Cloudrunner charges up to the creature to attack with Lidras... and unfortunately is right up next to it with his mouth wide in a primal battle cry when the spores explode out.
Instinctively, he falls to the ground. As the spores seep into his system, he spasms several times before regaining control over himself. Slowly rising to his feet, Cloud breathes heavily, letting out a low, angry growl.
He watches quietly, as the others examine Galtar and then explain Pelota.
"A... game?!"
His breathing intensifies as the anger grows.
"They kill our companion and want us to play A GAME?!!"
With a roar of pure fury, Cloud bashes his new sword into the wall repeatedly. After a minute of attacking the stone wall, he stops, his breath in deep gasps.
"I failed Galtar. I won't fail the rest of you. We will get out of here, but anything else down here had better fear, because we will kill them all. Let's go."
Leaving the ball games behind for children, you round about into the next chamber. This oddly shaped room is decorated in a cat motif. The center of the southeastern wall is carved to resemble the face of a snarling tiger with hollow eyes. Near the center of the room is a stuffed tiger, posed as if on the prowl. The tiger’s left ear has been torn off, leaving a jagged scar on the head. Also near the middle of the room stands a stone statue of a tiger-headed man holding a spear.
In several other spots on the floor are stuffed domestic cats in various poses: sitting, stalking, pouncing, and one is begging, pawing the air. One of these cats in the center of the room has been knocked over and chewed on; its stuffing is falling out.
Hung on the walls are several skins of lions and leopards, tiger heads, and a cat-of-nine-tails. Along the northwest edge of the chamber a large calendar stone is mounted on the wall above a stone table or altar.
The statue of the cat-man depicts a tall human male with two extra sets of nipples. He seems to be wearing a tiger-faced mask and is clad only in a loincloth. A jagged scar runs across the left side of his chest, above the heart, and his chest is sunken and bony. The spear is stone-hafted, but bears a silvery head.
Smiling, Pisco looks over at Cloudrunner and says,
"Anyone you know??"
Katra smiles at what appears to be a child's toy, moves over to it, and says "This appears to be well-loved!" as she picks it up.
Katra, the little stuffed tiger is surprisingly heavy, and reaching a hands inside you feel 2 heavy lumps. One, a small sack containing 500 gold coins! The other, a bloody beating heart.
As Katra counts the coins, a sound like sand falling faintly echos in the chamber. It seems the cat-man with extra nipples () is sprouting fur, and he quickly flips his spear into an attack position, stabbing forth at her...
...but it seems this tiger has been outpounced.
Round 1:
All PCs <-- UP
Enemy
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Longsword Weapon of Warding "This magic weapon warns you of danger. While the weapon is on your person, you have Adv on initiative rolls. In addition, you and any of your companions within 30 ft of you can’t be surprised, except when incapacitated by something other than nonmagical sleep. The weapon magically awakens you and your companions within range if any of you are sleeping naturally when combat begins."
Reacting quickly, Lidras shot bolts of energy at the statue as it came to life. ”See? More traps! It is almost like the builders of these ruins didn’t want us to get rich.”
The blasts cut the ancient hybrid but it seems resilient. Lidras, you also notice your gold bracer seems to repel from the cat-man like it did with Katra.
As Katra pulls out the sack of coins, she tosses it to Lidras. As she pulls out the bloody heart, she drops it and the stuffed animal almost immediately, then bends to pick up the heart, causing the initial stab at her to go wide.
"Silly statue, I am the voice of the god that allowed your creation. Face me at your peril."
She then draws her hammer and smashes the statue with it.
Lidras, you have noted that around the perimeter of the bracelet, there are many small dimples. 4 of them however make the 4 vertices of a perfect square, and by pressing these 4 dimples magic starts to surge forth towards your foe. At the same time, the repulsion you feel increases exponentially.
"Sss! Tlican cuahuxic yolcatzitzin, hmm?"
Cloud studies the statue taking Pisco's question seriously and replies, "Nope, can't say that I recognize-" and then leaps back as it comes to life.
"Damnation and hellfire! What is it with this place?!"
He lunges forward, swinging his sword at the cat-man.
Katra's hammer is too slow for the nimble lynx, bashing into another stuffed animal on the floor and spilling its stuffing into the air.
The obsidian slivers in Cloudrunner's macuahuitl clashes with the cat-mans briefly, but Cloud is stronger this time and pushes back swiping across its chest twice quickly.
Round 1:
Katra, Lidras, Cloudrunner, Pisco <-- UP
Enemy
Pisco growls deep in his throat as he lunges at the cat-man, swiping at the creature with his claws.
Attack:
Damage:
Attack:
Damage:
The ex-statue continues his spear thrust at Katra, stabbing forward multiple times in the air before 2 powerful targeted surprises...
...and the silver spear finds a secret passage into the adamantine fortress of Katra, but Cloud amazingly deflects the blow with a growl.
"So be it." Katra aims her Warhammer at the creature and a beam of holy light erupts from it.
Cloudrunner continues his attack. "Impressive or not, I just want the accursed thing to die! Grrrr.... and you will not harm anyone else while I'm still breathing."
As the creature is well and truly flanked, Pisco gives a wicked smile and then aims for the creature's most vulnerable spots.
Attack:
Damage:
Sneak:
Attack:
Damage:
crit:
The creature writhes in pain at the parties attacks, and begins a violent transformation into a tiger...however Pisco's attacks cut it short and the body reverts to its vaguely tabaxi form. Despite the heavy damage obvious from its spilled guts, open cranium, and few missing limbs...its chest heaves in unconsciousness supernaturally.
Lidras, you slowly bore a small hole into the slumbering kitty's chest while it sleeps. Regardless, it continues to snore away. Indeed its cavity seems absent of any particular organ.
"It's most likely a construct, and it could well be that these are it's." says Katra as she holds up the heart.
The heart throbs in Katra's gauntlet at a medium pace.
Katra says nothing but crushes the heart in her gauntleted fist.
As Katra clinches her fist around the heart, the fallen jaguar man turns to a fine pink dust.
The calendar, a great wheel of stone, is carved from limestone. In the center of the calendar is a symbol of the sun surrounded with various sigils depicting seasons of the year. The stone is ten feet across and is mounted five feet above the floor over a stone altar. On the altar rests a ceremonial dagger of flint and a jade statue of a cat. At the foot of the altar is a stuffed cat, posed as if begging or attempting to catch something in the air.
Lidras and Pisco notice that the calendar is hung on the wall from a single stone rod, offsetting it a few inches.
Katra will investigate the insides of all of the stuffed cats.
Katra tears apart all of the stuffed kittens, wildcats, and tigers amassing a large pile of fluff and masterfully preserved fur.
"Bah, I wanted to make sure that we didn't miss anything, given that there was money stuffed into the first one."
"And yes, Dwarves can smell gold. We also have really good hearing."
"Agreed." says Katra with the widest grin on her face.
Katra will investigate the stone altar/wheel, trying to determine it's complete purpose .
Katra, you find one last long necked cat here. Promptly removing its head, you unveil a rolled parchment containing a scroll of protection.
You run your fingers over the carved stone, noting the subtle connections between the ancient glyphs. Whereas thus far most of the works have paid homage to the sun, this calendar is actually presented from the perspective of Tezcatlipoca, god of the night sky. The jaguar is thought to be his divine manifestation by the ancient Payit, and some natives even still hold to this belief today.
You find it odd that there is a Sun at all in the carving. It seems to line up with a thin stone rod holding the calendar to the wall. Perhaps its a button.
Katra will use the button.
The calendar swings out towards you along with a rectangular slab of stone, revealing a hidden passage behind!
Behind the concealed entrance is a narrow tunnel that slants down and away. The passage is barely four feet in diameter, and the walls are carved with a profusion of ancient and weird glyphs. The floor of the tunnel is slick with a molten, glassy glaze.
The tunnel opens out two feet above the floor of a corridor running north and south. Three exits are visible, one at either end of the hallway and a set of double doors on the midpoint of the western wall.
The door to the north is barred, though it seems to have no latch. The image of a bear holding a disk of obsidian is set in its face. The lintel of the door is carved in the form of entwined serpents.
The southern door is plated in bronze. Etched on it is a symbol of two circles joined. The path leading up to it has a depression in the stone floor, as though it has been worn smooth by the passage of countless feet.
The floor in front of the central doorway is sunken and glazed. Affixed across the double doors is a golden seal one foot in diameter with ancient glyphs scribed into it. To open this door, it appears that the golden seal must be broken. Ancient glyphs are scribed on the seal. To either side on the lintel of the door are barely discernible scratches, and brown stains stipple the wall and floor.
Katra says "I do not recognize these symbols. Is there anyone here who does?"
”Bah! I have no patience for such bizarre markings. Let’s try that bronze door then!”
Cloud glances at the symbols, but is likely worse than someone randomly guessing and instead approaches the bronze door.
Although, maybe something about the symbols catches his eye like a lowly servant at an academy who can see the solution to a great math problem that even the students cannot.
Cloud, despite their magical nature evading you, you've seen priests make symbols of warding like this in temples when protecting important things. Its odd however that they are located inside the hidden door...that's kind of backwards.
The other writings and engravings are somewhat common in modern Payit culture and might offer some clues to what lies beyond the doors. The northern door with the bear holding obsidian is another reference to the night sky. The southern door with its 2 enjoined circles is actually the infinity symbol, given to the supreme god of creation.
Glyphs engraving the seal on the double doors read clearly "Beware! Beyond this door is death!"
Pisco follows the others to look at the odd markings.
Arcana:
He also has no idea what the glyphs might mean, but the fur stands up on his back as Cloud reveals their meaning.
Now that does not sound like an idle threat!!"
Perception for traps: