ring the metal supernaturally. Pushing it through the wall feels as one might expect, however on closer inspection of the blade you note some engravings in Payit that Pisco could translate:
Tepancuate - Wall
Tlepitzalo - The fire is set
Yeyecame - Winds
Pisco, you cant seem to figure the button out, probably because most of the mechanism is hidden inside the wall.
The sun was of crucial importance to the ancient Payit. The source of its light was from one of the gods sacrificing himself on the behalf of the people. The people therefore felt they owed a blood debt to the gods. This took the form of a fire drill (ie a friction firestarter) placed on the fresh heart of a sacrificial victim...if the fire could not be lit, the sun would be destroyed forever. Or so the mural seems to say.
Lidras, pushing it slightly without activating it fully, you hear the mechanism partially engage a few times, until mentally you think you have it figured out. It seems to release a longer bar from the side of the stone, like a latch holding a springed door closed.
"Certainly a crafty lot that built this place. I wonder what secrets this one hides! If you are confident Lidras, let us find out!
Lidras depresses the solar disk and a latch quickly engages, but not exactly where Lidras expected. Instead, 8 ft above the floor is where a hidden door swings open into your hallway, revealing a passage. Getting up there, either with rope or flight, the odd stone faces of beasts greet you.
This hidden corridor is high-ceilinged and decorated with sculptures mounted on the walls. Two corridors branch off from the main hall, a narrow one to the east and another to the west. The statuary that adorns the walls consists of four sculpted heads of animals. Each one is six feet above the floor and two to three feet in diameter. Opposite the passage that leads east is the stylized head of a coyote, and across from the hallway going west is the head of a grinning bear. Near the south end of the corridor, the head of a bison is mounted on the east wall.
At the north end of the area, on the west wall, is what appears to be the head of an eagle, with its beak open. Something shines from within the eagle’s mouth, a bright gold.
"Then let's deal with it and go from there."
Katra will, however, move over and use some pitons in an attempt to keep the trap door from closing.
Pisco will examine the eagles mouth for any traps.
Perception:
It seems at the slightest touch the beak will snap shut, however the hinges also seem incredibly dry and corroded so its a gamble as to what will actually happen. Perhaps nothing at all. On closer inspection the golden object is a single bracelet that is humming quietly with a middle C note, obviously somehow magical.
Lidras, the beak snaps shut instantly, pinning your forearm. Struggling, the hinge appears to be totally jammed. Somehow the contours of the beak prevented either your wards or you to take damage, but you are quite stuck.
Lidras, as you debate attacking the beak you gauge the scowling bird's resilience.
Disable Device:
"Worst comes to worst, we'll savage your arm and I can put it back together."
Assessing the situation, Katra moves next to Lidras and says "Hold still a moment." She then rummages through her pack and pulls out some oil and begins oiling the hinges. As she does this, she pulls down steadily on the lower jaw.
The beak lets out a little *squeak* as Katras' lubrication skills bring life back to the ancient avian artifact. Lidras' arm is free, and comes out clasping the bracelet. On closer inspection, it looks more like an earring or stringcharm for some giant creature, but could slip easily onto a medium creature's wrist.
Right about then, Galtar finally fishes out a crowbar from his pack. "Oh, nevermind. he says sheepishly. "East?" he points down the corridor closest to where they entered.
As you peer down the corridor, a faint flickering light becomes visible. The light begins to move through the hallway away from you, sputtering and wavering just at the edge of your perception.
You come upon a ten-foot-wide pit that stretches across the corridor. Beyond it is a wedge-shaped stone block or pillar that blocks the passage. The light ahead of you that you had been following is nowhere to be seen, as though it somehow passed through the pillar.
The triangular pillar points towards the pit, which is filled with skeletal remains. There are many scratches on the wall in arcs leading into the pit. You might be able to examine the pillar more closely, but you would have to dare crossing the pit.
"That is a steep drop. Can anyone tell if there is anything magical down there?"
Nothing but dusty bones down there, not a spot of flesh. Surprisingly, there are little signs of fractured skulls or broken bones. Their cause of death is a bit of a mystery. The pit is 10 ft deep.
Moving on to inspect the triangular pillar, Lidras notices that it is loose and can be rotated, making a tight 2 foot passage on the side. Yet again, the orb of light is hovering down the hall, as if waiting for you.
Katra is the first to notice something unusual about the stonework on the ceiling, a narrow band of copper extends left to right. There is a gap between the metal and stone suggesting the existence of a trap door or portcullis.
Slightly further down the hall, Cloudrunner and Lidras both detect another pressure plate in the floor.
"We should probably check out this trap door first before proceeding."
The copper colored bands are about a foot thick and resemble the bottom of a portcullis. The plate could be disabled () by wedging something under it or remotely activated.
Pisco will attempt to disable the trap
Disable:
Disable:
Pisco, after 20 minutes of arranging the small shims around the plate, you are quite confident it is safe to pass. ()
Another hour has passed and the fumes again itch your skin, some flesh comes off when you scratch.
poison dmg to all
Scratching his scales with an annoyed expression on his face, Galtar pats Pisco on the shoulder. "Well done! Might as well disable that other one too! Maybe we should think about finding a decent place to rest soon?"
Lidras, the bracelet whispers to you in a language resembling dwarven, but somehow more primitive. Despite being unintelligible, it seems to get excited as you move your hands through certain motions, and sad and frustrated as you move in others. With more time, perhaps you could figure it out. At one point, a minute quantity of golden gritty sand appears uncomfortably under your fingertips.
"I don't think we can rest with this accursed gas burning us... grrr!"
He itches his skin and then growls more as his hand comes back bloody. "I just feel so helpless here. Grrr.... think we can jump the next one, or want me to try holding the gate if it drops? I'm sorry, no pressure, Pisco. I know you can do it, I just need to move or something."
Cloud begins pacing in a circle, swinging the new sword to work out some nervous energy. "You know, this reminds me of the time my squad was clearing out a goblin den. I was still pretty fresh out of training. It wasn't as nicely carved out as this. In fact, it was mostly natural caves. After a few hours of the dark tunnels and constant ambushes, our commander just snapped. Started clawing at the walls to get out. He was a strong, good soldier - still was after that, too. But he couldn't handle being in a cave ever again, said he couldn't breath right. Dang fine commander, one of the bravest I've ever met. So there's nothing wrong with not liking caves, right? Perfectly normal. Jaguar warriors know no fear. It's just caution... or something."
He keeps walking in a circle glancing back at Pisco and trying very hard not to interrupt his work.
Katra might know about the desert dwarves, the so-called "Hairy Men of the Desert". Lacking iron ore, they instead developed their weapons, armor, and mechanisms based on stone. She could also know about how the dwarven script is shared between a few different languages including goblin, giant, orc, terran, ogre, etc.
Putting this together with the odd scale, you guess it must be giant or at least ogre of make...an earring or nose ring.
edit: Lidras, it also seems to vibrate internally when you point it towards Katra, like 2 magnets repelling each other.
Cloud, as you swing your sword and the others work out their issues, you notice a light approaching from around the corner to the northwest. Just as you think its about to come into view, the light disappears.
|
Lidras looked at cloud and regretted his easy going excitement. He had forgotten that while his wards were protecting him, the gas was already eating away at his companions. He nodded his thanks to Katra for her help. ”Likely a giant artifact then...interesting. If it is attuned to the Stone, maybe it will help us get out of here.” He returned to his study of the artifact, working all the harder to figure it out.
"It's probably a giant artifact of some kind. I can find out more about it when we have some time to rest someplace without poisonous gas. I will ask Moradin for knowledge of it, and will share that knowledge with you."