Saersha considered carefully when Embyr offered to try and bypass the trap. It made sense, but she was afraid, afraid of what would happen to her Pet if she messed up and triggered the trap. Saersha turned to face Embyr squarely and said, "Please be careful My Pet, I don't want to lose you. If it looks like you can't do it don't try and if it triggers anyway just remember that what you see is an illusion and can only hurt you if you let it do so."
Saersha stepped slightly back so she wouldn't crowd Embyr but watched for the trap to go off. She hoped that, if it did, she might be able to take the spell for her lover and hope that her blood relation tot eh creator of this place would cause the spell to leave her unharmed.
"Um, if the trap does trigger can we pull her out of the way quick enough, like with a rope or something?" Zev continues to think aloud, obviously concerned.
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Embyr digs out her thieves' tools and starts to carefully inspect the sarcophagus. She's in absolutely no hurry.
When she gets to work on the sarcophagus' runes, she does so with careful precision and a steady eye. She quickly figures out which runes to mar first in order to disrupt the phantasmal trap on the grave, scratching them off with a few quick strokes of her picks. Eventually, the magic surrounding the sarcophagus breaks and fades away.
"...I think that did it." Embyr stands up, looking quite proud of herself.
Zev lets out a sigh of relief.
Ulfr exhales audibly a breath he didn't realize he was holding. Well done, Embyr. Now, let's see if we can't crack this thing open.
He cracks his knuckles for emphasis and steps up to the sarcophagus.
Ulfr is able to push the sarcophagus lid aside easily.
Resting within is the body of an incredibly beautiful woman dressed in a fine red silk robe. Her long brown hair pools around her head and her eyes are firmly closed. Curiously, she is not breathing, but shows no signs of decay.
Her resemblance to Saersha is almost exact.
"Two Saershas?"
Ulfr steps back, confused. Ummm... Creepy?
When Embyr succeeded Saersha was pleased enough to pull Embyr into an embrace and kiss her passionately on the lips. She had forgotedn about her earlier promise to not do such things with out Embyrs consent but hopefully she would be forgiven.
Once the sarcophagus was opened and they could all look inside Saersha's attention was quickly grabbed away from Embyr at their words. What would she be doing in the sarcophagus? Saersha pushed her way through and looked inside and gasped in shock. This was huge, this was beyond huge, Her hand went out slowly to stroke the body's cheek as she said, "This isn't me, this is Sorshen, the Runelord of Lust." She looked up at the group and said, "Do you know what an unused clone of her, being here, means?" Her eyes were wide with shock and no small amount of worry as she said, "Sorshen likely still lives."
”Is she gonna be mad we found her clone? Wait, what if she has the shard we’re after? What do we do then?” Zev asks, furs on end as he gets lost in thought. ”And what happens to the uh, clone now that we opened the box. Does she wake up?”
Embyr is quite surprised by Saersha's sudden snogging of her, and only barely registers that there's a clone body in the sarcophagus.
Saersha considered what Zev asked and then said, "No, I doubt she is even active. Despite their power the Runelords were only human and have a finite lifespan. In order for her to still be alive Sorshen has either had to find a way to become immortal, which I find unlikely since she isn't ruling the world now, or more likely she is in stasis somewhere." Saersha paused a moment as another thought hit her and then added, "Or she is dead but her soul was somehow trapped. That might have allowed the clone to continue without activating."
"I imagine the shard is still in here somewhere and I doubt we would run across a sleeping Sorshen somewhere, if she is in stasis here and not one of the other facilities I'm sure she had, she's likely so well hidden we'd never find her. I'd bet that where ever she is resting can't be accessed from the outside at all, only if she awakens and lets herself out could she be found." Saersha pulled her hand back and said, "Let's seal the sarcophagus again and leave her clone alone.. There's no need to disturb it."
”Sooooo, she’s not gonna get up on her own then?”
"Well... presumably this clone triggers when something happens to the 'existing' Sorshen," says Azura. "So there might... be something in here that would cause her to 'wake up.'"
"Which I'm pretty sure we'd know the moment that happened." Ryn says, looking at Sorshen's sleeping form with more than a little trepidation.
If all of what you say is true, then we will be leaving an enemy at our backs, and a devistatingly powerful one at that. This one isn't even alive right now. I say smash the skull and move on.
As Azura expressed her concern about something waking the cone up Saersha shook her head and said, "Only death will activate her clone. I suppose that a spell that would allow her to transfer to it early might exist but it would likely be a form of necromancy which she is completely incapable of casting Even this clone spell is beyond her, likely she paid a necromancer, or seduced one, into making it for her."
Saersha shook her head at Ulfr's words and said, "No Ulfr, you are not bashing my ancestor's clone's head in. She will only be able to activate if something happens to the original so it is no threat to us." Saersha sighed then and decided to explain her reasoning, "Besides as it is we are likely to be accepted by the place and it's denizens as accolytes, or maybe in my case Sorshen herself, if we destroy the clone I would not be surprised if the whole place turns against us."
Saersha's expression softened a bit and then she added, "Besides all that Sorshen was always the most human of the Runelords given her "sin" was derived by something natural taken to an extreme. I'm not saying she was a good person by any means but if she has survived then it is quite possible the others have found a way to do so as well." Saersha hoped her explanation made sense as she continued, "If another Runelord awakened having the threat of Sorshen around could only be a good thing to serve as a counter to them. If the clone exists still it is proof that Sorshen may still be around too and serve to make another Runelord at least hesitate while they worry that she might show up and counter them."
Ulfr sighs. Ok. This is your area of expertise, so I'll defer to your call. Either way we probably shouldn't linger.
”Okay then, sorry for bothering you, Miss Sorshen, er Miss Sorshen Clone.” Zev says to the slumbering copy as he carefully puts the lid back up.
The hall opens here onto a balcony overlooking a subterranean river flowing to the east. The waters of the river are dark, while the walls and ceiling above are a breathtaking array of earth-tones, the natural stone polished and smooth.
The water appears to be shallow enough to wade through.
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The hallway ends at an immense panel of reddish metal that is nearly twenty feet tall and ten feet wide. Dozens of scenes have been carved into individual one-foot-square frames on the panel. These scenes chronicle a beautiful woman engaged in a magical incantation involving some sort of winged creatures.
Pushing and poking at the metal panel causes it to jostle a bit. It's likely that this is some manner of door.
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Azura looks wordlessly over the motifs and scenes for some time. Finally she focuses on the central panel and says deadpan, "Funny looking scepter. I think I have one just like it in my pack."
"This mural shows Sorshen binding various succubi and incubi," says Azura. "Surprisingly she seems to be binding them via conventional spells rather than her more personal methods."
Saersha was relieved that she convinced them to leave her ancestor's clone be and was happy to continue on their way. When they found the mural Saersha considered what Azura had to say, and what she knew of the demons involved, and said, "I imagine she still had to bind them the normal way first. I'm sure that, once she had bound them she took no end of pleasure from them. Sorshen may have had a rampant sex drive but she wasn't stupid, she couldn't be to have survived as long as she seemingly has."
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"Your ancestor continues to creep me out."
Incubi are also created from the lusts of dead mortals, but their particular abilities are more focused on causing others pain than on seduction (although they're quite capable of that as well). When they manage to land a critical blow, the pain resulting from it is said to be doubled--often rendering their victim insensate with agony.
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MmmHmm Ulfr grunts in affirmation of Zev's statement.
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Ryn snickers. When Azura mentions the scepter, the gladiatrix gives her girlfriend a curious and slightly amused side-eye, especially in light of the tell-tale deadpan expression.
The central panel of the red metal obstacle appears to stick out a bit from its surroundings.
"Hey Embyr, does that panel sticking out a little more than the others look off to you?"
"...yeah." Embyr tentatively steps forward to investigate it.
After a few minutes of examination , she shakes her head. "Doesn't look like it's attached to anything dangerous..."
"Can it swivel or be pushed?" asks Azura.
"It might be pushable. Not sure about a swivel-based mechanism, though..."
"Okay, let me do it. I think I have the best chance of reacting in time if something dangerous goes off." Ryn says stepping forward.
Ulfr nods and glances around to make sure everyone is standing back, just in case.
Ryn stands staring at the panel for a moment, focusing her breathing and visualizing the myriad of ways she could use her shield to protect herself in an emergency, before stepping forward, her shield settled on one arm with perfect ease.
Once everyone has moved back she pushes on the panel with bated breath.
The panel recedes into the door when Ryn presses it.
Nothing happens for a few moments. Then a series of letters along the central panel's upper edge start to glow.
There's a resounding noise as the Red Door begins to swing open.
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A sloping sandy beach extends down from the cave walls here to the edge of a slowly flowing underground river. Four wooden skiffs are moored to four-foot tall stone posts protruding from the sand near the river's edge. Each boat is relatively narrow and has room to seat three, and each boat has a long wooden pole.
"I'm not sure I want to go on a boat after last time." Ada shivers remembering their last battle. "Do they look...um...river worthy?"
Ulfr glanses to Sarshea. Is this the way we need to go?
Taking stock of the situation, Ryn carefully steps into one of the boats, before extending a hand to help Azura in. "It looks like each boat can first three, but might be better to go with two to a boat rather than leave one behind in the off chance that we've been followed."
The boat rocks a bit as Ryn steps into it, but it bears her weight easily.
Saersha noted the words on the central panel and what they said but it didn't seem to make much sense. She didn't figure there was a point in bringing it up just then but she kept it in mind for later. When She saw the boats Saersha felt a bit nervous but agreed it was the way to go. "Seems like it Ulfr. I agree that maybe we should keep the numbers down a bit. Two should be sufficient I think."
My boat will take three then. At last count we had seven with us.
He helps Saersha and Ember into the boat he commandeers, allowing Zev and Ada to have a boat all to themselves.
Azura takes Ryn's hand with a smile and a mouthed "thank you" and carefully steps into the boat. Fortunatey she seems to have a good sense of balance.
Ada looks nervous about being in a boat again, but carefully steps onto it. She looks to Zev to use the pole to push the boat. She sits down and hangs on to the sides tightly. "I'll keep an eye out." She doesn't quite look convinced the boat isn't going to immediately flip over.
Zev smiles at Ada, hoping to put her at ease as they set off. ”Hopefully there’s no more seaweed monsters in here.”
The party climbs into the moored boats, and with a good shove from the poles they're set afloat into the river. The current gently flows along to the east, guiding the party onwards. A thin sheet of mist starts to coalesce on the water's surface as the party moves forward.
The river opens up into an immense, breathtaking cavern. Dozens of tiny coloured motes of light flit and dance through the air, providing illumination to the vast, cathedral-like space. A forest of stalactites hangs down 30 feet above the main body of mist-covered water. To the east, the water cascades down into a lower cavern while a white, sandy beach slopes up from the southwest to reach a single stone door in the wall. A seven-sided stone platform sits in the middle of the lake--it's an artificial island whose edges barely sit above the water's surface. Upon the island are seven mooring posts for boats at each of its seven corners, and a single glass statue of a beautiful, barely-clad woman in a translucent robe. The statue has one leg poised before the other as if it's about to take a running leap into the water.
”I guess we keep following the pretty ladies,”
"Wow! The beauty down here is absolutely staggering." Ryn says in an awed tone. "And to think we're among the few to have seen it in centuries."
She continues slowly moving them along using the pole, her eyes taking in the wonders of the spectacular cavern.
So, Who wants to visit the island of running ladies?
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"Oh wow," says Azura. "Whatever else you might say about Sorshen, she definitely had a flair for the aesthetic. This is beautiful. The only thing that's missing from the beach is warm sunlight."