Leaving the others to collect the gooey loot, Brok heads back down to the room where we encountered the cube.
He stops at the entrance to the room again and scans it
If it appears clean, he'll advance into the room and check out the passage leading south.
Keil's eyebrow's raise as Arlok's glaive slices through the cube. "Impressive." Smiling wickedly the fetchling kicks through the gooey mess to retrieve his arrow and collect the gem and gold. Taking out the sack of coins already amassed, Keil adds the valuables to the pile. While the others decide what to do with the chainmail and arrow heads, the shadowy man joins Brok in the other room. "Anything?"
As the cube collapses into a puddle of goo Raaz Al'Zuul smiles wickedly at Arlok and comments:
"Well done Son of Baalzebul! My Master smiles upon our little group."
He picks up his crossbow bolts and follows the scouts, looking around for any more dangers.
As you regroup at the room where the gelatinous cube was found you discover it is completely empty so you continue on south.
The chamber directly south appears empty, save for the door to the south. Over on the west wall however an opening leads off to a room where a strange site greets you. The walls of this room are made of mortared stones, but fossilized human skeletons poke out from it to varying degrees. In one place, a skeletal stone hand pokes out from the wall, in another place the skull and ribcage of a stone skeleton protrudes from the wall along with one arm holding a sword in its hand, and in a third place the entire left side of the fossilized skeleton is visible, with the right side embedded in the wall.
"Interesting." Grey mused at the skeletons sticking out of the wall.
Grezzor nods in approval as the gelatinous creature is put down - "Well done"
In silence, he follows the others, stopping as they reach the mortared room, his lips intoning words of Arcane magic, as the goblin searches for magical auras.
Looking around at the empty rooms, Keil sighs. Like a sugar high, the thrill of finding gold is quickly wearing off and the fetchling's affliction of greed has resumed crawling over his skin like an unreachable itch. Stopping outside the skeletal room, the shadowy man folds his arms and takes a moment to ponder the meaning of all the skeletal remains used as building materials. Seems like nothing of value here. Rolling his eyes, he lets the magics investigate and turns his attention to the door to the south.
Arlok smiles as the others admire his work.
"Did bone men get trapped in wall? Wonder why here?"
Is the sword protruding from the wall made of stone or is it still metal?
Brok scans the petrified room for traps and, if clear, investigates the sword closer.
The spellcasters scan the immediate area for magical auras but come up empty. Whatever sort of bizarre event happened here, it must have happened a long time ago. The sword is not magical, and cannot be removed from the skeleton’s stone hand without breaking the stone with a hammer or some other sturdy implement.
Keil scans the door which looks typical of the doors you have already seen in this place. The fetchling does not detect any traps on it. After opening it he see a short corridor that leads to this room is relatively featureless, but in the southern part of the room, there is a stairway leading down into the darkness, flanked on either side by iron statues of cobras. Both cobra statues are coiled, but with the head raised and the hood out, as if ready to bite. Each of the statues sits upon a short stone pedestal six inches in height.
"Maybe this is a way down to the tunnel we're looking for." Brok says to his fellows.
He scans the stairway and statues for traps.
"It would seem logical - do we not wish to explore the current level we find ourselves in any further?" - the goblin comments - "By the way, I have found no magical auras in that mausoleum like area before" - he adds matter of fact.
"Agreed. Its too easy, we should check the other doors first." Keil stares at the twin cobras perched on the stone pedestals and scratches his chin. Retreating to join the rest of the group, the fetchling puts a firm hand on the goblin wizard's shoulder to get his attention. Pointing south down the hall to the chamber Keil questions,"Grezzor, what auras do those snakes hold?"
"Agreed. Its too easy, we should check the other doors first." Keil stares at the twin cobras perched on the stone pedestals and scratches his chin. Retreating to join the rest of the group, the fetchling puts a firm hand on the goblin wizard's shoulder to get his attention. Pointing south down the hall to the chamber Keil questions,"Grezzor, what auras do those snakes hold?"
"I will verify" - Grezzor nods, conjuring his arcane powers of detection again.
Grey knocks on the wall with the skeletal remains sticking out of it.
Praetor scans the wall for any hallow spots but discovers it is solid all the way around. No clue as to how these skeletons became fused into the wall.
Scanning the room with the staircase leading down does reveal a magical aura around one of the cobras. Further examination shows it a moderate transmutation aura.
As Brok heads into the room, Grezzor informs his fellow goblin of his discoveries.
Raaz Al'Zuul follows the rest of the group down the halls. He will remain alert and keeps his distance from the stone statues and the cobras.
Brok holds up and stays away from the staircase.
"Until one of you guys can tell me what that statue is going to do, I'd rather not investigate too closely. Especially since we want to explore the rest of this level."
Still facing the statues, though with his arms folded, the shadow man's narrow eyes look to the side to Brok. "This place is deceptively simple, yet dangers lurk..." Turning to leave the room Keil waves for Brok to join him, "Our skills will be tested here."
Brok leads the group back through the tunnels and reassembles them before the door in the south side of the entry room.
He approaches the door and listens for any clue as to what might be behind it.
"Goblin Brok is doing well keeping Arlok and others safe. Arlok knew Arlok make good choice in friend."
"Glad Arlok didn't kill me for sitting in his chair when we first met ...."
Deciding to leave the stairway for now, you all backtrack to the entry chamber where the six doors await you. On the way back you do hear chattering of more rats yet they seem to be be receding into the distance.
After checking out the pentacle-carved door to the south Brok finds it safe to open. Lying on the other side is a corridor heading east-west with several doors along the walls, and one on the west end. The east end branches off to the left and right.
"Another corridor" - Grezzor grumbles - "If we veer to the right, chances are we may double back to where we were before, making sure the area is clear" - he reasons - "But we should confirm what is on the far end"
Brok sticks his head out into the corridor and looks both ways, checking for anything dangerous.
If it seems clear, he scuttles over to the door in the west wall that Grezzor suggested we check first.
Following behind Brok, Keil steps into the corridor. His eyes shift left and right as he scans the area.
-
Brok and Keil hear nothing on the other side of the door so they pull it open.
As you stand at the door way you see the angled northwestern wall of this room is a mosaic depicting numerous different kinds of plants and animals, most of which are immediately recognizable to the characters. The central figure in the mosaic is a dark, human-like figure that was once carrying something, but the glass tiles of the carried object have all been broken away, revealing the plaster behind them. Wet plaster has given way in several other places, most of which are near the ceiling.
The room otherwise appears empty, except for the door in the south wall.
Brok looks questioningly over his shoulder at his companions.
"Continue this way?"
He scans the mosaic room for traps.
Keil shrugs his shoulders and nods, following Broks lead the shadowy man's eyes scan the door for anything unbecoming.
As the goblin and fetchling move inside the room checking for traps and other dangers, Malzii approaches the mosaic and sees that wet plaster has given way in several other places, most of which are near the ceiling. There is nothing otherwise unusual about the mosaic itself.
However the kobold notices something else that stirs beyond the mosaic, in several holes beyond she sees several things that writhe and twist in what look like nests...centipedes! As you look closer several of them get ready to burst forth, mandibles clicking and dripping with venom!
.
Initiative
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Shouting to warn the others, Keil's raspy voice echoes throughout the room, "Centipedes! Act quickly!"
Raaz Al'Zuul heeds Keil's warning and tries to skewer the closest one with his longspear, keeping out of reach of the insect:
"Should we just shut the door?" - Grezzor offers, ready to cast a spell if the creatures move to attack.
Brok briefly considers trying to calm the centipedes with vermin empathy, then he decides that's a bad idea and backs away quickly, letting the bigger members of the party in to fight the vermin
Grezzor moves into the room and zaps one of the emerging centipedes with his frost ray, freezing off a portion of it. Raaz strides next to Malzii and spears another of the centipedes in half while Brok retreats out of the room.
The other centipedes climb out of the hole in the mosaic and proceed to swarm those who remained in the room.
; miss.
; hit.
; hit.
; miss.
While Malzii and Keil avoid their painful bites, Raaz and Grezzor are not so lucky as they feel their bites penetrate their skin and also their venom starts coursing through their veins!
Grey steps in behind Grezzor and brings his skull-staff down on the centipede attacking their new ally.